When I started in the legislature 13 years ago, there was integrity and collaboration. You could disagree but still have a discussion and still be civil to each other. You would try to find common ground and actually try to solve problems. Now, not so much. 

We have a governor who bragged about a stakeholder process for the new oil and gas restrictions when, in fact, there was none– no enviros– no industry. Integrity meant working with constituents to draft problem-solving language. Drafting any legislation in back rooms and then being dishonest when it is introduced is not the definition of good policy making, let alone integrity.

The evil seems to be a continued agenda with absolutely no desire to reach across the aisle to form good policy. From the introduction of bills which would create safe places to inject illegal drugs with new needles given by government to giving our Presidential votes away to the populated states, this governor and lawmakers are taking Colorado down a path of destruction and socialism.

A day after the press conference that touted a stakeholder process (which we found out was a lie), a bill was introduced to ultimately shut down oil and gas production in much of the state. Hidden under the disguise of local control, the Oil and Gas Commission would reevaluate already-issued permits under a new set of standards and allow local governments to create even stricter regulations, even though the voters soundly rejected 112, their anti-energy referendum.

It also appears that rallies at the capitol are scheduled in advance of a bills introduction and social media support issued for a hearing date in committees of bills that have not yet been introduced and boom - new bills that meet the agenda and time frame suddenly appear to the rest of the citizens. Again, elected officials showing an unprecedented and orchestrated abuse of power. 

Introduced legislation that would continue Denver’s safe injection sites perpetuates the evil nature of this legislature. For lawmakers to try and provide safe areas and provide tools for drug addicts to shoot up with illegal drugs that we know are bad for them only adds to the destruction of a society.

With Democrats so upset over the last Presidential election, their proposal to cede our electoral college votes to the rest of the country is short-sighted. Our forefathers got it right when they created a system to make sure that heavily populated urban states did not over-run rural areas and govern by mob-rule. In an attempt to make sure Colorado never leads and only follows New York and California, the current leaders of our state have done an end-run around the Constitution.

The attempt to make sure sex-education and health classes are taught with a specific agenda is a true overreach and are one of the responsibilities of parents. It has never been, nor should it be, a schools responsibility to teach an agenda that is more appropriately taught at home. 

The agenda continues with the absence of due-process in legislation that allows an upset family member to have law enforcement remove a law-abiding citizen’s guns. A court could order the removal of firearms without hearing the other side, and then when your guns are removed, you are guilty until you can prove yourself innocent of being mentally unstable. The unintended consequence here is this: folks that are currently talking to counselors may no longer do so if they think that it may be used against them in taking their firearms away. 

These are all reasons that the second amendment was adopted – to allow the people to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. The Nazi regime used gun control to disarm its enemies. We know it was evil then, and it continues to be evil today. 

The new war on rural Colorado and on its values and traditions has reached a new low and we will continue to see the wedge grow larger under the new state leadership. This capitol is an evil place these days, and constituents are correct to assume that the dysfunction in D.C. has infiltrated the state of Colorado.

Jerry Sonnenberg