Summit County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, who is running for the state Senate, fell short of making the primary ballot and said he’s not sure whether he plans to petition on, The Summit Daily News reports.
Hurlbert got 29 percent of the delegate vote while challenger Tim Leonard captured 71 percent. Candidates need 30 percent to make the ballot outright.
“I’m sorry Mark,” Sen. Al White, R-Hayden, who nominated Hurlbert, said afterward.
Here’s State Bill’s 2010 Senate Election Tracker:
The rift among Colorado House Democrats over a bill limiting teacher tenure may become a factor when it comes time to pick the next speaker, The Denver Post reports.
That’s assuming Democrats, who control the House with a 37-27 advantage over Republicans, keep their majority. Speaker possibilities Christine Scanlan and Karen Middleton voted for the bill; Andy Kerr and Claire Levy voted against it.
By Todd Engdahl, EDUCATION NEWS COLORADO
Before Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law a dramatic overhaul of Colorado’s long-standing teacher evaluation system, he reached out to the many educators who fought to kill it.
Leaders of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, which lobbied against Senate Bill 191 with rallies and radio ads, did not attend the crowded signing ceremony in the west foyer of the Capitol.
“From the time I began running for office, the Colorado Education Association has been supportive of our efforts and a … partner in reform,” Ritter said. “I understand that they considered Senate Bill 191 a bridge too far.
“But I think the teachers and principals who work in our classrooms every day are going to understand we are going to provide them greater tools for success … And over time we’re going to get to the place where we’re working together toward that goal.”
CEA President Beverly Ingle released a statement after the signing that pledged the 40,000-member union is “committed to doing everything we can to make sure the law is implemented correctly.”
“We are pleased that some of the changes we suggested to the bill were included but we still have a number of concerns,” Ingle said. “We will do what’s right for the teachers and the students of Colorado.”
Brenda Smith, president of the smaller union in Colorado, the American Federation of Teachers, testified in support of the bill and was there for Thursday’s signing.
Smith issued a statement saying AFT Colorado “worked in collaboration with the bill’s sponsors to improve the measure so that teacher evaluation systems will be good for kids and fair to teachers.”
“Some so-called reformers want to dictate change from the outside – an approach that almost always fails,” Smith said. “Then you have change agents who say: Let’s work together and figure things out … that’s what happened with this legislation in Colorado.”
State Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, the bill’s primary author, singled out Ritter, state education Commissioner Dwight Jones and Christine Scanlan, the bill’s Democratic House sponsor, for thanks. Scanlan successfully navigated the schism in her party over education reform to secure enough votes to pass the bill while Jones was an early and public advocate.
Johnston said he woke one morning to a phone ”exploding” with text messages about Jones’ surprise endorsement of the bill in the Denver Post. That letter prompted the CEA to withhold support of the state’s Race to the Top grant application.
“It would have been very easy for you to stay out of this bill,” Johnston told Jones.
As for Ritter, Johnston said meeting the governor helped convince him to leave his principal’s job for political office.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it,” the freshman lawmaker said. ”It wasn’t until we met that … I think we both believe this really was a noble and honest calling where good people try to get good things done.”
Despite the celebratory air, the hugs and congratulations, several speakers said much of the work lies ahead. Today, members of the Governor’s Council for Educator Effectiveness, charged with defining teacher and principal effectiveness, will meet for the first time since the bill passed.
And Johnston went straight from the signing ceremony to O’Connell Middle School in Lakewood, where he met with about 25 teachers curious about what the new law means for them. See EdNews’ blog about the meeting.
He said before he left that he sees S.B. 191 as the first step in a two-part process: Part 1 is restoring the public’s confidence in education. Part 2 is asking that public to better support schools through a funding increase expected on the state ballot in 2011.
“The work we are about to begin will enable Colorado to lead in this national movement” of education reform, Jones said. “What is required in this bill is hard work. But this is the right work.”
By Debi Brazzale, COLORADO NEWS AGENCY
High school civics teaches us there are two possible fates for a bill introduced in the legislature: pass or fail. In reality, there’s a third option–amending the bill into a study. And some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will tell you it can be a fate worse than death; it enacts empty verbiage in order to spare the egos of sponsors while giving cover to opponents who don’t want to go on record with a “no” vote. They all can embrace a study.
Sometimes, what some lawmakers call “death by study” also is used to defuse an overheated political issue over which the legislature is nearly deadlocked, as was the case on at least one high-profile standoff during the 2010 session–a high-country clash between commercial rafters and landowners. Even then, a study isn’t always enough to save the measure.
Former GOP Senate Majority Leader Mark Hillman, of Burlington, recalling his time in the legislature, says that studies are generally the result of an inability to get a bill passed. The studies, said Hillman, provide a path to allow an issue addressed in a bill to remain viable to some degree while keeping the status quo in the law books.
“A study effectively neuters a bill and doesn’t really serve a useful purpose. Studies are usually used to get bills passed that legislators can’t otherwise get passed,” said Hillman.
Another former Senate lawmaker and Democratic caucus chair, Ron Tupa, of Boulder, largely agrees.
“In general, legislation starting out as controversial and ending up being a study is typically a face-saving measure for bills that would otherwise simply be killed,” said Tupa. “Usually, the study provides no new information but keeps the issue alive in legislators’ minds until the next legislative session, when it’s likely to be re-introduced. It’s a time-worn strategy.”
Tupa also said he believes that studies actually are sometimes necessary for issues that at first glance may seem like good policy but merit a deeper look before becoming statute.
“On those rare occasions when the topic is complicated or requires analysis outside of the sound bite variety … the study can actually produce new and useful information to guide legislators’ votes in subsequent sessions,” said Tupa.
Hillman concedes some studies are warranted, but it’s rare.
“There are times when a bill, presented as a study when it is introduced, can produce useful information,” he said. “But more often than not it is simply a way to get a bill passed.”
In the case of House Bill 1188, dubbed the “right to float” bill for commercial rafters, asking for a study effectively killed the bill. The Senate amended the measure mandating a study be done before tinkering with the statutes regarding boaters and property owners along Colorado’s waterways. However, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kathleen Curry, of Gunnison, preferred an up or down vote on the merits of the bill.
“If we’re going to study a policy issue and give it the rubber stamp of approval from the General Assembly, then we need to be thoughtful about how we structure it,” said Curry. “It is incumbent upon us as legislators to make sure that process is balanced and fair. Boaters are frustrated because there was never an up or down vote on the policy issue and nothing has been resolved going into the rafting season.”
Democratic House Speaker Terrance Carroll, of Denver, says he understands why the studies are proposed, but Carroll says his personal preference is to not pass a law mandating a study. He said he’d rather see his own bills fail than go the route of a study.
“We don’t really need a bill to have a study, but sometimes folks want to show that they got something done,” Carroll said.
By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday vetoed a bill that included an amendment that would have allowed sex offenders to choose the court-ordered treatment program they wish to attend.
In his veto letter, Ritter cites the amendment by Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, who lied to local media about a personal connection she had with the amendment before it came to light that her brother-in-law attended one of the treatment programs in question.
Foster’s brother-in-law, Julian Newman, is a registered sex offender who attended the very treatment program that Foster cited as the impetus for her amendment to House Bill 1364. The amendment would have allowed sex offenders to choose from three programs selected by their probation or parole officer. The bill itself would have extended the life of the Sex Offender Management Board for another five years.
Foster had taken aim at the Teaching Humane Existence Program (THE), criticizing the program for allegedly threatening clients with prison time for not meeting obligations of the program. Her brother-in-law had attended the program.
In his veto letter, Ritter cited Foster’s controversial amendment as his reasoning for vetoing the legislation.
The language of the amendment “does not, in my view, adequately provide for the systematic treatment of offenders,” wrote Ritter, a Democrat and former district attorney. “In fact, allowing offenders to choose from a list of three providers potentially degrades systematic management and treatment, based on specific evaluation tools and accepted practices.”
The governor also pointed out that the amendment was introduced on the floor without consideration in committee, meaning it received no public comment.
“On an issue that is this critical to public safety and the overall success of the sex offender treatment program, this failure of adequate vetting and thorough debate constitutes a fatal flaw with the bill,” wrote Ritter.
The Sex Offender Management Board will sunset on July 1, 2011, so lawmakers have time next year to reauthorize the board.
Greig Veeder, executive director of THE, had taken aim at the bill both because of the controversy surrounding Foster’s personal connection with her amendment, as well as because he felt the amendment would result in sex offenders choosing the most lenient of treatment programs.
He said Friday that the governor made the right choice to veto the legislation.
“Clearly sex offenders are a real challenge for all of us,” he told the Denver Daily News. “We have to both care for them and carefully manage and treat them because there really is no known cure, which means the challenge does not go away.”
HB 1364 would have also removed language that “no known cure” exists for repeat sex offenders who commit sex abuse. Critics disagree with this.
Proponents, however, say HB 1364 and the Foster amendment is necessary to improve offender-treatment matching. They say the bill would not have given offenders total freedom to choose any program they want, pointing out that decisions would have still been made by probation and parole officers.
Foster did not immediately return several calls by the Denver Daily News on Friday seeking comment.
Colorado’s business and political leaders are searching for ways to mend fences and join forces after a divisive legislative session, The Denver Post reports.
The common enemy that could reunite them is three November ballot measures that seek to reduce the taxes collected for roads, bridges and schools.
In other coverage:
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: The issue committee that has fought several revenue-limiting ballot questions over the past decade and a half is gearing up for yet another battle. But this year’s effort to defeat Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 could be the biggest challenge yet for Coloradans for Responsible Reform, says its leader, Denver political consultant Rick Reiter.
Even before Gov. Bill Ritter has signed into law new rules for Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry, the next moves in the ongoing chess match of cannabis regulation and adaptation are already taking shape, The Denver Post reports.
Last week, a team of attorneys who specialize in medical-marijuana cases met with several dozen potential plaintiffs in preparing a lawsuit to challenge the rules as unconstitutionally restrictive.
At the other end of the spectrum, prosecutors and others who believe the legislature overstepped its authority in liberalizing marijuana regulations were pondering their legal options.
Gov. Bill Ritter will sign Senate Bill 191 into law today, altering how tenure and evaluations work in Colorado schools, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports.
Teachers will have to demonstrate effectiveness for three consecutive years before earning tenure, officially known as nonprobationary status. They could lose that status after two consecutive years of ineffective ratings. Nonprobationary status currently is irreversible.
Valerie Dobbs, head of Mesa State College’s teacher-education department, said most of her students aren’t worried about the new law.
Editor’s Note: Gov. Ritter will sign SB 191 (Johnston & Spence/Scanlan & Murray) at 1:30 p.m. in the West Foyer, State Capitol.
The largest union representing state employees has launched a campaign urging Gov. Bill Ritter to sign legislation revamping the pay-raise system for state workers, The Denver Post reports.
The effort by Colorado WINS comes amid worry over whether Ritter, who has expressed concerns about House Bill 1409, will veto the bill. Ritter’s office has said only that it is giving the bill careful consideration.
By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Primary outcomes in three states Tuesday night, in which establishment-backed candidates were rejected by voters, has given hope to self-described Washington outsiders in Colorado who are running for U.S. Senate.
Republican Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck and former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, a Democrat, believe the results from primary voting in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Arkansas is an indication that there is an anti-government sentiment across the nation held by people who are unhappy with how Congress and the White House is operating.
Buck’s primary opponent, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, and Romanoff’s primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, were left yesterday defending themselves against accusations that they are part of the establishment, and therefore no different than those running what many perceive as a broken Washington, D.C.
The debate has been fueled by victories for grassroots candidates in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The biggest headline for the night occurred when Democratic voters in Pennsylvania rejected Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched parties last year. Voters instead sided with Rep. Joe Sestak, despite Specter’s 30-year career and an endorsement from President Obama.
In Kentucky, Republicans sided with Rand Paul, a candidate with ties to the Tea Party movement. Paul Ń the son of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas Ń easily defeated Trey Grayson, who had major establishment endorsements, including one by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
A Democratic primary in Arkansas was also telling, where sitting Sen. Blanche Lincoln was forced into a June runoff by Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.
All around, the news for incumbents and candidates with big money and mega political support was bad. But for self-described grassroots campaigns, the primary outcomes come as a burst of hope and inspiration.
“(Voters) are fed up with the political class in Washington that seeks to control who is ‘allowed’ to represent the people of their state, yet runs from any fight to conduct the people’s business,” Bill Romjue, campaign manager for Romanoff, said in a statement. “The revolution that began last night in Pennsylvania and Arkansas will sweep through Colorado and is no less than a battle to renew the soul of the Democratic Party.”
A spokesman for Buck echoed similar thoughts.
“We’re excited, we think that this is a great example of what we’re seeing here in Colorado across the board,” said Owen Loftus, spokesman for the Buck campaign. “Wherever Ken goes, people are telling us that they’re tired of the establishment, they’re tired of Washington telling Coloradans who should represent them, and they want to choose their own senators, and they want to choose people who will listen to them and not spend their time in Washington, D.C. for lobbyist fundraisers.”
Norton’s campaign fired back yesterday, arguing that the former lieutenant governor is not a part of the establishment.
“It’s tough to call Jane Norton the “establishment” candidate when Ken Buck has benefitted from more than $1 million in special interest money in the form of shady 527s,” said Cinamon Watson, spokeswoman for the Norton campaign. “Ken Buck has been a government attorney for most of his career. Ken’s wife has been a member of the GOP Central Committee for years Ń hardly what I would call an ‘outsider.’”
She believes Norton represents the values craved by voters displayed during Tuesday’s primaries.
“Coloradans want conservative, principled leadership and that’s what Jane Norton brings to the table,” said Watson. “Jane not only talks the talk, she walks the walk.”
An internal memo from Bennet campaign manager Craig Hughes aims to separate Bennet from long-time politicians, noting that Bennet has only served in the Senate since Gov. Bill Ritter appointed him in January 2009.
“Indeed, the major difference between the two primary candidates in Colorado may be this simple: Michael is the non-traditional option,” writes Hughes. “He is the one who hasn’t spent his life climbing the political ladder and, therefore, is more than willing to shake up the system and bring a fresh approach.”
Norton and Buck are also campaigning against Tom Wiens. A spokesman for Wiens did not return a request by the Denver Daily News yesterday seeking comment.
