Colorado’ senior U.S. Senator, Democrat Mark Udall, is being challenged by U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. It is a tight race, made even more competitive by the national climate. In looking at the candidates, the choice is clear. Udall should be re-elected.
Udall has been relentlessly beating up his opponent over Gardner’s support for “personhood” legislation. Udall’s attacks are becoming repetitive, but Gardner gave him the stick. Gardner’s dogged support for personhood says one of two things about him. Either his position on women’s rights is far out of the Colorado mainstream or the congressman will say anything for a vote. What this state needs instead, and historically has produced, is consistent, middle-of-the-road representation from people unafraid of reaching across the aisle when common ground can be found. Udall has done that.
While his overall voting record certainly reflects his Democratic affiliation, he has broken with his party when he felt the issue important to his constituents. From his seat on the Armed Services Committee, he has largely supported the administration’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has pushed back, however, on government surveillance. In response to news that the Central Intelligence Agency had been spying on the Senate, Udall called for CIA Director John Brennan to resign.
While Udall is justified in battering Gardner over his position on personhood, there is more to talk about than reproductive rights. In response, however, Gardner offers little beyond reflexive opposition to government in general and Obamacare in particular. Vote to re-elect Mark Udall.
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton has been a relatively low-profile member of a House of Representatives known recently for its collective bravado and bluster. Since his election in 2010, Tipton has been attuned to the nation’s economic challenges and has focused his legislative agenda accordingly. In so doing, he has carried measures that aim to ease regulatory burdens on various industries. The most successful of those have been crafted and carried with bipartisan support.
His measure streamlining the permitting process for small hydropower projects passed both chambers of Congress and was signed into law — a rarity for any measure in today’s political climate. He also has Democratic partners in his effort to secure ski areas’ water rights and has worked broadly in supporting pilot projects in Pagosa Springs and Gypsum to harvest dead trees for energy.
These measures and others that have gathered less momentum have been informed by Tipton’s wariness of regulations — a mindset that has spurred him to push back on federal agencies attempting to broaden their reach. He has criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule to extend the reach of the Clean Water Act, an effort Tipton calls “the biggest water grab in history.” He has resisted an endangered species listing for sage grouse, and asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be more specific about its goals for restoring the birds’ population. At times Tipton’s anti-regulation mindset goes too far, but his questions are relevant and worthy of consideration.
Staying connected to his district by championing its homegrown legislation, as well as visiting often, will be critical to Tipton’s success in the coming term. He deserves re-election.
Since his election in 2010, Gov. John Hickenlooper has managed to irk those who would be natural allies for a Democrat, while by turns enraging and pleasing presumed adversarial interests. And all the while he has overseen a period of growing economic prosperity while working through enduring budgetary challenges wrought with ideological polarity. He deserves re-election.
The governor has had his share of messes to step in, clean up or triage with help. Staunch environmentalists have criticized him for his embracing the gas and oil industry and for attempting to inform federal processes with state-based answers around endangered species habitat or land management. Gun rights advocates despise Hickenlooper for his supporting 2013 legislation expanding background checks and limiting magazine capacity to 15 rounds. On these and most other issues, Hickenlooper has engaged in meaningful debate, and often as not, convened wide-ranging groups to discuss potential solutions to issues that mean vastly different things to various constituencies.
Plus, Hickenlooper staunchly opposes troubling trends aiming to give states control over federal lands and attempts to turn back the clock on women’s issues. His opponent, Bob Beauprez, is not so with the times. He has said that federal lands in Colorado really should belong to the state, without mentioning how the state would pay for their management. He has spoken emphatically about his intent to freeze all regulation in the state unless it is pro-job, pro-economic growth, and pro-energy development. This is not an approach that recognizes the nuance required for balancing Colorado’s complex challenges, nor capitalizing on all its opportunities. Re-elect John Hickenlooper.