contributing columnist
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Governor Hickenlooper acknowledges he’s a changed man in a changed state
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Colorado’s inauguration day was a crisp winter morning this year. As John Hickenlooper took his oath of office, it was hard not to marvel at the fact that when his second term concludes in January of 2019, Democrats will have filled the Governor’s chair for 36 of the past 44 years. Starting in 1974…
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Forum on race, justice is just the beginning
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At 3 p.m. on the Friday afternoon before the final weekend leading up to Christmas you couldn’t help but wonder how many Denver residents would be willing to show up for a discussion of race, justice and police brutality. The answer turned out to be that a lot of people found the time to fight…
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Remembering former Mayor Marion Barry
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In the fall of 1970 when I returned to Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone in Washington, D.C., I found a much different company than the one I’d left three years earlier as I departed for the U.S. Navy and a once in a lifetime opportunity to help keep Southeast Asia safe for democracy. AT&T, the nation’s…
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On the move
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Transit aficionados and elected officials recently got a sneak peek at the commuter rail cars that will serve DIA, the Gold Line across Arvada, a Westminster spur and the North Metro Rail Line through Thornton, eventually reaching 162nd Avenue and I-25. Together with the light rail extension under construction between the Nine Mile station at…
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Size and scope of the federal regulatory apparatus is daunting
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Last month in Grand Junction the National Association of Manufacturers partnered with the National Federation of Independent Business to review a recent report produced by W. Mark Crain and Nicole V. Crain of Lafayette College, a husband and wife economic research team, who estimated the financial impacts of federal regulation on small firms. NFIB’s …
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Joint Budget Committee already looking at numbers
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Colorado law requires the Governor to issue an annual budget proposal each year on the first Monday in November. Since the six members of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee ultimately draft the state’s budget, it is often argued this can prove a wasted exercise. When the Governor’s party controls one or more of the legislative…
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Before Stage 4: An important call to action for the mental health of all Coloradans
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I want you to imagine for a moment what it would be like if Americans treated cancer in a different way than we do now. Imagine that instead of encouraging people to quit smoking and take other steps to prevent cancer, we just sort of crossed our fingers. Instead of telling people they need to…
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Hickenlooper, Beauprez get down to biz at CACI debate
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The half-hour gubernatorial debate at the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry’s annual luncheon this week felt a little bit like speed dating. For those expecting a pair of fatigued boxers emerging from their corners for a late round exchange of body blows and clinches against the ropes, both candidates’ crisp, quick responses had to…
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Different type of political climate in Sen. Ezzard’s adopted state
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It’s always educational to take a trip almost anywhere in America. Wherever you happen to travel, people are far more cheerful and helpful and warmer than their economic circumstances might suggest. My granddaughter moved with her parents to Asheville, North Carolina last November and this was our first opportunity to visit them there. Delta Airlines…
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Immigration crisis can be an opportunity, but only if leaders really come forward
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Governor Rick Perry orders 1,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border. President Obama urges the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to focus on their “shared responsibility” for the influx of migrant children from their countries. But where are Governor Perry’s troops going to go and what are they going to do? And…