Rep. Joe Salazar.
D-Thornton
Joe Salazar had a lot of good reasons to hang up his political guns this summer: a civil rights law practice that needed him there more often, two daughters who will soon have college tuition for him to pay and a wife who was growing weary of the political attacks he opens himself up to.
Wednesday, though, he made it official, and putting to rest statehouse speculation that his District 31 seat in the closely divided state House of Representatives would be up for grabs. Democrats hold just a 34-31 majority.
“One of the big things was that I worried if I don’t fight for some of these issues, who would?” he said over breakfast at Lisa’s Place diner in Thornton Wednesday morning. “They’re not easy bills.”
For sure, Salazar gladly takes on some tough fights, and he’s well-known for arguing passionately in committees and on the House floor. In the past session he fought for a “right to rest” bill for homeless people to roll back urban camping bans, such as Denver’s. failed. He tried to ban what he sees as offensive American Indian mascots, And though didn’t make it, last week Gov. John to allow local communities and tribes to work together to build mutual respect for their mascot names.
Salazar, along with Rep. Angela Williams, D-Denver, was the main proponent in the House for a package of bills aimed at curbing police misconduct. He was a prime sponsor of a bill to extend wage insurance to workers who need to take family leave, and in-state tuition for any person who is a member of a federally recognized American Indian tribe in Colorado.
But there was more than issues to consider. Rep. Dominick Moreno, the assistant House majority leader and for the 2016 election, first had to lobby Salazar’s wife, Jessica.
Salazar asked to be taken off the workload-heavy State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, of which he was the vice chairman. He will continue to serve on the equally demanding House Judiciary Committee.
Salazar said he will continue to take on the hardest fights. For one, he wants to replace the controversial Columbus Day observance in Colorado with the Indigenous Peoples Day, as . He also wants to hold those who frack for oil responsible for damages if their work causes an earthquake.
And he plans to re-introduce the right-to-rest bill, which he calls the Homeless People’s Bill of Rights. He and Williams also will be back with a bill to curb police profiling of minorities.
For now, Salazar’s only opponent is of Thornton, who is a teacher at Prospect Ridge Academy in Broomfield.
