Having spent months living in the remote areas of our great state with nothing but a pack on my back, I have a special interest and appreciation for the unique beauty and character of Colorado. I am not an advocate for locking these areas away from our citizens. We need to maintain sensible rules for managing our state and federal lands. These forests should be the first examples of healthy forest management, not the last agencies to deal with issues like pine beetles and forest fire prevention.

When I was in the House I introducing legislation to encourage market driven solutions for healthy forest management. 

I am an advocate for aggressive energy development, but I understand that we must preserve the rights of every Colorado citizen. Responsible stewardship of our great land demands we do no less for future generations. Clean air, water and a healthy ecosystem are critical to our state and any violations of our property rights from the pollution of our water to the degradation of our air quality must be corrected. However, the federal EPA system has become a significant stumbling block to our property rights and personal freedoms, and this has negatively affected our economy. The systematic over-reach by the EPA through regulatory fiat must be overhauled. There is a limited role for the federal government to coordinate matters that impact interstate concerns, but under our Federalist system of government most of the oversight of local environmental issues should be in the hands of the states.

As state treasurer I will be a public voice for the common-sense approach to protecting our environment.