Colorado’s Longest-Serving Legislator Says Goodbye

Eighteen years after he was first elected to the Colorado Legislature, state Senator Bob Gardner concluded his final legislative session on Wednesday, May 8.

Twenty-four state legislators will vacate their seats this year, but Gardner has called the Capitol home for the longest. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, serving through 2014 before joining the Senate in 2016. Now term-limited, Gardner is one of only two current legislators expected to complete the maximum eight years in both chambers, and he started two years earlier than the other — Senator Kevin Priola, who was first elected in 2008.

Following a career under the gold dome, Gardner, age seventy, is stepping away from public office. He plans to return to his law practice and spend more time with his family.

"I never wanted being a state legislator to be my identity. I've always been a practicing attorney who happened to be a legislator," the Colorado Springs Republican says. "But every day that I've been a representative or a senator has been precious. I've had some challenging days and I've had some very rewarding days. Today is a day for rewards."

Gardner achieved extraordinary policy success even while being in the minority party for most of his career. He prime-sponsored 322 bills during his time as a senator, of which 252 became law, according to General Assembly records. He's served as the Senate's assistant minority leader, chair and vice chair of four different committees, and maintained a seat on the most powerful committee in the legislature: the Appropriations Committee, responsible for the state budget.

The self-proclaimed "simple country lawyer" developed a reputation for using his legal knowledge to filibuster bills for hours (once for six hours straight) to buy his caucus time and leverage in policy negotiations. His colleagues nicknamed the practice "releasing the Kraken" and "Bobbing."

"You know you have arrived in life when your name becomes a verb," Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen says.

The lengthy lectures continued through his very last day; senators spent nearly two hours paying tribute to Gardner on Wednesday, and only twenty minutes of the speeches were Gardner's own.

"He truly does this job in a way that we all aspire to," Lundeen said during his tribute to Gardner. "He actually is part of the institution. The institution is changed in a meaningful and positive way because of who he is and who he has been."
Multiple senators were in tears speaking of Gardner's departure, including Republican Senator Larry Liston and Democratic Senator Julie Gonzales, the latter of whom said that although Gardner often angered her because of policy conflicts, he was "so damn effective at injecting reason into what too often can just be a lot of froth."

"This is the day I've dreaded the most," said Liston, Gardner's friend of 35 years. "Bob was our secret weapon. ... You're going to be irreplaceable, Bob. We all know that. There is not going to be a person that can fill your shoes."

Amid the sobs, Senator Jim Smallwood quipped, "This is what knowing Bob Gardner does to people. We have a line of people that want to come up and cry and hug him — after he tortures you for eight years."

Gardner says he doesn't share his colleagues' beliefs that the legislature will crumble when he leaves.

"The thing that holds the institution together is people's personal relationships," he says. "The political environment is more supercharged today, more divisive. But the personal relationships have not changed. Even when we disagree, we're able to sit down and have a conversation and get things done."

At the end of his legislative career, Gardner says he has no regrets and a lot of pride. He values his accomplishments in passing bills to support crime victims and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities — and his reputation as an effective legislator in the minority party. "I'll miss the game," he adds. "Trying to figure out motions or moves to outwit the opposition."

Gardner encourages other citizens to get engaged in local politics and run for elected office. And for Colorado's future and current legislators, he has some advice:

"When you deal with people, try to learn what their story is and how they came to be standing before you today advocating for something," he says. "We're all products of our life experiences, and we bring that to our public policy decisions. We need to understand that about each other. If we do, it's the beginning of finding common ground."

Though his last legislative session is over, Gardner will hold his Senate seat through the end of the year, until his replacement is chosen during the November election.

In addition to Gardner, six other senators and five House representatives are term-limited this year: Senators Steve Fenberg, Rhonda Fields, Joann Ginal, Kevin Priola, Jim Smallwood and Rachel Zenzinger, and Representatives Marc Catlin, Chris deGruy Kennedy, Leslie Herod, Barbara McLachlan and Mike Weissman.

Twelve legislators are not term-limited but are not seeking re-election for their seats in November. Seven outgoing legislators are attempting to move from the House to the Senate, three are running for Congress, and four are seeking local offices.