YOUR AD HERE »

McInnis campaign swings through town

Tonya Bina
Sky-Hi News

GRANBY – Hot on the campaign trail just days prior to primary election day, gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis spent an hour speaking to Republican supporters in Granby.

The fourth generation Colorado native and his wife Lori addressed a small gathering at Maverick’s Grille on Aug. 6, hardly mentioning McInnis’ direct Republican primary opponent Dan Maes, choosing instead to take shots at Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper as he looked ahead to the general election.

Hickenlooper visited Grand County in March.



The self-described “Jobs Candidate,” McInnis portrayed the Denver mayor as being in the same camp as Gov. Bill Ritter, and by extension Obama, saying Colorado’s high unemployment rate is due to “self-inflicted losses in this state” from the Ritter administration.

McInnis cited Colorado’s loss of energy jobs as case-in-point.



“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said about new rules, blamed as punitive by the oil and gas industry, which implement 2007 laws requiring more weight to be given to health, wildlife and environmental concerns when making decisions about oil and gas development.

Citing “increased taxes disguised as fees,” McInnis also said he would reduce the waste and spending and the size of government if elected as governor.

A former Colorado legislator who served as majority leader, McInnis devoted much of his Granby talk to the topic of immigration, saying he would not support amnesty and would discourage state help to sanctuary cities.

On health care, McInnis said the new federal bill is “a disaster for Colorado,” and that if governor, he would fully support the position of state Attorney General John Suthers, who filed a lawsuit against the legislation with the position that the massive bill is “unconstitutional.”

On water, McInnis pointed out that the reorganization of House districts in the state unfairly positioned headwater counties like Grand with pro-diversion counties.

“Now you’re a little-tiny speck in a big district that supports water diversion. They did the same thing in the south and the same thing going down the I-70 corridor,” he said.

Prompted by a citizen inquiry, McInnis addressed accusations of plagiarism that clouded the campaign of the Republican hopeful.

McInnis said he had hired a water expert, but had never asked the expert if it was his original work that he ended up incorporating into his report, paid for by a nonprofit foundation.

“I stood up and said I made a mistake,” he said, adding later “I did learn a lesson, it won’t happen again.”

The foundation and he have since “resolved all the issues,” McInnis said

The issues came out because of the political season, he said.

“If you can’t take this kind of heat you’re not going to be governor. They’re going to throw everything they can.

“What’s happening, honestly, is some character assassination. But that’s politics.”


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

The Sky-Hi News strives to deliver powerful stories that spark emotion and focus on the place we live.

Over the past year, contributions from readers like you helped to fund some of our most important reporting, including coverage of the East Troublesome Fire.

If you value local journalism, consider making a contribution to our newsroom in support of the work we do.