One question has begun permeating state Capitol hallways: Who is Donna Lynne?

During a sparsely attended snow day news conference last week, Gov. Hickenlooper nominated Donna Lynne to serve as Colorado’s next lieutenant governor.

The warmth between the two could have melted the foot of snow that was amassing just outside the statehouse Wednesday with Gov. Hickenlooper heaping commendations upon his nominee. 

But the real snow job may be just how liberal Gov. Hickenlooper’s candidate truly is.

Although Lynne’s meticulous resumé and community involvement appear to have been carefully crafted over the last two decades to portray a reputation as a community collaborator; her political involvement and campaign donations reveal a lifetime of far-left political philosophies on everything from health care to public school funding.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, over the past 20 years, Lynne has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Democrat candidates and causes, donating only two times in 20 years to Republicans.

Much of her campaign cash has gone to East Coast liberals including Hillary Clinton, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and former Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).

In Colorado, her political spending is no different. It reads like a “Who’s Who” among Democratic Party activists and labor unions.

In 2013, education organizations with which she is involved publicly endorsed, funded and actively campaigned for Amendment 66 — a $1 billion tax increase that would have been the largest in Colorado history. In fact, she personally wrote a $10,000 check to “Colorado Commits to Kids” to raise school funding.

The individual candidates she supports financially are also as liberal as they come.

Sen. Michael Bennet and former Sen. Mark Udall have also been the recipient of Lynne’s campaign cash. Bennet voted for the Iran nuclear deal and has flip-flopped on sending Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Colorado.

Her own policies are liberal as well.

As an executive vice president of Kaiser Permanente, her view on health care is one of high volume with a healthy dose of bureaucracy and taxpayer funds. The Colorado Forum, one of many groups she has been involved with endorsed Gov. Hickenlooper’s Medicaid expansion, which cost taxpayers $26 million the first year and an estimated $858 million over the next decade.

Her own health care company bears similarities to Obamacare.

Kaiser Permanente has experienced failures with their own patient website; it has struggled to adapt in the world of electronic medical records; and Kaiser has long been criticized for cutting corners on care in order to cut costs. (Death panels, anyone?)

But her liberal positions on everything from health care to education aside, the pick by Gov. Hickenlooper was a brilliant move. A businesswoman with numerous community awards and commendations for her life’s work, Lynne is going to be a difficult nominee for the GOP to deny. In opposing Lynne, they would dare to fight a female nominee during an election year where the phrase “gender gap” has become the new dog whistle for the so-called war on women.

Anyone who opposes Lynne would also be going against the spirit of many community organizations in which Lynne has been involved, including the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Denver Business Journal’s Outstanding Women Awards, and the Denver Public Schools Foundation.

That Democrats had someone of Lynne’s caliber waiting in the wings to be tapped for such a post is proof they have a better farm team than Republicans who have been forced to run the same candidates for governor in recent election cycles.

Lynne’s nomination demonstrates that just as Democrats did with “The Blueprint” in 2004, Gov. Hickenlooper and his party appear to have the long game in mind. For example, if the speculation is true that Hillary Clinton will win the White House and Gov. Hickenlooper will accept a cabinet position, Lynne could incredulously slide into the governor’s mansion, becoming the first nominee in state history to become both lieutenant governor and governor without ever having won a single vote.

For that reason alone, Coloradans deserve a proper, thorough vetting of Lynn’s political history.