Colorado gubernatorial candidate and sitting Attorney General Phil Weiser fielded a wide range of questions Friday night at an event hosted by Indivisible Durango, touching on nearly every major issue dominating national and state headlines.
Throughout the hour-and-a-half question-and-answer forum, he also slipped in several not-so-subtle jabs at his primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
“I’m sorry you are being disrespected with only one of two candidates here,” Weiser said during his introduction.
Bennet, who had been invited to attend the event, billed as a “town hall,” declined. (Indivisible Durango recently endorsed Weiser for governor, though Bennet had declined to appear before the endorsement.)
Over the course of the evening, Weiser criticized Bennet’s lack of a water plan on his campaign platform, pointed to what he described as a voting record too often aligned with former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and took issue with Bennet’s unwillingness to share a stage with him.
“I don’t think that’s the way democracy should be,” Weiser said.
Jordan Fuja, spokesperson for Bennet’s campaign, pushed back on Weiser’s claims in an email to The Durango Herald on Sunday, calling them “cheap attacks” aimed at closing Bennet’s lead in the race.
Fuja said Bennet has shared a stage with Weiser at numerous forums and that several additional debates and appearances are scheduled in the coming weeks. She also said Bennet has spent years meeting with working Coloradans across the state and plans to return to La Plata County on Monday to attend Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell’s memorial.
She disputed Weiser’s characterization of Bennet’s voting record, saying Bennet has “spent over a decade on the front lines” opposing Trump-era policies and nominees, voting against the vast majority of executive branch picks. She also pointed to Bennet’s work on public lands, rural health care funding in Southwest Colorado and water policy, including drought resilience and conservation efforts.
Bennet’s proposed water policy can be found on michaelbennet.com, underneath “Forest and Wildfire,” Weiser’s can be found at philforcolorado.com, underneath “Safeguarding our water.”
Beyond his criticism of Bennet, Weiser framed his bid for governor around three themes: the essence of democracy, a growing “connection crisis” and the need for collaborative problem-solving at every level of government.
An audience question about rural entrepreneurship prompted Weiser to highlight his work with Startup Colorado, the Silicon Flatirons Center and other initiatives. He said roughly half the rural workforce is employed by startups or small businesses and that a governor should identify regulations or gaps in support that make it harder to start and grow those businesses.
He also said he would respond quickly when high-potential companies choose to expand elsewhere, citing Durango-based Agile Space Industries, which has expanded in Oklahoma rather than Colorado.
Weiser fielded questions about the state’s growing water challenges, criticizing what he called insufficient investment in water infrastructure despite water’s importance to Colorado. As governor, he said, he would prioritize modernizing irrigation systems, encouraging more water-efficient agriculture, expanding water reuse, and improving storage and management statewide.
He also pledged to recognize tribal sovereignty in his administration, including regular consultation with tribes and the creation of a Cabinet-level tribal liaison in the governor’s office.
On water, Weiser argued the state must either build infrastructure to allow tribes to fully access their legal water rights or compensate them for water used by others.
He also criticized lower basin states – California, Arizona and Nevada – for what he described as years of overuse beyond their share under the Colorado River Compact, enabled in part by drawing down storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
“My commitment is to make sure they know that I am there to listen to them,” he said. “I respect their sovereignty, I care about them, and we’re going to work together as partners.”
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