Rep. Alice Madden: End of Session Report
“Promises Made, Promises Kept.” That’s how CU President Hank Brown summed up the 2006 legislative budget. But just what were those promises and how did Democrats get into a position to fulfill them?
Two short years ago, many voters felt the Republican majority was not focusing on the problems affecting people’s daily lives. Schools were graded, but not invested in. Health care costs were continuing to rise, but there was no political will to stand up to corporate special interests. Tuition increased as scholarship funds were slashed. In the middle of the worst recession Colorado had seen since the 1930s, Republican leaderships’ blind loyalty to the status quo had placed our state firmly in a rut. Perhaps most telling, more and more people were beginning to realize that we could never recover from the recession unless the General Assembly was willing to address our restrictive budget, and the stranglehold it had on the state.
In 2004, Democrats launched a campaign focused on the issues that keep people up at night. “If one of the kids gets sick, will we still be able to pay our heating bills and fill up the car?” “Do we have enough saved for college tuition?” “Is my pension safe?” “If I hit one more pothole, am I going to have to get my front end aligned – again?”
We didn’t promise the moon, but we did pledge to take innovative steps to boost the economy, stabilize the state budget to better provide needed services, improve public education and lower the cost of health care. Democrats dubbed our plan the “Colorado Comeback.” Read Rep. Madden’s newsletter and see how Democrats delivered on their pledge.
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