insights
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INSIGHTS: Will candidates talk differently after primary?
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What is true in everything else is usually true in politics. First impressions matter. After the primaries were settled, more or less, on June 26, general election voters were primed to be impressed. In most election years, politicians would see the critical need. But not this year. Stay with me on this. If first impressions…
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INSIGHTS: Public loses authority to police campaign finance
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On “The Andy Griffith Show,” Gomer Pyle took the law into his own hands. After Barney Fife wrote Gomer a ticket for an illegal U-turn, the deputy made the same mistake. Gomer leaped from the cab of his truck and into law enforcement. “Citizen’s arrest, citizen’s arrest, citizen’s arrest,” he called out until Barney stopped…
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INSIGHTS | Serving up politics with food’s a tradition
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COLORADO SPRINGS – On a rainy Saturday at the foot of Pikes Peak, hundreds of politically engaged Coloradans gathered for politics slathered in tradition to hear candidates for governor answer questions. We had a Colorado Civic Barbecue on May 19, presented by the El Pomar Foundation’s Forum for Civic Advancement, The Gazette and Colorado Politics.…
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INSIGHTS: Red flag bill shows need for a white flag in partisan litmus tests
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Close to midnight on one of the final days of the legislative session, Colorado House of Representatives Republicans met in a caucus to discuss removing one of their rising stars, Cole Wist, from his leadership position as assistant minority leader. His offense was sponsoring a bill to disarm people authorities deem to be a threat…
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INSIGHTS: As the legislature gets generous, teachers chant, ‘We want more’
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When the purse is open, that’s the time to ask, or demand, a larger share. And that’s what public school teachers have been doing for weeks – well, years – at the Colorado Capitol. But the protests have come at a curious time. The legislature’s past two sessions have been very good for K-12 education…
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INSIGHTS: War on drug abuse has hundreds of bullets — and not one that ends the fight
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Millions of dollars and millions of words are spent on fighting Colorado’s drug addiction every year. Real intentions, real money and real lives are at stake. That’s the fight Colorado is in, and it’s emotional, fiscal and, yes, political. In one of the most interesting under-the-radar debates of this session, doctors are quarreling with pharmacies…
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INSIGHTS: Trump sowing seeds of doubt in Colorado farm country
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If you want to make some noise, you stick the pig that squeals loudest. That’s what you need to know about the Chinese tariffs on 128 U.S. agricultural products and what it could mean for President Trump. Coloradans in the business of livestock and crops want Trump to be the dealmaker they elected him to…
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Insights: Sexual harassment victims and accusers deserve a better process
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“There is a cultural shift happening,” Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran of Denver tweeted the day Rep. Steve Lebsock was expelled from the legislature, the second state lawmaker nationally to be swept away by the #MeToo tide. Lebsock quickly left the building. Thanks, Steve, said no one. It was an agonizing seven hours of testimony…
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Insights: Common ground on guns remains slippery and muddy in Colorado
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Maybe if partisans didn’t go too far. I don’t know. It confounds me why we can’t talk constructively about guns in this state, or this nation, without both sides shutting down. Indecision lives in gridlock. If one side didn’t insinuate the other doesn’t care about dead children, would that be so hard to do for…
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Insights: Aid-in-dying another Colorado law punctuated by a question mark
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No one expects to pass a law destined to have problems, but it’s hardly uncommon for new laws to offer hollow gratification to those who opposed it. When it comes to governing life and death, these stumbles garner a longer look. Jakob Rodgers of the Colorado Springs Gazette just recently reported on the first data…
