Leo Durocher’s famous line “Nice guys finish last” may be true in baseball. But Rep. Mike May’s ascent in the Colorado legislature shows that affability and good humor can trump vindictiveness in politics.
May, a Republican from Parker, won a battlefield promotion to House minority leader March 3 after Joe Stengel stepped down after controversy over his collecting $23,760 in expenses by claiming he worked for 240 of 247 days after the legislature adjourned last year.
Stengel was described by his colleagues as a “pit bull.” May soon changed the tenor of House debate. Noting that Republicans and Democrats would have six months to play politics between the legislature’s adjournment and the Nov. 7 election, he urged, “Let’s use these four months (the legislative session) to do the people’s business.”
May was as good as his word, sponsoring the landmark statewide smoking ban and joining with House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, to craft a rainy-day fund that later died in the Senate. But he also limned clear distinctions between the two parties’ philosophies, hewing a generally conservative line on social issues and fighting Democratic bills he saw as “anti-business.”
“It’s hard to move from a majority to a minority” he mused Tuesday over coffee.
“Last year we were still bruised from our loss and spent much of the session learning how to legislate from a minority position. We know how to do that now – though it’s not a trait I want to keep,” he chuckled.
May, who is just finishing his second term, is an obvious choice for speaker if Republicans gain the three seats necessary to regain control of the House. If the GOP loses the governor’s race this fall – a dubious achievement that could well follow from the current bloodletting between Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman – May might carry the GOP colors in the 2010 gubernatorial race.
May’s mid-session promotion puts him at the top of this review of the 2006 legislature’s leadership. But actually, all six of the top lawmakers had good years.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff’s political skills showed in subtle ways. He gave key leadership posts to two Western Slope freshmen, naming Kathleen Curry of Gunnison to chair the Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee and Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction to chair the powerful Joint Budget Committee. At Tuesday’s post-session rally on the west steps of the Capitol, Romanoff picked two freshmen who face tough re-election fights, Gwyn Green of Golden and Debbie Benefield of Arvada, to hold the giant “Promises Made, Promises Kept” banner to ensure their visages would be beamed into voters’ living rooms.
Romanoff and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald are both eligible for re-election, and if their party holds its majorities, they will likely be the first to serve consecutive terms as speaker and president, respectively, since term limits became effective in 1988. That would make Fitz-Gerald a likely candidate to succeed Mark Udall as U.S. representative from Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District in 2008 if Udall runs for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Wayne Allard.
The speaker of the House and president of the Senate are responsible for the overall direction of their chambers but Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, and House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, quarterbacked their party’s daily agendas.
Gordon, a tireless leader in the Referendum C campaign, is running for secretary of state this fall against Republican citizen-soldier Mike Coffman. The winner will become the first man to hold the office since Byron A. Anderson died in office in 1974.
Madden is smart and tough, but still balances family responsibilities with public policy issues in a way that proves women not only can “do it all,” they often have to.
Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, showed a blend of easy humor and sharp analytical skills after taking over as Senate minority leader from Mark Hillman, who served as acting treasurer while Coffman was in Iraq. Hillman will seek the treasurer’s office in his own right this fall against savvy Democrat Cary Kennedy.
Bob Ewegen (bewegen@denverpost.com) is The Denver Post’s deputy editorial page editor. He has written on state and local government since 1963.
