In the spirit of the National Football League’s “rookie of the year,” let’s salute five of the 15 first-term legislators in the Colorado General Assembly who’ve made an exceptionally strong impression in their first year, as well as recognizing some able veterans.
Any such selection is arbitrary, but based on conversations with lawmakers, lobbyists and journalists, the rookies of the year are:
House Democrats: Bernie Buescher, Grand Junction, and Kathleen Curry, Gunnison.
House Republicans: Bill Berens, Broomfield, and Josh Penry, Grand Junction.
Senate Democrat: Brandon Shaffer, Longmont.
Shaffer’s selection is easy, since he’s actually the only true rookie in the Senate, whereas all the other first-term senators had previous experience in the House. Still, the young Navy veteran is impressive.
“He has mastered rules and procedures. He thinks for himself and is not afraid to argue against a trend. He is bright and conscientious. He asks a lot of questions because he wants to get it,” Majority Leader Ken Gordon notes.
On the Republican side, first- term senators Nancy Spence and Shawn Mitchell excelled in the House and while not eligible for the “rookie” label, they’ve impressed their new colleagues by their industry and fairness.
In the same vein, the new Senate president, Joan Fitz-Gerald, has surprised many who remembered her sometimes confrontational style as minority leader by her fairness and courtesy as the body’s presiding officer.
When I asked her about the seeming change, she said, “When you’re a minority leader or a majority leader, you have a responsibility to your party to make a record. When you’re president of the Senate, you have a responsibility to the institution you lead.”
It’s a responsibility that Republicans and Democrats alike agree Fitz-Gerald has met with aplomb. Both parties also give high marks to minority leader Mark Hillman for fairness and a collegial style.
In the House, both parties elected seven newcomers. Democrats placed two of theirs, Curry and Buescher, into unusually powerful positions for freshmen. Buescher has excelled on the crucial six-member Joint Budget Committee, where he is Colorado West’s only representative. Curry, an expert on water issues, chairs the key Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee.
Republicans, newly relegated to the minority after 28 years of House suzerainty, can’t chair committees. But Penry, a onetime aide to former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, immediately made an impact with his own expertise. He’s crafted the water roundtable bill, House Bill 1177, that has passed both chambers and is awaiting final action to reconcile Senate amendments. It will give Colorado’s long-warring water factions a place to seek win- win solutions.
Berens, who was mayor of the city and county of Broomfield before moving to the House, arrived with the pragmatic attitude most local officials display. There’s nothing like local government experience to learn that there’s no difference between a Democratic pothole and a Republican pothole.
Worried about the state’s growing backlog of capital construction needs, Berens prompted a staff study that showed the state is at least $1.3 billion a year short of meeting its construction needs. His leadership helped shape the debate over the Referendum C and D twins that will be presented to Colorado voters this fall to ease Colorado’s budget crisis.
Noting that three of the four outstanding freshmen were from the Western Slope, I asked Curry what sets her compatriots apart from Front Range legislators. She agreed with my own impression: rural lawmakers are more willing to work across party lines than the often more ideological Front Range legislators. Berens shares that down-to-earth focus.
Finally, it should be said that House Speaker Andrew Romanoff of Denver and Majority Leader Alice Madden of Boulder excelled in their leadership debuts, as did the majority staff they assembled after nearly three decades in the political wilderness. On the Republican side, the assistant minority leader, Mike May, served with grace and dignity.
Is there an overall winner from this outstanding field? Yes.
We the people win when our elected servants put our needs above their egos and downplay the partisan vitriol.
Bob Ewegen (bewegen@denverpost.com) is deputy editorial page editor of The Denver Post. He has covered state and local government since 1963.
