Gov. John Hickenlooper wears a trout necktie given to him by students at Escuela Tlatelolco and the Nuestro Rio Youth Group, thanking him for his efforts in pushing Browns Canyon being declared a national monument. (Governor’s Facebook page)
The term-limited Colorado governor is not on Tuesday’s ballot but John Hickenlooper’s political clout faces the test with two tax measures.
The first is Proposition BB, asking voters to allow the state to spend $66.1 million in marijuana taxes. The bipartisan measure is expected to win wide approval.
The more interesting test is in Denver — a measure the Democratic governor wholeheartedly endorses and sees as a potential national model for providing low-income students money for college. It — 8 cents on a $100 purchase –to raise $10.6 million a year to provide need-based college aid, capped at $4,000 a year, to needy students.
“This is one of those things I believe very strongly in,” Hickenlooper said in a recent interview, after casting his ballot for the measure.
If it passes, Hickenlooper said Denver would be “the first major city in America where they are saying, ‘If our kids work hard enough, we’ll make sure they’ll get to go to college no matter how poor their family is.’ What an incredible statement about the American dream and I think it will resonate around the country.”
Hickenlooper’s ability to convince voters to raise taxes is , particularly when he was Denver mayor. But in 2013 when Amendment 66, a $950 million tax hike for schools, that . The loss didn’t kill his re-election a year later, and he is about the need for other potential far-reaching budget overhauls that his allies .
If the college scholarship tax hike wins approval — and it faces an uncertain future given — Hickenlooper wants to create a state program to encourage other local governments to do the same.
“Our hope is that if this passes in Denver, we will be able to convince other (cities) … and have a local match to encourage communities all over the state and ultimately this be a statewide program.
The question is close to Hickenlooper’s heart, given he the Denver Scholarship Foundation in 2006 as Denver mayor — a philanthropic model for what 2A would seek to create.
“This would be the part the DSF hasn’t been able to get to,” he said. “And allow kids that come from the poorest families to know that if you work hard enough, money won’t be what keeps you from going to college.”
Hickenlooper recalled his time in Denver schools as mayor, adding that it is “a relatively small amount of money” with the potential for big impact.
“If it helps to get even 10 percent of the kids to really work harder and believe in themselves that they can go to college, it’s a huge success,” he said. “Let alone, the fact you have kids coming out of college with this huge debt, a ball and chain around their life.”
