Caldara started his political career in 1994 when he was elected to the Regional
Transportation District Board of Directors. RTD is the fourth largest governmental
entity in the state of Colorado. Caldara almost immediately became the most
controversial and outspoken board member in RTD's history, as he fought against
wasteful projects and for free market reforms such as competitive contracting
of services and privatization. In 1998, Caldara became Chairman of the Board
of RTD. In 1997, Caldara led the effort to defeat "Guide the Ride", a 66% RTD
sales tax increase referendum. The proposal originally had popular support of
73%. The proponents of the tax hike outspent Caldara's campaign by 15-to-1.
By election day the measure failed with a 58% "no" vote.
Caldara is the veteran of many issue campaigns, including in 1998, Caldara
led the statewide effort to defeat Referendum B, a proposal for the state to
keep a billion dollars of the taxpayers' surplus for unspecified projects. It
had original public support of 75% and the proponents outspent Caldara's campaign
by 4-to-1. By election day the measure failed with a 63% "no" vote. In 2000
ran the campaign against the educational spending mandate, Amendment 23. In
2001 he lead defeat a tax increase for a monorail system over the Rocky Mountains.
In 2005 he ran the campaign against Colorado’s attack on the Taxpayer’s Bill
of Rights, Referendums C and D, defeating the debt increase, Ref. D.
Among his many recognitions, 5280 Magazine named him as one of the top 10 most
influential men in Denver, Westword awarded Caldara Denver's Best Media Manipulator,
the Denver Post put Caldara on their list of people to watch, and the Colorado
Jaycees awarded him as the Outstanding Young Coloradoan. The State Policy Network
honored him in 2005 with the Thomas Roe Award.
| Title |
Date |
Intolerant Boulder
In a city that prides itself on throwing around the words "tolerance" and "diversity" like they are rice at a wedding (or bird seed in Boulder), my 24 years here have taught me that Boulder is still a massively intolerant place. | 06-02-2008 |
Moving on, and out of this space
Sometimes you just need to be on a different piece of real estate.
| 03-26-2006 |
Petty scandals hardly worth newspaper ink
This legislative session may go down as the most scandal-ridden in Colorado history. | 03-19-2006 |
| We need instant replay in classroom | 03-12-2006 |
| Teachers of the world, unite! | 03-05-2006 |
| Your mama will succumb to mine | 02-26-2006 |
| Try Plan A: Don't have sex irresponsibly | 02-20-2006 |
| Diversity panel just wants more | 02-12-2006 |
| Prosperity is no 'addiction' | 02-05-2006 |
| Free association up in smoke | 01-29-2006 |
| More than a kernel of truth in the kid's ear | 01-22-2006 |
| Chicago-style politics here | 01-15-2006 |
| GOP squishies hurt our cause | 01-08-2006 |
| Telephone Tax | 01-01-2006 |
| Audit should have surfaced before election | 12-18-2005 |
| John Lennon - the legend and the man | 12-11-2005 |
| We don't need to show our darn ID | 12-04-2005 |
| Clear goals, not quick exits | 11-27-2005 |
| Manly machine keels, taking me down, too | 11-20-2005 |
| Free speech is a loser this election | 11-13-2005 |
| Don't call it 'sleaze | 11-13-2005 |
| Boys just want to blow up stuff | 11-07-2005 |
| Faux GOP getting to me | 10-30-2005 |
| School payola trivial, wrong | 10-16-2005 |
| No justice in Miers nod | 10-16-2005 |
| At 40, life's icons begin to disappear | 09-15-2005 |
| Hank hurries to rescue whining CU | 08-15-2005 |
| Crayola payola might explain schools' pleas | 08-08-2005 |
| Politicos, like diapers, need to be changed | 07-18-2005 |
| What'd he say? He grows pot | 07-06-2005 |
| Trashing the Fifth Amendment | 06-30-2005 |
| Court's logic has gone to pot | 06-20-2005 |
| Teletubbies are much better with Scotch | 06-16-2005 |
| Tolerance up to a point | 05-31-2005 |
| Being generous with my cash? Include me out | 05-23-2005 |
| A Hick town, but not really a Hick state | 05-16-2005 |
| Anywhere but here, this would be a no-brainer | 05-09-2005 |
| You want a piece of this? | 05-02-2005 |
| Nanny doesn't like smokers | 04-18-2005 |
| What CU fears is a good dose of Hank Brown | 04-11-2005 |
| Owens takes sharp turn to the left | 04-04-2005 |
| Conservatives contradicting core values | 03-28-2005 |
| Well-meaning racism at CU | 03-21-2005 |
| Prairie rats should just eat lead | 03-07-2005 |
| CU leader chills speech | 02-27-2005 |
| Caldara: Unless you find a bag of cash ... | 02-21-2005 |
| Don't tell me there's no place to add efficiency | 02-14-2005 |
| Tenure is not a carte blanche | 02-07-2005 |
| At CU, it's free speech for me, not for thee | 01-30-2005 |
| Little tokers shouldn't be in the pokey | 01-16-2005 |
| Swiss system suffers from one gaping hole | 01-09-2005 |
| Resolutions, all around | 01-02-2005 |
| Were so close to efficiency | 12-26-2004 |
| Remember, 'tis better to give than to receive | 12-19-2004 |
| State crusades for liberal causes OK | 12-15-2004 |
| Big hair, cool riffs, Free Bird! | 12-05-2004 |
| City's position on new tax is trash talk | 11-29-2004 |
| What are they teaching at BHS? | 11-21-2004 |
| Hey, kid, sip but don't guzzle the beer | 11-14-2004 |
| Big wins and some electoral losses | 11-07-2004 |
| Tax, tax, tax, tax total ... yikes! | 10-31-2004 |
| Dirty election tricks are starting now | 10-24-2004 |
| Hail to the chief, with reservations | 10-17-2004 |
| I believe in Chance | 10-02-2004 |
| Californians should play in their own turf | 09-25-2004 |
| Another Tax That Should Go Up In Smoke | 09-19-2004 |
| Caldara: It's goofy, but it's the law | 09-12-2004 |
| Keystone Kops nail 'pothead' in great pain | 09-05-2004 |
| Pistols and rifles and cans, oh, my! | 08-30-2004 |
| Caldara: With great tech comes new etiquette | 08-22-2004 |
| Want to know how I voted? Look it up. | 08-16-2004 |
| 'Independent'? 'I'm dependent' more like it | 08-02-2004 |
| Cops need to answer now, not later | 07-18-2004 |
| Cowards look to high taxes | 07-11-2004 |
| Monopolistic educrats don't care about kids | 07-04-2004 |
| Does NHL want blood sport, or not? | 06-27-2004 |
| Hot on the trail of dirty words | 06-20-2004 |
| Reagan dared to walk his talk | 06-13-2004 |
| We can laugh, but only if it's at the right | 06-06-2004 |
The Column That Couldn't Be Printed
The office of Homeland Security spent the week warning us that Al Qaeda might be a serious threat this summer. | 05-30-2004 |
| Barnett should not be the fall guy | 05-23-2004 |
| Boulder in the power biz? That's a gas! | 05-16-2004 |
| Sorry, but Bush is a big spender | 05-09-2004 |
| They pay to play, and profit well | 05-02-2004 |
| Get the feds out of our marriages | 04-25-2004 |
| Should TABOR be retired or revamped? NO | 04-25-2004 |
| Spray-averse officials just really bug me | 04-11-2004 |
| Mom brigades might just skip 29th Street | 04-04-2004 |
| Awful judge should not be impeached | 03-28-2004 |
| CU treats adults like children | 03-21-2004 |
| A smarter way to do mass transit | 03-14-2004 |
| Campbell's out; let the doors start revolving | 03-07-2004 |
| Be Consistent and Suspend Hoffman Too | 03-03-2004 |
| Are we lying? Judge for yourself | 02-22-2004 |
| Love is an affair to forget | 02-15-2004 |
| Hot air isn't enough to redeem this | 02-08-2004 |
| No need to 'fix' one of nation's most effective limitations on government | 02-07-2004 |
| We shall overcome you lefties | 02-01-2004 |
| Feds' Gas Tax Has Lived Too Long | 01-25-2004 |
| Ask first before stealing someone's land | 01-18-2004 |
| A Better Way to Vacation in Space | 01-14-2004 |
| Avast, maties! Corsairs of the airwaves here | 01-04-2004 |
| 2004 will be a good year for political junkies | 12-28-2003 |
| I'll vouch for the success of school choice | 12-14-2003 |
| Time to raise stakes on gambling | 12-12-2003 |
| Shoot, this is just a good deal | 11-30-2003 |
| Coulter gives as good as she gets | 11-23-2003 |
| Some Advice to the New Cogs in the Machine | 11-09-2003 |
| Next Year, Let's Revive the Mall Crawl | 11-02-2003 |
| The feds are drunk with their power | 10-26-2003 |
| We've got those wide open spaces | 10-12-2003 |
| Boulder pays very, very well (part 2) | 10-07-2003 |
| Boulder's city employees are doing very, very well | 10-03-2003 |
| Tune us out? Then drop our cable fee, please | 09-14-2003 |
| In America, we are truly living lard | 09-07-2003 |
| Yes, I'm a pig, so just deal with it | 08-31-2003 |
| Puritans need to swallow a Jell-O shot | 08-27-2003 |
| Watch your kid like a geeky hawk | 08-17-2003 |
| Liberal media show stripes every day | 08-10-2003 |
| Wow, a local institution gets it right | 08-03-2003 |
| Cheap drugs would be a bitter pill | 07-27-2003 |
| TABOR critics insult our intelligence | 07-13-2003 |
| Sugar, spice and everything that rocks | 07-06-2003 |
| Race preference would make Orwell groan | 06-29-2003 |
| Carping is a tempest in a 90-second teapot | 06-22-2003 |
| Metro Traffic May Get HOT HOT HOT | 06-15-2003 |
| Spamaphobes Get A Life | 06-15-2003 |
| Metro Traffic May Get HOT HOT HOT | 06-15-2003 |
| Bagel brouhaha is riddled with holes | 06-08-2003 |
| We Need Cigars; They Need Freedom | 06-01-2003 |
| Coexist with smokers? We're not that tolerant | 05-25-2003 |
| Traffic idea is so good, it's totally HOT | 05-18-2003 |
| School district management reveals hubris | 05-11-2003 |
| What big fangs you have, Mr. 'Goldman' | 05-04-2003 |
| Libertarian Cartoon Riles Left and Right | 04-27-2003 |
| Skin color still matters at CU | 04-20-2003 |
| Don't be 'gay' about thought control | 04-13-2003 |
| Let unions pay for their own business | 04-07-2003 |
| A tiny start on vouchers | 04-06-2003 |
| We're at war, deal with it | 03-30-2003 |
| Let's have representation with taxation | 03-23-2003 |
| Students in Baghdad? A brilliant idea | 03-16-2003 |
| Shaved head a small price to fight cancer | 03-09-2003 |
| Bus strike? Go ahead, make our day | 03-02-2003 |
| The case for more concealed guns | 02-23-2003 |
| Godfather government, meet yer maker | 02-16-2003 |
| Those voters, you can't trust them | 02-09-2003 |
| Vicious crime, and not a peep from city | 02-02-2003 |
| Expelled, and it wasn't even a real phaser | 01-26-2003 |
| Earth to city: please hang up and get a clue | 01-19-2003 |
| Emergency! Let's protect mobile homes | 01-12-2003 |
| Real villains getting off too easily | 01-05-2003 |
| Wonderful Life through a realistic prism | 12-29-2002 |
| Give them dignity, give them cash | 12-24-2002 |
| Hail to the new leader of the republic | 12-15-2002 |
| All we are saying is give choice a chance | 12-08-2002 |
| Stop saving the stupid | 12-01-2002 |
| Boulder drives itself to oblivion | 11-17-2002 |
| Jon's state of the state address | 11-10-2002 |
| Mail balloting invites fraud, intimidation | 11-03-2002 |
| Don't feed tax grabbers' 'sweet tooth' | 10-27-2002 |
| All rise for His Majesty Jon I of Boulder | 10-20-2002 |
| It's social, but without much security | 10-13-2002 |
| Good ol' Tom wrong to break 3-term pledge | 10-06-2002 |
| Blame goes to Amendment 23 for budget woe | 09-29-2002 |
| A Piper to play mending heartstrings | 09-22-2002 |
| GOP may be its own worst foe | 09-15-2002 |
| Just say 'No' to gov't dope | 09-08-2002 |
| Elections may founder in ballot storm | 09-01-2002 |
| Boulder should bag advocacy, condemnation | 08-25-2002 |
| You can outlaw gravity, but you won't float | 08-18-2002 |
| Boulder is wall-eyed on Wal-Mart | 08-11-2002 |
| Sofa, sofa burning bright? Save us, Boulder! | 08-04-2002 |
| Boulder blows hot air on CO2 issue | 07-30-2002 |
| Epp proves all Democrats aren't lost | 07-28-2002 |
| Harvest trees well, and they won't burn | 07-23-2002 |
| It doesn't take an urban village | 07-21-2002 |
| Oh, to be a 'bum' in guilty Boulder | 07-14-2002 |
| Peter picks on profitable pill peddlers | 07-09-2002 |
| Sometimes rockers just f-fade away | 07-07-2002 |
| 'Jobs-pop' is just another laughingstock | 06-16-2002 |
| BVSD 'Borg' wages war on charters | 06-02-2002 |
| My grass is browner than your grass | 05-26-2002 |
| Where's CU's secret report on capitalists? | 05-19-2002 |
| Is this still Mother's Day for Parker's mom? | 05-12-2002 |
| 'Simple life'? The choice is all yours | 05-05-2002 |
| We got the no-booze Sunday blues | 04-28-2002 |
| Regulate spring fever | 04-21-2002 |
| Rail transit: bigger, dumber, slower, costlier | 04-14-2002 |
| R.I.P., C.V.A. | 03-31-2002 |
| No money for another study! | 10-08-2001 |
| Roads Are Freedom | 02-21-2001 |
| RTD vs. Reality | 03-02-1999 |
