Gallup emphasizing health care

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Health care is the issue that propelled Donna Gallup into running for a seat in the Colorado Legislature. Gallup, 50, a Fort Collins Republican who works in development at Colorado State University, faces incumbent Randy Fischer in the House District 53 race this November.

As a recent cancer survivor, Gallup has had first-hand experience with deficiencies in the current health-care system. Following cancer surgery, she wondered how she would pay the bills. She has health insurance herself, so she sympathizes with those who have no coverage. Gallup believes everyone should have the opportunity to have health-care coverage and that the United States should come up with its own unique system.

A U.S. health-care insurance system, Gallup said, should lie somewhere between single-payer and a free market, with the government playing a role in cost control. "I take the issue very seriously," she said. "There are people who need help now, and they need to know someone is working on it. To do nothing or to let the government take over is not the answer."

Gallup has held no previous elective office, but she asserts that she has plenty of relevant experience. "Politics has always been in my blood," she said. She served an internship with the U. S. Senate Republican Policy Committee and worked on the campaigns of two Virginia politicians, serving as a campaign manager in one state race.

Gallup points out that she has just as much legislative experience as Fischer did two years ago. "It's a process, and I understand the process," she said.

She said her experience in working with diverse groups would serve her well in the legislature. Gallup cites her success, while working for AT&T Broadband, in bringing company officials to the table with those representing minority- and women-owned businesses, to clarify the bidding process.

House Bill 1161, sponsored by her opponent and passed by the legislature earlier this year, was a "bogus, election-year bill," Gallup said. The legislation further regulates uranium mining, but Gallup said that after studying the issue she concluded there was no health risk with Powertech's in-situ leach mining proposal and that regulations already in place were adequate.

"We don't need to play on people's fear," she said. "We need the truth."

Gallup said the people of District 53 have not been represented well in the legislature. "I relate to the issues people have, and my hand isn't in the pocket of special interests," she said. As a representative, she said, she would "always keep the focus on the people, not on personal agendas."

If elected, Gallup would push hard for transparency in every aspect of government. She believes the state government should have a budget database that citizens can access, similar to the one being developed by Fort Collins.

"We're paying taxes, and we need to know where our money is going," Gallup said.

Gallup holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.