As a federally elected official who hasn’t served at the state level since the early 2000s, Congressman Ed Perlmutter has some essplaining to doooo on pretty much every major issue facing our state. So we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 questions we hope the media or someone attending a Perlmutter campaign event (preferably with a camera) asks the Dem front-runner for Governor.
Rep. Perlmutter, courtesy of his Twitter profile
- What are you going to do about Colorado’s broke a** healthcare exchange?
- Perlmutter voted for Obamacare, so there’s that. But what was his vision for how it would be implemented at the state level? Hopefully it didn’t include the kind of cost overruns and excessive fees that everyday Coloradans are dealing with now, but how can we know for sure if he never has to talk about it?
- What is your position on the death penalty?
- This has been a high profile issue for a variety of reasons in recent years from Gov. Hickenlooper’s pardon of Nathan Dunlap to the prosecution of the Aurora theater shooter, who was sentenced to life in prison. Not to mention Democrats’ repeated attempts to repeal the death penalty in the state legislature.
- Do you support abolishing the taxpayer bill of rights (TABOR) like so many others in your party?
- This one is pretty black and white. Dems hate TABOR but the people of Colorado love how it has kept taxes low and spurred economic growth. What say you, Congressman?
- What did you think of Cary Kennedy’s awkward announcement video?
- At least something we can all agree on, amirite?
- Would you describe yourself as pro-fracking?
- Again, Perlmutter has largely dodged taking a strong position on this issue given that he holds federal office. But where he stands on it will have far reaching policy implications should he become governor. With activists trying to ban oil and gas development and with Colorado being a national leader on the regulatory front, he needs to come out strong one way or the other.