Category: You & Government

Colorado, along with 21 other states, recently sued the federal government to stop the restriction of SNAP benefits for some green card holders — a move the coalition of states claims is unlawful and would create unjust restrictions for some immigrants.

Shortly after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were restored for roughly 600,000 Colorado residents, states began fighting against guidance released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that labels some groups of legal immigrants as ineligible for food assistance, according to a news release from the office of Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

The new guidance, issued to state SNAP agencies on Oct. 31, describes changes to program eligibility under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which narrowed eligibility for some non-citizen groups including refugees, asylum recipients and others admitted under humanitarian protection programs, the release states.

Where guidance becomes unlawful, the plaintiff states argue, is where the memo declared that people who entered the country through these humanitarian pathways would remain permanently ineligible for SNAP food aid, even after obtaining green cards and becoming lawful permanent residents.

The lawsuit, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, argues that this position is not mentioned in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or in any other federal law, and that the USDA’s memo “illegally rewrites federal rules” and threatens to cut off food assistance for people who are fully eligible under the law.

“This guidance will also create widespread confusion for families, increase the risk of wrongful benefit terminations, erode public trust, and place states in an impossible situation…” Weiser said in the release. “In the end, those who are legally eligible for food assistance will be harmed, and that is why we are filing suit.”

Roughly 300,000 SNAP recipients in Colorado are children. Recipients in Western Slope areas like Garfield County typically receive between $200 and $300 per month.

Only U.S. citizens and some lawfully present noncitizens may receive SNAP benefits. In 2023, less than 5% of all SNAP recipients were lawfully present non-citizens, according to data from the Department of Agriculture.

The attorneys general involved in the lawsuit argue that the memo’s guidance contradicts federal law and could impose massive financial penalties on states. Weiser added that the guidance has caused “significant confusion” for several states, which have been asked to either implement limitations on SNAP eligibility that they consider to be illegal, or accept severe financial liability.

Another part of the lawsuit argues that the agency broke its own regulations by requiring that states comply with the new guidance by Nov. 1, just one day after the guidance was released. Federal rules give states a 120-day grace period after new guidance is issued to adjust their systems without facing any penalties. By disregarding its own rules, the coalition of states argues that the USDA is “exposing states to major financial penalties for errors caused by the agency’s late and inaccurate memo.”

“States have already begun implementing the statutory changes enacted earlier this year, but USDA’s abrupt and incorrect guidance now forces them to overhaul eligibility systems overnight,” the release states. “The attorneys general are asking the court to vacate the unlawful guidance and block its implementation to ensure that families do not lose critical food assistance.”

The lawsuit was filed through the District of Oregon and also includes Colorado, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

The presidential portraits hanging in the Colorado Capitol will be taken down at least through 2026 and replaced with an exhibit celebrating Colorado’s 150th statehood anniversary.

The Capitol Building Advisory Committee voted 9-2 recently to approve the change.

The decision to remove the presidential portraits in the third-floor rotunda, at least temporarily, comes after an uproar earlier this year when President Donald Trump complained about how he looked in his Colorado Capitol portrait. Trump called the portrait “truly the worst.”

The painting, which led to international headlines, was removed in response to Trump’s gripe and eventually replaced with a portrait provided by the White House.

The Capitol Building Advisory Committee initially was mulling, after Trump’s backlash, whether to permanently replace the presidential portraits in the third-floor rotunda with renderings of the state’s governors. But that posed its own problems.

History Colorado has portraits of all but four of the state’s governors. The missing portraits include one of Gov. Jared Polis. (The portraits are completed after a governor leaves office.)

Another issue is that the gubernatorial portraits are not uniform in size. The presidential portraits are. Displaying the paintings of the former governor on the curved walls of the rotunda would require some planning.

Instead, the Capitol Building Advisory Committee voted to move forward with an exhibit that will feature the official legislative photos of all 100 state lawmakers paired with pictures of them as children and blurbs about why they got into public service.

The idea behind the exhibit, which is projected to be relatively inexpensive, is to inspire the thousands of schoolchildren who visit the Colorado Capitol each year.

The presidential portrait gallery at the Colorado Capitol is unique among state capitols across the country. Nonpartisan staff in the legislature say there really isn’t a similar gallery at any other state capitol in the country.

United States President Donald Trump recently signed a federal government spending bill less than two hours after the House of Representatives passed it, bringing an end to the longest government shutdown in US history, which hit workers and families in need and heavily affected air travel.

“With my signature, the federal government will now resume normal operations,” Trump said after the signing, while also pledging to work to lower the cost of living nationwide.

The new spending bill, which extends federal funding until January 30, was backed by a margin of 222 to 209 in the Republican-majority House. It was approved by the Senate earlier in the week, after seven Democrats and one independent agreed to support it.

Trump’s signature brings to an end a 43-day shutdown that began on October 1, during which all but essential government services had ground to a halt.

Federal workers will now return to their jobs as early as possible, but it is unclear how quickly full government services and operations will resume.

About 670,000 civil servants were furloughed during the closure, while a similar number worked without compensation, but will now receive back pay.

The shutdown’s end offers hope that services crucial to the country’s beleaguered air travel industry, in particular, will have time to recover before the Thanksgiving holiday travel wave, which is just two weeks away.

Restoration of food aid to millions of American families before Christmas may also make room in household budgets for increased spending during the festive season.

Crucially, however, the deal has not resolved one of the shutdown’s most central issues – health insurance subsidies for 24 million Americans under the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration has said it will not renew when they expire at the end of the year.

A vote on healthcare subsidies is due to take place in the Senate by December.

Both Republicans and the Democrats have sought to blame each other over the 43-day closure, but neither side appears to have won a clear victory.

A poll recently released suggested that half of Americans blamed Republicans for the shutdown, while 47% found fault with the Democrats.

During his late-night signing ceremony, Trump lambasted Democrats for their role, saying “this is no way to run a country” and “we can never let this happen again.”

“They knew that it would cause pain, and they did it anyway,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the Democrats. “The whole exercise was pointless. It was wrong and it was cruel.”

But Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill, who was recently elected as New Jersey’s next governor, took aim at the funding bill and the Trump administration in her last speech on the US House floor.

“Do not let this body become a ceremonial red stamp from an administration that takes food away from children and rips away healthcare,” Sherrill told her colleagues.

“To the country: Stand strong. As we say in the Navy, don’t give up the ship.”

The new spending bill will see the federal government continue to add roughly $1.8 trillion a year to its $38 trillion in debt.

By some economists’ estimates, the shutdown was shaving more than a tenth of a percentage point from the US gross domestic product every six weeks. Most of that lost output is expected to be recouped in the months ahead.

The agreement to end the shutdown provoked anger among some Democrats, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, considered a contender for the 2028 presidential election, who called the Senate deal an “empty promise”.

Many Democrats preferred to keep holding out, feeling they had sufficiently strengthened their position on health insurance subsidies after several high-profile election wins this month, including New York City’s mayoral race and gubernatorial votes in New Jersey and Virginia

The city remains at risk of contracting with ineligible businesses for construction projects because of insufficient business verification, according to a new audit follow-up report from Denver Auditor Timothy M. O’Brien, CPA.

“Hiring a construction company that’s not qualified to do the work violates the City Charter,” said Auditor O’Brien. “The city selecting unqualified businesses over businesses that are qualified also sets unfair selection process.”

The Department of Transportation & Infrastructure and Denver International Airport co-manage the city’s construction contractor pre-qualification process. Contractors on city construction projects must meet certain requirements, including demonstrating financial capability, to obtain pre-qualification and compete for city projects. The city’s defined rules and the Pre-qualification Board decide which contractors pre-qualify.

Since our original 2024 audit, Transportation & Infrastructure updated the construction contractor pre-qualification application template, requiring applicants to disclose whether they are in arrears or in default on any city obligation. But the application is not yet implemented in city software, so the Pre-qualification Board may be receiving inadequate information about applicants. Without the necessary information, the board risks hiring contractors that are ineligible for pre-qualification.

Furthermore, when the board does reject a contractors’ application, we recommended the agencies establish a process for contractors to formally dispute the decision. Transportation & Infrastructure managers did not implement this process, saying they do not have the capacity or staffing.

We found the city’s process to assign and communicate financial limits still lacks transparency. Transportation & Infrastructure is not consistently following required processes when assigning contractors a financial level — which determines the type and value of the contracts a contractor can bid on. If the board approves a level higher or lower than what the contractor requested, it must provide a clear justification to the contractor. This did not occur in two of five applications we analyzed.

Without a more transparent pre-qualification process, city managers risk reducing the city’s pool of potential qualified bidders because contractors may choose to abstain from doing business with Denver if they believe the pre-qualification process is unfair or not transparent.

“If contractors cannot appeal application decisions and they are not told why they are assigned different financial levels, it leads to a less open and less competitive procurement process,” said Auditor O’Brien.

In a positive step forward for transparency and improved record keeping, the agencies developed and implemented a formalized procedure for reviewing application packages to ensure more accurate information. A pre-qualification coordinator prepares the packages and now a peer and supervisor also review the packages.

“Progress has been made, but if there are ongoing risks, we may consider them in a future audit,” Auditor O’Brien said.

President Donald Trump is no stranger to federal government shutdowns, having presided over a record-long impasse in his first term and with the United States government just a couple of days from its 15th partial shutdown, since 1981, Washington is in familiar territory with an important difference. President Donald Trump’s administration has not widely shared its plans for what functions will cease and what will continue if Congress fails to act.

The Office of Management and Budget this year asked federal agencies to update their contingency plans for how they will operate if funding runs out when the fiscal year ends on September 30. In past shutdowns functions like air-traffic control and law enforcement have continued, while financial regulators have furloughed the vast majority of their staff.

Those plans were often shared weeks in advance heading into past shutdowns. But as of recently, the current versions have not beeU’n widely shared with Congress or the public and White House web page dedicated to those plans was blank. The White House and OMB did not respond when asked if these plans will be publicly released or if shutdown plans differ from previous years.

“Shutdowns create tremendous amounts of uncertainty for federal workers and local economies,” said Rachel Snyderman, managing director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, adding these shutdown plans provide insight into who shows up to work with or without pay, and who is furloughed.

“There is no substitute for how the government would operate in a shutdown without the visibility that these plans provide,” said Snyderman, who served at OMB as a career staffer across several administrations.

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill just recently to extend funding through November 21, but it failed in the Senate where Republicans hold 53 of the 100 seats. Republicans blame Democrats for holding up the funding due to their opposition to the president whereas Democrats argue healthcare issues need to be addressed in this funding bill.

Both chambers are out for now with the Senate not due to return to Washington until September 29.

These plans also inform Congress how the executive branch will follow the Anti-deficiency Act, an 1884 law that prevents the federal government from spending money without funding passed into law.

“With the threat of a possible government shutdown looming, the Trump Administration’s Office of Management and Budget must immediately release these updated contingency plans,” Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that oversees shutdown operations, said in a statement.

“Without them, Congress and the public are completely in the dark about how the Administration would comply with the law while continuing to carry out critical national security functions,” he added.

Government shutdowns impact federal agencies funded through discretionary spending and mostly do not impact government functions with mandatory spending — such as Social Security payments, Medicare health programs and interest payments on the nation’s debt — which collectively account for about three-quarters of the roughly $7 trillion federal budget.

Usually, a week away from a lapse of appropriations OMB starts notifying agencies on the prospects of a shutdown, legislative possibilities, and other pertinent updates.

The Trump administration has reworked the federal government by changing priorities, and oversaw departure of an estimated 300,000 federal employees this year through firings, layoffs, and buyouts, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that tracks federal workforce trends.

The OMB has also challenged federal funding powers, which the Constitution grants to Congress with the power of the purse. On Capitol Hill, funding negotiations between Republican and Democratic appropriators were shaken after the OMB leader Russ Vought in July argued publicly this funding process should be “less bipartisan.”

Agencies have some leeway to determine which categories of employees to furlough or not, like an exception allowed within the law for roles to continue if “necessary to protect life and property.”

The parameters of what’s in bounds is pretty well settled, but it would not be surprising if there was an attempt to try to test those bounds as that would be consistent with what Americans have seen from this administration related to appropriations.

Three Senate committee aides said they have been informed by some agencies in their jurisdiction that these contingency plans were submitted to OMB for approval and the logistics were similar to plans under previous administrations, while other agencies have not provided any updates.

The last government shutdown was during Trump’s first term, spanning 34 days from the end of December 2018 into January 2019, and certain decisions by the Trump administration to spend money for the National Park Service and on food assistance programs at the Agriculture Department were found to have violated the law, according to the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan watchdog funded by Congress.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently signed executive orders that aimed to limit no-cash bail in the nation’s capital and across the nation – and has threatened the revocation of federal funds for those that don’t comply. This is seen as part of a White House effort to push crime-fighting to the top of the national agenda.

Cashless bail, known as personal recognizance or PR bonds, is a system in which suspects are released from jail while awaiting trial based on their promise to appear in court rather than paying out cash.

Critics of the policy, including Trump, say it reduces the incentive for defendants to show up for trial and puts public safety at risk by allowing them back on the street. Supporters say many low-income people can’t afford to post bond.

The orders mark Trump’s latest steps to broaden his control over the capital and use the power of the federal purse to try to bend institutions to his will, assertions of presidential power with little recent precedent.

Saying Washington, D.C. was gripped by a violent crime wave, Trump has temporarily seized its police force and allowed National Guard troops to carry weapons while on patrol in the city. He is also threatening to expand the U.S. military presence to cities including Baltimore and Chicago.

Critics have slammed the administration’s actions as unnecessary overreach, accusing Trump of manufacturing an emergency to seize greater control of Washington and target Democratic cities.

Trump nodded to the criticism, saying people are calling him a dictator for his actions.

“I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense,” Trump said.

The nationwide executive order directs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to submit a list of local and state jurisdictions with cashless bail policies and identify federal funds in those places that could be “suspended or terminated,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Various investigations have extensively covered PR bonds and their impact on public safety in Colorado in recent years. One of such investigations includes the story of Martin Gonzalez Pena, who was arrested in 2021 for multiple serious drug offenses, including getting caught by an undercover Denver Police Officer carrying 20,000 fentanyl pills. After receiving a PR bond and walking out of jail without a single dollar of bail, he failed to appear in court.

Data available at the time showed in Denver, 69% of all serious drug offenders received no cash or PR bonds, and we also discovered 45% of the accused offenders who received those no cash bonds never returned to court, were never held accountable.

So now the question is, how does Trump’s executive order potentially impact the judicial system in Colorado?

The Colorado’s Attorney General’s office has said it will be reviewing the executive order and its potential impact on Colorado. Clearly, the announcement in Washington, D.C. was unexpected by many, and they are now scrambling to assess its impact.

That order also calls for the U.S. Attorney General to identify potential actions that could include restricting federal funding, services or approvals.

The nation’s capital was one of the first U.S. cities to largely eliminate cash bail in the 1990s. Under the city’s policy, a judge assesses whether a defendant should be released from jail based on their risk of not showing up for trial.

A 2024 analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice that looked at 22 cities that enacted bail reform, including cashless bail, and 11 that did not between 2015 and 2021 found no evidence of a link to overall crime trends or specific crimes like violent crime and larceny.

The White House referenced a 2023 study by the Yolo County District Attorney’s office in California that argued zero-cash bail led to more crime.

Colorado does not have a comprehensive statewide “cashless bail” system in the way that other jurisdictions do. Instead, the state has already implemented its own bail reform, most notably through House Bill 21-1280.

This 2021 law aimed to streamline the bail process and improve transparency. Key provisions included requiring jurisdictions to offer online bond payments and creating clear procedures for notifying inmates and the public about bonding rights. The law did not eliminate cash bail but addressed procedural issues.

As it stands, the greatest potential impact on Colorado would be from the possible withholding of federal funding. However, the extent to which this might affect Colorado is currently unclear. The state would need to be identified by the Attorney General as having a “cashless bail” policy, and the specifics of which funds could be withheld would need to be determined.

A recent audit by Denver Auditor Timothy M. O’Brien highlights a disjointed relationship between Denver 311 and partner city agencies, leaving Denverites in the lurch when it comes to city services. Denver 311 serves as a lifeline, connecting residents with the appropriate city services, yet the audit reveals serious shortcomings that remain unresolved since a similar 2012 review. An ineffective system, it appears, is plaguing the service, which should function as a smooth operator for resolving civic issues.

Inefficient operations and a lack of coordination have persisted, despite recommendations from the previous 2012 audit.

According to the audit obtained by the Denver Auditor’s Office, there is no formal oversight mechanism in place to ensure proper management and resolution of 311 cases.

“When residents contact Denver 311 with a question or complaint, they expect timely service. It’s unfortunate the city still has a few problems with efficiency and accountability for 311 request resolutions after we identified this issue 13 years ago,” O’Brien lamented, as per the Denver Auditor’s Office.

One of the main findings in the audit is the informal approach that hampers case resolution, resulting in Denver residents often receiving insufficient guidance or irrelevant information.

As a chilling echo of past inefficiencies, approximately 39% of messages related to Solid Waste’s compost bin cases, in fact, did not pertain to the topic at hand.

“Every contact with a resident is an opportunity to demonstrate accountability and build trust. The number of people who are frustrated or dissatisfied with receiving inadequate or even unrelated information should not be downplayed,” O’Brien pointed out, as obtained by the Denver Auditor’s Office.

Adding to the communication breakdown, Denver 311 lacks the clout required to enforce accountability across city agencies. Encumbered by these deficiencies, the Mayor’s Office has been directed to address the numerous gaps. Though the Mayor’s Office agreed with the audit’s six recommendations, they seem to waffle, not offering clarity on the pursuit of more formalized collaboration and stronger oversight mechanisms that are critically needed to provide Denver citizens with positive experiences. With an opportunity missed to cement faith in the city’s systems, it brings into question the commitment to action that would remediate the trust deficit between residents and their city services.

The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance is minimizing the potential for cybersecurity attacks at the Denver Zoo because it is properly managing its outdated IT infrastructure, according to a new audit from Denver Auditor Timothy M. O’Brien, CPA.

“It’s not often we complete audits where an auditee is doing nearly all the right things. I applaud the zoo and their IT team for establishing and maintaining a culture where IT protections are taken seriously in policy and in practice. They are setting a quality standard that other Denver agencies and IT teams should follow,” Auditor O’Brien said.

Outdated infrastructure in IT equipment and software can pose risks such as weak security, loss of innovation, and wasted productivity. These risks can be reduced by replacing outdated infrastructure or implementing complimentary controls. The audit sought to identify any outdated infrastructure risks at the Denver Zoo.

The Denver audit office found the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance’s IT team is proactively identifying, reporting, budgeting, and replacing its outdated infrastructure. They are communicating their needs through the zoo’s leaders and to the board of governors who approve the budget and provide sufficient funding to replace outdated infrastructure. This system allows the zoo to efficiently and effectively manage IT risks.

Over  882 pieces of the zoo’s IT equipment was examined and it was discovered that just 13 of them (1.3%) had outdated infrastructure. The zoo’s IT team is aware of these 13 items. They are appropriately risk managing all of them and provided a detailed status of each.

• Two operating systems that are not supported by the vendor are installed on computer equipment that are powered off and ready to be disposed of. Three mobile devices are outside of the five-year replacement period, but there are documented plans to replace the devices.
• Three pieces of network equipment are not supported by a vendor or receiving security updates. However, they are not connected to the network, remote access is disabled, and the equipment is powered off, which reduces the risk of the equipment becoming compromised. The equipment is used for testing and are backups in case active network equipment fails. Five servers have reached their end of life but are powered off and only used as a tertiary — or third in line — disaster recovery backup solution.

For years, the zoo had listed IT equipment purchases in a manual database. It later implemented management software to create an inventory of IT equipment. However, during the audit, the IT team had not yet reconciled the database and the software. This prevented the zoo from monitoring and tracking the equipment using the management software. The audit found 25 pieces of IT equipment recorded in the database that do not have the required software to communicate with the management software.

“With a complete and accurate inventory, the zoo can better manage and identify the IT equipment that may put the zoo at risk for cyberattacks,” Auditor O’Brien said. The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance agreed with the audit team’s recommendation to reconcile its IT equipment database with IT equipment management software records.

The zoo also agreed with the second recommendation to update its policy by documenting what the zoo defines as outdated infrastructure and the risks the zoo is willing to accept when using outdated infrastructure.

“With just two recommendations, the zoo’s IT team does not have many areas of improvement. Once the inventory and policies are addressed, the zoo will be in an even stronger position to mitigate outdated infrastructure risks,” said Auditor O’Brien.

 

The Colorado Springs City Council and Mayor Yemi Mobolade are at odds with each other over the power to pick who will receive the tax revenues from recreational marijuana sales.

According to multiple news sources, voters laid out the broad framework for marijuana tax revenues in 2022, requiring potentially millions to fund post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans, mental health service and public safety services.

Last year, voters approved recreational marijuana sales, despite opposition from Mobolade, city councilmembers and other public officials.

Just recently, councilmembers voted 6-3 to set up a screening process to review applications for the money. They planned to use the applications to make recommendations to the mayor’s office. Mayor Mobolade also recently vetoed the measure and said to the media that all grant-making authority lies with his office.

Mobolade also said the review process set up by council creates unnecessary bureaucracy and directs money away from essential city services, and that his office would ensure the money was spent on residents’ priorities, such as public safety.

Councilmembers pushed back on his statement in one of their own, saying that public safety was listed as an intended and allowable use.

The council and mayor also share in the city budget process with the mayor presenting the council with a budget. The council then has the power to make changes before approving it.

The mayor said in his statement that the $1.4 million in anticipated marijuana tax revenues is a critical opportunity to strengthen the city’s core services and improve emergency response times and address the growing mental health crisis. His opinion piece in a prominent media organization emphasized the importance of investing in public safety at a time when the city is facing an $11.5 million shortfall.

“We must protect every dollar that supports the core services residents depend on,” he said.

The column did not address spending on PTSD treatment for veterans as required by voters.

The council leaned on the ballot language in its official response, noting that the voters approved language saying the amounts distributed from marijuana sales tax revenues will be “subject to the City Council’s discretion” and the group intends to honor the will of the voters.

“Claims that this ordinance ties the mayor’s hands or limits emergency tools are false,” the council’s statement said. “Any attempt to frame this as City Council ‘usurping’ authority is political theater.”

The statement went on to say the board would not allow “misinformation to distort the facts.”

The council would need another supermajority vote to override the mayor’s veto.

In the vote last week, Councilmembers Dave Donelson, Nancy Henjum and Kimberly Gold voted against the ordinance.

Several members of the public also spoke on the ordinance, making the case for the funding to be used on a Clean & Safe program for downtown that would add private security, outreach for homeless residents and ambassadors to promote downtown.

While the proposed program might fit the intent of voters, the council did not decide that question, but noted perhaps they could in the future.

“An ordinance like this, gives council an opportunity to focus dollars on a specific problem,” said Councilman Tom Bailey, who supported the measure.

Former Mayor John Suthers worked hard to have a collaborative relationship with council after Steve Bach, the city’s first strong mayor, struggled with an adversarial relationship that featured many vetoes.

But Suthers and the council did part ways over how many hooved pets residents should have in 2022.

The auditor for the city of Denver is backing the unionization campaign among employees in a division within his department.

In a statement, Timothy O’Brien said he supports the unionization of the Auditor Office’s Denver Labor division. The workers have officially affiliated with Communications Workers of America Local 7777, O’Brien said.

“I believe in the right of workers to organize,” O’Brien said in a statement. “Unions strengthen workplaces, amplify employee voices, and ensure a more transparent and fair work environment. By unionizing, our service to the public only gets better.”

Denver Labor is in charge of wage compliance efforts in the city.

“This is a partnership,” Denver Labor Executive Director Matthew Fritz-Mauer added in the same news release. “It would be strange to fight for the rights of Denver’s workers, while trying to deny those rights to our own staff. If they feel having a union will make our division stronger, then we’ll make sure their voice is heard and respected.”

Reaction among unionized staff has been positive, with several employees expressing appreciation for the Auditor’s stance.