State Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, wants to keep her seat in state Senate District 21, even though she wasn’t elected into her position.
A former state House representative, Boyd was shuffled to her current position early this year after state Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood, left amid pressure following what some believe was an attempt to extort a campaign contribution. Newcomer Andy Kerr filled Boyd’s seat in the transition.
Now Boyd wants the Senate District 21 seat with approval of the voters.
“I want to continue to work on streamlining Medicaid legislation that I worked on last year,” Boyd said. “At the same time, we want to save some public dollars. We want to make sure the system works better for families and children receiving public health care.”
Boyd is no stranger to legislative warfare. For three sessions, she pushed a bill requiring health-care facilities to advise female sexual assault victims of emergency contraception options. After passing both houses in the 2005 session, Gov. Bill Owens vetoed it. In this year’s session, she successfully passed a different incarnation of the bill giving pharmacists the right to dispense emergency contraception without a doctor’s prescription.
Boyd said she is proud of legislation she has helped push through, because it creates more options for small businesses to offer their employees health care. She claims 80 percent of the enrollees were not previously insured.
Boyd also touted the need for higher quality public education and higher education.
“It’s important not only in terms of our children, but it’s also important we have strong facilities for economic development,” she said. “If we want good, well-paying jobs, education and economic development are key.”
Betty Boyd
Age: 63
Residence: Lakewood
HOW LONG: 32 years
Profession:
Previously in nonprofit management
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Matt Knoedler
State Rep. Matt Knoedler’s extracurricular activity — playing and coaching ice hockey at the Foothills Park and Recreation District — prompted one of his accomplishments in the Legislature.
A bill he initiated influenced national insurance companies to drop their insurance rates for youth sports coaches by 90 percent.
“For the compensation rates, they were being rated as professional athletes,” Knoedler said of the coaches.
As he embarks on the race for the state Senate District 21, Knoedler, R-Lakewood, reflected recently on his time in the Legislature. He said he takes pride in working with the other side of the aisle.
“Every bill that I passed had bipartisan cosponsors, and I’m proud of that,” he said. “I’m also proud that I was able to solve some problems without passing bills.”
Knoedler cites immigration as an important issue in the past legislative session, and says it will be in the next one. He believes employers should be given the ability to verify legal status.
“I think that employers need more tools to be able to verify whether an employee is legal,” he said. “We didn’t pass any bills in this session that would give employers those tools. We just told them they’d be punished.
“Most of the employers are well-intentioned people who don’t want to break the law,” he said.
Knoedler added that he also is in favor of showing proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Knoedler recently won a victory over the 527 Clear Peak when it was forced to pull an ad that Knoedler said distorted his record on immigration. Although the ad touted Knoedler’s opponent, state Sen. Betty Boyd, she did not endorse the ad and publicly stated it was unfair.
“Betty and I have gotten along well in the legislature,” Knoedler said. “I’d like to think that I’m not running against Betty Boyd, but that I’m running for the Senate.”
Matt Knoedler
Age: 31
Residence: Lakewood
HOW LONG: Since 2002
Profession:
Law firm consultant, real estate agent