After state Rep. Ken DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs) nominated his GOP colleague Scott Bottoms to be speaker of the Colorado state House in January, Bottoms – who, like DeGraaf, had only just been sworn in for his first term in the Legislature that morning — startled some in the chamber by speaking up and seconding his own nomination.
Applying a deep-state conspiracy theory to the Hamas terrorist attacks, a Colorado Republican lawmaker says it’s more likely than not that the U.S. and Israeli governments, both with “corrupt bureaucratic leadership,” knew in advance that the Oct. 7 Hamas attack was “about to happen.”
With the end of the legislative session, Republicans in Colorado are giving an accounting of their performance to constituents at town hall events across the state. In the House, Republicans only hold 19 seats, compared to the 46 held by Democrats. In town halls in Douglas and El Paso Counties, Republican representatives expressed frustration at their inability to override Democratic priorities like abortion and gun control.
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.
During an appearance on the Liberty Warrior Nation podcast Thursday, Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-CO Springs) discussed a recent conflict with Rep. Brianna Titone (D-Arvada) and claimed that LGBTQ people are the result of mental illness, grooming, or sexual abuse.
This year was the second year in a row that Colorado Republicans have attempted to pass legislation criminalizing abortion in Colorado. Rep. Scott Bottoms’ (R-CO Springs) bill, “Abolishing Abortion in Colorado,” was a repeat of former Rep. Dave Williams’ (R-CO Springs) bill in 2022. Both bills featured testimony from Jeff Durbin of End Abortion Now and members of Colorado Right to Life, and both bills died in Democrat-controlled committees.
Silverii In January, 2020, the Pew Research Center released one of the most depressing pieces of public policy research I’ve ever seen. Titled “What Americans Know about the Holocaust,” the research showed more than a few things that prove the right wing project of eliminating quality public education that even remotely grazes uncomfortable topics has been at least moderately successful. There are some glimmers of hope in the survey results, for instance, almost 70% of respondents correctly identified the 1930 -1950 period as when the Holocaust happened, 63% knew that ghettos were the parts of town where Nazis forced Jews to live, and 66% correctly said, “annihilation of Jews” when asked “as far as you know, what does ‘“the Holocaust’” refer to?”
Three anti-abortion bills were killed in the House and Insurance Committee on Friday. The bills, introduced by Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose) and Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-CO Springs), were part of the annual tradition where Republican legislators introduce anti-abortion legislation that fails to move forward in the Democrat controlled legislature. Last year, testimony in support of bills aimed at ending abortion and collecting additional medical data on abortion patients died after a 12-hour session. This year, bills to end abortion in Colorado, provide pain medication to fetuses during abortions, and provide information about abortion pill reversal were voted down, eight to three, during nearly seven hours of testimony.
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), alongside Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), has introduced legislation to safeguard medication abortion in states, like Colorado, where abortion remains legal.
