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Jan.
10, 2001
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| U.S. SEN. WAYNE ALLARD (left) talks with Montezuma County Assessor Bob Cruzan Wednesday morning at the M&M Truck Stop. Allard was in town as part of a tour launching his re-election campaign. |
By Janelle Holden
Journal staff writer
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) calls himself a work horse instead of a show horse, and he’s hoping his work record will help him get re-elected.
Allard, a former veterinarian who was voted into office in 1996, came to Cortez on Wednesday morning as he started his Western Slope campaign for re-election.
“As I launch my re-election campaign I am mindful that there are two kinds of people: those who just talk and those who work to get things done,” Allard told the gathered crowd at the M & M Truck Stop.
U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) introduced Allard.
“He’s not a showboat, he’s not the kind of person we recruit to put at the front of the parade, he’s the kind of person we recruit to make sure the parade gets done,” said
McInnis.
McInnis said Allard’s low-key approach to politics makes him look like a vulnerable candidate to Democrats on the national level, who plan to help Allard’s opponent, former U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland, raise $6 million.
“I think the people of Colorado want to see a positive campaign, they want to see a shorter campaign,” said Allard, who explained that the Democrats would likely target this race because he earned only 51 percent of the vote in the last election.
“There’s going to be a lot of outside interests involved in this election because of the fact that we have control of the Senate at stake, and we’re within one vote of one of the other parties controlling it, so there will be a lot of the small states that will get added attention from national interests as far as elections are concerned.”
The cost of campaigning is still a concern, however.
“I don’t think that we will be able to raise as much money as he (Strickland) does, but we will raise enough to get the message out in Colorado to let people know what we’re about.”
During his formal comments, Allard touted his record of holding a town meeting in each of Colorado’s counties each year.
From those town meetings, Allard said, he’s crafted legislation that created the Great Sand Dunes National Park and the Spanish Peaks Wilderness Area.
Allard said he has a voting attendance record of 99 percent, and has returned more than $2.4 million of unspent money from his office account to the U.S. Treasury.
It’s a different world than before Sept. 11, Allard said. “It’s a time that demands a Congress that is more practical and less political as we continue to rebuild our nation’s security and restore our economic prosperity.”
Allard said he’ll be pushing for tax cuts to stimulate the economy. He also plans to push for making health insurance tax-deductible for individuals and small businesses.
Allard currently serves on four Senate committees — Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Armed Services; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; and Budget — and plans on staying on the committees if re-elected.
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