In a stunning reversal of form, it seems the Democrats in the Colorado legislature may choose, at the last moment, to put their collective conscience on the line after all.
I’m as stunned by the prospect as you are.
But, apparently, the legislature is considering resuscitating the thought-to-be-dead death-penalty bill — or at least that part of the bill that would abolish capital punishment in Colorado.
If the bill is brought back to life via a conference committee, that might well produce a series of on-the- record votes, in both chambers, on the last day of the session. The sound you hear is of a jaw scraping the floor somewhere near the governor’s office. (For the record, Gov. Bill Ritter, longtime Denver DA, will have no comment on the bill until or unless it reaches his desk.)
For live drama, you couldn’t beat this with a Nuggets playoff game. And, believe me, if it comes to a vote today, everyone will be watching.
Which leads to the obvious question: What are these guys thinking?
The Democrats in the legislature have, I’ve heard, produced many common-sense accomplishments in this session — in areas such as health care and transportation and education. Which are all very nice, I’m sure. But when it’s gotten testy — where somebody might actually have to risk something — a handful of Democratic conservadems (Rachel Maddow’s term) have consistently been remarkably, uh, cautious.
I mean, here’s caution for you: Despite a 21-14 advantage in the Senate, the Democrats couldn’t even get a proper no-hand-held-cellphones- while-driving bill passed. Here’s what they came up with: no texting, and no cellphoning if you’re under 18.
Are they afraid of offending that way-over-18 guy in the Whole Foods parking lot busily endangering lives (say, mine) while dialing home to ask whether he should buy the arugula or the mesclun? Or maybe it’s the whole Verizon team that has them spooked.
But cellphones are relatively easy. Now, guns — they’re hard. And so, on the 10th anniversary of Columbine, we get a Republican bill passed that would open a gun-show loophole that had been closed in the wake of Columbine.
And illegal immigration — that’s real ly hard. And so, the Democrats failed to turn down the talk-radio volume long enough to put together enough votes to pass a benign in-state tuition bill for innocent children of illegal immigrants.
But at least they all came to a vote. And then, there’s the death penalty, which had been passed in the House in dramatic fashion, by a single vote — before going to the Senate and . . . no dramatic vote.
I wish you’d been there to see how this bill was gutted. The sponsors had devised what was basically a gimmick — in which the death penalty would be abolished and some of the money saved would be used for a state task force on cold-case murders.
For those who haven’t been keeping score, there has been exactly one (1) execution in Colorado in the past 40 years. The cost of prosecuting death-penalty cases, according to the bill sponsors, runs to something like $4 million a year. Some argue that the number is too high, but, whatever the number, it’s a lot to spend on one execution in 40 years.
And so, to send the money toward solving cold cases is an appealing prospect, certainly for anyone who has watched the TV show. It also had to appeal to legislators hearing families of real victims making real- life appeals for this bill.
And yet, on Monday, in the plain light of day — or at least in as much light as ever reaches the Colorado Senate floor — the bill was hijacked, the death-penalty bill turned into a game of Grand Theft Legislature.
It was stunning, if not exactly shocking. Literally minutes before the scheduled vote, Sen. John Morse, a Democrat, ambushed the death- penalty bill — by joining with Republicans and a handful of Democrats to amend the death-penalty bill to make it not about the death penalty at all but only about cold cases.
It was audacious and bold in its appeal to anyone not eager to make a recorded audacious or bold vote.
The death penalty is, of course, an issue that divides us at our core. It’s an issue that is all about conscience and belief and in our personal understanding of where vengeance and justice intersect.
But today, I think it’s easy to make a case against the death penalty — the randomness of its application, the DNA-proven fallibility of the system, the march of history that leaves its supporters in league with forward thinkers such as China and Iran, the argument (though still debated) against the deterrence factor.
I understand, though, when Sen. Shawn Mitchell stands up to argue that certain brands of heinous crime require a certain brand of justice. But I lean to Sen. Bob Bacon, who said on the floor — just before the rug was pulled out from under him — that for the state to resolve a murder by choosing to kill the killer is a soul- crushing business.
It’s a real argument. Maybe it even deserves a real vote.
Mike Littwin writes Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-5428 or mlittwin@denverpost.com.
