After years of sparring over property tax rates, leading Colorado Democrats and conservative activists finally see an offramp from the conflict. To get there, it will only have taken two special sessions, annual short-term bills at the Capitol, multiple threats of ballot measures and a failed attempt to override the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. The … Read more
Money spent on lobbying in Colorado again hit a record high this year — but the tally only begins to hint at the ways the deluge steers policy through the statehouse. In all, the $69.6 million paid to Colorado lobbyists in the most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30 and included this year’s legislative … Read more
Outside groups spent roughly $5 million to influence several Democratic legislative primaries last month, an eye-popping sum revealed in final disclosures this week that was part of a broader struggle for influence over the state’s dominant political party. Beyond the outside money, the candidates spent more than $1.8 million in those races themselves. Much of … Read more
When initial results dropped in Colorado’s primary elections this week, the early signs in several prominent Democratic legislative races lent themselves to an easy characterization: “moderates win, lefties lose.” Left-wing candidates like Denver Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández indeed were trailing in races that had been soaked in outside spending supporting more moderate Democrats, … Read more
Primary voters set major-party matchups for three open congressional seats, chose a challenger for an incumbent in a battleground district, and weighed in on state and local races across Colorado in Tuesday’s elections. It was all a prelude to the November general election — though voters also selected likely winners in areas dominated by one … Read more
LEFT: State Rep. Mike Weissman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for an Aurora state senate seat, left, talks with Casey Henderson while canvassing in Aurora on Thursday, June 20, 2024. RIGHT: Idris Keith, Democratic candidate for the Colorado Senate, right, hands a flyer to Jason Fulton over Fulton’s dog Louis while canvassing in Aurora … Read more
Former Edgewater police officer McKinzie Rees hopes to serve and protect again, but first she must get her name removed from a so-called “bad cops list” maintained by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. It landed there, she said, as retaliation after she reported sexual assaults by a supervising sergeant. That sergeant went on to work … Read more
Colorado legislators are working to launch two commissions that will help shape criminal justice policy statewide into the near future, an effort that’s drawn the praise of policymakers while reigniting the same simmering tensions that helped sink a predecessor last year. Under recommendations issued last month by a working group convened by Gov. Jared Polis, … Read more
