There must be something in the water in Jefferson County. Maybe it’s the same stuff they put in that Banquet beer up there. But if you’re a liberty-minded voter in any of the 3 state Senate races in play this fall, you’ve got a solid Constitutional conservative to vote for. That’s unusual and a cause for celebration. It’s also a call to arms. We’ll get to that later.
The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado is pleased to announce our endorsements of all 3 Republican Senate candidates in JeffCo:
Senator Tim Neville (incumbent) – SD16
Businesswoman Christine Jensen – SD20
Political Activist Tony Sanchez – SD22
Our standards are quite high and our vetting process is thorough. Just having an R after your name doesn’t cut it. If you aren’t steeped in the Constitution and the principles of free markets, limited government and civil liberties, you won’t get very far in the endorsement process.
That said, let’s look at our most recent endorsees.
Tim Neville – SD16
Senator Neville has been a force for liberty over his 5 years in the state legislature. He sponsored a bill in 2017 to allow free speech on college campuses that put a stop the practice of “corralling” student activists into a small parcel of grass somewhere far from the student body and calling it a “free speech zone.” Of all places, Senator Neville contends, colleges should be “free speech zones” from one end of campus to the other. This bill was signed into law on April 4, 2017.
Senator Neville was also instrumental in passing a bill to reform the practice of civil asset forfeiture. Confiscating assets from citizens on the mere “assumption” that a crime has been committed without due process has been abused by law enforcement for far too long. SB 17-1313 passed and was signed into law on June 9, 2017.
Tim was also a sponsor of this year’s bill that would require the state to adopt “least restrictive regulations for professions and occupations”. Unfortunately, the bill died, but will no doubt be resurrected in future legislative sessions.
Having a 5-year voting record in the Colorado legislature is both a blessing and a curse for an incumbent candidate like Senator Neville. His Principles of Liberty grade has been a consistent A to B+ for the first 4 years of his public service. Oddly, Senator Neville scored a D+ in 2018, mostly due to his votes on bills where there were conflicting principles at play. Regardless, it was the determination of the RLCCO Candidate Review committee that Senator Neville has, on balance, been one of the most vocal and effective champions for liberty principles in the Colorado legislature.
Christine Jensen – SD 20
Born & raised in Jefferson County, Christine is a mother, grandmother and small business owner in the mortgage industry, employing about dozen people. Christine wants to bring business sense to government, especially in the area of fiscal responsibility. She also thinks businesses are over-regulated on the state level.
Christine has 4 kids and throughout the years has navigated public, private and charter schools, and has experience in homeschooling to boot. She’s well-versed in the strengths and weaknesses of each system and can certainly speak the language at the legislative level.
A 2016 graduate of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, Christine has also served as Chairman of the Arvada Chamber of Commerce, and still serves as the chair of their Government Affairs committee, which she started. She serves as liaison to the coalition of JeffCo chambers and the JeffCo Business Lobby. Christine’s district is very similar in makeup to Sanchez’ and Neville’s, with roughly 30% Rs, 30% Ds and the rest unaffiliated or minor parties.
Christine is running against former HD24 representative Jessie Danielson. In the 2014 election, Republican Larry Queen lost to Democrat incumbent Cheri Jahn by 435 votes out of about 68,000 votes cast. Christine has already raised over 50% more than Queen did in 2014, and has been canvassing her district for over a year.
Tony Sanchez – SD22
Tony has been an activist for conservative causes in Colorado for several years. He ran for SD22 in 2014 and won a decisive victory in the primary over Mario Nicolais, a more moderate Republican. Tony went on to lose the general election narrowly to incumbent Andy Kerr, who is now term-limited.
In the interim, Sanchez created an organization called Freedom For Education, proponents of school choice, education options and skills-based education for those who don’t intend to go to college.
Tony took the fight to the Colorado Board of Education to prevent educational software and app makers from collecting any data that can be linked directly back to an individual student. HB16-1423 is now a nationwide model for this initiative and was signed into law by Gov. Hickenlooper on June 10, 2016.
Tony is opposed to President Trump’s tariff policies, is also opposed to the “Red Flag” bill that was considered by this year’s legislature and he doesn’t believe that having Republicans in control of the presidency and both houses of Congress has played out as well as it should have. Our debt and deficit have continued to balloon out of control and the party isn’t willing to take tough stands on the budget, despite promises to the contrary. Tony says he senses a lot of anger among his constituents on those particular subjects.
Tony is strong on gun rights and TABOR. He feels that TABOR is the only reason that Colorado has continued to have a vibrant economy. He also will emphasize accountability and transparency in government if elected,
Tony is running against Brittany Pettersen, the former representative for HD 28. Pettersen is married to Ian Silverii, Executive Director of ProgressNow Colorado, an extreme left organization.
Additional Notes:
All 3 candidates were endorsed by Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry (CACI) despite the fact that all 3 refused to back the Chamber-endorsed Initiative 153 that would increase the state sales tax by .62% to fund roads and “transportation projects”. Instead, all 3 vocally support the Independence Institute-sponsored “Fix Our Damn Roads” amendment which will fund road and bridge repair without pork projects for bike lanes and multimodal transportation.
All 3 of these Senate races are being targeted by Democrat operatives and big money donors aligned with liberal causes. Think carpenter’s and electrician’s unions, teacher’s unions, NARAL and other national groups trying to paint our state dark blue.
Call to Action:
As an organization, Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado seeks to identify and endorse liberty-minded candidates, then works to get them elected. It is our view that these three candidates will defend our principles of free markets, limited government and personal freedom at the state level. If you agree, please donate to any or all of these campaigns and volunteer to help them in their quest to defend liberty in Colorado.
