This weekend, John Hickenlooper spent Public Lands Day with outdoor advocates and enthusiasts in Grand Junction. They talked about the role of outdoor recreation in bolstering rural economies, health care, and supporting small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Lands Day came just one day after the removal of William Perry Pendley as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management. As KREX reported, “John Hickenlooper has repeatedly called out his opponent, incumbent republican, Senator Cory Gardner, for not taking a stance on whether he supports Pendley’s nomination to head the BLM…Hickenlooper says he always was opposed to Pendley, and hopes to bring new ideas to the Senate if elected in terms of protecting public lands.”
KREX Grand Junction reported:
While in Grand Junction making a campaign stop Saturday, which also happened to be National Public Lands Day, democrat U.S. Senate candidate John Hickenlooper weighed in on a federal judge’s decision Friday to remove William Perry Pendley from his position as Bureau of Land Management Director.
This is important news for the Western Slope because the BLM is headquartered in Grand Junction, much of which is surrounded by BLM public lands outside of town.
Pendley has come under fire by democrats for calling for the sale of public lands for fossil fuel extraction. He also has been a subject of debate in the race for U.S. Senate in Colorado.
John Hickenlooper has repeatedly called out his opponent, incumbent republican, Senator Cory Gardner, for not taking a stance on whether he supports Pendley’s nomination to head the BLM.
…
Hickenlooper says he always was opposed to Pendley, and hopes to bring new ideas to the Senate if elected in terms of protecting public lands.
“We don’t want people that are former lobbyists for the coal industry, former lobbyists for the oil and gas industry to come in and ostensibly protect our public lands when they’re really trying to lease everything they can,” Hickenlooper said. “I want to make sure that we’re taking advantage of our public lands and utilizing that resource.”
Hickenlooper says one way he hopes to bolster public lands if elected to the the Senate is to create an Office of Outdoor Recreation in the U.S. Department of Commerce, which he says would lead to more jobs and economic revenue for communities.
KKCO Grand Junction reported:
John Hickenlooper is a candidate running for U.S. Senate. He sat down with a small group from the Outdoor Recreation Council to discuss the importance of the outdoor economy.
The meeting happened on Saturday afternoon at Ramblebine Brewing Company.
One of the reasons why the meeting was held today was because it is Public Lands Day.
He feels that outdoor recreation is very important. Hickenlooper said, “Whether it is hiking, mountain biking, or fishing, all of these outdoor recreation activities come together and they create year-round employment. They make us healthier.”
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel wrote:
Hickenlooper criticized Gardner and the Trump administration for not expanding broadband access in rural areas. He also painted the picture of a struggling cheese industry under the current administration’s policies.
“The ironies of the rural economy, the fact is that rural America and rural Colorado are significantly worse off now than they were in 2016,” he said. “It should’ve been the opposite. The huge tax break, the huge tax giveaway of 2017, really did very little for working farms.”
Hickenlooper clarified his stance on health care, emphasizing that he prefers a public health insurance option.
He touted that, during his time as Colorado governor, 400,000 residents enrolled in Medicaid and the percentage of those in the state with health insurance rose from 85% to nearly 95%.
…Hickenlooper’s visit to Ramblebine came a day after he hosted a virtual conversation with breweries around Colorado to discuss economic recovery efforts for small businesses such as them. He spoke with brewery owners from Denver, Colorado Springs, Durango and Greeley.
He gave himself the in-person opportunity to add Grand Junction to that list this weekend.
“Just like I did when I was governor, I try to be a fair witness for quick results, someone who doesn’t have a horse in the race, someone who’s going to go and listen to both sides and craft a fair compromise,” Hickenlooper said. “That’s what Washington should be doing. That’s why I want to go to Washington and change it.”
