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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
COMPREHENSIVE JOBS PACKAGE RECOMMENDED
(DENVER) On the Capitol steps this afternoon, backed by business leaders and workers, the legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth recommended a comprehensive package of job-creation bills. When enacted, these proposals will create tens of thousands of jobs.
The proposed legislation will focus on five key areas:
1. Transportation: Create Thousands of Jobs Repairing Our Crumbling Roads and Bridges;
2. New Businesses: Offer Tax Incentives to Companies that Move to Colorado and Create Jobs;
3. Credit: Increase the Availability of Loans to Small Business to Help Create Jobs;
4. New Energy Economy: Expand New Energy and Clean Technology Jobs, and;
5. Rural Job Creation: Create Rural Medical Jobs and Promote Job Training.
The announcement was led by Sen. Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass Village), Chair of the Select Committee, who said, "While Colorado has fared better than most other states, we know we are not immune. Just this week we heard the latest job numbers. Even though Colorado's unemployment rate is still lower than the national average, it does not make up for the fact that almost 47,000 Coloradans have lost their jobs in the past year. The Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth started looking at how to address these challenges and we are proud of these nine bills. Let's get more Coloradans to work."
Rep. Joe Rice (D- Littleton), Co-Chair of the Committee said, “We all feel these tough times, whether we are here working to balance the budget in the Capitol, or tightening our belts at home with our families, or facing budget cuts at work. We brought together the best ideas from many different leaders, from all different sectors and perspectives, and put the very best of those ideas into legislation that will get Colorado working again. We are here today to proudly announce that we have begun to meet our goal: with this job creation package, we begin to put Colorado back to work, and to put our economy back on the right track.
“In this Job Creation package, we have focused in five distinct areas: Transportation, creating thousands of jobs repairing our crumbling roads and bridges; New Businesses, offering tax incentives to large companies that move to Colorado and create jobs; Credit: increasing the availability of loans to small business to help create jobs; The New Energy Economy: expanding new energy and clean technology jobs; and Non-Denver Regions: developing rural jobs and job training.”
Other speakers at the mid-day event at the Capitol included Tom Clarke, Executive Vice President, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation/Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; Tony Gagliardi, Colorado Director, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB); and Don Childears, President and CEO, Colorado Bankers Association.
The Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth includes Senator Gail Schwartz, Chair, (D-Snowmass), Rep. Joe Rice (D-Littleton), Senator Jennifer Veiga (D-Denver), Rep. Judy Solano (D-Adams), Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder), Rep. Buffie McFadyen (D-Pueblo), Senator Shawn Mitchell (R-Broomfield), Rep. Larry Liston (R-El Paso), Senator Mark Scheffel (R-Parker), and Rep. David Balmer (R-Centennial).
Business Advisors to the Select Committee include: Gail Lindley, Denver Bookbinding Co, Inc.; Neil Hall, Building Construction Trades Council; Craig Cox, Interwest Energy Alliance; Jim Hertel , Colorado Managed Care Newsletter; Mark Mehalko, AECOM; Felix Lopez, Trinidad State Junior College; Chuck Ward, Qwest Communications; Patricia Barela-Rivera, Consultant; Rob Perlman, Steamboat Ski Resort; and Michael DeBerry, Chevron.
SENATOR HODGE HONORED BY COLORADO AGRICULTURE GROUP
DENVER – Senator Mary Hodge ( D- Brighton) has been honored by the Colorado Corn Growers Association as the 2009 Dave Dunivan Amicas-Friend of Agriculture Award recipient.
Each year, Colorado Corn Growers Association and Colorado Corn Administrative Committee recognize and individual who demonstrates outstanding commitment and service to Colorado Agriculture.
“ I am honored to receive this recognition, “ said Senator Hodge. “ Agriculture is such an important part of Colorado’s economy and our state history. Across Colorado, in every corner of the state, Colorado farmers work hard to help feed our families and provide jobs in our communities. I am thankful for their support of my legislative efforts.”
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
PRESIDENT GROFF AWED AT INAUGURAL SPEECH
President Barack Obama sworn-in
DENVER— Today Senate President Peter C. Groff (D-Denver) attended the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, President Barack Obama, in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Rev. Regina Groff.
“I am proud to have stood at the foot of the U.S. Capitol to witness the swearing-in of the country’s first African-American president,” said Sen. Groff. “The bridge has been built and our children will be able to look back on this day as one of the most important days in American history. President Obama said we have tough challenges ahead, and we know that all too well, but with his leadership and vision he will meet these challenges.”
Today, President Barack Obama delivered his inaugural address as the 44th President of the United States minutes after taking the oath on the same bible President Abraham Lincoln used. “We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”
DENVER— Today Senate President Peter C. Groff (D-Denver) attended the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, President Barack Obama, in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Rev. Regina Groff.
“I am proud to have stood at the foot of the U.S. Capitol to witness the swearing-in of the country’s first African-American president,” said Sen. Groff. “The bridge has been built and our children will be able to look back on this day as one of the most important days in American history. President Obama said we have tough challenges ahead, and we know that all too well, but with his leadership and vision he will meet these challenges.”
Today, President Barack Obama delivered his inaugural address as the 44th President of the United States minutes after taking the oath on the same bible President Abraham Lincoln used. “We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”
Thursday, January 15, 2009
President Groff delivers emotional speech on MLK's birthday
On the floor of the Senate this morning, President Peter Groff delivered a personal and emotional speech on Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.
TEXT:
Thank you Madam President Pro Tempore. Members, we generally do this on the actual holiday which always falls on a Monday so I have time to actually prepare some remarks. This year I had even wondered, since we're going to the inaugaration, whether we should even do this, and recognized that because of the accomplishments of this country made on November 4. But, Speaker Carroll and I decided that it would be best to do this on his birthday. This is something we hadn't done in recent history. The body use to do that when the debate was going on over the holiday itself. Then, I struggled whether or not I should make comments and then Senator Schultheis reminded me that we are doing this today.
As you think about this, America is blessed in the fact that we have these great historical intersections. Moments in this country's history that mark historic and abrupt changes, direction, and hope. Not necessarily in a political sense, but in that quintessential American journey that we are on.
Tuesday, at noon, as prescribed by the Constitution, Amendment 20, there will be a peaceful transition. One that is looked upon throughout the rest of the world as something so unique about the greatest democracy that has ever been created. At noon, at the steps of the building built by slaves, a person of African descent will raise his hand and swear to the oath of the Presidency of the United States. A historic intersection again will occur.
At that moment, when I am sitting there with my wife, I'll probably think about 12 people. The same 12 people that I thought about on election night; the same 12 people that I thought about on August 28 when then Senator Obama accepted the nomination of my party for the Presidency of the United States. That moment in June when he stood center stage in Minneapolis to claim that nomination. I'll think of my great-grand parents some of whom were one generation out of slavery, one of whom was an actual slave. And, I will think about their parents who were at the foot of the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee under the overseer's whip on my father's side and on my mother's side who toiled under America's peculiar institution on the red clay of Georgia. I will think about how far we have come in the bridge that was built for me to stand in this body on this red carpet at the foot of our majestic Rocky Mountains and see how far America has come. So, I will think about them.
I will think about my children who didn't necessarily understand the significance of what was happening on November 4, but knew that it was critical to their parents. I'll remember when we walked in that night and it was either West Virginia or Kentucky that reported first. And, my daughter just happened to walk in at that time. I was watching MSNBC or CNN and they said John McCain had won. It must have been West Virginia and this tear came down my daughter's cheek and I looked at her and I said, "What's wrong?" She threw her head back and tears just began to roll and she said "Barack Obama lost." It was one of those parental moments where you are thinking, "How do I explain this?". She is now well-versed in the Electoral College. "No, not quite, but there are some other things that will go on." I will think about them and the bridge that was built for them on that night.
Selfishly, I will think about me, born April 21, 1963. Three days before I was born, on the south-side of Chicago in the same district represented a little bit later by a state senator named Barack Obama -- that night, three days before there was a speech by Martin Luther King that was pulled together by scraps of papers that were smuggled in to the Birmingham jail and then out of the Birmingham jail. That letter talked about the role of the civil rights movement in the faith community. Particularly, his brothers and sisters in that community who had not necessarily done what they were suppose to do. Then, I will think about how in June of 1963, Medgar Evers was slain in his driveway in Mississippi. I will think about, in 1963, how in August of that year, right after the slaying of Medgar Evers, John Kennedy said, "We need to move aggressively on civil rights legislation so I am sending a bill up Pennsylvania Avenue." That became the Civil Rights bill of 1963 that became the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
I'll think about the hundred thousand people that gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear about the dream that he had for America. I will think about how not three weeks later, four little girls attending Sunday school, dressed up in their Sunday finest, in the bathroom that was leading up to a stairwell where a bomb had been placed the previous evening by members of the Ku Klux Klan. I will think about how that bomb exploded. And, how those four girls were killed because of the hate that was in America.
I'll think about the bridge that has been built in just my lifetime. I'll think about Dr. King, who probably didn't think that, when he died that, in forty some odd years, a person of African descent would become President. We often think about him as this dream maker who talked about what America could be. But, now we ought to see him as a bridge builder for all of us; for my great grandparents, for my children, for me, for his grandchild who was born last year.
What an unbelievable country that we live in. I don't know the scripture and I'm going to cheat because I'm not a theologian. There is a scripture in the Book of Numbers that talks about when Kaleb and Moses were talking about the land that they were going to go into and I think it's Numbers 13:30. This talked about how the people were silent and the fact that they were told by Kaleb, "We should go and take up the possession for the land for certainly we could do it." There are lots of different translations of the Bible. I wonder if one version of Numbers where it says, "certainly we can do it" will some day be translated as, "Yes we can."
On Tuesday at noon, that bridge that so many of us have hoped for, that so many of us have talked about from this spot, will be built. Many of us, half of us in this room, maybe didn't vote for him, but at one point and time I suspect all of us thought, "Wow, what an unbelievable country we live in. What an unbelievable country to come through the chasm of racism that we have had." We have built the bridge. What an unbelievable country that we live in where the only two African Americans in this body-- not because of our color -- but because of what our members, our colleagues, saw in us, that we could run this chamber, just two of us. I go to meetings nationally and they say how many African Americans are there in the body and I say two. They say like two on your row or two that share an office and I say no just two. But, Colorado did that and the bridge that we built for our children who will one day walk through and look at these pictures and say, "Wow,
look at that." And then go up to the Presidential area where the gallery is on the third floor and say, "Wow, look at that." What a tremendous, unbelievable country that we live in. What an unbelievable state that we serve.
So, thank you all very much and on Tuesday think of those 12 people when Barack Obama says that he will "uphold the Constitution of the United States of America so help him God." Thank you all very much.
TEXT:
Thank you Madam President Pro Tempore. Members, we generally do this on the actual holiday which always falls on a Monday so I have time to actually prepare some remarks. This year I had even wondered, since we're going to the inaugaration, whether we should even do this, and recognized that because of the accomplishments of this country made on November 4. But, Speaker Carroll and I decided that it would be best to do this on his birthday. This is something we hadn't done in recent history. The body use to do that when the debate was going on over the holiday itself. Then, I struggled whether or not I should make comments and then Senator Schultheis reminded me that we are doing this today.
As you think about this, America is blessed in the fact that we have these great historical intersections. Moments in this country's history that mark historic and abrupt changes, direction, and hope. Not necessarily in a political sense, but in that quintessential American journey that we are on.
Tuesday, at noon, as prescribed by the Constitution, Amendment 20, there will be a peaceful transition. One that is looked upon throughout the rest of the world as something so unique about the greatest democracy that has ever been created. At noon, at the steps of the building built by slaves, a person of African descent will raise his hand and swear to the oath of the Presidency of the United States. A historic intersection again will occur.
At that moment, when I am sitting there with my wife, I'll probably think about 12 people. The same 12 people that I thought about on election night; the same 12 people that I thought about on August 28 when then Senator Obama accepted the nomination of my party for the Presidency of the United States. That moment in June when he stood center stage in Minneapolis to claim that nomination. I'll think of my great-grand parents some of whom were one generation out of slavery, one of whom was an actual slave. And, I will think about their parents who were at the foot of the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee under the overseer's whip on my father's side and on my mother's side who toiled under America's peculiar institution on the red clay of Georgia. I will think about how far we have come in the bridge that was built for me to stand in this body on this red carpet at the foot of our majestic Rocky Mountains and see how far America has come. So, I will think about them.
I will think about my children who didn't necessarily understand the significance of what was happening on November 4, but knew that it was critical to their parents. I'll remember when we walked in that night and it was either West Virginia or Kentucky that reported first. And, my daughter just happened to walk in at that time. I was watching MSNBC or CNN and they said John McCain had won. It must have been West Virginia and this tear came down my daughter's cheek and I looked at her and I said, "What's wrong?" She threw her head back and tears just began to roll and she said "Barack Obama lost." It was one of those parental moments where you are thinking, "How do I explain this?". She is now well-versed in the Electoral College. "No, not quite, but there are some other things that will go on." I will think about them and the bridge that was built for them on that night.
Selfishly, I will think about me, born April 21, 1963. Three days before I was born, on the south-side of Chicago in the same district represented a little bit later by a state senator named Barack Obama -- that night, three days before there was a speech by Martin Luther King that was pulled together by scraps of papers that were smuggled in to the Birmingham jail and then out of the Birmingham jail. That letter talked about the role of the civil rights movement in the faith community. Particularly, his brothers and sisters in that community who had not necessarily done what they were suppose to do. Then, I will think about how in June of 1963, Medgar Evers was slain in his driveway in Mississippi. I will think about, in 1963, how in August of that year, right after the slaying of Medgar Evers, John Kennedy said, "We need to move aggressively on civil rights legislation so I am sending a bill up Pennsylvania Avenue." That became the Civil Rights bill of 1963 that became the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
I'll think about the hundred thousand people that gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear about the dream that he had for America. I will think about how not three weeks later, four little girls attending Sunday school, dressed up in their Sunday finest, in the bathroom that was leading up to a stairwell where a bomb had been placed the previous evening by members of the Ku Klux Klan. I will think about how that bomb exploded. And, how those four girls were killed because of the hate that was in America.
I'll think about the bridge that has been built in just my lifetime. I'll think about Dr. King, who probably didn't think that, when he died that, in forty some odd years, a person of African descent would become President. We often think about him as this dream maker who talked about what America could be. But, now we ought to see him as a bridge builder for all of us; for my great grandparents, for my children, for me, for his grandchild who was born last year.
What an unbelievable country that we live in. I don't know the scripture and I'm going to cheat because I'm not a theologian. There is a scripture in the Book of Numbers that talks about when Kaleb and Moses were talking about the land that they were going to go into and I think it's Numbers 13:30. This talked about how the people were silent and the fact that they were told by Kaleb, "We should go and take up the possession for the land for certainly we could do it." There are lots of different translations of the Bible. I wonder if one version of Numbers where it says, "certainly we can do it" will some day be translated as, "Yes we can."
On Tuesday at noon, that bridge that so many of us have hoped for, that so many of us have talked about from this spot, will be built. Many of us, half of us in this room, maybe didn't vote for him, but at one point and time I suspect all of us thought, "Wow, what an unbelievable country we live in. What an unbelievable country to come through the chasm of racism that we have had." We have built the bridge. What an unbelievable country that we live in where the only two African Americans in this body-- not because of our color -- but because of what our members, our colleagues, saw in us, that we could run this chamber, just two of us. I go to meetings nationally and they say how many African Americans are there in the body and I say two. They say like two on your row or two that share an office and I say no just two. But, Colorado did that and the bridge that we built for our children who will one day walk through and look at these pictures and say, "Wow,
look at that." And then go up to the Presidential area where the gallery is on the third floor and say, "Wow, look at that." What a tremendous, unbelievable country that we live in. What an unbelievable state that we serve.
So, thank you all very much and on Tuesday think of those 12 people when Barack Obama says that he will "uphold the Constitution of the United States of America so help him God." Thank you all very much.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Senator Gibbs Missed State of the State...But He Had a Good Reason
SENATOR GIBBS HAD A REALLY GOOD REASON
FOR BEING ABSENT
From Matt McClain
Rocky Mountain News
DENVER— This morning, as Colorado’s General Assembly gathered to hear Governor Bill Ritter’s State of the State address, one lawmaker was conspicuously absent. State Senator Dan Gibbs (D-Summit County), was working to save homes as part of a team of firefighters on Neva fire in Boulder County.
As the Governor presented his annual address, Senator Gibbs was activated at about 10 p.m. to help fight the raging fire as part of the Wildland Firefighting team’s mutual aid agreement with Boulder County. He worked through the morning hours on the front lines of the fire.
In spite of his absence, Senator Gibbs was remembered in the House Chambers as Gov. Ritter acknowledged the thousands of Colorado families affected by the fire in his State of the State address.
Senator Dan Gibbs (D-Summit County) co-sponsored legislation in the 2008 session to establish a Wildfire Interim Committee, which he chaired. This Committee created the four bills which were introduced in the Senate on the first day of the session.
The text of Governor’s address follows:
“Even as I speak, wildfires fed by extreme winds burn in Boulder County threatening homes and other property. The airwaves are full of Coloradans volunterring or offering shelter to the evacuated. And instead of being here in this Chamber this morning, Senator Dan Gibbs is on the front lines fighting that fire. Ironically yesterday, Senate Bill 1 was read across the desk. This bill deals with a host of significant recommendations on your Interim Committee on wildfires and its Senate sponsor is Dan Gibbs. We pray for the safety of Senator Gibbs and all of the firefighters as they battle that blaze and that wind.”
FOR BEING ABSENT
From Matt McClain
Rocky Mountain News
DENVER— This morning, as Colorado’s General Assembly gathered to hear Governor Bill Ritter’s State of the State address, one lawmaker was conspicuously absent. State Senator Dan Gibbs (D-Summit County), was working to save homes as part of a team of firefighters on Neva fire in Boulder County.
As the Governor presented his annual address, Senator Gibbs was activated at about 10 p.m. to help fight the raging fire as part of the Wildland Firefighting team’s mutual aid agreement with Boulder County. He worked through the morning hours on the front lines of the fire.
In spite of his absence, Senator Gibbs was remembered in the House Chambers as Gov. Ritter acknowledged the thousands of Colorado families affected by the fire in his State of the State address.
Senator Dan Gibbs (D-Summit County) co-sponsored legislation in the 2008 session to establish a Wildfire Interim Committee, which he chaired. This Committee created the four bills which were introduced in the Senate on the first day of the session.
The text of Governor’s address follows:
“Even as I speak, wildfires fed by extreme winds burn in Boulder County threatening homes and other property. The airwaves are full of Coloradans volunterring or offering shelter to the evacuated. And instead of being here in this Chamber this morning, Senator Dan Gibbs is on the front lines fighting that fire. Ironically yesterday, Senate Bill 1 was read across the desk. This bill deals with a host of significant recommendations on your Interim Committee on wildfires and its Senate sponsor is Dan Gibbs. We pray for the safety of Senator Gibbs and all of the firefighters as they battle that blaze and that wind.”
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
President Peter Groff and Speaker Terrance Carroll on CNN
President Peter Groff and Speaker Terrance Carroll spoke with CNN on the opening day of the session.
Colorado political leaders make American history
Story Highlights
Two African-Americans elected to top Colorado legislature spots
Both men -- Terrance Carroll and Peter Groff -- are Democrats
They consider themselves part of a new generation of black leaders
Ku Klux Klan once had heavy influence on Colorado politics
By Jim Spellman
CNN All-Platform Journalist
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- In Washington, all eyes are on President-elect Barack Obama, but 1,700 miles away, in Colorado, another historic swearing-in has taken place.
For the first time in American history, African-Americans lead both chambers of a state legislature.
"I'm honored and humbled that my colleagues chose us to lead the Senate and the House. And it's more humbling when you look and this is a state with 4 percent African-American population," said new Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll, who joins Senate President Peter Groff in the state Capitol.
"And it leads you to believe and impresses upon you that they were more concerned with our character and our ability to lead as opposed to the color of our skin," he added. Watch Colorado's legislative leaders reflect on their roles »
Carroll said he's mindful of history.
"And where we come from and whose shoulders we stand on. Although we live in an environment where you can have a Senate President Groff or a Speaker Carroll, we know there's still a lot of work to be done in this country in terms race relations, but I think we've made some huge steps forward in recent times," he said.
"The wonderful thing about today is this won't have to happen again, at least in Colorado. So, those generations that come behind us won't have to shatter that glass ceiling. We've already done that."
Carroll, 39 ,was elected to the state House in 2003 representing northeast Denver. Born in Washington, D.C., to a single mother, he is an ordained minister and practicing lawyer. He was sworn in as speaker of the House on Wednesday.
Groff, 45, also represents Denver. He is a college lecturer and host of a radio talk show on the XM Satellite Network. A Chicago native, he has been a state senator since 2003 and was elected president of the state Senate in 2005.
Both men are Democrats who supported then-candidate Barack Obama, and they consider themselves part of a new generation of black leaders who have been called "post-racial."
"We come from a generation where we're more concerned about policy first rather than trying to prove something to past generations," Groff said. "Colorado has a rich history of kind of stepping out on faith and stepping out on independence and saying were going to elect or put into position the best person to do the job."
Maybe so, but it wasn't always that way. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan had tremendous influence in the state, according to Robert Alan Goldberg, a history professor at the University of Utah and author of "Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado."
"Politicians were summoned to Klan meetings where they pledged loyalty to the Invisible Empire," Goldberg said "On Election Day, Klansmen and women put 'pink sheets' under voters' doors. The sheet designated who the Klan supported."
Goldberg says that in the 1920s, about 35,000 Coloradoans joined the Klan. He finds the election of Groff and Carroll very encouraging.
"What a pleasant surprise," he said. "Perhaps we can overcome the difficult history of bigotry that scars this nation."
All AboutColorado • Racial Issues
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/07/colorado.legislature/index.html?iref=newssearch
Colorado political leaders make American history
Story Highlights
Two African-Americans elected to top Colorado legislature spots
Both men -- Terrance Carroll and Peter Groff -- are Democrats
They consider themselves part of a new generation of black leaders
Ku Klux Klan once had heavy influence on Colorado politics
By Jim Spellman
CNN All-Platform Journalist
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- In Washington, all eyes are on President-elect Barack Obama, but 1,700 miles away, in Colorado, another historic swearing-in has taken place.
For the first time in American history, African-Americans lead both chambers of a state legislature.
"I'm honored and humbled that my colleagues chose us to lead the Senate and the House. And it's more humbling when you look and this is a state with 4 percent African-American population," said new Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll, who joins Senate President Peter Groff in the state Capitol.
"And it leads you to believe and impresses upon you that they were more concerned with our character and our ability to lead as opposed to the color of our skin," he added. Watch Colorado's legislative leaders reflect on their roles »
Carroll said he's mindful of history.
"And where we come from and whose shoulders we stand on. Although we live in an environment where you can have a Senate President Groff or a Speaker Carroll, we know there's still a lot of work to be done in this country in terms race relations, but I think we've made some huge steps forward in recent times," he said.
"The wonderful thing about today is this won't have to happen again, at least in Colorado. So, those generations that come behind us won't have to shatter that glass ceiling. We've already done that."
Carroll, 39 ,was elected to the state House in 2003 representing northeast Denver. Born in Washington, D.C., to a single mother, he is an ordained minister and practicing lawyer. He was sworn in as speaker of the House on Wednesday.
Groff, 45, also represents Denver. He is a college lecturer and host of a radio talk show on the XM Satellite Network. A Chicago native, he has been a state senator since 2003 and was elected president of the state Senate in 2005.
Both men are Democrats who supported then-candidate Barack Obama, and they consider themselves part of a new generation of black leaders who have been called "post-racial."
"We come from a generation where we're more concerned about policy first rather than trying to prove something to past generations," Groff said. "Colorado has a rich history of kind of stepping out on faith and stepping out on independence and saying were going to elect or put into position the best person to do the job."
Maybe so, but it wasn't always that way. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan had tremendous influence in the state, according to Robert Alan Goldberg, a history professor at the University of Utah and author of "Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado."
"Politicians were summoned to Klan meetings where they pledged loyalty to the Invisible Empire," Goldberg said "On Election Day, Klansmen and women put 'pink sheets' under voters' doors. The sheet designated who the Klan supported."
Goldberg says that in the 1920s, about 35,000 Coloradoans joined the Klan. He finds the election of Groff and Carroll very encouraging.
"What a pleasant surprise," he said. "Perhaps we can overcome the difficult history of bigotry that scars this nation."
All AboutColorado • Racial Issues
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/07/colorado.legislature/index.html?iref=newssearch
Senate President Peter Groff's Opening Day Address to the 67th General Assembly
SENATE PRESIDENT PETER GROFF CONVENES OPENING DAY
OF COLORADO’S 67TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
DENVER— Today the Colorado Senate convened for opening day of the 1st Regular Session of the Colorado Senate’s 67th General Assembly. Taking the gavel Senate President Peter C. Groff (D-Denver) welcomed new senators and spoke about goals for the next 119 days.
Groff was joined by four time Grammy-award-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves who sang the National Anthem and America The Beautiful. Reeves was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings which was a Grammy first in any vocal category.
President Groff congratulated Speaker Terrance Carroll (D-Denver) on his election, saying: " The historic uniqueness of what is happening in the Senate and House today is not a testament to Speaker Carroll or me but a testimonial to Colorado and her people and members of the 67th general assembly." This morning Rep. Terrance Carroll was sworn in as Colorado's first African-American Speaker of the House and one year ago, Senator Peter Groff made history when he was named the first African-American President of the Colorado Senate.
President Groff acknowledged the challenges facing the 67th General Assembly. He said, "Coloradans are resilient. It is our pioneering DNA -- and like our forefathers we will be modern day Joshua’s. We will be strong and courageous in the decisions we make as we lead our state in the land we’ve inherited."
President Groff went on to say: " It does take strength and courage to transform this august chamber into an arena of policy concepts and ideas that produces not Democratic answers nor Republican responses, but generates Colorado solutions where the winner in 119 days are the people of Colorado as we lead them in the land we inherited."
Below is the full text of President Groff’s remarks.
"Mister Majority Leader, Mister Minority Leader, Senate colleagues, distinguished guests, friends and my family. Let me begin by thanking the Senate for my election as president of the Colorado Senate for the 67th General Assembly.
It has been an honor to serve as your President and I am humbled that you would elect me again to lead this august body. I again pledge to work with all of you on both sides of the aisle to continue to build a better Colorado -- one we can be proud to leave our children and one we can be proud to present to the nation and the world. Thank you for this tremendous responsibility and honor.
I want offer my congratulations to Speaker Terrance Carroll on his election just moments ago. It is yet another stitch in the great fabric that is the history of our great state. The historic uniqueness of what is happening in the Senate and House today is not a testament to Speaker Carroll or me but a testimonial to Colorado and her people and members of the 67th general assembly.
Let us welcome our new members.
Senators please stand when I call your name:
Senator Morgan Carroll of Aurora, Joyce Foster of Denver, Rollie Heath of Boulder, Evie Hudak of Arvada, Linda Newell of Littleton, Mark Scheffel of Parker, Keith King of Colorado Springs, and Al White of Hayden and Mary Hodge of Brighton.
Welcome to the Colorado Senate and strive to never lose the feeling you felt when you entered this historic chamber this morning -- if you can maintain that feeling our state will be better after your service. I also offer congratulations to the families and friends who were the foundation for your victories -- now say good bye for the next 119 days.
Much has been made of the challenges we will face over those 119 days -- a precarious economy, rising unemployment, crumbling bridges, a broken education system and thousands of Coloradans without health care.
The mountainous challenges we face today pale in comparison to the struggles faced by the pioneers who came to the foot of our majestic Rocky Mountains to build a life and a state with a vision that would not be diminished in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Driven by a collective yearning to conquer any and all barriers that stood in their way, Colorado’s pioneers faced and vanquished every challenge -- whether it was a rocky and unfamiliar terrain, unrelenting and unpredictable weather, deceptive people and practices or a dismissive government the pioneers soldiered on not to be deterred. Making the decisions that would build this magnificent state.
Colorado’s foundation is based on this pioneering spirit. When these pioneers first came to this region in search of land and opportunity, they found a rugged terrain but also the best land possible for agriculture. They found a land with endless possibilities, but possibilities dependent on hard work and determination. Not unlike the landscape we see before us as we head into this next session. Since even before Colorado was a state, Coloradans have been used to hard work and tough decisions.
We sit in this grand house built by the children and grandchildren of those pioneers -- some five and a half generations later we are the descendants of their land and decisions facing daunting challenges of our own -- with tough decisions of our own to make.
The decisions made by the pioneers shaped the future of Colorado. The decisions we will make over the next 119 days will also shape the future -- but this time it is for our children and grandchildren who will be the beneficiaries.
These decisions will begin a new chapter in Colorado’s history -- one that must be written by all of us. Democrats and Republicans; farmers and businesspeople; urban dwellers and suburbanites; by engineers and teachers. The decisions we make will be difficult ones, but we have made tough and difficult decisions recently and while we have made progress we still have work to do;
Despite decisions and investments we have made in our efforts to create the new energy economy and assist small businesses which has placed Colorado in a much better economic situation than many states face -- we are not immune from the national financial crisis -- we face a tremendous budget deficit of $604 million, we now have 43,000 people in our unemployment insurance system and saw $48 million paid in unemployment benefits in November the highest unemployment rate in the history of state; in the first three quarters of 2008 there were almost 30,000 foreclosure filings, and according to the Food Bank of the Rockies nearly half a million people rely on food banks and the last six months that number has increased by 20% or 91,000 people;
Despite the decision in the closing hours of our last session to introduce a late bill to repair 122 structurally deficient bridges and handle other transportation needs -- that effort failed and we crossed our fingers and prayed to God that those bridges would hold and we wouldn’t have a Minneapolis tragedy. We didn’t. But we now face 126 structurally deficient bridges that must be repaired at a total cost of $1.3 billion and an overall yearly shortfall of $1.5 billion for all other transportation needs;
Despite our decisions to expand school choice and create innovation in our K-12 system to the point that we are national leaders in education reform -- our college readiness rate is only 34%, colleges spend $14.6 million on remedial classes and 52% of parents can’t attend school related events because they aren’t granted sensible leave;
Despite our decision to establish building blocks in the area of health care and health insurance to create better access, to lower cost and insure more Coloradans -- including covering an additional 50,000 children by next year, we still have nearly 800,000 Coloradans who face the frightening specter of being uninsured.
Together we have made decisions that have created a better Colorado and put us in a better stead than most, but as you can see we still face monumental and watershed challenges that will require difficult decisions to preserve the land bequeath to us by the pioneers and our maker.
In Joshua 1:6 it says “be strong and courageous, because you will lead the people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.”
It doesn’t take strength and courage to turn this chamber into a stadium of political gamesmanship where the score is kept when Mr. McGowne calls the roll on some legislation offered to get the other party on record and then we announce the winner in November of 2010.
However, it does take strength and courage to transform this august chamber into an arena of policy concepts and ideas that produces not Democratic answers nor Republican responses, but generates Colorado solutions where the winner in 119 days are the people of Colorado as we lead them in the land we inherited.
It will take strength and courage to make the difficult decisions that we must over the next 119 days -- but as we muster that strength and courage we must balance it with the overriding role of government which is to stand for the people that live in margins.
That role is our responsibility and our moral obligation.
That responsibility and moral obligation accompanies every elected official as we make the difficult decisions that will have to be made -- that responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget about the family in Greeley who after years of savings and planning and prayers they were able to purchase they dream home several years ago, but last spring their dream became a nightmare as they now bounces from relative to relative all but homeless with their dream home foreclosed;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget the father from in Colorado Springs who came home shortly before Thanksgiving to tell his wife and young family that he had been laid off from his job and who now worries how he is going to buy diapers for their newborn and food for the rest of the family;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget the young student from Jefferson County who in September during her first week of college sat numb in her dorm room after being told that she would have to take remedial classes because she wasn’t prepared for college;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us forget the couple in Grand Junction who have made a difficult choice of their own and have decided to forgo the potentially life saving and maintenance drugs for the husband so that they make mortgage payment.
Let us not forget those stories and those individuals and so many others who await our decisions and our leadership. We will have to make some difficult decisions this session, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that these decisions affect real people, with real lives and real dreams and hopes.
However, Coloradans are resilient it is our pioneering DNA -- and like our forefathers we will be modern day Joshua’s. We will be strong and courageous in the decisions we make as we lead our state in the land we’ve inherited.
A land that remains one of endless possibilities and opportunities, under girded by a persistent hope, pushed forward by an eagerness for change and steadied by an unwavering dedication to conquering every challenge.
We are better than we think and we must be better than we’ve been -- our future depends on it.
God bless you, God bless this honorable body and God bless the great state of Colorado. "
Senate President Groff's Opening Day Address
Mister Majority Leader, Mister Minority Leader, Senate colleagues, distinguished guests, friends and my family. Let me begin by thanking the Senate for my election as president of the Colorado Senate for the 67th General Assembly.
It has been an honor to serve as your president and I am humbled that you would elect me again to lead this august body. I again pledge to work with all of you on both sides of the aisle to continue to build a better Colorado -- one we can be proud to leave our children and one we can be proud to present to the nation and the world. Thank you for this tremendous responsibility and honor.
I want offer my congratulations to Speaker Terrance Carroll on his election just moments ago. It is yet another stitch in the great fabric that is the history of our great state. The historic uniqueness of what is happening in the Senate and House today is not a testament to Speaker Carroll or me but a testimonial to Colorado and her people and members of the 67th general assembly.
Let us welcome our new members, Senators please stand when I call your name:
Senator Morgan Carroll of Aurora, Joyce Foster of Denver, Rollie Heath of Boulder, Evie Hudak of Arvada, Linda Newell of Littleton, Mark Scheffel of Parker, Keith King of Colorado Springs, and Al White of Hayden and Mary Hodge of Brighton.
Welcome to the Colorado Senate and strive to never lose the feeling you felt when you entered this historic chamber this morning -- if you can maintain that feeling our state will be better after your service. I also offer congratulations to the families and friends who were the foundation for your victories -- now say good bye for the next 119 days.
Much has been made of the challenges we will face over those 119 days -- a precarious economy, rising unemployment, crumbling bridges, a broken education system and thousands of Coloradans without health care.
The mountainous challenges we face today pale in comparison to the struggles faced by the pioneers who came to the foot of our majestic rocky mountains to build a life and a state with a vision that would not be diminished in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Driven by a collective yearning to conquer any and all barriers that stood in their way, Colorado’s pioneers faced and vanquished every challenge --
whether it was a rocky and unfamiliar terrain, unrelenting and unpredictable weather, deceptive people and practices or a dismissive government the pioneers soldiered on not to be deterred. Making the decisions that would build this magnificent state.
Colorado’s foundation is based on this pioneering spirit. When these pioneers first came to this region in search of land and opportunity, they found a rugged terrain but also the best land possible for agriculture. They found a land with endless possibilities, but possibilities dependent on hard work and determination. Not unlike the landscape we see before us as we head into this next session. Since even before Colorado was a state, Coloradans have been used to hard work and tough decisions.
We sit in this grand house built by the children and grandchildren of those pioneers -- some five and a half generations later we are the descendants of their land and decisions facing daunting challenges of our own -- with tough decisions of our own to make.
The decisions made by the pioneers shaped the future of Colorado. The decisions we will make over the next 119 days will also shape the future -- but this time it is for our children and grandchildren who will be the beneficiaries.
These decisions will begin a new chapter in Colorado’s history -- one that must be written by all of us. Democrats and Republicans; farmers and businesspeople; urban dwellers and suburbanites; by engineers and teachers. The decisions we make will be difficult ones, but we have made tough and difficult decisions recently and while we have made progress we still have work to do;
Despite decisions and investments we have made in our efforts to create the new energy economy and assist small businesses which has placed Colorado in a much better economic situation than many states face -- we are not immune from the national financial crisis -- we face a tremendous budget deficit of $604 million, we now have 43,000 people in our unemployment insurance system and saw $48 million paid in unemployment benefits in November the highest unemployment rate in the history of state; in the first three quarters of 2008 there were almost 30,000 foreclosure filings, and according to the Food
Bank of the Rockies nearly half a million people rely on food banks and the last six months that number has increased by 20% or 91,000 people;
Despite the decision in the closing hours of our last session to introduce a late bill to repair 122 structurally deficient bridges and handle other transportation needs -- that effort failed and we crossed our fingers and prayed to God that those bridges would hold and we wouldn’t have a Minneapolis tragedy. We didn’t. But we now face 126 structurally deficient bridges that must be repaired at a total cost of $1.3 billion and an overall yearly shortfall of $1.5 billion for all other transportation needs;
Despite our decisions to expand school choice and create innovation in our K-12 system to the point that we are national leaders in education reform -- Our college readiness rate is only 34%, colleges spend $14.6 million on remedial classes and 52% of parents can’t attend school related events because they aren’t granted sensible leave;
Despite our decision to establish building blocks in the area of health care and health insurance to create better access, to lower cost and insure more Coloradans -- including covering an additional 50,000 children by next year,
we still have nearly 800,000 Coloradans who face the frightening specter of being uninsured.
Together we have made decisions that have created a better Colorado and put us in a better stead than most, but as you can see we still face monumental and watershed challenges that will require difficult decisions to preserve the land bequeath to us by the pioneers and our maker.
In Joshua 1:6 it says “be strong and courageous, because you will lead the people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.”
It doesn’t take strength and courage to turn this chamber into a stadium of political gamesmanship where the score is kept when Mr. McGowne calls the roll on some legislation offered to get the other party on “record” and then we announce the winner in November of 2010.
However, it does take strength and courage to transform this august chamber into an arena of policy concepts and ideas that produces not Democratic answers nor Republican responses, but generates Colorado solutions where
the winner in 119 days are the people of Colorado as we lead them in the land we inherited.
It will take strength and courage to make the difficult decisions that we must over the next 119 days -- but as we muster that strength and courage we must balance it with the overriding role of government which is to stand for the people that live in margins.
That role is our responsibility and our moral obligation.
That responsibility and moral obligation accompanies every elected official as we make the difficult decisions that will have to be made -- that responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget about the family in Greeley who after years of savings and planning and prayers they were able to purchase they dream home several years ago, but last spring their dream became a nightmare as they now bounces from relative to relative all but homeless with their dream home foreclosured;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget the father from in Colorado Springs who came home shortly before Thanksgiving to tell
his wife and young family that he had been laid off from his job and who now worries how he is going to buy diapers for their newborn and food for the rest of the family;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget the young student from Jefferson County who in September during her first week of college sat numb in her dorm room after being told that she would have to take remedial classes because she wasn’t prepared for college;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us forget the couple in Grand Junction who have made a difficult choice of their own and have decided to forgo the potentially life saving and maintenance drugs for the husband so that they make mortgage payment.
Let us not forget those stories and those individuals and so many others who await our decisions and our leadership. We will have to make some difficult decisions this session, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that these decisions affect real people, with real lives and real dreams and hopes.
Prepared text
However, Coloradans are resilient it is our pioneering DNA -- and like our forefathers we will be modern day Joshua’s. We will be strong and courageous in the decisions we make as we lead our state in the land we’ve inherited.
A land that remains one of endless possibilities and opportunities, undergirded by a persistent hope, pushed forward by an eagerness for change and steadied by an unwavering dedication to conquering every challenge.
We are better than we think and we must be better than we’ve been -- our future depends on it.
God bless you, God bless this honorable body and God bless the great state of Colorado.
It has been an honor to serve as your president and I am humbled that you would elect me again to lead this august body. I again pledge to work with all of you on both sides of the aisle to continue to build a better Colorado -- one we can be proud to leave our children and one we can be proud to present to the nation and the world. Thank you for this tremendous responsibility and honor.
I want offer my congratulations to Speaker Terrance Carroll on his election just moments ago. It is yet another stitch in the great fabric that is the history of our great state. The historic uniqueness of what is happening in the Senate and House today is not a testament to Speaker Carroll or me but a testimonial to Colorado and her people and members of the 67th general assembly.
Let us welcome our new members, Senators please stand when I call your name:
Senator Morgan Carroll of Aurora, Joyce Foster of Denver, Rollie Heath of Boulder, Evie Hudak of Arvada, Linda Newell of Littleton, Mark Scheffel of Parker, Keith King of Colorado Springs, and Al White of Hayden and Mary Hodge of Brighton.
Welcome to the Colorado Senate and strive to never lose the feeling you felt when you entered this historic chamber this morning -- if you can maintain that feeling our state will be better after your service. I also offer congratulations to the families and friends who were the foundation for your victories -- now say good bye for the next 119 days.
Much has been made of the challenges we will face over those 119 days -- a precarious economy, rising unemployment, crumbling bridges, a broken education system and thousands of Coloradans without health care.
The mountainous challenges we face today pale in comparison to the struggles faced by the pioneers who came to the foot of our majestic rocky mountains to build a life and a state with a vision that would not be diminished in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Driven by a collective yearning to conquer any and all barriers that stood in their way, Colorado’s pioneers faced and vanquished every challenge --
whether it was a rocky and unfamiliar terrain, unrelenting and unpredictable weather, deceptive people and practices or a dismissive government the pioneers soldiered on not to be deterred. Making the decisions that would build this magnificent state.
Colorado’s foundation is based on this pioneering spirit. When these pioneers first came to this region in search of land and opportunity, they found a rugged terrain but also the best land possible for agriculture. They found a land with endless possibilities, but possibilities dependent on hard work and determination. Not unlike the landscape we see before us as we head into this next session. Since even before Colorado was a state, Coloradans have been used to hard work and tough decisions.
We sit in this grand house built by the children and grandchildren of those pioneers -- some five and a half generations later we are the descendants of their land and decisions facing daunting challenges of our own -- with tough decisions of our own to make.
The decisions made by the pioneers shaped the future of Colorado. The decisions we will make over the next 119 days will also shape the future -- but this time it is for our children and grandchildren who will be the beneficiaries.
These decisions will begin a new chapter in Colorado’s history -- one that must be written by all of us. Democrats and Republicans; farmers and businesspeople; urban dwellers and suburbanites; by engineers and teachers. The decisions we make will be difficult ones, but we have made tough and difficult decisions recently and while we have made progress we still have work to do;
Despite decisions and investments we have made in our efforts to create the new energy economy and assist small businesses which has placed Colorado in a much better economic situation than many states face -- we are not immune from the national financial crisis -- we face a tremendous budget deficit of $604 million, we now have 43,000 people in our unemployment insurance system and saw $48 million paid in unemployment benefits in November the highest unemployment rate in the history of state; in the first three quarters of 2008 there were almost 30,000 foreclosure filings, and according to the Food
Bank of the Rockies nearly half a million people rely on food banks and the last six months that number has increased by 20% or 91,000 people;
Despite the decision in the closing hours of our last session to introduce a late bill to repair 122 structurally deficient bridges and handle other transportation needs -- that effort failed and we crossed our fingers and prayed to God that those bridges would hold and we wouldn’t have a Minneapolis tragedy. We didn’t. But we now face 126 structurally deficient bridges that must be repaired at a total cost of $1.3 billion and an overall yearly shortfall of $1.5 billion for all other transportation needs;
Despite our decisions to expand school choice and create innovation in our K-12 system to the point that we are national leaders in education reform -- Our college readiness rate is only 34%, colleges spend $14.6 million on remedial classes and 52% of parents can’t attend school related events because they aren’t granted sensible leave;
Despite our decision to establish building blocks in the area of health care and health insurance to create better access, to lower cost and insure more Coloradans -- including covering an additional 50,000 children by next year,
we still have nearly 800,000 Coloradans who face the frightening specter of being uninsured.
Together we have made decisions that have created a better Colorado and put us in a better stead than most, but as you can see we still face monumental and watershed challenges that will require difficult decisions to preserve the land bequeath to us by the pioneers and our maker.
In Joshua 1:6 it says “be strong and courageous, because you will lead the people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.”
It doesn’t take strength and courage to turn this chamber into a stadium of political gamesmanship where the score is kept when Mr. McGowne calls the roll on some legislation offered to get the other party on “record” and then we announce the winner in November of 2010.
However, it does take strength and courage to transform this august chamber into an arena of policy concepts and ideas that produces not Democratic answers nor Republican responses, but generates Colorado solutions where
the winner in 119 days are the people of Colorado as we lead them in the land we inherited.
It will take strength and courage to make the difficult decisions that we must over the next 119 days -- but as we muster that strength and courage we must balance it with the overriding role of government which is to stand for the people that live in margins.
That role is our responsibility and our moral obligation.
That responsibility and moral obligation accompanies every elected official as we make the difficult decisions that will have to be made -- that responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget about the family in Greeley who after years of savings and planning and prayers they were able to purchase they dream home several years ago, but last spring their dream became a nightmare as they now bounces from relative to relative all but homeless with their dream home foreclosured;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget the father from in Colorado Springs who came home shortly before Thanksgiving to tell
his wife and young family that he had been laid off from his job and who now worries how he is going to buy diapers for their newborn and food for the rest of the family;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us not forget the young student from Jefferson County who in September during her first week of college sat numb in her dorm room after being told that she would have to take remedial classes because she wasn’t prepared for college;
That responsibility and moral obligation will not let us forget the couple in Grand Junction who have made a difficult choice of their own and have decided to forgo the potentially life saving and maintenance drugs for the husband so that they make mortgage payment.
Let us not forget those stories and those individuals and so many others who await our decisions and our leadership. We will have to make some difficult decisions this session, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that these decisions affect real people, with real lives and real dreams and hopes.
Prepared text
However, Coloradans are resilient it is our pioneering DNA -- and like our forefathers we will be modern day Joshua’s. We will be strong and courageous in the decisions we make as we lead our state in the land we’ve inherited.
A land that remains one of endless possibilities and opportunities, undergirded by a persistent hope, pushed forward by an eagerness for change and steadied by an unwavering dedication to conquering every challenge.
We are better than we think and we must be better than we’ve been -- our future depends on it.
God bless you, God bless this honorable body and God bless the great state of Colorado.
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