DENVER – Ellen Roberts is no longer a Party of One.
Since she entered the Legislature in 2007, the Republican senator from Durango has found herself alone, or with perhaps one or two allies, in crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats on high-profile issues.
But during the 2013 legislative session, which ended Wednesday, Roberts could look to her left and see several other Republican senators by her side.
Roberts was still the only Republican senator to vote for same-sex civil unions, one of the marquee bills of the year.
On other high-profile bills, though, Roberts stuck with the party while other Republicans played the role of aisle-crosser. Three Republican senators – Greg Brophy of Wray, Larry Crowder of Alamosa and Owen Hill of Colorado Springs — voted to give in-state tuition to students without legal permission to be in the country. Crowder also voted to expand health insurance for the poor under Obamacare, while Roberts voted against both bills.
Roberts provided one of the few Republican votes on any gun bill when she voted to require in-person training for concealed weapon permits. But she wasn’t alone. She was joined by Berthoud Sen. Kevin Lundberg, one of the most conservative legislators.
“I think it’s a possible sign that more Republicans are looking at the policy and their own districts. I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Roberts said.
But as other Republicans were leaning across the aisle on certain issues, Roberts felt repelled by Democratic leaders, who pursued an ambitious progressive agenda.
“This, by far, is the most contentious and most partisan of any of my seven years, and it makes me wonder if we are not becoming more like Washington, D.C.,” Roberts said.
The Durango senator sees conflict in the Senate as based on geography as much as on party. The prime example for her was a Democratic bill to double the renewable energy mandate on rural electric cooperatives. (Urban utilities have an even higher renewable mandate, even with the new rural increase.)
“I’m losing my ability to be sympathetic to the urban corridor when it’s become so partisan,” Roberts said.
In terms of bills passed, Roberts ranked as one of the most prolific legislators. She sponsored 29 bills, 25 of which passed.
Two of the four that failed died in the House before they even made it to Roberts’ chamber. The other two dealt with new standards for English language learners and pharmacists’ power to substitute similar, more affordable products.
Her successes included several bills on wildfire preparedness, including $10 million in grants to communities to thin forests and the creation of a new summer committee of the Legislature to evaluate the state’s firefighting ability.
Roberts also passed a bill to use computer data to find Medicaid fraud, plus one that extends the life of the Youth Advisory Council — a favorite project that she created in 2008.
