The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Dan Korkowski of Grand Lake, left, and Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs, center, listen to state Sen. Jack Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs, speak during the dinner. Photo by Matt Stensland

Steamboat Springs — Jack Taylor began to bow his way off the political stage while Al White prepared for another act Saturday night at the Old Town Pub & Restaurant.

This year’s Lincoln Day Dinner featured remarks from former Congressman Bob Schaffer, a Fort Collins Re­­publican who is running for the U.S. Senate in a highly publicized race against U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat from Eldorado Springs. Schaffer, now vice chairman of the state Board of Education, focused his remarks on fiscal policy, stressing a need for tax cuts to stimulate the economy and less government spending in Washington, D.C. The message hit home with the more than 40 people in attendance, who gave Schaffer rousing ovations.

“If we want more activity … we’ve got to have competitive tax rates, not tax rates that drive people out of the country,” Schaffer said, noting that the U.S. has some of the highest business tax rates in the world.

Schaffer said his face-off with Udall is the No. 1 priority for the Republican Senatorial Committee.

But the most heartfelt mo­­ments of the dinner, an annual fundraiser for the Routt County Republican Central Committee, came as Taylor and White began the transition that will take shape in months to come. State Sen. Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs, is term-limited and not seeking election to another office after 16 years in the state Legislature. State Rep. White, R-Hayden, is seeking to fill Taylor’s seat in the state Senate and facing a race against Steamboat Democrat Ken Brenner, former president of the Steamboat Springs City Council.

Neither Taylor nor White mentioned Brenner’s name Saturday night. But with this year’s session of the state Legislature scheduled to end this week, both Republicans looked ahead to a summer of campaigning across Northwest Colorado.

Taylor said the words “lame duck” are not in his vocabulary and pledged to continue working as a legislator until his term officially concludes next winter.

“I’m going to fly this thing right down to the ground, all the way through to December,” Taylor said.

Two candidates for White’s seat representing House District 57 also spoke to the crowd Saturday night.

Dan Korkowski of Grand Lake and Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs are both battling for the Republican nomination for White’s seat.

“I want to follow in Jack’s and Al’s footsteps,” Korkowski said. “Personally, I don’t have any issues I want to bring forward — I just want to represent you.”

Baumgardner cited his ranching background and passion for agricultural issues and water rights.

Phippsburg resident Todd Hagenbuch, executive director of Historic Routt County, is running for the state House seat as a Democrat.

Schaffer also stressed a need to incentivize mechanized forestry work as a means to clear timber, improve forest health and mitigate devastation caused by the region’s bark beetle epidemic.

“I am not optimistic we’re going to get lucky again this summer,” he said of potential wildfires fueled by beetle-kill timber. “There’s a lot of dead wood out there in the forest.”