Despite telling a radio host that he used a “group chat” to direct his House Republican colleagues to walk out on the Legislature’s final day, state Rep. Matt Soper (R-Delta) now claims he has no record of that chat message. The same goes for all members of the House Republican leadership, who jointly responded to the Colorado Times Recorder’s open records request by saying they have “no responsive records.”
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) joined many of her Freedom Caucus colleagues in a full-blown “globalist” conspiracy press conference yesterday.
Welcome to For The Record, the Colorado Times Recorder’s new series where you can hear public figures in their own words. We’ll give you the clip and the context, so can listen for yourself.
State Rep. Scott Bottoms, a far-right pastor who just completed his first legislative session representing Colorado Springs, said in a recent sermon that he knows that he is “the real leader” of the House Republican caucus.
Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams is no stranger to blaming Republican election losses on voter fraud without any evidence. An unapologetic 2020 election denier, Williams now claims that his party’s historic losses in last year’s election are also due in part to Democrats intentionally changing rules in order to allow illegal votes.
Colorado’s housing crisis may yet get some legislative relief. Just days ago, Gov. Jared Polis’ (D-CO) top legislative priority, a land use bill that would clear a regulatory path for more affordable housing by granting statewide permission for higher density housing near public transit and allow homeowners to build accessory dwelling units, seemed destined for a common fate of bold policy ideas: reduced to a study. The teeth of SB23-213, requiring the upzoning of residential neighborhoods statewide, had been pulled via Senate committee amendments by legislators facing the sound and fury of suburban city officials invoking the sanctity of “local control” as they insisted they must be allowed to limit the rights of property owners.
When Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams hit the airwaves last month for his victory tour of right-wing talk radio, he insisted that he would unify the clearly divided Republican Party. He offered leadership roles to the other chair candidates he defeated, including Tina Peters and Erik Aadland.
On the radio last week State Rep. Rose Pugliese (R-Colorado Springs) continued to push her misleading claim that the new abortion bills passed this session allow children as young as 10 to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Her argument is disingenuous for two reasons. First, a 10 or 12 year-old girl isn’t allowed to “make medical decisions for herself.” Even if the parents aren’t notified, a judge must be convinced to grant permission before anything can happen. Second, the bill that prompted Pugliese’s non sequitur of an objection has nothing to do with parental notification, and she was informed of that immediately, during the bill’s debate on the House floor.
Colorado Republican Chair Dave Williams today announced he’s selected Tom Bjorklund as the party’s new Treasurer. Bjorklund, a longtime political operative from Grand Junction, is an election fraud conspiracist who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Early last week, Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor for the trio of Anschutz-owned Colorado media properties (the Gazette in Colorado Springs, Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics), sent a one-line email to his staff.
