Hodge to chair JBC, says Greeley Tribune

Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, will be next chairperson of the Joint Budget Committee.

The Greeley Tribune reported the appointment in today's paper.

Hodge was chosen unanimously by the other members of the bipartisan panel, which writes the state's budget.

Other members of the JBC during the 68th General Assembly will include co-chair Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen; Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver; Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs; Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, and newly-elected Rep. John Becker, R-Fort Morgan.

The majority party in both chambers chooses two members each of the committee, while the minority parties choose one member each.

Speaker-designate McNulty names new House committee chairs

Incoming House speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, named new committee chairs Tuesday while stirring some controversy by changing the names of several of the panels.

The announcement follows last week's designation of a leadership team for the ascendant House GOP caucus.

"In these appointments, you will see a wide range of experience and leadership skills and a recognition of Colorado's geographic diversity," McNulty said in a statement.

The new committee chairs, and the committees they will lead, are:

* Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources - Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling
* Appropriations - Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen
* Economic and Business Development - Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs
* Education - Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs
* Finance - Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland
* Health and Environment - Rep. Ken Summers, R-Lakewood
* Judiciary - Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs
* Local Government - Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Collbran
* State, Veterans, and Military Affairs - Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Littleton
* Transportation - Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead

The names of three committees were changed.

McNulty dropped the word "labor" from the name of the committee to be chaired by Liston and the word "energy" from the name of the committee to be chaired by Vaad. He also dropped the words "human services" from the name of the committee to be chaired by Summers.


New House Democratic leader Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, criticized the name changes.

“These are troubling deletions,” he said in a statement. “With the removal of the words like labor and human services, I’m concerned that working families and the neediest among us, including children who require protective services, are being shunted aside for special interests.”

The House GOP caucus announced Nov. 4 that Rep. Amy Stephens of Monument will be the majority leader in the 68th General Assembly. Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, will be the assistant majority leader, while Rep. B.J. Nikkel, R-Loveland, will be majority whip. Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock, will be the majority caucus chair.

The Republican minority leader during the past several legislative sessions, Mike May of Parker, will leave the legislature in January due to term limits. May's assistant minority leader, David Balmer of Centennial, was re-elected this month but will not be part of the GOP's leadership team when the next legislative session begins.

Photo of Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, courtesy Wikimedia.

Pace chosen as House Democratic leader; Todd, Levy, Hullinghorst will also be on leadership team

State House Democrats, fresh off an election that appears to have stripped them of their majority in the chamber, chose a Pueblo legislator as their new caucus leader.

Rep. Sal Pace, who was re-elected Nov. 2 to his second term, will be the Democrats' floor general. He defeated the current assistant majority leader, Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, in a vote held today.

The current speaker, Rep. Terrence Carroll, D-Denver, and majority leader, Rep. Paul Weissman, D-Louisville, are term-limited and will not return for the 68th General Assembly.

Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, will be assistant caucus leader, while Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, will be whip.

Rep. Dicky Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, will serve as deputy whip.

Rep. Lois Court, D-Denver, D-Aurora, will be the Democrats' caucus chair in the next legislative session. Her assistant chair will be Rep. Su Ryden, D-Aurora.

The outcome of the election for a House seat in Jefferson County remained in doubt as of Thursday, as a margin of approximately 200 votes separated district 29 frontrunner Robert Ramirez from incumbent Democrat Debbie Benefield.

If Ramirez prevails, the GOP's claimed majority will be official.

Photos of Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, and Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, courtesy Wikimedia.

Suthers re-elected; Republicans oust Treasurer Kennedy, Secretary of State Buescher

Republicans ousted the state treasurer and secretary of state in Tuesday's election as attorney general John Suthers was re-elected, giving the GOP three of five statewide elected offices.

Democrats John Hickenlooper and Joe Garcia were elected governor and lieutenant governor.

Walker Stapleton, a real estate developer and investor, defeated incumbent Democratic treasurer Cary Kennedy in a close race, while GOP election lawyer Scott Gessler beat incumbent secretary of state Bernie Buescher.

Kennedy's work as treasurer has included achieving a positive return on the investment of the state's financial reserves during the recent recession, as well as implementing bipartisan legislation to finance improvements and repairs of public schools. She also posted online, for the first time, the state's investments and a statement of cash flows and helped put in place a searchable database of the state's revenues and expenditures.

Stapleton, a relative of former President George W. Bush, argued during his campaign that Colorado should not use federal stimulus dollars to balance its budget and said he would push the General Assembly to restore a spending cap.

Gessler, a former federal prosecutor and a U.S. Army reserve veteran, has been the Colorado Republican Party's go-to lawyer on election issues for several years. He has advocated for legislation that would require all voters to show a government-issued identification card at the polls and was involved in GOP efforts to secure a favorable re-districting of legislative and Congressional seats in 2001 and 2002.

Buescher, a former state representative from Grand Junction, was appointed secretary of state after Republican Mike Coffman was elected to Congress in Nov. 2008.

Suthers, a former U.S. attorney for the district of Colorado, beat Boulder county district attorney Stan Garnett despite reports that a man whom he had released from jail under a plea bargain had gone on to commit several murders.

Photo of treasurer-elect Walker Stapleton courtesy of Stapleton for Colorado.

Hickenlooper wins landslide election as governor

Democratic Denver mayor John Hickenlooper rolled to an easy win in the governor's race Tuesday, beating former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and GOP businessman Dan Maes in a landslide.

Former Colorado State University-Pueblo president Joe Garcia won election as lieutenant governor on Hickenlooper's ticket.

Hickenlooper, a former geologist and restaurateur, ran a mostly positive campaign that emphasized bipartisanship and a commitment to strengthen the state's economy.

"We will implement a jobs plan that starts with economic development at the grass roots level, empowering local communities by starting with their vision of what works best and building on that vision to make Colorado a national center for innovation in every field from agriculture to energy and technology," he said at an election night celebration.

As Denver's leader, Hickenlooper, 58, was lauded as one of the top five big-city mayors in America by Time magazine. During his tenure he spearheaded efforts to lower the number of homeless people in Denver, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city, and secure public approval of tax assessments used to fund scientific and cultural facilities.

He was first elected as the Mile High City's chief executive in 2003 and won re-election in 2007.

Garcia, a former director of the state Department of Regulatory Agencies, has been president of CSU-Pueblo since 2006. Before taking that post he was president of Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs for five years.

A graduate of Harvard University's law school and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Garcia practiced law for ten years before embarking on a career in higher education.

AG Suthers joins all other states in probe of foreclosure procedures

Colorado will join the rest of the states in the union in an effort to investigate the procedures used by lenders to foreclose homes.

The main objective of the probe is to determine whether lenders, loan servicing agencies, or those who represent them have submitted legal pleadings in foreclosure cases that wrongly attest to the accuracy of claims that the party seeking foreclosure owns the note.

"Homeowners have a right to know that when their banks or lenders foreclose on their homes that all of the information used in the process is correct,” Suthers said. “I signed onto this multi-state effort for the fundamental reason that we need to ensure the integrity of Colorado’s foreclosure process."

Concern about the possibility that lenders have misled state courts on the question whether the statements in affidavits are accurate led to an attempt in Congress to validate their actions.

Legislation that would give lenders cover for errors contained in affidavits, and which would have the effect of accelerating foreclosure cases, was pocket-vetoed by President Obama earlier this month.

Education commissioner Jones to leave for Las Vegas job

Colorado will soon be seeking a new state education commissioner.

The current occupant of that post, Dwight Jones, has accepted a job as superintendent of the Clark County School District in Nevada.

Jones, 48, has been commissioner of public education since 2007.

"I look forward with enthusiasm to working with the educators, school staff and community in Clark County, and I will make the transition to Nevada as soon as I can ensure a smooth exit from Colorado," Jones said in a statement. "I am keenly excited about the work and challenges ahead."

Before taking his current post Jones was superintendent of the Fountain-Fort Carson School District in El Paso County.

He has been complemented for improving relationships between the Colorado Department of Education, local school districts, and the state's largest teacher organization.

Jones has also been a central player in implementing the Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids and the new teacher tenure law adopted by the General Assembly last spring.

Jones' salary will go up from about $223,000 to about $270,000 when he takes the job overseeing the nation's fifth-largest school district.

The state Board of Education will choose a replacement. However, two members of that board face re-election bids in November and therefore the board may put off a decision on a permanent replacement until the results are known.