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Vignettes from opening day at the Legislature

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 8, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, sits with his nephew, Caden Kokes, 7, moments before the legislative session began. Also shown, from left, are Gardner's grandmothers, Anne Gardner and Betty Pagel, and Gardner's mother, Cindy Gardner.

Photo by Darin McGregor / The Rocky

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, sits with his nephew, Caden Kokes, 7, moments before the legislative session began. Also shown, from left, are Gardner's grandmothers, Anne Gardner and Betty Pagel, and Gardner's mother, Cindy Gardner.

Wyatt Pace, 1, climbs all over his dad, Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, as the state legislature kicks off the 2009 session at the Capitol.

Photo by Darin McGregor / The Rocky

Wyatt Pace, 1, climbs all over his dad, Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, as the state legislature kicks off the 2009 session at the Capitol.

Rep. Buffie McFayden, whose baby was born on Christmas Day, stands outside the House of Representatives on opening day.

Photo by Preston Gannaway / The Rocky

Rep. Buffie McFayden, whose baby was born on Christmas Day, stands outside the House of Representatives on opening day.

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Mother's Day

Andrea Karren McFadyen- Manchego celebrated reaching two full weeks of life on the floor of the House as her mother, Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, was sworn in for another term.

"She thought it was great," the proud mom reported.

Andrea was born on Christmas Day, the "best gift ever," the lawmaker said.

Both mother and daughter got lots of attention during the morninglong ceremony.

Tall in the saddle

Blustery winds kept blowing open the enormous shutters in the House chambers until finally the new majority leader, Paul Weissmann, pulled a MacGyver.

The 6-foot-1 Louisville Democrat got a twist tie, commandeered a press table chair, stood on it and struggled to reach the shutter handles, finally tying them shut.

All in a day's work for the new House majority leader.

By the way, callers to the House majority leader's office were informed they had reached Alice Madden. She's the former majority leader.

Serious business

Not every subject was light on opening day.

A House Ethics Committee met and decided to request phone, e-mail and text-messaging records from everyone involved in the complaint that has been filed against Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial. At issue is whether a lobbyist acted improperly during a leadership race and whether Balmer was involved.

Balmer's attorney, Jon Anderson, said he expected to file a response immediately. "We're looking forward to getting the facts out there that will make clear he had no involvement in this situation," Anderson said.

Drawing the line

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, took plenty of ribbing when he was sworn into office by Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey of the Colorado Supreme Court.

This week, he and other GOP lawmakers sent her a letter demanding she address what they believe are partisan decisions that favor Democrats.

Mullarkey signed off on the election affidavits, certifying the results of the election.

"How come your signature's different than mine?" joked Rep. Edward Casso, D-Thornton.

"Yours isn't in crayon?" Gardner cracked.

Foster's children . . . and grandchildren . . . and . . .

During down time Wednesday, senators introduced their friends and family members to the rest of the body.

Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, appeared to have the biggest family contingent in the audience, including her husband, three children and their spouses, a sister from Chicago, a brother from Centennial (who is a Republican), four grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews and a gaggle of friends.

"I have a lot of people here, and that's probably why I won by over 68 percent of the vote," Foster joked.

Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, had only five family members present, but the former House majority leader had a bigger fan club. About 50 students from Colorado Springs Early Colleges, a charter school that he founded, came up for the event.