When the Colorado General Assembly convened with new Democratic leadership in January, political operatives expected House Speaker Andrew Romanoff would be the go-to moderate and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald would be the intransigent liberal.
Some 118 days later, many agree Fitz-Gerald has emerged as the pragmatic dealmaker. By contrast, some say, Romanoff obsessed so much on policy and procedural details that he alienated key constituencies on both the left and right and developed a reputation as a potential deal-breaker.
“If Joan was an A-plus, Andrew was a C in my mind,” said Steve Adams, president of the Colorado AFL-CIO.
“Everyone assumed that Sen. Fitz-Gerald would be waving a bloody shirt and walking around with a meat ax, and that the speaker would be the legislative craftsman,” added Sean Duffy, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Bill Owens. “But what actually happened is that Sen. Fitz-Gerald became the go-to person, and Romanoff didn’t.”
Together, Fitz-Gerald and Romanoff led Colorado’s first Democratic-controlled legislative session in more than 40 years.
Fitz-Gerald took office as Colorado’s first female Senate president with a reputation as a liberal, often uncompromising Democratic firebrand.
Romanoff, the party’s wunderkind policy wonk, won the speaker post with a reputation as a moderate conciliator. Many expected him to be the key Democratic negotiator in fixing Colorado’s budget crisis, the most important deal of the session.
Democrats have been eyeing both leaders as possible contenders for governor in 2006. By many accounts, the biggest litmus test for their candidacies is how they handled fiscal talks with Owens, a Republican, and his party’s legislative minority.
Now that the session has ended, Fitz-Gerald is credited with keeping the budget negotiations on track. Romanoff, meantime, is blamed for stalling talks by stubbornly focusing on details, frustrating Democratic allies and alienating Republicans he needed to clinch the deal to ask voters to temporarily suspend refunds required by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
Ted Trimpa, a Democratic lobbyist who helped broker the budget compromise, said Romanoff approached the issue using detailed spreadsheets when the political climate demanded a simpler solution that could be explained on a 3-by-5-inch card.
“He was a policy wonk first and a politician second,” said Trimpa. “The day his political skills equal his understanding of public policy, he’ll be unstoppable.”
Beyond the budget, others say Romanoff got sidetracked on procedure while Fitz-Gerald stayed focused mainly on results.
Though environmentalists helped Democrats take back control of the statehouse in November, some felt betrayed that Romanoff didn’t use the power of his majority to push their agenda.
“In the House, there still isn’t a reliably friendly committee to deal with environmental issues,” said Matt Baker, executive director for Environment Colorado.
Organized labor – which is largely credited for Democratic wins in November – questioned Romanoff’s loyalty to core Democratic groups. Those allegiances, insiders say, will be tested in the party’s gubernatorial primary.
“I think that Andrew is still in a learning mode. You’ve got to dance with the people who brought you there,” said the AFL-CIO’s Adams, whose group is pushing Fitz-Gerald to run for governor.
For her part, Fitz-Gerald said she approached budget talks and the session in general focused on outcomes, not bureaucratic details.
“I am a big-picture person. I do think that people tend to get into the grips of minu tiae, and there are lots of ways to divide an agreement,” she said.
Romanoff dismissed concerns about who deserves the most credit for the deal.
“I think there are a lot of roosters in the building who like to take credit for the sunrise, but what matters is that the sun comes up in the morning, not who was cockle-doodle-doing about it,” Romanoff said. “I think that when this plan passes in November – and I think that it will – there will be plenty of credit to go around.”
Jim Gibson, president of the centrist Colorado Democratic Leadership Council, defended Romanoff, a member of his group, from Republican criticism.
“Owens did everything he could to pit Romanoff versus Fitz-Gerald,” he said. “He’s trying to divide his adversaries, but he’s failing at doing so.”
