The Colorado Independent

Government Accountability/Reform

Gessler Taps Auditor to Examine Spending at Heart of Ethics Complaint

By | 05.22.13 | 7:21 am

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler appears to have had himself audited. In a witness list he sent Tuesday to the parties involved in an investigation of his discretionary spending last year, Gessler included the name of accountant Kevin Collins.

Colorado Officials Decline to Detail How Dunlap Would Be Executed

By | 05.21.13 | 4:46 pm

While political observers speculate on the factors shaping Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s thinking on whether or not to prevent the execution later this summer of convicted murderer Nathan Dunlap, civil libertarians are demanding to know how the procedure would be carried out.

Weld County Board Renews Decision to Ban Plan B at Health Clinics

By | 05.08.13 | 6:28 pm

Colorado’s Weld County Board on Monday renewed a 2010 policy that prevented county health clinics funded by the federal Title X women’s health program from dispensing Plan B emergency contraception to their mostly young and low-income patients.

On Hot-Button Election-Reform Bill, It’s Gessler Versus the Clerks

By | 05.01.13 | 12:14 am

DENVER — Colorado’s Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler arrived late to testify at the Senate committee hearing, but he came prepared. A practiced courtroom lawyer, he began slowly. He threw in folksy asides. He answered his own rhetorical questions. And he smiled at the majority-Democratic committee members as he railed against the election-reform bill they all support and that he wants desperately to derail. It was a dramatic moment in Colorado politics that had been building since Gessler took office two years ago.

Pueblo Treatment Center Draws Scrutiny for Alleged Teen Solitary Policies

By | 04.19.13 | 2:33 pm

A residential teen treatment center in Pueblo, Colorado, is under fire for housing children in prolonged solitary confinement.

Ebel Friend: Suicide Note Shows Parolee ‘Ruined’ by Solitary, Bent on Revenge

By | 04.11.13 | 10:12 am

About two weeks before his death, Evan Ebel — suspect in last month’s murders of pizza delivery man Nate Leon and Colorado corrections chief Tom Clements — wrote a suicide note to a longtime friend who says Ebel was unhinged by his abrupt release from solitary confinement and seeking revenge for years of humiliation and torture behind bars.

TCI Editor Greene on Democracy Now Talks Evan Ebel, Solitary Confinement, Indy Media

By | 04.05.13 | 11:04 am

Colorado Independent Editor Susan Greene appeared Friday morning on Democracy Now with hosts Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, who are in Denver this weekend for the National Conference on Media Reform and broadcasting from Denver’s public-access Open Media Foundation studio. The three discussed the Colorado gun violence that has regularly made national headlines over the last few years and months, including the recent shooting of Tom Clements, head of the state’s department of corrections.

Obama in Colorado Looks to Bolster Support in Gun Violence Debate

By | 04.03.13 | 7:11 pm

DENVER– President Obama traveled to Colorado Wednesday looking to generate new momentum for the effort in Washington to pass national gun-control laws.

‘He Was Freaking’: Friend Says Clements Suspect Flailed from Years of Isolation

By | 03.26.13 | 10:08 am

DENVER– In the weeks before his death, Evan Ebel, suspected killer of Colorado Department of Corrections Director Tom Clements, had broken ties with white supremacist prison gang 211 Crew and was debilitated by the transition from prolonged isolation to social contact, according to a friend and former fellow inmate.

Slain Colorado Corrections Chief Clements No Friend to Prison Culture Inertia

By | 03.21.13 | 9:21 am

Prison work is an insular occupation. Corrections officials tend to inhabit a culture unto themselves– tight-lipped, low profile and tough as nails. Tom Clements was an exception.