About a week ago, former Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman stood before a ballroom full of LGBTQ activists and accepted an Ally Award from One Colorado. Despite the recognition, it occurred to me that very few people in attendance truly understood the enormity of the sacrifice that propelled Coffman to that stage. If asked, most […]
Election 2018
Posted inPolitics and Government
A campaign shake-up and wage complaint rattle Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate
A lesser-known Democratic candidate in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race is getting national attention, but it comes as the campaign looks to regroup from the departure of two key strategists. Stephany Rose Spaulding lost her statewide field director — the campaign’s highest paid employee — and fundraising consultant in a matter of weeks earlier this summer. […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Problems with Colorado’s petition process are as common as elections themselves
I must admit I have been following The Colorado Sun’s coverage of the Kennedy trial with more than a little interest. You see, my campaign for governor last year was right in the middle of the signature gathering mess that started it all. And I took more than a little heat from my party for […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Judge awards Walker Stapleton money he paid signature-gathering firm after wrongdoing allegations threatened his campaign
Political consulting firm Kennedy Enterprises must return about $235,000 it earned gathering signatures intended to get 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton on the primary ballot, a Denver District Court judge ruled on Friday Stapleton sued the signature-gathering firm after fraud allegations about the more than 21,000 signatures Kennedy collected at a cost of $11 […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Lawsuit against signature-gathering firm illustrates problems with Colorado’s process to get on the ballot, lawyer says
Colorado has deep-seated problems with its petition system that could prevent qualified candidates from getting on the ballot, says an attorney for 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton. Stapleton is suing a company he hired to collect thousands of signatures to land him on the primary ballot in a case that is slated to go […]
Posted inPolitics and Government
The top Democratic and Republican pollsters in Colorado agree: 2020 is not looking good for the GOP
The state’s most prominent Democratic and Republican pollsters, in independent surveys of likely 2020 voters conducted a month apart, came to a consensus about the political mood in Colorado. President Donald Trump gets low marks. Gov. Jared Polis is popular. And people lean toward thinking that the state is headed in the right direction. But […]
Posted inEnergy, Politics and Government
Who’s signing the petition to recall Gov. Jared Polis? People who feel left out in Colorado.
The petitions sat on counters at businesses and volunteers set up tables in public areas. On Facebook, people from across Colorado asked where they could sign or how they could get copies of the recall petition to circulate. This is a glimpse at what the first weekend looked like in the effort to recall Democratic […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Despite U.S. Supreme Court ruling, redistricting reforms are already taking root in many states. Colorado is one of them.
While ruling that it had no authority to resolve partisan gerrymandering claims, the U.S. Supreme Court noted Thursday that states could act on their own to try to limit the role of politics in drawing congressional and state legislative districts. Several states already have done so, including some where voters adopted constitutional amendments last year. […]
Posted inSun Investigation
Gov. Jared Polis recall effort mired by infighting and legal questions about donors, review finds
A committee to recall Gov. Jared Polis has raised more than $100,000 since March, but its reports are littered with errors and its online donors don’t always match the information it gives the state. Nearly 120 of the 1,337 itemized individual donations to the Official Recall Colorado Governor Jared Polis committee don’t have the required […]
Posted inPolitics and Government, Sun Investigation
The 2019 legislative session in Colorado explained in 5 graphics
A month after it ended, the 2019 legislative session continues to resonate in Colorado. Democratic lawmakers are cheering, and Gov. Jared Polis is celebrating progress on his campaign promises. Republicans are holding rallies to galvanize opposition and threatening recall elections for their opponents. And major policy shifts are starting to take shape as new laws […]