It was Aurora Day at the legislature, and the question for the panel was how the 2006 legislative session will affect the 2006 elections. In many ways, we said.
Legislators used to be more independent of their parties. That changed with eight-year term limits and the emergence of tactics over policy as the test of a party’s success.
Instead of concentrating on what lawmakers are supposed to do – solve problems – legislative sessions have become more of a struggle for dominance.
So it’s truer than ever that a party’s success during the legislative session affects its candidates’ success at the polls. The 2006 session of the Colorado General Assembly has been different from the usual routine, and it will affect the election more than most sessions do.
Three differences stand out: ethical problems; implementing Referendum C; and having the Democrats in control of both chambers for the first time in 40-some years.
Who better to ask for perspective than a cross-section of lobbyists? The legislature’s institutional memory now resides mostly with the hired guns. This is not a good situation – even the lobbyists don’t like it – but it is a fact.
Lobbyists are reluctant to speak on the record, because they don’t want their comments to reflect badly on their clients. But they do have opinions, and their long view goes well beyond the eight years that term limits allow individual legislators.
The biggest difference they’ve been talking about lately is ethics. Perhaps it’s a good thing that everyone is so shocked – shocked! – because it shows how extraordinary the problem is.
Legislative scandal is a rarity in Colorado, and this year’s bipartisan breaches are paltry compared to what happens in some other states. But baldly asking lobbyists for “reparations” is a new low in ethical artlessness, and billing the state for 240 of the maximum 247 days of off-session per diem is a new high in expense-account padding.
You have to say this for the extortianate Deanna Hanna and the avaricious Joe Stengel: they’re woefully inept at covering up. Covering up is what makes national scandals, from Watergate to Monica, much more intriguing.
Referendum C is a second major difference, and a major test for legislators. For the first time since the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights passed in 1992, legislators can spend all the money the state collects from existing taxes. That comes to several billion dollars during Referendum C’s five-year moratorium, but year-to-year, it’s not enough to make a radical difference. Mostly, it will allow the state simply to catch up.
And how are the Democrats doing as legislative leaders? Veteran lobbyists say the Democrats are better than the Republicans were at managing floor work. Last year, for the first time since the legislature successfully asked voters to impose a 120-day limit on the session, the legislature actually finished early. It was only two days early, but it was a symbolically significant two days.
But if they’re more efficient at floor work, the Democrats also are too soft-hearted when it comes to killing the bills they need to kill. This may be a congenital defect for liberals – the bleeding heart. It pains them to offend.
They’re also having a tough time revving up their platform. The Democrats proposed a bold agenda at the beginning of the session, but they’ve spent much of their time responding to Republican bills, such as immigration legislation.
In any election, the Democrats have a built-in disadvantage: 36 percent of the state’s voters are Republicans, just 30 percent Democrats. So the minority party has to make a good impression on the remaining third of voters who are unaffiliated with either major party.
They need something to show voters. Gov. Bill Owens finally gave them that with Referendum C, but that was a special election. This is a real election year, and the Republican governor won’t be eager to pump up the other party’s record. Even last year, when he was feeling generous, Owens vetoed an unprecedented 47 bills.
Fred Brown, retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News.
