House District 12

Mike Foote–Democrat

Best thing on his resume: Foote heads the white-collar crime unit for the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office in his current job as deputy DA, which he’s done for the past 10 years. Who better to send to the state legislature?

No. 1 priority: Finding a way to restore funding to K-12 education in Colorado is high on Foote’s list, including grappling with the budgeting restraints in the state Constitution (TABOR, Gallagher Amendment and Amendment 23). “There’s dysfunction in the budget,” he says. “The system right now is just not sustainable. … Colorado is close to last [in terms of per-student funding]. That’s not acceptable.”

Novel idea: Foote proposes on-bill financing for energy efficiency upgrades at home and for businesses—your low-cost loan for improvements will added to your monthly bill but in payments that are no more than the value of your savings. That means your bill will stay the same until the loan is paid off, an easy way to increase energy efficiency without breaking the bank.

Russ Lyman–Republican

russlyman.org

Operating philosophy: A self-described “geek’s geek,” Lyman’s job with Level 3 is to unclutter the information superhighway so that the Internet can function properly—he wants to bring the same concept to politics, where he says he doesn’t want to be known as the guy who introduced a bunch of laws, but as the guy who got rid of useless ones.

15 minutes of fame: Lyman didn’t plan to get into politics—“Running for office was not on my bucket list,” he says—but he felt compelled after attending a straw poll and realizing that no other Republicans had tossed in their hat. On being nominated, he gave an impassioned, impromptu speech after which “people were literally throwing money at me.”

Highlights: Republican with a healthy dose of libertarianism, Lyman wants to do away with the idea of state-sanctioned marriage and legalize drugs and other “victimless crimes.” He will fight to preserve the TABOR amendment. He’s driven by a desire to restore liberties that have been taken away by needless and frivolous laws. “You don’t give up your power and choice just because you vote for somebody,” he says.

Matthew Webber–Libertarian

matt4co12.weebly.com

Nickname: In 2008, we had “Joe the Plumber;” this year’s candidate is “Matt the Plumber,” who (unlike Joe) actually worked in plumbing sales and marketing before going back to school at Metro State to study industrial design. “I decided to run because there was an opening,” he says. “We didn’t have anyone else who was interested and I felt the voters deserve a different choice, a Libertarian choice.”

Legalize it: Webber’s platform is boilerplate Libertarian, advocating a combination of personal liberty and personal responsibility that includes legalizing both drugs and prostitution as a means of saving money from enforcing laws against them as well as generating revenue by taxing them.

On the role of government: “[Government should] stop people from blowing you up, first of all, [and] stop foreigners from invading your space and liberty,” he says. It should also keep your neighbors out of your business by preventing them from infringing on your liberties. “Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean that somebody else shouldn’t be allowed to do it.”

Claim to fame: Endorsed by Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

YS Endorsement: Mike Foote

It’s lucky that in a lopsided race, the one candidate to stand out is one we’re comfortable endorsing. As well-intentioned as Lyman and Webber may be, House District 12 deserves a representative who entered the race deliberately and with the intention of winning. Mike Foote impressed us with his background as well as with his dedication to solving the state education funding problem.