Progress Now Action

It only took one abbreviated morning of floor work to realize just how desperate the minority party is in the Colorado State House. It appears their idea of positive and productive agenda for Colorado is to pick unnecessary fights and obstruct the legislative process. I guess desperate times really do call for desperate measures.

Representative Joe Stengel and friends wasted about an hour of the people's time arguing over minor changes to the House rules. The House rules are the vehicle which allows us to conduct the legislative process in an orderly fashion. I thought I had seen everything last year when Rep. Stengel led the fight to keep Colorado children from leading the House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. Boy was I wrong. Today, they attempted to disrupt the process by fighting over minor rule changes suggested by the non-partisan legislative staff to improve legislative efficiency and a rule which would allow the House to appoint Select committees to examine in-depth a particular policy issue.

At first, I thought Representative Stengel's opening day tirade might have been a momentary lapse into the dark side. However, after the charade of legislative deliberation Rep. Stengel and his fellow Republicans attempted today I am afraid that the people's business will have to fight to make its way through psuedo-intellectual arguments dressed in the guise of legislative deliberation.

Stay tuned as I blog away from the Capitol.

Terrance