May 30, 2014 11:13 PM UTC

CO Legislative Winners -- And Losers -- For Women and Children.

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• by: nancycronk

Every year, a coalition of non-profits in CO that work for the rights of women and children under the umbrella of the “Colorado Women’s Lobby”, rank our CO State legislators on their votes. Not surprisingly, many of the 17 Senators and 36 Representatives who received a 100% rating have the same letter after their name.

Congratulations to the 2014 legislators who scored 100 percent on the Women’s Lobby scorecard for their work to help women and children: Senators Irene Aguilar, Morgan Carroll, Lucia Guzman, Rollie Heath, Mary Hodge, Cheri Jahn, Mike Johnston, Matt Jones, John Kefalas, Andy Kerr, Linda Newell, Jeanne Nicholson, Gail Schwartz, Lois Tochtrop, Nancy Todd, Jessie Ulibarri, and Rachel Zenzinger (Pat Steadman came in close at 91).

On the House side, superstars for women and children are: Representatives Kc Becker, John Buckner, Lois Court, Crisanta Duran, Tony Exum Sr., Mark Ferrandino, Rhonda Fields, Mike Foote, Leroy M. Garcia, Joann Ginal, Millie Hamner, Dickie Lee Hullinghorst, Daniel Kagan, Tracy Kraft-Tharp, Jeanne Nicholson, Steve Lebsock, S. Lee, Jenise May, Beth McCann, M McLachlan, Jovan Melton, D. Mitsch Bush, Dominick Moreno, Dan Pabon, Cherylin Peniston, Brittany Pettersen, Diana Primavera, Paul Rosenthal, Su Ryden, Joseph Salazar, Sue Schafer, Jonathan Singer, Max Tyler, Edward Vigil, Angela Williams, and Dave Young.

My state Representative, Spencer Swalm, scored a whopping 18, tying with Senator Vicki Marble and Rep. Steve Humphrey for the lowest score this year. Term limited Swalm’s District 37 was redrawn in 2012, merging half of districts 37 and 39. It now includes most of the City of Centennial, with some portions of unincorporated Arapahoe County with Aurora mailing addresses (where I live). In 2006, Democratic candidate Angel Engel nearly beat Swalm with 49% of the vote, and subsequent candidates with very low name ID and little time to campaign, brought the DPI down to its current 46%. The two candidates running to fill Swalm’s open seat on the Republican side are Michael Fields, a very young man who identifies on the extreme far right and is not afraid to say so, and Jack Tate, a businessman from Centennial who lost to Democrat CJ Whelan for City Council last year.

On the Democratic side (and yes, Republicans, I do say “Democratic” not “Democrat”) there is a brand new candidate who was chosen by a vacancy committee after caucus (the only Dem running until that point dropped out at caucus due to personal reasons), and who started campaigning for the State House only after winning re-election to the local Fire Dept. Board on May 6th. I’m hoping CO Pols’ readers might recognize the name and invest in a promising new candidate. Here’s to adding another “100% Winner” on the Colorado Women’s Lobby’s roster in 2015 — this time from District 37!
Nancy Cronk for Colorado