Comment on Ballot Issue 2R would increase Denver’s sales taxes to support affordable housing

The former president is refusing to engage in a second debate amid questions about his age and fitness for office

A spiral of lies and deliberate efforts to mislead parliament may have undone Boris Johnson’s premiership. But don’t expect the former Conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom, who is out promoting a forthcoming memoir, to have abandoned his long-running mendacity. In a Wednesday interview, Johnson said that he did not believe that Donald Trump ever intended to “overthrow the Constitution” by sowing deep mistrust in the 2020 election results and inciting his supporters on January 6. “I personally don’t think he intended to overthrow the Constitution and what actually happened was the peaceful transfer of democratic power from one administration to another,” Johnson told Times Radio. He also claimed that Trump’s refusal to accept the election results shouldn’t preclude another chance at the White House. The remarks stand in stark contrast to the unequivocal condemnation Johnson expressed as prime minister in the immediate aftermath of January 6, an event Johnson decried as “disgraceful.” “I believe what President Trump has been saying about that has been completely wrong and I unreservedly condemn encouraging people to behave in the disgraceful way that they did in the Capitol,” he said at the time, joining in nearly universal shock and condemnation of Trump from international leaders. Of course, sudden bouts of amnesia regarding former president Trump are nothing new for conservative politicians.

Colorado voters will decide in the Nov. 5 election whether to require the state to set aside $350 million in one-time money for law enforcement next year. Proposition 130, backed by the conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado, seeks to spend state dollars to improve police pay, recruitment, hiring and training. It comes amid a recent focus on post-pandemic crime levels and four years after local and national police brutality protests sparked broader debates about law enforcement funding. It’s also one of several ballot measures backed by Advance Colorado this year.

Colorado voters will decide in the November election whether to extend the effective length of prison sentences for people convicted of certain violent offenses. Proposition 128 is one of two criminal justice-related measures on the state ballot, with the other, Proposition 130, requiring the state to set aside $350 million in new law enforcement funding.

Ballot Issue 2R would create the largest dedicated sales tax revenue stream in Denver’s history, greatly increasing the city’s capacity to scale up affordable housing development and programs within its borders. The measure would tax many items sold in the city by 0.5%, bringing in significant money over its 40-year lifespan to fuel a dedicated city fund.

Colorado would create an excise tax on firearms and ammunition, primarily to pay for victim services, if voters approve Proposition KK in the November election. The ballot measure is the result of one of the slew of firearm-related bills passed by the state legislature this year. The bill to refer the measure to voters, House Bill 1349, passed the legislature with only Democratic votes, along with a few Democrats voting in opposition. The tax would raise an estimated $39 million a year, with $30 million tagged for services for crime victims.