For people, policy and Colorado politics
What’s The Spot? You’re reading an installment of our weekly politics newsletter. .
Heidi Ganahl surely knew the question was coming: Do you accept the 2020 election result as legitimate?
Arguably above any other issue, an answer indicates whether a candidate has faith in the basic function of a democracy they seek to help lead. So it’s no surprise Ganahl, the biggest GOP name in Colorado’s 2022 race for governor, was asked at least three times Tuesday, Day 1 of her campaign.
She didn’t have an answer. The first time she was asked, by The Colorado Sun, she spoke generally about how important it is for people to “have confidence that their vote matters.” The second time, she told The Denver Post she wouldn’t “get into that right now.” The third time, for posing such a “divisive” question.
The question is a litmus test: Will she run as a more moderate Republican who’s willing to say things that might upset the base, or will she run with the base and risk alienating moderates?
Recent history tells us it’s not easy to try to credibly run on both paths. Cory Gardner attempted that when he aligned himself with Donald Trump but ran ads about being bipartisan and independent-minded. Reporters had a lot of questions for him, but he rarely spoke to local media and left a lot unanswered.
The GOP split that Ganahl must navigate will be on display this weekend, when the state party votes on a proposal, led by the far-right, to close its primary process off to all but a few thousand die-hards. Doing that would mean excluding millions of Republican and unaffiliated voters from the GOP primary.
Reporters on Tuesday asked Ganahl what side she’s taking there — another litmus-test question.
Her response? “I’m not going to get into that.”
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Top Line
Aurora’s police department must make changes after a state investigation that found racially biased policing. Read more here.
Capitol Diary • By Saja Hindi
Abortion rights fight
Colorado Attorney General Phi Weiser announced this week that he has signed onto the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit .
“I am committed to defending women’s reproductive rights and equality, and Texas’ new law violates longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent by denying women their constitutionally protected right to make their own health care decisions,” Weiser said in a statement.
Texas Senate Bill 8, which went into effect earlier this month, bans nearly all abortions in the state and allows private citizens to enforce it by giving them the ability to sue anyone who performs an abortion or helps someone to get one (including counseling or giving a ride to a clinic).
Abortion rights groups in Colorado have been preparing for an increase in patients, and advocacy group Cobalt said in the week following the Texas ban, half of the clients the nonprofit helped through its abortion fund were from Texas. The attorney generals’ brief cited impacts to providers across the country, including Colorado.
But the Texas law is not the only challenge in recent years to . Mississippi officials have to keep in place a state law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.
Reproductive rights advocates say cases like these will continue to come up unless Congress takes action. Cobalt and others are supporting the ” which would put the right to abortion access into federal law. Colorado Democrats in Congress have signed onto the legislation as cosponsors.
Other Colorado politics news
- Jared Polis, the first openly gay man to be elected governor in the U.S., marries longtime partner Marlon Reis.
- Democrats would hold an edge at the Colorado statehouse under the latest redistricting map.
- Colorado is preparing to welcome up to 2,000 Afghans in the next six months.
- “9/11 changed everything forever”: Colorado Muslims reflect on 20 years of bias.
Federal Politics • By Justin Wingerter
Judge rules in Lamborn’s favor
A federal judge has sided with U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and agreed to let a court in Colorado handle the lawsuit filed against him by former staffer Brandon Pope.
Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, wanted it here rather than U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, ruled Wednesday that Colorado has “robust connections to this dispute.”
“In short, this case is about a Colorado residentap employment dispute with his Colorado-based employer, who is also a representative of the people of Colorado,” Boasberg wrote.
Pope sued Lamborn in May, alleging he was fired for speaking out about Lamborn’s disregard for COVID-19 safety protocols and the Lamborn family’s personal use of government resources. Lamborn has largely denied the accusations. A hearing had not been scheduled as of Thursday afternoon.
Other federal politics news
- President Joe Biden in Arvada: “We have to make changes to slow climate change now.”
- U.S. House district map No. 3 is out, and there’s a growing consensus around the plan.
- A federal bill could heal Colorado’s oil and gas scars,.
- U.S. Senate candidate Eli Bremer was endorsed by former Colorado U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell,.
Mile High Politics • By Joe Rubino
Mayor’s vaccine
For some members of City Council’s finance and governance committee, it felt like Mayor Michael Hancock’s request that the council allocate $5 million for bonuses for city staff members who complied with his COVID-19 vaccine mandate came out of left field.
On Tuesday, that committee voted to hold Hancock’s request up until their meeting on Sept. 28 to discuss it further rather than send it to the council at large. That second hearing is just two days before the deadline Hancock set for city employees to get their shots, a waiver or face potential discipline.
Council members wondered how the administration arrived at the $400-per-employee amount and what the administration believes is the purpose of these payments. Chief Financial Officer Brendan Hanlon told them it’s about recognition, not providing a last-minute incentive to holdouts.
Councilwoman Robin Kniech took issue with the fact that people who qualified for a religious exemption would get bonuses, saying she’d viewed it as the government paying people for their religion — and the city shouldn’t do that.
“We should be paying people who have active steps to prevent the transmission of COVID,” she said.
More Denver and suburban news
- Paying more for parking and other things in Denver’s 2022 proposed budget.
- What will be left when the Tri-County Health Department unravels?
- Don’t make plans to hop on an Aurora weed tourism bus just yet.
- Did a KKK member live in your Denver home? Find out here.
- The company that cleans up after sweeps in Denver gets an extension.
- Meow Wolf’s the talk of the Front Range — now read how to get there.
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