Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - A proposal for a mandatory Pledge of Allegiance in schools died Tuesday on a party-line vote, and high school students in attendance were similarly split.
"We have our own religion, our own beliefs," said Rosel Pederson, a 15-year-old ninth-grader at Widefield High School after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted. "I don't think it's right to force people."
But David Suchocki, 14 and also a ninth-grader at the school, near Colorado Springs, said he misses saying the pledge since he entered high school.
"This is what the roots of this country are based on," said Suchocki, who was visiting the Capitol to learn about state government. "Freedom and the flag."
The Senate Judiciary Committee also had different opinions on Senate Minority Leader John Andrews' bill, SB 149, which would have mandated the pledge at all public schools. Andrews, R-Centennial, amended the bill to allow an exemption for students who have religious feelings against saying the pledge.
But Democratic senators, in a 4-3 majority, felt it wasn't their place to put the mandate on school districts.
"A required recital of words is the not the best way to inspire patriotism in students," said Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, who chairs the committee.
Sen. Ken Arnold, R-Westminster, said the pledge is the least students can do to show respect for the country. "There have been many, many people who gave their lives and their blood . . . so we might have the freedom we have today," he said.
Gordon pointed out a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled a forced pledge was unconstitutional. The case centered on a person who had religious objections, but Gordon said the full decision says forced pledges violate the U.S. Constitution.
Andrews, who has a bill in committee later this week mandating students take a class each year to learn about patriotism, disagreed. "If we're not teaching love of this country, what are we about?" he asked the committee.
The bill had its share of political gamesmanship.
Andrews tried to bypass the committee early Tuesday by getting a super-majority to pass it directly to the Senate floor, but that failed 18-17.
He said after the committee meeting that he would try to tack the pledge bill onto other bills. "We're looking at every option," he added. "It isn't going away."
Democrats, obviously nervous about voting against a patriotism bill, urged Republicans not to use the votes in the November campaign. "It would be demagoguery of the worst sort, " Gordon said.