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Electoral college bill ignites partisan fight

Democrat Gordon, GOP Mitchell spar in Senate battle

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 23, 2007 at midnight

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A partisan battle over how Colorado counts its votes for president broke out in the Senate Monday with a Democrat accusing his leading Republican critic of distorting the truth about the bill.

Senate Bill 46 would put Colorado in an interstate agreement to elect the president by popular vote, instead of the electoral system currently in place.

The Senate gave initial approval to the measure; a formal vote is scheduled for Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said the current system is antiquated and causes presidential candidates to target only a handful of states.

But Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, called Gordon's proposal a "sneaky, backdoor" way to change the voting process, a "Utopian scheme" and "end-run" around the U.S. Constitution. And Mitchell questioned why Gordon would bring back a measure similar to one voters rejected in 2004.

Gordon disputed the notion that his bill is the same as the ballot measure. "Senator Mitchell," Gordon fumed, "you're wrong on every single count, and usually you do a better job arguing against bills here."

Gordon said it was untrue that if the measure passed, the presidential vote would become "irrelevant," as Mitchell maintained.

"Every vote will count," Gordon said.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said the only reason Democrats back the bill is they still are angry that Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but Republican George W. Bush won the presidency because he had more electoral votes.

During the debate, Gordon and Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, a history professor, corrected Republicans about the history of the electoral process.

Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, watched the dust-up with amusement. "Wow," he said. "We don't usually have this much fun so early in the session."

The Senate also approved:

• Senate Bill 26, on a 21-12 vote, a measure that allows school districts to ask local voters whether they want to pay for full-day kindergarten.

• Senate Bill 40, on a 24-8 vote, a measure that would block Wal-Mart and Home Depot from owning and operating banks in their Colorado stores.

• Senate Bill 20, on a 21-13 vote, a measure that establishes performance review criteria for the commissioner of education.