GRAND JUNCTION — Western Slope residents crammed into a college lecture hall Monday for the first visit of their new senator-to-be. But the crowd went easy on Michael Bennet, instead lobbing most of their questions at Gov. Bill Ritter.
Those who came out to meet Bennet on Monday appeared to be still a little mystified by Ritter’s pick to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, who has been nominated as interior secretary.
But Bennet won quick applause when he promised the crowd crushed into a classroom at Mesa State College that he will be a both-sides-of-the-aisle politician. The biggest ovation came when he asked the crowd to “give me the same chance you would want people in metro Denver to give someone from here and I won’t disappoint you.”
Bennet seemed comfortable on his first foray west of the Rockies as a newly minted Senate appointee. He appeared in slouchy jeans, sans tie and looked right at home leaning on a Periodic Table of the Elements.
“He’s up to speed and I agree with people’s assessment that he’s a very bright man,” said Duke Cox, a member of the Grand Valley Citizens’ Alliance, who caught Bennet after the session to ask him about oil and gas drilling on the Roan Plateau.
Bennet said the Roan Plateau, which was recently leased for drilling, is a prime example of the federal government not listening to the wishes of local public officials and the public and a good example of how he doesn’t plan to operate as a senator.
