If you're running for governor in a state where people voters helped pass an initiative to legalize marijuana, might be a little risky to be seen with this guy:
http://denver.cbslocal.com/...
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called Colorado’s governor’s race winnable for Republicans and pledged Wednesday to visit the state often to support GOP gubernatorial contender Bob Beauprez.
During a stop at a diner in downtown Denver, Christie was also unapologetic about his April remarks during a New Jersey radio show in which he said Colorado’s voter-approved recreational marijuana industry has hurt the state’s quality of life.
Christie said he stands by his comments.
“I’m not backing off an inch from what I said. What I said is what I believe,” he said. “I think it’s the wrong thing to do. I think legalizing marijuana is the wrong thing to do from a societal perspective, from a governmental perspective. I just disagree.”
CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd asked Christie about the issue.
“I’ll say exactly what I said; that I think that that diminishes the quality of life in state that legalizing an illegal drug,” Christie responded. “Listen, I’m not one of those guys who’s is going to change my opinion because standing in Colorado and go, ‘Well, what I really meant was …’ No, I meant what I said.
“It doesn’t mean that Colorado is not a great place, I’m sure it is. I think it would be greater if it didn’t legalize marijuana.” - CBS 4 Denver, 7/23/14
Democrats and protestors had this to say:
http://www.durangoherald.com/...
Campaigning with Christie generates major headlines, but it also results in several questions. The protesters outside pointed to the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal in which Christie’s administration was accused of collaborating to create traffic jams by closing toll lanes.
“We don’t need that type of scandal in Colorado,” said Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado, one of the protesters who held signs outside the campaign stop.
“We’re consistently one of the least corrupt states, and with Bob Beauprez associating with Chris Christie in this way, to me that just demonstrates the type of leadership that he would demonstrate as governor of Colorado, and that’s not what we need,” she said.
Beauprez shrugged off the criticism, suggesting that when the bridge scandal came to light, Christie took decisive steps to address it. He said Hickenlooper would not have taken such leadership.
Beauprez pointed to the recent controversy surrounding a public-private partnership to manage operation and maintenance along U.S. Highway 36 between Denver and Boulder. The state entered into a 50-year contract with Plenary Roads Denver, but the public raised a firestorm of criticism over fears that parts of the contract were being kept secret because of proprietary concerns.
Lawmakers passed a bill this year that would have required greater transparency in public-private transportation projects. But Hickenlooper vetoed the measure. He signed an executive order, however, that enacted much of the bill’s transparency components.
“If this is corruption, that’s the wrong definition of corruption,” Beauprez said of Christie. “We’d better look at our own state and the transparency we’re not getting from a governor who actually told us transparency creates problems.”
But Rick Palacio, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, said Christie is the epitome of scandal. He also noted Christie’s attack on the state’s “quality of life” for legalizing marijuana.
“By bringing Chris Christie and his scandalous New Jersey politics to our state, it’s pretty clear that Both Ways Bob is still lost on the Colorado way,” Palacio said. “Instead of embracing Christie’s style of cronyism and corruption, Beauprez should denounce his visit the way Christie denounced Colorado’s way of life.” - Durango Herald, 7/23/14
Colorado Democrats have also been hitting Beauprez on this:
http://kdvr.com/...
Colorado Democrats are highlighting GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob Beauprez’s Romneyesque ’47 percent’ comments in a new web ad.
The new 30-second video features audio of Beauprez’s 2010 remarks to the Denver Rotary Club in which he riffed about the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay taxes and images of regular Coloradans shown with an arrow labeling them as part of the “47 percent.”
The remarks are very similar to those made in 2012 by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney at a private fundraiser and recorded by a Democratic operative; the recording put the Romney campaign on its heels and undercut the millionaire’s efforts to appeal to blue-collar voters. - KDVR, 7/17/14
Now Hit's looking like a tight race in Colorado right now:
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
PPP's new Colorado poll finds the exact same numbers in the races for both Governor and the Senate- Democratic incumbents John Hickenlooper and Mark Udall are clinging to 44/43 leads over their challengers Bob Beauprez and Cory Gardner respectively.
In the Governor's race this represents a significant tightening over the last four months. In March we had found Hickenlooper leading Beauprez 48/38. Since that time though Hickenlooper's approval rating has dropped a net 10 points, from 48/41 then to now 43/46. And Beauprez's net favorability has improved 14 points from 20/33 then to now 31/30. That movement's come largely among Republicans- he's gone from 33/22 to 57/12 within his own party as it's unified in the wake of last month's primary.
The closeness in the Senate race is nothing new though. Our last four polls have found Udall with leads of 2, 2, 4, and now 1 point. This is shaping up as yet another key Senate contest this year where the early blitz of negative advertising has left both candidates unpopular. Udall has an upside down approval rating at 36/47, but Gardner's not a whole lot more well liked with 34% of voters rating him favorably to 39% who have a negative opinion. - PPP, 7/22/14
Hickenlooper has the money for the campaign ahead and he should really start using it soon. Hickenlooper though is getting his backers behind him:
http://www.bcbr.com/...
A raft of Northern Colorado and Boulder Valley business leaders have pledged support to Gov. John Hickenlooper's re-election campaign, according to a list released Tuesday by the governor's campaign.
Hickenlooper said in a conference call with reporters that of the more than 120 business leaders backing his re-election, multiple are Republicans. He expects additional support from business leaders ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
"In the end, the person matters more than party," Hickenlooper said. "That's a key issue here."
The press call was part of efforts by Hickenlooper's campaign to roll out its "Business Leaders for Hickenlooper" coalition. The call was organized to highlight Hickenlooper's contributions to the state's economy.
Hickenlooper's backers includes the following business leaders from the region:
Jim Leprino, owner, Leprino Foods;
Kim Jordan, CEO, New Belgium Brewing Co.;
Michael Long, CEO, Arrow Electronics Inc.;
Jacqueline Hinman, CEO, CH2MHill;
Ken Tuchman, CEO, TeleTech Holdings Inc.;
Donna Lynne, executive vice president, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plans;
James Crowe, former CEO, Level 3 Communications;
Jeffrey Tarr, CEO, DigitalGlobe Inc.
Brad Holly, vice president of operations, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.;
David Eves, CEO, Public Service Co. of Colorado;
Wynne Odell, CEO, Odell Brewing Co.;
Aaron Kennedy, founder, Noodles & Co.;
Bruce Alexander, CEO, Vectra Bank Colorado;
Chad McWhinney, CEO, McWhinney;
Joe Zimlich, CEO, Bohemian Cos. - Boulder County, 7/22/14
Plus do we really want a clown like Beauprez joing the Stupid League of America like the RGA?
http://blogs.denverpost.com/...
Bob Beauprez’s campaign on Tuesday made a big deal of how the GOP nominee for Colorado governor is working “to create a coalition of like-minded governors — in particular Rocky Mountain West governors — to push back against federal encroachment on issues that are properly state concerns.”
The governors Beauprez mentioned in his news release — Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Texas’ Rick Perry and Wyoming’s Matt Mead, to name a few — all happen to be Republican governors. No mention is made of the fact that the Democrat Beauprez is trying to unseat, Gov. John Hickenlooper, is chairman of the National Governors Association and has a relationship with many of the nation’s governors, Democrat and Republican.
Gov. Matt Mead (R. WY) & Gov. John Hickenlooper (D. CO)
Beauprez’s campaign noted that the candidate met with Gov. Mead over the weekend — the news release includes a picture of Beauprez and Mead and their spouses at the Denver Post’s Cheyenne Frontier Days BBQ. FYI: Hickenlooper was there, too, and has a good relationship with Mead, as evidenced by a 2011 story about the Frontier Days gathering, when the two governors yukked it up.
“I think John Hickenlooper has a lot of great ideas,” Mead said then. “Plus, I just like the guy.” - Denver Post, 7/22/14
Emphasis mine.
That part made laugh. If you would like to get involved and donate to Hickenlooper's campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.hickenlooperforcolorado.com/