Cherylin Peniston

Cherylin Naylor Peniston^[2] (born 3 March 1948^[3]) is a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A career public school teacher, Peniston was first elected as a Democrat in 2006 to the Colorado House of Representatives. She represented House District 35, which encompasses most of Westminster, Colorado and portions of Arvada.^[4] Term limited, she did not seek re-election in 2014.^[5]

Cherylin Peniston
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives from the 35th district
In office January 10, 2007[1] – January 7, 2015
Preceded by	Ann Ragsdale
Succeeded by	Faith Winter
Personal details
Born	(1948-03-03) March 3, 1948 (age 77) Chicago, Illinois
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	W.J.[2]
Profession	Teacher

Biography

Born in Chicago, Illinois,^[3] Peniston earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of La Verne in 1970,^[2] and spent her career teaching social studies and foreign languages at Scott Carpenter Middle School in Adams County School District 50 from 1971 to 1999.^[3]

While teaching, she earned her master's degree in International Studies from the University of Denver in 1990, and won two Fulbright Scholarships to study abroad — for six weeks in Egypt in 1987 and for three weeks in Japan in 1997.^[2][6]

Between 1999 and 2003, Peniston was elected to two terms as president of the Westminster Education Association, the local union associated with the National Education Association.^[2] She was also a member of the District 50 Education Foundation, and was also a substitute teacher at Scott Carpenter Middle School from 2003 until 2006.^[3]

From 2005 to 2006, Peniston was Assistant Secretary of the Adams County Democratic Party,^[3] and was a member of the Adams County Democratic Latino PAC and the Colorado Democratic Latino Initiative.^[2] Peniston is married; she and her husband, W.J., have two children, Erin and Geoffry, and at least one grandchild.^[2][6]

Legislative career

2006 election

Spurred to run for elected office because of her experiences as a teacher and union leader,^[7] Peniston was elected to the state house in 2006, first winning the Democratic party primary over Jeff Vigil^[8] and then defeating Republican Ruben Pacheco by a 2:1 margin, winning a predominantly Democratic district^[4] in which Pacheco did not run an active campaign. Peniston was endorsed both by the Rocky Mountain News^[9] and the Denver Post,^[10] as well as by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.^[11]

2007 legislative session

In the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Peniston sat on the House Education Committee and the House Local Government Committee.^[12] Peniston's only unsuccessful bill during the 2007 session was a measure to require that school districts which make budget cutbacks cut pay for administrators as well as teachers; it was killed in a Senate committee.^[13]

Following the legislative session, Peniston served on the legislature's Police Officers' and Firefighters' Pension Reform Commission.^[14]

2008 legislative session

In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Peniston sits on the House Education Committee and the House Local Government Committee.^[15]

Peniston worked with elementary school students in Adams County to draft and sponsor a measure to name the Western painted turtle the Colorado state reptile.^[16] After passing the General Assembly, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter at the students' school.^[17]

2008 election

Peniston sought a second term in the legislature in 2008, facing Republican Tracy Gimer. Peniston's re-election bid was endorsed by the Denver Post,^[18] and she prevailed with 67 percent of the popular vote.^[19]

Peniston has also sponsored legislation to require that adopted pets be spayed or neutered,^[20] to allow gifted children to enter kindergarten or first grade at earlier ages,^[21][22] to create curricula for students in juvenile detention or residential treatment,^[23] and to allow residential projects as part of transit-oriented development in conjunction with FasTracks.^[24][25]

2009 legislative session

For the 2009 legislative session, Peniston was named to chair the House Local Government Committee and to a seat on the House Education Committee.^[26]

With Sen. John Morse, Peniston plans on introducing legislation to increase vehicle registration fees by $1 to pay for rural ambulance services.^[27] Peniston has also sponsored legislation to require tags or ID chips on many domestic cats.^[28]

2012 election

In the 2012 General Election, Representative Peniston faced Republican challenger Brian Vande Krol. Peniston was elected by a margin of 56% to 44%.^[29][30]