Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will climb the dais Thursday for his annual State of the State address and put one eye on the horizon as he looks to cement his legacy in his final two years.
The Democratap list of accomplishments is lengthy, but many of his biggest challenges remain — notably how to address what he calls the state’s “fiscal thicket” of spending rules tied to TABOR, an issue he identified after being re-elected.
Other unfinished business includes implementation of a , a tax hike to improve, a crackdown on the and a — one of the issues that led him to public office 13 years ago.
His 11 a.m. speech to a joint session of the General Assembly will diverge in tone , when he peppered his remarks with and basked in the glow of . Instead, he will focus more soberly on the challenges ahead and the need to tackle the most complicated political questions.
“We are going to revisit many of the challenges the state faces,” Hickenlooper said in an interview. “When your economy is doing well, thatap a great thing … but it creates stress on the system.”
The governor will spend six of his eight years in office with a divided legislature, and the 100 lawmakers in the audience will help determine his final record.
Democrats controlled the entire lawmaking process for the 2013-14 term and passed measures that the governor counts as his top legacy items, such as legalizing same-sex marriage, approving in-state tuition for students in this country illegally and universal background checks for gun purchases.
“Hopefully that will be part of the legacy — that we worked on things from the perspective of common sense,” Hickenlooper said.
Still smarting from that divisive two years of Democratic control, Republican lawmakers argued that Hickenlooper’s imprint will depend on his efforts to reach across the aisle before he leaves office.
“I think his legacy depends mostly on what happens over the next two years,” said Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Cañon City, in an interview.
Hickenlooper prefers to take a behind-the-scenes approach when working with lawmakers, rather than lead the discussion from his prominent pulpit, and he rarely uses his veto power. More often, he plays the role of mediator between competing factions.
“Once you’ve been in public office for a while, we all learn Lincoln’s edict that ‘you can’t please all the people all the time,’ so you work really hard to please most people all the time. I think he’s worked hard to be that way,” said Sen. Lois Court, a Denver Democrat.
The 2017 session puts the governor in the middle of a number of disputes — from negotiating a tax hike deal to find money for transportation to finding compromises on bills such as construction defects, which failed in prior years.
Kelly Brough, the Denver Metro Chamber president and Hickenlooper’s chief of staff when he served as Denver mayor, said the governor’s ability to find common ground “will be put to the test — and itap probably more important than ever this session.”
Alan Salazar, the governor’s former chief strategist, said Hickenlooper’s primary legacy as a “jobs governor” is secure for his focus on business development and rebuilding the state’s economy after the recession.
“I think over the next two years the question is: How do you build on that? And are there any new things (to add),” said Salazar, who is now chief of staff to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock. “Itap hard to do moonshot ideas as you are coming to the end. But if anybody does, it would be Hickenlooper.”
When it comes to the state’s fiscal situation, Salazar said, “that one is just really tough.” The Taxpayers Bill of Rights sets a cap, based on inflation plus population growth, on new taxes the state can collect and spend.
“There’s a good chance that a piece of the thicket, if not the whole thicket, remains to be cleared when the next governor comes along,” he said.