NEW: @heidiganahl says educators are lying when they refute her claim that “kids are identifying as cats” in schools all over Colorado. “The school districts are not being truthful,” Ganahl told KNUS today. “I will tell the truth even if it is uncomfortable.” #cogov#copolitics
Today, @heidiganahl confirmed to KNUS host @GeorgeBrauchler that her campaign is collecting and distributing photos of children they believe are identifying as animals. “We provided pictures but we blurred out the faces,” Ganahl said.
It’s unclear how the Ganahl campaign is confirming that the individual children in the photos they are distributing identify as animals (as opposed to simply dressing up in cat ears or other type of animal costumes).
Ganahl said her campaign is providing the photos they’ve collected to journalists. When 9News asked for proof of her claim last week, a Ganahl spokeswoman provided a screenshot of a photo of someone in a furry costume which appeared to be from a conservative parents FB group.
The Ganahl campaign referred 9News to the Facebook group’s organizer for proof of her claim. Lindsay Datko asked parents to come up with examples prior to deleting her Twitter account earlier this week. Her FB group remains private.
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NEW: @heidiganahl again reinforces her claim that “kids are identifying as cats… it’s happening all over Colorado and schools are tolerating it.” Ganahl told KOA’s @MandyConnell that it’s happening at 30 Colo. schools and “it’s such a huge distraction to teaching kids.” #cogov
“This is another example of how the Governor and many in the media are living in a bubble,” Ganahl said. “Parents are ticked off,” Ganahl told @KOAColorado today. “There’s gonna be some backlash for this.”
Ganahl’s claim, while seeming to reference furry subculture which exists outside and inside schools, is actually more specific. Ganahl claimed the kids in costume 1) identify as animals 2) it’s happening all over Colorado 3) schools are tolerating it.
The poll included third party candidate Danielle Neuschwanger, who has drawn criticism from @heidiganahl supporters for draining support from the GOP campaign. But @DanielleforCO barely registers.
NEW: Fox News and @cologop leaders are trying to make a national story out of Denver's basic income pilot program for people experiencing homelessness. We broke down the misleading and false claims being made to encourage conservative anger at the program. #copolitics
@cologop The technique isn't particularly sophisticated. Denver's program is open to families (mothers + fathers with kids experiencing homelessness), single women, transgender people + non-gender binary people. FOX's coverage puts the transgender angle front and center for max outrage.
Next, add the false claim that veterans experiencing homelessness are being excluded (as if there aren't female vets, transgender vets, and male vets in families experiencing homelessness).
NEW: Defense team for State Sen. @PeteLeeColorado (D) asks for felony grand jury indictment to be dismissed. Lee's attorney says prosecutors mistakenly provided false information to grand jurors. First by @ShellyBradbury. #coleg#copolitics
Motion for dismissal says the DA's office unknowingly gave grand jurors bad information about when Lee changed his home address in the Attorney Registration System. Lee is charged with voting at an address where he did not live.
The defense motion acknowledges that "Colorado lacks extensive case law addressing the dismissal of a grand jury indictment based on erroneous evidence presented for their consideration." We reached out to the 4th Judicial District DA's office to see if they'll oppose dismissal.
UPDATE: Rep @LeslieHerod says she will stay in the #coleg while running for Denver Mayor. Legislators can't accept donations from lobbyists during the Jan-May session. Herod tells me she'll apply the same rule to her mayoral campaign during that time. #copolitics
"As a legislator, community leader, and executive of Caring for Denver, I'm used to wearing multiple hats," Herod said. "I'm great at it." Herod is expected to cruise to re-election in November 2022. Denver's municipal elections are April 4, 2023.
In 2003, then State Senator Penfield Tate was not up for re-election when he resigned his seat to run for Denver Mayor. "I just knew how much time it took to run for Mayor," Tate said. "I did not want to shortchange my constituents."
@leslieherod “I think we have the opportunity to continue to grow and go in the right direction, but we’re also at a point that we could go in the wrong direction,” Herod told me. Herod stressed that Denver needs leadership that better involves the community.
@leslieherod Herod said the City of Denver needs to move more aggressively to use federal funding for affordable housing. She did not endorse the idea of eliminating single-family zoning to increase density and the number of housing units.