TODAY'S SPEAKER 4-20-2015

Posted 
on Apr 20, 2015
 
The speaker today was Colorado’s own State Treasurer, Walker Stapleton.  His family has resided in Colorado since the 1800’s.  He is serving his second term as the State Treasurer and is the only 2 term Republican elected and currently serving the state.  He is a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts and also has a MBA from Harvard.  A smart guy!  He is a member of the Denver SE Rotary Club.
 
The speaker today was Colorado’s own State Treasurer, Walker Stapleton.  His family has resided in Colorado since the 1800’s.  He is serving his second term as the State Treasurer and is the only 2 term Republican elected and currently serving the state.  He is a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts and also has a MBA from Harvard.  A smart guy!  He is a member of the Denver SE Rotary Club and is married with a 7 year old son and two daughters ages 3 and 1 ½.  He began his remarks by saying “Count me as a proud Rotary Member” and told us he enjoyed visiting many different Rotary Clubs throughout the state.  He said the clubs in Durango and Cortez was like visiting another galaxy.  Before entering politics, he was the CEO of a publically traded Real Estate Company.  He was drawn to run for public office because of his deep interest in fiscal policy.
 
He spoke with great knowledge on many topics.  I shall highlight a number of them here.:  State Treasurer Stapleton says the legislation spends 3 months on partisan issues and then all decisions about economic policy is jammed into the last month.  This allows lobbyists to tell legislators how to vote on the issues since most legislators are involved only part time (5 months a year) and many have other full time jobs.
 
He serves on many boards, among them the State Claims Board with the State Attorney General hearing cases involving suits of $250,000 + against the state, the CU Advisory Board, the Colorado Corrections Board, and the Board of the Public Pension System.  His goal is to create bi-partisan cooperationWalker is most proud of having passed the Debt Consolidation Legislation.  He called it an amazing bill that resulted in sensible public policy.  Its inception occurred when it was discovered that no one could answer the question “How much debt does Colorado owe?”  It turned out there were 18 separate state agencies each managing their own debt, but no central clearing house so there was no combined number to be had, and more importantly, no requirement for cost savings.  Passing the bill has saved Colorado more than 20 million dollars by refinancing alone.
 
He is also concerned about the sustainability of the Colorado Health Care Exchange.  It is currently losing money – some 10’s of millions - while receiving federal subsidy.   He wonders how it can possibly survive without the subsidy.
 
The State Retirement System is also a big concern.  It’s debt is currently 28 Billion dollars.  The entire Colorado budget is only 25 Billion dollars.  He said structural changes to the pension system must be made to keep it solvent and to ensure that the promises Colorado makes are ones that can be afforded.
 
Other issues of concern are (1) - Pot while it does create 45 million dollars in revenue in Colorado it is “not true that the more pot you smoke the better our schools will become.”; (2) Fracking – it is vital part of the energy economic future; and (3) Transportation, he suggests bonding the federal gas tax to tackle the big infrastructure issues critical to Colorado future.
 
Walker Stapleton was an excellent speaker who does not present a very optimistic view of Colorado’s financial picture.