Colorado Inside Out is recorded every Thursday afternoon ahead of its release online and the Friday night airing on PBS12. Sometimes, big news breaks after our show is “put to bed” that we wish we could’ve reacted to, and that happened this week with the U.S. Supreme Court issuing a slew of rulings to close out its session.

There are still many other topics, specific to Coloradans, that we address this week. Here’s the gist of our conversation:

Geopolitical Tensions and Colorado’s Strategic Role: Ongoing conflict in the Middle East — particularly U.S. bombings in Iran and ceasefire efforts between Iran and Israel — has put Colorado on high alert, since our state is home to some of the U.S. military’s most critical infrastructure, including Buckley Space Force Base, Schriever and Peterson Space Force, and NORAD. Axios Denver’s Alayna Alvarez reports, “All of those could be viewed as strategic targets, if tensions escalate.” Her article also covers Governor Polis’s response. Read more: Axios Denver.

• Kristi Burton Brown, Executive Vice President at Advance Colorado and former Chair of the Colorado Republican Party, shares why she countered CD6 Rep. Jason Crow online following his concern that Congress wasn’t privy to intelligence before the strikes: “It’s very counter to America’s best interests to involve Congress in a big public discussion in a targeted strike. There’s a reason we used stealth bombers. There’s a reason we didn’t announce we were doing this to the world before we did it. So, I think Congressman Crow’s opinion on that was shortsighted and kind of partisan. And it used to be that when we had these targeted strikes against a country that poses a threat to the United States, Americans would gather together and say it’s a good idea for the U.S. to show strength to the world.”
• Eric Sondermann, Colorado Politics Columnist: “For their courage, for their precision, for their immense skill. We can have debates about whether the strategy was right or how effective the strikes were. Time will tell. But there is no denying the service delivered by those wonderful Americans.”
• Tyrone Glover, Civil Rights and Criminal Defense Attorney: “These aren’t just pieces on a chessboard getting moved around… there’s a real human cost. While we guess what’s going to happen next militarily, I would just say we should not lose sight of just the effect that this is having on communities.”

A Big Week for Big Legal Decisions: Aside from the Supreme Court rulings, Governor Polis faced a setback when a Denver District judge blocked him from making a specific group of state employees comply with ICE subpoenas for personal information of sponsors of undocumented children. The Director of Labor in Colorado is the one who sued to keep those employees from providing this private information.

• Alayna Alvarez, Axios Denver: “State law limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities in non-criminal matters, which is the case with this subpoena. The ruling says complying with this subpoena would violate state law.” Read more: Axios Denver.
• Tyrone Glover: “This opens the door to if Governor Polis tries to compel somebody else, they can file a similar motion asking for a similar injunction. And now the way that Judge Jones has ruled in Denver District Court will be informative to things going forward.”
• Kristi Burton Brown: “I think this situation actually paints a picture of the problem with Colorado sanctuary state laws. You have the Governor constantly saying ‘we’re not a sanctuary state in any way, shape or form.’ And a judge basically said, ‘yes, you are… the reason you can’t force the Department of Labor to reveal this information to ICE is because your own state law says you can’t. If you didn’t have that sanctuary state law in place, you could protect these kids.’”

Douglas County Home Rule Referendum Defeated: In a special election, voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure to become a home rule county, seeking greater independence from the state.

• Tyrone Glover: “It was quite a resounding response. Seventy-one, almost seventy-two percent of voters said no to this measure. That’s the difference between local control and controlled by a few locals. Folks in Douglas County, they’re smart, they’re intelligent. They saw through this. This was a rushed-behind-closed-doors power grab. And they hit the brakes about as decisive as you can in an election.”
• Eric Sondermann: “My criticism of their campaign is if you’re going to ask voters to make that kind of move, you have to make a convincing case of why the status quo is broken. And before you can even sell them on what your solution is, you need to get voters to buy into the fact that what they have now is broken.”
• Alayna Alvarez: “We look at voter registration data and yes, Republicans lead Democrats by fifteen percent. But state figures show unaffiliated voters are the plurality at forty-nine point four percent. So, the framing of this measure by the Republican County Commissioners as their answer to push back against the Democratic-led State Capitol clearly didn’t work.”

Big Anniversary Just as Denver Pride Gets Started: Thursday, June 26 marked the tenth anniversary of same-sex marriage legalization in the U.S. Despite the jubilation from a decade ago, challenges remain for the LGBTQ+ community. Corporate sponsorships are down for Denver Pride and there are concerns about funding cuts to a crisis hotline specifically for the LGBTQ+ community.

• Kristi Burton Brown: “The transgender aspect of it has gotten so much focus right now and remains almost the centerpiece, and is damaging the rest of that community. I think specifically when you look at the push to allow men in women’s sports and the repudiation of that, both in public polls and at the Supreme Court, I think that has really put a damper on things that other people in that community try to do.”
• Eric Sondermann: “I think Kristi’s analysis of the impact of the transgender issue is on target and it’s created some degree of backlash. And those issues really need to be pulled apart. As the father of a gay son, now a gay adult… hooray for that Supreme Court decision ten years ago, a momentous decision in my lifetime.”
• Alayna Alvarez: “This year, Denver Pride donors decreased from sixteen to eleven. Nissan, Target, Verizon and Walmart names are no longer appearing on the sponsor website. Other big names that decreased their level of giving include Starbucks, JPMorgan Chase, and Cupcake Wines. This is part of a national movement of corporate America reining in their promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion events. It matters because it puts at risk critical services and efforts for LGBTQ individuals funded through these sponsorships. Interestingly, one top-level sponsor standing firm is Molson Coors.”
• Tyrone Glover: “We need to stand united. The political or corporate wins are sort of fleeting and tenuous. They will change. But if we stand united and stand together, we’ll get through it.”

I just think Tyrone is exceptional in pulling back the layers of issues to get to the heart of them. What more is there to say after his call for us to support one another. Have a good weekend everyone and be kind to one another. 😊