Centennial State News

Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl is blasting Gov. Jared Polis’ attempts to lessen the punishment for auto theft as illogical.

“It’s embarrassing that Jared Polis would use another election year ploy to pretend he’s focused on Colorado’s crime crisis,” Ganahl said in a Sept. 13 press release. “On Polis’ watch, Colorado has become the most dangerous place to raise a kid. Polis has placed criminals ahead of victims and ignored the pleas of Coloradans to deal with the fallout from his soft-on-crime policies."

After signing into law, a bill making the criminal penalty for stealing a car worth $2,000 a misdemeanor, Ganahl claims the governor recently sent a letter to the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice requesting the sentencing change to be reversed despite the Common Sense Institute recently concluding Colorado has the worst car theft problem in the United States.

Data from the Colorado Department of Public Safety, which was highlighted in a recent report by the Denver City Wire, found the rate of motor vehicle theft in Colorado almost doubled between 2019 and 2021, increasing from 377 to 637 per 100,000 residents. Overall, the rate of car theft in the state is more than double the national average of 246 per 100,000 residents.

“Polis is responsible for Colorado’s crime crisis,” Ganahl said. “From passing SB21-271 (Senate Bill 21-271) which has led to the poorest Coloradans being targeted by auto thieves, to decriminalizing fentanyl and other hard drugs, to lowering the penalty for felony murder, Polis has supported criminal activity instead of victims and their families. As governor, I will be tough on crime from day one."

Even as he acknowledges a rise in crime, Polis is quick to deflect from taking any of the blame. 

"Since the last letter that I transmitted to you in 2020, our state and nation has experienced a rise in crime to which we must respond with urgency and intentionality," he wrote in the Sept. 15 letter. Polis attributed the rise in crime to "societal" and "cyclical" factors before asking the commission to "examine changes to auto theft sentencing, so that the repeat offenders and the most egregious perpetrators cannot easily return to communities to further inflict harm on the people of Colorado."

Ganahl defeated Greg Lopez in the Republican primary in June for the right to challenge Polis in the November general election, according to Ballotpedia.