High country local governments closed Q4 pushing back against state mandates while patching budget holes. Chaffee County denied a multi-year concert permit over safety constraints and hiked landfill fees $340,000 to meet state environmental rules. Grand County switched voting systems for integrity and condemned CPW’s wolf release violations. Teller County opposed the clean heat mandate and imposed a moratorium on utility expansions. Buena Vista slashed economic development funding over policy conflicts and adopted water conservation plans projecting demand outstripping rights by 2061. Counties adopted budgets amid rising costs from unfunded mandates—Fremont at $69.3 million, Grand at $77.9 million, Chaffee at $62.8 million with a 5.5% tax increase. The pattern: local officials fighting state overreach while residents’ foot the bill.
Tina Peters made the news again this week. We have reviewed the legal statutes and explain why we think Tina can be the next Secretary of State. President Trump told Governor Polis to “rot in hell” and vetoed the Arkansas Valley Conduit—a $1.3 billion water project for 39 communities still drinking contaminated water. Polis picked this fight: $4 million in lawsuit funding, 49 legal actions, total defiance on Tina Peters. Rural Colorado pays: $787 million in stripped grants, 830 NCAR jobs gone, FEMA relief denied. CMS awarded $200 million in rural health funding—and the Colorado Hospital Association demanded legislative intervention after HCPF excluded providers from the application. Griswold adopted ranked choice rules thirteen months after voters rejected RCV 56-44. The DEI apparatus bleeds federal money—$70 million frozen after Cordova refused compliance. On Crosier Mountain, a woman became the state’s first fatal lion attack victim in 26 years. In Telluride, ski patrollers walked out demanding $28 an hour; the resort stayed dark through peak season. Hickenlooper told Aspen his job is “literally no fun.” Polis celebrated Trump’s school choice program—while appealing to defund a Christian preschool over gender mandates. ActBlue anomalies surfaced: a retiree whose name appeared on 57,138 donations totaling $234,000 gives “$10 to $15 at most.”
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