Criminal justice was on the ballot last Tuesday. Colorado citizens have shown strong support for public safety issues and rejected our legislature’s decade-long move to prioritize criminals over public safety and law enforcement. The 2024 legislative session proved once again that there is a disconnect between the values ​​of the Democratic-dominated General Assembly and the Colorado public it purports to represent. Expect (and embrace) more measures like this in the future.

Amendment I amends our state constitution to fix a deficiency knowingly created by Gov. Jared Polis and the “life for felons” dignitaries who repealed the death penalty in Colorado under the cover of COVID-19 in March 2020. In doing so – they were be warned of this – they have created a right to bail for cold blooded killers. Amendment I reinstated the ability of courts to deny bail. It took 55 percent of voters to pass, but Colorado overcame that, with 70 percent approving the measure. No county supported the move more than Boulder (the city rocked by bail-eligible mass murderer King Soopers), with 76 percent voting yes.

Stay tuned: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox. from monday to friday

Proposition 128 was an indictment of our legislature’s ACLU-influenced “violent felons need hugs” approach to sentencing and the Department of Corrections (DOC) parole system. Currently, convicted violent felons — think guns and serious injury — serve less than 50 percent of their sentences. Prop 128 sought to restore a measure of “Truth in Sentencing” by requiring such offenders to serve at least 85% of their sentences before the DOC would reintroduce them to our neighborhoods. Nearly two-thirds of Colorado voters approved the reprimand. Unsurprisingly, no county opposed Proposition 128 more than Boulder, with 55% opposing this obvious criminal accountability effort.

Proposition 130 – a “Back on Blue” measure after the General Assembly’s post-George Floyd denigration and demoralization of our law enforcement community – passed with 53% of the vote. The measure didn’t raise taxes, but instead directed the crime-friendly legislature to spend $350 million of existing revenue to recruit, train and retain the law enforcement officers we rely on to stand between us and evil. It also provides a $1 million death benefit for officers killed in the line of duty.

Predictably, voters in the two counties most opposed to this pro-policy effort were Denver (56 percent opposed) and Boulder (60 percent opposed). Less than 24 hours after the polls closed and other Colorado voters passed Prop 128, an on-duty Golden police officer was hit by a suspected drunk driver.

Elected Colorado attorneys – a title given by the Supreme Court to prosecutors – were also on the ballot in each of Colorado’s judicial districts, including the first new one in 60 years (comprising Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties ). Only six of those strong positions were contested nationally, and only two in the entire Denver metro area. The results of that election were — with respect — blowouts.

In the new 18th Judicial District (JD), which was reduced to just Arapahoe County, Democrat and former 2018 attorney general candidate Amy Padden easily defeated Republican Carol Chambers. Padden lost the 2020 election to DA John Keller, who did not seek re-election. Padden was a remote hybrid prosecutor from Aurora who served in the 5th and 11th Judicial Districts in recent years. Chambers, a career prosecutor, was elected district attorney in the old 18th JD from 2005 to 2013. In the history of the current 18th judicial district — dating back to President John F. Kennedy — no Democrat has been elected to serve as YES.

In the 4th JD, El Paso and Teller counties, Republican incumbent and career prosecutor Michael Allen easily defeated Jeremy Dowell, whose previous criminal justice experience was an abbreviated stint many years ago.

In the 1st JD (Jefferson and Gilpin), incumbent Alexis King ran unopposed, as did 17th JD (Adams and Broomfield) incumbent Brian Mason and first-time DA John Walsh in the 2nd JD ( Denver). All three prosecutors are Democrats. Meanwhile, in Mason’s 17th JD, an effort to extend term limits for their DA from two to three terms was defeated by almost 60% of voters.

In the new 23rd JD, voters overwhelmingly elected the former two-time DA Republican from the 18th JD to lead the new office. The Democratic nominee’s background in criminal justice was an internship in a public defender’s office decades ago. Reflecting voters’ focus on public safety, the newly elected DA was the top voter for any contested race in both Douglas and Elbert counties at the time of this column’s writing.

Despite the ongoing Blue-ing of Colorado, it is now clear on issues of criminal justice and public safety that Colorado voters do not agree with the leadership of the Denver-Boulder government, including Governor Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and the ultra-progressive legislature . . Until public safety-minded candidates start winning more state and legislative races, the best way to bend our government to our will and desires is through the ballot initiative process. If the political elite continue to fail us, we will continue to take policymaking into our own hands.

George Brauchler is the former District Attorney of the 18th Judicial District and is a candidate for District Attorney in the newly created 23rd Judicial District. He served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler