​My Priorities

YOU are my top priority.

My first obligation is to speak for you in the halls of state government.  This means listening to you, making your issues my own, doing what I can to see your interests advanced, an​d on the rare occasion when we may disagree, explaining my reasoning to you with respect and retaining an open mind.

 
The following issues are my legislative priorities
The early actions that I plan to take in each category are shown in italics.
  

  • Provide a public option to bring down the cost of health insurance
  • Integrate behavioral health with primary care
  • Use existing facilities, like community clinics and health care collaboratives, to control costs of care
  • Increase transparency of medical charges

  
HEALTH CARE
Make health care available and affordable to every Colorado resident
  
I will call for a bipartisan interim committee to design a Colorado-specific public option for health care (like buying into Medicaid)
  
  
 LIBERTY AND JUSTICE
Ensure the rights and safety of all, with no exceptions
  
  

  • Defend the right of reproductive choice, and civil rights for every individual, regardless of age, race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, or disability
  • Raise the age limit and require background checks for every purchase of firearms; restrict assault-style weapons to law enforcement officers.
  • Reconsider parole procedures to keep truly dangerous criminals behind bars while promoting rehabilitation of others earlier in their sentences
  • Curtail bonding that keeps poor people in jail for low-level offenses prior to their conviction
  • End private for-profit prisons
  • End the war on drugs

  
I will introduce legislation to remove marijuana from Schedule I of controlled substances.
  

  • Support public-private initiatives to train workers for the skills needed for today and tomorrow
  • Promote affordable day care for every parent, married or single
  • Make the state an employer of last resort for those willing and able to work

  
  
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
Guarantee a right to work for all able-bodied individuals
  
  
  
I will explore with labor leaders and state agencies the possibility of creating a state jobs corps for parolees and the chronically unemployed
  
  
  
Other issues that I feel strongly about include the following:
  
EDUCATION:
Full funding for education at all levels is essential. 50% of new income to the state should be used to draw down the “negative factor” for K-12, and fund training in the trades and job skills for tomorrow’s workforce, or affordable university education for those interested and qualified. Policy decisions should be determined by elected boards of education. I endorse Mike Johnston’s “Colorado Promise” to guarantee 2 years of college or trade school tuition for each year of service to the state.

ENVIRONMENT
Colorado’s great out-of-doors are the state’s most treasured asset and a major economic attraction.  They must be conserved and maintained for the enjoyment of all and the health of the planet. I strongly oppose the sale of public lands to private interests.

ENERGY
The energy industry is a major economic driver for the state.  While coal, oil, and gas are still needed as a bridge to a tot
l green energy future, the state should pursue a goal of transition to 95% electricity generation from renewable sources by 2035.

HOUSING: 
Affordable homes and rentals are essential for keeping Denver a city of opportunity and diversity.  I support the city’s efforts to provide affordable housing, and the state’s effort to balance the interests of homeowners and builders in fixing construction defects. We should overturn the prohibition against home-rule rent control, and include low-income units in mixed-income developments where zoning variances are requested.
            
IMMIGRATION
The inability of the federal government to deal with the immigration issue is inexcusable, and the abuses perpetrated against immigrant residents and families of mixed citizenship cannot be tolerated.  The state must do what it can to protect the rights of undocumented but crime-free residents and explore ways to limit the damage to immigrant communities perpetrated by stepped-up harassment by agents of the Trump administration. I strongly support DACA and permanent status for Dreamers.
  
REVENUE AND TAXATION
We need to rethink our revenue from different sources (income, property, sales, gas, and severance) to better reflect the high tech, entrepreneurial, and services economy of the 21st century. TABOR has a suffocating effect on the state budget, but its wholesale deletion is unrealistic. Voter approval of tax increases is too popular to be repealed for the foreseeable future.  But other ways to soften the impact of TABOR are available and should be pursued.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Dark money has become a toxic addition to our political process. While I can’t control what others say and spend, I ask that no unaccountable money be spent on my behalf, and will denounce any effort by unaccountable sources to discredit my opponents.  I have also pledged to abide by the voluntary spending limits provided for in Colorado law.