President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Kamala Harris

(R) Donald Trump

80%↑

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) V. Archuleta

98%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Marshall Dawson

95%

5%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd

(D) Adam Frisch

52%↑

48%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(D) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank

(D) River Gassen

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) John Fabbricatore

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen

(R) Sergei Matveyuk

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

60%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
May 18, 2018 04:10 PM UTC

Walker Stapleton Has a PERA Problem

  • 6 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Walker Stapleton

State Treasurer Walker Stapleton still appears to be the frontrunner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination with less than six weeks to go until the June 26th Primary, but the wheels are coming off when it comes to Stapleton’s signature issue of PERA reform.

As Blair Miller explains in a detailed story for Denver7, Stapleton has talked himself into quite a corner here:

The pension became the centerpiece of discussions during this year’s legislature, buoyed by rallies by Colorado teachers who demanded fixes to the system in addition to better pay and school funding.

Yet after a last-minute deal in the legislature to try to shore up the system, some in Colorado are questioning how much Stapleton was involved in the PERA discussions this year, while others who were more closely involved say Stapleton’s work backs up his talk…

…in a speech last weekend made to El Paso County Republicans, Stapleton said the legislative measure “shored up” PERA for the time being.

“I have been the longest, largest, loudest voice for reforming PERA, and as a result of Republican leadership, we have shored up that system for 500,000 public workers in the state of Colorado,” he said, according to a video recording obtained by Denver7. [Pols emphasis].

First off, it is a pretty big mistake for Stapleton to publicly say that PERA has been “shored up” by the legislature. Stapleton has spent the last eight years trying to convince voters of his PERA expertise; if he is admitting that PERA reform is no longer a critical problem, then Stapleton needs a new shtick for the General Election.

On the other hand, Stapleton might be better off not talking about PERA anymore. He could have tried to take credit for legislative reforms, for example, but this Denver7 story indicates that he was encouraging lawmakers to oppose the measure — when he bothered to engage at all:

Also last week, one of Stapleton’s political opponents in the gubernatorial race, Republican Doug Robinson, told a gathering in Elizabeth that Stapleton didn’t attend a May 3 emergency PERA board meeting that took place ahead of the deal or take part in legislative talks…

…”Walker’s hung his hat on being “the loudest voice on PERA”, but at the end of eight years, what does he (or the taxpayers) have to show for it?” the spokesperson said in a statement to Denver7. “He’s barely even shown up for the meetings. Let’s just call a spade a spade — Walker’s only real interest in PERA is in its ability to serve as a talking point for his political ambitions.”…

…When asked to respond to the accusations made against Stapleton, a campaign spokesperson who agreed to speak on the condition they not be named admitted that Stapleton did not attend the May 3 PERA board meeting, but said a deputy called in to the meeting. The spokesperson said that wasn’t out of the ordinary, which one of the sources Denver7 spoke with confirmed.

And though another group that has focused on PERA’s liabilities and opposed Stapleton’s work on PERA in the past, Secure PERA, found that Stapleton attended 53 percent of board meetings from 2011 through 2016, a Denver7 review of board meeting minutes from 2017 show that Stapleton attended eight of the nine meetings that year, missing only one on the first day of a three-day retreat.

Stapleton’s intermittent attendance at PERA board meetings is not a new revelation, though it boggles the mind that he has continued to make it so easy for opponents to attack him on an issue he has been screaming about for years. If he does win the Republican nomination for Governor and tries to keep PERA reform as a top issue, Stapleton will also have to explain why he has been ignoring one of PERA’s biggest problems — the hundreds of millions of dollars being siphoned off by Wall Street fund managers for financial advice that consistently underperforms benchmarks.

Stapleton’s campaign website says that he “will bring the same persistence in fighting for economic reform to the Governor’s office as I have shown as Treasurer.” He has a tough task ahead of him convincing voters that this is a good thing.

Comments

6 thoughts on “Walker Stapleton Has a PERA Problem

    1. 560,000 Colorado employees (all public school teachers, law enforcement, firefighters) does not equal mouse nuts. Yes, I know Colorado's population is 5.6 million. However, public service employees have a much greater impact in terms of interacting with your "average Coloradans".

      You want your kid's teachers, the judge who listens to your plea, the first responder who answers your call, to have some investment and security in their job, and not to be a "temp" just marking time until they can get into something better paid.

       

    2. Apparently, neither can the (below) average Colorado State Treasurer?

       

      BTW, ”Mouse nuts”?  Is that a boomer reference you have to be of-an-age to understand, and that I should just ignore?

    3. Classic rich guy move.

      What? Money? You wanna talk about money?
      I know money. I am, of course, rich, which proves it.

      But weren’t you born rich?
      so, like the only thing you had to do to be rich was, you know, stay alive?

    4. davebarnes —

      They may not be able to tell you everything … but given the press about it, there are a number of people who know that there was a huge need to shore up the system, which had a $30 – $50 Billion shortfall.

      When they know 1 in 10 Coloradans are currently part of the system, that means that some of their neighbors probably are. And those involved have spouses and children who are also concerned, boosting the odds even higher.

      When they hear the kids' teachers have 2% more of their salary taken as "contributions" — their teachers' retirement is delayed by 6 years — and (if I understood a comment I heard at a forum I attended today) they will be denied Cost of Living adjustments for the first 3 years of their retirement — they wonder about the dimensions of the "shared sacrifice" passed by the legislature over the objections of Walker Stapleton.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

80 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!