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The Spot: Where you (and Heidi Ganahl) stand on 2020 election results is a litmus test

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Heidi Ganahl surely knew the question was coming: Do you accept the 2020 election result as legitimate?

Arguably above any other issue, an answer indicates whether a candidate has faith in the basic function of a democracy they seek to help lead. So it’s no surprise Ganahl, the biggest GOP name in Colorado’s 2022 race for governor, was asked at least three times Tuesday, Day 1 of her campaign.

She didn’t have an answer. The first time she was asked, by The Colorado Sun, she spoke generally about how important it is for people to “have confidence that their vote matters.” The second time, she told The Denver Post she wouldn’t “get into that right now.” The third time, she criticized 9News for posing such a “divisive” question.

The question is a litmus test: Will she run as a more moderate Republican who’s willing to say things that might upset the base, or will she run with the base and risk alienating moderates?

Recent history tells us it’s not easy to try to credibly run on both paths. Cory Gardner attempted that when he aligned himself with Donald Trump but ran ads about being bipartisan and independent-minded. Reporters had a lot of questions for him, but he rarely spoke to local media and left a lot unanswered.

The GOP split that Ganahl must navigate will be on display this weekend, when the state party votes on a proposal, led by the far-right, to close its primary process off to all but a few thousand die-hards. Doing that would mean excluding millions of Republican and unaffiliated voters from the GOP primary.

Reporters on Tuesday asked Ganahl what side she’s taking there — another litmus-test question.

Her response? “I’m not going to get into that.”

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Top Line

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser speaks ...
Rebecca Slezak, The Denver Post
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser speaks on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, during a news conference about a yearlong investigation into the Aurora Police Department that found officers’ pattern of racially biased policing and use of excessive force routinely violated state and federal law. (Rebecca Slezak, The Denver Post)

Aurora’s police department must make changes after a state investigation that found racially biased policing. Read more here.

Capitol Diary • By Saja Hindi

Abortion rights fight

Colorado Attorney General Phi Weiser announced this week that he has signed onto the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit challenging Texas’ six-week abortion ban.

“I am committed to defending women’s reproductive rights and equality, and Texas’ new law violates longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent by denying women their constitutionally protected right to make their own health care decisions,” Weiser said in a statement.

Texas Senate Bill 8, which went into effect earlier this month, bans nearly all abortions in the state and allows private citizens to enforce it by giving them the ability to sue anyone who performs an abortion or helps someone to get one (including counseling or giving a ride to a clinic).

Abortion rights groups in Colorado have been preparing for an increase in patients, and advocacy group Cobalt said in the week following the Texas ban, half of the clients the nonprofit helped through its abortion fund were from Texas. The attorney generals’ brief cited impacts to providers across the country, including Colorado.

But the Texas law is not the only challenge in recent years to Roe v. Wade. Mississippi officials have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to keep in place a state law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.

Reproductive rights advocates say cases like these will continue to come up unless Congress takes action. Cobalt and others are supporting the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” which would put the right to abortion access into federal law. Colorado Democrats in Congress have signed onto the legislation as cosponsors.

Other Colorado politics news

Federal Politics • By Justin Wingerter

House Television via AP
GOP U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn speaks as the House of Representatives debates articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. (House Television via AP)

Judge rules in Lamborn’s favor

A federal judge has sided with U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and agreed to let a court in Colorado handle the lawsuit filed against him by former staffer Brandon Pope.

Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, wanted it here rather than U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, ruled Wednesday that Colorado has “robust connections to this dispute.”

“In short, this case is about a Colorado resident’s employment dispute with his Colorado-based employer, who is also a representative of the people of Colorado,” Boasberg wrote.

Pope sued Lamborn in May, alleging he was fired for speaking out about Lamborn’s disregard for COVID-19 safety protocols and the Lamborn family’s personal use of government resources. Lamborn has largely denied the accusations. A hearing had not been scheduled as of Thursday afternoon.

Other federal politics news

Mile High Politics • By Joe Rubino

Mayor’s vaccine

For some members of City Council’s finance and governance committee, it felt like Mayor Michael Hancock’s request that the council allocate $5 million for bonuses for city staff members who complied with his COVID-19 vaccine mandate came out of left field.

On Tuesday, that committee voted to hold Hancock’s request up until their meeting on Sept. 28 to discuss it further rather than send it to the council at large. That second hearing is just two days before the deadline Hancock set for city employees to get their shots, a waiver or face potential discipline.

Council members wondered how the administration arrived at the $400-per-employee amount and what the administration believes is the purpose of these payments. Chief Financial Officer Brendan Hanlon told them it’s about recognition, not providing a last-minute incentive to holdouts.

Councilwoman Robin Kniech took issue with the fact that people who qualified for a religious exemption would get bonuses, saying she’d viewed it as the government paying people for their religion — and the city shouldn’t do that.

“We should be paying people who have active steps to prevent the transmission of COVID,” she said.

More Denver and suburban news

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