Colorado Politics: Every politician flaps his gums about the need for transparency in government. And then nearly every politician votes to keep what they do opaque.

This reality gives us two lessons. One, nearly every politician is two-faced. We must judge actions, not words. And two, if we want transparency in government, we’ll have to make it happen ourselves — yet again.

Even though the legislature consistently makes the right of petition harder and more expensive here in Colorado, our citizen’s-initiative process is the only real check-and-balance to smoke-filled backroom government (although pot smoke may have replaced cigar smoke).

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