Republican lawmakers on Wednesday questioned whether Gov. Bill Ritter had the authority to change the security structure at the Capitol.
Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, said she was worried that the Democratic governor is exceeding his authority by announcing a $1.6 million plan to install new screening equipment and add 23 workers to monitor the statehouse.
With the extra money, total spending for Capitol security will be $4 million and include 62 employees. That includes the amount previously in the state budget this year for Capitol security.
“I’m just concerned that we perhaps overreacted,” said Spence at a meeting of the Legislative Council.
On Tuesday, Ritter announced that he would submit a plan to the Joint Budget Committee, which has the power to grant emergency-spending requests during the months when the legislature is not in session. The JBC is not scheduled to meet until October.
House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, added that he wanted to make sure legislators were involved in the decision-making on security procedures in the building. The legislative chambers are on the second floor of the Capitol, and many offices are on the third.
“I’m not interested in ceding our authority to the executive branch,” May said.
Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Ritter, said the governor’s office consulted with lawmakers in the aftermath of the July 16 fatal shooting of a gunman who entered the Capitol claiming to be the state’s emperor.
“We continued to do that over the past two months, and the budgeting process is also a collaborative process,” he said, “so we absolutely will continue to work together with the legislature, just as we have throughout this entire review process.”
Ritter met with top Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including May, the day after the shooting in a closed- door session to discuss Capitol security.
That day, the Capitol also restricted public access to the building through a metal detector on the north-side basement entrance.
Access will remain restricted while the governor’s budget request is pending.
Shortly after the shooting, Ritter asked the Department of Public Safety to conduct a security audit of the building and consulted with lawmakers in developing the plan, Dreyer said.
The review of security procedures uncovered that one person was responsible for watching the video feeds from 151 cameras installed throughout the Capitol.
The control room’s switchboard was overwhelmed with phone calls on the afternoon of the shooting, preventing the security officer from making outgoing calls, said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-954-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
