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Activity is picking up at the Capitol in the third full week of the session, including an emotional Senate debate today on the repeal of the death penalty. Stay tuned to denverpost.com this afternoon for a recap and the vote.
In the meantime, we bring you a moment of bipartisan agreement – on health care, no less – the story behind an environmentalist’s confrontation with John Hickenlooper, and an interesting trend in Denver’s short-term rental scene.
Also, I have a minor announcement about The Spot. While I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to interact with readers weekly, it’s time to make way for new blood. Beginning next week, statehouse reporter Alex Burness, who joined The Denver Post in September after stints at other outlets in Denver, Boulder and Loveland, will be your new newsletter host.
I leave you in good hands but always welcome reader comments and questions about our politics coverage at [email protected].
To support the important journalism we do, you can become a Denver Post subscriber here.
Top Line
University of Colorado Athletic Director Rick George talks to the media at the Dal Ward Center at the University of Colorado on Dec. 6, 2018. (Cliff Grassmick, Daily Camera)
The University of Colorado’s athletic director is backing a bill to let college players benefit from their names and likenesses, reporter Alex Burness has learned. Not only does Rick George’s support give the bill a better shot at passage here, but it also suggests the NCAA is getting on board with the idea. That’s because the Boulder AD is a member of the regulatory body’s working group on student athlete compensation. Read more about the bill and its national implications here.
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Capitol Diary • By Saja Hindi
”The head is connected to the body”
Rep. Dafna Michaelson-Jenet pulled out all the stops for a news conference announcing her mental health screenings bill Wednesday afternoon, even holding up a baby in a Colorado flag onesie to demonstrate that the bill would apply to Coloradans of all ages.
Politicians and babies, right?
Democrats and Republicans in Colorado’s statehouse typically have very different ideas about health care, but this mental health bill passed the House Committee on Health and Insurance unanimously Wednesday.
The bill’s bipartisan support signals the growing need for preventive and early intervention mental health care as the state continues to struggle with one of the highest teen suicide rates in the country.
Republican Rep. Colin Larson of Littleton hopes the bill will destigmatize the use of mental health services.
House Bill 1086 not only had support from both parties – it was also one that insurers and providers are backing – a very different environment than the fight ahead for a public health insurance option.
The bill is set to make Colorado the first state in the nation to achieve true parity between physical health and behavioral health care, Michaelson-Jenet, D-Commerce City, said.
Michaelson-Jenet told The Denver Post that the cost to the state is minimal – $13,000 annually for administration – and the exams will ultimately reduce health care costs for patients and insurers.
Under the bill, insurance companies will be required to cover annual mental health care exams for patients, whether by a mental health provider or at the location where the person receives primary care.
Debbie Stafford, legislative and community director at Aurora Mental Health, called the idea common sense. She recalled when, as a state representative, she introduced similar legislation in 2001 for mental health parity.
"Short of being tarred and feathered 19 years ago, I was told, 'Don't ever come back and talk about parity again. ... And here we are 19 years later saying, 'We ought to recognize that the head is connected to the body.'"
More Colorado political news
Elections 2020 • By Justin Wingerter
Hick’s run-in with Sunrise
Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate group, inserted its confrontational brand of politics into the U.S. Senate race with this video of a young activist and John Hickenlooper in Longmont last weekend.
“Can you respond to and also apologize for suing Longmont?” the activist asked Hickenlooper as the two walked backstage at a Democratic candidate forum.
Hickenlooper’s response was to shush the young man and say, “Don’t shout at me, don’t shout at me.” As he keeps talking, Hickenlooper asks, “Will you listen? Will you listen?”
In the background, Peter Marcus, a former journalist who helped organize the event, tries to quiet the activist to no avail. As Marcus later explained on Facebook, the loud confrontation occurred near an overflow room where frustrated attendees struggled to hear the Senate candidates due to audio problems.
“Sunrise Movement wanted a viral video and Hickenlooper took the bait. In his defense, he honestly thought he could have a conversation with them. But they were clearly trackers,” Marcus says.
Sunrise is a progressive group that has endorsed Hickenlooper’s top Democratic opponent, Andrew Romanoff. It has also taken aim at Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
Once posted online, the video was shared by liberals to Hickenlooper’s political left and the National Republican Senatorial Committee to his political right. That’s nothing new. Since joining the race in August, Hickenlooper has faced an odd coalition of liberals and conservatives who oppose him for wildly different reasons but often share the same videos and news stories.
“I’ve been asked a few times whether the trackers were with Sunrise or the NRSC,” Marcus wrote in his Facebook post. “They were with Sunrise, but the fact that those lines are blurred is somewhat shocking and should make both sides of the race consider tactics moving forward.”
Meanwhile, if you want to read about Sunday’s forum — including questions and answers about that Longmont fracking lawsuit — Post reporter Saja Hindi has you covered.
ADS: Alaska Wilderness League Action says it will spend six figures spreading an ad that criticizes Sen. Cory Gardner’s record on the environment and public lands. The ad, seen here, is being broadcast in the Denver television market and online.
Majority Forward, a nonprofit with ties to a Democratic PAC, is broadcasting two ads that criticize Gardner on impeachment. The ads, here and here, are part of a six-figure ad campaign spread across five states with vulnerable Republican senators.
Last weekend, as the Gardner campaign held a ski fundraiser in Beaver Creek, Rocky Mountain Values ran this ad criticizing his lack of support for the CORE Act, a Colorado public lands bill.
ENDORSEMENTS: On Monday, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo endorsed Lauren Boebert, a conservative Republican challenging Republican incumbent Scott Tipton in the massive 3rd Congressional District. Tancredo, an immigration hardliner, also recorded a radio ad that says Tipton “keeps voting with Democrats” on immigration. It’s a reference to the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which Boebert’s been hitting Tipton on this month.
On Friday, Romanoff nabbed the endorsement of Climate Hawks Vote, which said he “can defeat both the preferred choice of Washington establishment Democrats and the Republican senator in office.” It’s the latest in a series of environmentalist endorsements for Romanoff.
FUNDRAISING: Boebert raised $19,250, including $2,000 from herself, last quarter. Because she joined the race in the middle of the fundraising quarter, she had a six-week fundraising window from Nov. 20 to Dec. 31. Boebert had about $17,000 on hand at the end of December.
More federal politics news
- On Wednesday night, Gardner questioned whether the House of Representatives has overstated its impeachment authority and possibly even abused its power.
- Gardner also said Wednesday he doesn’t believe the Senate needs to call witnesses in the Trump impeachment trial.
- Hickenlooper is expected to testify at his state ethics hearing in March, CPR reports.
- Democrats running in the 3rd District, that DCCC target held by Tipton, debated some top issues down in Durango over the weekend, the Durango Herald reports.
- The women still in Colorado's Democratic Senate race are up against a lot — and not putting up with much — in a contest dominated by men, CPR reports.
Mile High Politics • By Conrad Swanson
Homeowners getting out of the short-term rental business
Denver property owners are surrendering their short-term rental licenses in droves, records from the city’s Department of Excise and Licenses show.
Last year 267 licenses were surrendered to the department, the data shows. That’s nearly triple the 93 licenses surrendered the year before.
“We suspect that the main driving force is people becoming more educated with the rules and understanding that Denver takes enforcing the rules seriously,” said department spokesperson Eric Escudero.
That could mean that many people have been renting out homes that are not their primary residence, which is a city requirement, Escudero said. Or it could mean they’ve been operating outside the city’s other regulations – maybe their renters have thrown a bunch of parties – and they surrender the license rather than dealing with an enforcement headache.
The high numbers aren’t a source of consternation for the department, Escudero said. City officials already have a well regulated short-term rental market and if people don’t want to follow the rules it’s best that they don’t participate, he said.
The trend is continuing this year too, the data shows. So far in January, 33 people have surrendered their short-term rental licenses. If that pace holds steady, Denver could easily top 300 surrenders this year.
Two surrendered licenses this month were unique, however, in that they stemmed from separate large house parties that ended in gunfire. In both cases the homeowners were scheduled to defend their licenses before department officials, but decided to give them up before the hearings instead.
More Denver and suburban political news
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