DENVER • The contrast was striking.

When legislative Republicans held their wrap-up discussion of the 2009 regular session, the event consisted of the Senate and House minority leaders crammed into a Capitol office with a gaggle of reporters.

The mood was glum, as the two politicians, Sen. Josh Penry of Grand Junction and Rep. Mike May of Parker, took turns blasting Democrats as out-of-touch, spendthrift union toadies bent on bleeding Colorado taxpayers in pursuit of a liberal agenda.

When legislative Democrats held their session-ending news conference, it was on the sunny west steps of the Capitol. About three dozen smiling, wisecracking Democratic legislators listened as their leaders – Senate President Peter Groff, House Speaker Terrance Carroll and their deputies, Sen. Brandon Shaffer and Rep. Paul Weissman – patted one another on the back for being in tune with average Coloradans, mending a $1.5 billion, recession-induced hole in the state budget without raising taxes or imperiling the neediest citizens.

“We managed to expand the circle of opportunity in this state while doing more with less,” Carroll said.

Groff, who’s taking a job in President Barack Obama’s Department of Education, said 2009 was “a difficult, but successful, session” that made the state stronger and prepared it for better economic times to come.

Most of the 2009 legislative package was rammed through by the Democrats, who enjoy comfortable majorities in both houses.

Shaffer, who’s taking over for Groff, rattled off a list of legislation intended to help schoolchildren, homeowners and health-care consumers.

“We listened to the concerns of the citizens of Colorado and did what we could to continue the support to families in our state,” said Shaffer, of Longmont. “But we’re just getting started. Just wait until 2010.”

Those words are sure to bring a shudder to the Republicans.

Penry described the just-completed session as “among the most fiscally reckless on record.”

Republicans circulated a list of 58 bills passed this year that establish or increase fees on everything from motor scooters to marriage licenses.

According to their tally, the new fees will cost Coloradans an extra $562.9 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Penry described these new fees as gimmicks.

“Fiscal restraint is in full retreat,” he said.

May said he expects that the next quarterly budget forecast, due June 20, or the one to follow in September, would trigger a special session so legislators can figure out how to cure new budget shortfalls.

He predicted the Democrats would push a new round of fee increases and tax-exemption cancellations instead of the spending reductions that Republicans have been calling for ever since they lost control of the governor’s office and the Legislature in 2006.

“This government isn’t feeling anything that the private sector is feeling,” May said.

He encouraged Democrats to take a lesson from Bill Clinton “and start feeling the citizens’ pain.”

Democrats dismissed the criticism.

“It’s easy for the minority party to try to throw stones at a glass house because they didn’t have the responsibility to govern,” said Carroll, of Denver. “I guess when you’re in the minority party and have no choice but to throw stones, you try to find any stone you can find, even if they’re pebbles. And all they could find were pebbles.”

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Contact the writer at 476-1654.• • •WINNERS

Health care

A new hospital provider fee system, touted as supplying coverage to 100,000 uninsured Coloradans; insurance carriers can give discounts to companies that offer employee health programs.

Economic development

Businesses that create jobs get new tax incentives; small businesses can dive into a new $50 million pool of loan guarantees.

Environment

New oil and gas rules protect water and wildlife; new incentives for renewable energy and fuel-efficient or alternative-fuel vehicles.

Transportation

A new $250 million fund to pay for road and bridge repair and maintenance.

Education

New incentives for high-performing schools in poor or at-risk areas; high school students can simultaneously pursue an associate’s degree.

Budget

Several automatic funding formulas have been eliminated or changed to eliminate the “ratchet effect” that prevents state spending from rising when the economy rebounds.• • •LOSERS

Senior citizens

Their homestead tax exemption is suspended.

Investors

They lose a tax exemption on capital gains.

Smokers

Taxes on cigarettes will be even higher.

Motorists

To pay for road and bridge repairs, vehicle registration fees go up.

Retailers

They lose a credit for collecting the state’s sales tax.

Prisoners

Funding cuts mean crowding will increase; efforts to reduce sentences and abolish the death penalty failed.

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