Author Archives: ColoradoPeakPolitics

Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Senator Michael Bennet has successfully treated his prostate cancer. A couple of weeks ago, Bennet announced that he would undergo surgery to treat the cancer, and if doctors successfully removed it, he would hop (back?) on the presidential campaign trail. If not, he would stand down. It looks like he’s headed back in Iowa/New Hampshire/other early primary state.

While he’s a political opponent, he’s also a human being and we’re glad for him and his family that he caught his prostate cancer early and it was treated quickly. We wish him continued recovery and good health.

Now, we will get back to our regularly scheduled ribbing of the Senator for his quixotic presidential run. Bennet has not officially announced; however, the names of the 14 (yes, 14) candidates who have made the cut for the Democratic primary presidential debates already was announced. It’s possible he could be included after officially announcing. There’s a polling threshold of just 1% in three polls.

But 1% doesn’t win elections and certainly not Democratic primaries. Then again, is Bennet really running to win the nomination or just position himself as a cabinet member for the eventual nominee?

If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Secretary of State’s purview, it’s former Deputy Suzanne Staiert, who served in her capacity since January 2012, first under Scott Gessler and then under Wayne Williams, until newly-elected and “champion of women” saw her to the door this year. That’s why when she talks, Colorado should listen, and, boy, did she have a lot to say about some of the legislation Democrats are ramming through the legislature this year.

Take the lede in her op-ed in Colorado Politics:

“Democrats won big in 2018 in “The Blue Wave,” and the election bills they’ve introduced this legislative session are designed to make sure they never relinquish control. “

But it gets better:

• Democrats are (further) disenfranchising Colorado independents by forcing them to get 10,500 signatures to get on the ballot under House Bill 1278, instead of the 1,000 they do now.
• Democrats are moving “campaign finance under the full control of the secretary of state: audits, investigations, hearings, enforcement — all of it. With no independence and no oversight.” That’s downright scary (especially under the juvenile Secretary Griswold).
• Democrats’ stakeholder process is a sham (where have we heard that before). In fact, she notes: “getting in a room with Democratic attorneys and their special-interest groups is not a stakeholder process — but rather a political strategy meeting.”

She’s right about all of this. Democrats are rigging the process to disenfranchise anyone who is not a Democrat. Republicans and Independents should be appalled at Staiert’s (true) claims.

This is just another example of Democrats’ vast overreach this legislative session. Will it come back to bite them in the a$$? Only time will tell, but these bills are not good for Democracy no matter which way you lean.

The devil’s in the details, like when Denver Mayor Hancock says he supports the camping ban, only it turns out he might support camping sites for the homeless.

So long as the campsites are sanctioned, and have lots of services, that we assume won’t require any more of his campsite sweeps, which he still supports.

Confused? So are we.

Here’s what happened in the mayoral campaign so far this week on the issue:

Several mayoral candidates attended a movie and discussion about homelessness Tuesday night, where the topic of sanctioned campsites was applauded by the candidates who attended.

Hancock was not one of them, he sent a spokeswoman who committed His Honor to being open about the idea of sanctioned campsites for the homeless.

Occupy Wall Street, and all its nasty offshoots that were breeding grounds for public health problems and crime, springs to mind.

We are to suppose sanctioned camping will be different, because this sanctioning would come with rules and people offering city services and support, perhaps abandoned school buildings in a neighborhood near you.

Jamie Giellis and Penfield Tate said sanctioned camps are a swell idea, and Lisa Calderón thinks it’s a useful path out of homelessness and into uhm, camping capable or something.

Anyway, at a Wednesday debate hosted by Channel 9 News, Hancock was there in person to defend the city’s actions in homeless camp sweeps, and said it’s necessary to address public health issues in the camps and he will do it again in the future. If elected.

We suppose next time, assuming Hancock is reelected, the sweeps would be in sanctioned camps supported by Hancock.

Which is completely different, we are supposed to believe, from his support for a camping ban.

There are a few things Coloradans previously could count on and one of those was that the Colorado State Legislature would be closed on Good Friday. PeakNation™, it’s a brave new world. Tomorrow, for the first time in Capitol insiders’ memories, the #coleg will remain open for Good Friday.

The closure wasn’t about being a Christian, but about taking time out to spend with friends and family. In fact, this year, in particular, it could also be about being Jewish as Passover starts tomorrow night, too. We acknowledge that Passover is not the very most important of Jewish holidays, but it still may be a holiday in which families would like to travel to spend time together, too. And it may not even be legislators, but what about all of the support staff that have to be at the Capitol tomorrow instead of spending time with their families and loved ones?

It’s just selfish and it’s yet another example of how Democrats’ mismanagement of the calendar and refusal to prioritize bills in the short window that we have is forcing them to put politics over people.

It’s sad, really, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from the leadership at the Capitol.

The Colorado Sun this morning published a new look at Colorado Democrats’ looming 50-way primary in their effort to unseat Senator Cory Gardner next fall. Reporters John Frank and Jesse Paul began their piece with an… interesting angle:

“The Democratic field of candidates for the U.S. Senate race expanded to roughly a dozen this week, but there is still something missing: a woman with a political track record.”

Ok, then. If we are to assume that a woman-with-a-political-track-record is required to run for Gardner’s seat for the sake of womanhood, we’ll accept that and move on, we guess (now do the same for every ethnicity).

The story then lists former state Democratic House leader Alice Madden as a possible female entry. Madden, of course, lost her 2016 bid for CU Regent at Large to Heidi Ganahl, whom, it should be noted, is… a woman.

The piece then names fledgling (flailing?) Secretary of State Jena Griswold as another possibility, noting that she met with Democratic Senate mob boss Chuck Schumer earlier this month to discuss a bid.

Wait, what? To the extent that Griswold has a political track record, her record is being forged in real time, with scary consequences. When she’s not forgetting to actually vote in elections that she now runs, Griswold spends her days leading the charge on some wacky bills at the State Capitol, including: forcing all Coloradans to become registered voters; effectively locking any non-billionaire unaffiliated candidate out of the running for political office; and giving the Secretary of State (ehm, herself) unfettered power to serve as judge, jury and executioner on any campaign finance complaint. Former Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert lays all of these shenanigans quite succinctly in a Colorado Politics guest editorial today.

(On the latter, perhaps a reporter might be willing to ask supportive Democratic lawmakers whether or not they’d vote for such a measure if, say, Republican Wayne Williams was still Secretary of State.)

All of this is to say, Griswold is actively weaponizing Colorado’s formerly revered election laws for her personal gain. It’s pretty messed up, but it bears repeating that she had never run an election at any level (and failed to even participate in a number of elections as a private citizen) prior to running for the office she just assumed three months ago. Additionally, sources tell The Peak that a great many of the nonpartisan career staff in Griswold’s office are miserable under the new regime.

Is that the kind of leadership Colorado deserves in a U.S. Senator? That’s up for Democrat primary voters to decide, but if Griswold emerges from the pack of crazies, Senator Gardner’s going to be looking at six more years in Washington.

We have good news and bad news, and it’s the same news — Gov. Jared Polis delivered on very few promises during his first 100 days in office.

Also known as the time period when the state legislature does most of the work for him to sign.

We’re relieved Polis hasn’t made due on his crazy campaign pledges, which gave us bizarre nightmares of living in some alternative Seattle universe commune ruled by bald and bearded ponies wearing party-stripped birthday hats that wouldn’t share their cake with a mass of starving fish (you had to be there, it was terrifying).

But seriously, hasn’t this session been emotionally and financially draining enough with everything Polis did get done?

Apparently not.

The Colorado Sun is featuring a handy dandy little item that’s sort of a pledge-o-meter to track Polis’s 125 campaign promises.

So far Polis has accomplished three promises. That’s right, only three — the red flag gun bill, medical marijuana for children with autism, and allowing communities to tax tobacco.

Those other pains in our economy like the oil and gas getouttahere law is only part of a promise, and the national popular vote was just some sort of cyanide cherry on top.

Check out the full list here, in case you’ve forgotten the extent of the shi$ storm we’re in for.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock managed to dance around the issue of safe injection sites during Wednesday’s debate hosted by 9 News.

Community advocate Lisa Calderon says she supports the sites, which amounts to legal opium dens, while Jamie Giellis and Penfield Tate III did not raise their hand in support.

But it was Hancock who anchor Kyle Clark hammered, because the mayor was for safe injection sites before he was against them.

Clark asked the mayor twice about the flip and flop, you can watch His Honor’s full spin here.

Hancock insists that he does not personally approve of public injection sites, but everyone else on council did so he just went along with them because that’s the kind of strong leader he is.

It’s just like a tool in a tool chest, so let’s just toss it in there and see if it smashes or fixes anything, Hancock explained.

Of course, what the council did by approving injection sites is in no way legal, so they will have to figure out how to get around that, Hancock said.

Kalyn Heffernan and Stephan Elliot Evans did not participate in the debate. The Denver election will be held May 7.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette doesn’t have time to talk to reporters about her campaign challenge from former state House Speaker Crisanta Duran. She’s too busy congresswomaning and all.

But her spokeswoman is gloating and more than happy to talk about the campaign and DeGette’s most recent fundraising numbers, which pretty much doubles what Duran collected in the firstish quarter.

“In the past three months, Congresswoman DeGette has been working to reduce insulin prices, fight President Trump’s family separation policy, and hold the EPA accountable,”  Jennie Peek-Dunstone said in the statement. “At the same time, her campaign raised almost $140,000. Congresswoman DeGette’s focus is on doing the work she was elected to do.”

The work of raising campaign donations, it looks like.

Duran’s campaign says she raised about $70,000 in the first quarter, about half of what DeGette collected.

Meanwhile over in the 6th District, Congressman Jason Crow is bragging he raised nearly a half million, although his FEC filing is not public yet.

In all fairness, though, Duran announced her candidacy the last week of February, so she reported just over one month of fundraising as opposed to DeGette’s three months of work.

So, DeGette’s supporters shouldn’t get too excited until we’ve seen what the two candidates can raise on equal footing.

Well, almost equal. Duran has pledged not to take corporate PAC money, while DeGette is still raking it in — $58,500 this quarter.

To see some of the big ticket donors contributing to Duran and DeGette, check out this Denverite story.

Liberals running amok in the state legislature found another way to raid our wallets for dubious services — they’ve created special taxing districts like for fire and police, only this time it’s for stuff to be decided later that affects, you know, the children.

The “Early Childhood Development Special District” bill swept through the legislature within weeks, and has already been signed by Gov. Polis into law.

Here’s how it taxes:

The bill authorizes the creation of early childhood development service districts (districts) to provide services for children from birth through 8 years of age. Early childhood development services are defined to include early care and educational, health, mental health, and developmental services, including prevention and intervention.

It doesn’t explain how or why we need to intervene with infants, or what we’re preventing, except for our own discretionary spending for the money we earn.

Are the taxpayers now responsible for parenting? Is the state going to snatch children from birth for early socializing and government rearing?

Special tax districts are intended for areas in short need of funding, for example, police services that everyone uses, building new fire stations that benefit everyone, funding libraries free for us all.

How are localities going to define a special tax district that just includes children up to eight years of age?

Karl Honegger with the Colorado Union of Taxpayers says there are no other district like this in the U.S., and he along with Marty Neilson are already organizing a — you guessed it — recall.

The Secretary of State’s office approved the referendum petition last week for the fall election. They need 124,000 signatures.

Those interested in helping the cause can contract them at [email protected]

Second-tier Democrat presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren pow-wowed with 1,500 supporters, fans, and curiosity seekers in the Hangar at Stanley Marketplace last night with promises of confiscatory taxes, a “commitment to prosecute giant corporations and their leaders,” and policy decisions driven by her personal belief in climate change.  She also repeatedly referred to the venue as Denver, when she was clearly in Aurora.  Not a small mistake, as Aurora has more than 300,000 residents and is the 54th most populous city in America.

Of course, Warren has never been known for her honesty or attention to detail, as the most commonly-known fact about the candidate is that she spent a career lying about having American Indian heritage to gain favorable employment treatment throughout her legal and academic careers.

Last night’s applause lines included the obligatory “Medicare for all” scheme buttressed with the nonsensical lie that it would provide healthcare for everyone at the lowest cost.  Recycling, Amazon’s effective tax rate, and replacing Cory Gardner in the Senate next year were also crowd pleasers – not exactly the kind of inspirational stuff that captures the imagination of American voters and propels candidates to the White House.

But let’s not kid ourselves here – no one really expects Warren to win the nomination for president. That honor will most likely go to the truly inspirational Democrat frontrunners: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Warren’s Colorado stop comes around the same time as the state was visited by two other contenders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Colorado’s own John Hickenlooper.

In an Emerson poll released yesterday, Warren registered seven percent support in a national sampling of Democrat primary voters.  Hickenlooper and Klobuchar both polled less than one percent. Womp womp.