For one brief, miraculous moment, Colorado politics bumped into reality and did not immediately file a bill to regulate it.
At a Glendale forum, four major candidates for governor — Michael Bennet, Phil Weiser, Barbara Kirkmeyer, and Victor Marx — all managed to admit the obvious: Colorado has a business-climate problem, and housing affordability is central to the state’s economic future. Congratulations, everyone. The smoke alarm is screaming, the kitchen is on fire, and the political class has courageously discovered smoke.
The forum drew several hundred business leaders and covered housing, data centers, land use, regulation, energy, and carbon goals. Which is another way of saying the candidates were asked about the giant pile of machinery that made Colorado expensive, slow, and increasingly allergic to normal people trying to build a life here.
Weiser talked about a Durango-based company expanding in Oklahoma because permits there can take days, while in Colorado they can take months or even a year. He said regulatory conversations go bad when the people affected are not at the table, and pointed to Colorado’s artificial intelligence law as something that moved too fast. Fine. Good. Now name the sacred cows and bring a knife.
Kirkmeyer blamed eight years of one-party control for making the state unaffordable and said she would order executive directors on day one to claw back overly burdensome regulations. That is at least aimed at the beast instead of describing its fur pattern. But Colorado does not need a vibes audit. It needs repeal, reform, and a bonfire big enough to be seen from Nebraska.
Marx said politicians created the problems businesses face and called housing affordability his first priority. Bennet said Colorado is no longer as competitive and blamed mostly well-meaning legislation with unintended consequences. That phrase — “well-meaning legislation” — should be engraved above the Capitol doors like a warning label on a malfunctioning wood chipper.
Because that is the scam. Everybody “shares concerns.” Everybody “hears from families.” Everybody wants affordability, jobs, housing, innovation, energy reliability, and a pony that runs on grant funding.
But who is going to say no?
No to permitting delays that turn housing into a hostage situation. No to local veto games where every apartment building becomes a civic hostage negotiation. No to lawsuit bait that makes builders price legal risk into every damn wall stud. No to energy mandates that sound amazing at cocktail hour and land like a brick on utility bills. No to fee-and-regulation creep dressed up as compassion.
Working Coloradans are getting squeezed from both ends. Employers face higher costs, slower approvals, and regulatory drag. Families face housing prices that make “starter home” sound like a fairy tale. Young people are staring at rent, wages, taxes, and grocery bills and wondering whether staying in Colorado requires a trust fund or a miracle.
And the business community should stop begging merely for “certainty.” Certainty is nice. Sanity is better. A predictable punch in the face is still a punch in the face.
Colorado did not become unaffordable by accident. It was managed into this ditch by people who confuse press releases with policy and compassion with control.
The next governor should not be judged by forum applause. Judge them by which activists, bureaucrats, donor tribes, and sacred cows they are willing to disappoint.
Because if they cannot say “no” to the people who built the mess, they are not running for governor.
They are applying to manage the rubble.
Source: The Gazette
Just Stop It
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