Cary Kennedy

Cary Kennedy announced her candidacy for Governor of Colorado in April of 2017. She was the Colorado State Treasurer from 2007 to 2017 and is a former Deputy Mayor and Chief Financial Officer for Denver.

Biography

[1]

Issue Ideas & Proposals

Education

Kennedy's website lists under-investment, teacher shortages, and lack of equity as the most important issues facing education in Colorado, and outlines the following key goals as governor:

Teachers:

• Raise teacher pay to at least the national average
• Ensure the public employee's retirement association is financially secure
• Expand the teacher talent pipeline through higher ed scholarships, apprenticeships, and other measures.
• Include teachers in evaluation systems and increase their professional advancement opportunities

Equity:

• Empower families to engage in their child’s education opportunities for parents like after-school classes, including ESL, GED, personal finance, and technology classes; expand district-wide family development programs that teach parents how to work with teachers.
• Universal access to quality preschool and full day kindergarten.
• Make access to technology more equitable by providing more opportunities for students to access technology needed for school work, like computers or tablets, and broadband services.
• Ensure that every district can support nurses, counselors and all needed support staff. Provide access to services that address out of classroom factors like food insecurity, and provide the services necessary to allow disabled students to learn and grow with their classmates at their neighborhood school.
• Replicate the principles of community schools and give districts the support the need to embrace these principles in schools across Colorado.

[2]

On charter schools: While noting that charter schools with alternative curriculum and schooling models can be good option for some students whose needs don't match traditional schools, Kennedy stated that Colorado's top priority must be to adequately invest in the public school system to ensure every child has access to a high-quality local school should they choose it. Charter schools, further, should be held to the same regulatory and transparency standards of public schools. [3]

Environment

• Boost green business by doubling the Renewable Energy standard, ensuring Colorado homes and business can access a 100% renewable energy option, and enabling the best possible environment for electric car sales and operation.
• Work together with Coloradans toward the goal of conserving 1 million acres and 400,000 acre-feet of water by 2050.

[4]

Gun Reform & Safety

• Ban military style assault weapons designed to quickly kill large numbers of people.
• Keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others.
• Fight the NRA and the gun lobby.

[5]

Criminal Justice Reform

• Would sign a law banning the death penalty in Colorado, but would enforce the law if the legislature does not ban it.
• Would consider all the facts of a death penalty case and meet with all parties involved should such a case be appealed to her as governor.
• Prioritize prevention and mental health services above incarceration, as well as confront racial biases in the justice system.

[6]

• Work toward ending the use of private prisons in Colorado.
• Reinvest in the Community Policing concept.

[7]

Social Justice

Kennedy calls for:

• A ban on conversion therapy in Colorado. [8]
• Changing the cultural norms that tolerate sexual abuse and gender violence.
• Supporting survivors of harassment and abuse when they come forward, respecting their choice on how to report, and protecting their confidentiality.
• Changing the culture of harassment in the Colorado State Capitol, through confidential reporting, thorough investigation of all reports, and strong action on credible reports including potentially calling for resignation or, if applicable, terminating employment.
• Codifying Obama-era guidance on Title IX protections for university students who lodge accusations of sexual assault and harassment. Protections would include ensuring an investigation does not drag on with no conclusion, and the right to appeal a decision.
• Fighting racism and racial injustices through policy to eliminate employment, education, and poverty inequities.

[9]

In response to a question about whether Colorado should become a sanctuary state, Kennedy stated that "local and state law enforcement officials should not be required to enforce federal immigration laws," and that for Colorado to be safe all persons need to be able to report crimes to the police without fear that they or their loved ones will be turned over to ICE. [10]

Affordable Housing

As governor, Kennedy would establish an affordable housing fund to support communities in finding initiatives to address their particular challenges. The Fund would:

• Invest in a variety of affordable housing opportunities by financing the construction, maintenance, and preservation of the affordable housing supply in communities across the state.
• Invest in mixed-income housing opportunities that maintain diverse and inclusive communities across the state.
• Preserve affordable property so that it can be used for affordable development, not just more out-of-reach development.
• Support programs that provide rental/down payment assistance, address homelessness, increase homeownership, and help Coloradans attain affordable housing.

In addition, Kennedy outlined a plan to protect renters' rights:

• Increase landlord transparency, so that before accepting an application fee a landlord should provide a description of the tenant's rights and landlord responsibilities for maintaining the home, say whether or not they make application decisions based on criminal background checks and how far into an applicant’s past those background checks extend, and say if they make application decisions based on if the tenant has previous history of eviction.
• Make it illegal for landlords to deny applications based on the source of income, intended to protect those with Section 8 vouchers.
• Raise the eviction filing fee that landlords pay to evict families and use those funds for legal assistance for tenants being evicted.

Kennedy cites her history of working on affordable housing and homeownership programs in Denver to support her commitment to further advancing those issues as governor. [11]

Health Care

• Create a public option for all Coloradans by allowing any resident to purchase a plan through the state Medicaid program or one of the state's employee health programs.
• Protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care.
• Protect and expand the ability to access contraception.
• Put more resources into the mental health system, to ensure that services are accessible to those who need them.
• Make sure the disabled have the strongest voice in all policy decisions that affect their health.

[12]

Labor Rights

• Support the right to collective bargaining and oppose right-to-work laws.
• Support raising the minimum wage and allowing cities and towns to raise the minimum wage above the state minimum.

[13]

Marijuana Policy

• Oppose efforts by the Trump administration to infringe on Colorado's legalization of marijuana.

Kennedy stated she would "consider retroactive clemency and expunging records for non-violent convictions involving marijuana," specifically citing the racial bias in sentencing and conviction. [14]

Olympics

In response to an issue questionnaire sent to candidates by the Colorado Elections Project, Kennedy said Colorado should not submit a bid to host the Olympics "unless we can host the games without having and (sic) adverse effect on our environment, or continuing to stress our already crowded infrastructure. The Olympics could be an opportunity to leverage outside financing to build affordable housing student housing and make long-term improvements to I-70. [15]

I-70 Expansion

In response to an issue questionnaire sent to candidates by the Colorado Elections Project, Kennedy declined to state a position on the I-70 expansion, saying she would not take a campaign position on any specific infrastructure project. She did note that she has heard many concerns from residents whose health, safety, and housing security may be impacted, and committed that as Governor she would review all the options for the project. [16]

Funders

See the State Governor 2018 Campaign Finance page for more details on Kennedy's notable donors and an analysis of her campaign's financial support sources.

Notable News

• On 14 April 2018, Kennedy qualified for the Democratic primary ballot by receiving a majority of delegate votes at the party's statewide assembly. [17]