Weiser visits Monte Vista

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MONTE VISTA—On a tour of the San Luis Valley, Democratic candidate for attorney general Phil Weiser stopped in Monte Vista for a meet and greet with supporters at Java Dave’s on Saturday. Considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination Weiser took the opportunity to introduce himself and to answer questions from the group of Democrats who stopped by to meet him.

Weiser is a law professor of 19 years at the CU Boulder School of Law. He served five years as Law School Dean. Weiser served for two years in the Obama Administration in the justice department.

Weiser stated he has an immigrant experience in the United States of America. “My mom came here when she was six. I grew up as the child of someone who was an American by choice. What’s unique about my American story is that my mom was born in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany on April 13, 1945. On the next day, April 14, the 2nd Infantry Division came and liberated the camp and my grandmother and my mom,” he said.

“My grandparents came here because they believed in our core freedoms and opportunity for all. That spirit both of believing and resilience and these core values of freedom and opportunity, that’s what’s propelling me to this race,” said Weiser.

“I think a lot about what is my part in this difficult time for our nation. In the Jewish tradition there’s this idea of you don’t have to complete the work of repairing the world but you’re not free to just sit strong.”

After finishing his time as dean of CU Law School Weiser was not sure what his next chapter would be. Weiser said he believed that Hillary Clinton was going to become president and he would return to Washington D.C. for a third tour of duty in the Justice Department after working for both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. “We’re not in that world. We’re in a much scarier world. Day after day the assault on our senses, and this sense of our core values and our freedom and democracy and equal opportunity, they’re slipping away.” said Weiser.

He said he spent last spring thinking about what his part in the current American story was. After speaking with many people and earning the endorsement of Colorado political icon Ken Salazar, Weiser decided to run for Colorado attorney general.

Weiser said there are three core values he is personally fighting for. “First our freedom, second opportunity, and third protecting our land, air and water. First our freedom— when you study to be a U.S. citizen you have to think about how our constitutional system works. One problem we have today is too many people take it for granted. What we cannot afford as citizens is what’s happening in congress which is people are being complicit. Not acting in the face in constant attack on our freedoms, constant threats to our democracy, we are complicit. We cannot be complicit at this time. We need to be active and engaged. Even though congress isn’t stepping up to fight for our freedoms state attorney generals are,” he said.

“Second, one thing that I really have been reflecting on is how many people feel that they they don’t have an opportunity to succeed in today’s economy. Last time I was in Alamosa Sheriff Robert Jackson was there with us and he said 90 percent of the people in the Alamosa County Jail that he supervises were opioid users...and there’s no place for them to go...if you saw that 60 Minutes special a lot of pharmaceutical companies were shipping out opioids and were told by the Drug Enforcement Agency this isn’t a legitimate medical use but they just got the DEA declawed so they could do whatever they wanted to do and make money. A number of state attorney generals are bringing lawsuits against these companies and we’re going to win these lawsuits. When I’m attorney general one of my top priorities will be to take that money we win from the pharmaceutical companies and create drug treatment opportunities across the state particularly where there aren’t any. I’m not just content with protecting people who have been preyed upon I want to affirmatively enable economic opportunity.”

 “Finally, when I talked to my kids they’re worried about the future of our planet, of our natural resources in an era when the United States of America is abandoning the fight on climate change. Syria is on board with the Paris Climate Agreement, Exxon Mobil is on board but the United States of America is not. The state of Colorado is. Our governor has signed us up but he doesn’t have the current attorney general’s support. Our current attorney general has joined with Scott Pruitt to continually undermine protection of our land, air and water and we deserve better,” said Weiser.

“This office is incredibly powerful but most people have no idea we even have an attorney general. This office is the largest law firm in Colorado and it needs to be the law firm that’s there for the people— 500 people in the office, 300 lawyers. They can protect you when you’re taken advantage of and cheated. They can file lawsuits against the federal government to protect constitutional rights. They work as the lawyer for regulatory agencies for issues like water, oil, gas, broadband and health care. They work with the legislature on issues like criminal justice reform. You only get that when you hire a problem solver and a leader...I want to work with county commissioners whether they be Republican or Democrat, and to do that I have to win this race. This is going to be hard. Only twice in the last nine elections has a Democrat pulled off winning state attorney general. Both times it was Ken Salazar.”

Weiser stated that Salazar gave him the advice that if he is serious about winning he had to get around the entire state and let people get to know him. He is trying to demonstrate that he is committed to helping improve communities throughout Colorado.

“This is going to be a long hard race but I’m not afraid of hard work and it really matters...by the Fall of 2018 I want people to know that Phil Weiser is in this to protect people’s rights.”

 


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