{"id":25848,"date":"2024-09-03T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T01:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-governors-chief-of-staff-is-departing-will-be-replaced-by-top-policy-adviser\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:29:31","slug":"colorado-governors-chief-of-staff-is-departing-will-be-replaced-by-top-policy-adviser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-governors-chief-of-staff-is-departing-will-be-replaced-by-top-policy-adviser\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado governor\u2019s chief of staff is departing, will be replaced by top policy adviser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado House Speaker Alec Garnett makes a point during a news conference on the west steps of the State Capitol about legislative plans for the upcoming session Monday in Denver. Leaders are aiming to expand access to health care as well as reduce costs, make the state more affordable by reducing child care and housing costs, improving the education system and taking steps to insure safe communities. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 chief of staff will leave the position at the end of next week and be replaced by the governor\u2019s top policy adviser, a major shake-up that comes as the governor enters his final two years leading the state.<\/p>\n

Polis\u2019 chief of staff, former House Speaker Alec Garnett, will step down Sept. 13. David Oppenheim, the governor\u2019s deputy chief of staff for legislative and policy affairs, will take his place.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office didn\u2019t say why Garnett is leaving or if he has taken another job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank Alec Garnett for his incredible leadership and hard work for the people of Colorado,\u201d the governor said in a written statement. \u201cAlec has committed his career to public service, from his time in the General Assembly, as speaker of the House, and as chief of staff in the governor\u2019s office, his work has made life better for Coloradans. Alec will be missed, but I\u2019m excited to congratulate and welcome David Oppenheim into this role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garnett, in a statement, said being chief of staff has \u201cbeen an incredible opportunity to serve Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garnett became chief of staff at the start of 2023, taking over for Lisa Kaufmann, one of the governor\u2019s closest and longest advisers. Kaufmann, who had served as chief of staff since Polis became governor in 2019, has stayed on as an adviser to the governor.<\/p>\n

Dating back to his time in the legislature, Garnett has been a key negotiator between Democrats and business interests. He helped broker deals this year on property taxes, oil and gas, and medical malpractice lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Oppenheim, a fixture at the Capitol known for his policy dealmaking, joined the governor\u2019s office as legislative director in 2019. In May 2022, Oppenheim became the director of operations and cabinet affairs and was promoted to deputy chief of staff for legislative and policy affairs the following year.<\/p>\n

Oppenheim has helped shepherd through the legislature some of the governor\u2019s biggest policy goals, including expanded kindergarten and preschool access, health care reform and affordable housing initiatives.<\/p>\n

Oppenheim said in a statement that \u201cour work isn\u2019t done for the people of Colorado and we will continue to move our state forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027.<\/p>\n

Colorado Sun politics reporter Brian Eason contributed to this report<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garnett, a former Colorado House speaker, is leaving Sept. 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,28,265],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-headlines","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79124,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25848\/revisions\/79124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25848"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}