GUEST COLUMN: Governor led with a steady hand during pandemic
It seems like a blur to think back two years now to January 21, 2020, when the U.S. reported its first COVID case. Little did we know that by March anyone in elected office (including those of us at the Colorado Springs City Council) would have lots of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to keep our citizen’s safe, particularly our older, pregnant, or immune compromised citizens.
And yes, as a “brick and mortar” small-business owner with my wife, Patricia, in Colorado Springs, we lost sleep over trying to keep our doors open, being able to pay our bills and keep our 55 employees working.
That’s why I can’t help but respond to Republican candidate for governor, Heidi Ganahl, in her recent (Jan. 21) column in The Gazette, unfairly criticizing Gov. Jared Polis on what seemed to be everything and the kitchen sink. But mostly, criticizing his dealing with the impacts of the pandemic.
As an insider when I was president of City Council during most of the pandemic, I know what most Coloradans know: that we charted our own path to safety based on data, science and advice from health experts. That leadership was definitely not coming from the White House back in 2020. And it was our governor who led with a steady hand and acted based on his understanding of our state and what was best at the time to keep us safe.
Ms. Ganahl says — and I imagine will continue to say – every problem was caused by our governor. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and Coloradans can see through that.
Fact is, there’s no governor that worked harder for the health and welfare of its citizens than Gov. Polis did, hosting sometimes daily phone calls with local elected and health officials. He led with facts and stayed transparent throughout, making sure the public knew exactly what the safety risks were and why the state was taking each step.
As a long-time small business owner, I experienced firsthand how he made funding support and unemployment for our employees immediately available.
Contrary to Ganahl’s sweeping generalizations about Gov. Polis’ “far left” agenda, Colorado’s governor was then and is now, a pragmatic problem-solver who governs from a business perspective.
That’s why we were one of the first states to safely reopen and get our kids back in school. That’s why Colorado’s economy was able to recover so fast. That’s why our unemployment rate is lower than the national average today.
Our governor clearly saw how we needed to protect Coloradans from a deadly pandemic, without going overboard, without yanking decision-making away from local leaders, and without imposing a one-size-fits all approach on the entire state. What works in Denver doesn’t necessarily work in Monument or Delores.
Today, because of his tireless advocacy, all Colorado parents can now send their kids to quality, free preschool and kindergarten, saving them an average of $800 per month. And students, teachers and schools across the state are better resourced than ever before.
Small businesses and entrepreneurs paying for their own health insurance have had costs cut with reinsurance — by about 25%. And there will be another 9 to 18% cost cut coming for people once the public option kicks in.
Taxes on hardworking families and small businesses have been cut. All while closing tax loopholes that only benefited corporate special interests.
And Coloradans are taking better care of our air and environment than ever before, doubling the size of our parks system under his leadership and getting all of the state’s utility companies (including Colorado Springs Utilities) to cut their emissions while keeping electricity affordable. As someone who wanted to shutter our downtown albatross (the Drake Power plant) for decades, I know that we couldn’t have done it, without his leadership.
I see no “about face” from this governor as detailed in Ms. Ganahl’s column. I see him making good on many of his promises from the start, despite leading during an unprecedented world disaster.
Based on his incredible work ethic, pragmatism and business acumen, the person I trust the most to solve these challenges from the governor’s seat is Jared Polis.
Entrepreneur and small-business owner Richard Skorman served on Colorado Springs City Council from 1999 to 2007 and 2017 to 2021 and as Colorado Springs vice mayor.