State voters were sour on all the state ballot issues except for open meetings for school boards. Meanwhile, voters in the city of Boulder approved closed city council meetings to discuss, but not vote on, issues around a municipal electric utility. Voters approved every ballot issue proposed by the city, the county and the Boulder Valley School District, including 3 new taxes and 1 tax extension.
On a different political note, at 42% Colorado now tops the nation in the percent of its legislators who are women. Janet Buckner’s appointment last month to fill the seat held by her late husband makes her the 30th woman in the state house out of a total of 65 house members. Twelve of the 35 state senators are women. Nationwide, about 24% of state legislators are women.
As mentioned in a previous blog post, in 2013 there were three state senate seats targeted for recall. The efforts were successful in that the sitting senators left office abruptly. Below is the 2014 follow-up to the story.
• Bernie Herpin (R) replaced John Morse (D) [recalled in 2013] but was defeated in 2014 by Michael Merrifield (D).
• George Rivera (R) replaced Angela Giron (D) [recalled in 2013] but was defeated in 2014 by Leroy Garcia (D).
• Rachel Zenzinger (D) replaced Evie Hudak (D) [resigned in 2013] but was defeated in 2014 by Laura Woods (R).
Overall, the 2014 senate elections resulted in an 18-17 majority for Republicans.
On a different political note, at 42% Colorado now tops the nation in the percent of its legislators who are women. Janet Buckner’s appointment last month to fill the seat held by her late husband makes her the 30th woman in the state house out of a total of 65 house members. Twelve of the 35 state senators are women. Nationwide, about 24% of state legislators are women.
As mentioned in a previous blog post, in 2013 there were three state senate seats targeted for recall. The efforts were successful in that the sitting senators left office abruptly. Below is the 2014 follow-up to the story.
• Bernie Herpin (R) replaced John Morse (D) [recalled in 2013] but was defeated in 2014 by Michael Merrifield (D).
• George Rivera (R) replaced Angela Giron (D) [recalled in 2013] but was defeated in 2014 by Leroy Garcia (D).
• Rachel Zenzinger (D) replaced Evie Hudak (D) [resigned in 2013] but was defeated in 2014 by Laura Woods (R).
Overall, the 2014 senate elections resulted in an 18-17 majority for Republicans.
