Colorado civil unions battle reanimated old-school Christian right

DENVER– Opposition to a gay-rights civil union bill defeated here last month was directed in large part by Colorado Springs-based evangelical empire Focus on the Family and the Colorado Catholic Conference. The Christian-right campaign, however, also reenergized a leading anti-gay rights activist organization of the 1990s, influential rough-and-tumble group Colorado for Family Values.

Colorado county clerks baffled by Gessler ‘non-citizen voter registration’ claims

“I really have no idea what he is talking about,” Republican Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Sheila Reiner told the Colorado Independent.

Judge smacks Gessler in issue committee case

Denver District Court Judge Bruce Jones on Tuesday smacked down Secretary of State Scott Gessler in a topsy-turvy campaign finance trial that saw two government watchdog groups defending the Colorado Constitution against the man sworn as state head of elections to uphold it.

Gessler’s office shrugs off call for fed probe as ‘congressmen playing politics’

Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler made national news this week by filing a lawsuit to stop Denver County, and by extension all Colorado counties, from mailing ballots to the state’s “inactive” voters. The case drew the attention of voter-rights defender US Reps Charles Gonzalez of Texas and Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, who wrote a letter asking the justice department to investigate. The congressional letter (embedded below) is just the latest alarmed response to Gessler’s lawsuit, which has featured howls from the local and national press, complaints from voter activist groups and legal push-back from Denver and Pueblo county election officials. At the eye of the storm, Gessler communications staff has been mostly hunkered down and silent on the matter, spokesperson Rich Coolidge surfacing at last today in a Texas newspaper to dismiss the congressional concerns as political gamesmanship.

Wall Street Journal wrong: Caldara anti-‘Obamacare’ initiative not yet approved

Wall Street Journal columnist Stephen Moore reveled this weekend in the fact that he could “add Colorado to the list of states that are saying to ObamaCare: not here, thank you.” Moore reported that Colorado Secretary of State Bernie Buescher…

Top Colorado primary race results may be hazy for weeks

** Updated below with new numbers

The hot primary contests for U.S. Senate pitting Michael Bennet against Andrew Romanoff on the Democratic side and Ken Buck against Jane Norton on the Republican side may not be decided until well after…

Steadman bill looks to limit lobbyist abuses, conflicts of interest

State Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, says the timing of his bill meant to clean up lobbying practices at the state Capitol is purely coincidental and not related to recent ethics allegations or any one case in particular. Steadman says Senate Bill 87 stems from the 15 years he spent as a lobbyist and his inside knowledge of best practices.

Is Colorado the next Florida?

First there was Florida. Then there was Ohio. Will Colorado be next?

The state’s got a brand new voter database system, the longest ballot in the nation, and hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations to contend with, all of which raise the specter of chaos at the polls come November. And while elections officials maintain that Colorado can pull off its elections without a hitch, several voter watchdog groups say otherwise.