Recall Attempts on State Legislators Unprecedented in Colorado

By Karen Shanton

Senators Giron and Morse. Photo credit: Yahoo News

A recall petition against Colorado Senator Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) was deemed sufficient on Monday. This follows certification of a similar petition against Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) last week.

The petitions might not make it to the ballot. Senator Morse’s supporters have filed a protest against the sufficiency ruling, which is slated for a hearing on Thursday. On Tuesday, Senator Giron followed suit.

If they do make the cut, though, the petitions will set up a historic ballot for the Centennial State. Colorado had never even seen an attempt to recall a state legislator before this year so getting the pending recalls on the ballot would be a first for the state. It would also make Colorado just the fifth state in U.S. history to hold two or more state legislative recall elections in a single year and the fourth to trigger recalls for two or more members of the same chamber in one year.

Wisconsin is, of course, the undisputed record-holder on this score. In the two-year period from 2011 to 2012, Wisconsin petitioners gathered enough signatures to put 13 state senators–or almost 40 percent of the chamber’s total membership–on the ballot. Wisconsin’s recalls were prompted by a battle over labor issues, with GOP senators targeted for backing a budget bill that would limit public employee collective bargaining and Democrats in the crosshairs for leaving the state to delay passage of the bill.

Photo credit: Guns.com

Colorado’s recall efforts are similarly policy-driven. Earlier this year, Senators Giron and Morse voted for a gun control package. The recalls are widely acknowledged to be a response to those votes (recall efforts were also launched against two other gun control supporters, Senator Evie Hudak of Westminster and Representative Michael McLachlan of Durango, but those efforts have since fizzled).

Unlike in Wisconsin, the Colorado recall efforts don’t carry the potential for a change in partisan control. John Lehman’s win in Wisconsin in 2012, combined with victories by Democrats Jessica King and Jennifer Shilling in 2011, handed Badger State Democrats a (temporary) Senate majority. With a 20-15 edge in the state Senate, Colorado Democrats will hold the chamber no matter how the pending recalls turn out.