Ten Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas introduced and lauded his former law clerk Allison Eid, who was sworn in as the 95th justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. Eid, appointed to the bench by Gov. Bill Owens, replaced Rebecca Love Kourlis, who had announced she was stepping down from the high court at the beginning of the year in order to help launch the University of Denver’s Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. “[Allison] is very bright, if not brilliant, conscientious, an excellent writer, and intellectually honest, as well as just plain honest,” said Thomas as Eid visibly blushed. “I would love to have a colleague like her.” Applauding Eid’s ability to work with others, Thomas added, “She engaged in interesting and constructive debates about very difficult matters, always looking for a way to solve the problem, not solely to debate them.” Eid’s family — husband, Troy, son Alex and daughter Emily — could barely contain themselves as her children helped her with “the biggest challenge of the day,” helping her don the black robe. Asked by Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey what it meant to promote and administer justice in Colorado, Eid said, “I have thought about this question with the greatest humility for most of my professional life, and as a wife and mother. Through these experiences, I have come to the conclusion that justice follows when we respect the rule of law, and that is what I aspire to do.” …

… In what was described as a “quiet and smooth transition” in “marked contrast to the tumultuous events” that led to it, state Rep. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, won unanimous approval from a Democratic vacancy committee and was sworn in to fill the seat of state Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood, who had resigned earlier in the month while under scrutiny in an ethics probe. Boyd said she didn’t see much difference between the House and Senate except for size — and the ability of the Senate to confirm the governor’s appointments — though the former lobbyist for the Lutherans noted that she used to think the Senate was more cordial. After her swearing-in, Boyd said she would miss the House because it has “become a place where we can get along across party lines.” Lakewood Democrat Andy Kerr was tapped by another vacancy committee to serve out Boyd’s term. Saying she didn’t want her ethics imbroglio to be a “distraction,” Hanna had resigned over a letter she’d sent demanding “reparations” from a Jefferson County real estate organization that had endorsed her opponent in 2004.

… Legislation was moving quickly as the session neared the halfway mark. The Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, which would prohibit smoking indoors in Colorado, with some exceptions, had emerged from a conference committee and had been approved by the Senate. The bipartisan bill, sponsored by state Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Castle Rock, was headed to the House for a nod before it would land on the governor’s desk. “The message today is that the Senate truly cares about the health of workers in this state,” Grossman said. “All workers in the state of Colorado have a right to a healthy work environment.” Senate Democrats worked across the aisle with minority Republicans to pass a bill to “curtail some of the immigration problems” in the state. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, would require local law enforcement and government employees to report someone to federal immigration authorities if they believed that person wasn’t in the country legally. “Both sides of the aisle came together today to pass this measure because our immigration problems deserve effective solutions,” Grossman said. “This bill brings the federal government to the table to work with us to find illegal immigrants. Coloradans need to know who is in our state.” …

… William Mutch, executive director of business powerhouse group Colorado Concern, wrote in a guest commentary that subcontractors needed construction defect reform in order to tamp down the ongoing “family squabble” between general contractors and subcontractors. The Legislature was considering two competing proposals, both originating in the House, but Mutch wrote that “one of these bills has merit and should be approved, (but) only a construction defects bill tailor-made for subcontractors will bring full relief.” A bill sponsored by state Rep. Michael Garcia, D-Aurora, and state Sen. Jennifer Viega, D-Denver, was favored by the business community, he wrote, because it would eliminate “broad-form indemnification,” which could potentially assign all the legal liability for a problem to someone who wasn’t responsible for the defective construction. Another bill went further and “should be rejected,” Mutch wrote, attempting to solve construction litigation issues by “heavy-handedly dictating contract terms and conditions,” turning the freedom to enter into contracts “on its head” and adding tension to the already fraught relationship between general contractors and subcontractors. “The problem is not the contract, instead it’s the current nature of construction litigation,” Mutch wrote. “Quite simply, plaintiffs’ lawyers bring their shotgun to the table.”

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com