Is Ms. Peif from Complete "vexatious", esp after winning her open records lawsuit? Rep Woodrow bringing DC swampiness home to CO. And CO Dems' past gun policy just brings more.
Is Sherrie Peif from Complete Colorado a vexatious CORA requestor? An open letter to every single member of the General Assembly and Polis.
I am not sure if you've been following it, but Complete Colorado's Sherrie Pief has been doggedly pursuing information about collusion and swampiness in policy creation between the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, some legislators, and progressive advocacy groups.
The fight's gone all the way to District Court and a judge recently ruled that the records custodian must release the records they were withholding.
There is more detail and some background in the Complete Colorado article linked at the very bottom.
When I read the article in light of what the Assembly has recently done with regard to open meetings law and records requests, it got me wondering.
Do you suppose the custodian would have liked to label Ms. Peif as vexatious and be done with her?
That, combined with a healthy dose of frustration at the Assembly's recent actions spurred an open email to every single member of the Assembly (because truly the votes here are not falling along party lines) and our governor.
That email follows.
An open email with some simple questions for each and every Assembly member and our governor
Hello to all,
I recently read the article linked below about the odyssey undertaken to get public records by Complete Colorado's Sherrie Peif.
What lessons can we find in her months-long struggle fighting the discretionary powers of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing's records custodian in an attempt to figure out the connection between that office and policy initiatives coming out of the Assembly?
What kinds of lessons can we find in my own experience asking questions that the press people (at both DOLA and CDPHE's Office of Gun Violence Prevention) seemingly didn't want to answer? Questions that left me only the option of CORA requests to find out who was getting taxpayer money as grants and what they were using it for?
Would either I or Ms. Peif be considered vexatious? Should we be throwing up roadblocks and increasing a custodian's ability to withhold records at their own discretion? Should the Assembly be hiding what they do beyond how much they already do?
Regardless of issue or politics the media and the general public clearly use and value access to information about what their government is doing. Your recent votes to curtail that and put up barriers send a real clear message to Coloradans; it is you thumbing your nose at the people you are supposed to serve.
Cory Gaines
Lifelong Colorado Resident
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/03/08/peif-judge-orders-colorado-health-agency-to-turn-over-emails/
Bringing the DC swamp home to Colorado ....
The first link below details how Colorado Rep Steve Woodrow's bill from 2022 will likely net him some significant money in a coming court case he's working on as a lawyer.
I'll leave it to you to read up on the bill and on the details of lawsuit Rep Woodrow is pressing.**
It's enough for me here to note that what he did is not illegal, and that it is swampy as hell.
Sadly this has been a repeated theme for the folks running this state these last few years: nothing illegal, just swampy as hell.
I present you with four examples below. The first is the Woodrow article. The second is another piece by Complete which details how the husband of (Federal) Rep Brittany Pettersen got a fat contract from her friends in JeffCo, the third is yet another piece from Complete about how Complete is going to court to see what role outside groups are playing in health policy here which the state is dilligently working to hide, and the last is about the attempts by First Gentleman Reis to use his influence in the arrest (for animal cruelty charges) of his friend and former Polis appointee to the State Vet Board Ellen Kessler.
I can't help but wonder if these sorts of things are echoes of the "Blueprint", the moneyed Democrats' takeover of Colorado politics via creating a political machine in this state which works from the local on up to the state level. Whatever they are, I hope you join me in thinking this is not how our state should be working.
Depending on what and where you read, you might see occasional articles about how our state should pay legislators more and/or move to having a full time legislature.
I ask you if you think such things are a wise choice given what we've already seen here and elsewhere. Do we want to invite more chances for what we see happening in DC to happen here? More than we're already having?
A part time legislature, one not composed of professional politicians, is not a guarantee, but swampiness would get worse if we further disconnect our politicians (of either party) from the everyday business of making a living and being mixed in with everyday Coloradans.
Leave the swamp in DC.
**I think that a quote from the article is worth special mention:
"According to Madsen [Shayne Madsen, director of the Political Law Center at the Independence Institute, which runs Complete Colorado] this kind of legislation will only hurt Colorado in the long run. 'This same kind of law is in effect in California where businesses and their attorneys report that such consumer claims are routinely added to all litigation against businesses, resulting in a dramatically increased caseload to the courts and in costs to businesses,' Madsen said."
Slowly, but surely and inexorably, the Democrats are indeed turning this state to California with the attendant economic and other consequences to follow.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/03/01/steven-woodrow-payday-law-legislature/
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/01/15/husband-of-rep-brittany-pettersen-lands-hefty-jefferson-county-consulting-gig-questions-swirl-around-process/
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/06/26/complete-colorado-takes-state-health-agency-to-court-over-withheld-public-records/
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/governor/former-polis-appointee-to-colorado-vet-board-pleads-guilty-to-animal-cruelty-charge/article_3e231094-36fb-11ee-8e85-f7c31be365b8.html
The Democrats are bringing gun lawsuits home to Colorado.
The previous post was about how the Colorado Democrats are bringing home DC swampiness to Colorado. This one is about how they're bringing home gun control lawsuits as well.
Colorado has, now that the demographics here have shifted and there is no longer as high a price to pay for anti-gun policy, become a haven and laboratory for gun control legislation either pushed or aided by national groups.
Consider as an example the 2023 law that expanded the ability of Coloradans to sue gun makers for someone using their product to commit violence. See the CPR article linked first below for context.
I was thinking about this law when I read a recent Reload** article which I linked to second below.
Depending on your internet and when you attempt to read it, you may find that the Reload article is behind a paywall, so I'll summarize it for you.
The article is about how a gun kit/parts manufacturer (Polymer 80) recently settled a few lawsuits over it's products. Various municipalities, such as Washington DC, have sued the company with varying legal theories.
Lawsuits against gun manufacturers in the past have largely been unsuccessful because of a federal law preventing lawsuits against gun manufacturers, but that hasn't stopped some gun control groups aligning with municipal governments from trying.
Enter the new Colorado law and the Democrats' (and the AG Phil Weiser's) friendly relationship with national gun control groups. I would not at all be surprised to see a suit against Polymer 80 (or another kit maker) here in the future.
Part of me wants to blame them for settling because I think it invites more lawsuits (my dad has told me more than once about how the engineering malpractice insurance company that his firm hired would let about 1 lawsuit per year go to trial to make sure the hungry plaintiff's attorneys wouldn't get the idea that repeated lawsuits meant repeated settlements), but part of me understands the plight that manufacturers like them face.
Politicians and gun control advocates face roadblocks in trying to implement their policy and turn increasing to the courts. Thus you get "lawfare" like this: badger and nibble away at someone, keep them busy paying attorneys and settlements and effectively end them without the messy (and normal) legislative process.
Lawfare that the policy choices of those running this state have teed up in recent years.
**If firearms and/or gun control are a passion, consider subscribing. They send out a newsletter weekly and you can keep tabs on national-level gun policy and court cases.
https://www.cpr.org/2023/04/11/colorado-gun-bills-firearms-manufacturers-liability/
https://thereload.com/analysis-the-new-trend-of-combatting-ghost-guns-through-settlements-member-exclusive/