Highlights from Gov. John Hickenlooper’s inaugural on Tuesday:
— Democrat John Hickenlooper was sworn into office as Colorado’s 42nd governor.
— Two Republicans elected to statewide office for the first time took their oaths, tripling the number of statewide Republican officials. Republican Scott Gessler was sworn in as secretary of state and will oversees elections. And Walker Stapleton took the oath as treasurer. They join Republican Attorney General John Suthers, who took the oath for his second term.
— Hickenlooper appointed Kaiser Permanente executive Kathy Nesbitt to serve as executive director of the Department of Personnel and Administration, which oversees 38,000 state employees.
— Hickenlooper signed four executive orders aimed at promoting jobs and education. One of the orders requires the state to partner with local communities in creating jobs and designing economic plans for those communities, another creates the Governor’s Trade and Tourism Ambassador Program, and a third order is aimed at helping counties cut red tape. The governor also signed an order to study education from preschool to college.
