Polis & Stapleton: How They View Rural Colo. And Western Slope

GRAND JUNCTION, CO – By Corey Hutchins for The Colorado Independent The political realm has been consumed lately by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis’s decision to skip the Western Slope Club 20 business group debate, an early September event that has traditionally served as the launch into Colorado’s general election campaign frenzy.

Plenty have lamented the move, with The Denver Post’s editorial board calling it “a disgrace” and The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel devoting front-page coverage to Polis’s decision to stand by it. Polis has shrugged the criticism off, saying Club 20 isn’t a stand-in for rural or western Colorado writ-large, that he’ll be debating in Grand Junction, and has campaigned in the area plenty.

For its part, Club 20 has rejected Polis’s offer to send Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne as his surrogate. So, that’s the politics. Let’s talk policy. Club 20 represents rural Colorado, the Western Slope, a swath of the state that adds some of the red to the predominant blue of the Front Range, giving Colorado its purple political hue.
In 2014, when Gov. John Hickenlooper faced off against Republican Bob Beauprez on the Club 20 stage, issues that arose included fracking, federal lands, healthcare and water.

Alex Burness contributed to this report.

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