It didn’t take long for Bill Ritter to start acting like a governor.
The Democrat jumped straight from his inaugural ceremonies Tuesday into discussions about expediting federal aid to snowbound cattle ranchers in southeastern Colorado.
At his first official press briefing Tuesday afternoon, Ritter said he had convened incoming and outgoing Cabinet members to press Federal Emergency Management Agency officials “really hard to get them to do as much as they can to help us.”
He convened the meeting minutes after wrapping up his inaugural party.
Just before noon Tuesday, Ritter was sworn in as the state’s 41st governor in ceremonies complete with cannon fire, an F-16 flyover and an American Indian blessing.
Standing before about 150 relatives and more than 1,000 others gathered outside the state Capitol on a sunny but chilly day, Ritter looked west to snow-covered Mount Evans.
“The mountains symbolize what Colorado is all about – hope and opportunity, taking risks and overcoming challenges,” he said. “Colorado is about bold ideas and brave actions. We look up, not down. We look ahead, not back.”
Then he vowed to set aside partisan politics to make the state a national leader in renewable energy, education and health care.
Saving specifics of his agenda for a Thursday State of the State speech to the Colorado General Assembly, which convenes today, Ritter used the inaugural ceremonies to reiterate a dozen times his “Colorado Promise” campaign theme.
“The Colorado Promise is simple: It’s about making a better future. A better future for our children and our grandchildren,” he said. “Let’s start by being bolder than any other state when it comes to implementing renewable energy.
“Let’s fulfill the Colorado Promise together by giving our children opportunities and our employers the best-educated workforce in the nation.”
The ceremonies included a farewell from outgoing Gov. Bill Owens, a two-term Republican handing the state over to Democratic dominance of both the statehouse and Governor’s Mansion for the first time in more than 40 years.
Owens urged officeholders to separate policy from politics and make bipartisanship “the hallmark of Colorado politics.”
Also sworn in were Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien, Attorney General John Suthers, Secretary of State Mike Coffman, Treasurer Cary Kennedy, and state board of education and University of Colorado regents.
Afterward, Ritter and his family hosted a receiving line for hundreds of supporters in the Capitol rotunda.
Shortly after 2 p.m., the new governor went straight to work, convening a meeting of agricultural, local affairs, emergency-management officials and lawmakers to discuss problems in southeastern Colorado from back-to-back-to-back snowstorms.
Ritter said FEMA has declared Baca and Otero counties disaster areas eligible for assistance, but the state is trying to get help for five more: Las Animas, Bent, Prowers, Crowley and Huerfano.
One of the problems, Ritter said, is that officials can’t get to buried snow gauges to determine whether the counties meet federal requirements, which are based on a formula of how much snow fell compared with average.
George Epp, director of the state’s emergency operations center, said it seems “silly” that FEMA can’t determine there is a snow disaster when officials can’t even find the gauges. But he said FEMA has “a lot of complicated federal regulations they need to deal with, a lot of complicated federal laws. There’s a lot of bureaucracy involved.”
Ritter said the state has spent about $2 million so far on snow removal and relief efforts, and counties have spent millions more trying to get help and supplies to stranded ranchers and cattle.
John Stulp, Ritter’s nominee to head the Department of Agriculture, estimated 5,000 to 10,000 head of cattle have died.
Ritter started his day with a special Catholic Mass, administered by a longtime family friend, the Rev. Bill Morell of San Antonio.
During the service, all four Ritter children did readings. “For our dad and public servants, may they be wise, humble and just,” said the youngest, 13-year-old Tally.
Asked Tuesday afternoon how his first day felt, Ritter said, “I haven’t had time to even reflect about it. It was an overwhelming event for me and my family. I’m still a little numb. … I’m glad to get to work.”
Staff writer Jeri Clausing can be reached at 303-954-1555 or jclausing@denverpost.com.
