Kent Lambert

Kent Douglas Lambert is a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A United States Air Force veteran, Lambert was elected to the Colorado General Assembly as a Republican in 2006. Most recently, he represented Senate District 9, which encompasses northwest Colorado Springs, the United States Air Force Academy, Monument and Black Forest.

For the New Zealand rugby player, see Kent Lambert (rugby player). For the American football player and coach, see Kent Lambert (American football).
Kent Lambert
Member of the Colorado Senate
from the 9th district
In office
January 2011 – January 4, 2019
Preceded byDavid Schultheis
Succeeded byPaul Lundeen
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives
from the 59th district
In office
January 2007 – January 2011
Succeeded byJanak Joshi
Personal details
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Gretchen
Professionretired Air Force Colonel

Biography and early career

Lambert attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he served on the Cadet Wing Staff and was chairman of the Cadet Professional Ethics Committee.[1] He was commissioned from the academy in 1974, earning a B.S. in military history.[2]

Lambert served as a B-52 instructor pilot, and was director of battle staff for a B-52 wing. He rose from scientific analyst to division chief within the Air Force Studies and Analyses Agency at The Pentagon and worked on policy studies for major military systems, including bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile forces. He was deputy defense intelligence officer for Europe in the Defense Intelligence Agency.[1] Lambert worked as an attaché at several international postings, serving as the air attaché and deputy chief of military assistance program, in Amman, Jordan, and as the defense attaché and chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation, Stockholm, Sweden.[3] He was assigned to Air Force Space Command in 2001 as deputy director of the Space Analysis Division, where his duties included support for investigation of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.[1]

While in the military, Lambert graduated from the Air War College, earned a master's degree in international relations from the University of Southern California[1] in 1981,[3] a master's in strategic and tactical sciences from the Air Force Institute of Technology[1] in 1983,[3] and a graduate studies certification in command, control, and communications from Air Force Institute of Technology.[1] His awards include the Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with star, and the Combat Readiness Medal with oak leaf cluster.[3] He is also a lieutenant colonel with the Colorado Civil Air Patrol.[4]

Lambert and his wife, Gretchen, have three children and six grandchildren. He has served as a leader in several churches and was an Eagle Scout and scoutmaster.[1]

Political career

Early campaigns

After retiring from the Air Force at the rank of colonel in 2004,[1] Lambert entered Colorado politics, challenging Michael Merrifield for the 18th house district seat in central Colorado Springs, losing with 42 percent of the vote.[5] He served as legislative assistant to representatives Dave Schultheis and Keith King[2] and helped found the Republican Study Committee of Colorado, serving as its executive director until 2005.[1]

In 2006, Lambert ran to succeed Rep. David Schultheis, who was elected to the Colorado Senate that same year. Lambert faced Colin Mullaney in the Republican primary, in which he garnered the endorsements of the Minutemen PAC, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, and a homeschoolers PAC.[6] In the general election, he defeated Democrat Karen Teja with over 68 percent of the popular vote.

Colorado House of Representatives

2007 legislative session

During the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Lambert sat on the House Finance Committee and the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee.[7]

In his first year in the legislature, Lambert was noted for his conservative stances on legislation. He was the primary house sponsor of a senate bill that would have criminalized abortion in Colorado —the bill died in the Colorado State Senate —[8] and he spoke out against a measure that would have allowed adoption by homosexual couples.[9][10] All five bills introduced by Lambert were defeated in House committees, including measures to make Colorado a right-to-work state and to prohibit labor unions from deducting fees from government employees' paychecks.[11]

During the legislative session, Lambert filed a formal ethics complaint against the Colorado Education Association, arguing that emails sent by the CEA lobbying in favor of a property tax freeze to bring in additional revenue for public schools included deceptive statements.[12] The complaint was called "frivolous" by the CEA and was dismissed by the Colorado Legislative Council's executive committee on a vote that was boycotted by Republican leaders.[13][14][15]

For the session, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers gave Lambert its "Taxpayer Champion" award.[16] Lambert, along with Rep. Douglas Bruce, was also noted for rarely supporting nonbinding resolutions in the legislature.[17]

2008 legislative session

In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Lambert sat on the House Finance Committee, and the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. [18] One piece of legislation he introduced created a specialty license plate commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.[19]

In April 2008, Lambert filed a campaign finance complaint against Gov. Bill Ritter, alleging that Ritter's 2006 campaign manager, Greg Kolomitz, improperly used inaugural committee funds to pay himself and pay off campaign debts.[20][21] In August, Lambert's complaint was dismissed by an administrative law judge, and he was ordered to pay Ritter's legal fees.[22] The ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeals, and Ritter eventually admitted the charges against him after his announcement not to run for a second term.

2008 election

In 2008, Lambert won a second term in the Colorado House of Representatives. He was opposed by Democratic nominee Chyrese Exline.[23] Lambert's re-election bid was endorsed by the Denver Post,[24] while the Colorado Springs Independent endorsed his opponent.[25] Lambert won re-election with 71 percent of the popular vote.[26]

Lambert was also a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, alongside El Paso County Commissioner Wayne Williams and Colorado’s Attorney General John Suthers.[27]

2009 legislative session

For the 2009 legislative session, Lambert was named to seats on the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee and the House Finance Committee, where he was the ranking Republican.[28]

In August 2009, Lambert was appointed to the Joint Budget Committee to replace departing member Rep. Dan Marostica.[29]

2010 legislative session

For the 2010 legislative session, Lambert was on the House Appropriations Committee and the Joint Budget Committee.

Lambert produced a bill that focused on establishing an income tax credit for nonpublic education in the state of Colorado. HB10-1295 would have set forth, as a future tax credit, for families who either pay private school tuition or home-school their children. The bill was introduced to the House Finance Committee, where it was postponed indefinitely.

Colorado Senate

2010 election

In the 2010, Lambert ran for election to the 9th District Senate seat. He ran unopposed in both the primary and the general election, and won a 4-year term to the Colorado Senate.

2011 legislative session

Following Lambert’s election in 2010, he was elected by the Republican caucus to continue service on the Joint Budget Committee, as well as join the Senate Appropriations Committee.

During the 2011 legislative session, Lambert sought to remove unnecessary use of state vehicles for personal commuting with SB11-023, a measure he also ran previously as a representative in the Colorado House. In 2010 when the bill (HB10-1287) was initially run, it successfully made it through both chambers before eventually being vetoed by Governor Bill Ritter. The bill limits the use of state vehicles by private persons for personal business, and would have required an employee to reimburse the state for commuting with a state-owned vehicle for such use and openly labeled appropriate terms of use. The bill was assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee, but failed and was postponed indefinitely on a 5–2 vote.[30] Lambert also sponsored several major bills pertaining to illegal aliens: SB11-054 and HB11-1088.

Lambert was elected as a delegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida. He had been a committed delegate to Senator Rick Santorum before he dropped out of the presidential race.

2012 legislative session

In 2012, Lambert brought forth a major piece of legislation regarding PERA transparency, SB12-084, which would have required PERA records of elected officials and cabinet-level appointees to be publicly disclosed and available for review.[31] Lambert’s bill was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee, where it was defeated in a committee vote and postponed indefinitely.

2013 legislative session

In 2013, Lambert was re-elected by the Senate Republican Caucus to serve on the Joint Budget Committee for the Colorado General Assembly. He was also appointed to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

2017 legislative session

In the 2017 legislative session, Lambert served as the chairman of the Joint Budget Committee and vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He chairs the Legislative Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Committee and serves as vice-chair of the Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Interim Study Committee.[32]

In addition to his responsibilities as the chair of the JBC, he ran a wide variety of bills, including Senate Bill 82 concerning the regulation of methadone clinics;[33] Senate Bill 96, which created a grant program for the reserve peace officer academy program;[34] Senate Bill 300 which would have created a high risk pool for impoverished citizens to obtain medical insurance through the state;[35] and Senate Bill 297 that revised the requirements for higher education performance.[36]

References
  1. "About Kent". Colorado State Representative Kent Lambert. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  2. "Representative Lambert". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  3. "Kent Douglas Lambert - Colorado - State House District 14 candidate". RockyMountainNews.com. Archived from the original on 2007-07-29. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  4. Bartels, Lynn (15 March 2008). "Citizen Legislator, March 14". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  5. "State House District 18". COMaps. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  6. Staff report (5 August 2006). "One The Stump". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  7. "House Committees of Reference". Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
  8. Zeveloff, Naomi (15 February 2007). "Better to burn out ..." Colorado Springs Independent. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  9. Gathright, Alan (15 March 2006). "Boulder rep shares own story in 'second parent' adoption debate". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  10. Lacey, Hank (28 March 2007). "House gives preliminary OK to adoption bill". Colorado Springs Gazette. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  11. Staff report (7 May 2007). "Area lawmakers win and lose". Colorado Springs Gazette. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  12. Sealover, Ed (25 April 2007). "Lambert files ethics complaint against teachers union". Colorado Springs Gazette. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  13. Sealover, Ed (26 April 2007). "Legislature drops Lamberts ethics complaint". Colorado Springs Gazette. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  14. Bartels, Lynn (25 April 2007). "State lawmaker backs out of ethics vote". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  15. Couch, Mark P. (25 April 2007). "No ethics probe over lobbying". Denver Post. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  16. Barge, Chris (25 September 2007). "Union of Taxpayers flunks state Dems". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  17. Sealover, Ed (1 April 2008). "Lawmakers get in on April Fools' Day action". Colorado Springs Gazette. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
  18. "House Committees of Reference". Colorado General Assembly. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  19. Davidson, Michael; Ed Sealover (1 February 2008). "Assembly glance". Colorado Springs Gazette. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  20. Ingold, John; Tim Hoover (21 April 2008). "GOP lawmaker lodges complaint against Ritter". Denver Post. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  21. Ensslin, John C. (22 April 2008). "Complaint filed against inaugural committee". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  22. Ensslin, John C. (10 September 2008). "No charges filed against Ritter's former campaign chief". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  23. Lane, Anthony (28 February 2008). "The blue wave". Colorado Springs Independent. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  24. Editorial Board (17 October 2008). "Post's picks in Colorado's House of Representatives". Denver Post. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  25. Norris, Wendy; Bob Spencer (3 November 2008). "State candidate endorsement watch". Colorado Independent. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  26. "Colorado Statewide Cumulative Report - 2008 General Election". Colorado Secretary of State. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
  27. DeGette, Cara (3 September 2008). "Colorado AG John Suthers reports from the RNC – everyone's fired up". The Colorado Independent. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  28. "House Republican Committee Assignments Announced" (Press release). Colorado House Democrats. 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  29. Hoover, Tim (17 August 2009). "TABOR backer joins Joint Budget Committee". Denver Post.
  30. OPEN STATES. "SB11-023". Retrieved 10 Oct 2012.
  31. Secure PERA. "SB12-084". Retrieved 10 Oct 2012.
  32. http://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/colonel-kent-d-lambert
  33. http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-082
  34. http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-096
  35. http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-300
  36. http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-297
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