Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper announced today Rep. Christine Scanlan will join his senior leadership team as Director of Legislative Affairs and Strategic Initiatives. Scanlan will lead the administration’s legislative strategy and help oversee statewide initiatives on issues such as economic development, education reform, I-70 transportation and forest health.Scanlan is widely regarded as a bipartisan leader and consensus builder who has worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass meaningful legislation in the areas of education, job creation and tourism. Her moderate approach has earned the support and endorsements of both the business and labor communities, which have credited her for putting politics aside and doing what is best for Colorado.
Scanlan’s appointment will bolster Gov.-elect Hickenlooper’s legislative team, which includes R.D. Sewald, who will serve as Scanlan’s deputy, and Alan Salazar, who will coordinate and oversee policy, communications, scheduling and legislative operations in the Governor’s Office.
“It is extremely difficult leaving a job I love representing people who I deeply respect,” Scanlan said. “But I plan to continue serving the hardworking people of my district while working for a Governor dedicated to turning Colorado around and positioning the state for great things in the future. It is an honor to join this administration.”
Scanlan was appointed in January 2008 as State Representative for House District 56, representing more than 75,000 Coloradans from Eagle, Lake and Summit counties. She was elected Nov. 2 to a full term in the Colorado House of Representatives. Scanlan will resign her seat in the coming weeks; a date has not been set. A vacancy committee will then name her replacement in the House.
Scanlan was Majority Whip and a member of the House Education Committee after her appointment in 2008. In her first year at the statehouse, she carried a landmark education reform bill which ushered in a complete redesign and realignment to Colorado’s education system, from pre-school through college. The reforms included overhauling the state’s curriculum content standards so they were more relevant, and making student assessments both more meaningful and aligned with college admission requirements.
She has also led efforts to reform teacher and principal evaluation systems while promoting educator effectiveness and leadership in schools, and she worked aggressively to address the devastation in Colorado caused by the bark beetle.
Scanlan co-authored a legislative agenda made up of more than a dozen bills and resolutions in the past three years to assist mountain and Front Range communities implement forest health management and fire reduction strategies; expand protections for Colorado’s watersheds, local communities and vital infrastructure; and provide grants and economic incentives that foster market-based and local business solutions to the bark beetle epidemic to reduce the overall threat posed by wildfire and downed-trees.
Scanlan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Regis University in Denver. She has served as President of the Summit School District’s Board of Education, President of the Mountain Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) serving 10 Colorado school districts, and was an invited expert and member of Gov. Bill Ritter’s P-20 Council’s sub-committee on Preparation and Transitions.
