Face The State Staff Report
Fresh off her Mexican vacation, state Rep. Karen Middleton, D-Aurora, returned to the state Capitol Monday, defending her absence during a key vote on the state's budget bill last week.
MiddletonFTS Staff Photo
Middleton said that she had planned the vacation before filling the seat vacated by former Rep. Michael Garcia, D-Aurora, who resigned amid allegations that exposed himself and made lewd comments to a female lobbyist. “This was my last chance to go on Spring Break with my kids for the next four years, and my family is my priority,” said Middleton, who will stand for election this November and is working off the assumption that she will win, meaning that her “spring break” will have to be spent at the legislature. Colorado lawmakers can serve up to four consecutive two-year terms for a total of eight years in the state House, and two four-year terms in the state Senate.
As Face The State previously reported, Middleton spent last week on vacation with her family in Puerto Vallarta. Her absence - during the third reading of the state's "Long Bill," raised the suspicions of Republican lawmakers and left the legislature's Democrat leaders mum on her excused departure.
Face The State confirmed her whereabouts after visiting an online profile written by her husband Larry Beer. Beer’s March 24 status on Facebook, a social networking site, said that he was headed to Puerto Vallarta with his family. Beer's profile has since changed to reflect that on March 27 he was “lightly sunburned” and “[not] reading Face The State.”