Just hours after Governor John Hickenlooper signed a series of sweeping new gun control laws in Colorado, KDVR Fox 31 reported:
“…Hickenlooper brushed off the notion that the bills were pushed through, and that the White House or New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group was controlling the agenda.”
However, phone records obtained by CompleteColorado.com show that Mayor Bloomberg personally called Governor Hickenlooper at two critical moments of the gun-bill debate. While the calls may not exhibit a direct “controlling” of the process by Mayor Bloomberg, at the very least they likely show Bloomberg taking a hands-on, executive-level approach to the events in Colorado.
Bloomberg’s first phone call to Hickenlooper came on Saturday, March 2, two days before the gun-control bills were set to move to Senate Committee hearings.
Bloomberg’s second call to the Governor came on March 19, just one day before Hickenlooper would sign three of the gun bills passed by the General Assembly.
CompleteColorado.com asked the Governor’s office to provide any details about the nature of the conversations, but the governor’s spokesman has not returned our request for comment.
The calls add more evidence to the idea that Colorado’s gun debate drew heavy interest, and even lobbying, by political heavyweights outside of the state. For example, in mid-February, it became widely reported that Vice President Joe Biden lobbied several members of the General Assembly. (The phone logs also show Biden was on the receiving end of a call from Hickenlooper on Thursday, March 1.) Additionally, Bloomberg’s group “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” registered several lobbyists at the capitol this year, as this search of the Colorado Secretary of State’s website shows.
Recently, the New York Times detailed Bloomberg’s extensive political gun-control campaigning and lobbying, especially in parts of the Mountain West.
Todd Shepherd is the investigative reporter for the Independence Institute in Denver, Colorado. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of “CompleteColorado.com.” Send him tips at completecolorado@gmail.com.