State House District 49

Lundberg pushes for lower taxes

By Dan MacArthur
Correspondent

Frisbie says district deserves more

By Dan MacArthur
Correspondent

Republican Kevin Lundberg's unabashed belief in less government and lower taxes colors his entire approach to serving in the state legislature.

"I want to defend and maintain our freedoms," he said. While he said others such as his opponent support a greater role for government in resolving problems, he sees "it as a dark cloud of threat rather than a solution."

"We cannot continue to tax (people) more and more," continued Lundberg, who is seeking a second term in the District 49 seat he won two years ago in an uncontested election.

Consequently, he is a strong believer in the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and will not support asking voters to modify it. "I think it does what it's intended to do," he said.

In fact, Lundberg said he considers TABOR the reason for Colorado's relative well being. By restraining spending, he said, the state is much better prepared to emerge from the recession. Lundberg said the so-called "ratcheting-down effect" only restrains the growth of government. He prefers to call it the "living within your means provision."

"In fact we cut very little out of state government," said Lundberg, who earned the Colorado Union of Taxpayers top rating. "I found very few substantive cuts."

Lundberg said his top priority if re-elected will be to fundamentally reform the Medicaid program that provides nursing home and medical care to the poor.

On transportation, he said the state should be able to retain and more efficiently spend funds now turned over to the federal government.

Both issues require the state to challenge further heavy-handed federal mandates in Congress, which Lundberg believes is one of the legislature's primary responsibilities. He said that's the reason why he was among the minority opposing the decrease in the intoxication threshold for drunk driving arrests during the last session.

"We have to stand up and say, 'That's not right,'" said Lundberg. "I believe we need to be as noisy about this as we can."

He is equally forthright in his advocacy of conservative social issues. Characterizing the effort to preserve the "true meaning of marriage" as the "most significant domestic issue of the decade," Lundberg said he likely will once again propose a resolution in support of the Federal Marriage Act Amendment, a proposed Constitutional amendment limiting the definition of marriage to the union of a man and woman. He sponsored an identical resolution that failed in the last legislative session.

Lundberg said he is distinguished from his opponent by his anti-abortion stance and his common sense. Doug Frisbie's "sense of common sense is much more government than my sense of common sense," Lundberg said.

For example, Lundberg said he opposed the so-called "Lacy's Law" increasing penalties for impersonating a police officer. He said he didn't believe another law would deter criminals such as the "murderous villain" posing as an officer, who kidnapped and killed college student Lacy Miller in Fort Collins.

Lundberg, 52, of Berthoud is a Colorado native. He earned a bachelor's degree in history and social science from Rockmont College (now Colorado Christian University), for which he has served as a trustee since 1990. He also helped found Christian Home Educators of Colorado in 1990. Lundberg is an independent producer of media, primarily for Christian and nonprofit groups.

Democrat Doug Frisbie believes the 49th district has not been well served by the incumbent who follows a "narrow, ideological agenda."

Unlike his opponent, Frisbie insists that government has an important role to play in people's lives. "Government must protect its citizens, it must provide educational opportunities, it needs to provide for safe and adequate transportation and it has a legitimate role in overseeing businesses that do business with our citizens," he said.

If elected, Frisbie said his emphasis would be supporting families and small businesses. Making affordable health care available is his top priority because he believes it is the greatest need. "Every small business I've talked to can no longer afford health care for their employees," Frisbie said.

The problem, he said, if further aggravated by the uninsured unable to afford preventative care who end up in costly emergency rooms when illnesses finally become too acute to ignore.

He proposes that the state charter a nonprofit organization to compete with the private companies. This organization, Frisbie said, would create a large pool of participants to share the risk and reduce costs.

As for complaints about the state competing with private enterprise, "Tough luck, Charlie," Frisbie responds. "I have no sympathy for large insurance companies ripping off the middle class."

He also would expand eligibility for Child Health Care Plan Plus, a low-cost health insurance program for children 18 and younger whose parents earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance.

Frisbie supports the state buying drugs in bulk directly from manufacturers at an estimated $15 million annual savings. He also believes the state should consider importing drugs from Canada and implementing a program for low-income seniors to get discount drugs. His opponent, he notes, served on the committee that killed two similar proposals in the last legislative session.

The state also must create a positive environment for small business, Frisbie said, by offering tax credits for providing health insurance and phasing out business personal property taxes.

Frisbie said restoring funding to Colorado State University is essential. The best way to do that, he said, is asking voters to either remove the "ratchet-down effect" in the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, or to allow a one-time retention of revenues TABOR otherwise requires to be returned to taxpayers.

Common sense most distinguishes him from his opponent Kevin Lundberg, according to Frisbie. He points to Lundberg's votes against what Frisbie considers sensible legislation lowering the drunk driving intoxication level, increasing the penalty for police impersonators, and requiring insurance companies to explicitly state what cancer screenings are covered in policies.

Frisbie, 62, raised in Kentucky, earned his bachelor's degree from Emory University, master's from University of Kentucky and doctorate from University of Minnesota - all in political science. He taught political science at Miami University (Ohio) from 1969 to 1973 and later founded consulting businesses that worked with law enforcement agencies. He has also worked for state and county government and private industry.

A 14-year resident of Estes Park, Frisbie has served seven years on the Park R-3 school board and started two nonprofit foundations. The Estes Park Salud Foundation provides affordable medical and dental care to Estes Valley residents. Breakthrough Abroad sends high school students to developing communities to perform community service.