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But Colorado is unique in that town and cities in the state have been able to vote locally on whether to overturn this ISP-lobbying-for-law Once again Colorado

But Colorado is unique in that town and cities in the state have been able to vote locally on whether to overturn this ISP-lobbying-for-law Once again Colorado has impressed me on the level of pragmatism they show in their state laws. They have been looking very politically healthy compared to the rest of the US, in my opinion, and I think it is going to pay off for them in the near future.

germinalphrase 9y ago
Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hickenlooper develop a more significant national profile.
- jbuzbee 9y ago
  I lost a lot of respect for Hickenlooper after he waffled on a death penalty decision pushing it off for the next governor. I could have accepted a decision in either direction, but he chose to not make a decision at all. When you are elected the top official in the State, you're expected to make hard decisions. He failed. http://www.denverpost.com/2013/05/22/nathan-dunlap-granted-temporary-reprieve-by-governor/ http://www.denverpost.com/2013/05/22/nathan-dunlap-granted-t...
  - Zamicol 9y ago
    And the red light bill with a head scratcher veto. https://www.colorado.gov/gov-hickenlooper-vetoes-%E2%80%9Cred-light-camera%E2%80%9D-bill https://www.colorado.gov/gov-hickenlooper-vetoes-%E2%80%9Cre...
    - mkopinsky 9y ago
      His explanation is at https://www.colorado.gov/governor/sites/default/files/legislative_actions/veto_letter_-_hb_16-1231.pdf https://www.colorado.gov/governor/sites/default/files/legisl...
sliverstorm 9y ago
To me it looks like a somewhat balanced mix of liberals and conservatives, both with a bit of a libertarian/federalist streak. Not a lot of other states seem to look like that right now.
- apendleton 9y ago
  I'd argue that Alaska does. Strong libertarian streak for sure, and the current governor and lieutenant governor are a consensus pairing of a moderate Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant.
heroprotagonist 9y ago
We have a lot of citizen involvement. You see it in these kind of local activities and overrides, but it goes to the state level ballot initiatives as well. Sadly, there are some inroads against it. In a rare show of bipartisanship, both the Republican and Democratic parties supported this 'Raise the Bar' initiative to make it more difficult to add initiatives to the state ballot. It doesn't remove the right, but it requires a lot more organization by requiring 2% voter signatures from each state district within a 60 day collection window. It sucks, but I'm not too distraught. A little more authority was ceded to the political parties but I still have faith that the citizenry are active and involved. We don't all believe the same thing (it's a swing state), but at least we act. What I absolutely love is the freedom to be independent. As an independent voter, I can vote in the primary for any of the political parties, as long as I only vote once. I don't need to pre-register for that party to be eligible. There are a lot of other improvements to the electoral process we could potentially make, but I'm glad we at least pulled down this low hanging fruit as a first step.
- ouid 9y ago
  2% from each district sounds like an absurdly high barrier. Can you imagine how hard it would be to hire enough people just to say hello to 2% of Colorado in 60 days? I think you're underestimating the magnitude of this.
  - sharkmerry 9y ago
    It does seem like a lot but I havent done canvassing before 5.5 mil people about 110k signatures. Colorado only has 7 districts, 2 (eastside and westside of the state) comprise of almost 40% of the landmass each. 1 district to the north of denver and one to the south. 3 that make up the denver metropolis. It would be alot but its the 2 outside districts that probably would be the toughest to get
    - heroprotagonist 9y ago
      Perhaps I should have clarified that to 'state senate districts', of which there are 35. https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/sldu/st08_co.html https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/sldu/st08_co.html
fred_is_fred 9y ago
Hopefully get to vote on all the bribes Denver offered Amazon. I for one would make them fix I-70 and I-25 as a condition of moving here.
- bproven 9y ago
  I would go farther and make them contribute to the rolling out of more light rail. Especially along 36 to boulder.
  - scaryspooky 9y ago
    Why? Lightrail is a pretty big disaster in terms of efficient commuting with stops every block. I tried to ride the bus and then lightrail downtown but the commute was twice as long as if I just drove (45 minutes to an hour because the bus/rail weren't synced perfectly)

germinalphrase 9y ago

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hickenlooper develop a more significant national profile.

jbuzbee 9y ago
I lost a lot of respect for Hickenlooper after he waffled on a death penalty decision pushing it off for the next governor. I could have accepted a decision in either direction, but he chose to not make a decision at all. When you are elected the top official in the State, you're expected to make hard decisions. He failed. http://www.denverpost.com/2013/05/22/nathan-dunlap-granted-temporary-reprieve-by-governor/ http://www.denverpost.com/2013/05/22/nathan-dunlap-granted-t...
- Zamicol 9y ago
  And the red light bill with a head scratcher veto. https://www.colorado.gov/gov-hickenlooper-vetoes-%E2%80%9Cred-light-camera%E2%80%9D-bill https://www.colorado.gov/gov-hickenlooper-vetoes-%E2%80%9Cre...
  - mkopinsky 9y ago
    His explanation is at https://www.colorado.gov/governor/sites/default/files/legislative_actions/veto_letter_-_hb_16-1231.pdf https://www.colorado.gov/governor/sites/default/files/legisl...

sliverstorm 9y ago

To me it looks like a somewhat balanced mix of liberals and conservatives, both with a bit of a libertarian/federalist streak. Not a lot of other states seem to look like that right now.

apendleton 9y ago
I'd argue that Alaska does. Strong libertarian streak for sure, and the current governor and lieutenant governor are a consensus pairing of a moderate Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant.

heroprotagonist 9y ago

We have a lot of citizen involvement. You see it in these kind of local activities and overrides, but it goes to the state level ballot initiatives as well. Sadly, there are some inroads against it. In a rare show of bipartisanship, both the Republican and Democratic parties supported this 'Raise the Bar' initiative to make it more difficult to add initiatives to the state ballot. It doesn't remove the right, but it requires a lot more organization by requiring 2% voter signatures from each state district within a 60 day collection window. It sucks, but I'm not too distraught. A little more authority was ceded to the political parties but I still have faith that the citizenry are active and involved. We don't all believe the same thing (it's a swing state), but at least we act. What I absolutely love is the freedom to be independent. As an independent voter, I can vote in the primary for any of the political parties, as long as I only vote once. I don't need to pre-register for that party to be eligible. There are a lot of other improvements to the electoral process we could potentially make, but I'm glad we at least pulled down this low hanging fruit as a first step.

ouid 9y ago
2% from each district sounds like an absurdly high barrier. Can you imagine how hard it would be to hire enough people just to say hello to 2% of Colorado in 60 days? I think you're underestimating the magnitude of this.
- sharkmerry 9y ago
  It does seem like a lot but I havent done canvassing before 5.5 mil people about 110k signatures. Colorado only has 7 districts, 2 (eastside and westside of the state) comprise of almost 40% of the landmass each. 1 district to the north of denver and one to the south. 3 that make up the denver metropolis. It would be alot but its the 2 outside districts that probably would be the toughest to get
  - heroprotagonist 9y ago
    Perhaps I should have clarified that to 'state senate districts', of which there are 35. https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/sldu/st08_co.html https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/sldu/st08_co.html

fred_is_fred 9y ago

Hopefully get to vote on all the bribes Denver offered Amazon. I for one would make them fix I-70 and I-25 as a condition of moving here.

bproven 9y ago
I would go farther and make them contribute to the rolling out of more light rail. Especially along 36 to boulder.
- scaryspooky 9y ago
  Why? Lightrail is a pretty big disaster in terms of efficient commuting with stops every block. I tried to ride the bus and then lightrail downtown but the commute was twice as long as if I just drove (45 minutes to an hour because the bus/rail weren't synced perfectly)