Unelected Commissions Bypass Colorado Voters While Election Integrity Concerns Mount

On August 11, 2025, Kim Monson explores the erosion of representative government in Colorado with Montrose County Commissioner Sean Pond, who reveals how unelected commissions have seized control of critical policy decisions. Marly Hornik of Unite for Freedom provides updates on the organization’s amended lawsuit against Colorado election officials, while Roger Mangan discusses the state’s troubling distinction as the nation’s leader in auto theft.

Unelected Commissions Override the Voice of Colorado Voters

Start listening at 31:10 – Hour 1

Sean Pond warns that Colorado is being controlled by people voters never elected. The Montrose County Commissioner details how Governor Jared Polis appoints members to powerful commissions that make binding decisions affecting rural communities, from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission determining gray wolf introduction policies to the Air Quality Control Commission phasing out natural gas in new buildings.

Pond traces his own political awakening to a proposed 500,000-acre national monument in his backyard, which environmental activists and Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet supported. After launching a petition that garnered significant opposition, he found himself appointed to fill a vacant county commissioner seat. Now he fights the Gunnison Outdoor Resource Protection Act, a 730,000-acre land grab he calls the single largest threat to public lands.

The commissioner exposes a troubling pattern in small communities like Naturita, where outside groups hold free dinners to count attendees as supporters of sustainability plans that undermine rural values. These organizations, funded by grants, eventually install appointed commissions that bypass local voters entirely.

“What I would tell people is that Colorado is being controlled and run by people that they don’t vote for.”

Sean Pond, Montrose County Commissioner

Colorado Auto Theft Rates Lead the Nation

Start listening at 63:04 – Hour 2

Roger Mangan breaks down the troubling statistics placing Colorado at the top of the nation for vehicle theft. While national auto thefts fell by one million vehicles in 2024 to approximately 850,000 stolen cars, Colorado remains the worst state for the crime.

Within Colorado, Denver leads followed by Aurora, Lakewood, and Pueblo. Hyundai Elantra and Sonata models top the list of stolen vehicles nationally, with Chevy Silverado 1500 pickups also heavily targeted. Mangan explains the economics driving the theft epidemic: a stolen $40,000 vehicle can yield $100,000 when stripped and sold for parts, with replacement tail light assemblies alone costing $200 to $400.

He advises vehicle owners to park in well-lit areas, never leave keys in the car, and consider gap coverage on financed vehicles to cover any shortfall between loan balance and actual cash value if their car is stolen.

“Colorado is number one in terms of car thefts in the United States. Now some cities in various states, like Bakersfield, is still number one for car thefts, but Colorado is number one as a state.”

Roger Mangan, State Farm Insurance

Election Integrity Lawsuit Reveals Staggering Voter Roll Errors

Start listening at 71:38 – Hour 2

Marly Hornik, co-founder of Unite for Freedom, details the organization’s amended petition against Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser. The nonpartisan group’s 2024 analysis discovered a 29 percent registration error rate in Colorado voter rolls, roughly 10,000 times the maximum allowed under federal law.

A deep-dive study of Jefferson County voters used commercial skip-tracing databases to verify identities. The results are alarming: an estimated 1,205 voters simply do not exist in any database, 5,991 votes came from addresses not associated with the voters in verification systems, and 19,836 voters have no Social Security number on record. Plaintiff Ramey Johnson lost her Colorado House District 30 race by 10,485 votes, while the prevalence study identified a minimum of 22,389 suspected illegal votes.

Hornik notes a Fifth Circuit ruling issued the same day as their amended filing expanded the legal authority of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 materiality clause they rely upon, potentially strengthening their case significantly.

“The problem is best practices is not the same thing as a legally compliant election.”

Marly Hornik, Unite for Freedom Co-Founder