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 sto