State Rep. Janet Buckner is going all in.

During her first regular session filling the House seat vacated by her late husband, Rep. John Buckner, Janet spent nearly two months fighting for the parental involvement bill he championed last year only to see it die in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

At midsession, her optimism may be tempered by the grinding reality of work under the gold dome, but she’s still charging hard. Next week, Buckner, D-Aurora, will be making the case before the House Finance Committee for her latest bill, the Colorado Secure Savings Plan and, come summer, she’s running for reelection in House District 40.

“When I came here, I was so idealistic. I just knew if anybody could get these bills through, I could do it,” Buckner said with a wry smile. “Little did I know.”

The Colorado Statesman caught up with Buckner last week to find she is pursuing her new role with equal parts humility and determination.

“When I decided to take this position, I had some big shoes to fill, obviously, stepping into my husband’s shoes, cause he was so good at what he did,” Buckner said.

She met her husband when they were freshmen at Ball State University in Indiana. They settled in the suburbs of Chicago after they graduated. Then they moved to Colorado in 1975.

“We came out and John interviewed for his job the end of May — and it snowed,” Buckner recalls, “I thought, ‘What are we doing going to a place where it snows in the spring?’”

Buckner got the job and that initial apprehension evaporated under Colorado’s 300 days of sun. The couple set up in Aurora, where John helped open Laredo Middle School and Smoky Hill High School and Janet, who has a bachelor’s degree in education and majored in speech pathology, went to work as a speech pathologist.

The couple thrived in their new community, raising twin daughters, Joy and Jennifer, and a son, John William Buckner II. Janet moved into medical sales, and in 2012, John ran for the HD40 seat against incumbent Republican Cindy Acree. He won with 57.2 percent of the vote, and won reelection in 2014. He died in May 2015 from respiratory illness.

Two months later, the Democratic Party vacancy committee elected Janet unanimously to take the seat. At her swearing-in, her granddaughter, Sydney Cobb, 6, recited the Pledge of Allegiance in the House chamber to a crowd of lawmakers and their families and friends.

“When I came down here I wanted to make sure that I could work across the aisle,” Buckner said. “Because I think what the general public doesn’t see is we’re all more alike than we are different — and I mean that in every way. We work together really well with the Republicans, and I’m building relationships with those people.”

Buckner has learned she must be proactive in defending her bills.

“[John] ran the parent-involvement bill last year, and it unfortunately did not pass,” Buckner said. It was legislation inspired by lifelong experience in education, and it’s a fight she picked up early in the session with HB16-1002. “Even if he hadn’t run that bill, it’s a bill I would have run.”

The bill would have allowed parents to take unpaid leave to attend school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, award ceremonies, or disciplinary meetings. If reelected, Buckner plans to reintroduce the bill in 2017 armed with the insight and feedback gained from her first legislative setback.

“As an educator, the most important thing was having parents involved in their kids’ education,” Buckner explains. “And for my morale as a teacher, it was great to have parents coming in so we could both be on the same page.”

“There was someone who asked me — not asked me but told me — ‘Janet, in my opinion if someone works for an employer that won’t let them go, they should just quit their job,’” Buckner recalls with incredulity. “That sounds easy — to just say ‘Quit your job.’ What about benefits? What about finding another job? Everybody doesn’t have the luxury, and that’s the part that really tugs at my heart, the people who just don’t have the luxury of saying (to their employer), ‘I would love to go today, so bye.’”

Buckner feels the push for the bill’s passage provided invaluable insights into the concerns of all stakeholders, particularly the business community. The debate helped her refine her argument for the next round.

“I think the messaging is there, the word is out there now, so I’m going to try it again if I’m fortunate enough to come back,” Buckner says. “And I want to come back, I’ve still got work to do.”

Buckner also brought HB 16-1001, an equal-pay law co-sponsored with Rep. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge. That bill would have required any business with more than 50 employees to verify their compliance with pay equity laws in order to bid on state government contracts. It, too, was killed in the Republican-controlled Senate State Affairs Committee.

“State Affairs Committee? I thought that was good, and then everybody said, ‘Janet, that’s really kind of the committee it goes to if they don’t think it’s going to make it,’” Buckner said. “I thought ‘State Affairs, that sounds really important, that sounds great.’”

The vagaries of legislative politics aside, Buckner plans to reintroduce that bill next year, too, if she wins reelection.

“I am definitely going to run,” Buckner said. “I like what I’m doing. I like the feedback I’m getting from the community, and I know I can do a great job.”

— roxann@coloradostatesman.com