Brophy Says He’ll Represent All Coloradans

Senator Brophy at Brew Unto Others

 State Senator, Greg Brophy, continued his 64 county campaign swing for governor through Lamar this past Monday, November 4, with a stop in Lamar and a Tuesday visit to La Junta residents planned. 

Brophy Answered Questions Regarding Gun Laws, 51st State Initiative and Amtrak, plus other subjects

Brophy, who described himself as a conservative senator, is building a platform that he says seeks to end cultural divisiveness between rural and metro areas of the state while limiting the levels of government interference through unnecessary rules and regulations that stems from Washington, DC and Denver.  He was just as hard on the Republican Party for its vote regarding PERA benefits that impacted 200,000 state residents on their retirement funds, as he was on democrat Governor Hickenlooper and his signing gun safety bills passed by the state legislature this year.  Brophy recounted how when working in favor of the PERA bill in 2010, he aligned himself with Democrats to benefit those state employees who had paid into the fund for their retirement.  He said he’d be able to offer a compromise bill of that nature to effect the most good. 

“This was a situation where the majority, the people in the Front Range, who were not essentially impacted by the gun laws, were able to voice their desires over rural concerns and the people who are mostly gun owners,” he explained to the gathering at the coffee shop, Brew Unto Others, this past Monday.  “If I’m governor after next year, and we’re blessed with a republican legislature, we will roll back all those gun control bills immediately,” he said. He mentioned that he’d like to promote a bill that if you have a concealed carry permit, you would be able to purchase your next firearms without having to go through a background check.  “This is just a common sense measure,” he added.  Brophy also cited the doubling of the renewal energy standard signed by Hickenlooper saying it will have a negative financial impact on small communities and power users in the state.   

Brophy said he’s not in favor of the 51^st State Initiative that’s being heard in Colorado, as well as Maryland and in California. The senator explained that all the things about that movement are why I’m running for governor.  “I don’t want to break the state up,” Brophy explained, but he did say he liked the Phillips County suggestion.  “This makes more sense in that having a vote and voice for each of the 64 counties in the state legislature offers better representation for under populated areas,” he added.  Brophy said he’d vote for that in order to send a message on the ballot.  Brophy continued that the issue of a 51^st state wouldn’t have come into play if we had a governor that respects the whole state.  In response to a question of continued policies, he added that this concept wouldn’t be altered by whichever political party held the majority of votes in the state.  

Lamar City Councilman, Skip Ruedeman asked Brophy for insight into the need to retain the Southwest Chief railroad line through southeast Colorado.  Ruedeman said the state needs to put $4 million into a regional fund to keep the line running, otherwise BNSF and Amtrak will reroute the passenger line away from Lamar, La Junta, portions of Kansas and New Mexico.  Brophy said he’s willing to work with the impacted communities in the state to maintain the line, but not to be blackmailed by the companies into paying their railroad line repairs for them.  Brophy continued his visit with a stop in La Junta on Tuesday.

By Russ Baldwin