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Tag: Jared Polis

Aurora Pushes Back on Polis’ Power Play Over Local Housing
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, Local

Aurora Pushes Back on Polis’ Power Play Over Local Housing

By: Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, The Denver Gazette Aurora has experienced rapid growth in recent decades. With new neighborhoods, transit corridors and shifting demographics come tough land-use choices: where to build housing, protect open space, manage traffic, and preserve neighborhood character. We understand our communities better than distant state bureaucrats ever could. That’s what home rule is meant to guarantee. But today, Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado legislature are challenging that guarantee – not with persuasion, but with edicts and threats of financial punishment. Aurora can’t stand silent. Colorado’s Constitution enshrines home rule in Article XX, Section 6, which grants municipalities the right to govern “matters of local concern,” including planning, zoni...
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Colorado Families Demand Action as Incompetency Rulings Free Violent Suspects
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Colorado Families Demand Action as Incompetency Rulings Free Violent Suspects

By Alliyah Sims | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — Loved ones lost, cases dismissed and dangerous criminals walking free. Families and lawmakers across the state are demanding immediate change to a 2024 law they say is putting lives at risk. People gathered outside the Colorado Supreme Court, coming with broken hearts and a clear message. “To speak loudly and loudly against these competency laws that really just seek to prioritize the rights of a perpetrator over the victims,” said Lori Gimelshteyn, executive director of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network. Backed by 6,000 petition signatures, speakers on Thursday demanded that district attorneys take a stand and lawmakers rewrite laws petitioners say are letting violent offenders walk free. “In 2024, I actually voted for this bi...
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Is Rep. Marshall’s narrow 2024 win now at risk in Douglas County?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Is Rep. Marshall’s narrow 2024 win now at risk in Douglas County?

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Rep. Bob Marshall (D-HD43) represents one of Colorado’s most politically mixed suburban districts, covering parts of Highlands Ranch and Littleton. The area is built around families, good schools, and a long-standing belief in local control and fiscal restraint. Marshall often calls himself a centrist Democrat and a retired Marine who puts people before politics. But his voting record at the Capitol tells a different story.  Marshall once appealed to a wide mix of voters. Whether that still holds is an open question, especially given how much the mood in Douglas County has changed. Prices have climbed. Crime feels closer. And faith in state leaders is wearing thin. Out of Douglas County’s 323,000 regist...
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Shutdown Impact in Colorado Small for Now But Storm Clouds Gather
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Shutdown Impact in Colorado Small for Now But Storm Clouds Gather

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado officials do not not expect to see major impacts on Colorado-run programs or its workforce for the first week of the federal shutdown, though the state stands to feel the strain, particularly if the stoppage goes into the second week or longer. Like other states, a big chunk of spending in Colorado is paid for with federal dollars. The state expects to receive approximately $14 billion in federal funding for the 2025-26 budget and almost every state agency sees some of that money. Indeed, numerous state programs heavily rely on federal funding. Already, the state has had to provide stopgap funding for one of them. Colorado lawmakers on Tuesday approved a one-month funding allocation of $7.5 million to cover the cost of con...
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Denver’s Spending Grew 60% in a Decade, But Revenues and Population Lagged Far Behind
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Denver’s Spending Grew 60% in a Decade, But Revenues and Population Lagged Far Behind

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Denver’s budget has grown sharply over the past ten years, far faster than its population and its ability to bring in tax dollars. A new analysis from the Common Sense Institute shows inflation-adjusted spending per resident rose about 60 percent since 2015. During that period, revenues grew more slowly, at about 40 percent, while the city’s population increased by less than 7 percent. The mismatch is why Denver now faces a projected $250 million gap over the next two years, even as officials push a $950 million bond proposal for housing, roads, and other projects. Spending Priorities Have Shifted Where the money goes has changed dramatically. Construction and infrastructure costs have ballooned, climbing more than elev...
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Summer school session: Lawmakers flunk budget basics—less tax revenue and more deficits to come
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Summer school session: Lawmakers flunk budget basics—less tax revenue and more deficits to come

By Gazette editorial board | Commentary, Denver Gazette Like slacker students who flunked a course and had to make it up in summer school, Colorado state lawmakers who were summoned back to the Capitol last month — to patch a gaping hole in the current state budget — knew they had gathered under a stigma. Convened by Gov. Jared Polis, they sullenly filed into the building with their heads down. It was nothing to be proud of. And when they had wrapped up the session days later, there was little to celebrate. They knew they were doing makeup work, atoning for their behavior during the regular session — and the session before that, and the one before that. And while they tried to blame Colorado’s fiscal straits on some of the other kids in class — the president and the Republican Con...
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Colorado’s Housing Crunch Shows Signs of Easing but Costs Still Bite
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Housing Crunch Shows Signs of Easing but Costs Still Bite

By The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Denver Gazette The cost of housing has soared in our state in recent years, outpacing income growth and making it especially challenging for lower-wage earners and younger, entry-level workers to afford rent. Buying a place of their own is an even taller task for many. It all has led to much public debate and, inevitably, hyperventilation by politicians pledging to solve what they have dubbed an affordable-housing “crisis.” The panic also has led to a lot of misfires by policymakers.  Among those are proposals that would put the squeeze on providers of rental housing, presuming them to have bottomless pockets. Rent control is an example. There also have been various policy prescriptions making it harder to evict tenants. Some o...
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How Special Was That Session?
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

How Special Was That Session?

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) Last Wednesday, on September 10th, we witnessed a political assassination. A young, courageous conservative was murdered in cold blood on the campus of Utah Valley University. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was engaging students in conversation and debate when he was violently gunned down.  College campuses are supposed to be places of intellectual curiosity where ideas are explored, and students make up their own minds. This concept of free speech was something our country was founded on, but it seems that the Colorado legislative majority party does not want to hear differing thoughts. The message of the Kirk assassination was that if you don’t agree with progressive ideology, you should jus...
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State Leaders Put Criminal Rights Ahead of Public Safety
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The Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

State Leaders Put Criminal Rights Ahead of Public Safety

By The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Gazette Only days ago, The Gazette editorial board weighed in on how easy it is for dangerous criminal suspects with lengthy records in Colorado to walk free — and never come back — as they supposedly await trial or other court proceedings. That includes when they are deemed “incompetent” to understand the charges against them — usually, due to presumed mental illness — and at times are released pending psychiatric assessment and treatment to restore their competency. Even under those circumstances, suspects can wind up going free for good, either because they fail to follow through on outpatient psychiatric care and disappear onto the streets, or, incredibly, they have been found permanently incompetent — and by state law, the char...
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GOP Lawmakers Push for Emergency Session on Colorado Crime Wave
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

GOP Lawmakers Push for Emergency Session on Colorado Crime Wave

By Jacob Factor | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — Several Republican members of Colorado’s congressional delegation are renewing calls for Colorado state lawmakers to address crime and criminal competency laws through a special legislative session. Reps. Gabe Evans, Lauren Boebert and Jeff Crank on Tuesday issued a joint letter demanding Colorado Gov. Jared Polis work with state legislators to “repeal soft-on-crime laws fueling Colorado’s rising crime.” The representatives pointed to several instances in which they say Colorado’s laws Polis himself signed “undermine law enforcement’s ability to keep communities safe.” The lawmakers’ call also echoes previous calls ahead of August’s special legislative session to address crime laws. That special session did not cover crime or crimina...
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