Colorado candidate for governor stumps through Gilpin
Hickenlooper visits elected officials, voters
John Hickenlooper, currently mayor of Denver and hoping to become Colorado’s next governor, met with the elected officials of Black Hawk, Gilpin County and Central City Monday, July 19th. The Democrat squeezed in a lunch with casino representatives between the meetings, and followed with a final appearance from 3:15 to 4 p.m. at Mountain Mocha coffee shop where he spoke to voters, mainly members of the Democratic party.
Hickenlooper and an entourage of five people arrived first in Black Hawk, meeting with city officials there before heading up the hill to the Gilpin County courthouse where he spoke with Commissioners Buddy Schmalz, Jeanne Nicholson and Forrest Whitman for approximately half an hour. They told Hickenlooper they were most concerned with the way the state’s Gaming Commission calculates and disburses money from the Gaming Impact Fund. Gilpin County has no representation on that commission but the lion’s share of gaming revenues are generated here. Schmalz told the prospective governor that legislators had tried to change the make-up of the Gaming Commission last year to include local representation, but the bill was vetoed by Governor Romer. “We’ve had gaming here for 18 or 19 years, now,” said Schmalz, “the locals should have representation.” All three commissioners urged Hickenlooper, if elected, to take an objective look at that commission. Because of who sits on that commission, Teller County has gotten a disproportionate amount of the gaming fund distribution, they said. Gilpin’s commissioners also questioned the way the Gaming Impact Commission figures the amount for distribution. They use the Adjusted Gross Profit (AGP), the net profits, said Commissioner Whitman, and should be using the gross revenues. That difference could mean as much as $1 million more for Gilpin County. “Statute says to use ‘all’ proceeds,” Whitman emphasized.
Gilpin’s officials also said the Division of Gaming, which has so much control over the industry, needs to be “reigned in” and cited an example where a local casino was fined $25,000 by the Division when casino security officials found an underage gambler in their establishment. The casinos are the ones checking and finding the underage gamblers, noted Schmalz (whose family owns Dostal Alley Casino) and then are punished when they do. Another problem is when a person with a gaming license is arrested (for anything) that person loses his gaming license-even if he or she isn’t guilty, said Schmalz, “and then must pay to get another license- and that’s $1,500.” The Division is over-policing, said Schmalz, adding that it goes against the Bill of Rights.
Commissioners told Hickenlooper of other concerns: forest health and past problems with governor-appointed staff. Hickenlooper said his information from forest service personnel is the beetle infestation is so bad there’s nothing to be done. Commissioner Nicholson responded that resources could be spent to prevent the spread of the beetle into Ponderosa pine trees and suggested that future state projects could be designed to use wood biomass products, such as the heating system in Gilpin’s Road and Bridge building and the construction of her own log home. “What’s a Road and Bridge building?” Hickenlooper asked. He was invited back for a tour.
Following his meeting with the county officials, Hickenlooper and his staff went to lunch, hosted by representatives from area casinos. Then it was on to a meeting with Central City officials. Later in the afternoon, it was the public’s turn.
At Mountain Mocha, the candidate described himself as frugal, “I’m cheaper than a skunk,” he said, and added that he is not a quitter. He looks for collaborative efforts when trying to accomplish a goal and gave examples: working with the faith-based community to reduce homelessness in Denver by 60% and partnering with Denver Public Schools to improve staffing and student achievement. Questions on the minds of Gilpinites were about getting the Veterans Administration to qualify Mountain Family Health Center for VA funding so Gilpin veterans don’t have to travel to Boulder or Denver to get services; keeping the trails and other natural benefits of Golden Gate State Park from deteriorating; preventing the dam expansion at Gross Reservoir; the possibility of funding education with lottery money; his thoughts on Senate Bill 10-191 (an evaluation process for teacher effectiveness); the effects of Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 and 61 (reducing tax revenues); and resources for new jobs.
Hickenlooper said jobs and the economic situation are concerns he’s hearing consistently throughout Colorado as he stumps through individual cities and counties. Unresponsive government is the other issue on Coloradoans minds, he added. “We have to get people to believe in government, because right now, they don’t.” He advocates showing taxpayers what governmental services will look like both by increasing taxes and decreasing taxes-having “a process where people all over the state get to analyze the problems.” He said he doesn’t believe government should create jobs as much as it should get out of the way so jobs can be created by entrepreneurs and private business. “Colorado should be the center of the universe for entrepreneurship,” he espoused. To get there, the entire state needs to have high capacity internet and be marketed as a center of innovation, he advised.
The governor-hopeful spent the entire day in Gilpin County. As he wrapped up his last hour with this group, his managers were already out in the parking lot, cell phones in hand, probably making arrangements for his next destination. They were headed back to Denver to prepare for the Hickenlooper’s next campaign tour-Pueblo and the southern region.