Greeley-Weld County legislative candidates share their views on League of Women Voters forum – Greeley Tribune

Last week, state legislative candidates seeking to represent Greeley and Weld County voters discussed their opposing viewpoints on issues including school choice, abortion, gun violence and renewable energy in an online forum.

On Thursday evening, the League of Women Voters of Greeley-Weld County hosted candidates from the 50th and 64th House Districts, as well as the 13th Senate District, for an open forum on Zoom.

School choice, which will be on the state ballot this November as Amendment 80, has split candidates along party lines.

Democratic candidates unilaterally opposed the amendment and agreed that such a measure would result in a loss of funding for public schools. Others feared that passage of the amendment would further divide people into those who could afford better education and those who could not.

Republicans argued that parents should have a voice and choice in the schools their children attend. Currently, parents in Colorado have the right to send their children to any school in the state, even those located outside the zone where they live. The amendment will ensure that parents maintain this right and provide children with equal opportunities and a high-quality education, according to supporters. As it currently stands, private and home schools do not receive any public funding, but this will change if the amendment passes.

“School choice does not mean eliminating public schools,” said Ryan Gonzalez, a Republican challenging Democratic Rep. Mary Young in the race for her seat in the 50th House District, which includes eastern Greeley and most of Evans. “As taxpayers, they have the right to have a say in where their child’s education dollars go, and to take that decision away from them and hand it over to the state is absolutely wrong.”

Although oil and gas interests and environmentalists reached an agreement earlier this year to exclude oil and gas measures this year, concerns about climate change continue to fuel discussions about the transition to renewable energy. However, the candidates agreed that attempts to ban the extraction of new oil and gas deposits would do more harm than good.

“We need to continue to explore energy production methods like solar, wind and geothermal,” Young said. “However, we must recognize that achieving these goals will take time.”

When asked by one of the listeners whether they would support access to abortion in the event of rape of a minor, all candidates agreed that abortion should be allowed in such a case. But when the candidates considered abortion access beyond this specific scenario, the candidates revealed their differences.

“I believe in limiting late-term abortions and preventing taxpayer funding for abortions,” said Scott Bright, a Republican running for Democratic Sen. Kevin Priola’s 13th District seat, which includes Greeley and Brighton. Priola will not run for re-election this year. “I also believe that any restrictions on abortion should include exceptions in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.”

Bright’s opponent, Democrat Matt Johnston, has strongly supported abortion rights, saying Bright has taken less acceptable positions in the past. Alliance Defending Freedom reports in the Freedom Voter Guide that Bright has expressed support for banning abortions after heartbeat detection, with limited exceptions.

“You can’t just run for office and change all your opinions,” Johnston said. “It’s an obvious right, we have the right to control what goes in and out of our bodies. This right has been given to us by God and this decision rests with us as human beings.”

While the gun control debate has largely focused on mental health and better gun education in Colorado, Democrat Mark Matthews, who is challenging Republican Ryan Armagost for his seat in the 64th House District, which includes western Greeley as well as Milliken , Berthoud and Mead – took a different view on this issue.

“I think the focus shouldn’t be so much on guns, but on reducing violence,” Matthews said. “If we focus in this way, I believe we can make further progress in reducing gun violence.”

Matthews’ opponent agreed that solving gun violence should not include passing gun laws but should instead focus on mental health.

“There is not an epidemic of gun violence, there is an epidemic of mental illness,” Armagost said. “I grew up in northern Colorado where every vehicle had a gun in it for students to go hunting after school, and never once was a fight resolved with a gun.”

More information about the candidates and issues on the ballot in November can be found at voting411.org. Ballots will be sent to voters the week of October 14 and must be returned by 7 p.m. on November 5.

Originally published: October 1, 2024 at 17:17