RIDGWAY – About twenty of the county’s most ardent Democrats, including Ouray County Commissioner Keith Meinert, heard an assessment of their party’s past accomplishments and current goals at a breakfast on May 27 in Ridgway, from one of the highest ranking members of the Colorado legislature: Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff.

The dapper and charming politico spoke at the home of Ken and Carol Lipton during a quiche and orange juice breakfast talk and stressed that the most effective way to make a dent on campaign finance, health care, property tax and renewable energy reforms is by “building alliances across the aisle.”

The areas of greatest need, according to Romanoff, are in education, health care, renewable energy and transportation funding.

According to Romanoff, problem solving with a “radical approach” worked effectively in helping to solve the fiscal crisis of 2001-2002 during his first term in office. Rather than partisan bickering and gridlock, the legislature worked in unity during the 2005 session with former Republican Governor Bill Owen, Senate President Fitz-Gerald and Romanoff when they crafted a compromise proposal in 2005 to help state government deal with massive budget cuts. The cuts were forced because tax revenues sharply declined during the 2001-03 recession.

But while the state’s economy began to rebound by 2004, the “ratchet effect” in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights amendment prevented state government from using the rising tax revenues to restore funding. The bi-partisan compromise was a package of measures that were considered by voters in the November election, called Referenda C and D; C was approved but D was defeated.

“Referendum C wanted no new taxes but it took three quarters of the (state) assembly and another multi-million dollar campaign to get it adopted,” said Romanoff. “Repairing and rebuilding the economy would have been impossible if that measure had failed,” Romanoff added.

He attributes the success to the rewarding of ideas “from wherever they are sourced to” and a positive tone from the Democrats. “We ought to be humble enough to not make the same mistakes (in) controlling party arrogance,” he said.

Referendum C gives Colorado state government a five-year reprieve from the spending limits of the TABOR amendment, from FY 2005-06 through FY 2009-10. Referendum C funds are to be specifically used for public K-12 education, higher education, health care and transportation. “We were 49th in the country for economic support for colleges and universities,” Romanoff said. “We need to educate our workforce. It is not good enough to be prettier than most states. Unless we do a better job of educating our kids, we’re going to lose jobs to India or elsewhere.”

Projections during the ’05 campaign pegged state revenues to rise by as much as $3.7 billion over the five years. But in fact Colorado’s economy has rebounded at a stronger rate than expected, and as of December 2006, the five-year total is estimated to be $5.7 billion.

Some critics have charged that the passage of C constituted a hidden tax increase.

Problems persist, however, with the unintended side effects of both the TABOR and Gallagher Amendment of 1982, particularly for counties with “really poor districts,” according to Romanoff. He likened it to having “one foot on the gas pedal, the other on the brakes.” For example, Romanoff said if local funding fails, the mill levy goes down due to TABOR.

“Aspen has sky rocketing land values, but plummeting revenues. Rich districts are getting subsidized by really poor districts. It subsidizes the rapidly rising counties,” he said.

Romanoff added that some lawmakers are considering a way to devise a “multi-subject, single subject tax” by consolidating TABOR, Amendment 23 and Gallagher.

Romanoff, who pointed out that he is not related to the powerful European family of the same surname, stressed that “there is no magical monopoly on good ideas. We changed the game to approach bills on their merit or not,” regardless of party affiliation or an individual’s ranking in the legislature.

Another challenge on the table for the legislature involves health care. At present, over 20 states, including Colorado, are addressing or have devised a way for insuring all if its citizens. “Insurance executives were asked to testify (before a legislative committee) They said ‘it’s not our fault, it’s the hospitals.’ Then the hospital executives were asked for their reasons and they said: ‘It’s the uninsured.’ They end up in emergency rooms, and the costs have to be passed along.”

Romanoff said that after hearing from insurance executives, hospital executives and patients and consumer representatives that they have been working together on a solution for about a year, the mission is “to expand access to everyone and hold down the costs and keep up quality.”

“Health care is tremendously wasteful,” Romanoff said. “We need a different way to organize the health care system.”

Romanoff referred to the current problems with campaign funding as a “money chase,” or an “obscene mad dash for funds.” It has now reached a level which is “not healthy for Democrats, Republicans or democracy.”

One guest asked how the legislature can appeal to moderates, who in the past have frequently been the arbiter in political problem solving.

“You have a huge opportunity that will be lost (if) we don’t reach out on both sides to moderates... The focus is on the things that matter. We’ re more likely to win if we solve problems.”

When another guest lamented that few people, besides politicians, “have the time to get really involved,” Romanoff quoted former presidential candidate and Democrat Adlai Stevenson.

“Once Stevenson was told by someone on the campaign trail the ‘You have the vote of every thinking American.’ His reply: ‘Thanks. It’s not enough. I need a majority.’”

Romanoff will be finishing his service in the legislature in 2008 due to statutory term limits, and is the youngest person in the history of the Colorado legislature to receive the State Legislative Leadership Award.