Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper on Tuesday named a Republican and one of the most experienced hands in state fiscal issues to head his Office of State Planning and Budgeting.
Hickenlooper, a Democrat, appointed Henry Sobanet, formerly budget director for Republican Gov. Bill Owens, to do the same job for him. Sobanet shepherded the state budget through part of the last recession, and few people in Colorado have as deep an understanding of the state’s fiscal challenges.
“Henry Sobanet knows his way around the state budget and will be an important part of our team as we work to recover from this historic economic downturn,” Hickenlooper said in a statement.
Also Tuesday, Hickenlooper named current budget director Todd Saliman as a “senior adviser” to help guide the administration’s budget and policy efforts for the next several months, and he nominated Reggie Bicha, a former Wisconsin state official, to be his executive director of the Department of Human Services.
Bicha’s nomination must be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled state Senate.
Sobanet has been working as a private consultant, and his research was used by opponents of Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 — the three tax-slashing measures defeated in November dubbed the “Ugly Three.”
Sobanet worked for the Office of State Planning and Budgeting as deputy director from 1999 to 2004, when Owens appointed him as director. A Denver native, Sobanet attended Regis Jesuit High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Colorado and a master’s in economics from the University of Colorado Denver.
“I am honored and a little panicked,” Sobanet said. “The options this time are leaner. The economy appears to have not the same chance of rebounding as earlier in the decade, at least not in the short term.”
Saliman served as Ritter’s budget director for the past four years, leading efforts to bridge cumulative shortfalls that now total $5.5 billion.
As an adviser for a limited time, Saliman’s salary will be $117,000 annually “but will be reduced to reflect the fact that he is working 75 percent time instead of full time,” said Eric Brown, Hickenlooper’s spokesman.
Bicha most recently served as secretary of the Department of Children and Families for the state of Wisconsin.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
