No one could describe the events of the last several days better than Jace Woodrum, Deputy Excecutive Director of One Colorado: http://www.one-colorado.org/...
The day after, I received an email from Democratic State Representative Claire Levy (CO-HD13), also giving the blow by blow account:
The 2012 regular session of the 68th General Assembly of the State of Colorado ended at 11:58 p.m. on May 9. The usual jubilation was subdued as the Speaker banged the gavel. It was subdued because we will be back in session in a few days to complete unfinished work.
The normal rhythm of debate, voting, conference committees and final action, came to a screeching halt Tuesday evening with over 30 bills still on the calendar. With Speaker Frank McNulty's explicit approval, a faction of the Republican caucus had been delaying progress throughout the day, knowing that if the legislature did not debate the bill to allow civil unions by midnight it would be dead. Otherwise, there were well more than the minimum votes needed to enact it. The delay on Tuesday began mid-afternoon when the chair of the Appropriations Committee encouraged a protracted and meaningless hearing on bills that were already dead. My attempt to preempt this delay by quickly dispatching these bills was shot down. What is normally a briskly paced hearing dragged on until after 5:00 p.m.
In the early evening on Tuesday, the House finally took up the work that should have begun that morning. To run down the clock the Republicans resorted to absurd argument and debate. They compared a bill to ban trans-fats in public school lunches to the first steps towards Nazism, and requested detailed but irrelevant information on the federal poverty guidelines regarding a bill on autism. It was clear they intended to filibuster without regard to the consequence.
Well past 8:00 p.m. with less than four hours left to debate civil unions and at least 30 other bills, I raised my hand to speak. The chairman recognized me, assuming I would speak on the pending bill. Instead I made a motion that ordinarily only the majority leader makes. The motion was to end debate so we could move on to bills that had not yet been scheduled. The chairman slammed down the gavel and recessed the House indefinitely. After several hours the Speaker of the House made it clear that he would not allow the House to resume its work. We ended our work for the day - at about 11:30 p.m. That ended the chance of legalizing civil unions in Colorado. (Or so we thought.)
The civil unions bill was the most visible casualty of their stunts. But other important bills were caught in the cross fire. The culmination of a two-year effort to repeal "zero tolerance" discipline and expulsion policies in schools; important bills on water projects and unemployment insurance; legislation to address the public's right to view voted ballots; and a bill to address drug sentencing policies appeared dead as well. The Republican leadership preferred to let these bills and many others that had bipartisan support die rather than debate and vote on whether to allow civil unions.
Before the legislature adjourned on May 9, some of these bills were resurrected by being amended into existing bills. Fortunately, my school discipline bill survived, as did my bill to prohibit blanket rejection of employment by people with old records of arrests and convictions.
But now the only way to act on other important pieces of legislation is through a special session. On Monday, May 14 the legislature will convene to consider legislation on seven issues, including whether to allow civil unions between two non-married adults. The process requires a minimum of three days to pass a bill. I hope we can act quickly to complete the important business that was left undone in the name of preventing passage of civil unions. Stay tuned . . .
It all gets down to this: not enough Dems voted the whole ballot in the Fall of 2010 and we lost a majority that we fought very long and hard to get. Diane Primavera (CO-HD33) had 700 Democrats vote in her district, but they simply didn't put a mark near her name, so she lost by around 300 votes.
Last year I sat up at the Capitol, the first time Rep. Mark Ferrandino (CO-HD2), our first openly gay legislator, introduced the bill, listening to impassioned testimony. I cried a few times, but I was so impressed with the array of people testifying in addition to gay couples: Business owners, pastors, parents of gays. And then the heartbreaking result as it was voted down. So, we knew our answer on that day, but stood firm in our resolve that this fight was not over.
There was distinct progress this year, even before the vote. Once again Ferrandino championed the bill (he's vowed to bring it forth every year until it is passed). Polls showed that 72% of Colorado citizens approved of civil unions. There was the support of State Senator Nancy Spence, a Republican. There was the rumor, that another Republican, B.J. Nikkel (CO-HD49) was going to vote yes in the final committee before the bill was to go to the House floor to be heard. She did, and I heard reports of the Pro Civil Unions crowd going to Hamburger Mary's in Denver to celebrate afterward. When B.J. Nikkel walked in, she got a standing ovation.
The events of May 9 showed us two things: Majority Leader Frank McNulty's spineless tactics to disregard the will of the people, running roughshod over Democracy in Colorado (there are people who have taken to calling him "McNutless". Not me, of course, but I'm just sayin'...).
And the other thing? The poise, grace, intelligence, professionalism of our elected Dems, who never lost their cool. And NEVER lost sight of honoring the citizens of Colorado. They did their job, and are doing it again today, even when session should be over by now.
Governor Hickenlooper restored our faith in him by doing the right thing: calling a special session, which began today. Unfortunately, McNulty has now conveniently assigned the bill to the State Affairs Committee. No friendly or moderate repugs there.
In fact the latest developments have drawn the typical Colorado Springs zealots to give "testimony". The "anus is an exit, not and entrance" dissertation, I suppose, like the crazy church lady last year. The closer we get, the more disgusting the fringe becomes. My friend who is attending right now, reports standing in the "middle of a swarm of church folk from the Springs. Full of hate." Like the ladies that sat in front of me last year, so proud of their "hate notes" and the script that they were about to read from.
So once again, it is unlikely Civil Unions will pass in Colorado. Barring a miracle. But our elected Democrats did their job. Now it's time for us as citizens, to do ours better, electing a majority to put our state back on track in the fall.
Wed May 16, 2012 at 8:31 AM PT: Rep. Ferrandino and David Sirota were on Politics Nation on MSNBC:
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