State legislative - Colorado Auto Dealers Association

11September 2020 www.colorado.auto

Does party matter to the automotive industry? Yes and no, according to CADA President Tim Jackson. CADA does offer financial support to candidates, before and after elections. “Often, it’s driven more on electability versus positions or party affiliation,” he explained. “We can get support out of Democrats on a lot of our issues, so we’re not overly partisan. Where we have lately had trouble with Democrats is on more hard-core environmental issues. They’ve been less friendly on those.”

Relationships are our secret sauceCADA’s dealers have succeeded in getting support for our issues by building relationships with individual legislators of both parties. That’s the thought behind the “100 LGMs in 100 Days” campaign that

started early this month (read more about it in Jeremy Hamm’s column). The Legislative Grassroots Meetings (LGMs) are taking place in person whenever possible, yet many are live Zoom calls.

“As I often tell people, the first step to getting a vote is getting the legislator to understand our issue,” observed Jackson. It’s not their job to seek out our position. It’s our job to make our position known.”

Important meetings made easier by ZoomBill Hellman, chair of CADA’s Legislative Policy Committee echoed that sentiment. “I can’t emphasize enough the importance of these meetings,” he said. “Every time we have an election, you have freshmen legislators coming in

that know nothing about the auto industry. These meetings just give us a chance at least to explain what’s important to us.”

What’s more, as a Western Slope dealer, Hellman said Zoom meetings has been more than helpful. “We can all get on Zoom, so I don’t have to travel over the mountains all the time — which takes the whole day — and depending on when the meeting is, you may have to go the night before.”

The Colorado Chair of the NADA PAC Steve Zeder added, “We have politicians trying to make rules and regulations for our industry that they know nothing about. They’re very intelligent people, but they have no experience.” Contributions to the President’s Club – an initial $5,000 and annual renewals of

State legislative elections affect dealers as much as national races

Legislative races can and should make a difference for all Coloradans, and certainly for us, in the automotive industry. The Colorado General Assembly is where many of the laws and regulations originate that determine how new car dealers must operate.

12 September 2020Colorado Automobile Dealers Association

$2,500 – “helps us make a very meaningful financial contribution to these legislators. Having the right people in place to prevent imposing Draconian rules… gives CADA the horsepower to really make changes.”

The relationship-building strategy has brought many legislative victories, usually with bipartisan support, including maintaining Sunday closure, warranty repair at retail rates, and a compromise last session on allowing manufacturers without existing franchises to sell direct to consumers.

This election is a chance to find more balanceSo Colorado legislative races bear watching, and CADA lobbyist and Brownstein Farber Hyatt Schreck Shareholder Mike Feeley is doing just that. This election season, all 65 seats in the Colorado House of Representatives and 18 in the Colorado Senate are up for grabs.

Colorado is among the few states where both houses of the state legislature and the governor’s office are controlled by Democrats. This is a break from tradition; Coloradans generally have preferred to have a balance in the legislature, with one house controlled by Republicans and the other by Democrats. The 2018 election changed that, giving both houses to the Democrats.

Democrats control the state House of Representatives by 41 to 24. According to Feeley (also a former state legislator), “That’s not likely to change much. If anything, the Dems might pick up another seat or two.”

In the Senate, the current membership is 19 Democrats to 16 Republicans. “There’s a much smaller swing in the state Senate, with at least two competitive races,” Feeley observed. “The Republicans can’t lose anything. If they do, it makes it worse for them.”

Races to watchFeeley said the race at the top of the GOP’s agenda is in Senate District 19, covering North Jefferson County/Arvada. Democratic Sen. Rachel Zenzinger is being challenged

by businesswoman and political newcomer Lynn Gerber. “Rachel has been generally supportive of CADA issues,” Feeley said. “It’s a true swing district, with very close registration, where a difference could be made.”

Feeley identified the second seat the GOP hopes to flip is Senate District 26 in Arapahoe County. Sen. Jeff Bridges was elected twice to the Colorado House of Representatives before he was appointed to the Senate in January 2019, when Sen. Daniel Kagan resigned.

Feeley thinks the GOP likely is targeting House District 27 in Denver’s northern suburbs, where Republican businesswoman Vicki Pyne is seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Brianna Titone, Colorado’s first transgender elected official.

GOP Sen. Jack Tate’s retirement from District 27 in Denver’s south and east suburbs sets up a battle between Republican Suzanne Staiert and Democrat Chris Kolker. Kolker, a certified financial planner, narrowly lost a race for the Colorado House in 2018. Staiert worked as an attorney and Deputy Secretary of State under Wayne Williams. Feeley’s take is that the GOP has the edge.

Republicans will likely continue to hold Senate District 35, which covers a huge swath of south central and southeastern Colorado, according to Feeley. Sen. Larry Crowder is term limited. The Republican Cleave Simpson, Jr., a rancher/farmer in the San Luis Valley, faces Carlos Lopez, a member of the Arkansas River Power Authority who previously served on the Trinidad City Council.

Interestingly, there currently is only one rural Democrat in the Colorado

Senate, Kerry Donovan, who’s not up for re-election. “Rural Colorado used to have a seat at every table. When people talk about the war on rural Colorado, I think it’s accurate. Those are seats where people can make a difference,” Feeley said.

Electric vehicles an issue, just not the only one“Before Gov. Polis’s election, CADA approached the legislature in a bipartisan manner,” Feeley noted. “With some environmental concerns finding traction in the legislature, we’ve found that Republicans are more willing to listen to CADA. Some Democrats are less inclined to hang with us on some EV issues,” he said, the shift being how aggressive EV supporters are.

Whether that will be an issue in the 2021 General Assembly is hard to know. But the effort dealers put into knowing their legislators could be the key on this and any other issues.

“Once the legislature gets in session, there are all sorts of things that can pop up,” Hellman pointed out. From January through May, you have to be on your guard.”

Personally knowing legislators can be key to a favorable decision. “You can’t beat that,” he quipped. “If they have a question, they’ll pick up the phone and call. And they’ll take your call and understand what you’re talking about.”

Across the top of the next four pages is CADA’s position on bills that were important to dealers in the past two years. Incumbents’ voting record on those issues show how aligned they were with dealers. Candidates’ names appear in light yellow. Party affiliation is reflected in the color of each person’s name.

“As I often tell people, the first step to getting a vote is getting the legis-lator to understand our issue. It’s not their job to seek out our position. It’s our job to make our position known.”

Tim Jackson, CADA President


District Candidate County/Towns SB20-167 SB20-200 SB20-205 SB20-207 HB20-1415 SB19-188 HB19-1240 HB19-1289 HB19-1325

CADA Position ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

House

1 Susan Lontine Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Samantha Koch Candidate

2 Alec Garnett Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Victoria Partridge Candidate

3 Meg Froelich Englewood ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Bill Klocek Candidate

4 Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez

Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Grant Price Candidate

5 Alex Valdez A. Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Jonathan Woodley Candidate

6 Steven Woodrow Denver ● ● ● ● ● X X X X

Bill McAleb Candidate

7 Jennifer Bacon Candidate

8 Leslie Herod Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

9 Emily Sirota Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Larry Braig Candidate

10 Edie Hooton Boulder ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Kenneth Stickney Candidate

11 Karen McCormick Longmont

Mark Millman Candidate

12 Tracey Bernett Candidate

Eric Davila Candidate

13 Judith Amabile Boulder

Kevin Sipple Candidate

14 Shane Sandridge Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

John Foley Candidate

15 Dave Williams Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

16 Stephanie Vigil Candidate

Andy Pico Candidate

17 Tony Exum Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Robert Blancken Candidate

18 Marc Snyder Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

George Rapko Candidate

19 Tim Geitner Falcon ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Joseph Thompson, Jr. Candidate

20 Terri Carver Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Megan Fossinger Candidate

21 Mary Bradfield Candidate

Liz Rosenbaum Candidate

22 Colin Larson Littleton ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mary Parker Candidate

23 Chris Kennedy West Lakewood ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

ExcusedCandidateKEY: Support OpposeMonitor*


Fred Clifford Candidate

24 Monica Duran Wheat Ridge ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Laura Imer Candidate

25 Lisa Cutter Littleton ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Donald Rosier Candidate

26 Dylan Roberts Eagle ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

27 Brianna Titone Arvada ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Vicki Pyne Candidate

28 Kerry Tipper Lakewood ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Pedro Roybal Candidate

29 Lindsay Daugherty Candidate

Vanessa Warren-Demot Candidate

30 Dafna Michaelson Jenet Commerce City ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

31 Yadira Caraveo Thornton ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Breanna Owens Candidate

32 Adrienne Benavidez Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Anthony Caputo Candidate

33 Matt Gray Broomfield ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mindy Quiachon Candidate

34 Kyle Mullica Northglenn ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mark Bromley Candidate

35 Shannon Bird Westminster ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Roger Lehman Candidate

36 Mike Weissman Aurora ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Dustin Bishop Candidate

37 Tom Sullivan Aurora ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Caroline Cornell Candidate

38 Richard Champion Littleton ● ● ● ● ● X X X X

David Ortiz Candidate

39 Mark Baisley Roxborough Park ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ian Chapman Candidate

40 Naquetta Ricks Candidate

Richard Bassett Candidate

41 Iman Jodeh Candidate

Robert Andrews Candidate

42 Dominique Jackson Aurora ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

43 Kevin Van Winkle Highlands Ranch ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Jennifer Mitkowski Candidate

44 Kim Ransom Lone Tree ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Kyra Storojv Candidate

45 Patrick Neville Castle Rock ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Katie Barrett Candidate

46 Daneya Esgar Pueblo ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Jonathan Ambler Candidate

47 Bri Buentello Pueblo ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Stephanie Luck Candidate

48 Tonya Van Beber Candidate


CADA Position ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●


Holly Herson Candidate

49 Michael Lynch Candidate

Yara Zokaie Candidate

50 Mary Young Greeley ● ● ● ● ● X X X X

51 Hugh McKean Loveland ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

52 Cathy Kipp Fort Collins ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Donna Walter Candidate

53 Jeni James Arndt Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

54 Matt Soper Delta ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Alice Marie Slaven-Emond Candidate

55 Janice Rich Grand Junction ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Scott Bellfuss Candidate

56 Rod Bockenfeld Watkins ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Maria-Vittoria Carminati Candidate

57 Perry Will New Castle ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Colin Wilhelm Candidate

58 Marc Catlin Montrose ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Seth Cagin Candidate

59 Barbara McLachlan Durango ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Marilyn Harris Candidate

60 Ron Hanks Candidate

Lori Boydston Candidate

61 Julie McCluskie Dillon ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Kim McGahey Candidate

62 Donald Valdez La Jara ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Logan Taggart Candidate

63 Dan Woog Candidate

Geneiveve Schneider Candidate

64 Richard Holtorf Akron ● ● ● ● ● X X X X

Edwin Ormiston Candidate

65 Rod Pelton Cheyenne Wells ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● X

CADA Position ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Senate District

1 Jerry Sonneberg Sterling ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

2 Dennis Hisey Fountain ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

3 Leroy Garcia Pueblo ● X ● ● X X ● X

4 Jim Smallwood Parker ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Elissa Flaumenhaft Candidate

5 Kerry Donovan Wolcott ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

6 Don Coram Montrose ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

7 Ray Scott Grand Junction ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

8 Bob Rankin Carbondale ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●



CADA Position ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●


Karl Hanlon Candidate

9 Paul Lundeen Monument ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

10 Larry Liston Candidate

Randi McCallian Candidate

11 Pete Lee Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

12 Bob Gardner Colorado Springs ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Electra Johnson Candidate

13 John Cooke Greeley ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

14 Joann Ginal Fort Collins ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Hans Hocheimer Candidate

15 Rob Woodward Loveland ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

16 Tammy Story Conifer ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

17 Sonya Jaquez Lewis Candidate

Matthew Menza Candidate

18 Stephen Fenberg Boulder ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Peg Cage Candidate

19 Rachel Zenzinger Arvada ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Lynn Gerber Candidate

20 Jessie Danielson Wheat Ridge ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

21 Dominick Moreno Commerce City ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Martin Mendez Candidate

22 Brittany Pettersen Lakewood ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

23 Barbara Kirkmeyer Candidate

Sally Boccella Candidate

24 Faith Winter Westminster ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

25 Kevin Priola Henderson ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Paula Dickerson Candidate

26 Jeff Bridges Greenwood Village ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Bob Roth Candidate

27 Suzanne Staiert Candidate

Chris Kolker Candidate

28 Janet Buckner Candidate

Karl Stecher Candidate

29 Rhonda Fields Aurora ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

30 Chris Holbert Parker ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

31 Chris Hansen Denver ● ● ● ● ● X X X

Doug Townsend Candidate

32 Robert Rodriguez Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

33 James Coleman Candidate

34 Julie Gonzales Denver ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

35 Cleave Simpson, Jr. Candidate

Carlos Lopez Candidate


CADA Position ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Documents

State legislative - Colorado Auto Dealers Association