El Comercio de Colorado

THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE TO GOVERNOR OF COLORADO VISITED EL COMERCIO

Newsroom/El Comercio de Colorado

Walker Stapleton assures that his education and experiences makes him the best candidate to become governor of Colorado. This Republican politician has degrees in economy and business. He obtained a master’s degree at the London School of Economics and an MBA at the Harvard Business School. Stapleton is wrapping up his second term as State Treasurer. “My experience as being the treasurer of Colorado would be very valuable for solving many of its challenges, from our healthcare challenges; to our education challenges; to our infrastructure challenges,” he explained.

Stapleton has a specific proposal to improve infrastructure in Colorado. This candidate rejects the creation of new taxes to finance road construction and repairs. “I am going to use the resources that come from the Federal Tax Plan to improve the infrastructure”, he assured. The current treasure also believes that the recently approved industry of sports bets can generate the necessary resources to improve roads in Colorado.

His relationship with lawmakers

Stapleton would need to count on the support of the Colorado Legislature to create laws that pertain to sport bets. These activities were declared as a legal business after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from May 2018. Stapleton believes he will have a good relationship with legislators to create the legislation needed for this plan. “I think the process of being governor is to proactively work with leadership on both sides of the isle to address important issues”, he explained.

If he becomes governor, Stapleton would ask the new legislature to rescind some laws. He refers to regulations that affect certain sectors of the economy and that, in his opinion, impede their growth. He didn’t specify which laws he was talking about. The candidate did mention that he would eliminate an executive order from Governor Hickenlooper from June 2018. This order stipulates that all vehicles sold in Colorado must comply with the green house emission standards established by California. “The rule would bankrupt auto dealers. We can establish our own standards,” he said.

Disagreements with Trump

The candidate explained that he has his own vision in regard to the sanctuary cities, and he doesn’t completely coincide with Trump’s vision. “For me the important thing is that work is done to remove from the streets those people who represent any danger to safety. I refer to people who committed a serious crime, a felony – no traffic violations – and who is also undocumented”. He added, “I oppose measures against the Dreamers, or against immigrants in general, because they are the fiber of our community.”

Stapleton advocates for a uniform coordination policy with ICE. “Some sheriffs face the legal responsibility of being sued for keeping someone in jail at the request of ICE. In the legislation there is grey area. We must clarify this point so that sheriffs and enforcement officers would feel the governor of Colorado has their back,” he said. This affirmation contains an implicit critic of ICE’s performance. That entity doesn’t distinguish from those who commit serious crimes and those who commit smaller transgressions. ICE is looking for undocumented individuals.

This Republican has other differences with the Trump administration. “I disagree with the tariffs that the federal government has imposed on imports”, said Stapleton. The candidate is voicing the concerns of the farmers in Colorado for the responses other countries have had to the tariffs. He revealed that Colorado exports about a billion dollars of meat per year and two thirds of that goes to China.”  The trade war with China is going to hurt Colorado’s meat exporting business” he concluded.   

Question

What is the main difference between you and your Democratic contender?

Jared Polis wants Colorado to get into debt. He wants Colorado budget to grow 4-5 times its size. And people will start paying more for their energy costs to heat their homes and to turn on their lights.

Response to Jared Polis

“He had said that I want to take many people off Medicaid. I have a moral obligation to make Medicaid work. Half of Medicaid population are children. And I have children. I am going to make sure that the most vulnerable population among us is protected.”    

Walker Stapleton, Republican candidate to governor of Colorado.