2010 Election
Lundberg supports 60, 61, 101

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Kevin Lundberg's aggressive advocacy for smaller government, limited taxes and "traditional" moral values has chafed critics, but endeared him to constituents who elected him to the Colorado House of Representatives four times since 2002.

Now he is pursuing the senate seat that eluded him in his first unsuccessful run in 1998. Appointed to complete the term of former senator Steve Johnson, now a Larimer County commissioner, Lundberg is seeking election to a full four-year term in Senate District 15 covering all of Larimer County except Fort Collins.

In the current campaign, Lundberg, 58, of Berthoud is stressing the same conservative principals. While his unflinching approach has cost him support for some of his proposals in the legislature, Lundberg makes no apologies and rejects compromise.

"Some of the bills I have carried have not passed because I don't just run easy bills. I have the courage and the fortitude to take on the tough issues," he said about his candidacy. "Among these are measures that honor the intrinsic values of life and marriage, and bills that limit and reform taxes and eminent domain. My record is clear and I will continue to champion the principles of limited, honest and morally upright government."

Lundberg is a stalwart supporter of proposed Constitutional Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101. Collectively, they would cut mill local levies, gradually reduce state tax rates and vehicle registration fee, forbid borrowing by the state, require local governments to get voter approval before borrowing and require that debt to be repaid within 10 years.

Lundberg, who owns a video production company, fiercely defends the measures as necessary to prevent blatant deceit employed to avoid the dictates of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.

"They are tough medicine but are in fact getting back to what TABOR was in 1992," he said. "It brings us back to the constitutional realities that were there all along."

Transportation improvements are among his top priorities, but Lundberg said he objects to efforts such as Colorado's FASTER program funded by regressive vehicle registration fees. Instead, Lundberg said he would support a more progressive, user-based gas tax increase if approved by voters.

Lundberg said the state also must stand up to the federal government and quit transferring transportation tax revenues, which are returned minus a slice and with dictates on the wages of workers.

"It's absurd to be funding other states when we can't afford to fix our own roads," he said.

Lundberg said Colorado, like dozens of other states, also must stand firm against the federal government's universal health care program. Constitutionally, he said, "Congress does not have the authority to step in and do this."

While Congress does have the authority to regulate immigration, Lundberg said Colorado cannot wait for it to do so. Instead he insists the state must adopt legislation similar to that in Arizona aimed at preventing illegal immigration, which he said is costing Colorado "millions if not billions of dollars."

Lundberg said employers and social service agencies should be required to verify workers and clients are in the country legally. And he said public schools should at least "determine who in their ranks are from illegal families."

The intent is not jailing or deporting undocumented residents, he said, but to "send the message this isn't the state to come to unless you're legal."

"The problem largely cures itself," he said.