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SD5 candidate Q&A: Republican Marc Catlin

Marc Catlin is the Republican candidate for Senate District 5.
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The Post Independent is publishing Q&As for our community’s house and senate district races ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Each candidate is provided 700 words including a bullet-point bio for a column along with 100 words for each of their answers in the Q&A section.

Rep. Marc Catlin is a Republican who represents Colorado House of Representatives District 58. He is a candidate for state Senate in Colorado District 5, which includes Garfield and Pitkin counties. You can read Democratic candidate for SD5 Cole Buerger’s Q&A responses here.

If elected, what would be your first priority for the next legislative session?



When elected, my top priority is working on the cost-of-living that is currently facing our communities in Colorado and even more so on the Western Slope.

Water is top of mind for many on the Western Slope. If elected, what actionable steps would you take to improve Senate District 5’s water future?



Our water future is what provoked me to run for the state legislature. Colorado must stay the leader in water management in the West. We must stay ever diligent to ensure that Colorado is prepared for our growing future. I am committed to ensuring that water policy remains focused on protecting productive agriculture, providing clean drinking water for our communities, and keeping Western Slope water on the Western Slope. Also, I am committed that the Shoshone water right is purchased and completed for the benefit of the Western Slope of Colorado.

Short-term rentals and vacation homes are prevalent in mountain communities that also face a shortage of affordable, long-term housing. Would you support legislation to further regulate and/or tax these properties? If so, what would you support and why?

Resort and mountain communities have been working toward a workable solution for all parties. Whatever future proposed regulations are made need to be carefully constructed, so that we are not hurting the mom-and-pop landlords or the tourism industry. We do not want to injure house owners that own a home and rent it out to seasonal workers. There are retired folks who rent out units to supplement their income — those are not the folks that we should be trying to force out of the market. I am more in favor of incentivizing builders to work on building up supply of “starter” homes/units and attainable housing units.

For many Coloradans, economic challenges and cost of living are the most important issues this election. If elected, how would you plan to address those concerns in your district?

I share the same concerns and challenges from cost-of-living. I believe there are several things that the state of Colorado can do to relieve the stress of cost-of-living. For starters, the state of Colorado cannot continue to pick winners and losers in the market. The burdens that the state of Colorado has placed in the last few sessions on industries such as: agriculture, energy production, healthcare, and construction need to stop. Colorado needs to be open for business.

There is sometimes a tradeoff at the Capitol between maintaining party unity or working across the aisle. How will you decide when to work with either side?

I have built a record of being bipartisan. I believe in working on solutions for my district, not playing party politics. It is an easy thing to say that someone will be bipartisan when they get in the building, but I have the experience and the relationships to ensure that your legislator will work to actually have your voice heard on both sides of the aisle. Well over 90% of the bills that I have run over my time in the legislature have had sponsors from both parties.


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