DENVER -- While politics never seem to stop, August is historically the month where very little gets done.
Congress is on break, so most members of the House of Representatives and Senate are back in their home states meeting with constituents. That means in places like Colorado, where the state legislature doesn’t reconvene until January, there is plenty of time to reflect on how things are gong.
“I think this last session we had major breakthroughs,” said Colorado Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, during a roundtable segment on this weekend’s Politics Unplugged. “When it came to delivering results to the people of Colorado we were able to rise above ugly politics and rise above gridlock and we hope to send that same message to Washington, D.C.”
Former Republican state representative Amy Stephens agrees that things need to change in Washington.
“I think you saw both sides sometime take aim at each other and I think it takes courage to do that,” Stephens said. “Washington could learn from that and I would like to see more of that and I would like to see more things come back to the states that we could actually work out together because I think we can do it quicker, better and a better job economically.”
Denver Post columnist Krista Kafer, a Libertarian, said she has a lot more faith in state government than the federal government.
“I think there’s a chance in Colorado,” she said during the roundtable discussion. “We’ve got TABOR and other accountability restraints that make lawmakers work together. Lawmakers have to work together. You have to balance the budget and come up with solutions. DC’s ‘dysfunction junction’ is making Colorado look good and providing satire for SNL for years to come."
Politics Unplugged airs Sundays at 4:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Denver7.
