CO-04 (Special Election)
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(R) Greg Lopez
(R) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Joe Biden*
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%↓
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
90%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
90%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
(R) Ron Hanks
40%
30%
20%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(R) Deborah Flora
(R) J. Sonnenberg
30%↑
15%↑
10%↓
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Dave Williams
(R) Jeff Crank
50%↓
50%↑
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
90%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) Brittany Pettersen
85%↑
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
(R) Janak Joshi
60%↑
35%↓
30%↑
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
December 12, 2014 11:04 AM UTC
18 Comments
Oh, revolving door, is there nothing you can't fix?
I don't disagree.
Let me anticipate the comments from the other side? . . .
If May were an R, Pols probably would have still wrote a diary, but the gist of which would have been, there's no end to the sucking off of the gubberment teat of these folks?
Bemused . . . a slow Friday, apparently . . .
Even the Dem loyalists are too demoralized to sing along. What a difference defeat makes!
Still curiously, it looks "your" wins haven't done shit to help improve your reading comprehension.
Hahaha. OK, I didn't see this, "In this case, it's an expert legislator who wasn't supposed to lose." (emphasis mine) What in the 9 holy hells makes a two year rep an expert legislator. Most of the folks who've spent 16 years up there between the two houses can't claim that crown.
I'm as cynical as the next guy, but you're not being fair to Jenise May. As Pols quoted from Bartels' story, she is the former deputy director of CDHS. That's how she was qualified to serve on the JBC as a freshman.
We Dems can be a self-deprecating lot sometimes.
I'm not being unfair to her because I didn't talk about her, I mocked Pols' description of her as an expert legislator.
I'm not sure how what you offer applies to the disdain I expressed in any case. I never suggested she was either unqualified to legislate, lacked experience in government, or could not provide helpful advice. She simply can't be an expert legislator, as Pols describes her, after one term in the state house. It takes longer than that in any environment to develop mastery.
She's may be a nice person; she may be a competent legislator and/or adviser. She should also have just gone out and gotten a job. Patronage is distasteful to me. I think when you lose or leave office, you should go do something else, not just switch to the other teat.
I'm with Progressicat on this one. Two years does not an expert legislator make. I was at a legislative luncheon Wednesday, and the panel of Norma Anderson, Dick Lamm, Hank Brown and Pen Tate, were pretty much in agreement: you don't really know the ropes well until you've served about six years. Given some of the mistakes I've seen from people who've served more than two but less than six, I would agree with that.
Agree. Comes off a little strange to call her an expert. And frankly with the years of problems at the state department of human services, not sure what her experience there tells us.
I was stunned when she lost — I'm in her district (where I have a view of the now silent VA hospital site). She was doing a very good job as far as I could see.
Just to make it clear: Ms. May is not the target of my disdain.
It’s the turd polishing in this diary that has me gobsmacked.
The Democratic majority's fiscal expertise took a hit with the loss of Rep. May this year to Republican JoAnn Windholz.
Really? Did it? Sure, a two-year JBC member got dropped, but the hit the party took, if any, was the loss of Mark Ferrandino, who has a long list of career qualifications in finance and budget in addition to his legislative service on the JBC.
There's nothing untoward about retaining Rep. May's skills for the upcoming session
Right, because untoward received a new definition? Of course there are reasons to perceive this as untoward. One may not, but that doesn’t suddenly mean calling shenanigans is out of bounds.
, and there is precedent for the rehire of outgoing legislators–more often term-limited legislators, trying to compensate for the continuous loss of institutional memory term limits result in.
and…none of this applies in this case.
In this case, it's an expert legislator who wasn't supposed to lose.
Or, well, a legislator who wasn’t expected to lose.
Look. Someone wanted to make life a little better. Maybe Ms. May could use the money or needed a few more quarters in PERA. Maybe they think she will actually provide some helpful advice that needs to be paid for rather than taken on the free. Maybe, like Brandon Shaffer’s appointment to the parole board, it was a way to provide a soft landing for a good soldier. Who knows? Don’t pretend that seeing this as the continuation of a long line of acts of political incest is somehow unreasonable, though.
I apologize. A ONE year JBC member got dropped. I forgot that Claire Levy left in late 2013 and May took over her spot. Wow, fiscal and legislative mastery. That must have been one hell of a year.
I personally think you're off the deep end. Jenise May really is intelligent, years of experience in state government. She's very qualified to advise the House Majority. I would call her an expert on the workings of the state government. Do you have some kind of grudge to settle? I don't get it.
We're chatting on a political blog where people express impassioned opinions about strange stuff quite frequently. Why would you suggest mine come from malice? I have no idea who Ms. May is other than what I've read about her. That's why I haven't said anything about her.
I've expressed, vehemently certainly, my disgust for patronage and acts that can be perceived as it. I've effectively crapped on what I perceive as the sophistry of Pols' rationale for the hire. I've carped about the process not about her, precisely because I have no idea who she is and don't find it relevant to the argument I'm offering.
This article happens to hit at the intersection of two lines of crazymaking for me. One is my near fetishistic adoration of the notion of the citizen legislator who comes to the capitol for a (reasonable, not lifelong) time to try and make the city/state/country better and then goes home. I see the absence of this ideal as one of the reasons our system is so dysfunctional. I also despise intellectual dishonesty, which is what the point-by-point screed is about.
I don't expect anyone else to care about this. I just happen to. Insanity, maybe, but it's mine.
By implying this is an "act of patronage" you've said plenty about May. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think you are reading Glenn Beck levels of nonsense into something that isn't a big deal and insulting good people while you blather on.
There's my chat on the political blog for you. 😉
Thanks for being gentle. I think I've full on said at this point that this is an act of patronage. Her choice to take the position, however, I'm not interested in impugning. People have to eat, and good people want to contribute.
PC, With you on this one. Pols needs to cut back on the Kool aid.
After this election, they've switched to tequila.