Seriously, Rep Jason Crow should be listing CPR as an in-kind donor! The amount wasted so far by Longmont residents on FasTracks is $100 million.

Seriously, Rep Jason Crow should be listing CPR as an in-kind donor!

As part of a writing project a while back, I was emailing with a CPR staffer. This individual told me in one of their responses that Public Radio was "perceived" as liberal.

I didn't write this, but I was sorely tempted to reply with, "well, yeah, if by 'perceived' you mean is, then I agree".

Earlier this week, I shared an article that was, if not exactly a campaign ad for Rep Jason Crow by CPR, a hair's breadth from it. This was especially the case for the way the article was PRIOR to my writing CPR to ask about it. See the first link below if you want the context.

The article from that post was published Feb 22nd (a Saturday). The following Thursday (2/27) CPR published another campaign ad for Crow, this one about a campaign rally (oops! I mean "community forum", a nice euphemism for it since its likely purpose was something so noticeable that it stuck out to others in the media--see screenshot 1 attached).

That second article is linked second below.

Read the article. See all the friendly coverage to crow. See his political posturing go completely unchecked.

See the befuddling quote: "On Thursday, the Aurora town hall crowd was friendly. There were no major partisan detractors and Crow received a standing ovation when he took the stage. The crowd clapped at his answers and booed when he mentioned President Trump or Elon Musk’s name."

Befuddling because the phrase "no major partisan detractors" appearing in the same paragraph as "clapped at his [Crow's] answers and booed ...Trump or Elon Musk's name".

Befuddling because this phrase appears in an article where other crowd participants shouted "impeach him" and "lock him up".** Presumably about Trump.

All of this becomes even more glaringly partisan for the Democrat Crow when you put Crow's article next to one about Republican Rep Gabe Evans by a different reporter (see the third link).

Reading the Evans article, you'll notice all that extra "context" added by the CPR reporter, context added after Evans' claims which was completely absent from Crow's claims.

You'll also notice that in an article ostensibly about a newly-elected Republican's first bill, just how very much space is given over to Democrats. Polis is given space in Evan's article.

For Crow? Not a single Republican is quoted.

CPR is welcome to do what they like with their outlet. I have asked and there is very little government money coming in; it's funded mostly by donations. Your money, do what you want.

The frustrating thing to me is that they do things like they did with Crow (twice this week) and Evans and then turn around and preach at me about how what they do is unbiased news.

They remark about being merely "perceived" as liberal.

I hear that, I weigh up the evidence of my senses and what I can find in their "news". The disparity leaves me wondering whether they have achieved levels of obliviousness heretofore unknown to humanity, or whether they're trying to con me.

Neither is that appealing to me frankly. I do not imagine I'm alone in this, but I do imagine that this is a large part of why the media enjoy so little trust. You can only pee down my leg and tell me it's raining so many times before I get suspicious.

**Incidentally, I did write to ask the reporter if there was some misunderstanding about the phrase "no major partisan detractors". I.e. I sought clarification if she meant only detractors against Jason Crow there. As of this writing, I did hear back, but it was a non-answer. I followed up but have not received anything more.

https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/wildfire-insurance-in-colorado-rep?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

https://www.cpr.org/2025/02/27/rep-jason-crow-community-forum/

https://www.cpr.org/2025/02/27/colorado-rep-gabe-evans-first-bill-immigration/

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The amount wasted so far by Longmont residents on FasTracks is $100 million.

That's a stack of 72 bundles of $20 bills each of which is 3" thick, a pile of money 18 feet high.

And they have nothing to show for it.

The Complete op ed below is by a Longmont, CO resident and details how much residents of that city have paid into RTD's FasTracks, the effort which was to bring high speed rail to the city. There is no high speed rail there. There aren't even tracks if I understand it correctly.

The author details what that missing revenue could have been spent on in the 20 years of throwing money into a hole for RTD.

Then the author goes on to detail a better paradigm on transit from Longmont into the Metro Area--a dedicated bus line.

Interesting read and highly recommended.

For my part, I'm not a huge fan of transit in general, especially not when I have to subsidize it. I don't really use it (did some in the past to avoid parking on the Auraria campus when in undergrad), don't plan to use it, and I don't like paying for others to use it.

Still, I don't see any way that politicially I will ever be able to opt out, so better, cheaper options strike me as a good idea. I bet they strike those in Longmont who pay extra with nothing to show for it as a good idea too.

One last connection to make here. Our state is all afire with spending to do rail service to NW Colorado and along the I-25 corridor. I can't help but wonder if these rail efforts (now that Federal priorities have changed with a new administration and Federal pork is not a solid proposition) will end up similar to what happened in Longmont.

Lots of talk and lots of tax and nothing to show for it.

https://completecolorado.com/2025/02/26/100-million-longmont-tax-dollars-down-fastracks-drain/