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Head of House panel replaced; new path on health care cited

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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House Speaker-designee Terrance Carroll

Photo by /Special to the Rocky

House Speaker-designee Terrance Carroll

Rep. Anne McGihon

Photo by /The Rocky

Rep. Anne McGihon

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An outspoken advocate of a government-run health care system for Colorado was removed as head of the legislature's Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday.

House Speaker-designee Terrance Carroll said he is replacing Rep. Anne McGihon, a fellow Denver Democrat, because he thought the legislature needed to move in a new direction in health care discussions.

McGihon, who has headed the committee that deals with health care bills for the past four years, will be replaced by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley. McGihon will retain a seat on the committee.

McGihon pushed for quicker and more comprehensive health care reform and showed an interest in a so-called single-payer system despite Gov. Bill Ritter's saying he did not favor it. McGihon also had opposed Carroll in the recent intraparty contest to become the next House speaker.

"You're going to have to ask Terrance why he removed me," McGihon said. "He didn't tell me why he removed me."

Carroll said it is time to look at a wider range of issues, including preventive care and greater access to quality health care, subjects he says would benefit from Riesberg's background in nonprofit work involving the elderly.

He said that McGihon's running against him for the speaker's post didn't influence his decision, noting that Gunnison Rep. Kathleen Curry also opposed him but remains chairwoman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

"I thought it was important to move the caucus forward with a different direction in terms of our agenda," Carroll said Tuesday. "There's been an awful lot of talk about universal health care . . . I think that conversation's very important. I just want to make sure we have a broad discussion of other aspects of health care, too."

Carroll, expected to be elected speaker in January, picked those who will head House committees for the next two years.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, was appointed to Carroll's old position heading the Judiciary Committee, a change questioned by some Republicans. Levy is a former public defender who has sponsored what the GOP considers soft-on-crime bills, including a measure vetoed by Ritter this year that would have made it harder for prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults.

House Minority Caucus Chairwoman Amy Stephens, a Monument Republican and former Judiciary Committee member, said some prosecutors are concerned Levy will favor bills backed by defense attorneys.

Carroll defended Levy and noted that the committee vice chairwoman will be Rep.-elect Beth McCann of Denver, who is coming from the attorney general's office.

"Representative Levy is not soft on crime. . . . She's smart on crime," Carroll said. "She doesn't believe that you simply lock people up and throw away the key."

Carroll also kept Colorado Springs Rep. Mike Merrifield as chairman of the Education Committee, despite the two having had differences over charter school funding, which Carroll favors and Merrifield often opposes.

Carroll said that Merrifield, heading into his final House term, is involved in reforms in teacher recruiting and school financing and that he has served well as a chairman.