[ad_1]
The year 2022 was bookended by the deaths of two major political figures whose lives touched many at the state Capitol and beyond: Department of Labor and Employment lobbyist Pat Teegarden,who died on Feb. 5, and House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, 55, of Loveland, who passed away on Oct. 30.
Both were sudden and unexpected, their deaths drawing an outpouring of grief.
The state House and Senate paid tribute to Teegarden on Feb. 7, with a moment of silence in the House and Senate, and the chimes ringing in the Senate in his honor. One common refrain uttered by lawmakers and many others on social media who were devastated by his death was: “Be like Pat.”
Of Teegarden’s passing, McKean said, with his voice breaking, that “there are rare people in this building who are true servants … Pat was a servant.”
“He’s what you would wish in a civil servant, someone who knows his job but has humanity about him that takes it well beyond (the job),” McKean said. “He cared about others, not because of how they could advance his interests. He just cared about others. That’s who he was.”
In the Senate, Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, said Teegarden was “a giant, as pure a human as they make.” No one who heard the news wasn’t completely devastated, he added.
But devastation came again in October with the news of McKean’s death. He was called “irreplaceable” by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
“Colorado found itself with a ‘Hugh-sized’ hole in its heart” with his death, said longtime friend and Weld County Commissioner Scott James.
McKean served six years in the Colorado House, including the last two as minority leader. Shortly after taking the helm of the caucus, he told Colorado Politics his goal was to empower his members to best represent their constituents.
“That’s kind of what I think is a really new attitude – how do we make each one of our members most successful in serving their districts? Because that’s what ends up serving everyone the best,” he said. “That means that you get the best bills run. You get the best chances for reelection. You get the best contact and input from the people you serve. That’s the biggest difference.”
McKean’s death prompted an outpouring of grief from legislators, friends and other leaders from all walks of political life. He was renowned for his ability to work both within his party, as well as with Democrats, on legislation.
Gov. Jared Polis called McKean “a family man and a true public servant,” with a “knack for making everyone feel like they were the most important person in the room.”
“Minority Leader McKean cared deeply for his constituents, always had time for a conversation or a laugh, and truly worked every day to build a better future for every Coloradan,” Polis said in a statement. “As a dad myself, I can’t imagine the pain his children and family are feeling at this difficult time. We are sending thoughts and prayers to all of Hugh’s loved ones and take comfort knowing his legacy will be felt in Colorado for years to come.”
Colorado’s political class also mourned the passing of other giants from the political world in 2022.
Former state legislator Dennis Gallagher, D-Denver died at age 82 on April 22. Gallagher’s political life spanned five decades, including as the namesake of the Gallagher amendment, enshrined in the state Constitution in 1982 until its repeal in 2021, as well as a longtime Denver city auditor and Denver city councilman.
His family’s obituary noted that, while in Washington, attending Catholic University, he found “the inspiration for his later political journey.”
“Like many people at the time, he heard the call from President John F Kennedy and committed his life to the service of others. One of his fondest memories of his time at Catholic University was meeting Kennedy in person, and sharing a moment, that would solidify his love of Kennedy,” his family said.
Gallagher served two terms in Colorado’s House of Representatives after his election in 1970, followed by 20 years in the Senate. Gallagher served on the Denver City Council for two terms from 1995 to 2003 before being elected Denver’s city auditor in 2003, a position he held for the next dozen years. Westword’s Patty Calhoun wrote that “Dennis Gallagher’s world was this city. And for so many, he was this city.”
Gallagher’s St. Patrick’s Day parties were a must, if people were lucky enough to get an invite. Gallagher was most proud of his Irish heritage and an expert on Denver’s Irish history.
Former state Sen. Gloria Tanner, D-Denver, died at age 86 on April 4. You could not draw a line from her northeast Denver home without hitting virtually every major Black elected official in northeast Denver, and many others, in the last 50 years. Tanner opened that public policy door for so many, Colorado’s politicians said as they celebrated the legacy of the first African-American woman to serve in the Colorado State Senate.
Tanner began her Colorado political career as an executive assistant to Lt. Gov. George Brown, the first African-American in Colorado to hold that position. She went on to work for Sen. Regis Groff of Denver as his communications director, and then finally ran for the House in 1985, representing northeast Denver. When Groff resigned from the Senate in 1994, Tanner ran for his seat and won the vacancy election. She served in the state Senate until 2001.
Sen. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora, who will serve as majority caucus chair in 2023, said it was Tanner who showed up at her house after Buckner’s husband, John, passed away in 2015 and encouraged her to run for the vacancy. Buckner said she resisted at first, telling Tanner that she was grieving and couldn’t think about such things. But Tanner persisted, Buckner said.
“You need to continue his legacy and what he started,” Buckner recalled Tanner saying. “I could hear her words in my head as I made that decision.”
Incoming President Pro Tempore Sen. James Coleman, D-Denver, who represents Tanner’s former Senate district, grew up just a few blocks away from Tanner and has known her almost his entire life. He told Colorado Politics that Tanner encouraged him to run for the Senate.
“I wouldn’t be here without her,” Coleman said. “I speak of her weekly … I have big shoes to fill.”
Coleman said he worked with Tanner on policy even in 2022 over a bill on senior property tax exemptions.
“I honor her in that,” he said.
Former state Rep. Jeanne Labuda, D-Denver, died at age 75 on July 25. She served her southwest Denver district from 2006 to 2014. Like Gallagher, she was inspired by President Kennedy, enrolling in the Peace Corps, where she spent 2 1/2 years teaching in Liberia. She also traveled extensively during that time, with trips to Timbuktu, a trek through the southern Sahara Desert and a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
In a 2014 profile of term-limited lawmakers, Labuda pointed to one of the first bills she sponsored, which addressed child custody issues for military personnel.
“To get a bill enacted that I know definitely helps people, I mean, I’ve had a few of those, but we pass a lot of bills down here that help people,” she said.
Labuda said her experience in the legislature helped her grow as a person: “I think I’m more grounded than I was because I’m more knowledgeable. Knowledge is power.”
There were people who weren’t politically prominent but whose death had had a larger effect on Colorado’s political scene.
Among them are Karina Rodriquez, 28; Sabas Marquez, 24; Humberto Arroyo-Ledezma, 32; Stephine Monroe, 29; and Jennifer Cunningham, 32, who all died after ingesting what they thought was cocaine and turned out to be lethal doses of fentanyl. Already a concern for state lawmakers, the five deaths in a Commerce City apartment on Feb. 20 galvanized community activists and lawmakers alike to address the fentanyl crisis, although the final result was less than what many — on both sides of the political aisle — had hoped for. Rodriquez’ sister testified to her family’s grief and loss during hearings on House Bill 22-1326 in April.
More than 460 Coloradans — including the five in Commerce City — have died from fentanyl overdoses through August of 2022, according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment. An investigation by the Denver Gazette showed the first fentanyl victim of 2022 was likely that of a one-year-old Brighton child who, according to her parents’ arrest affidavit, died from an ingestion of pure fentanyl. The faces were varied: a teenager died in her Colorado Springs classroom, another collapsed in a Dairy Queen lobby, and two sisters overdosed from suspected fentanyl in their car. As the Denver Gazette noted, in 2022, fentanyl killed five children under 14 and an elderly cowboy, a drug peer counselor and a shy 15-year-old.
On Nov. 19, a gunman opened fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs, killing five and wounding 17 others.
Those who died were Kelly Loving, 40; Daniel Aston, 28; Derrick Rump, 38; Ashley Paugh, 35; and, Raymond Green Vance, 22.
[ad_2]
Source link
