DENVER—Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper said Thursday that he has picked CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia as his running mate, calling him a nonpartisan person interested in finding solutions.
Garcia said he will focus on the state’s economy and education, including public schools and higher education.
Garcia acknowledged that the official job of lieutenant governor is limited to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Child Care Advisory Committee, but he said “the portfolio of the governor is as big as the governor wants it to be.”
GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis questioned the decision by both men to collect their paychecks while they campaign for another job.
“You’ve got somebody that works for the taxpayers down in Pueblo and you’ve got somebody that works for the taxpayers up here. Interestingly, they both draw their salaries while they’re running for governor,” McInnis said.
McInnis said he has not decided who he will pick as his running mate if he becomes the Republican’s candidate after Tuesday’s primary.
His primary opponent, Dan Maes, welcomed Garcia to the campaign trail, but said he didn’t know much about him.
Hickenlooper isn’t facing any opposition in the primary election that wraps up next Tuesday but it’s still unusual for a candidate to pick a running mate before then.
Hickenlooper said Garcia is a biker and snowboarder who “lives Colorado.” He said he was looking for a running mate with “a track record of the kind of non-partisan, collaborative leadership Colorado needs to come together and solve our major challenges,” especially in education.
Garcia, a Harvard-trained lawyer with extensive public service in southern Colorado, was named president of Colorado State University-Pueblo in 2006.
Before joining CSU, Garcia served as president of Pikes Peak Community College, the Rocky Mountain States representative for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and as a partner in the Colorado Springs office of law firm Holme Roberts & Owen.
He obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School and his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Garcia, who has four children with his wife, Claire, joined the board of directors of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority from 1994-1999 under then Gov. Roy Romer. Gov. Bill Owens appointed him again in 2001.
Political consultant Eric Sondermann said it’s a choice with a lot of potential that shows Hickenlooper is thinking outside the box of normal politics, since neither candidate has any legislative experience.
“This choice maintains the Hickenlooper brand of not playing politics, and it provides ethnic diversity,” Sondermann said.
Republicans Dan Maes and Scott McInnis are still fighting it out for the Republican nomination to challenge the Denver mayor. Former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo has also jumped into the race, running as the American Constitution Party candidate.
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Associated Press writer Ivan Moreno contributed to this report.
