Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald can run for re-election without violating Colorado’s constitutional term limits, a Denver district judge ruled Wednesday.
The ruling clears the way for Fitz-Gerald, a Jefferson County Democrat, to pursue her re-election campaign this year.
Republicans had sued to block Fitz-Gerald from seeking another term. She took office in 2000 to fill the unfinished term of Sen. Tony Grampsas, who was elected in November 1998 but died in February 1999. She was re-elected in 2002.
The constitution limits state senators to two four-year terms and the Republican lawsuit focused on whether Fitz-Gerald had served more than half of Grampsas’ unfinished term. The term-limit amendment counts half a term as a full term.
The judge’s ruling unleashed a celebration in Fitz-Gerald’s office on the second floor of the state Capitol, where Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, bounced in a joyful dance.
Fitz-Gerald smiled broadly when told about the decision.
“I think the judge was right,” Fitz-Gerald said, but added that she expects Republicans to appeal the decision. “I’m sure they’ll fight until the last dog is hung.”
Scott Gessler, lawyer for the Senate Majority Fund, a Republican group, said his clients haven’t decided whether to appeal. An appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court would be due by Monday.
“I think she got it dead wrong,” Gessler said. “She ignores the very real possibility of political manipulation of term limits.”
The case revolved around the definition of “one-half.”
In 1990, when Colorado voters added term limits to the constitution, they declared that half a term counts as a full term. Last Friday, lawyers argued in Denver court over how to calculate one-half of a legislative term.
Fitz-Gerald’s lawyer, Mark Grueskin, said the judge should count the number of days in the term and divide it in half. Gessler said half a term is two legislative sessions, not half the number of days in an elected term.
Fitz-Gerald will have served through two legislative sessions, but less than half of the number of days in the full four-year Senate term. According to the ruling, Fitz-Gerald served 728 days of Grampsas’ full term, which was 1,463 days.
Grueskin’s position prevailed in Judge Catherine A. Lemon’s decision and she noted that political manipulation was not a factor in the case.
“Indeed,” Lemon wrote, “Senator Fitz-Gerald is the beneficiary of opening days set by a Republican majority, which caused her partial term to be less than one-half of a term.”
Attorney General John Suthers, who was representing Secretary of State Gigi Dennis in the case, has not decided whether to appeal. Suthers and Dennis, both Republican appointees of Republican Gov. Bill Owens, had concluded that Fitz-Gerald is ineligible to run again.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
