Author: By ERIC SONDERMANN
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Michael Bennet and the question in a campaign of small differences | Eric Sondermann
The train usually runs only one-way. The route goes from the state capital to Washington, D.C. State legislators become congresspeople; governors become senators. See Hickenlooper, John. Including our junior senator, no matter his years, a total of 12 current U.S. senators arrived there after first doing stints in the governor’s chair of their respective state.…
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A bit of positive thinking for the holidays
These days, some out-and-out positivity is perhaps out of character for me. I tend to view our politics and the world more broadly with considerable alarm. My morning routine most often consists of reading for a solid 60 or 90 minutes, all online, all news and commentary from a variety of publications. As this period…
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Colorado Lottery’s mega-bad idea
There are plenty of lousy, miserable, misguided whims out there. Then, every so often, you come across a notion so wrong-headed that it qualifies as phenomenally bad. Or in words the marketing whizzes at the Colorado Lottery might understand, let’s call this a mega-bad idea. The proposal in question, recently adopted by the Lottery Commission,…
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Kent Thiry, please pull your checkbook out again | SONDERMANN
Business and civic leader Kent Thiry is a complex figure. He built Denver-based DaVita to be a behemoth in the world of kidney care and dialysis. Along the way, he was known for some wild, over-the-top gatherings in the name of team-building. Under his leadership, the company paid major sums to settle claims of fraudulent…
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The internal pessimist and optimist have it out | SONDERMANN
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It’s the perpetual debate: Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Within my own overly active and disquieted mind, that dialogue is robust and never-ending. Over the long expanse of years, I have tended to be an optimist. I wake up most mornings in anticipation of a good day. My inherent inclination is to think that…
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Two parties with a death wish; a country that may not stand for it | SONDERMANN
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On this 247th anniversary of our nation’s independence, America is a starkly divided place marked by a deep-seeded, underlying depression. Vast numbers of our countrymen increasingly live in self-ratifying, self-righteous echo chambers on opposite political poles. Overlap and common ground are lacking. Ditto for mutual respect and good faith. Economist Herbert Stein remarked, “If something…
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A memo to Denver’s mayor to-be | SONDERMANN
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To Mike: I hope a first-name basis is OK, and that we can put off the honorifics until you take office. First off, congratulations on a decisive victory. You have been at this a while. When you first ran for governor in 2018 with a bit more hair, I somehow doubt that you envisioned getting…
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The meaning of Yemi in Colorado Springs | SONDERMANN
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Perhaps it’s a matter of Hertz versus Avis with the number-two entity always finding it necessary to “try harder.” In this case, the mayoral election in the state’s second largest city, Colorado Springs, was far more interesting and likely consequential than Denver’s Tweedledee and Tweedledum race at last now at its finish line. Blessing Yemi…
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‘Root causes’ are real — but no excuse | SONDERMANN
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What the absolute (fill in your favorite four-letter curse word)? Eric Sondermann We are away, but the headlines travel and tell a gruesome, sickening story. A troubled teen is patted down as part of an accommodation allowing him to attend a public high school. Only on this day, a gun is found on him and…
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Goodbye, elephant — the GOP’s new symbol is a shovel | SONDERMANN
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When it comes to damage control, rule No. 1 is paramount: When in a hole, quit digging. Somehow, this is time-tested best practice that vast elements of today’s Republican Party have forsaken. Either the dog ate the memo or it got lost in the mail. The Republican Party comes off three consecutive elections with results…