Carl "Bev" Beverly Bledsoe

Carl Beverly "Bev" Bledsoe served as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1972 to 1991. Bledsoe was elected Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives in 1981, and continued to serve in that position until his retirement in 1991. He occupied the House Speaker's office longer than anyone in Colorado history. As a legislator, and later as speaker, Bledsoe fought for agriculture and for rural Colorado. He was very careful to accommodate the interests of those in urban areas, but his greatest impact was in the area of agriculture. He strengthened trespass laws as part of general tort reform measures that he pushed through to make sure that hard-working Colorado residents did not lose their farms or ranches through unfair litigation. Bledsoe supported early childhood education programs and rural health care measures. He served as chairman of the National Conference of the Council of State Governments in the mid-1980s and promoted agricultural issues on a national scale.