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McFadyen to Head House Transportation Panel

Posted on: Friday, 12 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By Charles Ashby, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

May 12--DENVER - Rep. Buffie McFadyen will become the new chairwoman of the House Transportation & Energy Committee, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said Thursday.

Romanoff plans to announce the appointment today at a press conference in Pueblo.

Though this year's legislative session is over and the transportation committee isn't set to meet, the appointment does come with a vice chairwoman role on the Legislature's Transportation Legislative Review Committee.

The appointment makes McFadyen the first chairperson of the 11-member panel from the Pueblo area in recent memory, Romanoff said.

He added that that he plans to keep McFadyen as the senior House Democrat on the Capital Development Committee.

The 18-member review panel, which meets only when the Legislature is not in session, reviews proposed transportation measures to be introduced in the upcoming session.

"One of the top goals of the past two years was to push for fixing up our state buildings, so I can't think of anyone who worked harder to achieve that goal than Buffie McFadyen," Romanoff said. "She's been a real champion of capital construction, and I know she will be for transportation."

McFadyen shepherded the CDC at a time when it had no money to one that funded $100 million in projects across the state, including numerous ones in Southern Colorado.

Though the committee has no plans to meet, McFadyen potentially could retain the posting after this year's elections if the Democrats continue to have a majority in the House.

For now, though, being chairwoman of the committee will open some doors for the two-term lawmaker to work on the state's transportation policies in the short term, McFadyen said.

"My hope is we can help further road and bridge and transit infrastructure in this year," she said. "My hope is we can make strides like we did for state buildings."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

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Source: The Pueblo Chieftain

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