Tag: Independence Institute

  Former Colorado lawmaker and Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament understands why people want more information about the genetically engineered food products they’re eating, but he...

  Jon Caldara, the controversial president of the Independence Institute free-market think tank in Colorado, has succeeded in doing what many might see as...

DENVER -- Conservative political groups hosted a training session at the on Tuesday night for citizens looking to testify on legislation at the Capitol this year.

DENVER -- Frustrating, heartbreaking, disappointing, even devastating — words heard all over the hotel ballroom here where supporters of Amendment 66 gathered to watch the votes come in. What no one said aloud, but what was smuggled into the phrase “we came up short,” was the question How did it go so terribly wrong?

While many politicians are playing it safe, saying it is too soon to talk about gun laws or saying they don’t want to “politicize” the Colorado and now Wisconsin shootings, Democratic U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter have been outspoken about their desire for more stringent regulation.

In Colorado, organizing, infrastructure and fundraising within the Democratic Party and progressive organizations are the stuff of legend. The story of how liberal mega-millionaires and single-minded cooperation on the left turned this formerly solid red state to purple and blue have been told and retold for years. The story of coordination among conservatives groups, however, and the way millions of dollars each election cycle slosh to candidates and causes on the right has received relatively scant attention.

Election-year gun-rights debate visited the capitol again Monday when the Senate Veteran and Military Affairs Committee considered two bills aimed at firming up citizen rights to use guns at the workplace for defense and in times of state-declared emergencies. After two hours or so of testimony, the bills were killed on party-line votes in the Democrat-controlled committee.

Despite the demise of a bill to increase the percentage of votes needed to pass a voter initiated constitutional amendment in the Legislature this year, grassroots advocates recently voiced their opposition to the move they see as part of a trend by legislators to limit the power of the people.

Tea Party and Koch-funded libertarian organizations took to the Capitol steps Friday in an attempt to call on Colorado legislators and politicians to fight against union rights in Wisconsin and voice their commitment to Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan.

In the wake of the contentious health care reform legislative battle waged in the media and on the political stump most of last year and this year, health insurance premiums are rising in Colorado. State Insurance Commissioner Marcy Morrison has been fielding phone calls from angry consumers and wants to be clear: Insurance companies are hiking rates just as they have been doing consistently for years and not because of "Obamacare."