This questionnaire was first published for the June 2024 primary. Candidates were given the option to update their responses and answer additional questions. This questionnaire has been updated, wherever noted.
Lesley Smith
lesleyforco.com
Relevant experience
CU Board of Regents (2019-present)
City of Boulder Water Resources Water Board (2013-2018)
BVSD Board of Education (2005-2013)
Research Scientist, CU Boulder (1989-2018)
Priorities
- Protecting environment and climate change
- Public education
- Affordability in housing and health insurance
Lightning round
Yes/no answers only
Do you support the state’s elimination of local occupancy limits? Yes
Do you support ending the state’s prohibition on local rent control? Yes
Do you support requiring more density in your jurisdiction as a way to address the affordable housing crisis? Yes
Do you support the Front Range train as the state’s highest priority for passenger rail? Yes
Additional questions for November 2024 general election:
Who are you supporting for president and vice president ? Harris/Walz
Do you support local efforts to increase the minimum wage? Yes
Do you support an end to the state prohibition on rent control? Yes
Do you support interventions for human-caused climate change? Yes
Do you support for SB24-157 which narrowed the definition of what constitutes a public meeting? Yes
When was the last time you paid rent? How much was it? And where?
The last time I paid rent was when I first moved here and was single, which was in 1990. I lived in Lyons, and I paid $500 per month. I have two children, so I understand the plight of renters and home ownership. My daughter lives in DC and pays $2,200 per month, which eats a significant portion of her monthly income. She laments that she will never be able to buy a home. My son lived in Westminster and paid $1,500 per month in rent. He was able to save enough for a down payment for a small home in Broomfield. He could never have bought a home in Boulder, which is unfortunate and all too common a story for parents who live in Boulder.
What would you say are the top three issues facing District 49, and what are your plans to address them?
I registered my candidacy a year ago, and I have been traveling my district since then to learn about the issues of concern. Affordable housing and health insurance, forest health, fire mitigation and home insurance, water resources and dispersed shooting are some of the most common issues I have been hearing about.
I was asked last summer by former Sen. Jeanne Nicholson to work on the issue of the lopsided distribution of gaming funds between the City of Black Hawk and Gilpin County. The county has the lowest combined property and sales tax rate in the state, and it depends largely on funds generated by gaming in Black Hawk and Central City. Recently, because the taxes are so low, the county revenue, including revenue from gaming, has not kept up with the growth in statutorily required services, such as the Sheriff's Department and Public Works. Their community center has had to reduce the number of days and hours it is open, and the childcare center recently closed. If elected, I have committed to working with Sen. Roberts to see how this issue can be resolved.
Another issue that has commonality both in Boulder and Clear Creek Counties is dispersed shooting in areas where homeowners live on Forest Service land. This has been an issue in areas off Boulder Canyon, but it is also an issue in Allenspark and a subdivision in Clear Creek Canyon. I want to see if the state can provide teeth to a law that will improve the safety of these communities.
Another issue I have been focused on is universal healthcare. HB24-1075, Analysis of Universal Health-Care Payment System, did not pass this session because the clock ran out. If elected, I will support running this bill again, and I’d like to be a co-sponsor.
How do you represent and advocate for voters in suburban and rural areas in a state where the focus and power tends to be concentrated in the more urban Front Range, particularly Denver and Boulder?
District 49 is large, and the majority of it is mountain rural geographically. As I have already done, I will travel the district speaking with elected leaders and community members about the issues they are facing, and this will drive the types of legislation I will champion. Fortunately, many of the issues faced by the more rural parts of my district also face Boulder. The Boulder part of District 49 is located on the wildland urban interface (WUI), and we worry about fires, insuring our homes due to the risk of fire, fire and climate change resilience, forest health and water availability. In addition, affordability of housing and health insurance are a common issue throughout the district, as well as the whole state. Even gun safety is on the top of everyone’s mind. The types of gun safety may be different flavors — assault rifles versus dispersed shooting — but nonetheless revolve around the use of firearms.
What is the strategy for evolving transportation systems (particularly in suburban and rural areas) to meet Colorado’s climate goals, while balancing the realities of car dependency for those who must rely on personal vehicles?
A multi-pronged approach is required to solve our reliance on cars. First, we need denser walkable or ridable neighborhoods with services. Where I live in Boulder, I can walk 15-20 minutes or ride my bike five minutes to go to the market, mail a letter and have a choice of restaurants. I’d like to see this replicated across Boulder. Second, we need protected bike lanes, so riders feel safe to ride. Again, we are lucky in Boulder because we have a very dense network of bike paths and lanes, so riding and/or using electric scooters is easy and for the most part safe to do. Third, public transportation needs improving. RTD needs to be dependable and bus frequency needs to increase, so that commuters feel this is a viable option to use rather than single passenger trips to commute. Connecting that last mile or two between one’s home and the bus stop needs improvement. Electric scooters are helping with this issue. We have a high schooler who lives across the street, and he uses a scooter to get to the bus route that drops him off near his school and vice-versa to return. I’m excited about the Front Range Passenger Rail and how that can ease the commute of some drivers.
For people who have to rely on cars, I would encourage them to purchase hybrid or electric vehicles to cut down on greenhouse emissions. The state and federal governments offer significant rebates, which cuts down on the total cost of a vehicle. I would like to see Boulder have more non-Tesla charging stations (these are pretty common around town), especially Electrify America stations because many e-vehicles get two to three years of free charging, depending on the vehicle make. Also, new developments should be required to install charging stations.
What is your assessment of the current approach to, and state resources available for, wildfire mitigation, prevention and response in D49? What areas, if any, are in need of more investment or attention, and what is your plan for making those happen? Are there any additional areas of focus you believe are needed? *
With climate change upon us, the need for wildfire mitigation and prevention becomes more critical in our state and in HD49. The state has some programs that help with mitigation. The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) focuses on many counties, including Boulder and Larimer Counties. They administer the workforce grant and partner with the Colorado Youth Corps Association to provide mitigation projects to homeowners located in these counties. The state also has the Landscape Resilience Investment Program, which provides funds on a watershed level to help protect them. There are non-profit organizations, such as Wildfire Partners, that will survey homes located in the mountain rural areas and make suggestions on how to make one’s home more resilient. The city of Boulder recently announced the Wildfire Resilience Assistance Program, which provides an assessment of properties, and if eligible will provide up to $1000 in assistance to implement the recommendations. On the more stick versus carrot approach to mitigation is the fact that many insurance companies will not insure homes in areas prone to wildfires, if homeowners do not mitigate their properties. I’m more inclined toward the carrot approach, and I would like to see more resources available for homeowners, especially low-income ones, to harden their properties against wildfires.
With respect to response to wildfires, I think local counties and the state have done a pretty good job. In July, we had three of the largest wildfires in HD49. Even though resources were spread thin in the state and in the Western US, these fires got under control as quickly as possible despite very hot and dry conditions. The state recently purchased a Firehawk helicopter, which was used in at least one of the Boulder County fires because I saw it in the air. This was a smart purchase by the state. The Governor can also deem wildfires a state of emergence, which then brings in the Feds to direct the command center and use Federal resources.
*Additional question for 2024 general election
What is your plan for addressing the high poverty rates in rural mountain communities (legislation, resource allocation, etc.)?*
I’m not certain what role the state plays in addressing the high poverty rates in rural mountain communities. I’m not familiar enough at this point with the state budget to know how resources can be reallocated to help alleviate this issue. A recent article in the Colorado Sun reported that the state will be in the hole by one billion dollars due to the legislation that passed in the special session to lower property taxes, along with the economy tightening up. Consequently, I’ve been told by many legislators that there will be no money for new legislation passed next year. That being said, there are ways to help low-income community members. One is the passage of Universal Healthcare, which will provide everyone in Colorado access to affordable healthcare. Another is to lower the cost of prescription drugs, as has been done with insulin and Epi-pens. Counties through their human services departments can implement programs, like local food banks and elder care services. I have been traveling my district for the past year and a half, and I know the difficulties these communities face. I will be open to hearing about innovative ways that we can better address this issue.
*Additional question for 2024 general election
What are your feelings on the balance between the need for housing and the pressure of development in your district, particularly in rural mountain communities? What, if any, resources, tools, legislation, etc. would you use to shift the balance to a more sustainable place for the long-term?*
Everyone I speak with and everything I read is that we have to build more housing so that housing, either rental or home ownership, becomes more attainable. In speaking with elected officials and town administrators, I have heard loud and clear that a one size fits all approach is untenable. I believe a good first step is for communities to come together to craft a plan that will work best for them. I met with administrators from Clear Creek County last year. I learned that the county had gathered input from all its towns to help develop a county-wide housing plan. Idaho Springs needs housing for the workforce, while Georgetown needs housing for people aging in place. SB24-174 essentially lays out this approach in law: local governments must conduct and publicize a housing needs assessment by the end of 2026, and they must develop a housing action plan. The state may provide grants to help fund the plans, and it will act as a clearing house for local governments. Local governments, with input from their community members, can determine the best mix of development. As a local control state, I believe this is a good balance between state oversight and local government policymaking.
*Additional question for 2024 general election
Given the realities of a changing climate and limited government resources, how do you plan on balancing mitigation and adaptation for already-impacted populations in District 49?
First and foremost we must tackle the driver of climate change — greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the fossil fuel industry, transportation and buildings. This will take a multi-pronged approach: stop emissions from orphan wells and current oil and gas operations, cease oil and gas operations and convert to 100% renewable energy for transportation and buildings. This will take careful planning, significant investment and the will to transition to a 100% renewable energy goal within the next decade or two.
In terms of planning, how can the state develop the infrastructure to handle the massive electricity load we will need to generate and move safely from point A to B? As we move toward 100% renewable energy, how does the state ensure a just transition for workers in the oil and gas industry, who have well-paying, unionized jobs? There needs to be a very thoughtful and well-developed plan to make this major transition as smooth as possible. The legislature will have an important role in this, and I look forward to tackling this if elected.
The development of microgrids with battery storage will allow communities to be more resilient. If power needs to be shut off, as what happened recently with Xcel, outages can be very localized and the grids can run off back-up power. CU East is an example of such an effort after the Great Flood of 2013 marooned this part of campus (a 1000-year rain event that was fueled by warmer air temperatures). The state should continue offering incentives for rooftop solar panels and solar gardens that can connect to a microgrid. High winds are a fact of life in Colorado, and the types of winds experienced during the Marshall Fire will most likely increase in number. We need to ensure our electric infrastructure is safe — undergrounding the grid will increase our resiliency.
How does JEDI factor into your policy making?
The best way I can illustrate this is to provide a few examples of what I have done as a CU Regent to incorporate JEDI into my policy making. First is the Black Lives Matter movement. Like most college campuses, there were calls for action on the Boulder campus to rid the campus of the police department. The chancellor convened very early on with the BLM movement, the Black Student Alliance and other Black leaders on campus for weekly roundtable discussions. I asked to participate in these discussions because I felt it was important for a regent to hear the issues that our Black students, faculty and staff were facing in terms of policing, as well as the general climate. Through this work we developed some steps to make the campus feel more welcoming, such as the implementation of the Community Oversight Review Board of the campus police department. We still have work to do for all people of color to make our campus more welcoming.
Another example comes from the Denver campus. Early in my tenure as regent, Regent Irene Griego and I met with a group of American Indians and their advisor to hear issues they were facing on campus. As a result of this meeting, we pursued two things. First, in collaboration with American Indians across our campuses, we implemented our first system-wide Land Acknowledgement, which we read at the beginning of each board meeting. Second, we asked our lobbyist to work with legislators to run a bill that would allow students who had historical tribal ties to Colorado, and who live outside of Colorado, to pay in-state tuition. I testified both in the House and Senate Education Committees on this bill, and it successfully passed.
What efforts do you make in your daily life to consider and understand people with different lived experiences from your own?
When I was on the BVSD school board, I was concerned that we only heard from a small segment of our constituents — those that had complaints and had the time to show up at our board meetings. I wanted to know if the broader community also felt this way. We hired a firm to help us develop a process to receive input from across our district. We held community meetings in the mountains, in Boulder and in East County. Our district was 20% Latino at the time, and I wanted to hear from this community as well. We partnered with Intercambio to invite and host the Latino families that were served by Intercambio for a bi-lingual listening session. This is one of the best meetings we had, and it opened the door for Latino families to become more involved in their children’s schools and attend board meetings (we started having translation available).
The lesson I learned is that I must go to the community on their own terms to learn what they want for their community. This is the approach I would take to ensure that I am hearing all the voices in District 49.
When’s the last time you changed your mind about something, and what was it?
I am always open to changing my mind. When working on a particular policy, I start the process with a certain end-point in mind. I then receive input from various stakeholders and our attorney. My initial idea for a policy might change and as a result, the final policy or product is often better. As a legislator, I would use the same process to formulate a bill.
What question would you ask a fellow candidate on the ballot?
How will you bridge the partisan divide in the House? This is a major platform of your campaign and the primary reason you decided to run.