In the Arena with Colorado Concern

Mitch Morrissey is a former District Attorney for Colorado’s second judicial district in Denver. He currently serves as Common Sense Institute’s Owens Early Criminal justice Fellowship where he has been researching and reporting extensively on crime trends across the state and in our major cities. Few people are as well equipped to discuss how policy changes at the state capitol impact the City of Denver. This podcast references CSI's crime reporting tool which can be found here: https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/spotlight-on-crime-rates-in-denver/

Speaker Julie McCluskie is tasked with leading a historic democratic majority in the House. She joins the podcast to discuss her leadership vision.

Mayor Coffman rejoins the podcast to discuss how his time on the streets has informed the new direction for homelessness prevention taken by the City of Aurora.

Ryan Clancy is the Chief Strategist for No Labels, a national movement of Democrats, Republicans, and independents working to bring leaders together to solve America’s toughest problems. Ryan joined the podcast last year to discuss the federal infrastructure package, he rejoins us today to discuss the changing nature of democracy and what we can expect from this new congress.

Yuval Levin is the Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. He is also the Founder and Editor of National Affairs. He joins the podcast to discuss his new book, A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream.

This is a recording from the Colorado Concern Governor's Forum held on Friday, September 30th, at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We were joined by Governor Jared Polis and CU Regent Heidi Ganahl to deeply discuss issues facing business and the state. Our moderator was esteemed newspaper executive Dean Singleton.

Rafael Mangual is the head of research for the Policing and Public Safety Initiative at the Manhattan Institute. He recently released the book Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who it Hurts Most. He joins the podcast to discuss criminal justice reform from a national perspective.

Alice Jackson is the Senior Vice President of System Strategy and Chief Planning Officer at Xcel Energy, she is also a member of Colorado Concern’s board of directors. Alice oversees electric integration in eight states and joins the podcast to discuss Colorado’s electric grid.

Paul Pazen has been the Chief of Police for the City of Denver since 2018 and will retire in October. Regular listeners will remember Chief Pazen on the podcast discussing the alarming role of personal recognizance bonds on the state of crime in the city. Today we zoom out and look at the city and statewide trends as well as hiring the next generation of officers.

We are looking back on an important discussion from 2020 where we were joined by Paul Seby, a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig with 25 years of experience in environmental issues, where we discussed the legal realities of HB 19-1261, the Climate Action Plan to Reduce Pollution. This bill was signed into law in 2019, giving broad authority to regulate emissions to the Air Quality Control Commission and creating constitutional concerns. Join us as we unpack this important issue that will have a substantial impact on business for decades to come. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1261

Our guest today is David Bernhardt, who served as Secretary of the Interior from 2019 to 2021 under President Trump. He is currently Senior Counsel at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and joins the podcast to discuss the Colorado River Compact and what it can tell us about the future of water in the West.

Our guest today is Paul Lopez, the Clerk and Recorder for the City and County of Denver. Paul is a longtime public servant, having served three terms with the City Council. We have invited him to the podcast to discuss a ballot reform working group he is co-chairing.

We are joined by Paul Pazen, Police Chief for the City of Denver. Together we discuss the connected themes of drugs, public safety, and the rise of personal recognizance bonds.

We are joined on the podcast by Graham Anderson from Anderson Analytics and Josh Penry from 76 Group to discuss the alarming upward trajectory of property taxes in Colorado. Colorado Concern has backed several ballot measures that were recently introduced to slow this rapid rise in property taxes. Today's conversation paints a picture of the need for action on the November ballot.

Former US District Attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn joins the podcast to discuss the mounting problems with fentanyl use and how a recent Colorado state law complicates police efforts to combat the surge of drugs.

In December, the Marshall Fire quickly spread across the towns of Superior and Lousiville, destroying more than 1,000 structures and causing more than $1 billion in damages. We are joined by the Mayors of these great towns, Clint Folsom from Superior and Ashley Stolzmann from Louisville, to discuss the impact of this tragic fire. We are also joined by Sally Ray, the Director of Domestic Funds for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy to talk about the Colorado Wildfire Fund and ways to help. https://disasterphilanthropy.org/donate-to-the-colorado-wildfires-recovery-fund/

Troy Hill is a member of Colorado Concern and the Owner of Hill Petroleum, a full-service petroleum marketer with over 110 employees serving the Western half of the US. Hill Petroleum is a first source marketer for Chevron and a Master Distributor for Sunoco, Brad Penn Lubricants, and JAX. He joins us on the podcast to discuss the energy industry and the impact of state and local legislation on gas prices.

Today we discuss the University of Colorado Boulder's Leeds School of Business 57th annual Colorado's Business Economic Outlook Report with Dr. Richard Wobbekind, the leading researcher behind the annual report. Things are looking up for the state as we emerge from the pandemic. Tune in to learn more.

Chad Vorthmann is the Executive Vice President of the Colorado Farm Bureau, he has been with the organization since 2002 and recently helped produce the Future of Agriculture in Colorado Task Force Report. Today we discuss that report and dive into the policy dynamics at play for the future of our food system.

Ed Sealover, a Senior Reporter from the Denver Business Journal, joins the podcast to discuss changes at the Colorado State Legislature and discussions underway to radically alter our tax code.