Steve Johnson to Leave Senate?

Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, has decided to run for a seat on the Larimer County Commission this autumn, according to a report in the Loveland Reporter-Herald.

Johnson, who was re-elected to his second term in 2006, says he will not resign his Senate seat unless he is elected commissioner.

Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, was a candidate for the Senate seat now held by Johnson in 1998. He is likely to seek appointment to the slot if Johnson resigns after the November election and a vacancy committee must fill the District 15 seat until the November 2010 election.

Johnson is a member of the Joint Budget Committee and possibly his party's leading expert on the state budget in the General Assembly.