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Tag: Mesa County

DOJ Pushes to Move Tina Peters to Federal Custody After Trump Calls for Her Release
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Just The News, Approved, National

DOJ Pushes to Move Tina Peters to Federal Custody After Trump Calls for Her Release

By: Jerry Dunleavy | Just the News President Trump has called Peters a "brave and innocent Patriot" after she was convicted in Colorado last year. The Justice Department has requested that the Bureau of Prisons looks into ways to have ex-Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters transferred out of Colorado state prison and into a federal facility following her conviction last year and after President Donald Trump’s calls for her to be freed. The Office of Deputy Attorney General, led by Todd Blanche, the second-in-command to Attorney General Pam Bondi, sent an email Wednesday evening to Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall, Just the News has learned, calling on the BOP to look into how Peters could be moved from state prison into federal custody. “At the r...
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Commissioner Daniel: It’s Time for Fiscal Common Sense in Colorado
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The Business Times, Approved, Commentary, Local

Commissioner Daniel: It’s Time for Fiscal Common Sense in Colorado

By Bobbie Daniel | Commentary, The Business Times In the business world, there’s one principle that separates success from failure: You can’t spend what you don’t have. If a company tried to launch a dozen new initiatives without funding them, investors would walk, creditors would call, and the board would be out by morning. Yet somehow, that’s exactly how the State of Colorado has been operating. Each year, new laws are passed that sound good on paper but come with no money to make them work. Those costs get quietly pushed down to local governments — and ultimately to taxpayers. We call them unfunded mandates, and they’re the public-sector version of bad business. Here in Mesa County, we’ve been tracking these costs for two years, and the numbers tell the story. This year alon...
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Colorado Counties Push Back on Polis Over Costly ‘Unfunded Mandates’
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Counties Push Back on Polis Over Costly ‘Unfunded Mandates’

By: Allie Jennerjahn | Denver7 In Mesa County alone, Commissioner Bobbie Daniel tracked down almost $10 million a year in unfunded mandates. DENVER — More than 40 Colorado counties have voiced concerns to Governor Jared Polis about laws being passed without funding. They claim it's putting a burden on local governments, and in some cases, leave taxpayers to foot the bill. The concern started in Mesa County when Commissioner Bobbie Daniel started to notice "unfunded mandates" getting brought up constantly when discussing budget. "I asked, 'Anyone tracking this? Is this something that we're, collectively as an organization, tracking?' And no, and we weren't at the time," Daniel said. "And so I said, "Let's continue looking at this. Let's track it and see what we come up with.'"...
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Parents vs. unions: The battle over Mesa County’s schools
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Parents vs. unions: The battle over Mesa County’s schools

By Kent Zook | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The same people and organizations trying to replace District 51 School board members, Andrea Haitz, Will Jones, and Angela Lema are the ones responsible for neglecting our schools in the first place. Previous board leadership allowed facilities to deteriorate to the point that repair costs became unfeasible. Union-backed leaders pushed for schools to remain closed longer during COVID-19 and for students to continue masking despite mounting evidence that masks did little to prevent transmission. On August 17, 2021, under the old union-backed board, a public meeting abruptly ended after just 30 minutes of comment, even though 45 minutes had been allotted. The board members, backed by the union, simply walked out with a police escort...
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Tina Peters’ attorney presses Governor Polis and Secretary Griswold to eliminate computer voting machines
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Tina Peters’ attorney presses Governor Polis and Secretary Griswold to eliminate computer voting machines

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Attorney John Case, who represents former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, has sent an open letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold urging the state to immediately discontinue electronic voting systems and return to in-person, hand-counted paper ballots. Case’s letter, dated October 21, outlines a series of concerns about the Dominion voting software used in 60 counties. It cites sworn testimony from two former Venezuelan election insiders who claim Dominion’s systems share code and design elements with Smartmatic software previously used in Venezuela—software the witnesses allege was developed to ensure predetermined outcomes. According to the letter, those sworn statements were part of federal court filings in...
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Colorado must stop pushing unfunded laws on local governments, lawmakers say
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The Daily Sentinel, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado must stop pushing unfunded laws on local governments, lawmakers say

By Rick Taggart, Janice Rich and Matt Soper | Commentary, The Daily Sentinel When lawmakers pass a new bill, there’s one question we should all ask before we vote: Who’s going to pay for it? Too often, that question goes unanswered. Across Colorado, local governments are being asked to carry out new state laws — on everything from wildfire codes to building standards — without the funding to make them possible. These are called unfunded mandates, and they’ve quietly become one of the biggest threats to local budgets and the essential services people depend on. In Mesa County alone, these mandates now cost nearly $10 million each year. Statewide, the total is estimated at more than $360 million — money that could otherwise fund deputies, road repairs, or mental health programs. Ins...
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Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice After more than four years of courtroom battles and appeals, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ fight now hinges on a single federal question: whether Colorado courts violated her constitutional rights by denying her bond pending appeal.  The Oct. 16 motions hearing was part of a broader federal proceeding stemming from Peters’ Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed in February. That petition asks the U.S. District Court to determine whether her ongoing detention violates the Constitution. It argues that the state’s denial of bail pending appeal punished Peters for her speech, violated her First and Fourteenth Amendments, and ignored the federal obligations that she says guided her actions as Mesa County Clerk under the Supremacy ...
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Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?

By Christy Anderson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In the Grand Junction area you may have seen flyers in your mailbox accusing our current school board members, Andrea Haitz, Angela Lema and “Willie” (Will) Jones of being “enemies” who “cannot be trusted.” These false attack ads come from Denver’s “Students Deserve Better” campaign. After digging into the financials, Students Deserve Better is also majorly funded by none other than the Colorado Education Association.  The teachers union has a long history that started in the 1970s of using money to influence local elections, but this year’s spending is unprecedented. The Colorado Education Association (CEA) is pouring tens of thousands of dollars into our local school board race to regain control and push their highly...
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Results speak for themselves: The D51 school board has earned re-election
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Results speak for themselves: The D51 school board has earned re-election

By Kent Zook | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I am writing to express my support for Andrea Haitz (District C), Will Jones (District D), and Angela Lema (District E), who are seeking re-election to the District 51 School Board. I voted for them because we needed a huge change, and their work since taking office has exceeded my expectations. They’ve made significant improvements that deserve to continue. I am writing to express my support and praise for the current school board. I voted for the current school board because we needed a huge change. Their work has exceeded my expectations. They’ve made significant improvements. The teachers union has been in control of District 51 for the last forty years, and during that time we’ve had some of the lowest test scores in th...
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