Gov. Polis is having a meltdown over Colorado’s embarrassing new designation as still being one of the most overly regulated states due to COVID-19 while nearly everyone else is working to shed lockdown rules in favor of reopening.
The only state more regulated than Colorado is California, determined a recent study conducted by Wallethub.
Polis’s staff is disputing the findings with the personal finance website, which is known for its analysis pieces that masquerade as listicles and make for great clickbait articles many reporters find hard to resist.
Like Michael Roberts at Westword, who got caught up in the bureaucratic bickering between the governor’s office and the website after posting a story about the study.
This finding contradicted the narrative promoted by Governor Jared Polis that the state is opening up as quickly as possible while maintaining the maximum amount of safety under challenging circumstances. It also provided fuel for critics who’ve dubbed Polis a “virus overlord” and accused him of picking winners and losers among businesses during the pandemic by, for example, shutting down bars and nightclubs statewide just weeks after allowing them to reopen on a limited basis.
Polis’s government workers insist we are not still overburdened with bureaucratic pandemic restrictions.
And to prove it, they ran the study criteria through their policy team and recalculated their route to show different numbers and stuff to Wallethub but to no avail.
The website is sticking to their analysis.
Below are the total rankings of states with the fewest COVID-19 restrictions as we move towards reopening.