“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”

I’ve thought often of that maxim while reading bleacher seat critiques of the 2015 legislative session, given how they differ from what I saw, and where I sit, as one leader of the Republican effort. So let me share my own (admittedly-insider) perspective on how things went, as a corrective to some of the distorted end-of-session reviews I’ve seen.

Where some saw excessive “partisanship,” I saw a surprising level of cross-party cooperation on everything from the budget to school testing, workforce development to policing reform, resulting in the passage of measures that don’t grab headlines but did “move the dial” on issues meaningful to most Coloradans. Where some critics saw low productivity or “slow” progress, as measured by bill count – almost as if laws are widgets to be churned-out assembly line-style – I saw selective lawmaking with a focus on quality rather than quantity.

Republicans entered the session pledging to keep faith with taxpayers, focus on governing fundamentals, hold government accountable and restore public trust that was lost when Democrats enjoyed one-party rule, resulting in a period of “Liberals Gone Wild” excess. And while a politically-divided legislature made a major rollback of those excesses difficult, we finished the 120-day session proud of the remarkable things we accomplished in spite of the political obstacles we faced.

Taxpayers were clear “winners” this session, as we approved a bipartisan budget that sufficiently funded priorities like education and infrastructure, while returning refunds they’re owed under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Taxpayers also “won” this session because of the more aggressive oversight role Republicans assumed. We led the push for a deeper-dive audit of the state’s troubled Obamacare exchange, a better accounting of where state Medicaid dollars go, more independence for the Child Protective Services Ombudsman and an updated mission for the Office of Consumer Counsel.

Primary and secondary school students also were big “winners” this session, as we gave sizable funding increases to K-12 and higher education. We approved a compromise package of testing and student data privacy reforms that, while they didn’t go far enough for some, will significantly shake-up the public school status quo in Colorado. I echoed the sentiments of the Senate Minority Leader when she called the collaboration on those bills “magical.”

Another major “win” for students missing from most session reviews was passage of the Claire Davis School Safety Act, a first-in-the-nation law which will help make campus security the priority it needs to be, by waving blanket immunity from lawsuits when school officials have not done enough to protect those on campus.

Were there disappointments this session? Of course. Republicans tried but failed to end an unjust loophole that ignores unborn crime victims under Colorado’s criminal code. House Democrats blocked in our effort to help address the state’s affordable housing crisis, by modifying state construction defect laws, only to see the trial lawyers’ lobby trump the broad coalition of stakeholders who backed our approach.

The Democrat-controlled House also thwarted our effort to restore Second Amendment rights by repealing a magazine size limit approved during one party rule. They blocked a rollback of command-and-control energy mandates also approved during those dark days. Our efforts to let legislators have a say in any climate “deal” the state signs with EPA also failed to fly with House liberals.

And yes, there was partisanship. But partisanship is a two-way street. Democrats put forth a flurry of radical proposals that may have passed a few years ago, when they ruled the roost, but which just wouldn’t fly today. Sometimes the proper measure of “success” isn’t just the good bills you pass but the bad bills you block. And we’re proud of blocking plenty of those.

Some have suggested we were less-than-“productive.” But we sent around 350 bills to the governor’s desk, or roughly three bills for each of the 120 days of the session. Given that each of these bill fattens the state’s already-bulging law books in some way, that seems like plenty of productivity to me. And perhaps it’s more than most Coloradans want imposed on them on an annual basis.

I take pride in the fact that we were selective in the bills that finally passed muster, which lowers the chance that what we passed will become something future Coloradans come to regret. We restored a measure of practicality, common sense and, yes, sanity to a Statehouse that only a few years ago looked more like California’s than Colorado’s.

I’m exceedingly proud of the work we did, despite of what bleacher seat boo-birds may say.

– Sen. Bill Cadman is president of the State Senate. He is a Republican from Colorado Springs.