insights Archives

INSIGHTS: Colorado state rep takes the wheel for Uber, learns that life isn’t politics

Nov 1, 2017

—

by

Colorado state Rep. Paul Rosenthal looks out at a bigger world now that he sees it from the point of view of an Uber driver. A few months ago the Denver Democrat splurged on an aluminum silver electric-hybrid Kia Optima, “efficiency with luxury,” the ad says of the sedan’s impeccable features. Rosenthal already has two…

INSIGHTS: Bannon’s visit with Tancredo sends a message in the governor’s race

Oct 29, 2017

—

by

JOEY BUNCH

It doesn’t matter what Stephen K. Bannon does or doesn’t do for Tom Tancredo. The point is made. The bell is rung. Perception is a headline, and reality is a footnote. The architect of Donald Trump’s political rise visited with the former congressman in Colorado Springs recently. The summit put a new seal of approval…

Insights: War of words on Bowe Bergdahl leaves collateral damage

Oct 18, 2017

—

by

JOEY BUNCH

If you love America it’s easy to hate Bowe Bergdahl. He was a 23-year-old private first class in the Army when he deserted his remote infantry post in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. His court-martial hearing is Oct. 23. Reports are that Bergdahl will plead guilty. He faces life behind bars. That should be enough to…

Insights: How Republicans went to pot in Colorado

Sep 3, 2017

—

by

JOEY BUNCH

If U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions thinks he can score political points for Republicans by coming after Colorado’s pot, then a whole Phish concert would want what he must be smoking. State Sen. Tim Neville doesn’t like pot, not to smoke it or eat it. He didn’t vote to legalize in 2012, but like a…

Insights: How ‘Friends,’ porch parties & ‘ashing out’ worked their way into the weirdest Colorado pot debate since legalization

May 12, 2017

—

by

Peter Marcus

The Colorado House on Wednesday – the last day of the legislative session – had perhaps the most “Colorado” marijuana legislative debate ever. But it got weird. An effort to define the prohibition on “open and public” marijuana consumption devolved into a bizarre debate over whether people could smoke pot on their front porches. “People…

Insights: The Colorado legislative session’s end is like a mad dash for Christmas, with amendments

May 7, 2017

—

by

Joey Bunch

Wednesday’s end of the Colorado legislative session feels a little like Christmas, but with liquor and bitterness instead of the milk of human kindness. It’s not going to be a happy new year. Lawmakers knew they had to get big things done before May 10, because that’s 120 days from when they started, just like Christmas follows Thanksgiving. The session…

Insights: Meltdown in Colorado legislature over centerpiece issues

Apr 21, 2017

—

by

Peter Marcus

The legislature experienced a meltdown on Thursday. At around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, the Capitol press corps was summoned to Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham’s office for an 8 a.m. meeting on Thursday. Republicans were super secretive about it. “Senate President Kevin Grantham will meet with the professional press at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, April 20,…

Insights: Dear Colorado liquor lobby: You’re drunk – go home!

Mar 10, 2017

—

by

Peter Marcus

There are way better drinking games than debating prohibition-era liquor laws. Yet for some reason most of the lobbyists and lawmakers working on a booze “cleanup” bill have opted for legislative war instead of beer pong. The discussion over the last few weeks has resembled a nonsensical drunk stumbling home from the bar, muttering, “No,…

Insights: Fan sites for would-be candidates could prove a brilliant strategy

Mar 3, 2017

—

by

Peter Marcus

“Run, Ed, run!” “Run, Steve, run!” “Draft Joe!” “Hickenlooper for Senate!” Supporters and political interests are taking to the internet with fan sites for who they want to see as candidates in the coming years. The only thing is that the politicians themselves aren’t behind the promotional materials, or so they say. That could represent…

Insights: GOP should look at town halls like a Band-Aid: Rip it off!

Feb 24, 2017

—

by

Peter Marcus

Left-leaning groups that are organizing protest town halls against Republican lawmakers are stealing a page right out of the Tea Party’s playbook. Kristen Wyatt with the Associated Press did a good job of highlighting this in a recent story about “in absentia” town halls being planned by the left in an effort to trap GOP…