 Welcome everyone to the Colorado State Senate District 17 candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Boulder County. My name is Elizabeth Crowe and I'm a proud member of the league and I'm pleased to serve as a moderator for tonight's forum. The League of Women Voters is a non partisan political organization. In 2020 we're celebrating 100 years of encouraging informed and active participation in government and influencing public policy through education and advocacy on a wide range of issues. To remain non partisan league never supports or opposes political candidates or parties. For this and other forums we are so pleased to be partnering with Longmont public media. According to FCC policy candidate forums must be broadcast in their entirety except by media reporting on events. Candidates or their staff are asked not to record this forum. However, it will be made available online for public viewing through Election Day. The Colorado State Senate consists of 35 senators who are elected to four year terms. Each senator is limited to serving two consecutive terms. As of the 2010 census state senators serve an average of 143,691 residents. State Senate District 17 includes a Boulder County communities of Longmont, Erie, Lafayette and Louisville. The format for tonight's forum will be as follows. Each candidate will have one minute for an opening statement. We will then begin with questions which have been submitted electronically online to the league or by league members. Questions have been reviewed by our League of Women Voters volunteer screeners and will be addressed to all candidates rather than directing a question to one particular candidate. We will try to ask the candidates as many questions as time permits. Each candidate will have up to one minute or 90 seconds to answer the question. And as moderator I will announce the time allowed to answer the questions. Our timekeeper will keep you on track. The next forum participants include candidates in ballot order, Sonia Hakes-Lewis, Democrat, and Matthew D. Menza, Republican. We have also asked Andrew O'Connor, who's unaffiliated, to participate since he has been determined by the Colorado Secretary of State as an eligible write-in candidate for Senate District 17. Let's start with opening statements. Again, you will have one minute. You can watch our timekeeper who will let you know at the 15 second mark when to wrap it up. And we'll begin with you, candidate Hakes-Lewis. Good evening. My name is Sonia Hakes-Lewis, and I'm your state house rep for House District 12. I'm a pharmacist and educator, and it's been the honor of my life to represent you at the Capitol. In the last two years, I've helped pass hundreds of bills with over a 95% bipartisan vote. And I emphasize bipartisan because we need someone who can work with everyone. If you elect me as your senator, I will be the only licensed healthcare professional in the Senate. And there's no better time to have an expert in healthcare than now. So I am very concerned about what COVID-19 has done to families and businesses, and I believe we're on the right track using science to guide our decisions. And I want to continue that effort. I have a proven record on reducing healthcare costs, improving education, supporting teachers and working families, and the biggest challenge are climate change emergency. My values are your values. You elected me the first LGBTQ and the first Latin, Latina. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Thank you. And now we'll go to you, candidate Menza. Thank you. I'm excited to be here tonight. I'm Matthew Menza. I'm running for state Senate District 17. I was born in Boulder, Colorado. I'm a CU bus mechanical engineering grad. And I left Colorado to serve as a naval officer for 20 years. I was a fighter pilot and a test pilot. And when I returned, retired, I flew the test pilot briefly in Seattle, but my wife and children decided to come back here to Colorado and start our family here, raise our kids here. When I returned, I noticed Colorado is not the state I grew up in. The majority in the capital appeared more interested in national politics and then in their local community needs. So leadership that focuses on all of us in the community, we need leadership that understands that the concept of empowerment is about us, the people, the constituents, not the government. They work for us, not the other way around. And as a formal naval officer, I understand that service is about the people, not the party. So we need political diversity in Boulder County and we need our community to be empowered if we need to focus on local issues. And that's what I'm focused in on. So thank you very much for having me here tonight. Thank you. Candidate O'Connor. Hi, can you guys hear me now? Yes. Yes, I'm Andrew O'Connor and I'm running as an unaffiliated candidate, which means a writing candidate. I believe that the people of Senate District 17 come first, which I think is in clear contrast to the Boulder County Democratic Party, who was only interested in lining their own pockets. And enriching special interests like oil and gas. I don't believe in identity politics. I believe that we should elect the best person for the job, regardless of their gender or their sexual orientation. I believe that we need to send someone that is not a Democrat or Republican to the State House, because nothing will change. The question is, why isn't the legislature working better? I believe that the Boulder County Democratic Party has sold the people out of District 17 and now to oil and gas. We have the worst air quality every day we get alerts here. And that's because of fracking and the fires, which are caused by, and which is all caused by fracking, causing climate destruction. So I ask the people to vote for me. And if they don't want to write me in, I'd ask him to support my Republican candidate. Thank you for your opening statements. And now we'll jump into the questions. Again, please keep an eye on our timekeeper who will give you that signal at 15 seconds and stop. And if you are mid-sentence when your time is up, please feel free to finish that sentence so we can move on to the next candidate. For the first question, we'll start with candidate Menzot and let's make this a 90 second question. So a minute and a half. The question is this. COVID-19 has deeply affected Boulder County communities. Are you satisfied with the state's COVID response to date? What do you feel will be the top priorities of state government next year to ensure successful recovery? And again, candidate Menzot, we'll start with you. Yeah, thank you for the question. So I'll start out by saying, initially what we did here in the state was absolutely in line with the national directives. We needed to try to get a hold of this situation, understand what was happening. There's a lot of unknowns. So the mandates and lockdowns were necessary in order to prevent the healthcare workers in the hospitals from being overrun. But here we are in October and our kids aren't going back to school. We have a lot of secondary and tertiary effects of COVID-19. A lot of our businesses are losing their livelihood. They're shutting down. We're having a lot of bankruptcies. I've talked to a lot of small business owners that aren't going to make it through the winter. And we have to ask ourselves what is the balance between public safety and the autonomy or the ability for our businesses and our people to get back to the business. We know how to live with this disease now. We know how to mitigate its risks and the science is out there. So right now there's a lot of parents that are very upset that their kids aren't in school. There's a lot of businesses that are failing. And if you want to get people back to work, you want to get people healthier mentally, physically, we need to start learning how to live with this. With a little less panic and fear. You know, we have 220 executive orders. We're still under emergency orders. When do we get some autonomy and democracy back to Colorado? So I think it's time to start changing our focus a bit and focusing on what the science is telling us. Thank you. Candidate O'Connor, you're next and you also have 90 seconds to answer. We need you off mute. Could you come up mute? Candidate O'Connor? There you go. I'm starting over. Yes, we can hear you now. Okay. I believe that we must put public safety first. The government's failed us in the coronavirus response. My wife is an educator with Boulder Valley School Districts. And she was given a choice. She had a medical exemption and she was told either go back to school into in-person learning or take a furlough that was unpaid. I think that's unacceptable. We have to put the health of the teachers and the children first before anything. Public health must be the priority and Colorado must do a better job than what they've had. And I think that the Democratic Party's failed us in this regard. Thanks. Thank you. And Candidate Huckas-Lewis. Yes. Thank you for the question. I am happy with the response that we've had from Governor Polis and the legislature. We have over 2,000 Coloradans who have died from COVID-19. I have a personal connection to that. I have a cousin who was one of the first people to die in Boulder County in Lafayette. It's, and also my wife is a frontline healthcare worker. So I've been watching this as an elected official from the moment that we got notice that we were going to have to close things down. I think that Colorado has done a very good job because if you look at how our state has responded as compared to other states, I think that we are doing amazing. I have a positivity rate that is below five. We are using science to direct us. So I think that we need to continue that path and open as we can using the data to guide us. We still are learning some things about this virus. If you have the most protected man on the planet who can get it, we obviously need to be doing more. So I'm hoping we'll have a better national plan and I'm glad to see what Colorado has been doing. Thank you. Elizabeth, I'm getting a little bit of feedback somehow. I don't know if everyone else is. I think if everyone, all the candidates can put on mute and then unmute only when we're speaking, that'll probably help with the sound a little bit. Andrew, make sure you're on mute, brother. Okay. Hey, this is a challenge. Okay, hold on. There we go. Perfect. Thank you. Great. For the next question, we will start with with candidate O'Connor. And we'll do one minute for this question. The question is, please share your position regarding guns and gun control. If elected Senator, would you introduce legislation that would have teachers have guns in schools? Again, we'll start with candidate O'Connor and you have one minute. Thank you for the question. This is very difficult for me. I'm, I'm the parent of a 12 year old daughter that's in Boulder Valley School District. Of course, I'm really worried about school shootings. But I'm also an attorney and I understand second amendment. So I know that in Boulder, we have a assault weapons ban. And I don't think that that would be a bad idea. For some of this 17 or, or statewide. However, I think we have to balance protecting our children and protecting our neighbors. And, you know, the second amendment. Thanks. And candidate Huck is Lewis. Thank you very much for this question. I have, I am the prime sponsor of a gun violence prevention bill that we were going to try to run this past session until we had to respond to the damage. I have been named a gun sense candidate by many of the gun violence prevention community groups in Senate District 17. So I do believe that we need to make our community safer. We have lost far too many young, young members of our community. In fact, six, the six teenagers who were murdered in August, were all murdered with stolen weapons. And that is why I'm going to be the sponsor of a lost or stolen gun firearm bill that will encourage responsible gun ownership. So, and I have voted already I'm on the record as voting against teachers having guns in schools, teachers need to be teaching, not worrying about where firearms are. So absolutely, I think this is a very important issue we've had the most number of gun sales in the past few months during COVID, and that's very, very concerning to me. So, I do want to see what we can do to make community safer. Thank you and candidate men's same question. All right, yeah and the reason why the gun sales are increasing or because our government's failing us to protect us. So people are fearful they're scared I was assaulted on a bike path with my wife because we weren't social distancing a man attacked me. My wife had a gun pulled on her. Our, our, our entire society is in a people we have massive mental health issues we have riots. All sorts of things happening all over the country we have a lot of divisiveness. And now we have a lot of people that want to take away our second amendment of rights. The Constitution had that put into our, our, our fabric and fun foundation of the country for reason and now I get it as a naval officer I never had a weapon or thought about it even as a former military officer until we had all these things happen to us and now we get it we understand why people are buying guns. We have the right to protect ourselves because our government is failing us you want to defund the police. You want to take away our guns, and you want to have people come to our neighborhood and call us racist and call us names. Yes, we're going to protect ourselves. And everybody should have that right protect themselves for government can't do it. We have to do it for ourselves so protect yourselves people. Thank you. And now we'll go to the third question and for this one we will start with candidate hakas Lewis. And the question is regarding air air quality and an air pollution. Despite Senate bill 181, which was meant to prioritize protection of public health and the environment from oil and gas pollution. The state air pollution control division continues to issue hundreds of permits for oil and gas wells and our ozone levels are higher. Does the state legislature need to take further action. And if so, what should it do. And we'll do one minute for this response and again we'll start with candidate hakas Lewis. Yes, thank you for the question. I am an oil and gas impacted Colorado. I live within the zone of the CDP that crest stone development plan, and they were scheduled to put 36 production oil pipelines right beside my house on a massive production pad. And this issue is very personal to me. I agree. I think the air quality that we are experiencing now is dreadful. It's actually the COGCC, the oil and gas commission Colorado oil and gas commission that issues, the permits, and I believe that they have are in the process of finalizing what they are taking. So we are seeing less of those permits happening now. I helped write Senate bill 181, and I will continue to monitor it to make sure that it's protecting our community, it's public health, and citizen safety that have to come first. So I very much agree with the question. Candidate menza same question please for one minute. Our quality is terrible because of these fires but I'm looking at the data right now from the Colorado, the Colorado air pollution data that they put out and I'm showing a trend line of improving your quality year after year for the last 20 years so as a scientist as an engineer I'm absolutely concerned about environmental issues. It's a big thing on my campaign about how to evolve our energy sources and get into a real sustainable path for environmental policy by demonizing OMG and natural gas. I think there's a better way to transition ourself onto something more sustainable in the future. And that's something we can certainly talk about but right now. I'm not sure where the, the, the correlation is between the data I'm looking at right now the Colorado puts up and the concerns that for example Sonya is talking about but that's something I'm certainly open to debate and discuss in the future. Thank you. And next for you candidate O'Connor same question for one minute response. Okay, can you guys hear me. Yes, thank you. You know, every day we have a poor air quality alert here every single day. I think I'm the only candidate here that wants a fracking ban. Absolutely fracking banners puts needed here. And then the alternative I would ask that we have a 95% severance tax and oil and gas development in Senate District 17 to make it economically unfeasible. Senate bill 181 has been an abject failure. And it's just another example of the Boulder County Democratic Party, selling the people of the Senate of Senate District 17 out oil and gas. We must ban fracking. We have no other choice. I don't know if anybody here has had a chance to see the David Attenborough documentary. It talks about the climate destruction that that we're facing and it's all about. It's all about fracking oil and gas development I was respectfully disagree with my Republican candidate. It is not about it's not fires that is causing it's it's a combination of ozone and fracking that's causing this and and the Sorry, you're out of time. That's it. Thank you. So the next question, we will start with candidate men's up and we'll also do a minute for this one. The question is this summer the color Colorado past the enhanced law enforcement integrity bill designed to increase police integrity and accountability and protect civil rights. Do you feel this law goes too far or not far enough to address the issues as designed. I think we're all interested in making sure we have fair and equitable law enforcement and that everybody is treated fair and equitably unconcerned that we're we're unnecessarily hand times over police officers. I think with this particular bill it's hard to get a feel for what our law enforcement are saying about it yet. I haven't seen the data but what's more important is can they do their job. Is it helping to bridge the gap or some of the concerns of the public and you know I think it's it's a step in the right direction but I think we still need some more data on its outcome. Thank you and candidate O'Connor your next for this question. Yes, thank you for that question. I want to say that I litigated the largest settlement in Denver police history. My client was beaten almost to death. And we settled that case for just under a million dollars. It was one of the worst police brutality cases I've ever seen in my career. I believe that the interest simple on this one we just make the officers personally accountable. They lose their job they lose their car they lose their house. This stuff will stop right away. My good friend David Lane said the same thing. We have to make police personally accountable for murder and for police brutality and that will end this whole thing. The unit just have too much way too much power. There's no way that taxpayers in Senate District 17 need to be paying damages murder and police brutality. Thanks for that question. Thank you and candidate Huck is Lewis. Thanks. Thank you. I am a co-sponsor of Senate bill 217 our police accountability act. It is one of the premier laws that has been passed in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and so many others. It is one step to address systemic racism. I think that it is actually moving us in the right direction. We have to look at making police accountable. And what we did in that bill is put in a qualified immunity. So it means that police will be accountable for their actions. I'm very much in step with Senate District 17. So I have talked with police and with law enforcement in the district. Our district attorney of Boulder County came and testified our sheriff Sheriff Kelly came and testified. So it is very much what Senate District 17 wants. Thank you for the next question. We'll start with candidate O'Connor and we'll do one minute for this question as well. Colorado has since 2013 successfully executed a mail-in ballot process for elections. Based on this experience, what would you say to a District 17 constituent who is concerned about voting in this manner or at all? I need you to come up mute. I will tell them not to worry about it. Colorado has one of the best records of mail-in voting. That's just a red herring by the right, telling people trying to do what we call voter suppression. Go out and vote. That's what I would tell them. Don't worry about it. Thanks. Candidate Hakez-Lewis, same question please. Yes, thank you very much. We do have one of the best. Colorado has one of the best elections formats and processes in the country. It's not a Democratic or Republican issue. Utah has mail ballots and has been doing it for years. We have very, very little fraud that is attributed. This is an issue that unfortunately the White House has politicized and put out into our society. If you're worried about how to protect your vote, you can sign up at the Boulder County elections office that traces your ballot in the process. You can get updates as to when your vote has been counted. We also have drop boxes all across the county. I invite you to go to any of the websites that show the location of the drop boxes. You can even come to my website, Sonya4Colorado.com, and we'll tell you where you can drop off your ballot. Thanks for the question. Thank you. Candidate Menza, same question please. Well, I'm going to agree with Sonya that we do have a pretty good system here in Colorado, but history will tell you that we have had a lot of issues. We actually had to stop it for a period of time in order to fix some of our problems. So it wasn't without problems, but I agree with her that we do have a pretty good system right now that it's working. I don't think it's perfect. There are some issues, but I think for the most part we're a pretty good example for the country, but it's not a right hearing and it's not an issue by the president. That's, again, more national theatrics, but you have to remember that election integrity should be something that all of us are concerned about all the time, no matter what political spectrum you're on. We should all care about election integrity, and when we're talking about it from a national perspective, we're talking about going up to 80 million more people that typically did not vote that way. So that should be a concern for us all, but I think here in Colorado, I think we've been doing this for a while, and I think Sonya is right. I think it's going to be pretty okay this election. So like Andrew said, get out there and vote and listen to a little Led Zepplin there because I like your t-shirt. See who's paying attention. Thank you all. For the next question, we'll start with Canada Huck is Lewis and it is regarding leadership, leadership style and opportunities for people in our community. And the question is, what have you done, or what might you do if elected as senator to encourage and make space for people of color as leaders in our communities, including in government positions. And let's do one minute for this question as well. Yes, thank you very much for the question. I'm an educator. I'm always trying to work with folks that are wanting to start out learning about how do we make policy. I'm an adjunct professor at the School of Pharmacy, and I had several students intern with me in the past two years. It's fascinating to see how involved how excited they get and how much they like being a part of the process. You know, Colorado is really a citizen legislature so you have people coming in from all different backgrounds and if we don't encourage the next generations to be involved, then, you know, where are we going to end up so I'm very, I'm very pleased in the process and how we've been able to get people involved in policy making and lawmaking. And I'm also very pleased that we work in a very bipartisan way. And I hope that as your senator I can continue that. So thank you. Lorenza, your next same question please. No, I think it's a great question we we need to look at diversity is important I tell people this all the time. When we have a diverse community when our African American communities doing well we all do well when our Latino communities are doing well we all do well, we need to make sure that we're unified in a manner where we're making sure that we have all the resources and opportunities available to everybody in our community. These outreach programs I agree again with Sony that we're doing a great job making sure that we're bringing all of our constituents and citizens and neighbors along. And we need to continue to work hard to make sure that we're looking at areas that that we might be, you know, have a gap in where we can, we can help members of our community have the same opportunities and make sure we, we, we outreach and and ensure that we have that diverse diversity is represented and all the opportunities that we have in our state and I think that's a really important thing so when everybody does well we all do well we all need to be a group together and and diversity is important so I think we're really in a good good charge there here in Colorado. Thank you candidate O'Connor same question please. Could you repeat the question because I'm not understanding it. Sure. It's what have you done, or what might you do if elected as senator to encourage and make space for people of color as leaders in our communities, including in government positions. I have to answer that question and go back to my public service experience as a system public defender in two states. All my clients were people of color and of course they were poor. Of course I think that we need to outreach to people of color, but I don't think we need to I think we should not overlook I think which which is the most important facet here which is economics I think poor people is more important than than their race. I think we need to look at encouraging people that are poor and underserved to to get involved politically. Thanks for that question. Thank you all. For the next question we're actually going to switch gears and talk about housing and affordable housing and let's do 90 seconds for this question so kind of a two part question. And we'll start with candidate men's first. The question is, what is your plan to address the rising need for affordable housing beyond rent based programs that can help people own homes and build equity and related to that. What else might we do to prevent evictions due to lack of affordability. All right the first part of your question was affordable housing. I take kind of a pragmatic approach to this I look at a lot of the issues we have country wide with areas that are expensive. You know I just moved from Seattle it was too expensive for me. It was not affordable and every time you go back and look at what the issue was. You just go back to the tax base you know the landlords being taxed the businesses being taxed property owners being taxed whenever you continue to tax and tax you tend to pass that tax down to the to the renter to the buyer so if we want to look the first thing we can do in Colorado in terms of affordable housing is we need to make sure that we don't open up the Pandora's box for example getting rid of Gallagher which would increase property taxes and other things to make affordable housing even more challenging for folks so you know and and when it comes to making sure we have folks that can have sustainable rent and mortgage payments we need to make sure we have a vibrant economy that can support our citizens and our neighbors to make sure they can work and have the ability to be able to pay for their rent consistently and so having a thriving economy having a low tax base would do a lot to make sure that we we keep costs low in Colorado and that will help significantly it's just looking around the country at the trends and that's my pragmatic approach is the trends in the country are that it's taxes are the big issue to make things more expensive so we need to keep it low and be conservative. Thank you and candidate O'Connor you're next and again 90 seconds for this question. Okay, thanks for the question. Let me go to the victions first. The way to address evictions is easy it's just the fund attorneys to represent people facing evictions 99% of people that are facing evictions don't have attorney and 99% of the people lose. So that's how you do that one. I think that this is related to the affordable housing issue. I think that that Boulder County Senate District 17 and all the front ranges is absolutely unaffordable for the middle class and the poor. The problem is in taxes the problem is capitalism and the way that special interests and banks are able to run over the people. Dennis Gallagher is a personal friend of mine he's part of the Irish community and the Gallagher amendment is probably the best thing that's ever happened to Colorado. So thanks for that question. Thank you and candidate Huck is Lewis you're next. Yes, thank you for the question. I was very pleased that the governor I'll start with evictions I was very pleased that as a response to coven. Governor Polis put a freeze on evictions that has now expired, and I'm very glad that the CDC stepped in and has issued a federal stop. There are people still falling through the cracks on that. We're going to have to take action on it and that's why November 3rd is a very, very important date. We did pass several bills in the 2019 session to address affordable affordable housing. Right now in Boulder County we have an affordable housing partnership of the various municipalities and the county commissioners. Unfortunately we're not meeting the goal our goal for 2035 was to get 12% of housing to be affordable housing and unless we change paths we're not going to get there. Part of the problem is we need to raise wages. It takes more than $30 an hour to live in Boulder County. We're not even close to that. I'm a member of the fight for 15 at least raising the minimum age to at least $15 an hour. I think that will help. We need to have people working near where they live. That will help. And we also need to get rid of the Gallagher amendment. So I say vote. Yes. On amendment B to get to repeal Gallagher. Thank you. Thank you for this next question. We'll start with candidate O'Connor. And the question is, we'll do one minute for this question. In the past general assembly session, there were five anti LGBTQ bills introduced. If elected Senator, would you introduce legislation that would take away rights from the LGBTQ community? Or what would you do to support LGBTQ? Colorado. Yeah, thanks for that question. This is a personal. This kind of hits home for me. I would not. Support a bill to to assist LGBTQ. Absolutely not. I think one of the worst problems we have right now in Boulder and in Senate District 17 is that the the public schools have adopted and put in transgender and radical LGBTQ curriculum into they've incorporated that into the sex education curriculum. And it's confused children like my daughter and other children. And I think it's harmful. I think that parents need to be immediately notified. I would, in fact, put forth a bill to have parents immediately notified as soon as their children decide that they may be transgender. Because we were not told as parents that our daughter was considering transgendering and they went behind our back. And I think it was awful. Thanks. Candidate. Lucas. You're next. Thank you for the question. As the first LGBTQ state representative from Boulder County, obviously this is a very personal. Issue for me. I led some of the very first LGBTQ marches in the south. Where there were more protesters. Then there were us and they were holding firearms. I have seen people have their lives destroyed and. When they came out to their parents. And we've got to do something to stop this. Discrimination that's going on even this week, you had the two Supreme Court judges, Alito and Thomas say that they were considering going back on same-sex marriage. That, that particular slate of hate legislation, those five bills. It was just dreadful. And I really hope that whoever is elected would never consider running anything like that. Again, so I will continue to fight for LGBTQ equality. Thank you for the question. Thank you. And candidate men's same question. And you're next. Yeah, I, you know. We, we have gay and lesbian friends and we're very tolerant people. We're very socially very balanced. And we live in that country of equality. We have a constitution of bill of rights that protects everybody. Everybody should be treated equally and fair. No matter what your sexual orientation is orientation should not be an issue in today's society. You know, and so there's a differentiation between treating people for respect and tolerance and bills and legislation. That interfere or hamper certain. Other people's rights or, or get involved with areas of teaching or politics that shouldn't be crossed. For example, you know, Andrew O'Connor talked about some of that creep, if you will, in terms of, you know, your identity versus what the government should be doing or not doing in public schools. And I think that's something very important for all of us to understand is that tolerance and equality are absolutely important, but we need to remember where the swim lanes need to start and end in terms of, you know, remember where the swim lanes need to start and end in terms of how the government reacts to that. Okay. Thank you all. The next question will start with candidate hack has Lewis. And we're switching to healthcare, the issue of healthcare. The question is data shows that young adults in Colorado are more likely to be uninsured and avoid healthcare as a result. What would you do to ensure that Coloradans of younger Coloradans and of all ages access healthcare and can afford services when they do? And let's do one minute for this question. Yes. Thank you for the question. As a licensed healthcare professional and the former pharmacy director for Medicaid, we actually helped some of those young people trying to get healthcare in our Senate district. We have one of the finest public health clinics in the state clinical and they do try to help as many folks as they can. I just want to emphasize that how important some of the ballot initiatives are. If we vote to cut taxes, we are taking money away from healthcare because of the downturn with COVID. And we're taking the same amount of resources coming in to the state. So if you care about healthcare and especially healthcare for young people, please vote no on 116 and 117. Because those monies will be taken first thing from healthcare and from education. Thank you for the question. Thank you. And candidate Menza, your next same question. I think you're going to have to take care of your healthcare. I mean, mental health is a huge thing in healthcare. We need to have access to healthcare. We need to make sure our young folks are getting it. ACA help provide a lot of that bridge when it came to Colorado. And I think that's extremely important. She and I just have a different way of looking at it. So when you cut taxes, when you keep Colorado, a robust place where people want to do business, you create revenue, you create jobs, you create business, you create revenue. And we need to be able to go into our system to be able to bridge those budget short gaps. And you're right. We are suffering from a budget issue right now. And she's 100% right. We need to figure out a way to prioritize the funding and the money in order to make sure we have that healthcare access to all the people in the state. The way you do that though is not by pushing businesses out of Colorado and by getting people a reason to leave and do business somewhere else. So we need to keep the money and the revenue here and make sure we have a better tax revenue base. And that's the difference between us. Thank you. And candidate O'Connor. I think that there are three answers to this question. And they are universal healthcare, universal healthcare, and universal healthcare. There is no other option. There is no way that your healthcare should be connected to your job. Absolutely reprehensible. The ACA cannot be repealed. Mental health, dental health, physical health, they all need to be a right. And thanks for that question. Thank you all very much. I think we have, let's get one more short question in before we go to closing statements. The last question, we will start with candidate Menza. And it is this. What state or national policy position supported by your political party are you most aligned with? Are there any positions that you disagree with? And let's do one minute for that question as well. All right. So we're talking national. I'm sorry. Can you kind of repeat the. Sure. What state or national policy position supported by your political party? Are you most aligned with? Are there any positions that you disagree with? You know, I'm running as the unconventional Republican because I don't march to party politics. I've marched to what's important for our community here. So I would say that there's some things that we do here in Colorado from a bipartisan perspective, like the great outdoors act that Korgarner and the rest of the folks put together is amazing. It's great for the country and the environment. And then there's other things that I publicly disagreed with with my party before. So for example, if we're going to pick apart ACA like Andrew mentioned, we need to make sure we have a way to make sure people have access to healthcare. Like Sony was talking about a lot of those younger folks, we need to make sure that they're taken care of no matter what we do. And there's a lot of different ways to go about solving that. But as an unconventional Republican, I'm a very moderate balanced person that believes that there's, there's, you know, I pull from both sides, the goods from both sides and make the best out of it. And I think they have a lot of goods here in Colorado. And we just need to continue to capitalize on that with good leadership. Thank you. And candidate O'Connor. Thank you for that question. Just want to say that I really can't stand the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, which is why I'm running unaffiliated. But I think if my biggest beef is probably with the Boulder County Democratic Party, because it's kind of been too long of one party county, I think we need new thinking and that's why I'm running as unaffiliated. I'm not beholding to Democrat or Republican. And I think that puts me in a great position to serve with people of district 17. Thanks. Thank you. And candidate Huck is Lewis. Yes. Thank you for the question. I am very proud of my party's stance on so many issues. Healthcare for all universal healthcare. And also moving us to more accessible healthcare. I'd like to see us do more on reducing the cost of prescription drugs. I guess the issue that maybe I a little frustrated on is I think we should be moving to sustainable energy sources faster. We did pass a bill and it's a climate change bill in 2019. 1261 that will set carbon emission goals. But the goal, the highest level was set for 2050. I wish we could move a little faster than that. We need greener energy. We need to get control or at least do something to stop climate change. So that's the issue that I'd like to see us move faster on. Thank you. Thank you all very much for your answers to those questions. And now we will go into closing statements. And again, candidates have each one minute for a closing statement. We will go in reverse ballot order. Meaning we'll start with candidate men's off. Then candidate Huck is Lewis and then candidate O'Connor. Go ahead whenever you're ready candidate men's off. Well, thank you. First of all, I want to say thank you. It was nice to meet you, Sonya and Andrew, you guys are awesome. It was great talking to you both tonight. And I love what you're saying. The bottom line is, you know, for me, it's not about identity politics or party narratives. It's about our community. It's about the issues of Colorado. And, you know, I spent 20 years in the Navy understanding what services about how to serve and lead, but in very difficult situations. So working at the Capitol with folks from across the party is not something that's difficult for me. I like working with people. We need to focus on like Andrew was saying, I do agree with a lot of what Andrew says. There's a lot of issues that we have. And we need to get rid of the division and think about the community being unified. And we need to work across party lines. And I definitely have the ability to get that done in a very bipartisan manner that's going to help all of us here in Colorado. So I appreciate the support. And I look forward to you all voting for me in November. So thank you very much. It was nice meeting everybody tonight. Thank you. And candidate Huck is Lewis, your next please. I just want to thank the league for hosting this and thank Matt and Andrew for participating. And for those of you watching, I'd like to ask you to consider one simple question. How can we better take care of each other during this time of need? We can do it with compassion. We can do it by fighting for the greater good. And we can do it with love. And we have to work for those who are less fortunate and more vulnerable. And I believe that's what makes Colorado the amazing state that we live in. It's our diversity. I've learned from my mom who went to law school at age 51 while trying to raise five kids. And I've learned from my wife who's a hospice nurse, a frontline essential worker that we're stronger together. And that's what I stand for. I think we need a senator who believes in science and education, working families and small businesses. And it's that compassion. And someone who wants to give back to the community because that's been my life. There's, oh, I need to stop there. But I hope I'll earn your vote. Thank you. Thank you. And Canada O'Connor, your closing statement, please. Thank you to the League of Women Voters. Sonya, I know you. Hello. Good to see you again. Matt, it was a great meeting you. You're a good guy. So I'm running as an un-affiliated candidate right in. And I believe that the people of Senate District 17 come first, which I think is a direct contrast to the Boulder County Democratic Party. Like I said earlier, this has been a one-party county for too darn long. I'm a lawyer and this is a lawmaking job. And I believe that I'm the best candidate for this job. And I can do the best job. Hello. I understand that people don't want to write me in. And if they don't, I'd ask them to vote for Matt Menza. Thanks. Thank you very much to all of you on behalf of the League of Women Voters, not only for your participation in tonight's forum, but also your participation in the Democratic process. We know that running for office and serving as an elected official is hard work and we really appreciate your efforts. Thank you also to our lead candidate forum volunteers, Josephine Porter, Peggy Leach, our operations director Mandy Nuku, and Sergio Angelis with Longmont Public Media. Gracias to our interpreter, Kelly Music. And finally, thank you to the District 17 voters participating tonight as viewers. It's up to all of us to make sure we respect and work to protect our Democratic process. Too many people have suffered and succeeded in the struggle to win these rights for us not to use them. It starts with being an informed and active voter. To check out other important issues affecting our community, check out our League voter information website. Vote 411.org for all your election information. This forum will be rebroadcast on Longmont Public Media's Channel 8 and will also appear on the League's YouTube channel. Look for links to the on the League's website at LWVBC.org or our Facebook page. The League of Women Voters of Boulder County works throughout the year to help empower voters and defend democracy. If you want to lend your time and skills to encourage civic engagement for all people in a nonpartisan manner, please join us. All the information you need is again at LWVBC.org. Thank you very much and have a great evening.