text: john kefalas john michael kefalas ( born december 26 , 1954 ) is a legislator in the u.s. state of colorado . an educator and lobbyist before first running for the legislature in 2004 , kefalas defeated a republican incumbent to win election to the colorado house of representatives as a democrat in 2006 . kefalas won election to the state senate in 2012 and he now represents senate district 14 . in the legislature , kefalas has focused primarily on health care and poverty issues . biography early life , education , and career born in piraeus , greece , kefalas earned a bachelor 's degree in botany from colorado state university in 1978 and then joined the peace corps in 1979 , serving as an agricultural extension worker in el salvador . after returning to the united states , he earned a master 's degree in teaching , with a secondary science specialization from fairleigh dickinson university in 1982 and taught in the poudre school district . he has also worked as an employment counselor for larimer county , colorado , and as a health outreach worker . public service and volunteerism from 1997 to 2004 , kefalas worked as a public policy advocate and community development coordinator for catholic charities until his departure amidst a controversy regarding his public support for roe v. wade and abortion rights during his 2004 legislative campaign . before entering the legislature , he directed the colorado progressive coalition 's tax fairness project . he has served as a member of the fort collins housing authority and the colorado social legislation committee , and , in 2001 , won the city of fort collins human relations award . from 1980 to 1994 , kefalas redirected a portion of his federal income taxes to charitable organizations as a protest against united states military actions in central america . he has paid his income taxes in full since 1994 , but continued to boycott the federal telephone excise tax as recently as 2004 . as a result , kefalas has had a lien filed him and has had wages garnished . kefalas has paid his back taxes and considers his actions to be a conscientious protest . he has also written about his experience of " war tax resistance " for the newsletter of the national war tax resistance coordinating committee . in both his 2004 and 2006 legislative campaigns , kefalas was accused of avoiding his federal tax obligation , both by his republican opponent and by independent political committees . kefalas has also been an outspoken opponent of the iraq war , and has engaged in non - violent civil disobedience in protest of the war . kefalas is married ; he and his wife beth have two sons — harlan , an active - duty u.s. army soldier who has served in iraq , kosovo , and afghanistan , and timothy , the coach of the colorado state university ultimate frisbee team . legislative career 2004 and 2006 campaigns kefalas first ran for the state legislature in 2004 , winning the democratic party primary by only seven votes over fort collins councilman bill bertschy after a recount process that lasted for several weeks . kefalas lost the general election by fewer than 500 votes to incumbent republican bob mccluskey in a race that also included libertarian party candidate bowman . kefalas ran unchallenged for the democratic nomination in 2006 , and narrowly prevailed over mccluskey in the general election . 2007 legislative session in the 2007 - 2008 session of the colorado general assembly , kefalas sat on the house finance committee and the house health and human services committee . while in the legislature , he sponsored successful bills to encourage state purchasing of " environmentally preferable " products , to allow colorado state university to require graduate student health insurance , and to create licensing standards for hemodialysis technicians . kefalas proposed a bill to explore alternative voting systems , which was defeated in committee , but which led to the creation of an 11 - member multi - partisan task force to study related issues . another of kefalas ' proposed bills , which would have required the colorado department of revenue to regularly report on tax burdens across individual income groups , was also defeated in committee . during his first year in the legislature , kefalas also founded the bipartisan common good caucus to address poverty issues , and was a member of the hispanic caucus and the diabetes / obesity caucus . 2008 legislative session in the 2008 session of the colorado general assembly , kefalas sat on the house finance committee and the house health and human services committee . representative kefalas was joined by chief of staff anne bellows , a legal and civil rights expert . for the 2008 legislative session , kefalas worked with other fort collins legislators , particularly rep. randy fischer , on bills to increase scrutiny of proposed uranium mining operations . while one bill , which would require that groundwater quality be restored following mining operations , passed the state legislature and was signed into law , another measure , which would have created stronger public disclosure requirements for mining operations , was killed in committee , but later revived in the state senate . with sen. ron tupa , kefalas was the house sponsor of legislation designed to reduce the cost of college textbooks by requiring textbook publishers to disclose costs and offer textbooks unbundled from additional materials , and he sponsored legislation to allow outpatient surgery centers to establish peer review committees ; both bills were signed into law by gov. ritter . for his support of ambulatory surgical centers , kefalas was awarded the legislator of the year award by the colorado ambulatory surgery center association later that year . kefalas also sponsored a bill to authorize local pilot tests of ranked choice voting methods . kefalas sponsored a bill to establish a colorado housing investment fund , but withdrew the bill when proponents moved forward with a similar ballot initiative . he later expressed frustration when plans for the ballot measure were withdrawn . building on his 2007 bill to allow purchasing of " green " products , kefalas also sponsored a measure to require colorado governments to consider products ' expected life and cost of ownership in making purchasing decisions , which was signed into law . among kefalas ' top priorities is restoring and expanding colorado 's earned income tax credit , a move which met with resistance from legislative leaders in 2007 due to budget constraints . kefalas introduced a bill in the 2008 session to restore colorado 's at ten percent of the federal credit , but the bill was defeated in a house committee . 2008 election holding office in a closely contested district , kefalas is expected to be targeted by colorado republicans during his 2008 re - election bid , which he formally announced in january 2008 . since taking office , kefalas sought to maintain a dialogue with constituents by leading a series of monthly " community conversations " on topics ranging from health care to mobile home parks , and named sustainable economic development his top priority in office . former rep. bob mccluskey announced his intention to run against kefalas in february 2008 , pitting the two against each other for the third time in as many election cycles and creating a competitive race in what was seen as one of colorado 's " swing " districts . during the campaign , kefalas held a fundraising advantage over mccluskey , with $ 60 , 000 cash on hand — three times as much as mccluskey — in mid - september . by late october , kefalas had raised over $ 100 , 000 , about $ 15 , 000 short of mccluskey 's fundraising total ; which included $ 65 , 000 that mccluskey donated to his own campaign . mccluskey targeted kefalas with a direct mail advertisement blaming kefalas and the democratic state legislature for high gasoline prices , a tactic kefalas dismissed as " negative campaigning . " kefalas also condemned independent ads attacking mccluskey 's legislative record as having " crossed the line of civility . " the 527 group accountability for colorado also spent over $ 50 , 000 in support of kefalas ' re - election , including mailers attacking mccluskey 's legislative record ; kefalas also expressed disapproval of these advertisements . mccluskey 's bid to unseat kefalas was endorsed by the denver post , while kefalas was endorsed by the windsor beacon and the fort collins coloradoan . kefalas ultimately won a second term with about 59 percent of the popular vote , becoming the first democrat to win re - election in the east fort collins district since 1936 . 2009 legislative session for the 2009 legislative session , kefalas was named to seats on the house appropriations committee , the house finance committee , and the house health and human services committee . kefalas has named health care reform as his top priority and plans on introducing legislation to create a single - payer universal health care system in colorado during the 2009 session . the bill was introduced as a proposal to create a 23 - member commission to make recommendations as to how to implement a single - payer system , and was reported favorably out of a house committee . however , kefalas was one vote short of the 33 necessary to pass the legislation out of the house , and in april , asked that the legislation be killed . kefalas also sponsored the colorado innovation investment tax credit , legislation to create $ 750 , 000 in tax credits for angel investors in startup companies , to increase support for job training programs , and to create a colorado railroad authority to begin planning for statewide passenger rail service . kefalas also sponsored legislation to create an economic opportunity / poverty reduction task force , which he chaired following the regular session . the committee 's objective is to develop plans to reduce colorado 's poverty rate by half in ten years , examining a broad range of issues from economic development to education to transportation to tax policy , and it considered potential legislation on topics ranging from the earned income tax credit to rent control . following the legislation session , kefalas was the only male legislator honored with the colorado lawmakers award by the denver women ’ s commission and the colorado women ’ s chamber of commerce . 2010 election in august 2009 , kefalas announced his intention to seek a third term in the legislature in the november 2010 legislative elections . kefalas was reelected with 57 % of the vote . 2012 election representative kefalas announced that he would seek election to the state senate seat vacated by bob bacon . kefalas ' bid was endorsed by the fort collins coloradoan and several former elected officials . in the 2012 general election , representative kefalas faced republican challenger anderson for the open senate seat . kefalas was elected by a wide margin of 58 % to 36 % with the remainder of the vote going to third - party candidates . senator kefalas now represents the people of state senate district 14 .