Andrew
Romanoff says the four-year fight between the Army and Southern
Colorado ranchers over the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site has gone on too
long and - if elected to the U.S. Senate - he would permanently block
any future expansion of the 238,000-acre training area near Trinidad.
"We need a total ban on (the Army) expanding Pinon Canyon," the former
Democratic speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives said in an
interview Thursday. "The ranchers down there deserve to have this fight
come to an end once and for all."
Romanoff is challenging
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., for the party's nomination and he
spoke to the Jac-X-Press Democratic Club in Pueblo on Thursday.
Publicly, the Army has wanted to expand Pinon Canyon since 2006, saying
it needs more training land to support troops at Fort Carson. Ranchers
and other opponents have blocked that effort with federal and state
legislation, forcing the Army to whittle its land acquisition effort
from 418,000 acres in 2008 to 100,000 acres last year.
Foes
have been wanting a Colorado senator to take a hard line and rule out
any future expansion - a step that would likely prevent the Senate from
considering any expansion under its rules. While Sens. Mark Udall and
Bennet, both Democrats, have voted for annual funding bans blocking any
expansion, neither senator has gone so far as Romanoff, ruling out any
future consideration.
Romanoff is running for the Senate as
an outsider of sorts. While he has an established reputation with
Colorado Democrats after serving in the Legislature, it is Bennet - who
was appointed to the Senate seat a year ago by Gov. Bill Ritter - who
has the backing of the national Democratic Party and President Barack
Obama. In fact, Obama is coming to Denver later this month to appear at
three Bennet fundraisers.
Several Democrats at the luncheon
said Obama's endorsement of Bennet may not carry much weight with
rank-and-file Democrats, who have seen the Democratic majority in
Congress seem to be in disarray over health care and other issues.
"I don't think it hurts Andrew at all to be considered an outsider
right now," said Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor, one of about 70
Democrats at the luncheon.
Romanoff had the backing of more
than 60 county Democratic chairmen when Ritter was deliberating over
who to appoint to the Senate seat vacated by Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar in January 2009.
Ritter chose Bennet, the
superintendent of Denver Public Schools, and a virtual unknown to
Democrats outside the Denver area - a pick that startled and angered
numerous Pueblo Democrats.
"My opponent has money, but we
have people," Romanoff said, referring to Bennet's impressive war chest
of nearly $5 million in campaign contributions.
By
comparison, Romanoff has raised about $600,000 - "But nearly all of my
contributions have come from Colorado residents," he said.
Romanoff has announced that he will not take contributions from
political action committees and other special-interest groups. He is
trying to draw comparisons to Bennet, who has received sizable
contributions from Wall Street banks and financial interests by virtue
of serving on the Senate Banking Committee.
"I think too many
lawmakers get enthralled with the need to raise money and turn to those
special interests to get it," he said.
Romanoff never
mentioned Bennet by name in his luncheon speech, but said Democrats had
squandered their opportunity for real health care reform by going along
with special deals made to win the support of Democratic senators.
Those deals angered the public, Romanoff said, and Democratic senators
should have stopped them - not protested afterward.
"We made
the biggest mistake in offering a compromise bill (to Republicans) who
never intended to compromise in the first place," he said.
Romanoff supports a public option - giving people a government-backed
insurance program as one alternative - and said Congress must provide
that if lawmakers are going to require everyone to purchase health
insurance.
