A lot of Colorado lawmakers got their foot in the door at the statehouse not through the ballot box, but through a side door 鈥� a vacancy committee.
State lawmakers leave office early for all sorts of reasons. Some get new jobs or retire. Occasionally people resign amidst scandal.
When they do, a committee is put together by their party to pick their replacement. And it happens often. Roughly 25% of the people serving this session in the Colorado General Assembly landed their House and Senate jobs that way.
But in recent years, there鈥檚 been grumbling about the vacancy committee process, with many calling it 鈥渦ndemocratic鈥� and saying it鈥檚 time for reform.
In the latest episode of Purplish, , KUNC鈥檚 Lucas Brady Woods and dig into how the process works, why it鈥檚 firing up people on both sides of the aisle and what kinds of changes are being considered.
One of the most important things to understand about the vacancy committee process is who it involves. Committees members are exclusively party insiders, often the most hardened partisans. Unaffiliated voters and those registered with other parties have no representation.
What this means is that the process tends to favor well-connected party loyalists. Instead of making their case to ordinary Coloradans, candidates usually win by cultivating relationships with vacancy committee members, running a shadow campaign completely outside of public view.
The process has had its critics for years, but they became more vocal this winter, when state Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, abruptly stepped down just days after winning reelection. Hansen's open endorsement of one House lawmaker to succeed him 鈥� and a second endorsement of another person to succeed that lawmaker 鈥� led even the state's Democratic Party leader to call for reforms to vacancies committees.
He joined many others who have called for an overhaul. Their ideas have included opening vacancy committees to more people, requiring candidates to disclose their campaign finances, and barring vacancy appointees from running for reelection. The last would discourage ambitious politicians from using vacancy committees to get into office.
And there is the possibility of filling vacancies another way entirely. Many states hold special elections when legislative seats open up, or they give elected officials, such as county commissioners or the governor, the power to fill vacancies. But there are pros and cons to any approach.
Purplish is produced by CPR 暗黑爆料 and the Capitol 暗黑爆料 Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC 暗黑爆料, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Purplish鈥檚 producer is Stephanie Wolf. This episode was edited by Megan Verlee and sound designed and engineered by Shane Rumsey. Our theme music is by Brad Turner.
