A year and a half ago Colorado voters placed their trust in a Democratic majority in the state legislature. Since then, House and Senate Democrats have worked hard to uphold that trust. "With the end of the legislative session, it's worth reflecting on what we've been able to accomplish in just two years," said Colorado Democratic Party chair Pat Waak.

"Under Democratic leadership, we solved the worst fiscal crisis in Colorado with passage of Referendum C. The General Assembly has worked to improve Colorado's schools, healthcare, and transportation. The Democratic leadership passed sensible immigration reforms and delivered a solution on the Public Employees Retirement Association that protects both workers and the solvency of the plan. In this era of Delay-style influence peddling, voters should also know that Democrats passed lobbying reforms and a ban on cash gifts to lawmakers," said Waak.

"These were incredible accomplishments, particularly in light of Republican attempts to insert partisan rancor and campaigning into daily life at the Capitol," observed Waak. "State Republican leaders have imported the worst of the national Republican party's scorched-earth campaign style," said Waak, "and they have hired out-of-state political operatives trained in the machinations of the Bush White House to sling that mud around."

As Democrats have worked on the people's business, Republican leadership has waged a campaign of character assassination through the Trailhead Group, which has launched round after round of malicious, false robocalls across the entire state. Although these calls may run afoul of a new campaign law enacted in 2005, Republican Attorney General John Suthers has been silent on the issue. "Since the attorney general's re-election campaign is funded by many of the same wealthy donors who are bankrolling Trailhead, perhaps we should not be surprised at his reluctance to do his job by conducting a proper investigation," Waak said.

"Republicans have resorted to patently political use of frivolous open-records requests to harass Democratic legislators, while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for this. They have even sent photographers and videographers skulking around the floor of the House of Representatives to capture footage of Democratic legislators, doubtless intended for use in attack mail pieces and attack TV ads later this year. This is simply polluting the people's chamber and interfering with the people's business in the name of pure partisanship," Waak continued.

"Republican leaders have much to hide behind these smokescreens," said Waak. "Former Minority Leader Joe Stengel was found to have collected taxpayers' money while vacationing in Hawaii. After circulating viciously racist comments and after his company was found to have sold private cell phone records, Representative Jim Welker has declined to stand for re-election. While polls show that a majority of Coloradans believe gay couples should have the same basic legal rights as everyone else, Representative Kevin Lundberg has pushed a ballot initiative to write discrimination into the state Constitution. In place of considered legislation on immigration, Representative Dave Schultheis xenphobically proposed to ban any non-English language books from state libraries."

"But I'm afraid we can only expect these partisan attacks to intensify," said Waak. "A national Republican 527 organization recently wrote a $290,000 check to the Trailhead Group to enable yet more of their mud-slinging. Meanwhile, Republican legislators' attendance this session has been remarkably poor. If state Republican leaders spent as much time trying to do the right thing for Coloradans as they spend attacking Democratic legislators, they might present a more compelling option to voters."

"Democratic legislators will work hard to earn the continued trust of Coloradans," said Waak. "This November, I'm confident voters will approve of their efforts on Colorado's behalf."