Rep. Kent Lambert, the Colorado Springs Republican rated as the strictest fiscal conservative in the state House of Representatives, was appointed Monday to the powerful Joint Budget Committee, which drafts the state budget.

Announcing the appointment in Denver, Rep. Mike May, the House minority leader, said he wanted “someone who stays true to the spirit of TABOR.”

“We have to make some legitimate cuts to government,” Lambert said at the Capitol news conference. He said Colorado voters were angry about legislative efforts to circumvent the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which limits state spending and requires that tax increases be approved by popular vote.

May said Lambert “will reflect that view of limited government,” adding, “I’m guessing it’s been a very long time, probably since Tancredo was on there, since we’ve had that voice on the JBC.”

Tom Tancredo, better known for his strident opposition to illegal immigration, served on the JBC in 1981 before heading to Congress.

Lambert’s outlook is closer to Tancredo’s than to that of his JBC predecessor, Don Marostica, who alienated fellow Republicans by denouncing TABOR. Marostica resigned in July to accept Gov. Bill Ritter’s appointment as the state’s economic development director.

“This isn’t designed to blow up the JBC,” May said of the appointment. “However, I’m not interested in business as usual at the JBC, either.”

Lambert was the only House member given a perfect score in the annual rating released Monday by the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, a tax watchdog group. It also honored two Colorado Springs Republican senators, Dave Schultheis and Bill Cadman.

Lambert, an Air Force Academy grad and retired colonel, has represented House District 14 in northern Colorado Springs since 2007. He has been a member of the House Finance Committee, which reviews bills with budgetary impact.

But the Joint Budget Committee is the nitty-gritty of the state budgeting process. Working with the governor’s office, it produces the “Long Bill,” which details the state’s spending plans for the coming year.

The JBC has three senators and three representatives — four from the majority party, two from the minority. But it works by consensus. Though they may debate long and hard about what goes into the Long Bill, JBC members are expected to defend that document in public, and its rules require a unanimous vote on some measures.

Lambert’s appointment may threaten that tradition. As a fiscal conservative trying to balance the state budget in a recession, and with the added glare of an election year, Lambert could reap political dividends for his party by being the JBC’s Lone Ranger.

“That unanimous rule gives a voice for limited government some significant power,” May said.

The appointment came a day before Ritter is scheduled to announce another round of state budget cuts. Lambert said that while he might disagree with some of the specifics, he had no desire to stand in the way as long as cuts were being made.

The JBC chairman, Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said Lambert could have a big impact.

“This might be the year when a real fiscal conservative is the hero of the JBC,” he said, “because all we’re going to be doing is cutting money.”

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