Tag: Frank McNulty

Republicans countered Democratic desires for drawing competitive districts Wednesday by refusing to use party registration as a factor in the Joint Select Committee on Redistricting's effort to draw Congressional lines. The move led to another stalemate between the parties, leaving no map drawn and an ever increasing chance that Colorado courts will again draw the Congressional districts.

Tuesday, the Colorado General Assembly's Joint Select Committee on Redistricting agreed that partisan emotions ran too high at Friday's sharing of maps, but there appeared to be little common ground on at least one major Democratic starting point--competitiveness. Republicans rejected that as a compelling factor and called for a blank map created without looking at political balance. Democrats said that voters were calling for competition in a state where many districts have solid Republican numbers.

Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, today charged Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, with using House Republicans as his personal agents.

Opening shots were fired Friday in what started as an attempt at bipartisan civility in charting the future of Colorado Congressional representation but ended in bipartisan name calling that did anything but create a basis for impartial redistricting discussions.

House Republican leadership has sent a letter to the Colorado Congressional delegation that calls for an end to federal Medicaid mandates. The letter from Speaker of the House Frank McNulty and Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R- Monument, calls on the delegation to work with the state to find a Colorado solution.

Speaker of the House Frank McNulty appointed former Republican legislator Rob Witwer to the Colorado Reapportionment Commission on Monday. Said to be a man who can put partisanship aside by McNulty, the former state legislator will not be experiencing the redrawing of state lines for the first time.

The long bill, scheduled to drop over a week ago and again expected to hit the floor of the Senate Monday, is still hung up in the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) where Senate Democrats say House Republicans have been unwilling to budge on tax breaks.

The Colorado legislature will begin wrestling in earnest with the budget in the coming weeks. Education funding is going to take another major hit. That's a really bad idea, says Microsoft billionaire and education enthusiast Bill Gates.

The Republican Study Committee of Colorado lost another member today -- state Rep. Kathleen Conti, who joined 10 House legislators who quit the ultra conservative club earlier this week. The exodus followed a House Republican Caucus meeting on Monday night when legislators rebelled against the RSCC for having characterized House Speaker Frank McNulty, Majority Leader Amy Stephens and other GOP lawmakers as RINOs (Republicans in name only).

Former Colorado Springs Senator Dave Schultheis is no longer holding forth on bills on the Senate floor in Denver, but he has continued to exert influence this year as the powerful force behind the conservative Republican Study Committee of Colorado. Now that influence may be waning. This week, a third of the RSCC flock quit the committee, rejecting the would-be radical-right revival.