will have it later on the c-span networks. -- asaturday, i did debate debate in colorado between jared polis the democrat and his opponent, walker stapleton. ♪ >> welcome to the recital hall at the performing arts center in colorado. betweenght's debate democrat jared polis, currently u.s. representative for the second congressional district. and republican walker stapleton is the treasurer. good evening, i am the managing editor at rocky mountain pbs. we have a veteran political reporter who spent years covering colorado and the legislature, and a former executive editor and now adjunct lecturer here at the university and advisor to the newspaper. tonight's debate will focus on issues important to rural colorado. the candidates have agreed to the following rules for the debate. each will have one minute to answer the questions posed. they can use that one minute to answer the question and respond to an opponent, if necessary. the option ofe asking a follow-up question and each will have 30 seconds to respond. our timekeeper will signal when the candidate has 10 seconds remaining and when time is up. they will be able to finish the sentence, but they will interrupt when the time is up. candidates can have notes at the podium,. we've invited guests. if you are in the hall, we ask do not applied or cheer or discusssigns or approval or disapproval. recording is prohibited. have questions from viewers and readers around the state. you will hear some of those. and by a toss of the coin, mr. stapleton will be asked the first question. it is about economic development in rural areas. many coloradans see urban corridor is getting richer while rural corridors get poorer. nearly 2/3 are designated distressed and eligible for incentives, yet taxpayer incentives are focused on the front range. if you are elective, what new and specific steps will you use for companies to relocate in rural colorado? be specific. mr. stapleton: i am delighted to be back here in grand junction, a place i visited dozens of times as treasurer and the place i plan to be back dozens more time does governor. i think the next governor needs to have a plan that puts colorado first. you do not just but the metro area first, but all of colorado. i will work with the governor's office to make sure businesses are given the opportunity to locate right here in the southern carolina, our eastern plains. i was one of the earliest of orders of the president's economic plan and the more than 120 economic zones, economic opportunity zones it will create. half of those are in rural areas of colorado. this is in sharp contrast to who enteredpolis federal regulation to repeal the president's tax plan and take those opportunity zones away from colorado. he represents the most radical, extreme candidate in colorado history. >> thank you, your one minute is up. mr. polis: thank you to president foster, to cmu, go mavericks. i also want to thank the daily sentinel and rocky mountain pbs. rain is needed here in western colorado. when we talk about a statewide economic plan, that is part of our challenge. we need to make sure no matter where you live, great opportunities to succeed. enable independent employment across colorado, not just high skilled jobs, call center workers with high school degrees, entrepreneurs, architects, to be a will to work from communities we love. it is about protecting the outdoor industry jobs by protecting our public lands. an iconic part of who we are is about making sure every child has access to an educational opportunity to help prepare them for success, whether that includes a four-year college, two-year college, or apprenticeship or skill while in high school. >> a follow-up. i have heard you talk about generalities. i have not heard anyone say what initiatives you envision specifically to bring economic and -- development to rural areas. mr. stapleton? mr. stapleton: one of the things i would focus on is being supportive of the jordan hope project, a program to take natural gas from the basin the power california for the next 50 years. and congressman polis has been to washington and refuses to support this project. it would be transformational to the economy of western colorado, another reason why he is extreme and out of the mainstream. mr. polis: i am not going to use a project in oregon as an excuse not to have a western colorado economic strategy. or nine years there might be a few jobs here in colorado. that is a good thing, but it cannot be an excuse not to act now. i have been in a number of startups to help veterans get the help they need to start jobs. i also have a co-working space. i am excited what we can do on the capital formation front, help tomorrow's great companies start here in rural colorado. mr. polis,on: everyone in colorado needs water. it is a bipartisan issue in the state. the current plan calls for more than $100 million in spending just for storage and conservation. the plan is designed to help balance the needs of farmers and ranchers in western colorado with urban growth on the front range. how would you go about paying for it? once again please be specific. ,mr. polis: the state took a step forward with governor hickenlooper's efforts to convene for our water plant. first as a matter of principle, representing the western slope communities, i will oppose any transmountain diversions without agreement from western colorado. i support water storage is an overall solution that includes conservation, both best practices and suburban and urban areas as well as those -- making sure we have better incentives for farmers to profit from conserving water. i think we all need to work together to fund the money we need to ensure we have the water infrastructure not just where our state is today, but where our state will be in 10 years and 20 years. to support not just our agricultural heritage, but the livelihood of many small family farmers as well as our growing metropolitan areas. >> mr. stapleton? mr. stapleton: colorado's water future is the lifeblood that all of us want to have. we need to put our water plans first. i fully support funding the colorado water plant. it will cost approximately $100 million per year and i will prioritize it as a budget item that we will absolutely focus on during my time as governor. this is another issue where i have vast differences with congressman polis. i went to the water congress in vail and expressed my desire to find more storage. he said he wanted to look at alternatives to storage. i'm not sure i am eager to hear what those are. i said we needed to clean out existing tanks. contributionshe taxes make. they are are the largest provider of water conservation efforts in the past history for fracking with that revenue source to put that in jeopardy that is a water plant that the governor himself is called radical. >> thank you mr. stapleton, next question. >> the displacement of water from rural areas to urban areas has been going on for years primarily because of rampant growth on the front range without consideration for water sources. as you know, when farmers and ranchers cannot continue to operate, they sell their water rights to others, including properties on the front range. stretches where this dry and buy cycle is a blight. would you work to stop this process, and how? >> i have worked for a lot of farmers in the colorado farm bureau decided to endorse me. they bring $40 billion of economic development annually to colorado and provide 170,000 jobs. we need to harness the power of new technology when it comes to usage.torage and i do not want to do what congressman polis wants to do which is run the industry out of colorado to cost us 230,000 collective jobs and $32 billion of economic impact. he chose a couple years ago to bankroll the setback of 2000 feet against the energy industry and the governor had to plead with him not to do that. that is why he called this energy plan radical. you cannot have a water future in colorado without a collaborative, constructive industry that puts coloradans first. mr. polis: you will hear the word radical a lot from walker stapleton. that is political rhetoric. what i am focused on is bipartisan solving. water is not a democratic or republican issue. energy is not a democratic or republican issue. it is hard to rely on severance packages overtime. it involves commodity pricing on international markets. it is an important funding source. i strongly oppose 112, and a want to make sure we have a thriving energy industry. but i also want to make sure we have a diverse economy in western colorado. water is incredibly important. i want to address the question, charles. we need to encourage best practices in agriculture to make sure farmers can have more water efficiency and increase their profits at the same time with alternative crops as well as new technology and practices, some of which developed at csu. >> a quick follow-up. i am not quite sure you got to the question. know whether you would stop the practice and if you would, what would you do? it is up to individual farmers. am i going to force farmers not to sell their water? of course not. i want to recognize economic benefit from reducing water usage without losing their rights. this use or lose concept creates a perverse incentive for farmers to actually use more water, even if it doesn't increase their overall crop efficiency. i think we can support family farmers better by creating new financing mechanisms to make sure farmers are rewarded for best practices. >> mr. stapleton? mr. stapleton: one of the ways you help water in colorado is to support bipartisan water projects like the northern integrated supply project, which is the most important water project in northern colorado. it has bipartisan support. it has had a 10-year environmental review. and congressman polis steadfastly refuses to support it. i don't know why. congressman, you should join a bipartisan leadership team and support that project. it is another example of you being out of the mainstream, not putting colorado's interests first and putting washington's interests first. >> thank you, mr. stapleton. as for mr. stapleton. we talked about the jordan code project, which is to to export liquefied gas from oregon. it would shift -- ship gas from regions to the asian markets. that would bring a lot of money into colorado and other parts of the country, but also increase pressure to drill in western colorado. do you support the jordan code project, including increased water use issues? that would be one more element of local impact. do you support this increased drilling? if you do, how should it be managed? mr. stapleton: i absolutely support this project. i think this project will be transformational for western colorado. it is why we have a great bipartisan leadership team. -- team that i invite congressman polis to join. we have enough natural gas reserves to power the state of california for the next 50 years. it's why four national gas companies have signed up for -- natural gas companies have signed up for this project. i have met with leaders in asia and i know the demand is there. it will raise all boats economically in colorado. congressman polis' issues are pretty radical, as governor developer has said. they are out of the mainstream of his party and will not put western colorado values first. i hope he will change his mind tonight. but he has steadfastly refused even though this project has been thoroughly studied and greenlighted by the federal government. >> mr. polis? mr. polis: if it is out of the mainstream, i have the most moderate voting record from all three democrats in colorado. voteu are never going to for a democrat, you might not vote for may, but if you want with a business one background creating hundreds of jobs, helped others start companies, helping colorado work for everybody i'm your candidate. , this is where the integrated supply project. my role as a congressman and as the governor will be that it will benefit colorado not just , oregon. i want to make sure those jobs are created in colorado. i think it is shortsighted to give away your negotiating leverage as a cheerleader when you can help mold the project to benefit western colorado, to make sure we do not have work crews coming in from other states, that we employ coloradans. that we build skills with cmu and other places for those jobs. but again, most importantly, this cannot be seen as an excuse not to have a western economic development strategy. i have one and we will make western colorado work for you. >> follow up. we talked about local impact as one element of this. neither one of you addressed that. what new measures would you support to ensure local communities have a voice in this development? we have not addressed that. i have been outspoken in making sure decisions about zoning have local input because we shape our communities on the ground. there's a big difference between walker stapleton and i. i oppose amendment 74 to put huge liabilities on cities and counties just for doing their work of integrating their communities. i would work to formalize the degree of local control and the parameters of local control around extraction and industrialized activities. there is no local control today. it is not that but a lot of it exists in a long -- in a gray area. your time is up. mr. stapleton, new initiatives to give local communities of voice. mr. stapleton: you are darn right we have a difference. i supported every energy policy that every governor has supported in a bipartisan way. western colorado is an awesome example of outdoor industry working with energy to bring projects like the palisade plunged to colorado. puttingve more work colorado first then battling. congressman polis does not believe that. he believes in battling the industry and taking away a uniform statewide policy, which is by his energy policy is both radical and extreme. >> thank you, mr. stapleton. >> mr. polis, you said you want all power in the electric grid to cover renewable energy sources by 2040, with no oil or gas sources. mr. stapleton, you have not special -- specified what your energy goals would be. what would each of you do to set aside the rhetoric and the politics and take specific steps to set reasonable and realistic goals for renewable energy in colorado? and how would you reach across the aisle -- please focus on this point -- how would you reach across the aisle to accomplish it? mr. stapleton: that gets put on the coloradans who can afford at the least. i am not for mandates like congressman polis which would cost $45 billion in tax people more for heating their homes in winter and turning on the lights. walker has i think misrepresented my plans more than he has talked about his own. i have never supported 100% mandate. we have a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2040. to do that, of course we will reach across the aisle. i worked with a conservative republican to make it easier to site renewable energy projects on federal public land. i have an idea for colorado. let's make it easier on our state atlanta expedites -- expedite the process. let's raise those solar gardens to allow community scale solar to produce more energy. let's make sure people have home solar will able get -- will able to be get compensated to enable them to invest. let's work with utilities commission to make sure we can move toward 100% renewable energy future to reduce savings today for all consumers. excel energy will tile you a cost 20% less to build new wind energy than the cost of existing coal right now. host: thank you, gentlemen. i appreciate you restating your platforms about your policies. but the question was, how would you reach across the aisle and make a policy that can be accepted by everybody? rep. polis: again, i have. i sponsor with one of the most conservative republicans in the united states congress. i have a plan in the state to partner. i supported a bill that one of the most conservative centers -- senators signed. that is one aspect. the legislature already passed it and he signed it. we have 10 more to go. most of them will be bipartisan. it involves cutting red tape, reducing costs, and make sure we can invest in renewable energy projects have cheaper clean it does our mr. stapleton: part on climate. during the last congressional session, you voted with nancy pelosi 94% of the time. i think colorado needs a government -- a governor that's more than 6% bipartisan. i support governor hickenlooper and the governor before him a 2000upported him that foot setback would crush the energy industry. will costable plan $45 billion. our budget is $30 billion. that is 150% of our budget. that is an extreme radical energy position. host: thank you. in the state budget, as you know, increased funding for education is often pitted against the need for transportation or we will begin with education. the proposed amendment 73 would collect new taxes amounting to more than $1.5 billion annually for education to -- to support programs like preschool and special education. do you support it and why or why not? >> i do not supported because it is it -- it is a progressive tax and as the father of three kids i want to make sure every dollar we ask coloradans to invest in education winds up in the classroom where it belongs. that is not happening. 20 senses being siphoned off by school districts for para obligations. the dollars for teachers. if you look across the school district, when you find is the number of students has grown by 6% since the number of teachers 2011. by a percent and administrative costs have grown by 35%. until we get the problem under control and until we get the transparency and accountability and thate as parents we should not just go to the ballot and ask taxpayers for a tax increase. it is wrong and misguided and under congressman polis coming he has no way to find the obligations in the future because he will bankrupt colorado's economy. rep. polis: look, i have not only created businesses and hundreds of jobs, i was superintendent of a successful charter school, it has expanded into new mexico. of not the expertise only having run a school of superintendent, but helping to write the law every student succeeds act to replace no child left behind and give states more flexibility about meeting them learning -- the learning needs of all kids. congratulations to mesa county voters for passing that last year. i have not taken a position on 73. there are a few positions i have taken positions on. this is one that is up to the voters. end decadesanned to of underinvestment in our schools. it will be a top priority for expenditures and making sure every child in our state has access to preschool and kindergarten. walker will probably call that a radical idea. oklahoma has universal preschool and kindergarten. if it's not too radical for oklahoma i think we deserve that for colorado. host: each of you have a different vision of public education. congressman polis you said hundreds of millions of dollars on preschool and getting on for all colorado children. mr. tate -- mr. stapleton talks about school vouchers and charter schools and says we essentially have enough money for education we just need to spend more wisely. yet no one is convinced the legislature to take either position. how would you reach across the aisle for the stalemate? be as specific as you can. rep. polis: i think early childhood education, preschool, and kindergarten is not a partisan issue. if you are a young family with a four-year-old or five-year-old, you are struggling with high cost of ski -- of preschool and kindergarten. you can't tell me in a wealthy state like colorado that we can't do it oklahoma and a number of other states do. we have a plan to pay for it. with public private partnerships like westminster school district has implemented universal kindergarten and half-day preschool for all of their kids today. paid for out of future savings because preschool and kindergarten result in lower special education rates and lower grade repetition rates. everyone agive strong sense that josh strong start. all we have is half-day kindergarten. guess what? if you are very low income we have just a few preschool spots . if you are wealthy we can afford that for our kids. guess who was left behind? the middle-class class and i will put the middle-class first in colorado. mr. stapleton: i'm so glad you mentioned pay for success. that is a program i worked on with the treasurer's office in a bipartisan way to get through a republican-controlled senate. one of the things i worked on during my time as treasurer is a cost savings so that school districts could hire contractors to save money. i would love to have preschool and i would love for preschool to be free. i have a preschool aged daughter. i not just going to promise and hoodwink taxpayers with empty government promises in no way to pay for it. i don't think you have a way to pay for it. it doesn't make sense that you would not support amendment 73, except for the fact that your preschool plan along with -- alone would eat it up. i believe we can do better when it comes to education in colorado and we must. will take a number-based approach to solving the problem. i will do what i have done as treasurer, work with democrats on the legislature to get something done that benefits our kids without bankrupting colorado's economy. host: thank you. >> follow-up. could you give us one specific example of what you would do to bridge the gap of the legislature to get it off dead center? i just did. i worked on early childhood education with democrats in the state senate and a democratic-controlled legislature that allowed school districts to higher private sector companies and part of the comes up -- compensation was based on the cost savings they brought to school districts in colorado. this has been a bipartisan approach i was involved with as treasurer. i will continue to find bipartisan ways to make sure we have more dollars in the classroom and improved student-teacher ratios. host: thank you. what good example will you give us to reach across the aisle? rep. polis: i helped write the bipartisan every student succeeds ask -- act which replaced no child left behind and passed overwhelmingly with a majority of republicans and democrats. i chaired the bipartisan state board of education which was evenly divided between democrats and republicans. they chose me to be the vice chair and chair of the board to represent all the kids and our state. school boards and superintendent doesn't mean they are not political. but they are definitely not partisan. i was proud to start a charter school. host: we have been talking about how to pay for education. let's talk about how to pay for transportation. as you know, there are two ballot measures for transportation. proposition 110 would increase sales taxes to raise $767 million a year, allocating 40% of the money to local governments. proposition 109 would issue up to three point $5 billion of bonds to fund specific projects. most of which is on the front range and require the legislature to find $260 million a year to pay back the bonds for the next 20 years. what proposal if either would you support and why? rep. polis: i'm strongly against 109 which walker will to you why he supports. it creates a debt for the state. further indenting western colorado. it will lead to reductions in our funding for education. with the state, there is a recession to be devastating to every other budget priority we have. when hundred 10 is a legitimate effort -- effort by many other groups to find a dedicated funding mechanism. it is not the funny mechanism i would choose get the voters have the choice of whether to approve it this november. i will look forward to building a statewide coalition of republicans, democrats, business community, western colorado and rural colorado for a cohesive approach to meeting our infrastructure needs across the entire state. mr. stapleton: i support 109 because the onus of responsibility should be on state government. i know we have the dollars in the general fund. i want to put the response ability in the next governor's hands to find the economy forward to the 21st century without soaking taxpayers for another tax increase. the reason i don't support it is the dollar will be spent on roads and bridges, bridges and roads. this is another difference between my plan for economic development and to fix our crumbling infrastructure and congressman polis's. he believes we should fund multi mode of transportation, and utilize public transit, bike lanes, which i think are cool. i am a biker myself. i have a mountain bike and rode bike. colorado's need is around roads and bridges. he has no way to pay for it. i do. thank you. host: as a quick follow-up. stapleton, you said it would devastate -- he said there was money in the general fund. mr. policy at it would devastate the state budget you didn't say if it passed, where we do pot -- put the $260 million a year to pay for it lacks -- to pay for it? mr. stapleton: i have talked fund.four in the general number one, my support for the federal tax plan because of the federal tax plan we were able to appropriate $225 million $225 the general fund. number two, i have talked about sports gambling pier 1 alledge 50 billion dollar industry. we should tax rate of 15%. number three, i have talked about -- mi out of time? host: no. now you're out of time. mr. stapleton: i have talking about a broken medical marijuana system. host: you are out of time now. mr. stapleton: i think we can find the money. even if colorado's gaming were to produce the same revenues as nevada, it would take 600 years for that to pay for infrastructure. medical marijuana taxes go to the construction of schools, if the voters want to change that, they can. it is enough -- not enough revenue. if both initiatives fail, you will need a governor who will the convener and chief to pull people together and unite people. not somebody who is interested in name-calling but somebody who unites people so that we can solve the issue. we spent a lot of time in colorado talking about the north and south corridor and its importance for the state and particularly for the metro area commuters. what about the east and west corridor or highway 50. these and others are the lifeline for commerce and tourism. as governor, what would you do to strengthen the infrastructure between eastern and western colorado? >> i was able to work with scott tipton to lead the efforts of the last transportation bill to that -- to designate highway 70 west of the divide all the way to utah as a high priority freight corridor nationally. opening up in additional funding. i worked to get the funding successfully for a missed fire suppression system at the eisenhower tunnel had -- having represented communities on both sides. highway 70 as much is critical for those of us who live here, but it is one of the most important economic arteries in colorado. many jobs depend on highway 70. i'm committed to make sure we use what we have the best we can with reversible lanes for the high-traffic areas during peak. as well as making sure we work to get funding for the federal government to make sure we can make the improvements we need to make highway 70 more manageable. mr. stapleton: i think it's important colorado have a governor that recognizes i 25 and i 70 are the lifeblood of colorado. congressman polis, his -- of colorado. i believe congressman paul is, his view of colorado is highway 30 -- 36. my view is i-70 goes far beyond the veil and we need to fund i-70 and i 25. they didn't have the time to say this in the last question, but one of the things we worked on its an analysis of what colorado spends per mile, as opposed to 6-8 other mountain states. we have found that if we can spend with the other six mountain states around us spend on maintenance and other costs per mile, we have an extra $60 -- 160 million dollars approximately we could use for bonding. this is a creative idea that takes leadership from the governor's office in the past instead of promising things with no way to pay for them, loading up the state with debt, and antigovernment promises like congressman polis wants to do. he proposed $90 million tripling the obligations it doesn't have a single way to pay for it. host: one more follow-up on transportation. if both of those ballot measures the legislature put another measure on next years ballot in to issue up to $2.6 2019. billion. maybe it was less than that. that would automatically go to the ballot next year. one of you would be governor. would you try to support that or change that, mr. stapleton? mr. stapleton: more transportation? no. it will not be enough. that is why we need more dedicated sources of revenue. i have come up with four separate ones. he hasn't come up with a single one. i will make the funding transportation throughout colorado the number priority of one my administration and one way will be finding more attainable housing. i say attainable versus affordable because what may be affordable for somebody in the metro may not be affordable for -- attainable for somebody in western colorado. both of those are linked to have a plan that puts coloradans first and economic -- host: thanks. mr. polis, on the bonding issue for the -- for to this entity. rep. polis: i find it ironic that he accuses me of death when he is the only one supporting a ballot initiative that would put the state more than $3 billion more in debt without revenue. i would like to find a better deal working with republicans and democrats. we need to figure out 109 and 110 failed. what the voters want. we need to figure out a plan. i think there is low hanging fruit to have more traffic on 70 going eastward. people that can fly into the airport with improvements from california and texas to visit the high country. that is a whole other corridor with great potential. host: google switch gears to health care. we have a specific question for each of you. i will ask the first one of mr. polis. you have advocated for single-payer system such as medicare for everyone in the state in the country. how would colorado taxpayers foot the bill for that? it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. rep. polis: i have supported medicare for all nationally we already cover our most costly, i is cost population, elderly, we should have a basic level of care for everybody. togoal in health care is save coloradans money. i have started companies commit created hundreds of jobs. as i listen to small businesses across the state, it is usually one of the first or second things out of their mouth. we have a 100 day plan to address that. we want to model medicaid after bundle payment systems like arkansas which have been proven to reduce costs by 20% to 30%. we want to create a plan for the highest cost cases to prevent them from driving up the business individuals. we have a plan to address the pricing disparities that are ravaging western colorado. paying sometimes 30%, 40% committed percent -- 40%, 50% more by reconfiguring the pricing zones to make sure we have close to parity. we have a 100 day plan to work with republicans and democrats to save money on healthcare and expand coverage. i couldn'ton: disagree more. one of the bipartisan things i did that i'm the most proud of is i worked with governor ritter, a democratic governor to defeat an amendment 69, government led healthcare. we worked across party lines because we understood the associated payroll tax was going to need 10% or more on all business and the cost was going to be at least $25 billion in and because it would result in even less rural area doctors and pervasive underpayment to doctors and physicians assistants. now less than two years later, congressman polis is proposing and -- proposing an extreme and radical form of healthcare that the former governor of colorado and i worked to defeat feverishly less than two years ago. his health-care plan is more expensive for colorado and it will result in longer lines for the people that can least afford it. we've already had 70% premium increases over the last three years and it isn't compassionate, is cruel and it will make it worse in colorado. host: mr. stapleton. you talked about reducing 1.4 million people who receive the benefits because it's taking money away from schools and roads. how would you reduce the state paid medicaid benefits without endangering the hospitals and health-care providers, particularly in rural areas that depend on this program to keep their doors open and provide services to those that otherwise couldn't afford it? how can you cut these benefits have been hurt rural colorado? mr. stapleton: just to be clear, i have never said i am for reducing the medicaid rolls by 1.4 million people. i would absolutely not support that. have a moral obligation for medicaid because half of the medicaid population our kids. even though they only represent about a quarter of the cost. so what i would do is i would work with companies like this with federal state government agencies, with dhs, which is the regulatory system for healthcare nonprofits to actually do a better job of administering medicaid rollout. we've had issues with fraud and abuse and people that qualified -- qualified that should not qualify. the only way we are going to fix this is to have all of the agencies involved collaboratively work on the front lines of how to make the system better for young people , and for old people, sick people. that is the plan i want to enact. i don't want to drive the medicare off the cliff and i said i would never support 1.4 million people being taken off the medicaid rolls. rep. polis: apparently walker's idea of radical is allowing families to have affordable health care. he has mentioned bill ritter four times. ill ritter -- bill ritter was a supporter of me and is campaigning for me. we need to reduce the cost in colorado. that begins with the defending what we have to we need to defend the medicaid expansion. if the medicaid expansion were eliminated and walker talked about phasing it out, not only does that go up to 400,000 often coloradans, but it drives up everyone's insurance p a r all paying the high cost of uncompensated care because of the cost shifting. we are paying more. so yes, we will fund the medicaid expansion and use bundled payments systems to save 20% to 30%. we will pass the savings along to you and save your family take -- family money on your health care. you: a follow-up, do support reduction of medicaid extension? is that true? rep. polis: no. i support making the current system better so that we can improve access and affordability to the system that we have. i support getting a federal waiver from the federal government so the young people can have plans with high deductibles and less premiums because they are healthy more often. what i don't support is congressman polis's that would make access to life-saving drugs for ill people and children. i have a friend who lives right here in grand junction with a daughter whose shots cost $10,000 every quarter. under congressman polis's plan she wouldn't have access to the medication. that is cruel and it will result in less quality care in colorado. host: thank you. rep. polis: my plan is everything opposite of what he's appear we want to take on drug companies because coloradans are tired of being ripped off on prescription drugs. your friend walker and my friends, shouldn't be forced to pay five to ten times as much as our friends in canada or germany or other countries. we support allowing reimportation of drugs, preventing price gouging for the drug companies, taking on the big pharmaceuticals to save you money on healthcare. rep. polis: may i respond to that, please? host: no. we are going on to the next question. host: let's go into immigration and economic development. the government has cut down on temporary visas for agriculture and service workers. known as h two b visas. how can you as governor, knowing this is a federal issue, how can you as governor help agricultural and tourism businesses get the legal seasonal workers they need to do the job that few americans want? i am a strong supporter and i worked with the agricultural industry. i have forced with scott tipton and others on making sure we have a strong h2b program people -- that people can back workers that have come seasonally. of course we need an overall fix with regards to the broken system. in the meantime, we shouldn't make small businesses, farmers, and the construction industry and others pay the price. as governor i will make sure i stand for all of colorado and make sure we have an immigration policy that reflects the fact that we are a nation of immigrants and a nation of law. the two are and must be reconciled in the federal level. as governor, i will stand up for all coloradans and let a president of either party know that we need to put colorado first and make sure we can grow our economy and help coloradans not just get by, but thrive. we need to have a colorado that all of us want to have to we need to be welcoming to immigrants. it is why i said that i support the dreamers. it's a federal issue that needs to be resolved. i support the visas that are important for the agricultural industry and i also support the j one visas which allow students from south american countries to come to colorado am a primarily for 90 to 120 days. a lot of the monday -- end up working in the ski industry where there's a chronic housing shortage indoor restaurant -- dormitory style housing. that is a 50,000 -- 50 million 5 billion and 50,000 jobs. i got it. i feel like a kid in a spelling bee. i think coloradans want a government that is going to work with the benefit -- work with the president when it benefits colorado and is going to stand up on the misguided federal policy. host: when the federal government reduces the number of legal foreign worker visas, it very well could force employers to seek illegal help the farmers thatlp to do the farmers -- to do the work that farmers and ranchers need to stay in business. would you cooperate with the current administration to seek out undocumented workers and -- in rural areas for deportation? rep. polis: no, i would not. that is not the job of the governor, that is the job of the government. we had a broken policy that has existed many times. congressman polis has been in washington for ten years and republicans and democrats are complicit in not fixing the policy. i disagree with congressman polis on the party platform in this election making colorado a sanctuary state. i define a sanctuary city as somebody who has entered this country illegally and committed a felony. and i don't think law and order officials should be facing legal jeopardy for trying to keep people in jail to keep their communities safe, like they are doing now. because we don't have a uniform policy that has the support that we should have four sheriffs and -- have for sheriffs and first responders and those on the frontlines of keeping the community safe. rep. polis: first of all, i'm not for colorado being a sanctuary state, even during the democratic primary none of the democrats running for governor were for that. when i am for is empowering local law enforcement to keep our community safe. i respect local control through sheriffs office, police department's. we need to make sure with limited resources they have, they are able to keep us safe and that includes in areas that have large immigrant communities are those immigrant communities of crimes are reported and prosecuted rather than hidden. because of fear of deportation for victims. ourink we need to empower local law enforcement officials and i will stand up to this president or any president in washington who wants to commandeer the local law enforcement to enforce their broken washington, d.c. priorities rather than the local community priorities. host: just a follow-up. i understood him saying you would not support seeking out undocumented workers in rural areas for deportation. >> correct. >> so you agree. we have had -- another follow-up. we have had the federal government talk about financial sanctions and sanctions against cities and agencies who don't help federal immigration authorities. what you support that, mr. -- would you support that, mr. stapleton? mr. stapleton: i would support a governor's ability to end sanctuary cities in colorado. so we had a uniform policy that has the back of sheriffs and police officers that are trying so desperately to keep communities safe. we shouldn't have said they did -- have somebody that commits a felony who has entered this country illegally be released from jail in less than 12 hours . that doesn't make sense. even though congressman polis said he agrees with me on this, his party's platform is to make colorado a sanctuary state. so if you felt so strongly about it, i think you owe it to law enforcement to have the party change its party platform. rep. polis: that is the difference between us. you might beholden to the party but i am an independent thinker, job creator and someone that is going to take on both parties to get things right. i think we need to make sure we keep our communities safe. you have even attacked me for supporting or i'm sorry, opposing efforts that would penalize the cities for their own law enforcement decisions. of course i'm against the federal government coming after legal marijuana and finding cities. i'm against washington, d.c. expanding their power. that is why i'm running for governor. i support an independent colorado. i will take on both parties. host: we are running out of time. i want to give you 30 seconds each on this. this is a mental health question. sheriffs in colorado will tell you a large percentage of jail populations annually have significant mental health issues, especially true in rural areas. a reader asks, what is your plan to move mentally ill persons out of jail into treatment. and how do you pay for it? rep. polis: that is an important issue. it is something i hear from sheriffs across our state. i was talking to a sheriff and he said a third of the intake in prison systems were people who need treatment for drug abuse or mental health issues. our prison system isn't the best or most cost-efficient way to do it. it is not cost-efficient for taxpayers. it is also not the most effective in terms of treating somebody with a mental health issue, or substance abuse issue which is an offshoot of an undiagnosed or untreated mental health issue. we want to expand access to mental health. host: how do you get them out of jail and into mental health treatment? mr. stapleton: last week i had to bring -- i had two high school students in my community commit suicide. we have underfunded mental health issues in the state of colorado. at the state level and municipal level. i will be a governor that puts mental health first when it comes to health care. we have massively increase the -- increased the department of corrections budget and have not spent money on mental health that we need to. we need to invest in rehabilitative treatment. we need to better coordinate municipal and state responses. host: thank you, mr. stapleton. now, i would like for each of you to ask a question of your opponent. it should be a question that shows voters what you believe is your highest priority. you will each have one minute to answer. i believe mr. stapleton will go first. mr. stapleton: congressman polis, i asked you this question last night. you didn't answer the question. i will ask ache -- i will ask again. i have a friend who has been here for 10 years. he is an immigrant from mexico. now a u.s. citizen. he has been working in the energy industry. it has provided him a happy life. he bought his house and his first future is bright. you talked about colorado in which his job would not exist. you worked on anti-fracking initiatives. you have worked on anti-pipeline initiatives. you have talked about rigging the game where his job would be obsolete. shoot him straight. how are you going to bring his job to colorado when renewable -- renewables don't come flooding back back and you can have a colorado because you wrecked the economy and busted the budget of our state. rep. polis: i talked to martin last night. hopefully, i have earned his vote. i am talking to him again now. martin, i am backed by your fellow workers at the brotherhood of electrical workers. many of the men and women who work there. they know i will put workers first and put safety first. i'm proud of governor hickenlooper's efforts to make sure our pipelines are safe and i look forward to take in the next step to make sure you have a bright future for you and your family by saving you money on health care. if you have young kids, making sure they have access to preschool and kindergarten. saving you money can yes, making sure that you have a part of colorado's future. we are going to have a lot of oil and gas jobs. they depend on the price of oil and gas. my plan will make colorado more of a net energy exporter. as we shift to renewable energy, i want to make sure you have every opportunity and advanced manufacturing to make even more money to support your family. with soon-to-be justice kavanaugh's approval to be on the supreme court it is more likely than ever roe v. wade will be overturned. if our state legislator passed a bill to restrict or end abortions in the state of colorado, if somebody said it -- said they would be a pro-life governor, that supported a radical personhood amendment that would ban ivf but would you sign a bill that restricted or limited the rights of women to control their own bodies in colorado? mr. stapleton: let me first translate to your response to my question. what you said is i am supported by unions are you still don't have a job martin. as far as me, i said i would be a pro-life governor because it is a matter of my faith. i accept roe v. wade as being the law of the land. i am not going to speculate when i raised my hand to become governor of colorado, i don't raise my hand to accept just some of our constitution. i accept all of it. it is not an a la carte offering. i accept roe v. wade as the law of the land and i'm not going to speculate on whether it is overturned. the two most recent justices to the supreme court were not going to speculate during their confirmation. what i will tell you is i'm going to enforce colorado's constitution as well. it has been embedded that we shouldn't use state taxpayer funds for abortion related services. host: thank you both. candidates will now have 90 seconds for closing statements. a coin ties earlier gives mr. stapleton the opportunity to begin his final statement. mr. stapleton: thank you for having me. i'm running for governor for three reasons. my kids. craig is 10. coco is seven. olivia is four years old. i'm running for their future because i have a heart for service. because the colorado i want is one that will hopefully be filled with abundant economic opportunity not just for them but all our kids in colorado. i have a demonstrated track record of working with democrats on pragmatic solutions to put coloradans first. we can achieve our goals with the will to do it and the leadership from the governor's office that i plan to provide it i have done it as treasurer. i will do it again as governor. none of this will be possible if we make the mistake of electing congressman polis as our governor. he represents the most extreme governor in colorado's history. if you were to win. i'm sorry to be the town crier on this but somebody has to be honest about your record. you have promised $90 billion of spending from health care to energy to education that would triple our budget obligations and you haven't told anybody how you plan to pay for it. $90 billion is 90,000 million. it would bankrupt colorado and result in antigovernment processes. it is not the future i want to have for my kids are any colorado kids. thank you very much for having me. host: mr. polis. rep. polis: you hear these words tossed around. extreme radical. these are fundamentally to this -- divisive words. i'm a uniter. i have worked with republicans and democrats to pass our landmark federal education legislation. i'm ready to roll up my sleeves in colorado to get things done in a bipartisan way that brings people together. i'm not for the name-calling. i might have some differences of opinion with walker in some areas. but i value everybody's input. i was proud to sponsor a hill and bill with cory gardner another to bring the blm here. taking on some members of my own party to do it. i'm running for governor because i believe in the future of this state. i have run schools. i have served on the state board of education. we have plan to end underinvestment in our schools and make sure every child has access to preschool and kindergarten. saving families money. i am running because coloradans are tired of getting ripped off on health care costs. whether it is prescription drugs or insurance. we have 100 day action plan to help save you money see you have -- so you have a little more money at the end of the month to enjoy in the month. i'm running for governor because i had a background in business. creating hundreds of jobs in the private sector and empowering other operative -- other entrepreneurs to succeed. i want colorado to be a statewide success story. no matter where you live in our great state. host: thank you, mr. polis. thank you to both of you canada spirit we have appreciated your remarks tonight. i think we learned something. we thank the daily sentinel, our colleagues and the sponsors of the debate. thank you in the audience tonight. we hope this has given you information to help you make your decision about who should be our next governor. regardless of your view we urge you to vote. it is a right, a privilege, and an obligation to ensure our democratic freedoms. for other election information, we invite you to check out our website. we thank you for joining us tonight. good night. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: more debate coverage this week including the raisin iowa's third congressional district where incumbent representative david young is facing a challenge from democrats and the ask me. at the bait is a live thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. on friday, new mexico senator martin heinrich debates republican make rich and third-party candidate gary johnson, that is live at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. for the weekend come as c-span is live from wisconsin and 8:00 p.m. eastern saturday, for the second debate between tammy baldwin and republican leader abu clear. senateay, it is the debate and ohio between democratic senator sherrod brown and republican representative jim are in a sea. that is live on c-span starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> greg gianforte and kathleen announcer: with election day a month away, the control of congress in question. see the competition for yourself on c-span. watch the debate, from key house and senate races. make c-span your primary source for campaign 2018. bozeman montana. republican incumbent congressman greg ginn forte and kathleen williams face off for the states at large u.s. house seat. good evening to welcome to montana pbs. >> i'm in a row. we would like to welcome viewers joining us on c-span and listeners on montana public radio. >> we utilize our inclusion requirements on montana pbs.org. in the candidates meeting the criteria are here tonight. anna: they are incumbent republican representative greg gianforte and democrat kathleen williams. john: welcome to you both. we have a slightly different format tonight. each candidate has 90 seconds to answer a question and then there will be an open discussion. with a chance for rebuttals, questions, and direct exchange.

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