CD-5, HD-45 GOP Candidates Court Teller County Homebuilders

WOODLAND PARK - A host of Republican candidates, from the CD-5 and HD-45 races to those running for the city council, talked shop with the Home Builders Association of Teller County Wednesday night in Woodland Park.

CD-5 GOP primary candidates Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn each discussed homebuilding and other issues at the HBA meeting, held at the Shining Mountain Golf Course clubhouse.

The incumbent in CD-5, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs), did not attend the meeting.

Asked about water issues, Rayburn said he favored the proposed Southern Delivery System, in which water would be taken from the Frying Pan-Arkansas Project and the Arkansas River near Pueblo and transported to Colorado Springs and other water districts.

"Quite frankly, off the record, it's the answer," Rayburn said to the crowd of about 25 people. "But the thing that we have failed to do is try to engage Pueblo and make sure that other than maybe the editor of the (Pueblo) Chieftain (newspaper), (or) the publisher of the Chieftain, is make sure that we bring those folks along and try to make it so that it's not this constant ‘Colorado Springs-versus-Pueblo' (debate), and try to see that there's benefit to both sides in this."

Crank criticized Lamborn for his "yes" vote on a $152 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress last month.

"I think it was short-sighted," Crank said.  "Yes, it will put some money in your pocket in the form of tax cuts. But it expands the size and scope of government, passes more debt on to your children and grandchildren, and I think that's wrong.

"If we wanted to pass an economic stimulus package," Crank added, "Congress should have passed a package that provided for research and development tax credits, and for credits for business and companies to innovate and do the sorts of thing that they do every single day."

Carole Murray and Mark Sievers, the GOP candidates for the HD-45 seat being vacated by state Rep. Victor Mitchell (R-Castle Rock), stressed their experience and credentials to the group. 

Murray called herself "a turnaround artist," describing her experience as a newspaper advertising manager, as chair of the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce, and as Douglas County clerk and recorder.

"Everywhere that I've gone in terms of my business experience I've taken sort of a struggling organization and turned it around and made it strong," she said. "I want to take that experience at the grassroots level and translate that into an understanding with what's happening with the budget at the state level."

Sievers, the Teller County GOP chair who lives outside Cripple Creek, noted to the group no Teller County resident has been a state legislator since 1930.

"And I think there's a lot of folks in this room who'd actually like to see somebody from Teller County represent them and have a representative who's here more often than when there's an election," said Sievers, making a not-so-veiled reference to Murray, who lives in Castle Rock.

Sievers, a former economics professor at Utah State University, gave a handout explaining the recent crisis in the nationwide sub-prime mortgage market - which he blamed on the Federal Reserve drastically lowering interest rates, allowing previously unqualified homeowners to take out a mortgage.

"Ronald Reagan said the most terrifying words in the English language is, ‘I'm here from the government and I'm here to help,'" Sievers said. "That's kind of what happened in the subprime mortgage meltdown."

Woodland Park mayoral candidates Darwin Naccarato and Steve Randolph also stumped at the meeting, as did Woodland Park city council candidates Val Carr, Betty Clark and John DeVeaux.