Mission

Each year at their Fall Membership Meeting Progressive 15 will induct into their Hall of Fame former legislators that they feel have been outstanding in their work, support and advocacy for the Northeastern part of the State of Colorado.  Potential inductees are nominated by the membership and decided on by the Board of Directors of Progressive 15.

2006 Inductees: 

Don Ament, Carl "Beverly" Bledsoe, William Bledsoe, Dr. Richard Bond, Hank Brown, Bob Eisenach, Mark Hillman, Diane Hoppe, Bob Schaffer, Brad Young

• Don Ament

                

Don Ament was appointed Commissioner of Agriculture January 12, 1999, by Governor Bill Owens.  Don served twelve years in the Colorado General Assembly, chairing the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee and the Capital Development Committee. Prior to his election to the State Legislature Don served for five years on the State Board of Education, four of them as chairman.  He also served fourteen years on the RE-1 Valley School Board in Sterling, and is a former president of the Colorado Association of School Boards.

 

Nationally, Ament chaired the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Task Force on Agriculture, and is considered an expert in areas of water and property rights.  Currently he serves as Chair of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Natural Resources and Pesticide Management Committee, President of the Western Association of State Departments of Agriculture (WASDA), and is the Governor’s appointee as Colorado’s representative on the Tri-State Platte River Governance Committee with Nebraska and Wyoming.  

 

Commissioner Ament’s day to day activities include the leadership and support of the Department of Agriculture, representing agriculture on boards and commissions, and promoting the importance of the agricultural industry and the role it plays in preserving our quality of life.  Don supports innovative ideas to increase and improve production agriculture and the utilization of computer technology to improve the states’ e-commerce. 

 

Ament has lived his entire life in Colorado, graduating with an engineering degree from the University of Colorado.  Don continues to farm and ranch in Northeast Colorado.  He and his wife, Patty, have three grown children, and five grandchildren.

• Carl Beverly Bledsoe

            

Carl Bledsoe is currently a rancher, lobbyist and agricultural specialist.  Born in 1923 in Aroya, Colorado he married Alice Elizabeth Cotellessa.  They have three boys, 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Carl served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1973 to 1991 serving on Labor & Business Affairs, Legislative Audit, and Finance Committees.  He also served as Speaker of the House from 1981 - 1991.

Carl has a Bachelor of Science from Colorado State University and has served on boards and in organization on a local and statewide level.

Among other awards received are:  Colorado Association of School Boards Honor Roll; Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame; Colorado Bankers Association Special Award; and, Independence Institute Zebulon Pike Award.

• William Bledsoe

                   

Bill Bledsoe was born on July 27, 1919, in Cheyenne County, Colorado at the present Bledsoe Ranch headquarters.

He graduated from Colorado State University in 1942 with a Bachelor's Degree in general agriculture. 

In 1947 he married Helen Rooney of Haddam, Kansas.  They raised 3 daughters and a son on the Bledsoe Ranch.

He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1952 and served until 1954.  Then from 1954 to 1966 Bill served in the Colorado Senate.  During his terms of office in the senate, he served as the chairman of Business Affairs, on the game and fish committee and on the Agricultural Committee.

He has been a member of the Lincoln County Stockgrowers Association since 1950, and served as its first president.  Bill also served on the Cheyenne County Nursing Home Board for 20 years.  For several terms he has served on the board of directors for NCDC (a data processing company in Mandan, North Dakota).  Currently he serves as an Eastern Slope Rural Telephone Diretor, a position be has enjoyed since 1966.

• Dr. Richard Bond

               

  Dr. Bond was educated in the public schools of his native state of West Virginia, graduating from Salem (WV) College and  West Virginia University, and receiving his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin.  In his academic career he served as dean or vice president at Elmira College (NY), Cornell University, the University of Liberia and Illinois State University.  He was President of the University of Northern Colorado from 1971-1981. 

He was elected to the Colorado General Assembly in 1984 where he served three terms, in two of which he was a member of the Joint Budget Committee.  He authored the Colorado Post Secondary Options Act and other education- and health-related legislation.  Following retirement from UNC and the legislature, he successively became Interim President of Front Range Community College, President of Morgan Community College and the Greeley/Weld Community Foundation.  He currently serves as an elected trustee of Aims Community College and the University Schools, a charter school. 

An author of several publications, he is the founder of the National Student Exchange Program, which now exchanges about 4500 students annually among some 150 colleges and university across the country and the founder of the Colorado Democratic Leadership Council.  He has served on many community and state-wide charitable boards.  He and his wife of more than 60 years have 4 adult children and five grandchildren.   

• Hank Brown

 

University Of Colorado

 

Hank Brown was named the 21st President of the University of Colorado in April, 2005. Since then the university has seen enrollment rebound to an all time record, donations increased 12%, the President’s personal staff was significantly reduced, externally funded faculty research was increased by $51 million and the governance process was reformed.

 

Daniels Fund

 

Hank Brown joined the Daniels Fund as President and CEO on July 1, 2002, and served there until his appointment at the university in 2005. The Daniels Fund is a billion dollar foundation left by the late cable entrepreneur, Bill Daniels. In his first two years at the Daniels Fund, he reduced overhead by 35% and shifted $2 million a year to increase grants and scholarships.

 

University of Northern Colorado

 

Upon leaving the U.S. Senate, Brown accepted an endowed professorship at the University of Denver where he served as Co-Director of DU’s PublicPolicyCenter. He taught at DenverUniversity from January 1997 until June 1998 when he joined the University of Northern Colorado as its 11th President.  In four years as President of the university, overhead was reduced by 7 million dollars a year and transferred to instruction.  Externally funded research was doubled, the endowment increased by over 200% and capitol development appropriations exceeded the total of the prior 40 years combined.  The admission index was raised and the university moved from Division II to IAA in athletics.

 

Brown is co-author of Lessons and Legacies and has published over one hundred articles and op-ed pieces.

 

U.S. Senate and Congress

 

In 1990, Hank Brown was elected to the United States Senate, becoming Colorado’s 30th Senator.  He was elected by a 13% victory margin.

 

In the U.S. Senate, he served as Chairman of the Middle East Subcommittee on Foreign Relations and Chairman of the Constitutional Law Subcommittee on Judiciary.

 

Among other legislation Brown was the prime sponsor of Colorado’s only Wild and ScenicRiver and the only Heritage area designation. Brown sponsored the 1994 Colorado Wilderness Bill, the American, Santa Fe and Oregon Trails Bills and the first Accounting Standards Bill for the Federal Government.  Brown authored the 1994, 1995 and 1996 Nation Participation Acts that brought much of Central Europe in NATO.

 

In 1980, Hank Brown was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the Fourth Congressional District.  Brown was re-elected in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988 with margins ranging up to 74% of the vote.  In each election, he led the ticket and set a record for the largest margin of victory in a contested race for the Fourth Congressional District.

 

Upon entering Congress, Brown was elected President of the 54 first-term Republican Congressmen.  U.S. News and World Report named Brown as one of the three outstanding first-term Congressmen based on their poll of the entire membership of the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

Brown served on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the Ethics Committee.

 

 

Colorado State Senate

 

Brown was elected to the Colorado State Senate in 1972.  He served from 1973 to 1977 while working full-time as a vice president of Monfort of Colorado.  In 1975, he was elected Assistant Majority Leader as the youngest Republican in the State Senate.  Brown authored and won passage of the Colorado Conservation Trust Fund, the Colorado Coop. Code, seven bills that rewrote the Colorado Traffic Code, a rewrite of the Colorado Cooporation Code and one of the first Generic Drug Bills in the Nation.

 

Business and Administrative Experience

 

In July 1969, Hank Brown joined Monfort of Colorado, Inc., the largest cattle feeding operation in the world, as assistant to the president, Kenneth Monfort.  In December 1969, he added the responsibilities of corporate counsel to his other duties.  He was promoted to Vice President of Monfort Food Distributing Company in January 1971.  A year later, he was promoted to vice president for Corporate Development.  In 1976, he was made vice president in charge of International Operations.  In 1979, Brown assumed the direction of the Lamb Feeding and Processing Divisions. The Lamb Division involved supervision of the largest lamb feeding operation in the nation and direction of lamb processing plants in Colorado and Texas.

 

Recognition and activities included:

 

• Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, 1979
• Appointed to the National Cattlemen’s Association Foreign Trade Committee, 1978
• Received the University of Colorado Distinguished Business Alumnus Award, 1978
• Elected to the Board of Directors of the U.S. Meat Exporters Council, 1977
• Elected to the Board of Directors of the United Bank of Greeley, 1976
• Currently Brown serves on the Board of Directors of Sealed Air Corporation, Sensient Technologies and Boise Cascade Corporation.

 

Civic Activities and Honors

 

Brown continued his pattern of service to his community.  Some of these activities stemmed from his work at Monfort of Colorado.  He was director of the Monfort of Colorado programs for development of minority enterprises and aided in the development of the SpanishColonyPark.  Recognition for civic service has included:

 

• Jaycee Distinguished Service Award, 1972
• Outstanding Young Man of Colorado Award, 1973
• Elected to the Board of Directors of the ColoradoStateUniversity Foundation, 1977
• Vice Chairman of the University of Colorado Business Alumni Council, 1979
• Appointed to the GreeleyCity Planning Commission, 1979
• Elected to the WeldCounty Agricultural Extension Service Advisory Committee, 1978-1980
• Presidential appointment to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 1997-1999
• Hungarian Presidential Gold Medal
• Poland’s “Order of Merit”
• Pakistan’s Order of Nishan-1-Quaid-Azam
• University of ColoradoLawSchool Alumni Award
• The Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service

 

Personal

 

Hank Brown is a native Coloradoan.  In 1967 he married Nan Morrison of Springfield, Colorado.  The couple has three children.  Twins Harry and Christy were born in 1969, and Lori was born in 1971.  They have three grandchildren:  Lilly Walsh born in 2002, Hank Walsh born in 2004 and Harry Brown born in 2005.

 

Education

 

Born in Denver, Colorado on February 12, 1940, Hank attended school through the junior high level in Denver.  In 1953, he moved to California where he attended Menlo-AthertonHigh School, graduating in 1957.  He paid his expenses by working an average of 30 hours a week as a dishwasher and gardener during the school year and worked full-time in the summers.

 

His awards and honors while in high school include:

 

• Rotary Award for Service Above Self
• First Place, San Jose invitational Debate Tournament
• Second Place in the California Championship in Impromptu Speaking
• All State in Wrestling
• All Conference Football Second Team
• Member of Gold Key (an honorary whose membership was based upon activities and academics)
• California Scholarship Society

 

In 1957, he entered the University of Colorado on a football scholarship.  Other athletic interests included the C Club and wrestling, a sport in which he lettered.  When he was not participating in athletics, Brown helped pay his way through school by working 30 hours a week.

 

Academically, he was on the faculty Honor Roll for four semesters and participated in the Honors Program.  His academic achievement earned him membership in the honoraries Phi Epsilon Phi, Beta Alpha Psi, Sumalia, Heart and Dagger Chessmen and Blue Key.  Brown graduated in the upper fifth of his class.

 

While at CU, he secured the passage of the first complete reorganization of student government since the late 1930s.

 

Honors and awards at CU included:

 

• The University of Colorado’s Outstanding Leadership Award, 1961
• Student Body President, 1960-1961
• President, Junior Men’s Honorary, Hammers, 1959-1960
• President, Sophomore Men’s Honorary, Phi Epsilon Phi, 1958-1959
• Pacesetter Award

 

In addition to four years of athletic and academic scholarships, he was awarded an accounting internship from Eastman Kodak.

 

Law School

 

Returning from his tour of duty in Vietnam, Brown entered LawSchool at the University of Colorado in 1966.  He worked in excess of 50 hours a week as a janitor, advertising salesman and tax accountant while attending law school full time.  He was a member of the Honor Code Council, Phi Alpha Delta (legal fraternity) and Student Bar Association.

 

Awards and honors while in law school included:

 

• Scholastic scholarship for all three years
• Outstanding individual performance in practice court trials
• Second in class of 120 in first-year appellate brief and arguments

 

Brown graduated from the University of Colorado Law School in 1969 with a Juris Doctor degree.  He passed the Colorado Bar Examination in 1969 and was admitted to the practice of law.  He scored a 99 on the tax section of the Bar Exam.

 

Masters of Law Degree

 

From 1983 to 1986 while serving in Congress, Brown attended night classes at GeorgeWashingtonUniversity in their Post Juris Doctorate program.  In May 1986, he was awarded a Masters of Law degree with a specialty in taxation.

 

CPA

 

During 1987, Brown attended night classes to prepare for the Certified Public Accountants’ exam.  Brown passed all four sections of the CPA exam on his first attempt and was accredited as a CPA in March of 1988.

 

Military Service

 

In 1962, Hank Brown entered the Naval Officers’ CandidateSchool and was commissioned as an Ensign.  He volunteered for N.A.O. flight training and was awarded his Navigator’s Wings.  From 1964 – 1965, he served on flight duty with the VR-22, advancing to Navigation Flight Instructor and then to Navigation Flight Examiner.  He was promoted to Lieutenant, J.G.

 

In 1965, he volunteered for flight duty in Vietnam, serving as a Forward Air Controller in an O-1 along the coastal areas outside DaNang.  It was here he was promoted to Lieutenant.

 

Awards and honors while in the Navy included:

 

• Air Medal with two Gold Stars
• Naval Unit Citation
• Vietnam Service Medal
• Expeditionary Forces Medal
• National Defense Medal

 

 

• Bob Eisenach

              

 

                  

Bob’s list of achievement start with serving as the president of Colorado Future Farmers of America upon graduating from Fort Morgan High School to serving on the Fort Morgan board of education to Morgan County Commissioner to serving as a legislator in the Colorado State House. In the state house he was a member on Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources committee as well as the Local Government committee and on the Interim Committee on Water and State Lands.

In 1995 Bob became the Executive Director of U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency in Colorado.  He was recognized by then Vice President Al Gore for FSA’s field gleaning and food recovery program

 

Since retiring in 2000 from the Executive Director position Bob has been active at home with his continued interest in government and politics.  He enjoys working in the yard, his grandchildren and church.  He is involved with the Alzheimer Association and Memory Walk as they are important to continue awareness of his disease and the possibility of an eventual cure.  He also enjoys his standard poodles Millie and Lance.   Bob and his wife Linda have four sons and 12 grandchildren

• Mark Hillman

 

                            

 

A native of Burlington on Colorado’s eastern plains, Mark Hillman was appointed acting State Treasurer by Governor Owens in June 2005 and served in that capacity through March 2006, when the incumbent Treasurer returned from military service.  Previously, Mark served for seven years in the Colorado State Senate, representing the state’s largest legislative district covering 12 counties and more than 21,000 square miles. Mark was elected to leadership posts for five of his seven years in the Senate, including both Majority Leader and Minority Leader.

Mark’s pragmatic and effective leadership style earned him National Legislator of the Year honors from the National Republican Legislators Association, “Taxpayer Champion” from the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, and other numerous awards in Colorado, including recognition from the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Colorado Civil Justice League, and the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry.

During his service as Colorado’s chief financial officer, Treasurer Hillman served as the guardian of the taxpayer, ensuring that public funds entrusted to the state are managed safely and effectively in the best interests of Coloradans. Treasurer Hillman’s priorities also included ensuring taxpayers dollars are invested safely and wisely, improving the state’s financial stability, and empowering Coloradans through financial independence.

Mark married Heidi Horvath on July 16, 2005. They spend their time in both Denver and Burlington, where Mark continues to work the family farm, growing hard red winter wheat.  Early in his career, he worked for eight years as a fulltime sports editor, news reporter, photographer and “jack of all trades” at his hometown newspaper, the Burlington Record.

 

• Diane Hoppe

             

 

Representative Diane Hoppe is a native of Sterling, Colorado, completing her fourth term in the Colorado House of Representatives.  Representative Hoppe is the Minority Whip and serves on the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, the House Appropriations Committee and the Legislative Council Committee. 

During her legislative career she has been a strong advocate of rural Colorado and a leader on many water-related issues.  She was the first woman to chair the House Ag Committee and the Water Resource Review Committee.  She is a charter member of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and is president of the board of directors.

Diane is the mother of two sons, comes from a farm and ranch background, and is a graduate of the University of Colorado with a major in microbiology. 

• Bob Schaffer

                                   

Bob is vice-president for business development at Aspect Energy, Inc., of Denver, Colorado where he is involved in a variety of energy, mining and education projects.  He is president of the Parents’ Alliance for Choice in Education, a non-profit corporation promoting reform in Colorado’s public education system and leading the state’s transformation to a market-driven education system.

Bob is Chairman of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, a corporation providing economic and political leadership training in Colorado.  He serves as Commissioner of the Eighth Judicial District Nominating Commission by appointment of Governor Bill Owens. 

In March 2005 Schaffer was elected Republican National Committeeman for Colorado.  He is one of eight members of the Colorado State Board of Education.  Schaffer’s Board constituency is the state’s Fourth Congressional District.  He is also the Colorado Chairman of the Judicial Confirmation Network.

From 1989 to 1995, Bob owned and operated Northern Front Range Marketing and Distribution, a small marketing business serving Colorado’s tourism industry.

From 1997 until early 2003, Bob represented Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.  Upon his retirement from the Congress, Schaffer was awarded the Benemerenti Medal by His Holiness John Paul II. 

Prior to serving in Congress, Schaffer served nine years in the Colorado State Senate, where he was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Chairman of the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Bob was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He graduated from Archbishop Moeller High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dayton majoring in Political Science.  He received an honorary doctorate in Management from Colorado Technical University.  He holds a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.  Bob and his wife Maureen have five children.

• Brad Young

 

                        

Brad Young was born in Lamar and graduated from Lamar High School. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Colorado State University. Before entering politics in 1990, he worked as an engineer, a community college instructor, and as a contract computer analyst/programmer.

Brad served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1991-1992 and 1996-2004. During his 5 terms in office he chaired the House Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources Committee (1999-2000), the House Appropriations Committee (2001-2004), and the Joint Budget Committee (2002, 2004), and served as Speaker Pro-tem (2001-2002). He was term limited in 2004. Young received recognition and awards for his work in many areas including education, telecommunications, economic development, rural health, and tax policy.

He is the author of TABOR and Direct Democracy: An Essay on the End of the Republic, published by Fulcrum Press of Golden, Colorado, and he is frequently invited to speak about TABOR in Colorado and across the country.

In January of 2005, Brad traveled to Indonesia at the request of the National Council of Legislatures with two other state legislators to advise elected officials at the local and national level on budgeting processes and procedures as practiced at the state level in the United States.

Brad currently resides in Lamar and is employed as Governmental Affairs Director for Rx Pharmacies, Inc. He and his wife of 30 years, Becky, have two daughters.