So who does the best Sen. Lois Court? Sen. Don Coram thinks it’s him.

The Montrose Republican made that claim this week during a debate on a bill on civics education, a passion of the one-time Democratic senator from Denver. Court resigned at the beginning of 2020 when she was afflicted with Guillain-Barre syndrome. She was succeeded by Sen. Chris Hansen of Denver, who has advanced some of the ideas that Court championed.

Coram tried his best to imitate Court during second reading debate on Senate Bill 67 on Tuesday, and he’s had previous practice. He once dressed up as the longtime lawmaker for an episode of Hummers, the series of skits the House minority does at the end of the session to poke fun at the majority party. 

While he was missing the silver wig and purple dress from Hummers days on Tuesday, Coram did his best.

“It’s for the children!” Coram shouted, gesticulating wildly, in his attempt to imitate Court.

Court, who is still recovering from Guillain Barre, told Colorado Politics Wednesday that she listened to Tuesday’s debate, and asked Coram later if he was going to dress up like her for the third reading vote.

Fortunately, the Senate was spared that spectacle on Wednesday.

Coram asked for permission for a third reading amendment prior to the final vote, the bane of lawmakers that usually gets lots of hisses and boos. Those hisses, however, turned to “awwwwwws” when Coram said he wanted to change the bill’s short title to recognize his longtime friend.

“We have been friends for more than a decade,” Court said, a bond that began when both served in the House. “Democrats and Republicans don’t hate each other,” she said. “Some adore each other, and Don Coram and I are in that category.”

She thanked Coram and co-sponsor Hansen for their work to promote civics education through the bill. What’s among the bill’s most important aspects is its emphasis on community participation. “We recognize that education writ large is not only the school’s responsibility. Civics education is not only the school’s responsibility; it’s the community’s responsibility,” Court, ever the teacher, said.

So who does the best Lois Court? According to Court, Coram does come “real close.”

A tale of a rubber band ball

Here’s hoping the annual dropping of the rubber band ball, a tradition started in the Senate in 2011, is poised to celebrate (?) its 10th anniversary this year. Said one member of the lobbying corps, a wealth of good quotes for which she cannot be named, “you take care of the bills, you take care of the calendar and you take care of the rubber band balls.”

The winner for the past couple of years has been Senate Republicans, but their champion. Sen. Vicki Marble, was term-limited last year, so the mantle has been passed to Sen. Jim Smallwood of Parker.

Initially, the word on the street was the Senate Dems had not even started collecting yet, but that notion was disabused by Senate President Leroy Garcia, who said the ball is being developed “in stealth.” Really. It’s like some classified military secret. 

However, no matter how big the ball that either side of the aisle comes up with, it’ll never top the champion.

That honor belongs to Linda Hansen at Ace-Kauffman Rubber Stamp & Seal, located on Welton St. in between downtown Denver and Five Points. The company will celebrate 150 years in business in 2022. A family-owned business, they’ve been making the official ID badges for legislators, journalists and lobbyists for years.

Hansen, who has worked for the company for years (her dad was one of the owners) is the proud owner of this beauty.

She started it in the days when the USPS would drop off big loads of mail, held together with even bigger rubber bands. That was in 1988. Yes, more than 32 years ago, before Rep. Dylan Roberts and Sen. James Coleman (and probably a couple of others) were even born.

The ball graces the front office of Ace-Kauffman. Hansen continues to add to it but it doesn’t actually grow much from year to year, despite its age. You know what happens when rubber bands get old: they snap and break. Hansen said that sometimes leads to a little commotion. When some of those rubber bands break, it sometimes triggers the building alarm, leading to calls from the alarm company.

As to the history of the rubber band ball at the state Capitol, Capitol M would like to give credit where it is due.

It turns out that the original idea was cooked up by a Senate Minority Office staffer known as Kevin Van Winkle, along with then-Senate Minority Leader Mark Scheffel of Parker. The representative from Highlands Ranch and sometimes-hockey player was able to pinpoint the precise date of the first drop, along with a picture, as May 12, 2011. 

AND finally…

Thursday was the day for the House to give preliminary approval to a bill on the 2020 Colorado Revised Statutes. 

Apparently, 2020 is so painful a memory that any reminder must immediately be quashed, and that applied to Senate Bill 68. Its sheepish sponsors, Reps. Matt Soper, R-Delta, and Marc Snyder, D-Colorado Springs, pleaded with the House to approve the bill despite its negative connections.

“I have a lot of issues with the year 2020,” said Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield, to laughs. “It was a horrible, no good year, to be honest. I want to put it behind me. I don’t want to enshrine it in our statutes. So I’ve got a problem with this bill.”

Added Van Winkle, “I couldn’t agree more. There’s not a lot of folks in their workplace that can erase an entire year. But if we’re going to erase a year, 2020 would be a great year, so I encourage a ‘no’ vote.” 

“A vote for this bill is a vote for 2020,” said Rep. Shane Sandridge, R-Colorado Springs. 

Despite the bipartisan condemnation, and frankly more “no” votes than “ayes,” the chair of the debate, Rep. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, declared the bill passed.