Morse first Springs Democrat to get leadership post

Senate Democrats picked John Morse on Friday for majority leader, making him the first Colorado Springs Democrat ever chosen for a senior leadership position in the state Legislature.

The vacancy occurred when Sen. Brandon Shaffer of Longmont was elevated from majority leader to replace Peter Groff as Senate president.

As majority leader, Morse will control the Senate agenda.

Groff, the first black to lead the state Senate, is leaving to take a job in the Department of Education in Washington. Shaffer and Morse will not assume their new positions until after the General Assembly's regular session ends next month.

Shaffer's selection must still be formally ratified by the full Senate, but the minority party, now Republicans, usually defers to the leader picked by the majority party.

Morse, who has served in the Senate since 2007, attributed his selection to his willingness to take political risks to tackle the state's problems, and mentioned his sponsorship of a bill to end a variety of mandatory budget formulas that have impeded legislators struggling to keep state government running in the midst of the recession.

"We've got some hard problems to solve that require hard solutions," he said. "Let's do it instead of just talking about it."

The previous high-water mark for a Colorado Springs Democrat was the minority caucus chairmanship held by Sen. John Donlon in the late 1960s.

Colorado Springs has always been a Republican stronghold, and local GOP legislators have held numerous leadership posts, most recently when Doug Dean was House speaker in 2001-02. Ray Powers was Senate president in 1999-2000.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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