Since I’m a citizen of the great state of Colorado now, even though I travel most of the time, here’s a Colorado update.
First, Victor Marx, the Colorado Springs megachurch pastor who’s running for Governor after beating a couple of less crazy Republicans, is a complete and total grifter. He’s receive the biggest fine in Colorado history for his campaign finance violations:
Victor Marx, the Republican nominee for Colorado governor, was assessed a fine of $57,647 on Friday by the Colorado secretary of state’s office for accepting campaign contributions in excess of the legal limit.
The fine is believed to be the largest penalty ever assessed by the secretary of state’s Elections Division, which investigated complaints filed against Marx in May and June by Darcy Schoening, a former state GOP official and a persistent Marx critic.
“The scale of the violations are without precedent,” hearing officer Macon Cowles wrote in a 27-page decision in the case issued Friday.
Marx is also proud about beating his wife:
In a 2021 video, for example, Marx, 61, recalled becoming “infuriated” after his wife told him she no longer needed martial arts training because she was married to a Marine black belt.
“She goes, ‘I can handle myself’. I said, ‘You can?’ And I remember grabbing her, slamming her into our front door,” he laughed during an interview on a podcast called Protector Nation.
There’s a lot of skepticism about the current polling that shows Democrats beating Republicans in red states, but my optimism about the midterms is powered in part by watching the Colorado Republican Party absolutely shit the bed with their statewide candidates. They’ve been taken over by grifters like Marx, and grifters like Boebert have moved to uber-safe districts.
That said, there are still issues with Democrats in Colorado. The Front Range has needed high-speed rail for years. A train that links Fort Collins at the northernmost point with Colorado Springs at the southernmost point is almost a no-brainer. I-25, the highway that links the same points, is always congested. There’s a ballot measure that will appropriate money for a Front Range train, but:
About 800,000 ballots in Colorado incorrectly include Issue 7A. That’s the measure to create a sales tax aimed at supporting Front Range Passenger Rail, the proposed regional train service between Pueblo and Fort Collins known as CoCo. The mistake affects some — not all — ballots in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, and Weld counties.
The Front Range Passenger Rail District apologized in a letter to the four county clerks offices for a lack of communication that led to the error.
The affected ballots are still valid and should be used to vote as usual, though the Secretary of State said only residents of the district will have their vote on this issue counted. The Secretary of State's office said it is in close communication with the Colorado County Clerk’s Association and has provided guidance to the counties on how to properly administer this ballot issue.
This is an issue with Democrats because, obviously, there aren’t a lot of Republicans chomping at the bit to have a train going anywhere.
It might not be fair, and it might not be right, but as a Democrat, I expect Democrats to be flawless with ballot measures. We’re the kids who sat at the front of the class and raised our hands every time we knew the answers to any question. Let’s act like it.
Kyle Clark, one of the best local journalists in the US, has a commentary on this that I think makes a lot of sense:
