Author: Morgan Smith
-
OPINION | Former Colorado House Speaker Ruben Valdez made friends wherever he went
—
by
Morgan Smith Ruben is gone. It’s hard to believe. I’ve been driving up to Denver to see him since April when Miller Hudson told me that he was sick. In fact, I was about to call him and see if I could visit this Friday when I received the message from his granddaughter, Amber that…
-
Oil drilling plan near Colorado-Utah monument draws tribal opposition
—
by
SALT LAKE CITY ? The U.S. government is letting oil and gas companies bid for leases Monday on lands considered archaeologically sensitive near a national monument that straddles the Colorado-Utah border and houses sacred tribal sites. The Bureau of Land Management’s September oil and gas lease sale includes about 47 square miles north of Hovenweep National…
-
OPINION | Persistent to the end, Tillie Bishop was a true statesman and public servant
—
by
Morgan Smith “We had our arguments but then we were always able to put our arms around each other and move on,” Tillie would say. Of all the legislators I worked with both in the legislature and at the Department of Local Affairs, Tillman “Tillie” Bishop, who died Sunday at 86 in Grand Junction, was…
-
Aurora’s Steve Hogan set a standard for public service
—
by
(Editor’s note: Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan died Sunday at 69 after a battle with cancer.) “Thirty four years of elected office, many more of consequential service, have passed far too quickly,” says Steve Hogan, the late mayor of Aurora, in what turned out sadly to be his last message. I only served with him for…
-
NAFTA matters to Colorado — and the rest of the world
—
by
The presidential elections in Mexico on July 1 will be critical for the United States. Our two countries share a 1,950 miles border and bi-national relationships regarding trade, immigration and law enforcement and other issues are obviously critical. This is especially true for Colorado which exports roughly $1 billion in Colorado products to Mexico each…
-
Remembering Wally Stealey — power lobbyist, avid farmer and dear friend
—
by
I first met Wally in the late 60s in Adams County when I handled a minor traffic ticket for him. That was the start of a rich and treasured friendship that included both politics and agriculture but was always full of laughter. In fact, as I learned of his death on Oct. 6, I was…
-
Smith: Anti-NAFTA AMLO, Mexico’s next president?
—
by
Now that the Trump administration has initiated the process of renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), let’s hope that this process is marked by thoughtfulness and not rhetoric like the president’s earlier comments that NAFTA was “the worst trade deal in history.” Despite the anti-trade rhetoric, NAFTA has been a great success, resulting…
-
Smith: May The Colorado Statesman’s legacy of humanizing politics live on
—
by
Congratulations and best wishes to Clarity Media, the new owner of The Colorado Statesman. I’ve been writing for The Statesman since at least the early 1980s when I was commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture and have always seen the newspaper as a vital player in Colorado’s political life. I see its value even…
-
Smith: U.S. ties with Mexico matter now more than ever
—
by
With all the excitement, chaos, turmoil – whatever you want to call it – that has filled Donald Trump’s first days in office, it’s easy to forget that Joaquín Guzmán, “El Chapo,” the world’s most notorious criminal and drug cartel leader was extradited from Mexico to the United States the same day as Trump’s inauguration.…
-
Smith: To Standing Rock
—
by
“What now?” my son, Jay asked. It was Sunday, Dec. 5, and we were just north of Dilia, New Mexico, where he has a small farm and where we had loaded his Toyota Tundra with firewood. We were preparing to head out to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota but had just heard…
