By Sen. Mike Kopp, published in The Rocky Mountain News
Colorado's governor cannot even appoint someone to the state parks board without the approval of the full state Senate. Yet, our governor has the power to replace one of our state's U.S. senators - who serve in the most powerful lawmaking body on Earth - without consulting anyone at all.
Some say that's pretty much how Gov. Bill Ritter went about replacing Ken Salazar when he gave up his U.S. Senate seat to take his new job as Interior secretary in the Obama administration. Ritter's surprise pick of Denver schools chief and fellow Democrat Michael Bennet - who had never held elective office - mystified a lot of his party's leaders and even upset a few. Although Bennet is respected and has engendered goodwill in the Denver area, he remains largely unknown in much of the rest of Colorado.
More to the point, Coloradans for the most part hadn't a clue as to Bennet's views on a host of fundamental, bread- and-butter issues that are now his daily fare on the Senate floor. National security and foreign policy? How about the unprecedented federal bailout package that is moving through Congress? With no voting record or even a campaign platform, Bennet was by and large a mystery to most of the Coloradans he now will represent until the next general election.
Read full commentary: www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/01/kopp-people-should-have-voice-in-selection-of/