Greenwood Village, CO – A quick look at Jared Polis and his running mate Dianne Primavera reveals two candidates who are fundamentally one and the same. They both support extreme far-left policies, to include raising taxes on hardworking Coloradans, over-regulating our state’s energy industry, and acting on their open hostility to a free-market healthcare system. Doubling down on a liberal agenda with Dianne Primavera at his side, Polis clearly isn’t campaigning “as a moderate,” as Governor Hickenlooper predicted he would.

“Jared Polis and Dianne Primavera are two peas in an extremist pod,” said Colorado Republican Chairman Jeff Hays. “They’re two sides of the same coin. Both are far-left radicals. That’s especially evident in their positions on healthcare, energy, and taxes. With the choice of Primavera, Polis is doubling down on his promise to disrupt Coloradans’ healthcare, drive energy jobs out of Colorado, and support efforts to raise our taxes.”

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BACKGROUND

Healthcare

Congressman Polis supports government-run single-payer healthcare, a system that would devastate Colorado, especially regions such as the Western Slope. “[S]uch a measure also would harm rural regions such as Club 20’s area, which includes most of the Western Slope and southern Colorado, because it would tend to concentrate health care services in urban areas, forcing rural residents to travel to obtain services.” (“Club 20 consensus: No to ColoradoCare,” Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Gary Harmon, April 2, 2016.)

During, her legislative career, Primavera demonstrated a pattern of hostility to private-sector insurance. She championed “a slew” of new health insurance mandates that would send premiums soaring for struggling Colorado families. “[Primavera] ran into roadblocks later in her career both from Republicans with a majority in the Senate and from Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who vetoed one [healthcare mandate] measure in particular and warned in doing so against the costs such laws could incur on on premiums.” (“Polis’ running-mate pick has served as a foil to the health-insurance sector,” Denver Business Journal, July 3, 2018.)

Energy

Congressman Polis famously backed a campaign to end fracking in 2014, threatening to eliminate Colorado’s $30 billion energy industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs. “Polis is quietly financing a series of statewide ballot measures to allow Colorado cities and counties to regulate, zone and even ban fracking, the commonly used process in which a pressurized mix of water, sand and chemicals are pumped deep below the surface of the earth to loosen natural gas deposits for extraction. As a drilling boom has pushed many wells closer to houses and schools, concerns about possible long- and short-term health effects of air and water contamination and radiation exposure have prompted five Colorado cities to approve municipal bans. But it remains unclear whether the authority to limit oil and gas development resides with the state or with local governments. Polis is pushing to settle that matter once and for all.” (“How Fracking Could Break Colorado Democrats,” Politico, Eli Stokols, April 15, 2014.)

Primavera supported numerous new mandates on Colorado’s energy industry throughout her tenure in the legislature, threatening a sector that employs over 230,000 Coloradans. In 2016, she voted for a bill that would have allowed Colorado municipalities to limit or ban oil and gas operations. Gov. Hickenlooper opposed the bill and it lost on a bipartisan vote. (“HB 16-1355 – Affirm Local Government Siting Authority Oil and Gas Facilities.” Find the text of the bill and the vote tally here.)

Raising Taxes on Hardworking Coloradans

On taxes, Jared Polis has established himself as an extreme left-wing member of Congress. In 2012, he was one of only 38 Congressman to support a fringe budget proposal calling for $2 trillion in tax increases. “On Wednesday night, Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.) voted for a budget which calls for nearly $2 trillion in tax increases.” (“Congressman Jared Polis Supports $2 Trillion Tax Increase,” Americans for Tax Reform, Ryan Ellis & Mattie Duppler, March 29, 2012).

More recently, Polis introduced a bill to repeal the federal tax cuts that have brought tax relief to over 70% of Coloradans. “Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado, who is sponsoring a bill that would repeal the Trump tax cuts, thereby effectively raising tax rates on most Americans and businesses, recently reconfirmed to a reporter in his home state that for at least five years he paid no income taxes at all from 2001 to 2005.” (“Dem Rep Sponsoring Trump Tax Cut Repeal Paid No Taxes for Five Years,” The Washington Free Beacon, Todd Shepherd, June 14, 2018.)