Should the Colorado Treasurer’s Office focus its attention largely on investing state revenues to get reliable returns, or should it expand its powers into infrastructure investment and oversight of various state agencies’ finances? That question, at the heart of distinctly different visions for the office by the two men running for the open seat this year, is the central theme of the latest “Colorado Chamber Office Hours” podcast featuring interviews with candidates for statewide office.
Democrat Jeff Bridges, a state senator from Greenwood Village and vice chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, tells podcast host Ed Sealover that he believes the typically quiet office can and should be more activist. Among his plans if elected: Move a portion of the state’s roughly $17 billion in tax revenues that his office invests into housing or other local projects that will generate returns and create benefits for the state, and push to be able to look into spending by other state departments, such as the troubled Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, to see if taxpayer money is being spent incorrectly.
Republican Kevin Grantham, a former Colorado Senate president and current Fremont County commissioner, believes that the office should remain more limited in its scope of powers and that it should concentrate on investing the state’s funds properly and ensure that current programs like the Great Colorado Payback are run more efficiently. Instead of seeking more duties for the office, he would use the bully pulpit of the treasurer’s office to weigh in on legislation involving fees and taxes to ensure they are kept low, he added.
The episode is the second in a series of interviews with candidates on the November ballot for statewide office, following interviews with the Republican and Democratic nominees for Colorado Secretary of State. You can find this episode on all of your favorite podcast channels:
