Our next representative of House District 59 will have big shoes to fill.
Barbara McLachlan has served us very well for the maximum eight years – our only representative in this district to do so. A workhorse, she possesses the qualities to get much done.
No doubt, her steadiness and composure honed while teaching adolescents at Durango High School likely came in handy under the gold-leafed dome.
But more than anything, we appreciate that many of her bills came up through her constituents, including those that directed History Colorado to get at the truth behind the Indian boarding schools in Colorado.
“That’s what my job is,” McLachlan said.
Yes, we know. But a percentage of our elected officials don’t prioritize hearing what constituents have to say. Especially voters from different political persuasions.
McLachlan is different.
She’s always had a knack for making people feel comfortable and finding commonality. In this age of divisive politics, McLachlan makes this less so. She put time and energy into relationships.
As reported in The Durango Herald and The Journal, McLachlan said: “If I want to meet with a senator or the legislators who are nearest to me, they’re Republicans, and if I ignore them, I’m ignoring part of my district. I represent a lot of Republicans, so I think it’s to my benefit to say I should be listening to Republicans and I should be listening to Democrats, and I should be listening to unaffiliated (voters).”
After years spent in classrooms, education was always close to McLachlan’s heart. She helped eliminate the Budget Stabilization Factor, a post-2008 recession tool that pulled billions out of Colorado schools.
And she counts her greatest accomplishment in the Legislature as the passage of HB19-1262, which funded full-day kindergarten across the Colorado.
She’s also proud that Democrats and Republicans have worked well together to bring the “rural voice, the Western Slope” to the state Capitol. McLachlan represented us well in this way, too. But she’ll tell you, she never did this alone.
If McLachlan could have done more, it would have been to get American Indian education in the curriculum for grades five through 12 to “take a good look at the tribes.” The Legislature can’t demand this but could direct money into a resources bank for art or history or whatever the Department of Education would like.
A good handoff item for the next representative.
Other credentials: Six years as chair of the House Education Committee; first year as chair of the House Services Committee; vice chair of the Statutory Revision Committee; vice chair of the Sportsmen Caucus; member of the Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee; and member of the Interim Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee.
Last year, McLachlan filled in as the vice chair of the House Finance Committee for 30 minutes during the special session.
Whew.
Next on her agenda is to “figure out my new life. I want to see the state.”
And in collaboration with History Colorado, she’s looking to write a book about her great grandmother, Carrie Ayres, who traveled to Sterling with her widowed mother and brother, and became the first teacher at 15 years old on the Eastern Slope. In fact, Ayres Elementary School in Sterling is named after her.
No wonder where McLachlan got her gusto. Must be genetic.
