Spotlight on Colorado House District 28

This is another installment in a series of articles My Colorado View is featuring about several key races across Colorado.

Colorado House District 28 is a race for an open seat in a newly-drawn district. Businesswoman and mother Amy Attwood is facing community organizer Brittany Pettersen. The district includes south and west-central Lakewood. Voter registration, like many Colorado districts, is very close between Republicans, Democrats and Unaffiliated.

Attwood is the Chief Financial Officer of her family’s construction business, Clemons Construction. She has worked with her mom, dad and brother in the business since she was 14. She grew up in Lakewood and graduated from Columbine High School and the University of Northern Colorado.

She is married to Gavin, a former teacher who is now the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado. They have two sons, Max and Zak. Together, Amy and Gavin own a mountain expedition company called Summit Xperience, LLC, where they lead teams to the tops of some of the world’s highest mountains.

According to her website, her priorities as a Representative will be:

• Stabilizing the business climate so companies can grow and hire
• Disciplined spending that forces more efficient and smaller government
• First-class education to best prepare young people to best compete
• Emphasize freedom and independence to live quality lives

Find out more about Attwood on her website at www.amyattwood.com.

Pettersen has a humble background, as she tells it. Her dad is a construction worker and her mother is a hair stylist. She is the first person to graduate from high school and college from her family. She put herself through school, many times working multiple jobs to pay for it. She states on her site that she was an “at-risk youth” although she doesn’t elaborate about that.

Her biography notes she traveled around the world volunteering in schools and orphanages. However, an October 9, 2012 Colorado Observer article notes “Pettersen traveled to Europe – but instead of photos of her helping impoverished students and orphans, she’s snapped with a friend touring Italy, soaring in a hand-glider and rappelling down an icy ridge in the Swiss Alps.” It goes on to note these photos were posted on October 27, 2007 on the internet.

According to her website, she currently works for the “non-partisan” New Era Colorado which helps engage young people in government and politics. Non-partisan is in quotes because those are her words from her website. When you look at the “About” page for New Era Colorado, there is a picture of a bus that says “Forward” in the window (President Obama’s campaign slogan) and there is a quote from Paul Harstad, a pollster for Barak Obama, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, all Democrats. Interesting to note, she is not listed on the New Era Colorado’s staff page or board page.

The priorities she lists on her site are:

• The Economy and Jobs – keeping jobs in Lakewood and Colorado
• Education – “I believe that there is no economic development tool better than education.  It is the silver bullet,” it says on her website. A rather strong image when talking about our children.
• Environment – she does not support fracking, stating she wants strong rules in place to protect neighborhoods from the dangers of fracking. She doesn’t elaborate what those dangers are.
• Equality and Social Justice – She supports same-sex marriage and full rights to choose contraceptive methods.

The same Colorado Observer article that mentioned her European travels also notes she has had a recent tangle with the judicial system stemming from several car accidents that occurred in recent years. The article details the assertion that Pettersen owes her attorney fees and countersuits have been filed. This kerfuffle is further detailed in a Colorado Peak Politics article published on October 9, 2012.

Read more about Pettersen on her website at www.brittanypettersen.com.

According to the Tracer website that reports contributions and spending by candidates, Pettersen has raised a bit more in funds and spent much more than Attwood. As of October 1, Attwood had raised a little over $86,000 and had $76,000 left to spend. Pettersen has raised over $95,000 and has $42,000 left to spend. Attwood is designated at the Trailblazer level by the Colorado GOP which means she has hit the highest level for fundraising.

Endorsements:

Pettersen is endorsed by NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List, ONE Colorado and People for the American Way, the DC-based far-left megafund founded by Norman Lear that boasts Alec Baldwin and Jane Lynch as part of their board.

Attwood has garnered the coveted Stand for Children endorsement. This non-partisan education reform group interviews candidates to pick its favorites. This year, their picks were a mix of Democrats and Republicans.

“The endorsed candidates demonstrated their commitment to supporting quality teaching and school leadership, increasing access to excellent public schools across the state, and investing more in what works in public education,” says Sonja Semion of Stand for Children.

Debbie Brown, director of the Colorado Women’s Alliance released this endorsement of Attwood:

“The Colorado Women’s Alliance gives its unqualified and enthusiastic endorsement to Amy Attwood. She is truly one of us, a woman who, as wife, mother, community leader, and career woman, understands all of the demanding roles that each of us play. She has the same priorities that we have: to make sure our children get the best possible education, and to keep our families strong by increasing our economic and job security.  We know that Amy Attwood will use her common sense and intelligence to represent our values in the State House.”

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