State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis is suggesting the ethics criticism lodged in opposition to her by 5 of her former staffers, and the allegations of mistreatment they’ve shared with the media over the previous yr, are actually a part of a veiled try by Colorado Capitol staffers to get collective bargaining energy.
The Longmont Democrat made that declare in her formal response to the ethics criticism that was filed by 4 of her former legislative aides and a former marketing campaign supervisor by the Political Employees Guild, the union representing Democratic political staffers.
The five-member Senate Committee on Ethics is investigating the criticism and has till later this month to find out whether or not there’s possible trigger to imagine Jaquez Lewis has violated the Senate’s ethics guidelines. The senator’s response is a key a part of making that willpower.
“This criticism is not more than a compilation of incidents unsupported by precise information that are supposed to focus consideration on legitimate common aide points by scapegoating one senator,” Jaquez Lewis wrote in her Jan. 31 response. “I’m being dragged by the mud for political ends. With false allegations, the PWG is utilizing me to showcase its considerations.”
Jaquez Lewis stated the criticism is “stuffed with distortions and falsehoods and may by no means have been assigned to an ethics committee.”
“I perceive that the Political Employees Guild is upset,” she stated. “They need collective bargaining.”
Different highlights from the senator’s response:
ETHICS COMMITTEE SKEPTICAL OF SENATOR’S RESPONSE
The Senate Ethics Committee appeared extremely skeptical of Jaquez Lewis’ response.
Committee Chair Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, known as it “very difficult.”
“This isn’t about different senators,” Gonzales stated Tuesday of Jaquez Lewis’ try to deflect blame. “This isn’t about different workplaces.”
Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat on the Ethics Committee, stated he was alarmed on the lack of contrition in Jaquez Lewis’ response.
“The doc, I don’t assume anyplace comprises any kind of apology,” he stated. “I perceive the senator has each proper to dispute the allegations and supply justification for that, however there isn’t any denying {that a} multitude of aides really feel victimized for a wide range of causes. And there’s no apology for that — that feeling — even when it’s a misunderstanding within the senator’s perspective.”
Roberts stated he was additionally confused easy methods to stability Jaquez Lewis’ earlier public statements in assist of an ethics investigation along with her declare now that the criticism “ought to by no means have been assigned to an ethics committee.”
Jaquez Lewis hasn’t been on the Capitol for the reason that Ethics Committee met Tuesday to assessment her response. She was excused Wednesday and Thursday from the Senate, complicating Democrats’ efforts to go Senate Invoice 3, their marquee gun invoice this session.
The committee subsequent meets at 8 a.m. Tuesday and can spend two hours sifting by the proof in opposition to Jaquez Lewis. It should make a possible trigger willpower by Feb. 20.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: There shall be no Unaffiliated on Tuesday. Take pleasure in your Presidents Day weekend. See you again right here subsequent Friday!
Colorado’s price range shortfall is now $1.1B
Colorado’s looming price range shortfall simply retains getting worse.
Underneath new estimates supplied to the Joint Finances Committee on Wednesday, lawmakers may wish to chop as a lot as $1.1 billion to stability subsequent yr’s price range. That’s up from the ballpark estimate of $1 billion that lawmakers have been utilizing to explain the price range hole in current months.
And the price range image may deteriorate even additional within the coming days.
The Division of Well being Care Coverage and Financing is anticipated to supply new forecasts for Medicaid use, a report that lawmakers concern will exacerbate the state’s monetary woes.
The shortfall report issued Wednesday marks essentially the most full accounting of the price range deficit for the reason that quarterly income forecasts in September. Throughout the December forecasts, legislative analysts pegged the shortfall at $672 million — however that determine didn’t embrace not less than one main expense: the $350 million voters required the legislature to spend on regulation enforcement by Proposition 130.
The most recent forecast additionally components in extra spending permitted by the JBC throughout midyear price range changes, often called supplementals.
Have in mind: When price range writers speak about subsequent yr’s shortfall, they’re referring to what would occur if the state continued “enterprise as standard” within the 2025-26 spending plan. Which means protecting the rising prices of well being care and Okay-12, in addition to giving typical inflationary raises to increased training, state employees and Medicaid suppliers.
If lawmakers don’t change the state’s monetary trajectory with ongoing cuts, Colorado would deplete its $2.1 billion reserve solely by 2029. And that’s if the financial system retains rising.
If the nation descends right into a reasonable recession, the state would run out of cash to pay its payments in the course of the 2026-27 price range yr.
P.S.: Shut readers may discover a discrepancy between the $1.1 billion determine we’re reporting and the $1.3 billion hole talked about within the JBC memo detailing the shortfall.
Throughout Wednesday’s assembly, JBC Workers Director Craig Harper instructed the committee there was a mistake in one of many figures used to estimate future bills. Well being, life and dental insurance coverage prices are solely anticipated to go up $31 million subsequent yr, not $277 million because the memo mistakenly stated. (The $277 million is the overall basic fund price of these advantages, not the year-to-year improve.)
PURPLISH: The billion-dollar price range gap
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OBITUARY
Former state Rep. Rod Bockenfeld, R-Watkins, has died from problems of mind most cancers. He was in his late 60s.
Bockenfeld served three phrases within the Colorado Home, together with a stint on the Joint Finances Committee. He missed a lot of his final yr on the Capitol — 2024 — due to his well being points.
Earlier than being elected to the legislature, Bockenfeld was an Arapahoe County commissioner.
ELECTION 2025
Nicole Hensel, the manager director of New Period Colorado, the liberal nonprofit that seeks to get younger individuals concerned in politics, will run in 2026 to be Jefferson County’s subsequent clerk and recorder.
“Over the previous few weeks, we’ve got watched in horror as communities are torn aside and billionaires take management of our authorities for their very own profit,” the Democrat stated in a written assertion. “We all know that democracy is underneath menace from unchecked energy, corruption and rolling again rights. But additionally there are the quiet forces of standard individuals staying residence as an alternative of turning out, of individuals feeling like nobody is combating for them.”
Jefferson County’s present clerk, Democrat Amanda Gonzalez, is operating in 2026 to be Colorado’s subsequent secretary of state.
PERSONNEL FILE
Joe Jackson, a former govt director of the Colorado GOP and staffer to U.S. Reps. Ken Buck and Greg Lopez, is now working as a senior communications adviser for Republican U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
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Voters are break up on assist of Colorado ban on manufacture, sale of semiautomatic weapons with removable magazines
Registered Colorado voters are break up on their assist of a measure to “ban the manufacture and sale of semiautomatic firearms and shotguns with a detachable journal,” in accordance with the outcomes of a ballot carried out by a conservative agency.
Forty-seven % of these polled stated they assist the laws, whereas 45% stated they oppose it. Six % stated they neither assist nor oppose the measure, whereas 2% stated they have been not sure of their opinion.
The ballot was carried out by Arc Insights, a nationwide pollster that has centered on Republican races and points, which surveyed 603 registered Colorado voters on Feb. 4 and 5. The ballot had a margin of error of 4 share factors. A spokesperson for the pollster stated the group carried out the survey by itself dime and never on any group’s behalf.
Given the margin of error, the assist and opposition for the invoice is statistically tied.
The ballot was geared toward testing the waters on Senate Invoice 3, which might ban the manufacture and sale of sure semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols. The measure is sophisticated, however the Arc Insights questions in regards to the laws, in our view, was a detailed sufficient rationalization of what it might do.
Have in mind: The ballot was carried out earlier than Senate Invoice 3 was considerably watered down within the Colorado Senate early Friday to incorporate a significant exemption. (Particulars right here.)
When damaged down by celebration registration, 79% of Democrats stated they assist the measure, whereas 15% stated they oppose it. For Republicans, simply 17% stated they assist the measure, whereas 74% stated they oppose it. Amongst unaffiliated voters and people registered to 3rd events, 43% stated they assist the measure, whereas 48% stated they oppose it.
The pollster discovered that regardless of the assist for the invoice, solely 20% of these polled thought it might have a “main influence” on decreasing crime in Colorado, whereas 25% stated it might have a “minor influence,” 40% stated it might have “no influence in any respect” and 6% stated they have been not sure of its influence.
When requested their opinion on banning firearms which are used for self protection, “like semiautomatic pistols,” 61% of these polled say they oppose such bans, whereas 29% stated they assist them. (Senate Invoice 3 would solely have an effect on a small variety of handguns.)
Seventy-seven % of these polled stated they oppose banning rifles and shotguns which are used for searching, whereas 15% stated they assist such a ban. (Relying on which rifles and shotguns somebody makes use of for searching, Senate Invoice 3 might or might not have an effect on these weapons.)
In comparison with different points that ought to be addressed by Colorado lawmakers, 36% stated “banning the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic firearms and shotguns with a detachable journal” ought to be a excessive precedence, whereas 20% stated it might be a low precedence and 40% stated it shouldn’t be a precedence in any respect.
Eighty-two % stated they don’t assume criminals would respect Senate Invoice 3 if it passes, whereas 7% stated they’d.
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Corrections & Clarifications
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