Face the State Staff Report
DENVER - As the state legislature convenes here this week, rumors are already circulating that a powerful state senator may be looking for ways to extend her power once she is term-limited after this year's session.
Political insiders are speculating about gossip that Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, will resign her seat before the end of her term. The move would open the door for fellow Democrat and State Board of Education member Evie Hudak to take over and run as an incumbent this year, an important advantage in a Democrat primary field likely to be crowded with multiple candidates. Of equal importance to Windels, the move would also allow her to be appointed to Hudak's Board seat.
Hudak has already filed to run as a candidate in the state's 19th senate district, currently held by Windels. If Windels resigns the seat later this Spring, insiders who spoke to Face the State off the record believe Hudak would have the support of party insiders to earn a vacancy appointment. The status of incumbency would give her a stronger base from which to fend off a primary challenge from John Giardino. Republican Libby Szabo has also filed to run in the district.
A similar move occurred in 2006 when then-state Senator Norma Anderson, R-Littleton, resigned and endorsed fellow moderate Kiki Traylor to serve the last year of her term. The strategy floundered with GOP primary voters, however, who saw Traylor as too liberal. She ultimately lost the subsequent primary election to conservative Mike Kopp.
Windels, now in her twelfth year in the legislature, currently chairs the Senate education committee, and is an ardent opponent of school choice efforts across the state. She was the chief architect of 2007’s Senate Bill 61, an attempt to gut an institution that authorizes public charter schools as alternatives for families dissatisfied with their available educational options. The Democrat state senator also came under fire last April for her email remarks that students enrolled in online schools, many of them racial minorities, are “lazy and struggling.” School choice defenders responded by pointing out that students often need a lot more self-motivation and self-discipline to succeed in a virtual classroom.
Hudak holds similar positions.
Like Windels, Hudak's political aspirations have been largely financed by the Colorado Education Association and other education unions. On the State Board of Education, Windels would be able to continue Hudak’s legacy of voting to reject charter school authorization appeals, denying educational opportunity and innovation in favor of preserving the power of established interest groups.
The Board is currently comprised of three Democrats and four Republicans, one of whom is considered a swing vote on matters of school choice. Hudak won re-election unopposed to her State Board of Education seat in 2006.