Last year's statewide elections weren't exactly a boon to Tea Party loyalists, but perhaps the impending city council elections in Colorado Springs will provide a second chance. United by a hatred of spending proposals, candidate and anti-tax activist Douglas Bruce and four other like-minded candidates for at-large council seats have each pitched in $10,000 to push what they refer to as a Reform Team (Gazette [2]). None of the other contenders have raised that kind of cash, notes the Colorado Springs Independent [3], which adds that icoloradosprings.org [4] has launched another postcard project, this time for the city's mayoral election—though not all the messages [5] are particularly constructive.

Denver interim mayor Bill Vidal is also facing criticism for locking the public out of budgetary task force meetings, reports Westword [6]. Mayoral candidates Chris Romer and Michael Hancock are taking him to task (Colorado Independent [7]), while James Mejía, another candidate as well as a former member of the Denver School Board, is urging the state's Joint Budget Committee to restore some of the $375 million Governor John Hickenlooper has cut from public education (also via the Colorado Independent [8]).