Announcements

Britta Singer, Chair of the DWBC, set the tone for the meeting by saying that she loves the seven of Boulder County legislators present to speak to us.

She urged everyone to look at our new web page at DW-BC.org.

Britta announced that the Boulder Valley School District will have four openings and members should consider persons to run for the seats.

Speakers

The seven invited speakers thanked the BWDC for the important role the group played in the recent election in supporting Democratic candidates and providing campaign funds. They all agreed that working in a state legislature controlled by Democrats has been a great experience especially in contrast to past years when Democratic bill almost always were doomed. All of the seven also urged everyone in the audience to work to pass the Economic Recovery measures C and D.

Representative Tom Plant, who is vice-chair of the Joint Budget Committee, focused his remarks on the budget agreement which he said succeeded because of the work of the Democratic leadership. The Republican leaders in both houses opposed the effort. He contrasted what happened under the previous Republican leadership with what happened this year under Democratic leadership. The budget for the program to help people with developmental disabilities was cut 50% under the Republicans and restored under the Democrats. When the Republicans cut 50% of the funding to aid people waiting to obtain Medicaid, the press and the public ignored it. This year the money was put back. Under the Republicans, Colorado was the only state to cut aid for legal services to victims of domestic violence. This year the funding was restored. Democrats also put more money into the mental health budget.

Senator Joan Fitz-Gerald, the first woman to be President of the Colorado Senate, had just returned from dedicating a portion of I 25 near Pueblo which is called the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway. She contrasted the work of President Kennedy with our current situation. President Kennedy respected science and worked to get young people involved. He was concerned about the third world and organized the Peace Corps. Now we have government which is trying to destroy the social protections put in place by Franklin Roosevelt. In Colorado we have had waiting lists instead of safety nets for the vulnerable people in our state. We face the loss of essential parts of our community such as our public university and decent transportation. The adoption of Referendum C is essential

Senator Brandon Shaffer, the newly elected Senator from District 17, praised the work of Senator Fitz-Gerald in running the Senate and especially in her role in negotiating the compromise with the Governor that allowed the Economic Recovery measure to go forward with bipartisan support. He said that he found more bipartisanship in the Senate than he had expected.

Senator Ron Tupa, wearing a t-shirt reading “The Governor vetoed my bill and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”, spoke about how the Governor has vetoed bills despite broad bipartisan support for them or even the support of the Republican Attorney General. He reiterated what others had said that the vetoes followed no predictable course. In total, the Governor has vetoed about 10% of the legislation passed this session.

Representative Alice Madden, the House Majority Leader, said that the vetoes in the health care area were the hardest to accept. She deplored the veto of the prescription drug bill which would have given many Coloradoans affordable medications. She spoke about the importance of starting work now for the next election if we are to keep the Democratic majority in the legislature. The Republicans are already working take back the majority.

Representative Jack Pommer said that Democrats in the state look to Boulder County to provide the extra votes needed to win passage of state initiatives and to elect a Democratic governor. In answer to a question, he stated that money is available for the campaign to assure passage pf referendum “C” and the campaign will start soon. He is encouraged by the fact that even the El Paso County Chamber of Commerce supports the Economic Recovery measure.

Representative Paul Weissmann remarked on how well the Democrats did in getting organized following the surprising success in the November election. Members had to get their bills ready in December and get organized for the start of business in January. He made the interesting point that the Governor was invisible in the legislative process until the last weeks of the session. Governor Owens did not work with legislators and then vetoed their bills without adequate explanations.