Voter Guide

The Colorado Springs Gazette sent out a questionnaire for selected candidates for their Primary Voter Guide. While Liz received an email with the questions, and responded in a timely manner, she was not included in the newspaper article. Here are the answers that she submitted.

At the Capitol, I will work to bring career-track job opportunities to Fountain Valley and surrounding areas, creating pathways to home ownership and greater financial security in our communities. 

I am a health insurance broker and I have already been supporting legislation that reduces healthcare costs. I have been sounding the alarm since 2016 that we have a lack of doctors, facilities and hospitals in the Southern parts of El Paso County. Without convenient access to healthcare our health outcomes are diminished with each contamination we face. The negative ramifications to our health is increased due to lack of health care professionals. 

Our chances of experiencing continued contamination here is significantly higher because we do not have representatives willing to stand up to those who use us as an environmental dumping ground. We do not have the infrastructure in place to prevent or track these ongoing projects. We have experienced five water contaminations in the last 40+ years and we still haven’t eliminated the root problem. We do not need to be the sacrifice zone of the county. The financial costs for all of these contaminations is placed on the shoulders of our families with increased medical costs, medications, surgeries, and superfund sites. We need justice and for all of this to stop. I will be the representative to stand up and loudly fight for all of us.

As a former high school history teacher, I will strive to fully fund PK-12 education in the state budget, while also working to expand opportunities for the whole community by funding upskilling, job training, and continuing education programs. 

I believe in an open, transparent and responsive government. I want you to know where I stand on issues that impact us in the Fountain Valley and across Colorado. I will hold town halls during the legislative session and after to make sure I can hear from residents on what they need to be successful. I am an active participant in this community and regularly attend many functions.  I already hold town hall meetings, attend other informational meetings and return phone calls, something our current representative has not done in two terms.  

When we were alerted to the PFAS water contamination our local elected officials failed to adequately respond. I organized the Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition and since then we have contributed to the passing of seven state laws. Our hard work brought in the Center for Disease Control national health study to our community where only eight sites were chosen. The CO-Scope study has completed its sample collections and we are awaiting the comparison results with the other communities. 

I am a person of action and results. I live in the Midway Villa Casita Community and our water is still not filtered. The first bill we passed in 2019 created a fund, and we are waiting on a grant. This is all happening because I am actively working on it, making sure notifications are made, explaining what is happening to community members, and getting the funding necessary so we can also have clean water like the other larger municipalities. There is no reason to ignore rural people, and I won’t ignore my neighbors. 

 I will make sure the goals and needs of my community are heard and included in legislation, funding, and not undermine the work of the people. Legislation needs to have a people focus for better wages, employee rights and small business funding. We need healthy communities where our children know they are taken care of in public schools with funding for a/c, heat, food, supplies, and smaller classroom sizes.  

I believe our government is for the people, we have guaranteed rights, and also great responsibilities to ourselves and each other. In order to live in a society of peace and prosperity without creating unfair burdens on our working families. 

All levels of government must work together during times of struggle and success. I have lived in the Fountain Valley for over 20 years and I have experienced the 2008 financial crisis, the 2016 PFAS water poisoning announcement, the 2018 hail storms, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During times of struggle I look for the people trying to solve the problem and provide assistance for those in need without creating political division. 

During times of success we adequately fund our schools, allowing us to provide food for all children during the school year and even during summer vacation. Funding for rural areas to get PFAS filtered from their water can happen and this is the federal, state, and local people getting this done. We also have better access and funding for health insurance for working families through Connect for Health. Working together for the people is my priority. 

Unaffiliated voters receive both the Democrat and Republican ballots, so it is irresponsible for the Gazette to not include any real information about the Democrats who are also running for local office.  The questions provided by the Gazette were biased and skewed so Liz provided information from her perspective.