The Colorado State Fair is open for business… but so is the State Capitol because lawmakers are having to sweat it out (literally, there’s no AC in the capitol building) as they come up with a leaner budget. There are a lot of budgetary issues facing many Coloradans. There’s the state budget, and some programs we’re used to will be cut, and then in Denver, 169 people were laid off. These two budgetary issues are where we start this week’s Colorado Inside Out.

Colorado’s Special Legislative Session is Underway: State legislators are back at work this week as Colorado faces an $800 million budget shortfall. Before the session even started, more than two dozen bills had been introduced with ways to help with cuts to spending. There’s a lot of finger-pointing regarding how we got into this situation, and as Denver’s former Director of Planning Laura Aldrete says: “This is a moment for us to open our checkbook and balance our budget and make some difficult decisions.”

• Denver Post Columnist Krista Kafer likens what is needed at the special session to an intervention: “There are lots of places to cut. The legislature has been spending wildly over the last couple of years. They’ve hired 7,000 people, started new programs, all kinds of things. What the legislature really needs to be doing with the state in general is setting priorities and funding those priorities.”
• Media Consultant Chris Rourke commends State Senator Dylan Roberts of Senate District 8 for bringing forth a bill that “would have put a pause on Colorado’s Wolf Reintroduction program and cut about 12.5% from the program’s budget, redirecting it to health care priorities. It’s disappointing because this bill got gutted… because Governor Polis threatened to veto this piece of legislation because he said he didn’t want to hold up the reintroduction.”

Denver’s First Mass Layoffs Since 2011: 169 city employees lost their jobs this week, and more than 650 vacant positions were eliminated, and 92 workers were transferred to other departments to help Denver deal with a $250 million shortfall. Laura Aldrete comments on remarks made by Denver Mayor Johnston after the layoffs were announced: “The mayor said this week, ‘I never wanted this part of the job.’ This is the job. The job is to oversee the management of the city and the budget and the people.”

• Patty Calhoun: “Mayor Johnston has been in office two years… you would hope over two years he’d had the chance to really look into these departments. And remember, for the last 12 years, we’ve almost doubled the number of people who work for the City of Denver. Some of that wasn’t him. But he’s had time to figure out which offices are working, where the inefficiencies are. It’s a shame that it happened the way it did. Good thing they just put in a new city attorney because I think she’ll be really busy with the lawsuits that are going to come from those who lost their gigs.”
• Chris Rourke: “One cut that really caught my attention was at the transportation department. We’re talking maintenance of streets, traffic control, and safety in general. Isn’t that a priority? Shouldn’t that be funded? I was on Colorado Inside Out two weeks ago and I said, when it comes to the $950 million Vibrant Denver Bond measure coming up, voters want to know where the money goes, but they also want to be able to trust the people that are spending it. I’m not sure where there.”

Immigration Policy Clash

Colorado and Denver remain at odds with the federal government over immigration enforcement. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has threatened to withhold funds if the state and city do not allow closer cooperation with ICE, warning “we will come after you” if they resist. Chris Rourke talks about the reaction from Governor Polis: “Jared Polis responded by saying ‘we’re not a sanctuary state.’ What are you saying? How are we not a sanctuary state? We have state and local law enforcement not allowed to hold people based on immigration status. We have local law enforcement not able to share information on the immigration status of people. And we have no agreements with ICE to hold people based on their immigration status. So, when we don’t have any kind of agreement or cooperation with what the federal government is doing, then I don’t think that we can make the case that we’re not a sanctuary state.”

• Krista Kafer questions how well-read federal officials are on the U.S. Constitution: “There’s something called the 10th Amendment which says anything that is not specifically in the Constitution regarding what the federal government is supposed to do, then those things go to the states and local law enforcement, including how immigrants are handled by local law enforcement. Period. They have absolutely no right to tell states what they’re going to do. Should police work with ICE? I think that’s something that should be discussed by legislators and determined there.”

Election Integrity and Mail-In Voting: Former President Trump has renewed calls to end mail-in balloting, labeling it “corrupt.” Colorado’s system — in place since 2013 — is widely seen as the national model. Laura Aldrete mentions how Colorado’s election administration is Gold Star Standard: “All-mail voting does three things. It provides access to all, which I think is the number one issue for the Trump Administration… he does not want access for all. Two, it has great accuracy and three, it’s secure. Colorado and Denver have worked diligently to create our systems that provide these three elements.”

• Patty Calhoun points out that there was no proven election fraud in November 2020, as claimed by the Administration: “There could have been little problems that happened in any election, but outright fraud rigging? No. And regarding Trump… when he’s not beating us up over immigrants… yesterday he was texting about crooked Colorado politicians who kept poor Tina Peters in prison. Let’s remember that Tina Peters actually broke Colorado’s rules by allowing an outsider into a system she was supposed to be operating in Mesa County. So, the hypocrisy is horrifying. But our election system is one of the things that is working in this country.”
• Krista Kafer goes back to the Constitution: “Here’s the thing… the 10th Amendment. Once again, states decide how we do our elections. How dare you try to come in and change that? We do it this way for a reason. You want to lobby all the Coloradans and say, if we can’t change it, fine. You can try to do that. But you will not do this by force. You will not do this by threats. We do our own elections.”

The best of the week, aside from the adorable baby lion cubs at the Denver Zoo (check out a live webcam of their den), is that the weather is about to cool down… a lot! So enjoy, Colorado, and here’s to the weather finally helping those on the Western Slope who are fighting the wildfires!