Colorado Politics’ Marissa Ventrelli reports that Colorado lawmakers have introduced House Bill 1422, a 60-page proposal aimed at expanding security protections for elected officials, legislative staff, and judicial employees. The bill comes after a rise in political attacks nationwide and growing safety concerns at Colorado’s Capitol and courthouses.
The bill would create an Administrator of Legislative Safety, expand Colorado State Patrol protections at the Capitol, remove some candidate property disclosures from public view, create a courthouse security task force, and let more public officials request removal of personal information from online records. The cost is not yet known because the bill was introduced without a fiscal note.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Lawmakers are proposing a major security overhaul. Sixty pages, nearly 30 sections, and no fiscal note yet. That is a lot of paper before anyone tells taxpayers what the receipt looks like.
- The bill responds to real threats, including deadly attacks on public officials and incidents inside courthouses. Political violence is not speech. It is cowardice wearing a slogan.
- The proposal would create a new legislative safety official to coordinate with the Colorado State Patrol. Because apparently we now need a safety concierge just to survive public service.
- Judicial leaders say court and probation staff are also dealing with serious security problems. That matters. Judges, lawyers, clerks, deputies, and staff should not have to wonder whether doing their job will get them hurt.
- The bill also raises a bigger cultural question: How did public service go from noble to despised? The answer is not comfortable, because some of us in public life helped build the bonfire and now act surprised by the smoke.
My Bottom Line
I remember when public service was considered noble. Not glamorous. Not perfect. Noble. You ran because you cared about roads, schools, public safety, water, budgets, and the people who had to live with the decisions. Now too many Americans look at public servants like they are either corrupt, stupid, dangerous, or all three before lunch.
And I’ll say the uncomfortable part out loud: some of that contempt has been earned. Too many politicians perform instead of govern. Too many chase cameras instead of solutions. Too many talk in fundraising emails instead of plain English. When public trust falls through the floor, it did not trip on a rug. Somebody cut the joists.
But political violence is never justified. Never. Not from the left. Not from the right. Not from the loud guy in the comment section who thinks a meme counts as a governing philosophy. If your argument needs a weapon, your argument already lost.
America has a mental health problem. I have said it before, and I will keep saying it. Social media has poured gasoline on loneliness, rage, paranoia, and tribal hatred. We have built machines that reward the hottest take, the cruelest insult, and the fastest mob. Then we act stunned when people stop seeing opponents as neighbors.
It would help if we could all sit down in a room and talk things out. I know, wild idea. Eye contact. Listening. Disagreement without needing a security plan and a metal detector. Maybe we get there again. I hope we do. But hope is not a plan. Until then, protect the people doing the work, lower the temperature, fix the mental health crisis, and remember that public service should not require body armor.
Source: Colorado Politics
