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April 30, 2018 01:35 PM UTC

Walker Stapleton, Man of the (Rich) People

  • 11 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Walker Stapleton

Republican Walker Stapleton is raising a lot of money in his bid for Governor — he was the top fundraiser among all gubernatorial candidates at the end of 2017 — and a good deal of those donations have come from people who do not live in Colorado.

Stapleton is certainly not the only candidate for Governor to raise money from out-of-state donors, but he might be the sole candidate making this specific fundraising pitch, as Westword reports:

In a recording obtained by Westword, Walker Stapleton tells a crowd at a campaign event in Grand Junction that he pitches out-of-state donors by telling them that property taxes on their vacation homes in Colorado would double or triple under a Democratic governor.

“I have traveled around this country, we’ve been doing events in California, Texas, Florida and in New York,” Stapleton said. “And the reason we’ve been doing that is that people care a lot about this state. Texans have houses in Colorado Springs in the summer to escape the Texas heat. A lot of people in this country have ski houses in Breckenridge and other places that they cherish and love. And the point to make to your neighbors outside of Colorado is that, ‘Hey, you know that house you love in Colorado? You know that vacation time you love spending in our state? Well, get ready for your property taxes to double or triple, because there is no way to pay for everything they are proposing without driving our income taxes through the roof.'” [Pols emphasis]

Stapleton has raised $38,505 from donors in California, $37,000 from Texans, $52,525 from Floridians and $49,360 from New Yorkers, according to campaign finance records. His campaign has raised the most money from donors in those states than any other gubernatorial candidate in Colorado, in many cases by a wide margin. For example, Mike Johnston’s campaign, the runner up for most donations received from Florida, raised just $5,360.30.

Remember, kids: If you are worried about paying too much money in property taxes for your vacation home in Aspen, Walker Stapleton feels your pain.

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11 thoughts on “Walker Stapleton, Man of the (Rich) People”

  2. ‘Hey, you know that house you love in Colorado? You know that vacation time you love spending in our state? Well, get ready for your property taxes to double or triple, because there is no way to pay for everything they are proposing without driving our income taxes through the roof.'”

    I thought Stapleton, as the existing State Treasurer, might have some ideas on state revenues. Does he not understand the differences between property tax and income tax? Or the existing limitations on increasing taxes?

     

      1. The main reason Dubya Stapleton is running for Governor is because he never really figured out how that key card thingy to his office works. As Governor, he can always get a State Trooper to open his door.

        1. Or he could just not get elected to anything else and then he won't have that problem.  Don't know about you, but I think that is a better idea.

  3. It's curious he'd make these remarks in Grand Junction, where quite a few people don't give a damn about what out-of-staters think, or how high taxes might be in resort towns they can't afford to visit.

     

  4. Speaking of rich people, anyone else getting tired of Jared Polis' TV ad touting that he started a company in college — and omits he was at Princeton (after attending a fancy day school) and his parents were collecting $780 million for their Blue Mountain Arts company. Who couldn't start a business in college with that kind of financial backing?!  He has certainly had success in business but it sure helps to not have to worry about failing financially, ever.

    1. Um, slight corrections.  The $780 million came later than your timeline presumes, with Jared working along side his parents on its success.

      Jared's parents started the small paper greeting card company in the early '90's, but the three of them together expanded into the e-card business that proved to be the financial bonanza for the family (Jared was the executive director).

      Polis co-founded American Information Systems (AIS), Inc while still in college. AIS was an internet access provider and was sold in 1998. In 1996, he co-founded[6] a free electronic greeting card website, Bluemountain.com, which was sold to Excite@Home in 1999 for $430 million in stock and $350 million in cash.[7][8]

      In February 1998, Polis founded ProFlowers, an online florist, in La Jolla, California. In December of that year, economist Dr. Arthur Laffer began advising Polis and joined ProFlowers as a Director.[9] ProFlowers, later renamed Provide Commerce, Inc., went public on NASDAQ as PRVD on December 17, 2003. In 2005, Provide Commerce was acquired by media conglomerate Liberty Media Corporation for $477 million.

      Sure he had an educational leg up, just like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, etc.  But inspiration, talent, hard work and an exceptional feel for the market account for each of their successes.

      Unlike Walker Stapleton, who hung his success on a single big real estate deal while managing his parent's investment company, Jared is no one hit wonder when it comes to business success.

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