Fifteen Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Assistant Senate Minority Leader Mark Hillman shared the “Lessons of a minority senator” he said he’d learned after the Democrats took the gavel in the upper chamber in January for the first time in decades. “In my days as a sportswriter,” he wrote, “this was euphemistically known as a ‘character-building experience.’” The primary lesson Hillman learned: “Bipartisanship is for losers.” Not because all issues are partisan, he noted, but he thought it worth noting that when Democrats were in the minority, they constantly pleaded for a bipartisan approach. “Now that Republicans are outnumbered, we’re asking for bipartisan cooperation on our bills, but the Democrats increasingly kill those bills on party-line votes,” he lamented. They’d tell Republican senators they’re headed in the right direction but “this just isn’t the right time for this bill.” Hillman offered a translation: “The ‘right time’ is when the bill is carried by a Democrat.” Another lesson Hillman said he’d learned: Choice for me but not for thee. The phrase “pro-choice” usually applies to Democrats, libertarians and some moderate Republicans, but Democrats had lately killed bills to boost personal choice. Among the casualties cited by Hillman: Democrats on a Senate committee killed a concealed-carry bill sponsored by state Sen. Ken Chlouber, R-Leadville, while passing a bill to make it a crime if a juvenile stole your gun and used it to commit a crime. “The surest way to obey this law is to put your gun under lock and key in your own home,” Hillman wrote. Then the committee Democrats turned around and rejected a bill by state Sen. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, that would have required doctors ending a pregnancy in the final months to try to save the baby if it could live outside the womb. “Choosing to end the life of a child just days before it’s born — that’s allowed,” Hillman concluded. “Choosing to protect yourself against a rapist — that’s not allowed.” …

… Saying they were tired of “Band Aid” legislation,” Senate Democrats created a bicameral subcommittee on transportation charged with coming up with “a vision, not derision,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Thiebaut, D-Pueblo, announced, but miffed Republicans were vowing to boycott the meetings. Senate Minority Leader John Andrews, R-Centennial, scoffed that the Democrats shouldn’t have abolished the Senate Transportation Committee in the first place and called the new subcommittee a “clumsy effort at damage control.” Thiebaut pointed out that the state expected 1 million more residents in the next decade, “but we have no strategy to address the impact that growth will have on our ability to move people and goods around the state.” Part of the problem, he added, is that CDOT had been concentrating on highways while paying almost no attention to “a multi-modal plan that may include bike trails and light rail.” Andrews asked, “Is this the Colorado Senate or the Keystone Cops?” After scrapping the Transportation Committee, he charged, “Now they reinstate it as a subcommittee, legislatively powerless but expected to perform miracles in the next 40 days. This is pure spin, hoping to make PR lemonade from the lemon of their committee overhaul.” …

… Colorado Republican Party Chairman Bob Beauprez, seeking another term to lead the state GOP as the only announced candidate, was downplaying speculation that he might bail out midterm in order to run for Congress. “Challenging an incumbent is high risk,” said Beauprez, who lived in the 2nd Congressional District, which was represented by Democrat Mark Udall. “But the real answer is that Claudia and I did not take the chairman’s job with the intention of running for something else. I have a very full life.” Still, the candidates for vice chair were getting more than the usual attention. Incumbent vice chair Athena Eisenman was keeping a low profile but was facing a challenge from El Paso County Republican Larry Liston, who was county chair for the Bill Owens for governor campaign and co-chaired the county for the George W. Bush presidential run. Among his supporters: U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, El Paso County Commissioner Ed Jones and former state Rep. Vicki Agler, R-Littleton. …

… A proposal by state Sen. John Evans, R-Parker, would amend the state’s initiative process by allowing backers of proposed initiatives to first submit their measures to the General Assembly for approval or rejection. If the Legislature enacted a proposed law or referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot, proponents wouldn’t have to gather signatures, and if lawmakers declined, then the petition route to the ballot was still open. “The status quo puts the legislator against our concerned citizen,” Evans said. “This amendment ends the conflict. We will be able to work together for the people of the state of Colorado.”

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com