Report: Groff to Resign, Accept Post in Obama Administration

Senate president Peter Groff, D-Denver, will resign soon to accept an appointment as an official in the U.S. Department of Education, according to a report in today's Denver Post.

The article, by the Post's veteran capitol reporter Lynn Bartels, says that Groff declined to answer questions about the appointment from President Barack Obama, which Bartels wrote was confirmed by two sources.

The veteran legislator, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000, was appointed to the Senate in 2003 as a replacement for former Sen. Penfield Tate. He became the first African-American president of the Colorado Senate in 2007 and, this year, joined with Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, as the first African-American team leading both chambers of the General Assembly in the state's history.

Groff is a leading advocate for education reform and a strong supporter of charter schools.

Another Post article says that Sens. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, John P. Morse, D-Colorado Springs, Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, and Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, are the leading candidates to replace Groff as Senate president if he does, in fact, resign his seat.

Groff was re-elected to his second full term in the Senate last year. That term is scheduled to expire in January 2013.