Coloradans voted by a wide margin to send Democratic Gov. Jared Polis back for a second term in Denver. This should give him the confidence to show his independence and rein in some of the worst impulses of the state legislature, which remains in his party’s hands.

In the debate between Polis and his Republican opponent here in Grand Junction, the governor said he would be a “problem solver” and vowed to not rule out solutions, even if they came from outside his party.

“I believe in taking the best ideas from the left, the right, the middle – from everywhere – to move Colorado forward,” Polis said.

Now is his chance to prove it.

Even outside Colorado, Polis is getting attention for his ability to thread the needle between the progressive wing of his party and the more moderate, pragmatic voters in the center of the electorate. To quote Washington Post columnist George Will, Polis is “a progressive who is palatable to nonbelievers.”

Part of that appeal is that Polis is still very much pro-business. He came out of the business world, developing companies during the dot-com era and successfully selling them.

He also supports some policy positions that make him seem more like a libertarian than a progressive. In April, reason.com even posed the question of whether he is the most libertarian governor in America due to his stances on abortion rights, school choice and an income tax rate of zero.

This is in pretty stark contrast to the state legislature, which is controlled by the Democrats. They appear to have even added to their majority in this election. We don’t think that’s a particularly good development.

As we’ve written before, one-party rule tends to lead to bad results. Debates are cut off early, groupthink sets in and you get bad policy as a result. We’ve started to see that happen over the last couple sessions. Republicans aren’t going to be able to do much to put a check on this trend, but Polis should.

We’re developing a California-like reputation among the business community for saddling companies with onerous regulations. Instead of more, we need to take the handcuffs off.

The governor won big, and he can claim a mandate from voters. He should use this win to do a bit more table setting at the legislature and flex a bit by delivering some pro-business policy. Maybe see what innovative ideas the Republicans and chambers of commerce have on that front. He said he’d look for good ideas anywhere.

“It has been the honor of my life to serve as your governor for the last four years and it will be an honor to continue to serve as your governor,” Polis said in a victory speech in downtown Denver. “I will never stop fighting for the future and the state that we love.”

In his first term he delivered some real help for Coloradans by expanding preschool and kindergarten access and limiting health care costs. Those were important wins for the people of this state.

His second term is starting with the state’s economy facing some challenges. We’ve got high inflation, like the rest of the nation, and our housing costs are making Colorado unaffordable. Bringing down costs for people can be done in a business-friendly way. When the government gets out of the way, our businesses can deliver their goods and services more efficiently and at a lower cost. That would be a win-win for our business community and Colorado consumers.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Editorial Board

Read the original article here