Veteran Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post political reporter Lynn Bartels’ family announced she has died. She was 69.
“We are heartbroken,” the family wrote on her social media profile. “We have been overwhelmed by the love that all of you have shared. It will lift us through the coming days and will stay with us forever.”
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at denverite.com.
Bartels was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this year, news that garnered a groundswell of tributes to her three-decade career.
Her family is planning a memorial service to honor her legacy.
Bartels will be remembered as a dogged reporter who often scooped her peers, built strong relationships with sources and held people in power from both parties to account with humor. She knew more about what was going on in Colorado politics than most and earned access to tidbits of gossip that made her political stories come to life.
Back when the now shuttered Denver restaurant Racines was a hub for politicos, she would hold court with Colorado’s who’s who. When she sat with you, she made you feel like the most important person in the world. She’d peer into your eyes, magnetically drawing out tidbits of information few others could glean.
More than a decade after she left newsrooms, she is still remembered for her body of work.
“No journalist in the last 30 years did a better job covering Colorado politics with such grit, tirelessness, and humor,” 9News journalist Kyle Clark recently wrote on X.
Bartels moved to Colorado in 1993, when she began working as a night cops reporter for the Rocky Mountain News. She worked at the Rocky from 1993 until the paper closed in 2009. The Denver Post then hired her, and she worked there until 2015 before leaving journalism to work as the communications director for then-Republican Secretary of State Wayne Williams. She also wrote for the Albuquerque Tribune.
“Her work is such a great legacy,” wrote investigative reporter Sandra Fish on social media.
The Independence Institute President Jon Caldara remembered her as both a friend and a tough reporter.
“Bartels reported on me off and on for decades, and she could be rough,” he wrote on social media. “It wasn’t personal. It was her job to go after anyone involved in politics.”
Former Republican Sen. Cory Gardner described her as “the Grand Dame of Colorado politics and political reporting.”
“Her work defined Colorado politics, its leadership, and the intrigue of power,” he wrote on X. “She did so with integrity and truth, without regard to ‘sides.’”
ProgressNow Colorado commentator Alan Franklin was a frequent critic of Bartels, accusing her of writing hit pieces against his favorite candidates. But he also acknowledged she made Colorado politics “more interesting and relatable.”
“She was a better person and journalist than I gave her credit for in life,” he wrote upon news of her death. “Which is sad.”
She was deeply loved by friends, colleagues and the people she covered.
“Lynn’s infectious personality and ongoing quest for selfies made her someone that everyone wanted to know,” Gov. Jared Polis wrote on X. “And her sharp wit kept readers coming back for more.”
Colorado Sun political editor Jesse Paul remembered Bartels for the encouragement she provided.
“Her institutional knowledge was unmatched,” he wrote.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.