COMMERCE CITY - In the first few months of his gubernatorial campaign, Democrat John Hickenlooper has made a broad argument that his experience as the founder of a LoDo brewpub has taught him a thing or two about how to help small businesses succeed.
Now, the Denver mayor is getting specific about how he, as governor, would go about actually creating jobs.
At the future home of the Rocky Mountain Soda Company here Wednesday morning, Hickenlooper rolled out a new plan for statewide job creation that would be region-specific and focused on something the candidate's already done with his restaurants and, politically-speaking, himself: building an overall brand.
"We will work with regional and local officials to encourage a pro-business atmosphere throughout Colorado, melding Colorado's tourism marketing with business recruitment efforts and encouraging cross-marketing and branding for Colorado products and services," Hickenlooper said.
Hickenlooper is also drawing on the input of around 200 economic experts to form regional-specific plans for economic growth in nine different parts of the state.
"These regional plans will guide the state's over-arching economic development plan to expand, attract and retain businesses in Colorado," Hickenlooper said.
Jobs have been the number one theme of the gubernatorial campaign to date, with Hickenlooper and Republicans Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, himself also an entrepreneur, all emphasizing their plans to get Colorado's economy moving again.
McInnis has tried to engage Hickenlooper in the conversation directly by arguing that he, as a Democrat, has been an ally of Gov. Bill Ritter and the legislature in raising vehicle registration fees and eliminating some tax loopholes for small businesses.
Hickenlooper Wednesday took a veiled shot at his likeliest GOP opponent, who has been a broken-record in talking about jobs on the campaign trail.
"It's not enough to just talk about creating jobs we need action," Hickenlooper said. "Any business knows you have to have a well-researched business model to reach prosperity. We're implementing a plan to involve the entire state in job creation that starts with concerns of businesses local level."
Later Wednesday, McInnis's campaign responded to Hickenlooper's jobs plan, which they dubbed a "Jobs for Bureaucrats" plan.
McInnis called Hickenlooper's plan "a typical Democrat approach to job creation: layers of bureaucracy, an extended process of meetings and task forces, and a commitment to expand government programs.
"Bringing an Obama-style playbook to Colorado won't score points for jobs, small business or working families. The Democrats have a tendency to confuse activity with accomplishment," said McInnis, who again took the opportunity to criticize Hickenlooper for not speaking up earlier in the year as the legislature passed the bills to close the aforementioned tax loopholes.
"When companies in Colorado begged for leadership to prevent job-killing tax increases, the Mayor ducked, dodged and ran for cover," McInnis said. "Some of the tax hikes passed by just one vote and leadership by the Mayor could have stopped them cold."
Now, the Denver mayor is getting specific about how he, as governor, would go about actually creating jobs.
At the future home of the Rocky Mountain Soda Company here Wednesday morning, Hickenlooper rolled out a new plan for statewide job creation that would be region-specific and focused on something the candidate's already done with his restaurants and, politically-speaking, himself: building an overall brand.
"We will work with regional and local officials to encourage a pro-business atmosphere throughout Colorado, melding Colorado's tourism marketing with business recruitment efforts and encouraging cross-marketing and branding for Colorado products and services," Hickenlooper said.
Hickenlooper is also drawing on the input of around 200 economic experts to form regional-specific plans for economic growth in nine different parts of the state.
"These regional plans will guide the state's over-arching economic development plan to expand, attract and retain businesses in Colorado," Hickenlooper said.
Jobs have been the number one theme of the gubernatorial campaign to date, with Hickenlooper and Republicans Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, himself also an entrepreneur, all emphasizing their plans to get Colorado's economy moving again.
McInnis has tried to engage Hickenlooper in the conversation directly by arguing that he, as a Democrat, has been an ally of Gov. Bill Ritter and the legislature in raising vehicle registration fees and eliminating some tax loopholes for small businesses.
Hickenlooper Wednesday took a veiled shot at his likeliest GOP opponent, who has been a broken-record in talking about jobs on the campaign trail.
"It's not enough to just talk about creating jobs we need action," Hickenlooper said. "Any business knows you have to have a well-researched business model to reach prosperity. We're implementing a plan to involve the entire state in job creation that starts with concerns of businesses local level."
Later Wednesday, McInnis's campaign responded to Hickenlooper's jobs plan, which they dubbed a "Jobs for Bureaucrats" plan.
McInnis called Hickenlooper's plan "a typical Democrat approach to job creation: layers of bureaucracy, an extended process of meetings and task forces, and a commitment to expand government programs.
"Bringing an Obama-style playbook to Colorado won't score points for jobs, small business or working families. The Democrats have a tendency to confuse activity with accomplishment," said McInnis, who again took the opportunity to criticize Hickenlooper for not speaking up earlier in the year as the legislature passed the bills to close the aforementioned tax loopholes.
"When companies in Colorado begged for leadership to prevent job-killing tax increases, the Mayor ducked, dodged and ran for cover," McInnis said. "Some of the tax hikes passed by just one vote and leadership by the Mayor could have stopped them cold."
