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| Rep. Tim Dore |
Following in other states' footsteps, rural lawmakers in Colorado are forming a bipartisan caucus "to advance the interests of Coloradans who live outside the Front Range," where most of the state's population lives, Kurtis Lee reports for
The Denver Post. The rural caucus was formed by Sen. Mary Hodge (D-Brighton) and Rep. Tim Dore (R-Elizabeth). Dore told the Post, “As the state representative with the largest House district in land
area, I understand issues facing my district and rural Colorado. Most
state legislators reside in the Denver metro area and are not focused on
rural issues. By creating a Rural Caucus, we will be uniting
legislators across the state to stand together on issues unique to rural
Colorado.”
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| Sen. Mary Hodge |
Hodge, who lives in an outer suburb of Denver, noted that she grew up on a farm in Yuma County, on the Nebraska border, "and some of my family still farms
and ranches in Yuma County. The entire eastern part of Senate District
25 is rural. I’m thrilled that those constituents will have a place
where their ideas, solutions, and thoughts can be discussed.”
"The formation of the caucus comes at time when Republicans have assailed
Democrats as waging a so-called 'war on rural Colorado,' after the 2013
passage of gun-control bills and a electricity mandate on rural
electric co-ops," which depend on coal, Lee writes. "The caucus, says Dore, hopes to help find consensus on legislation such as
a bill that would lower the renewable
energy mandate from 20 percent to 15 percent." (
Read more)
In November, five of 11 Republican-heavy rural counties that had secession on their ballots
voted to secede. Also, Two Democratic state senators who backed state gun-control laws were defeated in
recall elections, and another senator
resigned before a recall election could be held.
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