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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is a big “local control” guy, as we’ve known for a while. When COVID cases were surging in the spring, plenty of officials, including Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, were calling for statewide restrictions to curb the spread. Polis initially resisted but eventually issued a stay-home order.
Something similar happened before Polis issued the statewide mask order in July, during Colorado’s second wave of rising coronavirus cases: Local officials started requiring mask-wearing well before Polis did, which created a patchwork of regulations that those officials, and some business owners, described as counterproductive and confusing. So he came around, after a little while.
We’re in a third wave now, and it’s instructive to look back on how things went the last two times to predict what could come next. Health officials have been clear that they are worried about rising cases and hospitalizations, which, they told reporters this week, are on track to spike even higher in coming weeks. This is of particular concern as the weather gets colder.
Polis reminded reporters on Tuesday that he favors local control right now — using a scalpel, not a mallet, as he has put it in the past. But he’s also been clear throughout the pandemic that heavier restrictions — the kinds of rules he calls “draconian” — could always be reinstated.
We know Polis doesn’t want to do that, because he’s said so over and over and, logically, what governor would? Closing businesses badly hurts the economy. But if cases continue to rise, it’s entirely possible that local governments will one by one start to bolster their own rules, as Denver did last week, forcing Polis to once again consider broader action.
Elsewhere in this week’s Spot: Saja Hindi offers insight on how Coloradans view various key ballot measures, Justin Wingerter contrasts the campaigns of Lauren Boebert and Cory Gardner, and Conrad Swanson writes on a ticking clock for Denver’s City Council.
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Top Line
Andy Cross, The Denver Post
Former University of Colorado president Bruce Benson at his office June 18, 2019.Bruce Benson’s announcement in the summer of 2018 that he planned to retire as president of the University of Colorado preempted a previously undisclosed attempt by a majority of the Republican-controlled Board of Regents to fire him, according to records obtained by The Denver Post. Reporter Elizabeth Hernandez has the story.
Capitol Diary • By Saja Hindi
Indecision abounds on issues
Millions of dollars have been spent on Colorado’s campaigns supporting and opposing measures on the November ballot, and polling indicates at least some campaigns will have to make a significant push to reach voters in the final weeks.
A survey taken by the University of Colorado Boulder’s American Politics Research Lab shortly before ballots dropped here showed that a significant number of Coloradans still were unsure how to vote on some ballot issues.
Proposition 113, the National Popular Vote Compact, had 49% of survey respondent support and 34% opposed. That left 17% still undecided.
Proposition 118, the paid medical and family leave initiative, however, saw 65% support to 22% opposed. Still, 13% said they were unsure.
The results from the questions about the measure to repeal the Gallagher Amendment, Amendment B, were formulated in two different ways: one with the ballot language included and another with just the description of the measure. In the question with the language included, 44% said they were in favor of it, 20% were opposed and 36% were undecided.
Coloradans will have to make some hard monetary decisions in the next 12 days as state government seeks ways to manage the long-term impact of the current economic recession.
The survey also asked likely Colorado voters whether they expected violence on or after Election Day, and 71% expressed concern.
The survey was conducted online Oct. 5-9, representing 800 Colorado residents, with a margin of error of the likely voter analysis of plus or minus 4.64%.
More Colorado political news
#COSen 2020 • By Justin Wingerter
Nationalizing vs. localizing the election
In the first 20 days of October, Republican congressional candidate Lauren Boebert tweeted about 225 times to her massive following. Of those tweets, 110 were about the presidential race or its candidates, including two references to Hunter Biden’s past drug addiction and one half-jokingly comparing Trump to Christ. Sixty tweets, far fewer, were about her own election.
Ask Republican Sen. Cory Gardner about Trump and he’ll tell you the Bureau of Land Management moved its headquarters here. Ask Gardner about Trump again and he’ll tell you he secured funding for a Pueblo-area water line. Ask Gardner about Trump again and he’ll tell you John Hickenlooper cannot be trusted.
The Republicans in Colorado’s two competitive federal races are framing their races in opposite terms. As Boebert nationalizes her race, Gardner localizes his.
Gardner knows his best chance at re-election is to convince Coloradans to think of him and his opponent as individuals, rather than representatives of their political parties. In an era of rank partisanship and very little ticket-splitting, it’s an almost impossible request of voters.
“For a senator to draw focus away from the president to some of the specific things, issues or services that the senator has provided, it would help if the president wasn’t always making news in a highly partisan and polarizing fashion every day,” David Kimball, a professor of political science and author of the book “Why Americans Split Their Ticket,” told me last month.
The difference between Boebert and Gardner is the difference between running in a district Trump will almost certainly win versus running statewide in a state he will almost certainly lose.
And of course, when you look beyond strategy, Boebert just really, really likes Trump.
More federal election news
Mile High Politics • By Conrad Swanson
Clock is ticking for council on budget changes
Sure, Mayor Michael Hancock gave a little when considering Denver City Council’s requested changes to his 2021 budget. But he only gave so much.
And now council members appear to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
After reviewing Hancock’s draft 2021 budget, the group recommended giving more cash to police reform, inclusionary and housing programs, and parks improvements, among other things.
The money has to come from somewhere, and the council also recommended a few funding sources. The largest two sources were to either suspend the city’s annual payment to its Fair Elections Fund or to draw from the Denver Police Department’s budget for hiring and training new recruits.
Trouble is, it doesn’t appear the council has the requisite nine votes to take cash from either place, Councilman Kevin Flynn said. And Hancock only agreed to take the group’s recommendations if the money comes from the Fair Elections Fund.
If members can’t reach common ground by Nov. 9, the council will — by default — be stuck with Hancock’s proposed budget without the new recommendations.
Let’s take a quick look at the two funding sources and why they’re so tricky.
The Fair Elections Fund comes from a 2018 ballot reform initiative approved by Denver voters. The city contributes just over $2 million each year to the fund — up to $8 million — which will be used to match and multiply donations to municipal candidates.
Taking cash out of this bucket makes sense, Flynn said. First, the city’s allowed to reduce or suspend payments to the fund during times of economic hardship.
And we’re in the middle of an economic recession.
“This is the worst fiscal emergency this city has ever faced,” Flynn said.
Second, according to a bit of number crunching, even if the city continued to make its $2 million annual payments into the fund, that entire $8 million wouldn’t be needed in 2023, when the next set of municipal elections roll around, he said.
“If the publicly financed elections program had been in place for the 2019 cycle, a maximum of $4.3 million would have been spent from the fund,” Flynn said. “There would have been $3.7 million left over.”
So suspending that payment for 2021 would free up just over $2 million that likely wouldn’t be needed in 2023 anyway, Flynn said. But the move takes nine of 13 Council votes.
“I’m not sure there are nine votes now to do this,” he said.
Part of the reason could stem from the other funding source: DPD’s recruit classes.
Cutting from that bucket could generate about $2.7 million, a bit more than the Fair Elections Fund could offer, Flynn estimated.
But there’s a catch. Already, Hancock cut two of the department’s three recruit classes for the year in his proposed budget. Cutting the third class would mean hiring no new police officers in 2021, Flynn said.
That means fewer officers per resident and longer response times, Flynn said. For him, it’s an untenable position.
While some council members have called for defunding the police department, signaling they’d support canceling that final recruit class, Flynn predicts that faction doesn’t have enough votes, either.
So the group appears stuck. Perhaps there’s a third option in there somewhere, but the council doesn’t have much time to figure it out.
More Denver and suburban political news
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