Office and district sought: State House, District 40
Name: Debbie Stafford
Party affiliation: Republican
Website: www.debbiestafford.com
E-mail: house40@comcast.net
Age: 53
Last degree earned: BA equivalency
Occupation: State representative; pastor; counselor; auctioneer
Hobbies: Cooking, camping, restoring a cabin, skydiving.
Family: Husband, Bob Edison; combined family of six children
How long have you lived in Colorado? Where did you live before? 30 years; (last) Ohio, Louisiana, California, Nebraska, South Dakota
Last book read: Lucky, by Alice Sebold
Civic Involvement: Co-chair, Kay community Response Team; Aurora chair, project Heritage; Colorado Coalition of Faith; volunteer – Colorado Department of Corrections.
Major endorsements: Colorado Realtors Association; National Federation of Independent Business Association; Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry; Colorado Association of Ambulatory Surgical Centers.
Why are you running? My experience as a pastor, counselor and community activist as well as six years in the Legislature allow me to have a balanced view of public policy.
What are the top three challenges facing Colorado?
1. Affordable accessible health care.
2. Transportation.
3. Illegal immigration.
What is your top priority in the next session if you should win?
Healthcare. I have identified areas of cost savings in Medicaid that would allow cost reductions, allowing more children and medically fragile citizens to receive health care assistance.
I am also focusing on mental health care. Colorado is lacking in prevention and intervention and spends excessive amounts of money when people without treatment offend.
What proposal in the last session did you oppose the most? Creating as preferred drug list that would have excluded the special and sensitive medication needs of the developmentally disabled and most fragile citizens.
What proposal in the last session did you agree with the most? Oversight of the Mortuary Science profession. Colorado is the only state in the nation that ignores this industry. Issues of public health, safety, dignity and health standards are often overlooked.
