I had lunch today with Cindy Carlisle and first off kudos to her for meeting with me after I tore into her on her handling of the Bruce Benson issue. She was very gracious.
So what drives Cindy? The environment. No matter what we discussed, the topic would lead to the environment or we would then return to an environmental issue. From a mini-EPA for the state to power generation (no more coal) to litigation (an anti-slam bill) to water - very very environmental centric.
She is thoughtful, open-minded, and very knowledgeable on this. And it is clearly her passion. I think most of her efforts in the legislature, both in terms of efforts she initiates and where her knowledge will help her in persuading the others in the Senate.
Second, Cindy is a legislator. Makes sense from her time on the Boulder City Council and the C.U. Board of Regents. She speaks to approaching problems from that mindset. That has it's pluses and minuses but it is mostly a plus for being effective in the Senate.
Her number 2 issue is bringing single payer health-care to Colorado - on a state level. On the plus side, she is familiar with HMSA which is Hawaii's system that has been around forever and works - so she is speaking based on a known working case.
On the negative side, the fact that TABOR would make it impossible to fund from taxes, even if the tax increase was less than the amount people would save in what they pay now, seemed to catch her by surprise. I've seen this gotcha catch virtually everyone who has not served in the legislature - but it sure would be nice to have them realize this as it is one of the biggest constraints they will face in the legislature. And it's not a big secret.
The final surprise was that the Cindy I met today was very different from the Cindy speaking at the County Convention. The Cindy at the convention was a barn burning ultra-liberal feeding the crowd the red meat they so much wanted to hear. The Cindy I met was a thoughtful person with very progressive policies but also a measured approach - that has a much better chance of success.
There were no inconsistencies between what was said the two times, rather a difference in what was covered and how it was presented. What does this mean? It means that like any successful politician, Cindy does a very good job of tailoring her message for her audience.
What will you get with Cindy? First and foremost a strong advocate for the environment. Second, a diverse voice on health-care who, probably won't be successful on single payer (that's a tough fight) but at least might bring us some improvement over the presently proposed band-aids.
