Groff's Lofty Call in Stirring Last Stand

I don't usually print an entire article. But I want to make sure that everyone reads this one.

Littwin: Groff's lofty call in stirring last stand

By Mike Littwin
Denver Post Columnist

It wasn't Lincoln at Gettysburg. It wasn't Henry V at Agincourt. And it certainly wasn't King anywhere near a mountaintop.

We were at the Colorado legislature, after all. If you spend any time there, you learn quickly that the oratory bar is set, uh, well, um, low.

But then there's Peter Groff, the outgoing Senate president, who occasionally gives a speech sufficiently riveting that, as he speaks, some on the floor actually listen.

On the session's last day, on what would be Groff's last day on the job, Groff didn't simply clear the bar. By the standards of the legislature, he practically leapt from the building.

As it turns out, he was literally on his way out anyway. At this very moment, Groff is on his way to Washington, where he will head the faith- based-initiatives center for the U.S. secretary of education.

First, though, there was the legislative session to be completed — and, on that last day, there was this unexpected business of the death penalty, which, to the surprise of nearly everyone, had come to dominate the final week. The bill was a last-minute call to conscience, the last thing any party needs at that moment.

If you remember, the bill had been hijacked and apparently killed the day before — the death-penalty part of the death-penalty/cold-case bill simply removed — but then the bill was somehow resurrected. It seems it wouldn't go away until, at last, everyone's vote was on the record.

Nobody knew exactly what would happen in the Senate, only that the vote would be close. As the debate proceeded, Groff — standing behind the lectern, gavel in hand — said he hadn't planned to speak but that he couldn't help himself.

For you aspiring orators out there, the speech accomplished at least three things: It was a heartfelt call to end the death penalty in Colorado. It was, in what would be Groff's valedictory speech, a call for Democrats to act, as he put it, like Democrats. And, finally, it was a speech that actually changed minds of some on the Senate floor. You don't know how rare this is.

Arms get twisted. Lobbyists whisper in ears. Constituents bombard legislators with calls and e-mails. Talk radio talks. Editorialists and columnists editorialize and columnize. But speeches are, for the most part, just what you put in the record.

This was different. And it wasn't just Groff's speech. Senate sponsor Morgan Carroll made a solid case for the bill. Shawn Mitchell made his case against the bill. Everyone was paying attention by then. Josh Penry argued that the worst of us — the Tim McVeighs of the world — require the worst from us.

And, certainly, the best argument for capital punishment is the awful murders themselves. Bob Bacon, meanwhile, argued that on occasion, we get the verdict wrong — and that we can't afford that kind of mistake in a capital case. But even more critical than that, he said, is what the decision to kill the killers — giving in to the cycle of violence — does to the rest of us.

Let's concede that not everyone met the same standard of debate, but Groff almost made you forget those who didn't. He talked about race and how rarely DAs ask for death for a white killer of a black or Latino male. He said he believed in life, from conception to death, an argument appealing to conservatives on the floor. But he added that he didn't want to leave this decision to "some district attorney trying to score political points," and the argument switched back.

He then called out Democrats who, he said, would claim credit in the post-session wrapup for "what we did for working people, what we did for the least of these, what we did with those who struggle day to day."

And here was the challenge: "We will say we did what's right because that's what we're supposed to do. This is our opportunity, yet again, to actually be the moral voice in this state, to actually rise above the politics of the moment, to rise to that one moment where we say, 'You know what, if this costs us the majority, so be it. If this costs us our seats, our titles, our gavels, so be it, because this is the right thing to do.' "

He conceded that it was easy for someone like him, from a safe seat, to make this vote. But he said this was not about saving your, uh, seat, but about "one of those moments when a leader has to rise above politics, when morality has to rise above what is safe and convenient."

You could feel something happening. If the vote had gone to abolish the death penalty, it would have meant a trip back to the House, where the bill had passed by a single vote before. If it passed there, it would have gone to the governor, and no one was sure whether the governor would sign the bill or veto it.

At least one Democrat, maybe two, switched sides after Groff's speech. A predicted close vote drew even closer. In fact, the drama didn't end until the voting did. You know how it turned out: Four Democrats voted with all the Republicans, and the bill went down, 18-17. But Groff could take this much with him on his trip: Though the voting is over, I'd bet Groff's last speech helped assure this debate in Colorado isn't over at all.