There are a lot of reasons that people like state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, but perhaps the most obvious is his dry, often sarcastic, sense of humor. Last week, he sat down with 9News’s Kyle Clark, and in the face of some relatively trivial “gotcha” questions Stapleton showed off these winning attributes. It’s worth watching, especially if you’re like us and keeping a close eye on the moves of potential gubernatorial candidates.
When asked about the semantics of how he described his involvement in the drafting of a bill to change the makeup of the board for the Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA), Stapleton replied that while he “didn’t follow Sen. Tate into the drafting room” (ha!) he has long supported the idea and been a champion for the legislation.
Later in the interview when Stapleton is questioned over an ad he is doing for U.S. Term Limits and whether his recent interest in the popular issue is because he might run for governor, he sarcastically replies: “Is term limits something I’ve ruminated on and wrote a dissertation for graduate school on 20 years ago? No.”
He of course adds: “Is it something I’ve recognized is an important, topical issue and am overjoyed to be a leader on in Colorado? Absolutely.”
By using sarcasm, Stapleton is able to diffuse needing questions and in many cases point out their silliness. We’ll be interested to see how this side of his personality plays out if and when he returns to the campaign trail.
In the meantime, here is Stapleton’s interview in its entirety, enjoy: