Race. The nonpartisan political report with amy rated this race solidly democratic. Good evening. Welcome to colorado mesa university, located in Grand Junction. I am pleased to serve as moderator of our 2020 gubernatorial forum. Tonights broadcast is made possible with support from the Grand Junction daily sentinel, Colorado Public Radio. We are joined by listeners around colorado, heard on southern u tribal radio, four corners public radio. In boulder, montrose and on kf nnr. We also welcome listeners of aspen public radio. Tonights event is completely produced by cmu faculty and students. Unlike other debates, tonights forum is intended to get candidates ample time. From Colorado Public Radio, we are joined by reporter andy kenny. From cmu, or student body Vice President. Each question from our panelists will be posed to each candidate and each candidate will have 90 seconds to respond. There will be a 32nd rebuttal. As moderator, i reserve the right to interrupt candidates if you go terribly over time. We have one hour together so lets get started. I will not recognize our first candidate for opening remarks, mr. Polis, you won the coin toss, you have to misfire opening. Gov. Polis thank you president marshall, cmu, Colorado Public Radio for hosting this conversation tonight. Thank you, student leaders of cmu for stepping up and being a part of this. It is great to be in Grand Junction and mesa county. I was here in western colorado a few weeks ago, celebrating the opening of a new building. I wanted to learn about cmus work leading the way under daubert energy. 70 of the buildings on campus the foresight to calculate what the savings mean for students. 2 lower tuition by using the heatneath our feet. We look forward to working with cmu to improve access to lowcost heating and cooling. Four years ago, when i ran for governor in the great state of colorado, i came before you with several goals. I said we would get preschool and kindergarten done for every kid at the time. Colorado only had halfday kindergarten. Parents and mesa county had to pay 450 per month for fullday kindergarten. We got that done bipartisan. Universal preschool starts in the fall of next year. We would lower the cost of health care in colorado and reduce the cost of exchange for folks who do not get insurance to work and do not qualify for medicare and medicaid by over 20 . I also said we would make sure to save people money across the board and we are moving forward with 100 different ways to save money and we hope to hear even more ideas tonight. The largest property tax cut in the history of colorado for 2023 and 2024. Today, i stand before you asking to be your governor for the next four years. There is a lot of work ahead to make colorado one of the safest dates in the nation and to build more Affordable Housing. Ms. Ganahl, your opening. Ms. Ganahl i am heidi ganahl, a mom on a mission. I am furious about what has happened to our state. He is a leading our state in the wrong direction. I am excited to be in Grand Junction for the second debate. Jarrett did not show up for the first one. I care about the people and i am happy to be back to discuss the important issues. Do not let polis control us. He has destroyed our Energy Industry, suffocated our farmers, appointed activists to our ag borden grown government by 20 . I am a seasoned leader, a smalltown colorado girl committed to getting our beautiful state back on track. In my first week as governor, i will introduce a comprehensive Public Safety bill. I will fully fund the police. I will make any possession of fentanyl a felony and cancel our status as a sanctuary state to allow ice to do their job. I will put more money back into your pocket by taking our great state to zero income tax over eight years without raising other taxes or cutting services, and reducing red tape to make housing affordable again. Together, well make it easier to live, work and rates of family here. I will launch the read to succeed initiative to make sure our kids can read by the end of third grade. Horrible numbers just came out. 60 of our kids in colorado cannot read at grade level. I will go all in on school choice, make sure the funding follows the family, give power back to parents. I am offering a Brighter Future in colorado. Transparency and honesty are crucial. Jared, i just released three years of my tax returns on my website. I call you to do the same. I have nothing to hide. Do you . Voters deserve to know the truth. Colorado, i will always tell you the truth. Now lets jump right into the questions. I believe the first question goes to the governor. Should you continue as colorados governor for another four years, you will be tasked for renegotiating it is due for some significant revisions by 2026. In a scenario of increased need and less water among the member states, what would you do to preserve colorados future access to the water it needs . Gov. Polis i think you saw a great contrast in the opening remarks. My opponent identified herself as a mad mom, i am a happy dad, raising my kids in the best state. We love our freedom. I will always protect our freedom. Our water is critical for the success of colorado. It is a hotter, drier climate. We need to step up and do more. In addition to putting colorado first in fighting for all of our rights, including the Colorado River compact, a stronger legal position. The states that will have the harshest cutbacks colorado, california. We need to make sure we have best practices in ag, increasing profitability for farmers and ranchers. We also need to connector housing policy with our water policy. As we look at our state with our Current Population as more people come to colorado from texas or california because of the great quality of life and Economic Opportunity our state has, we need to do it in a way that is sustainable from a water perspective and does not increase usage beyond capacity. I oppose diversion from the western slope across water basins and i will always fight to make sure one part of colorado is not pitted against another part of colorado because we are all in our water future together. Ms. Ganahl i am a mad mom. We have skyrocketing crime, outofcontrol inflation, a huge fentanyl problem killing our kids and our kids cannot read, write or do math at grade level. I have a right to be angry. I represent a lot of parents, families and ranchers that are very upset about how they have been treated. Hosting a meet out so important to our state, as well as supporting. It will be a very difficult time for our farmers and ranchers to navigate. When we talk about water, we have to talk about storage. We have to store the water that is rightly ours and you have to have a governor who will not cede control to the federal government but will hold firm and stand strong against the federal government and the other states who want to take the Water Conservation is part of that. Colorado has been a leader in conservation for many years. At this point, we have to protect the water that is rightly ours. We cannot let them take what is ours in that negotiation in the Colorado River compact. We have to get these storage projects through that are being hamstrung by the federal government. We have good Water Supplies but we have to keep them in colorado and not let them flow out of our state like we are doing now. You need a governor who will stand up to the federal government and do what is right to protect our water. Mr. Polis, a 32nd rebuttal. Gov. Polis you cannot store your way out of a drought. An indoor growing operation for lettuce and salad greens. Fundamentally, new technology and agriculture reducing water usage by i will make sure we do not pit rural colorado against urban colorado. We are all in this together. Ms. Ganahl, the second question is for you. There is a lot of concern in this part of the state about wall street hedge funds purchasing Colorado Water rights. What do you see as the role of the free market and Colorado Water . And are current laws aligned with that or do they need to change to ensure colorado maintains control over their water rights . Ms. Ganahl first and foremost, i have to be a governor for the people of colorado and protect our water rights here before we let it go to new york or wall street. I believe there are solutions on this front by allowing communities to have a first right of refusal or essentially stop outside interests from doing the wrong things with our water. We have to also stop china from buying up our farm line. That is happening under jared polis watch. He was named a china friendly governor by a think tank. We should not be selling our farmland to china. That is a debacle. That should not happen under any governors. Watch we have to protect our water rights. We have to respect property rights, respect the farmers in the ranchers would also protect find ways to meet in the middle. Gov. Polis i have been very outspoken in my criticisms of china. We hosted the taiwanese president here in colorado two years ago and i was proud to celebrate Taiwan Independence day a few weeks ago with our friends that suffer under the threat of invasion every day. We stand in solidarity as a state with the people of ukraine , taiwan and everyone that aspires to have the freedoms that we cannot take for granted here but we fight everyday to protect and expand. Water is colorados life. When my opponent had the chance to speak out against the purchase of water rights from the valley for her home county of Douglas County, she did not. I opposed by and drive policies. There is a threat from wall street and from the suburbs of they do not succeed in drying up rural colorado. I will always put rural colorado and ag interest first to make sure we can maintain a strong and growing Rural Economy and at the same time increase water efficiency in the suburban areas where a lot of our population growth is. Ms. Ganahl i actually did speak up about that. I do not believe that was the right solution for the San Luis Valley in Douglas County. I live in Douglas County and respect the farmers and ranchers across the state and the landowners across the state and that deal is not going anywhere. It is kind of a moot discussion. What is important is not letting outside interests come into colorado and take our water, like china taking our farmland. If you would ask question number 3 to mr. Polis. It is time to talk about transportation. In 1968, the eventually completed i 70 in 1992. Creating a connection. Now that connection is threatened by wildfire, mudslides, traffic, all of the above, what is your idea for the next big project beyond even what is on the agenda . Gov. Polis my parents moved to colorado in 1970. My father tells me stories from before when the tana was opened the other way, when you went to the mountains for a weekend it could turn into a week or 10 days when the pastor. The open. Thank goodness for the foresight of our forebears investing in those projects. We have delivered on transportation funding for Grand Junction in western colorado. We were excited to get through 250,000 for bicycle improvements and the gateway to Grand Junction. Delta county, hillside street, west main street, montrose, 2 billion, better access for people with disabilities. We know there is a lot of work ahead. My opponent said infrastructure package we passed as a state. She said she wants to move it from a fee to a tax or a tax to a fee. She wants to eliminate the Funding Source for half of the state patrol. She would eliminate half the funding for a state patrol. In addition, we have the funding for roads and bridges. The highway 70 corridor, i am excited about the future of technology. Are we there . Not yet. But the future is bright. I look at the numbers all the time. I hope someday we are able to move forward during my next term but it depends on whether we can make the numbers work for colorado to reduce traffic and increase traffic to our mountain communities. Ms. Ganahl jared is not telling the truth, as usual. I will never defund the police. My dad is a police officer. I am so worried about crime in our state i am very proud of that. They believe i have the right plan to make things right and have the backs of Law Enforcement. When it comes to transportation, passing a 5 billion tax bill that does not fix the roads is not the right solution for colorado. If he cares so much about rural colorado why did he cut the rural pavement planned in half for c. . Cdot . I will put 260, the tax bill back to a vote for the people of colorado. I would like to give them a specific list of projects that is on my website. I have worked with experts from around the state and make sure people know exactly where the dollars are going to go and take the dollars that were approved as taxes and fees, make the fees taxes which they should be and actually put a sunset on it after 10 years so it is not an everlasting tax on all of human colorado. And actually get the darn roads fixed. If he cares about clean land, clean air, clean water, lets six the congestion at 270 and i25 were some of the worst ozone effects are. Lets fix the roads instead of doing it behind their backs with the money they approved in the legislature. Gov. Polis what my opponent said does not add up. She said fund a multibilliondollar project in denver and somehow we need more money to fund rural roads. I believe in a realitybased government. We will do our best to deliver with the resources we have. The question was about the moonshot, there is a lot of great technology. So many exciting technologies. I am a futurist. Our fourth question comes from a student. I went to high school in Colorado Springs and chose to come to cmu to pursue my degree. I would love to pursue a degree in the western slope but it seems like most Economic Opportunities what will you do to deal with this divide . Ms. Ganahl we both grew up near monument. I am proud to be from there. What do we do to make it ok for you to stay in colorado and have a successful career . First thing we need to do is make sure our economy is thriving in rural colorado. It has been decimated under the current administration. We cannot produce energy. We produce a cleaner than anywhere on the planet. Colorado has the secondlargest largest natural gas reserves in the country. We produce the cleanest energy. We have the strictest regulations. If we want clean air, clean land, clean water, lets produce it here and get our industries back on track. We have to make sure you have access to employees and Affordable Housing can stay here and work for you if you are a job creator or working for a. Corporation Affordable Housing has become a big issue all over colorado. 1 4 of the cost of new housing is regulatory. What can i do as governor about that . I can make sure any regulations from the state are relaxed. Make sure we have a reasonable approach to green energy regulation. Going to all electric is not feasible. We have to be realistic. We can go green, we can provide Affordable Housing if we reduce regulations and provide innovation for new ways of doing housing. There has been a lot of exciting stuff. Small houses, tiny houses, the list goes on. Mr. Polis, 90 seconds. Gov. Polis there are so many great opportunities in rural colorado. One area we focused on his location independent employment. To be able to work for a major company. They go to denver once a month and work remotely. We want to make sure we continue to support the Outdoor Recreation district, which ties into our goal of moving barriers to access of outdoor areas. From 80 to 29. We also funded projects to provide worldclass recreation opportunities in mesa county. When Natural Gas Prices go up, of course there is more activity with jobs in mesa county. What it also is is a bad thing for utility customers and rate payers. Colorado will continue to produce. We need to make sure we wean ourselves off of natural gas to power our own grid. That is the reason providers have told us rates will go up. The cost of natural gas has increased. We want to make sure we charge with our Energy Independence. We are blessed with great solar and wind resources in addition to traditional resources and urothelial geothermal resources. I look forward to work hard to said customers on the utility bill and jobs in the energy sector. Ms. Ganahl if you care about young people having an opportunity to live and work here, xcel Energy Heating bills were up 54 . Young people, Senior Citizens, families cannot afford to pay the bill. We have to put our Energy Industry back to work. We can be and all of the above energy state. I wonder why we are not looking at nuclear and other opportunities. That was turned down in the legislature, to even study it. It does not make sense if we truly want a great environment. Question number 5. The city of craig will take a significant economic hit when the coal mine and coal fire plant are shut down by 2030 in large part because of policy choices. What hope could you offer residents of those areas that they are not living in the future ghost town . What will happen to local governments, School Districts and the people . Gov. Polis the increase in utility rates my opponent cited is due to the spike in Natural Gas Prices. That is largely due to the war in ukraine but shows where we cannot rely on this mobile commodity and take away control from colorado residents and give it to people across the world. We experience the same thing with winter storms in texas. Others were left holding the bag because it was passed along to ratepayers when Natural Gas Prices spiked. We need to make sure we are not beholden to International Commodities markets or decisions of russian dictators. We were the first state in the country to not only create what support and fund a Just Transition office to work on the future for communities who have traditionally worked in the fossil fuel industry. Working with the the coal plant. Coal is the most expensive form of energy on the grid right now. Eight cents to . 10 per kilowatt hour. Solar energy is in the two cents to three cents range. The sooner we can stop subsidizing coal by forcing consumers to pay more, the quicker we can save money for coloradans. We need to invest in a strong future. Advanced manufacturing. Geothermal. Colorado is part of a group of states with utah and new mexico and wyoming for a hydrogen hub for federal funding. I believe that colorado, the best days are still ahead. If i am elected governor we will work to make it happen. Ms. Ganahl from what i hear from the families that are really suffering in the cold community, there has not been much of a Just Transition. They are not getting the help they need. It is sad to watch communities really struggle, especially when we have one of the largest natural gas reserves in the country under our feet. We can produce it and get great jobs going again and provide dollars back to schools. We can have it all of the above energy approach that works. He likes to talk about subsidies. Lets talk about solar and wind. It is all subsidies. Producing natural gas here instead of buying it from saudi arabia or venezuela. That is all about national security. Right now, we are looking at front and center with what is happening internationally. Lets produce energy here in colorado where we do it better than anyone else and put people back to work and help the community thrive around the state. It is heartbreaking we are buying energy from all over the planet. Bad actors. We can do it right here in this beautiful state and watch our local communities thrive. That is what i want to do for colorado. I want to put our Energy Industry back to work. I will look at nuclear, hydro another ways to produce energy so colorado does not worry about Energy Independence here or internationally. It is a rough time internationally. Lets do everything we can to make colorado the leader to make a safe in america. Gov. Polis colorado is a producer of energy and consumers of energy. We all pay our utility bills every month. When prices are higher on natural gas and oil, that is good on the production side. In western colorado, production is going up. It is hard on consumers which is why we need to double down on saving people money. As long as it is economical. Question number 6. We have seen a sharp increase in homelessness, including street homelessness and beg ritzy in Grand Junction vagrancy in Grand Junction and other areas. It is a statewide problem. The local responses are not solving the issue. What should the statewide response be . Ms. Ganahl polis and his policies are the problem. Homelessness has grown by a 1 3 and we have spent 1. 7 billion from 2020 into 2023 and it is not fixing the problem. It is getting worse. We have to stop openair drug use. We can do this with care and compassion but tough love. It is not fair for homeless folks to be living on the street. There is nothing compassionate about that. We need to get them the care they need and the support they need and stop the flow of fentanyl into the state. We are one of the worst states for fentanyl and the entire country because jared polis declared us a sanctuary state and made it impossible for icd ages 2 ice agents to stop the flow into our state. We have to do it we can to clean up our streets. Law enforcement are saying their hands are tied. They are having a tough time getting the job done. The catch and release theory and the desire to keep people out of jail. We have the fourth highest recidivism rate. Repeat offenders are doing most of the crime because we are not keeping bad guys in jail and letting Law Enforcement do their job. I will have the backs of Law Enforcement in the first dollar i will spend will be in Public Safety. I will replace everyone in charge of Public Safety, department of corrections and make sure the parole board does its job and keeps people in jail. Ms. Ganahl my opponent has talked about some of my appointments. The one appointment she had is a gubernatorial candidate is to choose the Lieutenant Governor. Our wonderful Lieutenant Governor is here with us tonight and she believes in democracy and the integrity of elections in colorado and across united states. The truth is fentanyl has been, is and will be illegal in colorado as long as i am the governor of the state. We work closely with ice and fbi with fentanyl distribution rings. If they are american, we convict them here. If they are foreign nationals, they are deported. The truth is we know that as a state we need to step up and work with our cities. One city were homelessness has gone down his Colorado Springs. I hired a waiter homelessness advisor to work for us at the state. A Great Success story. The states role is to support local governments in efforts to reduce homelessness. Part of that is housing. For Affordable Housing opportunities. We to make sure we can provide drug rehabilitation and treatment for those who need it. And Mental Health services. We hope to work with other cities for additional treatment and western colorado so no matter where you are in the state, you can get the help you need to get off the streets and back into the workforce to support yourself and your family. Ms. Ganahl jared has had for years to fix the problems but instead it has gotten much, much worse, whether it is crime, inflation or homelessness. He likes to bring up my Lieutenant Governor, we both said joe biden is our president , you can see it all over the place because of crime, inflation, kids cannot read. What is really sad is he had to spend 25 million in the last few months to say i am all these things when im not true. I am here to tell the truth. I am a mom who cares deeply about the state and will do everything i can to fix it. Jason, you have the next question. As a student body Vice President , colorado mesa charges the lowest tuition fees of all colorado universities. The amount of money colorado allocates for each student dramatically lower than the statewide average. As governor, what will you do to equalize funding for a committee college and colorado mesa that serve the overwhelming majority of colorados first generation, low income and minority students . Gov. Polis cmu has done a great job keeping rates down, the one thing my opponent was in charge of, cu boulder, increased fees by 22 during her time there. We need to drive efficiency at universities of Higher Education. The highlight, the contributions of energy. The work on zero textbook fees. We introduced a program across the state. Right now today, cmu has done over 100 courses with zero textbook open source collaborative textbooks. We look to facilitate that kind of investment, administrative consolidation on the backend to deliver services to students. We have been a free across committee colleges. At the same campus, seamless transition. It is now free to get certificates as an emt, nurse technician to get those great upward, mobile goes and needed jobs in her health care workforce. It is free to did that across the committee college system. When you reduce costs and pass the savings to students, people step up and take advantage of the great opportunities this state offers. There are great jobs and great opportunities. We need to make sure we remove barriers that stand in the way of people achieving their goals. Ms. Ganahl i am so proud of the work i have done at cu over the last six years. I am one of nine regents and we have a board that votes on things. Keeping tuition and fees low. I am always the boys trying to push back on any increases of cost at cu and i will do so as governor when it comes to the budget, as well. When we talk about the cost of living, inflation is at its highest rate in the country in colorado. 16 since joe biden took office. That is costing you an extra 11,700 dollars a year to work, live and raise a family here. That is 1000 extra per month. Your heating bills are going crazy. We have to do all we can to lower costs, especially when it comes to getting a college degree. The administrative bloat is out of control. The mandates the governor and his staff and administrators have put on higher ed are expensive to maintain. We need to get the dollars back into the classroom and pay teachers more, faculty more, not just in Higher Education but k12. The average classroom in colorado gets 250 in funding. We have to pay our teachers more. We have to make class sizes smaller. We have to give power back to parents to make a choice, make different choices if their kids are not learning to read. I plan to fund the families, not the system and make sure parents can move their kids to a better choice if they are not learning how to read in their current schools. Mr. Polis, a 32nd rebuttal. Gov. Polis i come from an education background. I support the ability of parents to choose the best education. My own researchers have told me my opponent voted for 17 increases. The cost and fees when up 22 . She tries to not associate herself with that. She did vote for 17 of the increases. The tuition at cmu has gone up and many other institutions across the state. Is that what qualifies you for a promotion . Next question comes from gretchen. Fentanyl deaths arent an alltime high in the state. Colorado has made fentanyl deaths are added alltime high in the state. Does it go far enough or does colorado need to do more to advance Harm Reduction strategy . Ms. Ganahl we are facing a horrible crisis when it comes to fentanyl. I have talked a lot about the parents i have met that have lost their kids to fentanyl poisoning, not overdose, because they did not know it was laced with fentanyl when they were experimenting or taking a pill. We have lost more people in colorado to Drug Overdose since jared polis took office done we did in afghanistan in the last 20 years. This is a crisis. We need to cancel our status as a sanctuary city so ice can do their job. We need to put drug dealers in jail. Crime and drugs. We should not be number one in auto theft. It is affecting every family i know. There are some bills that were signed that led to this problem, whether it was jared and the democrats signing a bill that made it a misdemeanor to steal a car under 2000 in value. Who does that affect . The single mom with three kids in downtown denver that has to get her kids to school and work and now does not have a car. It is not fair to the people of color that we are number one in auto theft. We have to be tough on crime. We have to roll back the bad bills that we signed. I am so proud to be they know i have a heart for colorado and i will fix these problems as your governor mr. Polis, 90 seconds. Gov. Polis my opponent is partially right on this. I gave her a bminus. This is what is used two laced products not marketed as fentanyl with poison. We want to make sure we put those people behind bars. New and tougher penalties for drug dealers. Making sure we go after people who are selling poison to our kids on the street. When i was not too far i met with a father who lost both of his sons to fentanyl poisoning. He thanked us about the bipartisan bill that actually got tough on fentanyl dealers. Criminal sentencing is not enough. We need to get tougher. We need to make sure we apprehend and detain those responsible. We also need to make sure we have testing trips available to make sure when something is contaminated that it is identified earlier. We need to offer drug addiction and recovery treatment to those in need. That is something our state can do better. We are working on building 500 new beds for recovery and treatment at ridgeview near the city of aurora. We need to do more for anyone who is at a Family Member or friend who suffered with old pure or drug and alcohol addiction. 32nd rebuttal. Ms. Ganahl you are trying to fix the problems you created. You want a second term to do that. That is not right. Are you willing to sign a bill that makes any amount of fentanyl a felony . That is what needs to happen according to Law Enforcement. Are you willing to capture our status it cancel our status as a sanctuary state. Will you tell us whether you took advice from Kim Kardashian about getting involved in the process on prosecution on that truck driver . Colorado voters approved ranch reduction two years ago, primarily passed by voters on the front range with an impact in western colorado. Whether you agree with the underlying policy or not, how would you in your second term try to make this program as successful as . Gov. Polis i did not take a position on the ballot initiative. We have a great Team Colorado parks and wildlife doing this in a thoughtful way to give farmers and ranchers the tools they need. There are wolves in wyoming and most neighboring states. We need to make sure we learn from that experience to make sure wolves do not jeopardize our livelihoods in rural colorado. Colorado parks and wildlife presented maps that show parts of the area the people of colorado can be confident i will honor the will of the voters. That is something i do if i agree or disagree with the policy. I like to think i had a different or better model that would not have cost as much. Voters disagreed, they passed another way to do it overwhelmingly. We are getting that implemented to make sure every coloradan gets the paid leave. I treat anything the voters to the same way. I will always honor the will of the voters to make sure that coloradans success not only for the people who voted for it but the people who did not vote for it and they are skeptical. I will do my best to make it work for everybody. Ms. Ganahl jared did not answer the question, as usual, about whether he would rollback it is about wolves. I did. Ms. Ganahl you are taking no credit about the wolves in colorado that will decimate our Rural Farmers and ranchers. It is a tragedy for ag and game. Citizens of denver and boulder to not understand the implications. We will do our best to make sure we deal with it and support our farmers and ranchers. I will always support our ag industry. I will not be hosting a meet out day. I am married to one of the top barbecue cokes in the country. I will not be poking the barbecue cooks in the country. They need us to have their back is a governor. 90 of them are familyowned, they have been here for generations. What is happening right now is not fair to them. They have been such an important part of our colorado history and future and i will always have their back. I will be a governor for all of colorado. Gov. Polis part of being governor for all of colorado is honoring the will of voters whether you agree or disagree. I will administer the law of colorado as effectively and efficiently as i can with the integrity i o the people of colorado. I will do that on every issue. I also have my own recipe for brisket but i love to make it home for our kids. I am an amateur, your husband is a professional, but maybe for charity after the election we could have a taste test and see whos brisket is better. When politicians talk about College Students, their tendency is to talk about tuition costs or the price of textbooks. What would you say to College Students who find themselves struggling to get by due to inflation . Gasoline prices, food prices or skyrocketing rent leave students wondering if they can complete their degrees. Ms. Ganahl i know young people are hurting across the state. I spent a lot of time listening to these conversations and helping them navigate this outofcontrol inflation. It is crippling our state. And the unAffordable Housing we are dealing with in the state, as well. I want every student in colorado to feel hopeful and excited about the future and get to live the same American Dream i got to. As a kid who grew up in monument, colorado and got to start a business around something she loves dearly dogs i got to build the largest pet care franchise and it was a joy and i want every student to get that opportunity. I feel like the American Dream is dying in front of us. Too much government growth. Too many taxes and fees. Jared polis has grown the size of government in colorado by 25 and added taxes and fees. That is part of the reason inflation is on a control. I want to reduce the size of government and the amount of taxes and fees. Make sure we can provide housing that is affordable and give you a Bright Future. In order to do that, we have to give you hope again. We have to get our economy back on track. The business index cannot about help the business index came out about how Small Business owners feel. We last Small Businesses during the first part of the year. I will do everything as i can as an entrepreneur and ceo to fix it. Gov. Polis in my last state of the state address, i challenged the state legislature defined 50 ways to save people money. I was so proud that working from republicans and democrats produced over 100 ways to reduce fees and taxes, cut costs and make colorado more affordable. We were one of the first states to cap the outofpocket cost on insulin. We eliminated all state income tax for seniors on Social Security income. If i am reelected, we want to work on a bipartisan plan to make reductions permanent because nobody should be priced out of where they live because the value of their home has gone up. The earned income tax credit, helping families get ahead, the question was particularly about students. Provide additional Economic Opportunities. That starts with tuition and fees. Cmu has felt lead the way from reducing costs for students. We also know housing factors and. Housing for students. And once they graduate, for young professionals. We need to remove barriers for housing where jobs are. Reducing traffic and giving more coloradans the opportunity to realize the dream of homeownership and build equity throughout their lives. Ms. Ganahl again, he has had for years to create a Bright Future for our students at things are pretty bad right now. Small businesses are closing, inflation is at a 40 year record high and the highest in the country in colorado. We have to relook at this economy and figure out how to get it going. I have some big, bold ideas about how to do that by reducing regulation fees and going to zero income tax over eight years, like tennessee did. They are one of the hottest economies in the country. We can do that in colorado. Looking at the annual School Finance act districts in western colorado treated fairly by the state of colorado. Why or why not . If reelected governor, what can parents expect from you in respect to making sure children on this side of the rockies receive an education on par with their peers in the metro area. Gov. Polis my opponent counted her tax scheme in regard to income tax. It is simply a math issue with funding for our schools. Forcing property taxes. That is the opposite of what we need. The last year alone, we increased funding for the class of 25 kids by over 12,000. That is for smaller class size, better teacher pay. Many districts are restoring programs that happen cut like the arts and others. We will continue the progress to make sure we invest in schools and our future and make sure that money reaches the classroom. We also need to make sure we i was so proud to sign part of the School Finance act. We also allow Charter Schools and consortiums of Charter Schools to be their own administrative units for special ed. It is pretty cool. If a Charter School can innovate, we are working to create a better way to serve our learners with unique needs. They do not have to hire unless they want to. The School Finance act is the biggest thing we fund as a state. If you eliminate the income tax, you would cut funding to our schools by almost half. I will not allow that to happen as governor. I share a goal of reducing income tax with my opponent but we need to do it in a way that adds up because i believe in math. Ms. Ganahl you have the math problem. You made empty promises about going to zero income tax by using a carbon tax yet you want to get rid of Carbon Emissions in colorado. That does not add up. My plan has been looked at by economists who said it is ambitious but it will work. It will get our economy back on track. Right now, we have from the highest inflation rates in the country. It is almost unaffordable to live here and stay here. Senior citizens cannot stay. We have to go bold and ambitious and do what we can to put more money back into the pockets of the people of colorado. My plan does that by not reducing any programs or services but doing it slow over time and not increasing other taxes. My goal is to make colorado great in our future for our kids, Senior Citizens and young families. Right now, that is not happening. We need to make big, bold moves to turn things around. You have had four years to do the work and we are not heading in the right direction. Schools, there is so much more wicked do to help rural schools. Make sure Charter Schools are able to open. I was one of the founders of a Charter School network. I tried to open one in jared polis backyard with 700 kids signed up and it was turned down and he did not do anything to help. If he truly cared about school choice, he would have helped out in that manner was 700 kids. We need to fund the families and not the system. Ms. Ganahl we have one of the strongest economies in the nation. We are below the National Unemployment rate. There are more jobs today in colorado than there were before the pandemic. We continue to create jobs and draw major employers to colorado from texas, california and new york. We are the best it to do business. We have lower taxes and more room for business. We want to make sure the increase business formation by over 18 in the last quarter giving more people access to entrepreneurship. Thank you. We will now move into our closing remarks. Candidate, ms. Ganahl, you have the first two minutes. Ms. Ganahl jared want you to reelect him to try to fix the problems he created. Polis is the problem. Crime, inflation, drugs. You must hold him accountable. When i am governor, i expect you to do the same with me. I am a problem solver, not a politician. I will get the job done. I will turn things around. I am a mom on a mission to make sure our kids and grandkids can have the same opportunity that i did and my husband did. My family means everything to me and so does our home, colorado. I will not stand by and watch this beautiful state be destroyed. As your governor, i will put law order leadership in charge. Under polis, we have the highest inflation date in the nation do his radical approach and extreme energy policies. As governor, i will unleash colorados economy and put more money back into your pocket by taking us to zero income tax like tennessee did and cutting red tape to make sure housing is affordable, and producing energy. I am a mom on a mission to make sure our kids can read and write with the common sense curriculum, we address the Mental Health crisis. I will go all in on school choice. Make sure the funding follows the family and give power back to parents. I am offering a Brighter Future in colorado with big, bold ideas like i talked about tonight. I will give parents the choice to vaccinate their child. I will not upend the justice for with help from Kim Kardashian. Gerrit want you to reelect him to try to fix the problems he created. Do not let him. When you vote, hold him accountable. I ask for your vote. We can turn colorado around together. Gov. Polis thank you, president marshall, andy, gretchen and jason. To my opponent, to our viewers at home, thank you for doing the research and taking time to learn about the candidates for governor. It is simple. I support more freedom and lower taxes. I have delivered on that is governor and i will continue to fight every day to expand freedom and make colorado the best state in the nation to live, work and raise a family. My opponent is a mad mom, i am a happy dad. A lot of parents recognize colorado is doing amazing work. Maybe it is the fact that the highway you commute to work on is finally getting repaired. Maybe you just got a promotion at work. Coloradans also know there is a lot of work ahead in our next governor will be tasked with making housing more affordable and continuing to work to expand the American Dream in colorado. I created growing companies and expanded opportunity to make government more efficient. Reducing state offices by more than one million square feet and passing savings along to taxpayers. Coloradans have the opportunity to choose either an out of touch extreme candidate for governor who is dead set on taking colorado backward or we can choose a problem solver. I am datadriven, i believe in taking the best ideas from the right, the left in the middle to move colorado forward and improve the quality of life for the residents of our great state. I will always do what is right for colorado and deliver. Making colorado and. More amazing place. Together, we will make colorado one of the 10 safest states. Together, we will reduce the houston reduce the cost of housing. We will make sure colorado is the best place to live in the entire country. My name is jared polis. Thank you for your support. Thank you to both of our candidates. Governor jared polis and region heidi ganahl. Thank you to our panelists and for everyone at home. Thank you for listening this evening. We hope tonights forum was helpful as you exercise our most precious power as americans, the power to choose our elected officials peacefully at the ballot box. I would like to thank the Grand Junction daily sentinel and public radio in making this Candidate Forum possible. A debate in new yorks governors race. What watch tonight or online is touring. Election day, november 8, starting at 8 p. M. , what she spends live election coverage to see which party will control congress with results as they happen from the house, senate, and other races from around the
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