At the Colorado Capitol, Lynn Bartels and I were competitors, but from day one, we worked together on 鈥渢eam journalism,鈥� retelling the events of the day with honesty and integrity. Lynn and the Capitol press corps became like family to me as we worked overtime (literally but never officially) to keep the light of transparency cast on the shadows of government.
Bartels was one of three Denver Post reporters with a desk聽directly inside the Colorado Capitol building when I arrived in Denver during the winter of 2012 to cover the legislature and state government for the Colorado Springs Gazette. She was an inspiration and a friend.
The outpouring was astounding, and it came from journalists, politicians and the everyday people she befriended through work, including lobbyists, state employees and the election officials she worked closely with at the end of her career. Lynn ended up on the front lines of election controversies when she left journalism, fighting against President Donald Trump’s election integrity lies and also against Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s approach to election management.
We can honor Lynn this month by supporting her deepest passions in two ways: by casting a ballot in the June 30 primary and by subscribing to a local news source.
Lynn would be smiling now at the reporters scrambling to cover her death and would have loved every second of the breaking news scrum that comes with any good scoop.
As our colleague from Colorado Public Radio, Bente Birkland, put it, 鈥淟ynn could have sharp elbows鈥� in pursuit of a breaking news story. Birkland remembered fondly that, along with her competitiveness, which drove us all to be better and faster, Lynn鈥檚 baked goods and Special K bars sustained us all through relentlessly long nights working during the legislative session.
Lynn knew which office a politician planned to run for before their mother. If you rode the slow Capitol elevators with Lynn, she鈥檇 know your darkest secret and the name of your dog in the time it took to get from the cafeteria basement to the third-floor galleries.
Tim Hoover, Lynn’s partner covering the Capitol for The Post,聽described her as a 鈥渟ingular force鈥� at what she did — building relationships to work the political scene.
In many ways, we had opposite approaches to the job. Lynn was loud and sociable, working her sources for tips about the politics that made the Capitol building churn. I was quiet and reserved, focused on documents and committee meetings to track the policy that would affect Coloradans. But Lynn embraced me and helped me tremendously despite working for competing news outlets.
Lynn was never a budget and bills reporter. She was a politics and people reporter. Combined, we would have made a ferocious team, but we never had the chance to be colleagues. She left The Post in 2015 after a round of layoffs and buyouts, just before I joined The Post抖阴ap opinion team in 2016.
Her departure from The Post didn鈥檛 prevent her from sending me a giant bouquet on my first day at The Post — exactly the kind of thoughtful torture a born extrovert would unintentionally impose on an introvert.
Lynn was simply like that — if she was proud of you, she let you know, and if she was disappointed, well, you鈥檇 hear about that too. But no matter what, she was a deeply kind and caring human.
She left The Post and went to work as the communications director for Secretary of State Wayne Williams. Williams said he was able to visit Lynn before her death and will always cherish her friendship and loyalty.
The transition from newspaperwoman to government flack was not hard for Lynn because she simply refused to relent even an inch. She was still calling to give me tips and suggest sources and column ideas a few months before she fell ill. Hoover said her transition to the more corporate world did include having to learn not to curse like a reporter in the office.
Lynn worked for Williams until he lost the election to Griswold in 2018. Bartels was served her notice during the political transition of the secretary of state鈥檚 office near the holidays and never forgave Griswold.
So I guess if we are truly going to honor Lynn, I鈥檇 suggest subscribing or donating to any local news organization — and voting for anyone except Griswold in Tuesday鈥檚 election.
Megan Schrader is the opinion editor for The Denver Post.
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