7 DECEMBER 25-31, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Before the year ended, the city (through the Downtown Development Authority) had invested another $45 million in the Denver Pavilions, which it purchased in hopes of fi lling that two-block black hole in the heart of downtown with something more than a candy store that closes up before 8 p.m. Meanwhile, back at the Capitol, Colo- rado lawmakers are getting ready to deal with a record-breaking budget crunch as they head into a mid-term election. And the wolves — at least, the opponents of the state’s voter-endorsed reintroduction of the animals — are howling at the door. Trumper Tantrums While Colorado was dealing with self- infl icted wounds, the federal government was showing no mercy to this state. Donald Trump has never been a fan of Colorado; decades ago, he lost the chance to redevelop both Union Station (imagine how lovely it would look gilded, with some nice patio furniture out front) and 1770 Sherman Street. In 2016, he lost the Colorado Republican convention vote to Ted Cruz, which inspired his fi rst accusation that the state’s election system was “rigged.” It was far from the last. After he lost the presidential election in 2020, Trump put much of the blame on Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, inspiring countless conservative yakkers to repeat the claim (and subsequently get sued) despite absolutely no evidence that anyone had tampered with the election. But Tina Peters believed. The Mesa County clerk was so inspired that she let a protege of My Pillow poobah Mike Lindell into her county’s voting system, then kicked a po- lice offi cer who dared to ask about some courtroom shenanigans. As thanks for Peters’ heroic efforts, a jury of her peers — and how, since she was tried in bright-red Mesa County, where the prosecutor is a Republican — convicted her of three felony counts of attempting to infl uence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to com- mit criminal impersonation, one misdemanor count of offi cial mis- conduct, one misdemeanor count of violation of duty in elections, and one misdemeanor count of failure to comply with the secretary of state (and offi ce for which Peters had run, even after her fall from grace). In October 2024, Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced the “charlatan” to nine years in prison. “I’m convinced you’d do it all over again if you could,” he said. “You are a privi- leged person. You are as privileged as they come. You used that for power and fame.” And in the process, Peters made friends in powerful places. Lindell, who this sum- mer lost a defamation case fi led by a former Dominion exec, is now running for Governor of Minnesota. And our pardon-happy presi- dent recently released an offi cial “pardon” of Peters, even though she was convicted on state charges and he has no control over the Colorado courts...unless he sends in troops to break Peters out of prison. Instead, Trump has contented himself with invading Colorado in other ways. For starters, the Department of Justice is now in- vestigating the Colorado Department of Cor- rections. Perhaps Trump will send in Lindsey Halligan, a Regis University grad and former Miss Colorado USA contestant whom he el- evated from her role as his personal attorney to interim prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, where she secured an indictment of both former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — until a judge ruled that her appointment was illegal and the indictments were thrown out. Halligan currently has some free time, and might enjoy a trip home. While in Colorado, she can visit Con- gressman Jason Crow, who joined fi ve other lawmakers, including Senator Mark Kelly, in a video reminding fellow members of the military that they can and must refuse illegal orders. In response, Trump trumped that their action was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” But so far, Crow has survived long enough to see a judge rule in favor of his suit against Trump, after the U.S. representative and former Army Ranger charged that it was illegal for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offi cials to prevent him from visiting the Aurora de- tention center (turn the page for more on that). That’s just one of many legal actions that Colorado has aimed at Trump. So far, Attorney General (and gubernatorial candidate) Phil Weiser has fi led 47 lawsuits against the Trump administration, either on his own or joining with other state attorneys general. Several are related to the feds’ crackdown on immigrants; back in March, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston went before a Congressional committee to explain why Denver is not a sanctuary city. Even with a $2 million contract for legal advice, Johnston’s testimony was not persuasive enough to persuade the feds to send Colorado the money it’s been withholding from this and other blue states. In fact, at the end of this very long year, Trump delivered the unkindest cut of all (so far): He announced that the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which has been located in an I.M. Pei-designed building in Boulder since 1960, should be dismantled, because it promotes “climate alarmism.” You know, the kind of hot air that had NCAR sounding the alarm in mid-December that high winds could be hitting the Front Range of Colorado. Time to say so long to 2025. Out with the bad air, in with the good. Email the author at [email protected]. JARED POLIS INSTAGRAM Jared Polis blew up his own bridge project.
