The End is Near – Good News for Democrats

The instruction was to lower their profile and get out of town with a few gains and no damage. But after four months, the latest Quinnipiac poll shows that the Colorado State Legislature’s approval is still in the cellar at 34 percent. Barely half of Democrats (56%) approve the performance of the Democratically-controlled legislature. And, their reputation has not been helped by a series of legislative missteps this year.

The House leadership’s sudden late effort to banning photo-radar cameras with a high-profile announcement of bipartisan support collapsed amid a storm of complaints from law enforcement and mayors. It’s now a study.

They appeared unaware a majority of the public supported red-light cameras at “dangerous intersections” (50% approve, 39% do not).

As I said to the Denver Post:

“It’s really one of those items where Hickenlooper, no matter what his position is, he’ll upset some people,” said political analyst Floyd Ciruli. “He hasn’t used his veto all that often, and this could be interesting time to use it.”

Earlier in this session, the Speaker proposed a massive change in the funding formulas for higher education, which was resisted by the education establishment and fellow legislators. Whatever passes will be a shadow of the ambition.

And finally, for the purpose of helping vulnerable legislators by generating a wedge issue, the Senate managed to look undisciplined as a meaningless resolution on abortion rights allowed conservatives to organize one of the year’s biggest rallies.

Usually, the public is unaware of what happens at the state legislature, but as last year’s recalls showed, 2014 may be a year voters are paying attention.