Republican Rep. Patrick Neville is only serving his second term in office, but he recently rose to the highest position in his caucus -- house minority leader. Rep. Neville鈥檚 appointment comes as a surprise; Rep. Polly Lawrence, who has served in the legislature since 2012, was considered the heir apparent.

Here are his thoughts on the upcoming session and his new role.

1. Why he wanted to be in leadership:

Neville: I think we need to be bold as Republicans, and show the people who really are, and that鈥檚 really to be champions of the people. Our goal is to empower people. Right now I think we鈥檙e in a state where the government has really gotten too large, and it鈥檚 gotten into every aspect of people鈥檚 lives, and we really want to pull that back so people are making decisions for themselves.

2. On what makes a successful session:

Neville: A lot of people will judge it, look at how many bills were passed. I think we should look at the quality of the different bills. Simply passing a bill even if it has great intentions doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean it鈥檚 a great bill. It might have unintended consequences.

3. How he hopes to lead house Republicans:

Neville: We can鈥檛 just simply say over and over that we鈥檙e not the other side of the aisle. We have to show what we stand for and how we鈥檙e going to be better for the citizens of Colorado.

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