There are four impressive candidates in the Republican primary for governor.
Greg Lopez cites his election as mayor of Parker at age 27. He was director of the Small Business Administration and advocating for small businesses is at the core of his candidacy. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran.
Lopez supports access and efficiency in health care, but lacks specifics. So, too, for any transportation improvements.
High schools should produce job-ready graduates, he says, for the good jobs which are available in vocational professions and in small business.
Real estate funder Victor Mitchell is the most imaginative of the Republican candidates – and the Democrat candidates, as well. To reduce health care costs and increase accessibility, he would encourage entrepreneur providers in clinics staffed mostly by nurse practitioners and tied by telemedicine to large hospitals.
To create more college graduates with degrees in the sciences and math, which he says is where the jobs are, he would shift all of the state’s higher education funding to benefit those programs and students.
To fund transportation improvements, he would cut overhead and require more efficiency audits to streamline state departments. To reduce the size of state government, Mitchell says he will reduce the state workforce by 20 percent and eliminate 100,000 pages of regulations,
Doug Robinson is running for elected office for the first time as a “pragmatic Republican” who says he is tired of the talk and wants to get something done. To provide money to roads, water and broadband, Robinson would “reprioritize” the state’s budget. Health care costs would be reduced by requiring transparency in prices and incentivizing Medicaid providers to create healthy patients rather than billing for services.
He would commit $250 million annually from the general fund for 20 years, plus reduce state spending, to support bond payments for highway work.
Robinson says Republicans have to step up with reasonable limits on gun ownership or Democrats will take guns away.
Robinson spent his teenage years in Fruita, then lived in New York. He has been in Colorado for 22 years.
Walker Stapleton has served as state treasurer for seven years, and is best known for pressuring the state employees’ retirement plan, PERA, to be more fiscally sustainable.
He says that housing is indispensible for economic growth, and that unless its availability and high costs are addressed it will have as big an impact on the economy as poor roads.
To encourage building, he would further reduce the possibility of construction lawsuits and work to simplify the zoning process. Builders of affordablehousing would be fast-tracked.
He faults the Colorado Department of Transportation for constructing a new administration building, and expects that better state budget management and transparency would provide more money for roads.
Based on his years of state government experience, which the other candidates lack, the Herald’s editorial board hopes that Republicans advance Walker Stapleton to the November election.
