State Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, is stepping down from the Statehouse as of Dec. 31. She has been a good legislator and will be missed.
That Roberts would want to leave the Senate is understandable. Serving in the General Assembly is hard work – and for little pay. It involves extensive time away from home, seemingly endless meetings and hearings, and being continuously lobbied, tugged at and critiqued. And no matter what a legislator does, somebody will complain.
It has to be tiring. And Roberts has done it for a decade, four years in the state House and six in the Senate.
She has done it well, which reflects even more effort. In this last session she was the principal sponsor of 22 bills, 19 of which were passed by both houses and signed into law. With the Legislature politically divided, that can only happen with bipartisan support. Two-thirds of her bills that passed had bipartisan cosponsors.
That is the legislative look of a lawmaker who sees her job as getting things done for her constituents – not grandstanding or scoring political points. Moreover, Roberts has focused on things that actually matter to Coloradans.
Many of those concern natural resources, particularly water and forests. She has been deeply involved with the State Water Plan and has continually emphasized the need for conservation with, as usual, an emphasis on ensuring that the Front Range treats the Western Slope with respect. After all, she argues, if people on the Front Range are going to help themselves to Western Slope water, the least they should do is conserve. Her bill to limit lawn watering got considerable notice.
Roberts also wants to see to it that the population centers pay attention to forest health. That also involves a regional take in that too many Coloradans focus on forests only when one of them is on fire near them.
Her work on police reform legislation highlighted her cooperative approach. There, the divide was less Front Range vs. West Slope as urban vs. rural. It was a difficult issue, made more manageable by her willingness to consider all involved.
Boosting awareness of the Western Slope was aided by Roberts’ position as president pro tem, a post to which she was elected by a unanimous vote of all 35 senators.
Perhaps Roberts’ proudest accomplishment, however, was her creation of the Colorado Youth Advisory Council, a 40-member body that brings together youth from across the state to advise the Legislature on issues of importance to young Coloradans. It has one member from each of the state’s 35 senate districts with five additional slots set aside for rural members. Subjects the council has addressed include teen suicide, drug and alcohol use and hopelessness. It is an incubator for young talent, and the senator says to keep an eye on it for future leaders of the state.
Roberts says she is leaving the senate feeling positive about what she has done. She should feel positive, and proud as well. In the Legislature the to-do list is never ending, but she did accomplish good things.
Nothing has been decided, but speculation centers on state Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, as her successor. He should be warned, however, that Roberts is going to be a tough act to follow.
