From Denver Post.....
The return of Colorado’s legislature to the Capitol this week brought lofty talk from legislative leaders about the need for civility. It also came with a harsh reality: the acrimony and vitriol that marred last year’s proceedings have done anything but fade away.
Simmering tensions have built up for several years, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say, and were only exacerbated by flareups during November’s special session on property taxes and housing relief. It’s now an election year — a dynamic guaranteed to heighten political differences.
“The path that we’re on has to be disrupted,” said Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican. “It has to change. We somehow have to go back to the state that we were in even 10 years ago, or even at the beginning of my tenure, which was six years ago — (it) was a much healthier place than it is today.”
A pessimism has taken hold among many legislators, lobbyists and political operatives about how the next four months of the annual session will unfold, even as both chambers’ Democratic majorities lay out ambitious legislative plans.
And it’s not just about fighting between the political parties. Disagreements among Democrats have become more public as the party’s power in the Capitol has grown, with the expanding majority caucuses — now at historic numbers — revealing divisions within a broad ideological spectrum. That’s especially so in the House, where progressives and more moderate Democrats sometimes clash.
“Now, because the Republicans are somewhat irrelevant in terms of getting stuff passed, we’re fighting with each other,” said Rep. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat.
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