John Michael Kefalas (born December 26, 1954) is a politician 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 represented Senate District 14 until early 2019. In 2018, Kefalas ran for and won a seat on the Larimer County Board of County Commissioners. He resigned his Senate seat, and a vacancy committee nominated Joann Ginal to replace him.
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 Jassen 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.