Glenn Vaad

In June 2005, Vaad, term-limited as a county commissioner, announced his intention to run for House District 48, a seat being vacated by term-limited Rep. Dale Hall, who ran for the state senate.[7] Vaad faced Democrat Michael Dugan in the 2006 race to in a race where regional growth and transportation funding were key issues.[16] Vaad won the November 2006 general election with about 58 percent of the vote.[17]

After his election, Vaad named transportation, public safety, and economic security his top legislative goals.[18] Because of his experience with transportation issues, Vaad was named the ranking Republican member of the House Transportation Committee and co-chair of the General Assembly's Transportation Caucus in his first term.[19] Vaad also sat on the House Appropriations Committee.[20] Vaad sponsored only two bills during the 2007 session, both of them concerning disclosure of confidential information (insurance records and employee salaries) by government entities.[21]

During the session, Vaad crossed party lines to support a controversial tax freeze proposed by Democrats to expand education funding.[22]

Following the 2007 session, Vaad was appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter to a 30-member committee studying transportation funding options,[23][24] the Blue Ribbon Panel on Transportation Finance and Implementation.[6] and also served on the interim Transportation Legislation Review Committee.[25]

In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Vaad sat on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee. [26]

In the 2008 legislative session, Vaad planned, as part of a package of transportation legislation proposed by Republicans, to introduce a bill to turn over responsibility for state highways within city limits to each municipality,[27] and to give cities a greater share of state transportation funds.[28][29] The bill died in committee, as did legislation to allow citizens to form a regional transportation authority by petition.[30] Vaad planned on continuing to advance his transportation agenda within the Transportation Legislation Review Committee, which met between legislative sessions.[31] In particular, he planned on reintroducing a version of his transportation funding bill in the 2009 session.[32]

Vaad also sponsored bills, signed into law, that required that old license plates be destroyed to prevent fake plates from being installed on vehicles,[33] and to specify the location of registration stickers on license plates.[34] Another bill to be introduced by Vaad would prohibit money from Colorado's College Opportunity Fund for being used for remedial university coursework.[35]

Vaad announced his intention to run for a second term in January 2008[6] and was nominated by acclamation at the Republican assembly in February,[36] although he faced a primary election challenge from Mark Charles Yingling,[37] who petitioned onto the primary ballot.[38]

Yingling ran a campaign positioning himself as more conservative than Vaad on issues including abortion, immigration, and taxes;[39][40][41] Vaad, however, accused Yingling's campaign of distorting his legislative record.[42] Yingling's campaign against Vaad also drew support from groups opposing gun control and illegal immigration.[43][44]

Vaad narrowly won the Republican primary, prevailing with 53 percent of the vote, less than 500 votes more than Yingling—an unexpectedly strong result for a challenger who entered the contest relatively late[38] and who did not even set up a web site.[44] Vaad will face Democrat Bill Williams in November's general election.[43] Vaad's re-election bid was endorsed by the Greeley Tribune,[45] the Denver Post,[46] and the Longmont Times-Call,[47] and the Windsor Beacon.[48] He won re-election, defeating Williams with about 60 percent of the popular vote.[49][50]

For the 2009 legislative session, Vaad was named to seats on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee, where he was the ranking Republican.[51] Vaad sponsored legislation to transfer control of some transportation projects to local communities,[52] and to allow Berthoud, Colorado to be added to the taxing district area for Aims Community College, pending voter approval.[53][54]

In January 2009, while at the state capitol, Vaad injured his hamstring and subsequently fainted, requiring him to be transported out of the capitol on a stretcher; he had no serious injuries.[55]

In October 2009, after learning that the Colorado Department of Corrections planned on leaving a newly constructed maximum security prison in Cañon City unused due to state budget cuts, Vaad proposed selling the facility to a private prison operator, and planned on offering legislation during the 2010 session to accomplish this.[56][57]

Vaad also planned on sponsoring legislation in 2010 to establish a "priority-based budgeting system" for the state of Colorado,[57][58] and also legislation to have a private firm perform a "contingency recovery" audit of state spending, in which a fraction of the savings found by the audit would be awarded to the company performing it.[57]

In October 2009, Vaad announced his intention to seek a third term as a state representative in the November 2010 legislative elections; he identified his "priority-based budgeting" proposal as a centerpiece of his campaign.[58]

Vaad ran in the 2012 Republican primary election for Colorado State Senate District 23. He was defeated by Vicki Marble in the Republican primary on June 26, 2012.[59][60] Vaad is succeeded by Republican Stephen Humphrey. Then in December 2013, Governor Hickenlooper appointed Vaad to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. He began his three-year term there in January 2014.[61]