Jared Polis said his experience as a businessman who is capable of finding innovative ways to fund projects and his willingness as a politician to work across the aisle to get things done make him the best candidate for Colorado governor.
The Boulder native said Tuesday in an interview with The Durango Herald’s editorial board that his decade in Congress as a state representative and his experience finding money to start companies that he sold for hundreds of millions of dollars qualify him for the state’s chief executive seat.
Polis, a Democrat, is running against Walker Stapleton, a Republican who currently serves as state treasurer. They are vying to take over the governorship from John Hickenlooper, who is term-limited.
The governor has the power to sign or veto bills passed by the Colorado General Assembly, convene a legislature, appoint members to state boards and commissions and grant pardons.
Here are some of the talking points Polis shared with the Herald:
Campaign financePolis, who has spent more on his campaign for governor than anyone else, said Tuesday he supports proposed campaign finance reform in the state.
Polis’ support for proposed Amendment 75 is fueled by his position against special interests in politics, he said.
If candidates direct more than $1 million of their own money to their campaigns, the amendment, if approved, would allow opponents to raise five times the current limit set on campaign contributions.
“I would like to see a system where anyone can run for office without being wealthy and without having to make themselves subservient to the special interests,” Polis said. “One of the reasons I’m running is to take on special interests.”
Polis has raised more than $20 million for his campaign for governor, of which at least $18 million came from his own pocketbook.
While he doesn’t believe Amendment 75 is the end-all to issues of campaign finance, Polis said it is a step in the right direction. The amendment would give political candidates running against a wealthy or well-funded opponent the opportunity to raise more money on the books rather than through political action committees that do not have to disclose where funding comes from.
Funding to PACs that is unaccounted for in the public process is “something that degrades our election system and our public,” Polis said.
Renewable energyPolis has a plan to make Colorado 100 percent dependent on renewable energy by 2040 – a goal he likened to John F. Kennedy’s 1961 ambition to put a man on the moon by 1970. There are parallels, he said: The country didn’t have the technology to put a person on the moon in 1961, much like Colorado doesn’t have the technology to meet the goal of 100 percent renewable energy right now.
While he did not suggest that the government drive the move to 100 percent renewable energy, Polis said public-private partnerships with energy producers around the state could propel Colorado toward the goal.
EducationPolis, who served on the Colorado State Board of Eduction from 2001 to 2007, wants to make kindergarten and preschool available to every child in the state, an investment he says will pay for itself in the future. Polis wants to establish public-private partnerships and enlist philanthropic efforts to improve access to preschool and kindergarten. He said it would eventually reduce the cost to taxpayers by saving money on special education and youth adjudication.
He also said he opposes any efforts to “gut accountability” in school systems and suggested revamping the way Colorado evaluates the effectiveness of its education system. The system now, put in place by Colorado SB 191, disadvantages low-income schools and minority-rich districts, Polis said.
The system he wants is one that would hold schools accountable for mistakes while not punishing those that under-perform as a result of socioeconomic disadvantages.
Health careAmerica’s private health care system works, but it is the way it is funded that should be fixed, Polis said.
He suggested Tuesday that Colorado work toward building a larger risk pool for state-funded Medicaid, an effort he said will bring down the cost of health care for all Coloradans.
That’s not to undercut the private insurance industry, he said, but rather to offer a more affordable opportunity to get a “basic level of health care for everybody.”
bhauff@durangoherald.comThis story has been updated to correct the accuracy of Jared Polis’ quote about Amendment 75, which year Polis served on the Colorado State Board of Education, and the education policy that he said disadvantages low-income schools and minority-rich communities.