CPW and Governor Polis' "Colorado for All" in practice. The arrogance of Colorado's one party rule. Attorney General Weiser's latest hire to help rural Colorado.
CPW and Governor Polis' "Colorado for All" in practice.
Some of Polis' appointees to the CPW board (hell, some of his appointees in general), don't have a good sense as to when to talk and when to not.
Right in the middle of a fight over his most recent appointees to CPW's board, one of the current board members, Jay Tutchton, a Polis appointee to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission representing Outdoor Recreation, Parks Utilization and Nonconsumptive Wildlife, popped off at the mouth recently and made some tone deaf/insulting comments.
This comes right on the heels of one the Senate Ag committee giving two of his 3 most recent appointees an unfavorable recommendation to the Senate (where one appointee resigned his appointment and the other two cleared a Senate vote by some of the more loyal Democrats).
I'll leave it to you to read through what this "gentleman" said, but suffice it to say what we're looking at is yet another extremist appointment, we're getting another glimpse of what Governor Polis' "Colorado for All" means in practice.**
Want some good news? Tutchon will soon face his own committee hearing about his reappointment to the board. He'll have to stand in front of the same people he called "whiny politicians" and justify himself.
I hope they don't go easy on him: everyone is entitled to their thoughts on wolves, wolf reintroduction, and etc. But when you are on a board charged with weighty decisions and representing a diverse group of Coloradans, it is expected that you behave better and have more sense than this.
And as for our governor, I repeat what I've said more than once. It is possible to have views from all over Colorado on boards without picking fire-breathing extremists. One merely needs to look outside your group of rabid supporters, political cronies, and friends of friends.
**Note, Gov Polis' "Colorado for All" does not include conservatives, anyone living East of I-25, anyone in actual production Ag, anyone who has ever met the constituency they're supposed to represent on a board, and JeffCo is a major oil producing county for the purposes of this offer.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/wildlife-commission-controversy-continues-gabel/article_e544ab90-e348-11ee-b1c4-03902416054d.html
The arrogance of Colorado's one party rule.
One thing that has been near to top of mind for me lately, this Assembly session especially, has been the arrogance that the Democrats running this state have displayed.
In some sense, it's not terribly new. Anyone that's watched even a little politics the last couple years has seen it.
I think the novel aspect here is the degree of it; the Democrats in the capitol are not just thumbing their nose at their traditional political opponents/rivals, they are starting to thumb their nose at independents and those who don't automatically meet their policy with a negative reaction (including some journalists who traditionally hold similar values).
I did an op ed for Complete on the topic and I flesh out more of my ideas there along with a couple bills (one as of this writing introduced, the other not) that exemplify this sort of attitude.
More in the link below.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/03/16/gaines-arrogance-colorado-one-party-rule/
Attorney General Weiser's latest hire to help rural Colorado...
The Durango Herald article below is a profile of Attorney General Phil Weiser's latest hire--a former prosecutor out of the 6th judicial district (see the map at the top).
According to the article below, "[Attorney Christian] Champagne accepted a senior counsel position in Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office. He will advise and support rural district attorneys statewide."
Fair enough. Tiny rural areas of this state could indeed use some help. Except, I wonder what kind of help they'll get.
Consider this other quote from further down:
"Of the things he’s [Champagne] most proud of, he said the District’s Attorney’s office has reduced court cases filed in the 6th Judicial District by 36%. 'The criminal justice system generally, I've always felt, is sweeping up too many good people into the system,” he said. “And that was one of my major goals in becoming a district attorney, was trying to reduce the overall size and impact of the criminal justice system.' He said the work so far is a sign of success, but the work toward better outcomes continues."
I wonder if the people he'll be "helping" will share his enthusiasm for reducing the size and impact of the criminal justice system.
I wonder if they'll be as jazzed about reducing court cases filed.
To be fair, further on in the article Mr. Champagne does talk about seeking justice for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and says one of the things he was most proud of was a murder conviction he got in the Mark Redwine case. See the second link below for more context there.
Still and all, when I see quotes like that above I can't help but wonder. I can't help but wonder what kind of assistance he'll offer, what he thinks his role will be.
I can say that he'll likely fit right in with the office culture that an uber-progressive like Weiser has created.
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/christian-champagne-recounts-triumphs-before-moving-to-next-role/
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/colorado-father-sentenced-to-prison-for-killing-13-year-old-son-dylan-redwine/
Related:
In my opinion problems with crime are not a simple case of the laws not being strict enough.
They are a case of some prosecutors dropping the ball and/or being soft on prosecutions (see the above).
They are a case of the judiciary being soft on bail.
They are a case of letting violent offenders out of jail early.
That is, it's not one thing, but a symphony of them all working together.
The article deals with the second of the cases above. It's a look at how Colorado's judges are assessing defendant risks and issuing bonds.
Worth a read.
https://www.cpr.org/2024/03/05/is-there-a-better-way-than-how-colorado-currently-issues-bonds-assesses-suspect-risk/