Mike Krause – editor-in-chief of Complete Colorado and veteran member of the free-market Independence Institute‘s inner sanctum – knows what it’s like to be shunned by the establishment. Like the time a couple of years ago when members of the mainstream media, in their capacity as the Colorado Capitol Press Association, denied one of his reporters floor credentials to cover the legislature.

“The bothersome part isn’t that they don’t want Complete Colorado dirtying their clubhouse, as we’re busy building our own,” Krause says in this week’s Q&A.

What bothered him about the episode, he said, was “they so casually kicked to the curb a multiple-award-winning reporter with over 15 years of journalism experience” just because of her affiliation with Independence, a nonprofit think tank that also is Complete’s parent organization.

But then, Krause is the kind of guy who is used to rolling his own way – and rolling with the punches. After a stint in the Coast Guard, he came to Colorado for the skiing and stayed for the construction work (he’s a carpenter) – and eventually, the politics. Specifically, the limited-government, libertarian-esque world view championed at Independence, where he’s worked for a decade.

And he holds no hard feelings toward the working press, including us mainstreamers, even offering kind words for what he says is stepped-up legislative coverage of late.

He also talks about the growth in readership and staff at the Drudge-like Complete; about its role in shaping the state’s political conversation – and about whether Independence is libertarian, conservative or something else. Onward to our interview!

Colorado Politics: Complete Colorado started out as sort of Colorado-fied Drudge Report and since then has evolved into one of the longest-standing alt media outlets in Colorado. It’s widely viewed in political and media circles as a barometer of what’s newsworthy on the right. How would you characterize the role it currently plays on the state’s political landscape, and how would you like to see it evolve further?

Mike Krause: Complete Colorado ended 2018 with about 1.5 million unique visitors between the main page aggregator and the original reporting and commentary on Page Two, and we’re on track to break 2 million this year. We saw that and thought, “Holy cow, maybe we ought to take this thing seriously.”

Actually, editing Complete’s Page Two content had already been a significant part of my job for several years, and Justin Longo (one of the co-founders of Complete Colorado, along with Todd Shepherd) has been doing dual duty updating the main page for a long time, so we’ve made some changes to focus in and grow Complete, and we do mean to grow it.

Moving into 2019, we have an editor-in-chief and deputy editor; two full-time reporters; a social media guru (aka a millennial); several regular columnists, including Mike Rosen; access to Independence Institute editorial content; and a growing list of guest writers.

I’m probably biased since I’ve been editing the institute’s editorial syndicate for years, but I think Complete’s commentary content is among the best political opinion in the state. Part of Complete’s mission has always been to shape the narrative of what the important news of the day is in Colorado, and to give voice to interesting sources of information that don’t necessarily fall into the traditional definition of news, or that lack a statewide audience. 

We want people to start and end their day with Complete, so we update the site morning and afternoon during the week, and once a day on weekends. We envision Complete as the go-to source for breaking news, investigations, important reporting, and the day’s best commentary, and we never block or paywall any of our content. While other newsrooms are cutting staff, we’re actually looking to grow our staff.

Mike Krause

• Editor-in-chief, Complete Colorado, the long-standing, center-right news and commentary source published by the Denver-based Independence Institute. Krause, who joined Independence in 2009, also has served as the think tank’s vice president of operations and director of public affairs.
• Search and rescue boat coxswain for the U.S. Coast Guard, 1987-1991.
• Holds a bachelor’s degree in business and political science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

CP: Critique Colorado’s mainstream media and our media climate in general. No need to call out anyone in particular – unless you want to – but how would you assess political coverage by both heavyweights and upstarts?

Krause: I think the coverage of the current legislature seems more robust than in the past couple years, with both the mainstream press, and new and/or niche outlets, Complete Colorado included, obviously putting some resources into it. The same goes for the last election cycle. Colorado Politics certainly deserves some of the credit for that.

If I were to call out something in particular, it’s how parochial the mainstream media can be. This goes back to 2017, when our Capitol beat reporter, Sherrie Peif, was denied floor credentials by the gatekeepers in the Capitol Press Club. The bothersome part isn’t that they don’t want Complete Colorado dirtying their clubhouse, as we’re busy building our own, but rather that they so casually kicked to the curb a multiple-award-winning reporter with over 15 years of journalism experience under her belt, whose political reporting is top-tier, because they don’t care for her employer.

CP: Your publisher – the Independence Institute in Denver – was thought of as more or less “conservative” when some of us arrived in Colorado a few decades ago. Nowadays, the media often as not call it “libertarian,” a label you guys don’t dispute. Which is it – and what’s the difference between those two strands of the center-right?

Krause: No, I wouldn’t dispute that. “Conservative” makes for a fairly simple, and easy, label to apply, but it doesn’t accurately describe the scope of policy work at Independence Institute.  Sure, there are Republicans and both fiscal and cultural conservatives at II, but there are Democrats and unaffiliateds, classical liberals and anarcho-capitalists as well. We don’t fit neatly into any box. That’s why we think the best description is actually “free market” think tank.

CP: We ask everyone this question and have to ask you – all the more, given your fingers on the state’s political pulse: Was Colorado’s latest lurch to the left in last fall’s election just another swing of the pendulum? Or is the state now on a longer-run trajectory toward turning indelibly blue? 

Krause: A really big swing of the pendulum. Coloradans may have handed Democrats control of state government this last election, but those same voters went the other way on big issues such as taxes and debt, and protecting oil and gas development. That’s not true-blue. I think the ravages of one-party rule will wear thin soon enough and voters will seek some checks and balances. The big question is if the GOP will be ready and able to speak to them.

CP: Unlike a lot of us who live 24/7 at the intersection of politics, policy and the media, you happen to have a bona fide job skill unrelated to your work at Independence: You earned a living as a carpenter in a previous life. It seems unusual in a subculture of political junkies to encounter someone who ever toiled in the real world. Do you ever miss going to work with people who might not be able to name Colorado’s secretary of state – but are darned good at their jobs? Could our political caste use more exposure to that slice of life?

Krause: You wouldn’t know it from the unfinished projects at my house, but I did earn my living swinging a hammer for quite a while. You put in a day’s work and then left it there until the next, and you could literally measure your productivity. A very different world. It was a pretty good gig, certainly for a younger guy. I don’t so much miss it as appreciate the perspective it gave me for what I do now; that there’s a whole other world outside of the political realm. I often think some in the political caste are disconnected from the actual impact of their policy dictates, and more exposure to that slice of life might be a good barometer for that.

CP: A lot of non-native Coloradans like to claim they moved here to be ski bums; the evidence suggests you really did. Assuming you’ll even admit to that part of your origin story, please tell us a little about your move to the Centennial State – and what keeps you here.

Krause: I don’t know if it’s still a thing, but yes, I moved here in the late ’90s mostly to ski. I grew up in Nebraska, taking Colorado ski trips (you know, the Midwest kids who show up on buses and ski in their jeans). The construction gig helped subsidize the skiing, as you could take time off in the winter and do serious days.

I spent a couple seasons up in Steamboat with the idea of ski-bumming, but ended up with a full-time job in the race department (aka fence building), which actually put me on a snowmobile more than my skis. A near-death tumble down one of the chutes on Pallavicini at A-Basin took the wind out of my sails, and I don’t do it that often anymore. Besides, have you made the day skiing trip lately? I stay here because at the end of the day, this is a great place to be able to live.

CP: True or false: As executive producer of “Devil’s Advocate” on KBDI-TV Channel 12, which you also sometimes host, you are the ventriloquist behind Jon Caldara – i.e., he might as well be sitting on your lap?

Krause: Yeah, that’s all me.