By Debi Brazzale, COLORADO NEWS AGENCY
Former lawmaker Abel Tapia of Pueblo doesn’t hesitate to say that he probably has the best job in state government, where revenue pours in and out effortlessly, and his constituents are happy. His new job? The Director of the Colorado State Lottery.
Dealing with revenue streams is nothing new for former Democratic senator Abel Tapia of Pueblo, who a few short months ago bore the shared weight of a responsibility that very few in Colorado know first-hand—balancing a multi-billion dollar state budget when the dollars coming in don’t match up with spending needs and wants. Tapia welcomes the budget he now oversees.
“We generate funds and then we give it away to great causes. We’re not general funded so we don’t have to go and ask for our share of the pie,” said Tapia.
Tapia, term limited after serving 8 years in the senate and 4 years in the house, resigned his senate seat in July to join the Colorado State Lottery as its statewide director, which fortuitously has an office in his cherished hometown of Pueblo. The dynamics of working out-of-town are now a thing of the past for Tapia, who for the past twelve years had to live in Denver at least five months out of the year.
“Being away from home, weighs on your family and everything else. I’m a happy camper – this is just great. I’ve got a very good job and its right here in my hometown,” said Tapia.
It was in his hometown that Tapia raised his family and formed his own civil engineering company, Abel Engineering Professionals. Tapia ran the company he founded for 27 years before selling it to his son 3 years ago.
Tapia’s political career began in 1991 when he served on the local school board which subsequently led to a couple of terms in the state’s House of Representatives, where he quickly gained stature becoming his party’s caucus chair. An opportunity arose 4 years later to make the leap to the senate where he remained until his resignation. While in the senate, Tapia’s business experience and leadership skills took root, coming to fruition in the committees where the state’s financial affairs are set in motion—the Joint Budget Committee and Appropriations, serving as chair for the latter.
Tapia says he is grateful that owning his own business allowed him to seek and serve in public office, which ultimately led him to his current job, although he never anticipated that his life would unfold as it did. Tapia is the first to admit that he himself is amazed at how his career expanded from the vocation he chose as a young man—engineering.
“I feel blessed that I was able to serve in that capacity. I never aspired to do that in high school—I wasn’t on the debate team or student council,” said Tapia. “I never ever would have imagined that I would be the director of the lottery. I’m a civil engineer, I’m still an engineer.”
The 2010 legislative session was a tough one for the engineer who along with his colleagues on the JBC struggled with constructing a balanced budget amid plunging revenues and partisan battles over the most prudent course of action. Tapia readily admits it was difficult to make the tough calls, knowing he would have to face his constituents, especially those with whom he worked with when he was chairman of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. Legislation endorsed and passed, with the help of Tapia, by ruling Democrats to eliminate or defer an assortment of tax credits and exemptions for Colorado businesses stirred up passions in the business community unlike any other legislative session in recent memory and Tapia was at center stage for the drama.
“It was hard for me and I had to come back and explain to my friends here in Pueblo that it was the right thing to do. I actually went up to the mic and said ‘I’m going to upset every possible constituent that I ever had’ because we were cutting everything from business to social services,” said Tapia. “I just resolved myself during the session that everyone was going to be upset with me. I just wanted to upset everyone equally.”
Still, Tapia brands himself as a moderate who has the ability to get things done.
“I think that people looked at me as being a very moderate person, one that can work with both sides of the aisle. I think that ninety-percent of legislation happens in the middle. You get a moderate Democrat with a moderate Republican and you’ve got a winning combination,” said Tapia.
Sen. Al White, R-Hayden, who met Tapia a decade ago, said he agrees with his former JBC and Appropriations Committee colleague on his willingness to set partisan politics aside when it’s the right thing to do.
“I’ve always appreciated working with Abel because he was a gentleman when he was in the minority and I was in the majority. When the situation turned, and he was in the majority, he was equally a gentleman,” recalls White. “He always had thoughtful deliberations on the Joint Budget committee because he truly cared about the best interests of the citizens of Colorado and put partisan politics behind him when budget considerations were on the table.”
A non-partisan environment is a comfort zone that Tapia prefers but he said he is also savvy about political realities.
“When you go up to Denver and you know what it’s like to be in the minority party, and you want to become the majority party and it turns out to be partisan. You want the bigger offices, you want to be the chairman of committees, you to be able to get your bills passed, and that all goes with the majority party,” relates Tapia who says he’s seen the pendulum swing to the far-right and to the far-left. Ultimately though, Tapia says, “We’re judged on how we manage things when we have been given the reins to run things.”
When Tapia reflects on his time at the state capitol, the lasting impression that he hopes he has made is not for his work on the budget, but rather the enduring legacy he may have left for 3rd graders in Colorado by helping to put them on the path of becoming lifelong readers through the Read to Achieve Program. During his freshman year in the house, the Republican governor, Bill Owens asked Tapia to sponsor the legislation that created the reading program.
“For me, that’s the major piece of legislation that I carried,” said Tapia.
For now, Tapia says he is more than contented to be on hand to deliver good news to the lucky few who win big in the Colorado Lottery paid for by willing participants while generating additional funds for worthy causes such as Great Outdoors Colorado and public schools. His business experience qualifies him for the top lottery job, but from Tapia’s view, it was his political experience that solidified his odds of landing the position.
It is through the lens of that experience that Tapia offers advice to new legislators.
“You don’t have to change the world your first year. Don’t go out there and do some crazy things the first year because once you do some crazy things then you’re labeled as that crazy person.—either from the far-right or far-left. You’re put in a position where people are trying to get on your best side- particularly lobbyists but as soon as you’re not an elected official you go back to being Joe Citizen,” offers Tapia.
Being a citizen in his hometown and overseeing the state lottery is hitting the jackpot for Tapia.
“It’s good to be home,” says Tapia.
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