Democracy is the theory that the people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H.L. Mencken Last November, more than 62 percent of Colorado voters supported Amendment 41, the constitutional amendment advertised to crack down on cozy relationships between lobbyists and politicians. Garnering 50,000 more votes than any candidate, [...]

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What a difference eight years makes – or even four, for that matter. Bill Ritter’s inauguration as governor on Jan. 9 marks a milestone in a political transformation that seemed unlikely, if not virtually impossible, just a few years ago. Hand it to Colorado Democrats: they’ve done a remarkable job turning our state’s political landscape [...]

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During my eight years at the State Capitol, I found that, for people who have a life, one of the more difficult aspects of following news about the Legislature is making sense out of the peculiar vernacular of the Capitol. Legislators and lobbyists speak in strange tongues about “fiscal notes” and “legislative declarations” or converse [...]

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