As I mentioned to you yesterday our own Amy Oliver Cooke, the real AOC, and her Spirit of Colorado team were up for a national award for their powerful messaging to Hispanic voters in Colorado over the dangers of last November’s fracking ban, Prop 112.

Our Spirit of Colorado team just won the Reed Award for Best Spanish Language TV Ad for a Ballot Initiative. Reed Awards are peer-judged awards and described as “the most exacting awards” for political campaigns and grassroots advocacy.

The real win isn’t the award. It was finding ways to connect with Spanish-speaking voters on an emotional level and turn that into action. What Amy’s team did shows what Independence does better than anyone – get the damn job done at a fraction of the cost of the consultant class.

It’s worth asking yourself what Colorado might look like today if Prop 112 (fracking ban) passed, Prop 110 (the $21 billion transportation tax increase) passed, and Amendment 73 (the progressive income tax) passed. All three failed due in large, large part to our work and guerilla strategies. Spirit of Colorado targeted the right voters with the right message to stop Prop 110. Our Fix Our Damn Roads initiative ran interference and destroyed Prop 110. And Linda Gorman’s economic analysis of Amendment 73 was the foundation for the campaign against it.

Thanks for being a part of all the fun, meaningful work we do. Damn we have fun!

And buy Amy a drink next time you see her.

Think Freedom,

Jon