miller hudson
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‘Big data’ solutions to prepare for next disaster
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Democratic State Representative Tracy Kraft-Tharp of Westminster and Republican Senator Ellen Roberts of Durango have submitted legislation (House Bill 1129) that speaks to one of the fundamental responsibilities of government – public safety. Even the most virulently anti-government zealots will usually acknowledge that policing, fire prevention and disaster recovery are appropriate functions of government that…
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Dems’ ‘Groupthink’ politics case study
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No matter how cynical you get, it’s never enough to keep up,” the comic Lily Tomlin once observed about politics. I had originally intended to open this column with a quip something like the following: “Colorado Democrats pulled a stunt at their reorganization meeting over the weekend in a manner that would make Vladimir Putin…
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Sen. Bill Cadman’s House of Cards
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If you’ve been watching “House of Cards” on Netflix, you might be misled to believe legislative politics requires sophisticated strategic planning. Alas, this is rarely the case. In most instances, our solons make it up as they move along — playing their cards pretty much when and as they are dealt. If that strikes you…
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State chairs: highly qualified to herd ungrateful cats
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Four years ago both the Colorado Republican and Democratic Parties elected unusually young chairmen. Historically, both parties often turned to senior donors or business heavyweights for whom this recognition was, in part, a reward for long service and/or a readiness to pull out their own checkbooks in support of party candidates. The election of Ryan…
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The safety of the majority trumps fear
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In recent years no matter how dismal Colorado’s performance might be on most public policy measures — whether they be high school graduation rates or taxpayer support for schools and roads — we could generally rely on the fact that one or more members of the old Confederacy, frequently Mississippi, would slip between us and…
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Bob Allen left legacy as liberal lion in Colorado House
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Robert “Bob” Edward Allen was only 26 years old and Chairman of the Young Democrats when he persuaded Denver party leaders to place his name on the Democratic candidate list for election to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1950. It would be the 60s before state legislators ran from individual districts rather than on…
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Gloria Allred’s sideshow competes with Bill Cosby’s center stage performance
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Two weeks ago Los Angeles celebrity attorney Gloria Allred brought the traveling press conference that provides muscle to her law practice into the basement of Denver’s Crawford Hotel at Union Station. Any doubt that Americans live in a fame-obsessed culture was erased by 10 video cameras squeezed into a tiny meeting room. Allred’s website declares…
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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…