Party insiders picking legislative replacements is a shameful affront to republican democracy, and especially anyone who with a straight face calls him or herself a Democrat or a Republican should work to promptly remedy this grotesque perversion of government “by the people.” The existing setup encourages legislators to retire early so that party elites can confer unearned incumbent advantage on their preferred replacements.

“More than 1 in 4 Colorado state lawmakers got their seats without a typical election and instead were picked by a small number of party insiders during vacancy balloting,” writes John Frank. “Colorado is one of only four states to replace lawmakers who depart in the middle of a term with a vacancy committee run by that lawmaker’s political party,” he adds. (See also a Denver Post article.)

Giving political parties this power to select legislators is repugnant. Parties are not arms of the government; they are properly private organizations whose members have no more (and no fewer) rights than anyone else. And yet Colorado government has conferred various illegitimate powers to parties in all defiance of the demands of just governance. I have written previously about some of these unjust powers, including the power to force taxpayers to finance their primaries. But the power to hand-pick legislators who are supposed to represent the people is the worst corruption.

Let us remember that, as of October, unaffiliated voters represent the largest block in Colorado, at nearly 48% of the total. Democrats, on the other hand, are only 27% of the total, while Republicans are 24%. So when a legislator leaves office, the seat is filled by a tiny, elite minority of a party that represents perhaps a quarter of the population (with figures varying by region).

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