Former Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper boasts of our state’s outstanding economic recovery. At the same time, he hems and haws over whether he’s a capitalist or not. But for the Democrats running the state’s government in the post-Hickenlooper era, they have chosen a different path.

With a divided legislature during six of Hick’s eight years, legislation that would have strangled Colorado’s economy was kept at bay. Most of it would die in the state Senate’s State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee on party-line votes.