Author: Mark Udall
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GUEST OPINION: Trump nominee’s lawsuit funding ties are cause for alarm
If there is one thing that Democratic and Republican voters can agree on it’s that deep-pocketed special interests, especially foreign interests, have too much power in Washington D.C. However, so far, the Trump administration has shown little desire to keep policymaking separate from the influence of wealthy power players. President Trump’s nominee to lead the…
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GUEST OPINION: Congress should ensure patent office executes its duties
From America’s founding days, fierce debates have defined our country’s experiment in democracy. Yet, even from the start, Americans of all political factions have found common ground in a simple idea. Anyone with the ingenuity and creativity to develop a novel technology should be rewarded for their work with a patent that grants them the…
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GUEST COLUMN: Proud spirit guided Udall during his time in public service
Recently, a lot of people have been asking me what it’s like to lose an election. It stings, that’s for sure. And while I wouldn’t recommend it, falling short in a race is a very humbling way of appreciating just how far you’ve come. In fact, as a lifelong mountain climber, I’ve learned far more…
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GUEST COLUMN: Americans need to be able to trust our intelligence agencies
When U.S. spy agencies turn their sights on law-abiding Americans, it is unacceptable and unconstitutional. The fundamental principles of individual privacy and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure – nonnegotiable lines in the sand for our democracy – apply whether it’s the National Security Agency (NSA) collecting bulk data about law-abiding Americans’ phone calls or…
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GUEST COLUMN: Bipartisan deficit plan is necessary for economic recovery
Last September, Congress was unable to agree on a deficit-reduction plan when faced with a first-ever U.S. default on our debt, so it passed legislation empowering a “super committee” of legislators to craft a compromise. Blunt automatic spending cuts would be triggered to indiscriminately cut defense and non-defense programs if the super committee could not…
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UDALL: Continuing to address the challenges we face in the West
Wildfires have become an unfortunate and all-too-common fact of life for many Coloradans this year. We all watched as the High Park fire quickly grew from a lightning strike to become one of the three largest blazes in Colorado history. Less than two weeks later, we watched as the Waldo Canyon fire engulfed entire homes…
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GUEST COLUMNIST: StartUp Visas for immigrants could result in new prosperity
The United States has a proud history of providing entrepreneurs from around the world the freedom and resources to help an idea become a successful venture. Familiar U.S. companies such as Google, Yahoo, Intel, Pfizer and eBay all began as startups founded by immigrants and grew into multibillion-dollar industry leaders that now provide thousands of…
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GUEST COLUMN: Congress should support military’s energy-efficient initiatives
The Department of Defense knows the true cost of fuel all too well. In economic terms alone, its energy bill for 2011 will exceed $15 billion, with costs rising $1 billion for every $10 increase per barrel of oil. But the cost for our troops is far higher: 70 percent of the convoys in Iraq…
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Letter to Reclamation about fairness, not politics
I have agreed with The Gazette about many subjects, including the proper balance between security and civil liberties, immigration reform, and even the course of our war in Iraq. But I must respectfully reject the accusation in a long-winded and overheated editorial of July 8 that my recent letter to the Bureau of Reclamation about its…