Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Jared Polis

Polis: Biden’s decision to withdraw not easy ‘but it is the right one’
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Polis: Biden’s decision to withdraw not easy ‘but it is the right one’

Colorado's Reps. Boebert, Lamborn respond vis Twitter posts By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice In the moments following President Joe Biden's announcement he would suspend his campaign for re-election, Gov. Jared Polis responded in a manner similar to President John F. Kennedy's moon challenge speech. "This could not have been an easy decision but it is the right one, and Joe Biden promised Americans he would always do what’s right for our country and once again he has delivered," Polis said. "I know President Biden and Jill are making this choice with the future of Americans in their hearts." There's some theory Polis, who will has 2-1/2 years left on his term as governor, wants to take a bid at the office or seek a place on the ticket as vice-president. He called Mr. Bide...
Gaines: Is Gov. Polis sending homeless people to my hometown? Fact check finds no support to claim
Approved, Commentary, Local

Gaines: Is Gov. Polis sending homeless people to my hometown? Fact check finds no support to claim

By CORY GAINES | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I was talking to a friend the other day and he remarked that his neighbor had told him that Gov. Polis was sending homeless people out to Sterling, Colo. It got me curious.  I do know that I've seen more homeless people out here than when I first moved out, but are there a ton more?  Are they coming from Polis? I'll get to the answer in a sec, but I wanted to take this as an opportunity to discuss (yet again) the importance of skepticism when you hear a claim.  I wanted to take this as an opportunity to provide an example of some simple steps you can take to evaluate claims you hear. The first thing you should do is the first thing I did when I started investigating:  go to your favorite search eng...
Polis named chair of Democrat Governor’s Association, suggests party change strategy ahead of November election
Approved, kdvr.com, National

Polis named chair of Democrat Governor’s Association, suggests party change strategy ahead of November election

By  Gabrielle Franklin | Fox 31 News A major, solo press conference following the NATO summit in Washington was not enough to convince some Democrats that President Joe Biden should remain their party’s nominee — including some Democrats in Colorado. On Friday, U.S. Brittany Pettersen asked President Joe Biden to “pass the torch.” Now Gov. Jared Polis is breaking his silence on the race for the White House. During a briefing following a National Governors Association meeting, where Polis was named chair of the organization, the former congressman said Democrats need to change something if they want to win this fall. FOX31 asked Polis if he thinks Democrats can win with Biden at the top of the ticket. He said Democrats need to make a change in strategy. RE...
Gov. Jared Polis meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Approved, CBS Colorado, National

Gov. Jared Polis meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

By Kasey Richardson | CBS Colorado Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday as he addressed the National Governors Association in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 22, 2022, by Russian troops, Polis and his administration have made an effort to support the country while condemning Vladimir Putin's action.  "Colorado and the United States are proud partners in President Zelenskyy's fight to protect Ukraine and Europe from dictator Vladimir Putin. Putin's brutal and globally destabilizing war poses a grave threat to Ukraine, the global order, and the U.S. and its allies," said Polis. "I thanked President Zelenskyy for his and Ukraine's bravery in the face of Russian aggression."  READ THE FULL STORY AT...
Political nonprofit tied to Jared Polis admits to violating state’s campaign finance laws, will pay $18K fine, reveal donors
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Political nonprofit tied to Jared Polis admits to violating state’s campaign finance laws, will pay $18K fine, reveal donors

By Sandra Fish | The Colorado Sun A political nonprofit linked to Gov. Jared Polis has admitted to violating Colorado’s campaign finance laws and will pay an $18,000 fine and disclose its donors under a settlement agreement with state election officials. Boldly Forward Colorado, created in 2018 to pay for Polis’ transition team, donated nearly $352,000 last year to Property Tax Relief Now. That issue committee spent close to $3 million to promote Proposition HH, a ballot measure backed by Polis that would have overhauled Colorado’s property tax system and made big changes to state spending.  Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure in the November 2023 election.  The Public Trust Institute, a conservative political nonprofit, filed the complaint against Boldly ...
Southern Ute Indian Tribe sues Colorado governor, gaming division over sports betting
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Southern Ute Indian Tribe sues Colorado governor, gaming division over sports betting

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is suing Gov. Jared Polis and the director of the Colorado Division of Gaming, Christopher Schroder, saying the administration is illegally freezing tribes out of the online sports betting market, in part, to maximize state tax collections.  The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleges the state sought to exclude the tribe from internet sports betting by acting in bad faith, using delay tactics and belatedly making legal arguments that conflict with federal law and a state gaming compact with the tribe.  “Enough is enough,” Southern Ute Chairman Melvin Baker told Colorado lawmakers during an American Indian Affairs Interim Study Committee meeting Monday. “Litigation is not...
Ganahl: Is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s emergency declaration a public health measure or political maneuver for the White House?
Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Ganahl: Is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s emergency declaration a public health measure or political maneuver for the White House?

By HEIDI GANAHL | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of disaster in Colorado because of a surge in Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), known commonly as bird flu, it ignited both a mix of public concern and political debate. The move is, in the legal term prima facie "on appearance", aimed at mitigating the spread of the virus, but critics argue that it may also serve as a calculated political strategy. The timing is suspect. Jared Polis would like to be president if Joe Biden drops out of the race. Bird flu is a highly infectious disease that affects both wild and domestic birds. Colorado reported its first cases in wild birds in March 2022, followed by detections in domestic poultry in April. Since then, the virus has been identifi...
Judge dismisses lawsuit by multiple school districts over Colorado’s universal pre-K rollout
Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Judge dismisses lawsuit by multiple school districts over Colorado’s universal pre-K rollout

By Eric Young | Denver Gazette A Denver District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging damages stemming from last year's universal preschool rollout in Colorado.  District Judge Jon. J. Olafson ruled that the six public school districts and two advocacy groups who filed the lawsuit lacked the legal grounds for their case to continue.  The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit last August against Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Colorado Department of Education, alleging that the state disproportionately harmed low-income families and students with disabilities through its application process. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Gaines: Are your ‘damn roads’ fixed yet?  Have they turned a single shovel?
Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Are your ‘damn roads’ fixed yet?  Have they turned a single shovel?

By Cory Gaines | Guest Columnist, Colorado Accountability Project Back in 2021, our governor, upon passage of SB 21-260 proclaimed that we'd finally fix our "damn roads". While driving to Denver the other day and having my teeth rattle in my head on a rough section of road (my friend Jerry Sonnenberg has said you better wear your spurs to hang on), I thought back wistfully to those claims.  Far from being a measure that collected money to actually fix the surfaces our cars and commerce move on, the bill itself created numerous enterprises only some of which actually work to fix the roads. I got curious for an update on how much was collected so far and where it's gone, so I asked around.  Today's posts will be the results of that digging.   This first post w...
Rep. Soper: Gov. Polis dismissive of real concerns toward wolf depredation on Western Slope
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Rep. Soper: Gov. Polis dismissive of real concerns toward wolf depredation on Western Slope

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice A weekend exchange between a national columnist and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has drawn the attention of Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, who pens commentary as "The Western Slope Statesman." Soper took exception to the tone in which the governor responded to Helen Raleigh, a senior contributor at The Federalist and who had written a piece for the Wall Street Journal titled "Jared Polis’s Wolves Are Moving In on Denver". Raleigh, an immigrant from China, is a Colorado resident. "Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently signed a bill to reintroduce the vicious weasel known as the wolverine to the state," Raleigh wrote on Twitter/X. "What could go wrong? Plenty, if Colorado’s recent experience reintroducing the gray wolf is anything to go by." Western Sl...