by Ashe in America | Aug 22, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
For three months, Colorado voters breathed a little easier, safe to exhale after the Colorado General Assembly gavelled out on May 7, 2025. It was short lived.
“Today, Governor Jared Polis called the General Assembly back into session to address the significant impacts of H.R. 1 to Colorado’s budget,” an August 6, 2025, press release from the Governor’s office states.
The press release goes on to quote prominent democrats, Planned Parenthood, and other publicly-funded NGO leaders on how the $1.2B “loss of revenue” is devastating for “the state.”
It’s all in the framing.
To quote Representative Ken deGraaf (R-HD22) from an August 7 X post, “Subsidies are not ‘revenue.’ The federal government is not a source of it. Taxpayers are the source of revenue. Jared is just sad that his unsustainable spending spree cannot be sustained. Perhaps the second $5 billion on the train-to-nowhere-fast should pause until we see how California’s works out.”
He is obviously correct. Colorado taxpayers are also federal taxpayers, and the pork-filled-bridge-to-nowhere scam is coming to an end. This is going to be hard for Colorado. Colorado loves its virtue-signally, social change-promising NGOs.
In an article from April 2024 International Rescue Mission titled, “Nonprofits matter — Colorado Nonprofit Sector Supports $62 Billion in Economic Activity,” the nonprofit analyzes Polis’ “Colorado Nonprofit Economic Impact Report,” and how “the nonprofit sector directly employs 182,000 people, supporting an additional 54,000 jobs through business-to-business activity and 26,000 jobs via household spending.”
Wait, what?
“In total, this accounts for 10% of all jobs in Colorado.”
Honestly, the non-profit sector should be the priority for closing the gap. Colorado politicians are unlikely to take that approach — you can rather expect to see new taxes and fees.
Another barrier to solving this particular problem is the cost of new legislation — and the legislators were so busy earlier this year that new laws, and their related costs, are plentiful. Again from Rep deGraaf on X:
“Rubberstampapalooza: Because 700 new bills in 100 days is not enough new legislation for Democrats, they have engaged in the crisis-manufacture so they can pretend to crisis-manage. The sycophants of state want nothing more than for the trough to be open year-round. The timing and scope of the executive order/proclamation undoubtedly comes on the heels of this extra, ordinary session to figure out how to tax/fee you more. This governance-theater will cost the state around $50k per day to go through their choreographed ‘Dance of the Socialists.’”
Just in August, a portfolio of new laws went into effect. Highlights include allowing the government to price fix in an “emergency” (HB25-1010), gun violence education materials (HB25-1270), free tribal access to state parks (HB25-1163), new criminal statutes that protect transit workers (HB25-1290), and a simpler path to abandoning your children (HB25-1185).
Oh, they also created a process (inexplicably) so potential gun owners can voluntarily block themselves from buying a gun (SB25-034). That creates a new registry and list management and all associated costs of implementation — and it’s entirely unnecessary. Just don’t buy a gun if you don’t want one, right?
Republicans in Colorado are critical of the Governor’s special session, with several quoted in a House Republican press release from August 6:
“Families and small businesses across Colorado are being crushed under the weight of government overreach, rising costs, and reckless spending,” said Representative Anthony Hartsook (R-HD44). “Instead of working with us to rein in waste and protect the most vulnerable, the Governor is using this special session to defend a broken system. House Republicans are committed to responsible budgeting that puts Colorado families first.”
House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese piled on, “This is a waste of taxpayer dollars and state resources. The Governor is using a special session to stir fear about the Big Beautiful Bill when the truth is that the Big Beautiful Bill continues to cover the people it was designed to serve: seniors, single mothers, children, and people with disabilities.”
It’s unlikely that Colorado Republicans can do anything other than complain. In the House, they’re outnumbered 43 to 22, and in the Senate 23 to 12. The special session will proceed and the democrat majority will do what it wants.
As a result, Colorado is back to holding its breath, hoping against reason and history that the special session won’t further strip their rights and steal the fruit of their labor.
Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Jul 24, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
Attorney General of Colorado Phil Weiser is campaigning to be Governor. His campaign is clear that he sees no lines between his official authority and his political campaigning.
“Just over six months ago, we launched my campaign to serve as Colorado’s next Governor,” the Team Phil X account posted on X in early July. “Since then, you’ve all stepped up in incredible ways. Thank you. This graphic captures some amazing highlights of the last six months.”
Notice the top right square. “Filed 26 lawsuits and 14 amicus briefs to protect Colorado.”
First, that is a lot of legal actions. It’s lawyers and paralegals and experts and billable hours for both the state and federal government. It’s resources that could be used to fight crime, clean up Colorado streets, fix the homeless crisis, or help the women and children that politicians are always claiming to help.
But it’s not because, second, and more importantly, the lawsuits are predominantly (state) tax-payer funded temper tantrums demanding that (federal) taxpayers continue to fund the agenda they rejected in the last presidential election.
Colorado taxpayers have the grand fortune of funding both sides — the claims and the responses — of the 40(!) legal actions Phil has taken against the Federal government. We’re not even six months into the Trump Administration, and we’re funding 40 of Phil’s fever dreams.
And it’s all part of his campaign.
Is the campaign reporting the value it’s deriving at the hands of taxpayers? How many hours do law-abiding Coloradans have to work to fund just one of AG Weiser’s self-serving, campaign-related lawsuits?
Phil Weiser presents himself as a public servant rooted in justice, law, and innovation — fighting the good fight against the bad orange man to save some population of women or children or otherwise marginalized people. But his rise through the legal and political establishment reveals strategic political calculus.
Who is Phil Weiser?
A first-generation American and child of Holocaust survivors, Weiser earned his B.A. with high honors from Swarthmore College in 1990 and his J.D. with high honors (Order of the Coif) from NYU School of Law in 1994 — before embedding himself in the corridors of federal bureaucracy under both the Clinton and Obama administrations. In Colorado, he leveraged his legal reputation to become Dean of CU Law and eventually Attorney General in 2018.
His career reflects a typical trajectory of an establishment Democrat: technocratic, consensus-driven, and scandalous.
Weiser’s tenure has been dogged by ethical concerns and a pattern of insider politics. The most glaring example is his leadership of the Attorney General Alliance (AGA), a group that regularly hosts luxury conferences — like the infamous 2021 Maui summit — underwritten by corporations such as Meta, Pfizer, and Juul. These are the very companies his office is investigating or suing.
His fundraiser at the Maui resort is an obvious conflict of interest, yet Weiser has dismissed the criticism as partisan noise. He did that again with Jena Griswold.
In April 2025, Secretary of State Jena Griswold faced a campaign finance complaint for allegedly failing to file required financial disclosures tied to early campaign activity — specifically the purchase of a domain for a presumed run for governor. Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office, responsible for investigating the complaint, decided not to pursue charges. Totally coincidentally, Griswold is not running for Governor — Weiser is. Griswold is running for Attorney General — Weiser’s current seat. Those role changes shook out in the wake of the complaint dismissal.
Weiser for Governor?
Weiser’s fundraiser at the Maui resort sparked a formal campaign finance complaint, alleging unreported in-kind contributions, and cozy relationships with regulated entities. His decision to dismiss the complaint against Jena Griswold reveals a broader pattern of selective legalism — a strong focus on the rule of law that aligns and often serves his political interests. His current campaign messaging touting official (political) lawsuits as campaign accomplishments reinforces the pattern. Weiser is quite comfortable operating in the gray, seeming to blur the lines of justice with those of his own self-interest.
Time and again, Weiser has shown a willingness to apply legal scrutiny aggressively when it bolsters his progressive credentials — such as in high-profile lawsuits against the Trump administration — while showing restraint when allies are involved.
Regardless of his campaign messaging, Weiser is not a neutral legal steward, but an experienced and shrewd operator — weaponizing his power to serve selective, strategic ends. He is the last person who should be given more power.
Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica
by Ashe in America | Jun 20, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
Is The Resistance Going The Distance
In 2020, the world was in Lockdown. We all remember navigating new normals, but what faded from the collective mind is the impact that season had on our capital city.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Denver’s economy was booming. The city was widely considered a regional economic powerhouse, one of the strongest and most dynamic economies in the US, with steady growth, low unemployment, and a diversified industrial base.
After Covid, housing and other costs of living, which were already an issue before the lockdowns, became a crisis for many residents. Between December 2019 to December 2024, consumer prices (all items, including food and energy) rose nearly 46%, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unsheltered homelessness increased 200+%, according to data from the Common Sense Institute. Homicides increased 35% and violent crime was up 30% by 2023, according to data from the FBI.
Before the pandemic, light rail cars were packed at rush hour and restaurants on 16th Street had hour plus wait times. Then in 2020, Denver was in lockdown. And the city fell.
The trains often run empty now, as the laptop class became accustomed to working from home. That impacts the city’s transit and parking revenues, the restaurants and retail shops, the bars and nightlife.
Licensed restaurant establishments decreased 22% between 2019 and 2024, according to data from the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses. More than 200 Colorado businesses closed in 2024 alone, and 82% of them were in Denver, as reported by Axios.
Perhaps few remember the violence, the property damage, the historic buildings vandalized, the sweeping encampments in Civic Center Park. The economic impact of lockdowns, while devastating, pales in comparison to the social and cultural impacts.
I’ve often theorized that the people don’t remember because they weren’t there. Out of sight out of mind for the insufferable white collars attending zoom meetings on their Pelotons.
But perhaps they do remember, and that’s why they rarely, if ever, enter the capital city anymore. It’s dangerous and expensive, and your odds of getting accosted are prohibitively high.
On June 10, there was a notable anti-ICE protest reported on 18th and Stout and in the area around the justice center. Conservative radio host Jeff Hunt was accosted and filed a police report about the incident.
On June 14, Colorado expected “No Kings” protests in every city and most towns around the state. In Denver, June 14th kicked off with an early morning shooting near 10th and Broadway. Vibrant.
For the June 14th event, the Denver Police Department put out an official protest edition of expectations on X. I personally read this as a peacekeepers’ plea for safe passage through the city (for which they’re charged with keeping the peace). If this is the posture of the police, what can the people expect?
It isn’t any wonder that so many commuters and tourists no longer go to Denver. It’s also obvious why Colorado is a national story nearly every week.
A possible sequel to the Summer of Love is simmering under the surface of political resistance and disputes on immigration, foreign policy, and gender ideology. Peaceful protests on these issues are welcomed and protected. Human-targeted violence, arson, and property damage are not.
While many suggest that Colorado has a right to resist all federal policy implementation, remember that:
“Colorado is expected to receive $13.4 billion from the federal government in fiscal year 2025-26 — about 30% of the state’s $40 billion annual budget… Hundreds of millions more go to Denver and surrounding localities for law enforcement and other government programs… In 2024, Denver Health, the city’s safety net hospital, received $89 million in federal grant funding,” according to Axios.
Compare those federal investments to the metrics cited above. If the feds are providing hundreds of millions for law enforcement, and that law enforcement defies federal law — for example, refusing to enforce immigration law — a thinking person would expect the funding to stop.
Any funding not being used for its allocated purpose should stop. It’s fraud, and it’s being perpetrated on all taxpaying Americans, not just those in Colorado.
The DOJ knows this. It’s why their investigations seem to be escalating. Waste, fraud, and abuses of power infringe upon Americans’ guarantee of a Republican form of government, a representative democracy.
Trump knows this, too. The president’s agenda can broadly be summarized as uprooting and exposing systemic corruption. “Today’s ceremony has very special meaning… we are taking power from Washington DC and giving it back to you, The People,” President Trump said in his 2017 inaugural address.
In all their opposition to the President, the Colorado Executive’s probable corruption and abuses, along with that of their public-private minions, are sharply in focus. They doth protest too much and, after their unhinged pursuit of eliminating their political opposition in 2024, the power dynamics of this conflict have shifted.
In other words, if you come for the king, you best not miss.
Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | May 16, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
In Colorado, our launch of the golden age feels different than the stories we’re told about the rest of the country. While friends in Florida and Idaho, Virginia and North Dakota, are celebrating deregulation and a return to normalcy, here in the Centennial state, the battle for basic liberty rages on.
The first session of the 75th Colorado General Assembly was the most radical in recent memory — and that’s saying something. Priorities of the Democrat majority included disarming law abiding residents, ending the bill of rights for taxpayers, and protecting the degeneracy of minor attracted persons by destroying parental rights.
They moved the needle on all these priorities and, in the process, woke up sleeping gun owners, taxpayers, and parents in the process. Lawsuits are underway on all fronts. I anticipate an even more contentious second session, but I welcome the break until January.
You can never fully exhale while they’re gaveled in.
Over in the Executive Branch, former Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Perry Beall resigned from the Department of State, telling clerks after the fact that he was “going back to being a lawyer.”
Beall has made no announcement yet as to where he’s going, and it’s rumored he may return to the Attorney General’s office. State leadership is preparing for a multi-front war with the federal government, and Beall was outside counsel for CDoS as part of the AG’s office before becoming Deputy Secretary of State in 2021.
The record of roles, responsibilities, and actions in CDoS imply that the department is actually run by the Deputy — for example, Jena Griswold can’t answer basic questions about election systems and voter roll maintenance without talking points and a friendly interviewer — so, who is running CDoS now?
Former Perkins Coie attorney Andrew Kline was named to replace Beall, and he started immediately. According to elections officials familiar with the transition, his first order of business was to build relationships with county clerks and establish a cadence for communication. (Talking points inbound.)
This is the backdrop inside Colorado as the Trump Department of Justice goes on offense.
Recently sworn in DOJ Civil Rights AAG Harmeet Dhillon hinted at federal action against HB25-1312, the bill to remove children from non-mutilitating parents, in a post on X:
“…see a long line of SCOTUS precedent holding that parents, not the state, control the upbringing of children. Don’t get too attached to your child mutilation project. It won’t stand.”
As I write this, the bill awaits the governor’s signature.
The DOJ also continues their investigation into the weaponization of government against Tina Peters in Colorado — an investigation that, if done properly, will lead back to August 2021 and indictments on high crimes and misdemeanors for, at minimum, abuse of power.
Earlier this month, President Trump posted on Truth Social to Free Tina Peters, in a post criticizing the (undeniable) abuses of power under Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for Governor.
The President’s post renewed calls from Colorado and national grassroots activists for Governor Jared Polis to pardon Peters or commute her sentence, but it also added new voices to the campaign to free Tina Peters.
Representative Lauren Boebert (CO-04) sent a strongly worded letter to FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate violations of Peters’ civil rights in March, and announced it on X on May 6, 2025, after the President’s Truth Social post. This was a surprising development.
On July 12, 2022, an embattled Tina Peters spoke to a national sheriffs association meeting in Nevada, during which she announced that Representative Boebert was present at a dinner meeting with Peters and her alleged coconspirators the same day the images were taken.
If true, then Boebert was a material witness to the facts of the alleged conspiracy and potentially in a position to dispute the assertions of the state and federal prosecutors. Boebert was not mentioned or present at Peters’ trial.
At a minimum, Boebert could have supported Tina publicly, in the press and on the hill. But Boebert was silent.
The CD4 representative has two official X accounts, and searching both of them shows that Lauren Boebert’s first mention of Tina Peters, in the digital public square, was May 6, 2025.
Reminder that, in 2021-22 when Peters story took place, Lauren Boebert represented CD3 and was Peters’ congresswoman.
I wonder how Tina Peters feels about her level of representation. I bet she thinks about it from inside her cell where she is doing nine years following a show trial. If only there had been more witnesses to support the factual arguments at trial.
Boebert’s newfound interest in Peters’ crucible is also a signal of change. I hope Director Patel takes Boebert up on the investigatory angle she proposed.
It’s a new world at the precipice of a golden age. But, here in Colorado, those in power are fighting hard to preserve their power and status quo incentives.
They’re fighting against change. Regardless of party, they’re fighting against change.
Imagine what’s possible. Now realize what stands in our way. The only way out is through.
Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Apr 18, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced a run for Attorney General on April 7th, asking for donations to ActBlue to get her campaign “off to a strong start.”
ActBlue is currently under investigation for fraud and “possible terror-financing,” according to a New York Post report in March.
Griswold originally launched a run for governor, but she was immediately hit with a complaint for “campaign finance violations,” which her campaign initially lied about. From Colorado Politics in March:
“According to the complaint, when asked about the website, Chris Griswold, brother and campaign manager … ‘initially lied, stating it was definitely not their domain.’ The complaint said the Griswold campaign revealed it purchased the website only after learning that his email address was tied to the campaign’s email subscription.”
It’s one scandal after another with Griswold, and now she’s doubling down on ActBlue.
The House Judiciary released their report on ActBlue fraud at the beginning of April, showing Democrats’ proactively relaxed fraud prevention measures at two specific points during the 2024 election cycle. And their investigation isn’t over.
“This staff report is not the end of our investigation. We’re also asking for transcribed interviews with current ActBlue employees…and reviewing suspicious activity reports (SARs) of fraud on ActBlue.”
The relaxation of standards is important, because it enables “smurfing.” Smurfing is the practice of using people’s identities without their knowledge to knowingly launder otherwise illegal campaign donations.
Smurfing isn’t new. It goes back to Obama.
The New York Times debunked Obama’s “small donor” claims on November 24, 2008, “Study: Many Obama Small Donors Really Weren’t.” A study from the Campaign Finance Institute that showed that Obama’s small donors repeatedly donated in excess of legal limits (like smurfs).
But in 2012, the small donor talking points were back, and the Campaign Finance Institute had a new study that ignored the old study and supported the small donor narrative:
“Nearly half of the donors to Obama’s reelection campaign in 2011 gave $200 or less, more than double the proportion seen in 2007, according to the analysis from the Campaign Finance Institute, which tracks money in politics.”
The 2008 scandal was memory-holed, which is a stunning rebuke on journalism considering the scandal was actually being litigated during the 2012 campaign. In January 2013, Maggie Haberman reported that the fine on the Obama Campaign “for hiding donors” was “one of the largest fines ever” levied by the FEC. This was after the election, of course.
From the House Judiciary X thread on the new report: “Even before these policy changes, ActBlue staff were told to accept as much fraud as possible.”
Yikes.
When smurfing is caught, as it has been since ActBlue was formed in 2004, it’s referenced as “campaign finance violations” — but it’s actually a highly-coordinated portfolio of crime:
18 U.S.C. § 1956 – Money Laundering
18 U.S.C. § 1957 – Monetary Transactions in Property Derived from Unlawful Activity
18 U.S.C. § 1001 – False Statements to Federal Agencies
52 U.S.C. § 30122 – Contributions in the Name of Another
18 U.S.C. § 1343 – Wire Fraud
18 U.S.C. § 1341 – Mail Fraud
18 U.S.C. § 371 – Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
18 U.S.C. § 1028 – Identity Theft
18 U.S.C. § 1030 – Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
15 U.S.C. § 6801–6809 – Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
31 U.S.C. 5311 et seq – Bank Secrecy Act (12 CFR 21.11, 12 CFR 21.21)
52 U.S.C. § 30122 – Contributions in the Name of Another (FECA)
18 U.S.C. § 1028 – Identity Fraud and Document Fraud
There is a look-up tool at electionwatch.info to see if it happened to you.
Back to Jena Griswold, remember how she worked for Obama’s 2012 campaign as a voter protection attorney before returning to Colorado to work for Hickenlooper in 2013? Interesting timeline.
While Griwsold is doubling down on ActBlue, their employees aren’t so bullish.
According to The New York Times in March, “ActBlue, the online fund-raising organization that powers Democratic candidates, has plunged into turmoil, with at least seven senior officials resigning [in late February] and a remaining lawyer suggesting he faced internal retaliation.”
I wonder if that whistleblowing is related to the fraud probe and allegations that they relaxed their fraud prevention measures in the middle of the election cycle (twice).
Jena Griswold is using ActBlue for her campaign to be “The Law” in Colorado.
No one is above the law, right?
Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica
