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Tag: Secretary of State

When watchdogs reached out, only two clerks answered: Colorado’s election crisis exposed
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

When watchdogs reached out, only two clerks answered: Colorado’s election crisis exposed

By Bill Lehman, Heidi Ganahl | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s election system is facing a crisis of confidence, with voters increasingly skeptical due to incidents like Arapahoe County’s mishandled 2020 Cast Vote Record and the Secretary of State’s office leaking 600 BIOS passwords during the 2024 election. Leaking 600 BIOS passwords is the civic version of leaving the house key under the doormat and then posting a photo of the doormat. These failures, alongside persistent reports of irregularities, undermine the narrative that Colorado's elections are the “gold standard.”  Public trust continues to erode as evidence of vulnerabilities mounts, yet one county’s efforts illustrate how clerks can make important improvements—though systemic issues demand far broader...
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Colorado halts TRACER after Minnesota murders so lawmakers can redact personal info
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denvergazette.com, State

Colorado halts TRACER after Minnesota murders so lawmakers can redact personal info

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette State lawmakers can remove personal information before TRACER site restored TRACER, the Secretary of State's campaign finance website, was taken down on Saturday in the wake of the shootings of four individuals, including two lawmakers, in Minnesota. Two of the victims, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, were killed in the attack by an individual who posed as a police officer. Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot but are expected to recover. According to NPR, the suspect, Vance Boelter, had a "hit list" of 45 state officials, all Democrats. He was taken into custody Sunday and has been charged with state and federal murder charges. TRACER, aka Transparency in Contribution and Expenditure Report...
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Trump, Rubio move to dismantle ‘Deep State’ grip on national security
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Approved, Axios, National

Trump, Rubio move to dismantle ‘Deep State’ grip on national security

By Marc Caputo and Alex Isenstadt | Axios President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have orchestrated a vast restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing its size and transferring many of its powers to the State and Defense departments. Why it matters: Trump's White House sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and filled with longtime officials who don't share the president's vision. A White House official involved in the planning characterized the reorganization as Trump and Rubio's latest move against what they see as Washington's "Deep State." "The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It's Marco vs. the Deep State. We're gutting the Deep State," the official said of the move, which will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350...
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Statewide and congressional contests heat up early as candidates line up for 2026
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Approved, Colorado Politics, State

Statewide and congressional contests heat up early as candidates line up for 2026

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Colorado's political world is in as close to a lull as it's likely to get this cycle — six months past the 2024 general election, days after the end of this year's regular legislative session, and with just over a year to go until voters begin casting primary ballots. Major candidates for the state's most prominent and competitive 2026 contests have already emerged, but many are about to get more company. Like at the beginning of a fundraising quarter, the immediate aftermath of the General Assembly's 120 day session is prime calendar real estate to launch campaigns for higher offices, for a couple of reasons: State lawmakers finally again have some control over their schedule and can turn their attention to campaigning, while other hopefuls ca...
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The $5 million shadow ledger: Pueblo Democrats’ HQ funded by bingo, not disclosed in filings
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

The $5 million shadow ledger: Pueblo Democrats’ HQ funded by bingo, not disclosed in filings

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A building paid for with bingo money. A political party using it as their headquarters. And more than $5 million in unreported financial activity that, to date, no one has answered for. That’s the core of Pueblo resident Jonathan Ambler’s ongoing legal challenge against the Pueblo County Democratic Party and its Central Committee. Ambler, a former Republican candidate, filed two complaints last fall alleging the party used a bingo-funded building for years without reporting it in TRACER. After the Colorado Secretary of State dismissed both complaints in April, Ambler – without an attorney – petitioned the Denver District Court for judicial review. "If political activities are occurring at the building – and the Party itself refers to it as...
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Secretary Rubio: Alien Enemies Act exists to protect Americans, defend against Tren de Aragua and others
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Approved, Commentary, Fox News

Secretary Rubio: Alien Enemies Act exists to protect Americans, defend against Tren de Aragua and others

By Secretary of State Marco Rubio  | Fox News When the Founding Fathers drafted the Aliens Act of 1798, they intended it to act as an antibody against foreign armies, criminal networks, and individuals who sought to do America harm. They understood something we have forgotten. Every nation has not just a right to act in self-defense, but a duty to do so. When a nation neglects that duty, it risks becoming a haven for vile criminal elements from across the globe, and a battleground in other nation’s conflicts.  No nation is obligated to harbor foreign criminals from justice in their home nations, much less allow them to continue their crime spree right here in the United States. Until President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, that was what the United States ...
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Rubio overhauling ‘bloated’ State Department in sweeping reform
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Approved, Fox News, National

Rubio overhauling ‘bloated’ State Department in sweeping reform

By Michael Dorgan  | Fox News The Trump administration has announced it is overhauling the State Department and shuttering more than 130 offices around the world in order to streamline operations and align the department more closely with the administration's foreign policy objectives. The move was announced on Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality and redundant offices will be shut down. Programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will be shuttered too, he said. Rubio said the State Department had become bloated, bureaucratic and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in a new era of great power competition.  READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX ...
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Rubio announces closure of State Department effort that ‘was supposed to be dead already’
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Approved, Fox News, National

Rubio announces closure of State Department effort that ‘was supposed to be dead already’

By Alex Nitzberg | Fox News Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the closure of a State Department effort that he accused of spending millions on censorship. "I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC)," Rubio said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving," Rubio asserted. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX NEWS
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Marco Rubio can’t say ‘peace is possible’ between Ukraine and Russia
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Approved, National, Washington Examiner

Marco Rubio can’t say ‘peace is possible’ between Ukraine and Russia

By Jenny Goldsberry | Washington Examiner Secretary of State Marco Rubio mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s demands for security guarantees when peace with Russia is still not guaranteed. Ukraine just passed its third-year anniversary since Russia invaded and war broke out. While Zelensky has maintained control of its capital, Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to have annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions in the south and east of Ukraine since September 2022. Rubio explained that speaking to Putin, after not a single European ally or former President Joe Biden was able to, is the way to end the war. “No one here is claiming Vladimir Putin is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize this year or that he should b...
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Rubio unanimously confirmed as secretary of State, becoming Trump’s first Cabinet official
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Approved, National, THE HILL

Rubio unanimously confirmed as secretary of State, becoming Trump’s first Cabinet official

By Laura Kelly | The Hill The Senate on Monday unanimously confirmed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as America’s 72nd secretary of State, putting in place the first member of President Trump’s Cabinet on the day of his inauguration. Rubio’s confirmation vote passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, 99-0. Rubio also was able to cast a vote for himself.  “No one on this body can doubt that Marco Rubio is an intelligent man with remarkable understanding of American foreign policy and a very deep commitment to the American dream,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in remarks on the Senate floor.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE HILL
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