Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt sits at his desk during the first week of the 2015 legislative session in January. (Photo By Craig F. Walker / The Denver Post)
Chalk one up for Dr. Chaps.
The often maligned pastor turned politician, Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, who’s had a hard time passing much of anything in the chamber of Boulder County Democrat and House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst and sometimes has , was doing a victory lap of sorts Friday morning.
As Klingenschmitt put it, he “out-maneuvered” Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, to tack on an amendment to , the otherwise routine sunset reauthorization bill for the laws that regulate medical marijuana. Pabon is the bill’s House sponsor.
The amendment keeps convicted felons from getting a license to distribute medical marijuana, if their felony is later reclassified as a misdemeanor.
The former Navy chaplain with a PhD. characterized his win as a “minor coup d’etat.” The vote was 37-26, with 11 Democrats joining 26 Republicans.
It’s not Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, but Pabon isn’t some rank-and-file back-bencher. He’s the Democrats’ speaker pro-tempore and one of the most respected and skillful legislators in the statehouse. For the second time this week,
While the amendment doesn’t affect a large group of felons, it presents a bit of a problem for the entire bill. With eight scheduled working days left before the end of the session, the bill will have to go back to the Senate, where it started, so that chamber can vote on it again with the amendment. The bill still needs one more round of voting in the House before it bounces back to the Senate.
If the Republican-led upper chamber rejects the new version, the House and Senate would appoint three members each to a conference committee to work out the differences. Assuming everything works out, the House and Senate would vote on the compromise before the May 6 adjournment. Tick tock.
He didn’t say so, but Klingenschmitt has to have some small measure of satisfaction from putting an 11th-hour bind on the Senate sponsor, Owen Hill. The fellow Colorado Springs Republican after Klingenschmitt called the brutal attack on a pregnant Longmont woman a “curse of God for the sin of not protecting our innocent children in the womb.” In an e-mail to supporters, Hill called the comment a “biblical blunder.”
Sure, it’s a legislative hassle, but it shouldn’t be too big a problem, given what’s at stake. If the bill dies, that would mean none of the regulations on medical marijuana would still apply after July 1.
Klingenschmitt has been dealt a series of legislative losses. On his first trip to the well of the House he asked for a moment of silence for the “children” killed since the passage of Roe v. Wade. Hullinghorst denied the request. Things haven’t gotten much better since. All were voted down, usually in what’s referred to as the House kill committee, . He and was by his Republican caucus after his “curse of God” controversy
Before Thursday night, Klingenschmitt’s highlight in his first legislative session so far was when he about the routine daily reading of the House Journal.
Klingenschmitt is looking for momentum. He announced on Wednesday being vacated by the chamber’s president, Bill Cadman, next year.
