Tag: Don Marostica

Rep. Don Marostica knows it when he sees it. The Larimer County Republican raised a ruckus at the state Capitol Friday when he came across an anti-smoking message deemed "so offensive I can't put it up on the screen," Tim Hoover reports in Politics West. Marostica, who sponsored a plan to roll back the state smoking ban at casinos, warned House colleagues not to let young, impressionable aides see the "very inappropriate and offensive material" brought into legislative offices by an anti-smoking lobbyist. Marostica even asked Speaker Terrance Carroll whether an ethics violation had been committed, the Rocky Mountain News reports.

Home to the state's only agricultural university, Rocky Mountain National Park and many ranches, Larimer County has traditionally been a Republican stronghold in Colorado. But, as President George W. Bush's approval ratings play gutterball, the unpopular war in Iraq continues and the economy continues to rock and roll, Larimer County's electorate is starting to swing in a moderate direction with upticks in the number of Democrat and unaffiliated voters. That shift is being eyed by strategists and politicos carefully this year as the northern Colorado county could be one of a handful to play a pivotal role in the November election.

Lawmakers and state officials reacted with a range of surprise, support, dismay and a call for greater accountability in response to The Colorado Independent's findings that, in the five years that Larry Penley has been at the helm of Colorado State University, he has poured money into the administrative and athletics departments, and shifted millions of dollars away from academics and the library system.

Republican Don Marostica is the last freshman legislator from Larimer County to be profiled by Colorado Confidential. He will be representing the 51st House...