Teller County GOP Chair Enters House District 45 Race

Teller County GOP Chair Mark Sievers is jumping in the race for state Rep. Victor Mitchell's (R-Castle Rock) House District 45 seat, according to the Douglas County News-Press.

Sievers, a real estate attorney who lives outside of Cripple Creek, is the second declared GOP candidate in the race.

Former Douglas County clerk and recorder Carole Murray has also announced she's running for the seat, which Mitchell is vacating because of term limits.

University of Colorado IT employee John Peterson is interested in the seat, though he said Friday that he's "keeping his options open" until the candidate petitioning period starts next month 

Sievers a former senior executive with Sprint, GTE and Verizon, told the News-Press that if elected, he would put his business experience to work in the State Capitol.

"We have a budget process where budgets will be increased, but nobody ever asks what they will get in exchange [for the budget increase]. That's the difference between the public and private sector," Sievers told the paper. "In the private sector, if I want more money, I have to prove I will deliver more services. The notion of accountability and relating expenditure to accountability is a completely foreign concept to government."

Sievers, currently a real estate attorney, lives outside of Cripple Creek with his wife Jill, according to the News-Press.

If elected, Sievers told the paper that he would be the first resident of Teller County to serve in the Colorado Legislature in more than 70 years.