Month: January 2023

(Colorado Peak Politics)

District 9 Denver Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca is facing two challengers in the April 4 election and already trailing in fundraising to one opponent determined to win back the seat from the Democratic Socialists of America Party.

Axios Denver reports Darrell Watson has taken the fundraising lead with more than $216,000.

CdeBaca comes in a distant second with just over $102,000 and Kwon Atlas has pulled in nearly $37,000.

Watson sits on the board of the Denver Housing Stability Strategic Advisors and is campaigning on CdeBaca’s voting record on affordable housing.

“Councilmember CdeBaca has voted against more affordable housing in District 9 than she has for,” he said. “District 9 residents deserve a councilmember who will fight for affordable housing, not against.”

Atlas is a former aide to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and worked in the mayor’s office. He would be the youngest person to ever serve on council at age 28.

Creating racial equity in the city is one of Atlas’ main campaign points.

CdeBaca’s opponents say residents are weary of the constant council infighting, while her term has been marked by a string of missteps and self-absorbed grandstanding, much like her socialist Democrat partner on the Denver School Board, Auon’tai “Tay” Anderson.

Some of her political career highlights include:

• Violating election finance laws 20 times then complained for getting busted.
• Warning a constituent activist to mind their tone and treat her with respect.

 » Read More

(Complete Colorado Page Two)

DENVER — The first bill Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland put his name on since being appointed to replace the late House District 51 Rep. Hugh McKean, is drawing mixed reviews among members of his own party.

House Bill 23-1011 is dubbed the “Consumer Right to Repair Ag Equipment.” It “requires a manufacturer of (agricultural equipment) to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or similar information (resources), to independent repair providers and owners of the manufacturer’s agricultural equipment to allow an independent repair provider or owner to conduct diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services on the owner’s agricultural equipment.”

Ron Weinberg

Weinberg, who is also the Chairman of the Larimer County Republican Party, was appointed to replace McKean for the 2023-24 session after McKean died suddenly of a heart attack on Oct. 30.

Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington was voted by his caucus to replace McKean as Minority Leader.

Weinberg says despite being a freshman legislator, he was not duped by the two Democrats on the bill — Rep. Brianna Titone from Arvada and Sen. Nick Hinrichsen from Pueblo — into lending his name to the bill. He said he took two months to investigate Titone’s claims before he agreed to co-sponsor it.

“Going down there as a conservative, it’s kind of harsh,” Weinberg said. “And I am a rookie, so I didn’t know if people were trying to trick me into getting on a bill.

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(Colorado Peak Politics)

Sage Naumann nails what went wrong for Colorado Republicans in the 2022 elections in an article published this week by National Review.

You’d be forgiven if you thought magic mushrooms were decriminalized in Colorado prior to November.

Colorado Republicans were emphatic that this was the year they could turn around the Centennial State and win the fast-growing pool of unaffiliated voters who were concerned about inflation, rising crime, and a faltering public-education system.

Were we all sampling the product a bit early?

That would explain the hallucinations by those on the right who were convinced those in the middle were equally as concerned about the same issues and runaway government.

Naumann boils down the GOP losing streak statewide to Donald Trump, abortion, an organized Democrat base, and a Republican Party in shambles.

So what can Republicans do to regain ground?

Click here to read his article, but here’s a pretty good hint:

Coloradans want a Republican Party that is a party of ideas, not infantile delusions of conspiracy. They want conservatives with a willingness to govern that rises above the urge to produce fundraising-focused, hyper-partisan drivel. They want a conservative movement that places individuals above institutions, students above schools, and good governance above the slapdash legislating that comes from Democrats.

It’s good stuff.

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(Colorado Peak Politics)

U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper showcased their irrelevance in Washington, D.C. this week by voting against their environmental agenda and President Biden’s green military nominee in a desperate attempt to get the Pentagon’s attention.

Long story short, the Colorado Democrats sacrificed their woke street cred for nothing, as Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment was confirmed by the Senate on a 60-35 vote.

The @DeptofDefense has repeatedly ignored my request for a meeting with Secretary Austin about the Space Command basing decision.

For that reason, I voted against Brendan Owens’ nomination tonight, and will consider holds on other Pentagon nominees until a meeting takes place.

— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) January 23, 2023

Their progressive base will surely be unhappy to learn their Democrat leaders sided with Republicans and are now threatening to block Biden’s future nominees because Biden’s Pentagon chief has refused for two years to meet with a Colorado Senator.

Voters who cast ballots for either of these buffoons based on their promises to keep Space Command headquarters in Colorado should reevaluate their decision-making skills.

We’ve asked for two years to meet with Secretary Austin about the flawed proposal to move Space Command out of Colorado. Two years later, we’re still waiting. That’s why we voted against Mr. Owens’ nomination today. Keeping Space Command in Colorado is too important.

— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick) January 24,

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(Colorado Peak Politics)

A former congressional staffer has settled a lawsuit out of court against his former employer, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, in which the congressman was accused of taking a lax approach to COVID safety practices early in the pandemic.

The Denver Gazette reports the terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed in court filings after the lawsuit was dismissed in federal district court in Washington, D.C.

That strikes us as odd, because if taxpayer dollars were spent on a settlement, that should be made public — assuming there was a cash settlement.

Brandon Pope, a staffer who worked on military issues, claims he was fired in retaliation for complaining about workplace conditions during COVID two weeks after he was diagnosed with the virus.

Pope also made some other bizarre claims against Lamborn that are still under review by the House Ethics Committee.

Pope claimed Lamborn’s son was living in the basement of the U.S. Capitol, and that staff were required to help the son prep for job interviews.

Pope isn’t talking about the settlement, however the congressman’s spokesperson, Cassandra Sebastian, told the Gazette the settlement does not imply “any admission of guilt or wrongdoing associated with this resolution” and said that her boss “absolutely maintains that at all times, he and his office used best efforts to comply with all legal and ethical requirements.”

“While plaintiff and defendant disagree strongly about the allegations and defenses made during the Lawsuit,

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(Complete Colorado Page Two)

(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here.)

A recent near-death experience brought me too close to what many men deal with at this time of the year but find too shameful to discuss.

Societal gender norms still run deep. I fear women often simply have no idea how dangerously close to the edge their men get sometimes.

I was in that grave, precarious and lonely hell just days ago.

I … I had a man-cold.

Now, for the man who read that last sentence, I need say no more. He’s already holding back a tear, triggered by memories of his own personal horrors with head colds. Like that D-Day veteran visiting the gravesites on Omaha Beach, he’s mumbling, “How many more good men?”

But for the female reader, I can see the eye-roll. And therein lies the issue.

After male-pattern baldness, the man-cold has the highest fatality rate of any disease, ever, that according to The Journal of the American Medical Association. Tragic.

The man-cold is 20 times more painful than natural childbirth, according to The New England Journal of Medicine. Heartrending.

The man-cold prevents the ability of even simple motor skills such as doing the dishes, laundry or getting the kids to school, according to The Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of Bartending. Catastrophic and haunting.

But the truly devastating aspect of man-cold is the denial of its overwhelming scientific proof by a surprising percentage of the female American population.

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(Colorado Peak Politics)

It’s been one week since Democrats announced their slate of candidates to run for city council and mayor in Aurora.

Guess which one of them is already in trouble for saying some really stupid stuff?

Meet Chris Rhodes, member of the Dem Socialist slate for council. He doesn’t understand the difference between vindictively abusing CPS in a way that could have led to a child being taken from their parent and mean words. This is a disqualifying level of ignorance. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/zTWlP9006c

— Dustin Zvonek (@DustinZvonek) January 22, 2023

Ward V council candidate Chris Rhodes, a community organizer who we are to believe once worked with at-risk youth, was commenting, carelessly, on a recent court judgement of $3 million against former child protection worker Robin Niceta.

It’s a notorious case in which Niceta is charged with retaliation against an elected official, Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. This verdict is from the civil case, the criminal case against Niceta is still pending.

A probable cause affidavit for Niceta’s arrest alleges that Niceta made an anonymous call to Arapahoe County Social Services, where she worked, to falsely report that Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky was sexually abusing Jurinsky’s 2-year-old son.

The day before that call was made, Jurinksy had gone on a talk radio show to call for the firing of Vanessa Wilson, who was then Aurora’s police chief.

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(Complete Colorado Page Two)

Today’s leftist progressive “liberals” often take decidedly illiberal stands against the Second Amendment and the fundamental human right of self-defense.

I was especially surprised when Representative Elisabeth Epps, the famed “abolitionist” who supposedly wants to work toward the elimination of police and prisons, agreed to cosponsor a drafted bill that would subject Colorado’s gun owners to abusive policing. One could be forgiven for suspecting that Epps wants less accountability for criminals who hurt people or take their stuff but harsh treatment for her political opponents who have harmed no one.

The bill as originally drafted pertains to so-called “assault weapons,” including handguns, an arbitrary category that targets select semi-automatic guns that are functionally identical to other semi-automatics. The bill “prohibits a person from possessing, manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of an assault weapon.” True, existing holders of such guns were grandfathered in—so long as they were prepared to present their ownership papers to prove their innocence under this perverse measure.  Complete Colorado’s Sherrie Peif has details of the original measure; I’ll discuss changes below.

It’s “abolition for me, threats of jail for thee,” I guess. True, Epps is not too clear on what she means by “abolition,” as I reviewed in a previous article on the topic. She said, “Abolition does not mean immediately disbanding all law enforcement and decriminalizing all offenses—of course not. But it does mean actively investing” in various social programs.

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(Colorado Peak Politics)

Gov. Polis and Democrat lawmakers campaigned for reelection on their alleged accomplishments of reducing the cost of healthcare in Colorado.

Then guess what happened?

Our health care premiums saw the second largest increase nationwide!

Private health insurance premiums rose higher in Colorado for 2023 than every state except for one.

Axios Denver reports Georgia came in first place with premium spikes as high as 20%, followed by Colorado with a soaring increase as high as 19.6%.

The nationwide average increase for health insurance premiums in 2023 is 4%.

For those who excelled in the study of equity and inclusion but must Google simple math — those numbers suck.

PeakNation™ will recall that just a few hours ago, we reported Polis was fact-checked by the media for claiming the state’s crime numbers were middle of the road nationally.

And yet, it turns out we’re number two nationally in terms of property crimes.

Colorado’s motto is “Nil Sine Numine,” which is Latin for “Nothing without providence or deity.”

The Democrat legislature should probably change it to:” Si sugit, optimi sumus secundi!” which loosely translated (by Google) means: “If it sucks, we’re second best!”

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(Colorado Peak Politics)

Gov. Polis assured all in his State of the State address that Colorado’s crime rates ranked neither too high nor too low, but comfortably in the middle — so everyone just shut up about it.

Turns out Polis wasn’t telling us the truth.

The Denver Gazette fact-checked Polis’s claim that Colorado falls in “the middle of the pack on crime rates,” and discovered that Colorado’s crime rate is higher than the national average.

According to the FBI, only Washington, D.C. had a higher property crime estimate than Colorado.

We are #2.

The story goes on to report on violent crime numbers:

The FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) estimates the total violent crime rate for Colorado at 481 per 100,000 residents in 2021.

In contrast, NIBRS estimated the violent crime rate for the U.S. at 395.7 per 100,000 people in the same year, which means, using this database alone, Colorado’s crime rate is higher than the national average.

So that’s awkward, for Polis, who has yet to apologize for misleading everyone.

With a straight face, Polis pledged in his speech to make Colorado one of the safest states in the nation if we just give him another three years when he’s up for reelection.

“Every person deserves a safe home and a safe community, and in three years I want Colorado to be closing in on our goal of becoming one of the top ten safest states,” he said.

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