The state legislative session opens tomorrow. The Colorado budget is in the red. Revenues are in the tank. Legislators will have to make brutal cuts on top of the brutal cuts made last year. Also: It’s an election year and the silly season has been well underway for months. The anti-tax Tea Party movement is growing. Intense tensions characterizing federal politics have placed pressure on state politics– and vice versa. Controversial Christian conservative State Sen. Dave Schultheis is not running for re-election. Controversial conservative State Rep. Kent Lambert is running for Schultheis’s office. Firebrand state Rep. Cory Gardner is running for Congress. Gov. Bill Ritter is not running for anything and so is free to speak his mind and push his agenda.
In sum, it’s going to be exciting. Colorado’s state lawmakers need positive energy to help prevent things from dissolving into a puddle of partisan foolery. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall is just the man today, I guess, to deliver the first vibrating note of that positive energy.
Here’s the release the Boulder Democrat sent out today, a note sent from a global chakra point located somewhere beneath the nation’s senate office building. Fold your legs underneath you before reading it. Breathe it in deeply. Say a few ohms. Colorado is depending on you!
“As state lawmakers return to Denver, they face tremendous challenges. Coloradans are still reeling from the worst economy since the Great Depression, and as they do in states across the country, lawmakers here face difficult decisions about how to balance the budget in the face of significant shortfalls.
“Tough times necessitate tough decisions. I urge legislators of both parties to rise to the challenges we face, bridge partisan and ideological divides, and work together for the Coloradans we serve.
“I welcome the Colorado legislature back to Denver, and I stand ready to work as a partner with state government to build a stronger Colorado.”
