Politics
More than 3,000 Colorado voters withdraw registration in response to Trump commission’s request
DENVER – More than 3,000 people in Colorado have withdrawn their voter registration and 182 people have become confidential voters over the past two weeks in response to the request from President Donald Trump’s election integrity commission for voter roll information from each U.S. state.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday said 3,394 people withdrew their voter registrations from June 28 through July 13, and 182 people had become confidential voters. People can become confidential voters in Colorado by paying a fee and swearing under oath that they could be in danger if their personal information is public. Continue reading
Cory Gardner ‘carefully reviewing’ new Senate health care bill; Bennet wants to start over
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner says he’s “carefully reviewing” the revised Senate health care draft discussion bill released Thursday as several of his fellow Senate Republican colleagues sit on the fence on the revisions, putting in question whether or not the bill will make it to a floor vote next week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took the Senate’s version of the bill aimed at “repealing and replacing” the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, back to the drawing board after a handful of Republicans said they wouldn’t even support bringing the Senate’s initial bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, to the floor for debate. Continue reading
Fired CDOT auditor charged with 17 felonies, accused of personal use of 4 state credit cards
DENVER – The former Colorado Department of Transportation auditor fired last year amid an investigation into his state-owned credit card use has been officially charged with 17 felonies, including theft and forgery, in Denver.
Christopher Wedor, 34, faces one count of theft, two counts of identity theft, one count of computer crime, six counts of attempting to influence a public servant and seven counts of forgery. Forgery is a class 5 felony; the rest of the charges are class 4 felonies in Colorado.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann filed charges against Wedor on Tuesday, and he turned himself in on Wednesday.
Wedor is accused of stealing more than $20,000 from CDOT over eight months last year by using his state credit card and those of three of his subordinates to buy personal items and gifts not used by the state.
The alleged theft happened between May and December of last year. He had been hired just a month before the alleged misconduct started. He was fired on Dec. 29 of last year after CDOT opened an investigation into Wedor’s credit card use.
Wedor was paid $112,000 per year in his position, the Associated Press reported in December.
His first court appearance has yet to be set. Class 4 felonies typically carry sentences of between 2 and 6 years in Colorado. Class 5 felonies usually carry 1-3 year sentences.
Aurora police officer charged with official misconduct, attempting to influence public servant
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. – An Aurora Police Department officer was arrested earlier this week on three felony and two misdemeanor charges relating to official misconduct and attempting to influence a public servant.
Officer Matthew Ewert, 34, was arrested by the Erie Police Department and faces charges in Boulder County. He was booked into jail just after noon on Tuesday.
He faces two felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of destroying physical evidence, and two counts of official misconduct. The latter two are misdemeanors. Continue reading
Mike Coffman presents proposal to fix Obamacare to House GOP, Gardner; will hinge on Senate bill
DENVER – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman presented his new plan to alter the Affordable Care Act to House Republicans and also discussed it with Sen. Cory Gardner, who told his fellow Republican he’d pass the plan onto Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Coffman says he spoke with House Speaker Paul Ryan one-on-one about the proposal last night, and again today in front of the House Republican Conference at a 9 a.m. ET meeting. Continue reading
Sen. Michael Bennet slams Republicans, Trump and their ‘terrible’ health care bills
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet made an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, slamming the Republicans’ “terrible” health care bills and chiding President Donald Trump for not holding up his campaign promises on health care.
The speech from the Colorado Democrat came shortly after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that he would knock off the first two weeks of the Senate’s August recess in order to try and pass a health care bill and work on other GOP priorities. Continue reading
Colorado woman charged with voter fraud, accused of forging dead parents’ signatures
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. – A Colorado woman has been charged with six counts of voter fraud for allegedly writing her dead parents’ names on their mail-in ballots multiple times in elections between 2009 and 2013.
Sarilu Sosa-Sanchez, 59, was charged in late May in El Paso County with six counts of forgery of a government-issued document, a class 5 felony. A DNA collection was also ordered in the case. Continue reading
Republican Congressman Mike Coffman proposes new approach to address Medicaid, health care bills
DENVER – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican, is offering up a three-pronged approach to break up the provisions of the health care and tax-related measures in the GOP versions of the bills aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act in order to try and garner more bipartisan support to fix some provisions of the ACA.
Coffman voted against the House version of the bill, the American Health Care Act, when the lower chamber of Congress passed the bill onto the Senate by a narrow vote in early May. Continue reading
Hancock lays out ambitious transportation, housing plans in State of City address, slams Washington
DENVER –Mayor Michael Hancock laid out an ambitious plan to cut the number of drivers on city roads, increase transit ridership and cycling, while cutting traffic deaths and adding more affordable housing to the city in his 2017 State of the City address, while also taking several shots against the current administration in Washington. Continue reading
Source: Ed Perlmutter to drop out of governor’s race, won’t run for re-election in Congress
DENVER – Ed Perlmutter will pull out of the race for Colorado’s governorship in 2018 just three months after he entered the race, and won’t run for re-election in Congress either.
The Denver Post was the first to report that Perlmutter was pulling out of the race early. A source close to the campaign has since confirmed to Denver7 that will be the case. Continue reading