March 06, 2017 02:18 PM UTC

No Opinions for You, Larry Crowder!

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

State Sen. Larry Crowder (R-Alamosa) has tried to stake out his own positions on several key issues since first winning election in 2012, and this has not made him particularly popular with Senate Republican leaders. Crowder has broken with GOP leadership on the Hospital Provider Fee and TABOR reform, and last week he tried to go in a different direction on a bill intended to modify the composition of the PERA Board…until his mind was apparently changed for him.

On Thursday, Senate Bill 17-158 (Modify Composition Of PERA Public Employees’ Retirement Association Board Of Trustees) passed through the State Senate on an 18-17 vote. Crowder eventually voted YES on the legislation, but not before he gave an impassioned speech about why he OPPOSED the bill. Check out what Crowder said on the Senate Floor on Thursday morning:

What we’re doing here…we’re making it more politicized instead of less…

…I’ve thought a lot about this and I appreciate the sponsor bringing it forward, because I think his intentions were very pure and what not. But I do not see that this is going to correct anything…

…Unfortunately, I just don’t think this is the way to go. Both sides need to come together on how to fix this instead of making it a political statement one way or the other.

As soon as Crowder finished his speech, three other Republicans quickly descended and pronounced their full-throated support of SB-158 (for a longer explanation of the bill, read this story in the Colorado Springs Gazette). Senators Kevin Lundberg, Tim Neville, and Jack Tate all made specific mention of Crowder’s comments and explained why their colleague was wrong, which is not all that uncommon in a legislative body (you can listen to the full audio exchange below).

But then…take a look at how Crowder voted:

After taking five minutes on the Senate floor to explain his opposition to SB-158, Sen. Crowder somehow ended up as a YES vote on the legislation.