Face The State Staff Report
With the General Assembly’s top Democrat leaders hailing from urban Denver, the party is now tipping its hat to rural Colorado by selecting Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, as the next House speaker pro tem. The choice has rural leaders questioning how it will impact issues important to their districts.
CurryState of Colo.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, appointed Curry, who runs a small natural beef distribution business in the Gunnison Valley. During her unsuccessful bid for Speaker last week, she tried appealing to fellow Democrats by urging them not ignore the rural voice. Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, said Curry's appointment does give a boost to that voice, but she still thinks rural lawmakers are underrepresented in leadership. Roberts specifically expressed concern about the cost of energy, which she said effects rural areas more because people living there have to drive farther distances and use more gas to fill their tractors.
But Crystal Korrey, director of public policy and state affairs for the Colorado Farm Bureau, said she is not worried. "As far as the Democrat Leadership, we were fairly pleased with the Terrance Carroll appointment," she said. "He is someone we work very well with. He is very aware of agriculture issues, and of course the Kathleen Curry appointment is great."
Korrey also noted Senate President Peter Groff previously sat on the Senate Agricultural Committee, and said she considers him to be "very aware of [agricultural] issues."
Roberts, on the other hand, predicts she'll be redoubling her efforts to make sure issues important to rural areas, like water and agriculture, do not fall by the wayside.
Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, also insists rural lawmakers need to be extra vigilant about making sure their constituents' concerns get equal attention under the new leadership. He reminisced about how it was easier when the Republicans were in power. "Under the Republicans, the Speaker and the President of the Senate were more likely than not to be from a rural area," he said, citing former House Speaker Lola Spradley, R-Beulah, and former Senate President Ray Powers, who was a dairy farmer. Also of note, former Sen. Mark Hillman, a Burlington wheat farmer, also served as Senate Majority Leader during his tenure in the chamber.
Meanwhile, Republican leadership heading into the 2009 session reflects more geographic diversity than the Democrats. In addition to Brophy, who is the Assistant Minority Leader, the Republican leadership includes Minority Leader Josh Penry of Grand Junction and House Minority Whip Cory Gardner of Yuma.