Opinion ID: 2640468
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: The current Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, Andrew Romanoff, and the current President of the Colorado Senate, Joan Fitz-Gerald, petition us under C.A.R. 21, in the nature of the writ of quo warranto, to determine which of four appointees should properly be seated on the State Commission on Judicial Performance. [1] There exists a controversy whereby four appointed commissioners seek to fill two of the ten seats of the statewide Commission. Two of the Respondents, Lance W. Sears and Bradley A. Levin, have been appointed by Romanoff and Fitz-Gerald; and two other respondents, Paul F. Miller and William Banta, have been appointed by Petitioners' predecessors in office, Lola Spradley, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Andrews, former President of the Senate. Because the four appointed commissioners seek to fill two seats, the work of the Commission is at a standstill. The Commission has been unable to select a chairperson, or a co-chairperson, and it has not been able to begin its statutory work to evaluate and prepare narrative profiles and recommendations for five judges on the court of appeals eligible for retention in this election year. Upon petition of the Petitioners, we issued an order to show cause to the Commission, itself, and to each of the four potential office holders, as respondents, to determine who are the lawful office holders. In this rare instance, we exercise our discretion to consider a writ in the nature of quo warranto under C.A.R. 21. We do so because of the public importance of the State Commission's statutory mission to evaluate judges for the benefit of the voters and the need to resolve the conflicting statutory claims made by the Petitioners and the Respondents, Miller and Banta. To resolve this controversy, we must construe C.R.S. 13-5.5-102(1)(a) and (1)(b), which set forth the mandatory statutory terms of office of the commissioners, as well as the powers of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and, under specific circumstances, the Commission, itself, to appoint commissioners. In discharging the rule, we hold that subsection (1)(a) of this statute creates a regimen of fixed, four-year terms for each commissioner. Each commissioner's term begins on December 1 of an election year and ends in the election year four years later on November 30. We hold that subsection (1)(b) of this statute directs that when a Commission vacancy occurs, if the appointing authority here, either the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the President of the Senatefails to appoint a new commissioner within forty-five days of this vacancy, then that appointing authority loses its power of appointment for the vacant seat and the appointment power devolves to the Commission, itself, to fill this vacancy. Accordingly, we discharge the rule in the following particulars. We direct the Commission to recognize Respondent Miller's appointment as valid and binding to replace Respondent Sears as a commissioner on the State Judicial Performance Commission for a term expiring November 30, 2008. We direct the Commission to appoint a commissioner to serve out the remainder of the President of the Senate's appointment for the Commission seat sought by Respondents Levin and Banta. The Commission's appointee shall serve for a term which will expire on November 30, 2006.