Representative Pete Lee (Colorado Springs)
State Representative Pete Lee (D-Colorado Springs)
Rep. Pete Lee represents state House District 18 in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs. He made an immediate impact in his first legislative session in 2011 with his Restorative Justice Law, which enables victims and offenders to meet face to face to develop a plan to repair the harm resulting from criminal offenses. It could be a game changer for the criminal justice system by promoting offender accountability and victim healing while reducing recidivism and breaking the cycle of crime.
The new state law is based on Rep. Lee’s experience as a board member and board chair for Workout Ltd., a Colorado Springs-based juvenile justice program that found jobs for young people with legal troubles and returned 80 percent of the teens’ wages to their victims. Using hard work as a teaching tool, Workout helped more than 10,000 kids and returned $2 million to the community over 30 years. The rearrest rate for these kids has been less than 7 percent.
Rep. Lee has volunteered for many other local community-based nonprofit organizations, including Aspen Pointe, (formerly Pikes Peak Mental Health), both the Manitou and Pikes Peak Restorative Justice Councils, the National Alliance of Business, the NAACP, Community Prep School and the Youth Transformation Center. He also served on the School District 11 Budget Committee for several years to gain a greater understanding of the financial challenges facing school districts.
Rep. Lee worked for the Holly Sugar Corporation, a NYSE-listed company headquartered in Colorado Springs, from 1975 to 1982 and then worked for the law firm of Hill Corrigan Morgan and Krall for five years before setting up his own law practice. Representing small businesses and individuals, he focused on helping small businesses organize, grow and prosper as well as representing indigent criminal defendants.
He moved to Colorado after graduating from the University of Akron Law School, and has made this state his home for the last 36 years. He received a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and studied business at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Rep. Lee and his wife Lynn have been married for 22 years and have a daughter, Amanda, and two sons, Robert and Brian, who attend college. In their free time, they hike and ski in the Colorado mountains.
