Recently, both of Colorado’s U.S. Senate candidates, Rep. Cory Gardner and Sen. Mark Udall, spoke at the Colorado Water Congress’ summer conference. According to local news reports, they both spoke broadly about how important water is to our state and how we all need to work in a bipartisan way to find solutions that address our future water needs. That’s probably to be expected less than two months out from one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country.
As someone who has been involved in Colorado water policy for the past decade, I found this interesting because it overlooks a little rift that happened several years ago. Many may not remember this, but back in 2008, Rep. Gardner was out front pushing a politically motivated issue that, if passed, would have had serious negative impacts on our state’s ability to fund water projects.
Gardner, who at the time was a member of the state House of Representatives, and two of his Republican colleagues, Sen. Josh Penry and Rep. Frank McNulty, spent much of the fall of 2008 pushing Amendment 52. The measure sought to divert funds raised from Colorado’s severance tax away from water projects throughout the state and toward transportation projects, specifically transportation projects that would alleviate congested mountain traffic along the I-70 corridor. The nonpartisan, independent Colorado Legislative Council estimated that its implementation would result in an approximately $112 million reduction in funds available for water projects statewide over the next four years.
The backlash, from both Republicans and Democrats, was swift and harsh. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle delivered stinging rebukes, likening the measure to robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“Amendment 52 is merely a ‘Trojan horse’ designed to confuse voters about the severance tax discussion,” Jim Spehar, a former Grand Junction city councilor and Mesa County commissioner, said at the time to the Glenwood Springs Independent.
Republican former state senator and commissioner of Agriculture Don Ament, a member of former Gov. Bill Owens’ cabinet, was more candid, according to the Rocky Mountain News. “What the hell are these Johnny-come-lately (lawmakers) doing?” he asked of the initiative’s authors. “This is not where you do cutesy little partisan tricks; you don’t do that with our constitution.”
I couldn’t agree more. It’s both dangerous and irresponsible for one of our lawmakers to put politics ahead of the best interests of our state. Water policy shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.
That kind of myopia – taking funds away from important, long-term water projects across the state that potentially benefit both rural and metropolitan areas, to benefit the Denver metro region – is not the type of leadership we need in Washington, D.C. One of the hardest things about being a lawmaker from Colorado is representing the entire state, not just the most populated areas like the Front Range.
Jim Isgar is a former state senator and state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office. He resigned from the position in December 2012. In March 2012, Isgar received a stem-cell transplant at Presbyterian St. Luke Hospital in Denver to treat leukemia. He lives in Hesperus.
