Area lawmakers applaud new governor

By John Fryar

The Daily Times-Call

DENVER — Longmont Democratic Sen. Brandon Shaffer applauded Bill Ritter on Tuesday for “coming from a problem-solving perspective” rather than a politically ideological one.

Shaffer said inaugural speeches by the new governor and Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien, as well as remarks by Democratic legislative leaders, were “right on” in taking that approach to the issues facing Colorado’s state government.

Ritter and others were “focusing on the future, not lamenting the past,” Shaffer said.

Boulder Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer said Ritter “laid out a good agenda” for state government’s attention.

Pommer, a member of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, complimented the new governor for also recognizing that the state doesn’t “have a lot of money to spend” on new programs.

One of Pommer’s fellow budget committee members, Larimer County Republican Rep. Steve Johnson, promised Tuesday that “I’ll do everything I can” to support elements of Ritter’s “Colorado Promise” platform, as long as it’s “within the resources we have.”

There will be many areas of agreement among Democrats and Republicans about the issues in the months ahead, Johnson said.

“The question is, how do we pay for all this stuff?” he asked.

Broomfield Democratic Rep.-elect Dianne Primavera, meanwhile, said she was “very impressed” by the new governor’s speech, especially Ritter’s call for taking care of what Primavera called “our most vulnerable citizens.”

Another of those attending the inaugural ceremony was Erie’s Pat Waak, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party.

“I have been going 90 miles an hour for the last two years” in working to elect a Democratic governor and to retain and expand Democratic control of the Legislature, Waak said.

Sitting in the audience and looking at the officeholders gathered there, Waak said, it finally hit home: “My God, we did it.”

She said she was happy not only at the successful elections of Democrats, but about “the quality of the people” who won office in November.

“We really have a chance to serve the people and serve the common good,” Waak said.

Republican Johnson, meanwhile, said of Ritter’s speech: “I liked it. I thought it was hopeful. I thought it was optimistic. I thought it was inclusive.”

Berthoud Republican Rep. Kevin Lundberg, however, said he did not attend Tuesday’s ceremonies because he had to spend time finishing an article he was writing for a newspaper in his district.

Nevertheless, Lundberg said of the new Democratic governor: “I wish him well.”

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