Jared Polis for Congress - Articles

Rothenberg Political Report: Change in Congress Comes in All Ages and Sizes

2008-06-27T17:23:00Z

By Nathan L. Gonzales

While age is an underlying issue in the presidential contest, Democrats have candidates young and old running as change agents at the Congressional level.
...
In Colorado’s 2nd district, wealthy businessman Jared Polis, 33, will come to Congress if he can make it out of the crowded Democratic primary on Aug. 12. Iraq War veteran Jon Powers (D), 29, also faces a competitive primary in New York’s 26th district. But if he’s the nominee, Powers will also face a general election fight.

Click here to read the entire article.

Colorado Independent: Polis: "I'm gay. I'm not allowed to get married."

2008-06-21T14:30:00Z

By David O. Williams 06/21/2008

Ask Boulder businessman Jared Polis about his personal life, a very fair question given he’s one of the more high-profile candidates running for U.S. Congress in Colorado this year, and he’s very forthright:

"I’m gay. I have partner of four and a half years. I’m not allowed to get married."

No bitterness or rancor, just a matter-of-fact answer from a 33-year-old man who would become the first ever openly gay member of Colorado’s congressional delegation if he can beat out two Democratic opponents in the Aug. 12 primary and then take down Republican aerospace engineer Scott Starin of Lafayette in the November general election.

Click here to read the entire article.

Colorado Independant: CD2 candidate Polis: A politician with a plan for every occasion

2008-06-18T10:56:00Z

By David O. Williams 06/18/2008
Colorado Independant

Jared Polis is a man with a plan – lots of them, actually.

Any conversation on the issues with the 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate almost inevitably begins with Iraq and how the United States can extricate itself from “the wrong war” and its $150 billion price tag.

Click here to read the entire article.

9News TRUTH TEST: Congressional candidate Jared Polis

2008-06-08T16:01:00Z

By Adam Schrager
KUSA Channel 9 News

KUSA - Throughout the 2008 election season, 9NEWS is committed to holding those who take out political commercials on our station accountable for what they say. The following is a Truth Test on parts of two commercials being run on stations throughout Colorado, including on 9NEWS and My20, in support of Jared Polis.

Click here to read the entire article.

Denver Post: Ad Watch: "Intro"

2008-05-28T16:00:00Z

By Jessica Fender

Ad sponsor: Jared Polis campaign
Producer: Philadelphia-based Campaign Group
Type and length: 60-second TV spot
Airing: Throughout 2nd Congressional District
The ad promotes Polis' private-sector and philanthropic work.

Click here to read the entire article.

Times-Call: 2nd Congressional District Candidates Air Ideas for Boosting the Economy

2008-05-14T16:15:00Z

By John Fryar
Longmont Times-Call

BOULDER — Reforming health care, reducing the federal budget deficit and withdrawing from the war in Iraq would produce national economic benefits, several 2nd Congressional District candidates suggested Tuesday.

“The sagging economy is on everyone’s mind,” said Kit Hollingshead, moderator of the Boulder Valley Rotary Club forum.

Hollingshead asked each of Tuesday’s forum participants — Democrats Jared Polis, Will Shafroth and Joan Fitz-Gerald and Unity Party standard-bearer Bill Hammons — what the next presidential administration and Congress should do “to turn things around.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Daily Camera: Polis to speak at Naropa graduation

2008-05-07T12:35:00Z

By John Aguilar, Daily Camera
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Jared Polis, who's running for the Democratic nomination in the second Congressional District, will speak to the graduating class at Boulder's Naropa University on Saturday.

Polis is a former chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education and a graduate of Princeton University. He has also founded two charter schools.

Click here to read the entire article.

Colorado Daily: Middle East a centerpiece

2008-05-05T10:26:00Z

By RICHARD VALENTY, Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008

House Candidate Co-pens Plan, Holds Events On Iraq

With just nine days to go before his District Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives candidate Jared Polis took time to commemorate – not celebrate – an anniversary.

Click here to read the entire article.

Denver Post: Polis throws support behind Obama

2008-04-20T16:43:00Z

By Annette Espinoza

BOULDER — Jared Polis, candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat, announced Saturday that he is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president. Polis spoke during a Boulder Grassroots Supports Obama '08 rally held on a lawn outside the Boulder County Courthouse.

"It's time for superdelegates and Democrats to stand up and figure out our nominee. The only one who benefits from this ongoing dissent is John McCain," Polis said.

Click here to read the entire article.

Daily Camera: Vets group endorses Polis

2008-02-26T15:13:00Z

By John Aguilar

The Colorado Veterans Alliance, a statewide organization representing 32,000 Colorado veterans, endorsed Democratic congressional candidate Jared Polis on Tuesday.

Polis, a Boulder Internet entrepreneur, is running for the 2nd Congressional District.

Capt. Rick Duncan, a retired Marine and disabled Iraq War veteran, said in a statement on behalf of the alliance that Polis’ recent trip to Iraq indicates that the candidate is intent on gaining first-hand experience about the war.

Polis said one of his main goals if elected to Congress is to end the war in Iraq and provide veterans with educational opportunities and physical and mental health services once they return home.

Click here to read the entire article

Daily Camera: State employee ethics rules reconsidered

2008-02-26T14:50:00Z

Colo. Supreme Court waits for commission
Associated Press

DENVER— Ethics rules aimed at curtailing influential gifts for lawmakers and other state officials will likely be back in force after the state Supreme Court ruled Monday that a lower court did not have the authority to delay them.

A Denver district court had ruled in May the rules went “beyond what was anticipated or intended” and blocked the law from taking effect with an injunction.

But the Supreme Court tossed out that ruling and lifted the injunction, saying the lower court did not have jurisdiction.

The decision means the ethics rules, called the toughest in the country by the National Conference of State Legislatures, would be back in play after a two week window for opponents to appeal.

The rules are part of Amendment 41, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November 2006. They ban lawmakers from accepting gifts from lobbyists or gifts of more than $50 from anyone. They also ban gifts worth more than $50 to state employees or their families.

A group of not-for-profit agencies and individuals had challenged the rules on the grounds they restricted the flow of information and had a chilling effect on people who wanted to talk to policy makers.

Their attorneys said they were discussing their next step with their clients.

“The overwhelming majority of Coloradoans made it clear that they support a strong ethics reform,” said Jared Polis, a Democratic candidate for the 2nd CD seat and a Boulder Internet entrepreneur. “Today’s ruling upholds this will of the people and begins to erode the power that special interests and lobbyists have on government.

“This is just the latest step in our ongoing effort to diminish the power of corporations, lobbyists and other special interests and I thank Common Cause and all Coloradoans who helped us in this fight to begin to restore ethics in government,” Polis said in a prepared statement.

Click here to read the entire article

Denver Post: Gift ban is back, as clear as ever

2008-02-26T14:45:00Z

Court revives rules without instruction
By Jennifer Brown

Colorado lawmakers and government workers were tossed back into confusion Monday when the state Supreme Court reinstated what some consider an ambiguous and invasive ethics law.

The court ruled it was premature to toss out Amendment 41 because a panel to hear alleged violations is not yet in place, but justices did not clarify how far the ethics-in-government measure’s power stretches.

While supporters of the measure celebrated the news, inside the Capitol there was widespread annoyance at the court for not clearing up the voter-approved law’s obscurity.

Legislators once again were struggling to interpret Amendment 41, wondering whether they should eat at a bankers’ association luncheon Monday or cancel a trip to a convention.

“The Supreme Court punted,” said House Minority Leader Mike May of Parker. “They sidestepped. We’ll be in limbo for a while.”

Colorado Common Cause executive director Jenny Flanagan, one of the amendment’s chief supporters, accused critics of pouring on the hysteria.

“This was their campaign tactic from Day One,” she said. “They were rejected on Election Day and they were rejected again today. All of those fears that were put out there were mere speculation.”

Amendment 41 was supported by 60 percent of voters in November 2006.

Congressional candidate Jared Polis, the measure’s main financial backer, said the ruling upholds the “will of the people” for strong ethics reform and “begins to erode the power that special interests and lobbyists have on government.”

The law — put on temporary hold by a Denver District Court judge last May — prohibits lawmakers from accepting anything from lobbyists and anything worth more than $50 from anyone else. It also bans state, county and city workers from accepting gifts worth more than $50.

Click here to read the entire article

Rocky Mountain News: SPEAKOUT: Health-care plan stresses prevention

2008-02-13T14:00:00Z

By Jared Polis

Rocky Mountain News editorial pages editor Vincent Carroll recently criticized my proposal of a single-payer health-care system ("Polis' rationing plan," On Point, Feb. 1), suggesting it would result in the widespread rationing of care. Let me describe what in fact I am advocating.

First, let us not delude ourselves into thinking that we have anything close to a "free market" in health care. A free market would allow the uninsured to die on the hospital doorstep rather than provide them treatment they cannot pay for. Having made a moral decision not to allow people in our great country to die in this fashion, let us discuss how to more efficiently provide for sensible universal health care.

America does not suffer from lack of total spending in health care.

We spend nearly twice as much per capita on health care as other Western nations, and yet our health outcomes are in the middle of the pack. One of the main drivers of cost are the estimated 50 million uninsured Americans, who are treated in the costliest manner with the worst health outcomes under our current system.

Generally, patients without insurance have little access to preventive care and are treated for everything from acute conditions to the flu in the most expensive way possible – in emergency rooms and hospitals that pass the costs onto insured consumers. It would be less expensive and more successful if patients were diagnosed and treated earlier.

Under my plan, supplemental or "gap" insurance would also exist, just as many Americans on Medicare today also have additional insurance in place. Many companies would offer additional coverage to attract and retain their employees, but, at the very least, every American would have a basic level of portable coverage including preventive care and catastrophic care.

The truth is that under the current health-care system, both Carroll and I have insurance, and under my proposed plan we would both likely continue to have good supplemental insurance, as would many readers of this who are far from "super-rich." The main difference is that there would be a basic level of universal, portable coverage that every American would enjoy and that would save costs.

Would this involve "rationing"? We have rationing within our health-care system today, whether it is private insurance or Medicare. Anyone who has had to fight a claim denial knows that. Any reform that reduces the administrative overhead and duplication in the system and encourages preventive care will free up resources that will result in less rationing, not more. By reducing administrative overhead and aggregating risk into a larger pool, we can achieve more efficiency out of a universal system that can, without magic spells or incantations, actually save money and lead to better health outcomes.

Rocky Mountain News: Ex-Rep.: Hillary's tears accepted

2008-01-19T12:32:00Z

Schroeder praised Polis, who served as her congressional page when he was 16.

“This is one tremendous human being and there has never been a time when we need brainpower in Washington more,” Schroeder said.

Polis, an entrepreneur and former state school board member, is vying for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District. He faces former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and conservationist Will Shafroth.

The seat is open as U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs is running for the U.S. Senate.

The 2nd District is comprised of most of Boulder County, portions of Jefferson, Weld and Adams counties and all of Gilpin, Clear Creek, Summit, Grand, Eagle and Broomfield counties.

Click here to read the entire article.

Rocky Mountain News: Ritter finds 'glimmer of hope' in surprise Iraq visit

2007-12-13T19:00:00Z

Ritter said he is confident he is getting a real impression of the situation in Iraq because the message has been consistent, whether in briefings with top military officials or in conversations with individual Colorado troops.

“Everyone has been quite honest about the need to build a political infrastructure,” he said.

This is Ritter’s first trip to Iraq.

Gov. Bill Owens visited Iraq on Feb. 24, 2006, in an effort to pump up the troops and see for himself what was happening in the war.

He and Democratic Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry visited soldiers in the Colorado Army National Guard and, along the way, met Fort Carson troops clearly surprised to see the governor in their part of the world.

Ritter is the third Colorado Democrat to travel to Iraq in recent weeks.

Boulder entrepreneur Jared Polis, who is seeking his party’s nomination for the 2nd Congressional District election, flew to Jordan and Iraq two weeks ago. He was not part of an official delegation and did not leave the International Zone while in Iraq.

Upon returning home, Polis called the Iraq situation a “basket case.” He also criticized the U.S. government for outsourcing the war to foreign mercenaries.

Click here to read the entire article