STATE BILL COLORADO
State Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, will relinquish her positions as speaker pro tem and chairwoman of the House agriculture committee after changing her voter registration from Democrat to unaffiliated, The Denver Post reports. Curry said her biggest disagreement with her party came during budget discussions this year; Speaker Terrance Carroll said he was surprised by Curry’s decision and unsuccessfully tried to talk her out of it.
Randy Fischer is the current vice chair of the House Ag committee. Curry’s bio remains on the official Colorado House Democrats Web site.
Blog site ColoradoPols.com was among the first, if not the first, to report the news. The site speculated that Curry’s proposed co-sponsoring of an health insurance moratorium bill with Republican Ellen Roberts caused a rift within the Democratic Party; the Dems are trying to retain majorities in both houses during the 2010 elections.
Political observers in the district had little expectation that Curry’s move would either alter the balance of power in the Statehouse or endanger her chances of winning re-election in 2010. “I don’t think so, because I am sure she will caucus with the Democrats,” Garfield County Republican Chairman Milt Blakey told The Aspen Times.

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