by Editorial Board | Jun 20, 2025 | Valley Gadfly
Editorial —
With little fanfare the Godfather of the Colorado GOP Establishment, Phil Anschutz, has given up on the Colorado GOP which he has indirectly controlled for over three decades until the rise of the grassroots and President Trump. The signs of his abandonment have been popping up for months.
The Anschutz RINO conservative media empire has been in full retreat. The Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette are hidden behind pay walls now therefore the opinion pieces by RINO columnists like Dick Wadhams and Jimmy Sengenberger have little readership or reach. His RINO blog site Colorado Politics is not updated for long periods of time.
His flagship enterprise, the Independence Institute, was once a beehive of activity with almost a score of employees, now just limps along. Anschutz’s Complete Colorado website acted as and looked like a Colorado Drudge Report. Its Page 2 section provided original RINO reporting. The Drudge-like format and most of the original reporting are now a thing of the past.
The face of the Anschutz media empire for over two decades has been Jon Caldara. Originally a quick witted, irreverent firebrand, is now an old, tired, sad, and bald lion in winter.
Anschutz disillusionment with the Colorado GOP dates to the Fall of 2022 and heartbreaking election losses suffered in that year’s midterm races by the Colorado GOP Establishment. Anschutz and his Establishment allies had finally got a GOP election lineup it had long dreamed of with Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senator; Heidi Ganahl for Governor; Pam Anderson for Secretary of State; John Kellner for Attorney General; and Lang Silas for Treasurer.
For the Establishment, there were absolutely no God, guns, anti-gay, climate deniers. Anschutz adamantly believed that this was exactly what Coloradans hungered for. GOP Chair Kristy Burton Brown put together a vague and bland pro-business platform that all Colorado Republicans could run under that would offend absolutely no one. Best of all 2022 was going to be a big Red Wave year nationally and Colorado would be part of the tsunami with business friendly RINOs taking back Colorado from the extreme, socialist Democrats.
The big day came but there was no Red Wave nationally and the beautiful Colorado RINO slate was crushed with individuals losing by overwhelming margins. How could this have possibly happened?
Uncle Phil and his brain trust at the Independence Institute did a long deep intellectual dive and came up with the answer. It was, of course, the fault of Donald Trump. Yes, suburban women in Colorado hated Trump and took it out on the beautiful Republican slate even though none of the Colorado Republicans running for statewide office liked or supported Trump.
This conclusion is outlined and explained in an extraordinary column in Colorado Politics penned by Jon Caldera on May 8th (“Will Open Primaries Rescue Republicans”). According to Caldara suburban women and in particularly the dastardly single moms, hate Trump with such a passion that it “turns to hatred of his political party [the Republicans].” Caldera went so far to state: “Any candidate running with an ‘R’ behind his name in swing districts might as well have a swastika behind his name.”
The concept explains everything. The wonderful 2022 RINO slate did not overwhelming lose because the voters did not like them, but their hatred of Trump blinded them.
Suburban women in Colorado according to Caldara are “pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-weed and, until the blackouts hit, believe climate change is Colorado, not China, caused.”
Men apparently don’t vote in suburban districts according to Caldara or if they do their votes don’t really count. How Trump won countrywide the popular vote by over a million votes in the 2024 election including all seven swing states is not explained. Colorado women in the suburbs are just a different breed than anywhere else in the country.
So how can Republicans win in a state where suburban women view Republicans as “Nazis” even the wonderful meek pro-business RINOs that Anschutz adores.
Independence Institute and Jon Caldara have figured it out. In order to save the State and the Colorado GOP we must destroy the political parties and go to jungle primaries just like California.
But didn’t the Colorado voters just reject jungle primaries in the 2024 election along with three other western states? In Colorado, this rejection happened notwithstanding Kent Thiery and the proponents of jungle primaries outspending its opponents by a 10 to 1 margin. Well according to Caldara, Thiery needs to spend millions to bring it back to the people but this time no ranked choice voting.
In Caldara’s view jungle primaries will result in the swing suburban districts persons unaffiliated with either party running and winning. These winners are really RINOs but without any party affiliation. They would then caucus with the rural Republicans and save us from socialist Democrats who are destroying the state.
The mere fact that that is not what happens in any jurisdiction that has jungle primaries is of no importance to Caldara. What, in fact, will happen only candidates with rich backers like Phil Anschutz can win in such a system. The Republican Party apparatus will be destroyed and along with Grassroot Republicans.
For many Republicans in Colorado whatever value the Independence Institute and John Caldara once had is past its due date. Time to put both out to pasture.
— Editorial Board
by Editorial Board | Feb 19, 2025 | Editorials
Editorial —
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston
This Editorial Board has scant opportunity to support or praise Denver Mayor Mike Johnston since his swearing in as Denver’s 46th mayor on July 23, 2023, other than to say at least he is not Michael Hancock. This difficulty is in large part due to Mayor Johnston spending all of his time his first 19 months in office on the homeless and the “newcomers” and little else.
That leaves the needs of 99% of Denver’s residents unattended to. A mere walk downtown demonstrates a city badly in decay. Mayor Johnston is a self-described “progressive” and like many other big city progressive mayors, like Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Brandon Johnson of Chicago, he is pretty good at theoretical constructs but lousy at governing.
That is why this Board and most of the city was in shock when he announced that the City and County had swapped 144 acres of industrially-zoned land for the 155-acre former Park Hill Golf Course which will now be a regional park to open this summer.
The swap took some doing. Denver took $12.7 million from a voter approved park fund and acquired from the Denver International Airport 144 acres of industrial zoned land located in Adams County. It then swapped it for the 155-acre old Park Hill Golf Course property located by Colorado Boulevard in the Northeast Park Hill neighborhood. The transaction still needs to be approved by Adams County but that is not expected to be a problem.
On the surface this looks like a bad deal for Westside Investment who paid $24 million for the property from the Early Learning Center and is now receiving property worth half that much from Denver.
But don’t worry. The driving force behind the swap was not Mayor Johnston and Denver but Westside Investments who will, behind the scenes, be making out like a bandit as developers usually do.
But we don’t care. Johnston got the deal done for the benefit of all of Denver, and particularly the residents of Park Hill. All his predecessor ever did was destroy every piece of open space he could hand over to developers.
Now what to call the new park? If there has ever been a “Peoples Park” it is this one. The people of Denver fought against their own government and a favored developer hell bent on turning green land into a pavement covered development.
At the front of the park there should be a very impressive statue of Wellington Webb flanked by Penfield Tate and Woody Garnsey. No one in Denver should ever forget what they accomplished for the people of the City and County of Denver.
— Editorial Board
by Editorial Board | Jan 16, 2025 | Editorials
Editorial —
Lisa Raville, aka “Dr. Death”
When Mike Johnston assumed the mayorship of Denver in 2023, he announced that he would make homelessness in Denver the absolute highest priority for his Administration for the first six plus months of his term. In 2024 he expanded the scope of his concentration to include the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into the city from across the border in Texas. He indicated the City would spend whatever is needed to assist the people he dubbed the “newcomers.”
The two groups will eventually meld into one another, as when the newcomers are cut off from the free rental subsidy the city provides, they too will fit into the category of “residents experiencing homelessness.” So jealously has Johnston guarded his future homeless newcomers that he publicly threatened to send the Denver Police to the Denver border, augmented by ferocious Valkyries from the Highlands neighborhood, to meet and repulse ICE agents coming to Denver to deport any newcomers.
In last Fall’s election Denver voters shot down the mayor’s proposed sales tax increase to help the mayor meet his housing development goals. Instead of modifying and lessening those goals he has told all city departments they must cut their budgets by 12.5%. This should cause all services provided to citizens to significantly drop, but homelessness, of course, supersedes all other needs of Denver’s citizens.
Some Denver residents who are not “newcomers” or homeless have begun to wonder what exactly the city was going to do for them. That is when the Denver City Council had a brilliant idea of expanding the needle exchange centers from three to an infinite amount in every neighborhood. On January 13, 2025, in an 8 to 5 vote, the City Council voted to allow an unlimited amount of these centers and even included a lift on the restriction of no needle exchange centers being within 1,000 feet from a school or daycare center.
At a needle exchange center a drug addict can turn in dirty needles and syringes for new ones along with other drug paraphernalia free of charge. Advocates for this program argue this will limit the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C infections. Of course, an addict could buy his or her own needles and syringes but that would cost money and advocates indicate the program will free up more money for items that drug addicts value, like more drugs.
The best part from the addict’s perspective is that the staff at these sites are forbidden from bringing up the subject of treatment for the addiction unless the addicts foolishly bring up the subject themselves.
The new ordinance also does away with the 1997 law prohibition of having needle exchange centers within a thousand yards of a school or daycare center. Not that the provision was really an impediment as the city simply granted exceptions when asked.
The passage of the needle exchange ordinance is a triumph for Lisa Raville the executive director of The Harm Reduction Action Center. Her critics have dubbed her “Dr. Death.” having earned her doctorate not from an educational center but the mean streets of Chicago and Denver. She views herself as a tireless advocate for intravenous drug users, caring for their needs and wants.
She in many ways resembles John Parvansky the CEO of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. In his 37 years of service from 1985 until he retired in 2022 he grew homelessness from a relatively manageable problem into a behemoth social quagmire that literally has become the primary concern of the entire city government.
Dr. Death has headed up the Harm Reduction Acton Center since 2009. In that time the number of intravenous drug users and drug overdose deaths has steadily increased. In the last four years alone the number of drug overdose deaths has nearly doubled while recently decreasing nationally.
Dr. Death’s needle exchange centers are the first part of a three-part scheme. Next up is turning the needle exchange centers into supervised “safe use sites” which will eventually be provided with a “regulated drug supply” of quality heroin and meth.
Under the full program addicts will have across the city places to go for free drugs, needles, and syringes at taxpayer expense. Addiction and drug deaths should skyrocket.
You do not have to guess what the result will be because the full “harm reduction” program was introduced in British Columbia by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, As a result deaths in British Columbia from drug overdoses have risen to unprecedented levels. The disastrous results of the Canadian “harm reduction” program is one of the reasons the Prime Minister is resigning come this March.
To the shock of some in Denver, Mayor Johnston vetoed Dr. Death’s needle exchange plan on the evening of January 14, 2025. Apparently, the mayor does not want anything to interfere with his homeless and “newcomer” initiatives. Don’t think Dr. Death is going anywhere Like Parvensky, she is in it for the long haul. She will be back next year and the year after until her goal of making Denver the intravenous drug user capitol of the United States. God help us all.
— Editorial Board
by Editorial Board | Nov 15, 2024 | Editorials
Editorial —
Philip Anschutz
The richest man in Colorado, billionaire Phil Anschutz, is a highly secretive individual. What exactly his political views are is unknown but he is usually described as “deeply conservative.” He is highly interested in influencing Colorado politics and policy and he spends millions of dollars every year to do so.
He funds or partially funds think tanks and policy groups like the Independence Institute and Advance Colorado; publications like the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Denver Gazette, Complete Colorado, and Colorado Politics; and even radio personalities like Jimmy Sengenberger.
Like many billionaires in America his views have evolved over the years. He was a strong Bush/Cheney supporter and hates Donald Trump due to his views on immigration and tariffs as well as his far from gentlemanly demeanor and personal conduct. Anschutz seldom contributes in his own name to politicians, but did so for Liz Cheney in her unsuccessful bid for re-election in Wyoming. Anschutz is referred to as the Liz Cheney of Colorado in grassroots circles in Colorado.
Dave Williams
He has always disliked Colorado’s Republican Party’s primary system with caucuses and assemblies that allows everyday grassroot Republicans a chance to be a candidate for public office in a general election. Back in 2016, he supported Proposition 107 behind the scenes. The proposition opened party primaries to unaffiliates purportedly to ensure that moderate Republicans like Joe O’Dea and Walker Stapleton would win the Republican primaries.
Anschutz has almost always controlled the chair of the Republican Party due to his contributions to the party, but in 2022 there was a grassroots pro Trump revolt and Dave Williams was elected chair, and other grassroots candidates such as Hope Scheppelman Vice Chair and Anna Ferguson for Secretary also won.
That was too much for Anschutz and he stopped giving to the Colorado Republican Party. He threw his hidden support to Proposition 131 which would do away with party primaries for jungle primaries with rank choice voting in general elections. Prop 131 was backed by Democrats like Governor Jared Polis and Senator John Hickenlooper as well as a war chest of fifteen million dollars.
If one wishes to gauge Anschutz’s views on any matter just listen to the Independence Institute’s board member Dick Wadhams and President Jon Caldara. Both wrote numerous articles in the Anschutz publications praising Prop 131 and Wadhams was even paid as a consultant to back the measure.
Practically the only voice opposing Prop 131 in public was Republican Chair Dave Williams who, with virtually no money, managed to defeat Prop 131 and Anschutz 55% to 45%.
Anschutz and the Republican establishment had attempted to recall Williams as Chair of the Republican Party right in the middle of the election season, but Williams defeated them in court and by vote of the Colorado State Central Committee.
The purpose of the recall was not only to get rid of Anschutz’s nemesis but also to be sure the Republican Party would have a bad election night under Williams’ tutelage. But instead, the Republicans had a very good night. They gained a Congressional seat as well as three in the State House defeating a Democrat supermajority. While Trump lost Colorado, the margin decreased from 13.5% to 11%
It is not often that a billionaire like Phil Anschutz is handed a spanking by an underfunded grassroots leader like Dave Williams, but that is the under reported story of the general election of 2024 in Colorado.
— Editorial Board
by Editorial Board | Sep 26, 2024 | Editorials
Editorial —
Kent Thiry — A pretty face can hide an evil mind.
It is said that money is the mother’s milk of politica. But what if we could make it not only just the most important thing in politics but the “only thing.” Kent Thiry, the former CEO of DaVita, a dialysis provider, who somehow managed to escape two federal charges for labor market collusion, is back with another ballot measure to finally destroy elections in Colorado.
Thiry is well known for pouring millions of dollars into highly effective and unopposed television commercials that push changes to the Colorado electoral system that would benefit “practical politicians” like himself, but what he means is multi-millionaires like himself.
He hates political parties where everyday citizens can have a say and not just the millionaires who fund the parties. His latest scam is Proposition 131 which will abolish partisan primaries and impose rank choice voting for the four top vote getters that go on to the general election.
In Alaska where the system was imposed in 2020 there were over 40 candidates running in the nonpartisan open primary. Four candidates made it to the general election where voters listed their preferences from one to four. As no one got a majority of the number one votes, they dropped off the candidate who got the least number one votes of the four, and saw who those voters’ second choice was and counted them as number one votes. This went on until one candidate received a majority.
This is the system that Thiry wants Colorado voters to adopt under Prop 131. In the nonpartisan primary to make the final four for the general election name recognition is the name of the game. In Alaska one person who named himself “Santa Claus” came in sixth.
To get name recognition, normally candidates must run countless television ads which cost a great deal of money. Either you’re rich or are the candidate of one or more wealthy donors.
Average citizens who participate in politics normally become party precinct committee persons and work their way up the chain. Under Prop 131 all that would become void; only the very rich, like Kent Thiry, will determine who is elected to public office. In back rooms they will also manipulate the final four candidates to see who finally becomes elected to the public office.
Thiry is running endless ads saying that if 131 passes it will get parties out of politics (true) and comically that Prop 131 will even get wealthy donors out of the political process. If he was an honest person (which he is not) Thiry would have said that under Prop 131 only the very rich will have any say in elections.
Alaska was so disgusted by Thiry’s system that voters have placed a proposition to get rid of nonpartisan jungle primaries and rank choice voting on the ballot this year. It is hoped that the latest fool’s gold proposition by Kent Thiry is decisively voted down by the Colorado voters. If not, it may be one of the last votes by Colorado voters that matters.
— Editorial Board
