John Kefalas

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John Kefalas
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives from the 52nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 10, 2007
Preceded by	Bob McCluskey
Born	December 26, 1954 (1954-12-26) (age 53) Piraeus, Greece
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Beth
Profession	Activist, Legislator
Religion	Mennonite

John Michael Kefalas (born December 26, 1954^[1]) is a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. An educator and lobbyist before first running for the legislature in 2004, Kefalas defeated a Republican incumbent to win election to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2006. He represents House District 52, which encompasses the eastern half of Fort Collins, Colorado.^[2] In the legislature, Kefalas has focused on health care and poverty issues, and he is seeking re-election to a second term in the state house in 2008.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Legislative career 2.1 2004 and 2006 campaigns 2.2 2007 legislative session 2.3 2008 legislative session 2.4 2008 election 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Early career

Born in Piraeus, Greece^[1], Kefalas earned a bachelor's degree from Colorado State University and then joined the Peace Corps in 1979, serving as an agricultural extension worker in El Salvador. After returning to the United States, he earned a master's degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and taught in the Poudre School District. He has also worked as an employment counselor for Larimer County, Colorado, and as a health outreach worker.

From 1997 to 2004, Kefalas worked as a public policy advocate and community development coordinator for Catholic Charities until his departure amidst a controversy regarding his public support for Roe v. Wade and abortion rights during his 2004 legislative campaign.^[3] Before entering the legislature, he directed the Colorado Progressive Coalition's Tax Fairness Project.^[4] He has served as a member of the Fort Collins Housing Authority and the Colorado Social Legislation Committee,^[1] and, in 2001, won the City of Fort Collins Human Relations Award.^[5]

From 1980 to 1994, Kefalas redirected a portion of his federal income taxes to charitable organizations^[6] as a protest against United States military actions in Central America. He has paid his income taxes in full since 1994, but continued to boycott the federal telephone excise tax as recently as 2004. As a result, Kefalas has had a lien filed him and has had wages garnished. Kefalas has paid his back taxes and considers his actions to be a conscientious protest.^[7] He has also written about his experience of "war tax resistance" for the newsletter of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.^[8] In both his 2004 and 2006 legislative campaigns, Kefalas was accused of avoiding his federal tax obligation, both by his Republican opponent and by independent political committees.^[9][10] Kefalas has also been an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War, and has engaged in non-violent civil disobedience in protest of the war.^[7]

Kefalas is married; he and his wife Beth have two sons — Harlan, an active-duty U.S. Army soldier who has served in Iraq, and Timothy, a student at Colorado State University.^[1][4]

[edit] Legislative career

Bills Introduced in 2007 by Rep. Kefalas (for which Rep. Kefalas is the primary originating sponsor)
BILL	TITLE	OUTCOME
HB07-1026	Concerning health insurance at institutions of higher education	Signed by Gov. Ritter
HB07-1131	Concerning standards for hemodialysis technicians as part of the state regulation of dialysis treatment clinics [...]	Signed by Gov. Ritter
HB07-1162]	Concerning [...] creating a study group and pilot project on the use of instant runoff voting and other methods that allow voters to express preferences on multiple candidates	Postponed indefinitely in House committee
HB07-1220	Concerning a preference for the purchase of environmentally preferable products by governmental entities	Signed by Gov. Ritter
HB07-1260	Concerning [...] changing the sunset review dates for the state board of nursing and the Colorado state board of chiropractic examiners	Signed by Gov. Ritter
HB07-1290	Concerning the requirement that the Department of Revenue report on the impact of tax policy in a tax incidence study	Postponed indefinitely in House committee
HB07-1349	Concerning child support obligations, and making an appropriation in connection therewith	Signed by Gov. Ritter

[edit] 2004 and 2006 campaigns

Kefalas first ran for the state legislature in 2004, winning the Democratic Party primary by only seven votes over Fort Collins councilman Bill Bertschy after a recount process that lasted for several weeks.^[11] Kefalas lost the general election by fewer than 500 votes to incumbent Republican Bob McCluskey in a race that also included Libertarian Party candidate Jassen Bowman. Kefalas ran unchallenged for the Democratic nomination in 2006, and narrowly prevailed over McCluskey in the general election.^[12]

[edit] 2007 legislative session

In the 2007-2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Kefalas sat on the House Finance Committee and the House Health and Human Services Committee.^[13]

While in the legislature, he sponsored successful bills to encourage state purchasing of "environmentally preferable" products,^[14] to allow Colorado State University to require graduate student health insurance,^[15] and to create licensing standards for hemodialysis technicians.^[16]

Kefalas proposed a bill to explore alternative voting systems,^[16] which was defeated in committee,^[17] but which led to the creation of an 11-member multi-partisan task force to study related issues.^[18] Another of Kefalas' proposed bills, which would have required the Colorado Department of Revenue to regularly report on tax burdens across individual income groups, was also defeated in committee.^[19]

During his first year in the legislature, Kefalas also founded the bipartisan Common Good Caucus to address poverty issues, and was a member of the Hispanic Caucus and the Diabetes/Obesity Caucus.^[20]

[edit] 2008 legislative session

In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Kefalas sits on the House Finance Committee and the House Health and Human Services Committee. ^[21]

For the 2008 legislative session, Kefalas worked with other Fort Collins legislators, particularly Rep. Randy Fischer, on bills to increase scrutiny of proposed uranium mining operations.^[22][23] While one bill, which would require that groundwater quality be restored following mining operations, passed the state legislature,^[24][25] another measure, which would have created stronger public disclosure requirements for mining operations, was killed in committee,^[26] but later revived in the state senate.^[27]

With Sen. Ron Tupa, Kefalas was the house sponsor of legislation designed to reduce the cost of college textbooks by requiring textbook publishers to disclose costs and offer textbooks unbundled from additional materials^[28], and he sponsored legislation to allow outpatient surgery centers to establish peer review committees;^[29] both bills were signed into law by Gov. Ritter.^[30][31]

Kefalas also sponsored bills to authorize local pilot tests of ranked choice voting methods^[32], and to establish a Colorado Housing Investment Fund.^[33] Building on his 2007 bill to allow purchasing of "green" products, Kefalas also sponsored a measure to require Colorado governments to consider products' expected life and cost of ownership in making purchasing decisions.^[34]

Among Kefalas' top priorities is restoring and expanding Colorado's earned income tax credit,^[35] a move which met with resistance from legislative leaders in 2007 due to budget constraints.^[36] Kefalas introduced a bill in the 2008 session to restore Colorado's EITC at ten percent of the federal credit,^[37][38] but the bill was defeated in a House committee.^[39]

[edit] 2008 election

Holding office in a closely contested district, Kefalas is expected to be targeted by Colorado Republicans during his 2008 re-election bid,^[40] which he formally announced in January of 2008.^[41] Since taking office, Kefalas sought to maintain a dialogue with constituents by leading a series of monthly "community conversations" on topics ranging from health care to mobile home parks.^[20][42]

Former Rep. Bob McCluskey has announced his intention to run against Kefalas, pitting the two against each other for the third time in as many election cycles.^[43]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• John Kefalas profile, Colorado General Assembly
• State Rep. John Kefalas
• John Kefalas 2008 campaign
• John Kefalas MySpace page