Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo) showered compliments on officials in Woodland Park for purchasing Shining Mountain Golf Course and Avenger Open Space.

“That was so brilliant,” said Hickenlooper, speaking Feb. 18 to a group at the Ute Pass Cultural Center.

The two purchases, in effect, preserve 483 acres from development, saving water as well as infrastructure costs, said Woodland Park Mayor Kellie Case.

With political division in America, Hickenlooper highlighted bipartisan efforts to pass a health care bill focused on transparency in health care costs for the consumer.

“Transparency in everything, scans, doctor visits, everything,” he said.

A $4 trillion industry, with 25% tied to inefficiency, with transparency, health insurance companies would be aligned in costs, he said.

“It’s not fraud, it’s that people aren’t paying attention on who’s getting what,” he said. “That bill, with Medicaid and Medicare reduction, could save the federal government $200 billion a year.”

Teller County has less than a 1% error rate on Medicaid claims, said Commissioner Erik Stone.

With the ongoing threat of wildfire in Colorado, 16% of homeowners in the state cannot get insurance, Hickenlooper said, while 20% in Florida and Texas have been denied insurance.

“This (wildfire) is due to climate change, whether you like it or not,” he said.

On the issue of continuing to use fossil fuels, which most scientists blame for climate change, Hickenlooper sees the energy source as part of a larger picture.  

“I’m not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I think we can do ‘all of the above,’ recognize solar, wind and keep working in that direction,” he said.”

Yet insurance companies should figure out solutions, he added. 

“I think it needs incentivizing, with government support, people to harden their homes against fire,” he said.

As federal and state grants for nonprofits have dried up, Jodi Mijares, executive director of Community Partnership Family Resource Center, pleaded for Hickenlooper’s attention to the issue.

“Families are struggling right now,” Mijares said. “We want you to continue to be a force for uniting both parties to prioritize families and children. It’s too important, too expensive, not to.”

Citing the rise in inflation, the senator said he believes the federal government should intervene in the disparity between the high cost of childcare and low wages of the providers.

“The federal government should step in and incentivize people taking advantage of childcare while still paying something,” he said. “When they get that coverage that’s when the system begins to work.”

At this, Frank Salvato, Cripple Creek’s city administrator, added that the city did receive a federal grant of $1.015 million for the childcare center “It’s a Place for Kids.”

But Salvato agreed with Mijares that families are struggling, particularly young people.

“Gaming is an issue; sports betting is affecting families,” he said. “Kids will who are going off to college are sitting and gaming.”  

Gambling is stupid and that’s why parents for generations have told their kids not to gamble, Hickenlooper said, adding. “The house always wins.”

On the other hand, Salvato is concerned that a proposed ballot measure, if passed, would permit gaming on internet devices.  

“If that happens it will kill the three towns with brick-and-mortar casinos; we’re hearing that casinos would take a 25-30% hit,” Salvato said. “We’re hoping that if it goes to a vote that citizens of Colorado will vote it down.”

Hickenlooper predicts that federal tax cuts, the largest in history, he said, will affect state revenue.

“It’s going to hit us hard,” he said.

In his closing remarks, the senator paid tribute to Case and incoming mayor, George Jones. 

“They’re both entrepreneurs,” he said.  Case is a realtor and Jones is co-owner of two businesses in Woodland Park.  

After the meeting, when a reporter asked Hickenlooper’s opinion about President Trump’s suggestion to nationalize elections, the senator was emphatic.

“It’s in the Constitution that local governments will decide how elections are held in every state,” he said. “Our mail ballot elections have higher turnout and more safeguards against fraud.”

ICE personnel are allegedly being cross trained to offer ‘election security,’ Hickenlooper said.

“That’s disconcerting,” he said. “We don’t have high incidents of fraud anywhere. ICE showing for elections is not anything I’ve seen before.”

On the other hand, the senator is not against requiring voter IDs at the polls.

“I don’t have a problem with voter IDs; let’s make sure only American citizens vote, that the system maximizes turnout, doesn’t permit fraud and at the lowest cost possible,” he said.

The Greater Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce whose president, Debbie Miller, served as moderator, hosted Hickenlooper’s visit.