Senate Republicans met to pick leadership Tuesday and newly elected Senate President Bill Cadman deferred talk about an agenda.
But , he couldn’t help but offer a bit of a partisan jab when asked whether Republicans would seek to rollback any Democratic-authored bills from years past.
“When you have 700 bills, some of that is new and some of that is a redo. Itap always going to be that way,” he said. “So, of course, there is going to be a look at giving somebody who you believe made a mistake an opportunity to correct it. We may have the opportunity.”
“I think it was John F. Kennedy who said an error is not a mistake until you refuse to correct it. Maybe we give them a couple opportunities,” he added, with a sly smile.
The potential items that may resurface: voting laws, gun restrictions, in-state tuition for immigrants in the country illegally, driver’s licenses for immigrants and taxes.
Democrats, on the other hand, are looking to move forward. And Gov. John Hickenlooper pushed back against Cadman in an interview Wednesday — an early sign of how split partisan power at the state Capitol is likely to play out.
“Sen. Cadman has his politics,” Hickenlooper said after legislative meeting. “He’s in a unique position: He can choose to lead, or he can choose to create a ruckus. And thatap really up to him.”
The governor continued, “He is one of the smartest savviest people in the legislature and I think a lot of people look up to him and they are going to look to him for direction in terms of tone and substance.”
The take away: Hickenlooper is putting the onus on Cadman to pick a direction. To take a cue from Washington, the question is whether Cadman will he play the moderate compromiser John McCain or the rabblerouser Ted Cruz.
