Democrats frustrated? Fine by me! House Speaker Julie McCluskie says we need a real conversation about the state’s fiscal constraints? Well, here it is. 

The state is required to pass a balanced budget just like everyone else who lives here, spending no more than what is available, unless they want to file for bankruptcy. Yet Democrats controlling Colorado continue to desire more and more of our money to fund and expand their pet projects in order to take care of us. They will certainly do that if we let them, but perhaps not how we expect.

Their expansion of Medicaid over the years is a good example. The Dems relied on federal payments that were increased in the COVID years to expand the program, knowing good and well those payments were only temporary. Now they want the citizenry to keep funding those increases. Same with many other of their nanny state programs.

The good-thinking citizens of Colorado voted down TABOR attacks by the Democrats in 2019 and 2023 by significant amounts, yet they continue to try circumventing it, even calling many of their tax increases “fees” in order to get around it. The populace knows reality.

“Liberal groups”, woefully unidentified by Summit Daily, are attempting to gut our TABOR flat tax and push us into a graduated income tax so well-off individuals have to pay even more. Why? To be more fair? No. To raise more revenue the Democrats can spend, just like California and New York. That would turn us into a comparable state all right, where wealthy citizens would just leave to avoid higher taxes. What happens when the wealthy leave? Colorado would lose even more revenue, unless of course, the rest of us pay more. That would happen if TABOR is gutted.

A 51-year-old Castle Rock resident was recently found guilty on 15 counts of fraud by jurors in Denver federal court. 

According to a court document, Rico Tomas Garcia received $2.4 million from two businesses at the outset of the COVID pandemic. He spent the money to purchase a vehicle and three properties without delivering any of the promised product.

Garcia agreed in April 2020 to provide nine million 16-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer to a Virginia-based distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety work gear, according to the grand jury indictment in his case. A second company financed the deal for the distributor. 

If reached in full, the deal would have paid Garcia $37.8 million. But Garcia reportedly moved the first $2.4 million paid to him into accounts held by three corporations operated by he and his girlfriend. 

A month after making the deal, none of the product was delivered and the finance company halted payments and demanded a refund. Instead, Garcia, according to the indictment, falsified documents about his arrangements with a Chinese manufacturer of the hand sanitizer. 

The contract was terminated in June of that year. 

Garcia allegedly bought homes in Topanga Canyon, California and Sedalia, Colorado, plus an undisclosed Nevada property, with the ill-gotten proceeds. Federal prosecutors also allege Garcia moved over a million dollars of the remaining money into offshore accounts in the Caribbean.

A federal grand jury indicted Garcia in April 2024. He was taken into custody eight months later. The jury reached its verdict March 9 after a week-long trial, finding him guilty of nine counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering. 

Meanwhile, the distributor and its finance company are still trying to resolve their finances through a civil lawsuit filed the year the deal went south. 

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.