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Colo. Indie probes possibility Buescher could be next speaker
The Colorado Independent stoked the speculative fire in an article today discussing the possibility that state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, could succeed outgoing Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.
“I’m honored that folks are talking to me about being speaker, and a lot of folks on both sides of the aisle have said they would like for me to do that. My Republican friends are really saying, ‘You’ve just got to be speaker,’ and that’s because I think they know they can work with me,” Buescher told the online newspaper. “They know I don’t come at issues from a doctrinaire, party-line perspective. I’m a little older than most of the legislators, so that’s perhaps a little more experience.”
The article, which mentions that Buescher first has to defeat his electoral opponent, Republican Laura Bradford, before having new business cards printed up, details the Grand Junction Democrat’s rise on the state political scene:
“A fourth-generation Grand Junction resident, Buescher ran an aviation company for nine years after his two decades in tax law. His financial chops and years of serving on various government and nonprofit boards caught the attention of then-Gov. Roy Romer, who tapped Buescher in 1996 to reorganize and rescue the financially troubled Colorado State Fair and then work on various health-care programs for the administration. In ’98 he missed the chance to become lieutenant governor when Gail Schoettler lost to Republican Bill Owens by less than 1 percent of the vote.
“Buescher was angling for a position with what he thought would be state Attorney General Ken Salazar’s gubernatorial administration in ’02 when his friend surprised him by running for and winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. So Buescher won a seat in the state House and became the first freshman legislator to serve on the Joint Budget Committee.”
The article is worth a read if you’re at all interested in the Democratic side of what is expected to be a rousing electoral battle between Buescher and Bradford this fall.
*Buescher photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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