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Scott McInnis, John Hickenlooper seem to agree: No tax hikes
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis last Friday stated more emphatically than ever before that he will not raise taxes or seek voters’ approval to raise taxes if he becomes governor. Until his appearance before Castle Rock Republicans, he had seemed to hedge, indicating he would raise taxes without going to voters as required under TABOR.
On Sunday,
Channel 9 political correspondent Adam Schrager got Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the new Democrat candidate for governor, to say on “Your Show” that it would be wrong to raise taxes during a recession. He didn’t promise to not raise taxes after the recession, and he didn’t say how he would define the end of the recession. His pals in Obama’s White House are claiming the recession is over now, which is ridiculous with 10% unemployment and the financial markets still tight. So maybe Hick thinks the recession is over and he can raise taxes whenever he wants?
In his run for the center, Hickenlooper all but disowns Governor Bill Ritter.
He does an impressive job of finessing the energy regulation issue that McInnis has used to hammer Ritter. He sounds very reasonable about coming up with solutions that allow the extraction of needed energy and preserving the environment and Colorado’s scenery. He cites his experience as an oil and gas industry geologist.
On education, he agrees that it’s important but Colorado can’t print money to fund education the way educators want it funded. Makes him sound moderate.
On government red tape, he notes that he developed 20 restaurants and residential properties and had to deal with red tape, which he would minimize. Easier said than done. The point is, he has had a lot of hands on business experience, and he’s going to flaunt it.
The guy is smooth, glib and folksy while showing an ability to talk off the top of his head and show his knowledge of a lot details.
In response to charges that he doesn’t know Colorado, he points out that as a geologist, he traveled Colorado and neighboring states.
Watch the videos. Hickenlooper works very hard to distance himself from Ritter. This suggests that Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams’ new nickname for the mayor, HickenRitter, stings and Hick sees it as a problem.