MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH REP.-ELECT JARED POLIS (D-CO)
SUBJECT: DIVERSITY, EDUCATION, AND AUTO BAILOUT LEGISLATION INTERVIEWER: LUKE RUSSERT

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MR. RUSSERT: Joining us now is Congressman-elect Jared Polis, Democrat from Colorado. Congressman, welcome.

REP.-ELECT POLIS: Good morning, Luke. How are you? Good afternoon.

MR. RUSSERT: Congressman-elect, you have a really interesting background. You are the founder of BlueMountainCard.com (sic/BlueMountain.com), made millions, and you are the first openly gay man elected to Congress from Colorado. Sort of talk about what that is historically and what you hope to do to sort of change the hearts and minds of some of the more conservative members who are now your colleagues.

REP.-ELECT POLIS: Well, you know, I really spent a lot of time and effort looking to improve public schools in Colorado. I've been chairman of the state board of education, served on that for six years, started and ran some charter schools for at-risk youth.

And we have a diverse class, Luke, and that's one of the exciting things about coming to Congress at this time. The more Congress looks like America, the better. The more gender diversity, ethnic diversity, diversity of sexual orientation, the more we can effectively represent all the different interests of the country and balance them to reach the best possible outcomes.

MR. RUSSERT: You bring up education. What exactly are you going to do at the federal level to influence the American educational system?

REP.-ELECT POLIS: Well, you know, the No Child Left Behind policy -- the Bush administration's hallmark education reforms -- were really the tail that wagged the dog this last decade. I certainly worked on that at the state board of education, implemented it in Colorado. That expires next year. It's been held over. There'll be a chance to create a new framework for federal education policy -- to really help serve disadvantaged youth in this country, raises the bar on achievement, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of that in January.

MR. RUSSERT: The big news out of Washington today is that Speaker Pelosi is going to delay a vote on whether to help out Detroit until they, quote/unquote, sort of "show a plan" of how they're going to transform themselves. Renewable energy was a very important issue to you. What would Detroit have to do to get your vote in favor of a bailout?

REP.-ELECT POLIS: You know, I think that the speaker was absolutely right. I think the -- you know, the country's not in a mood nor is Congress in a mood to give Detroit a blank check for $25 billion. There need to be strong conditions, including clear goals for renewable energy, looking at executive compensation and bonuses, and all the things that we need to do to make sure that we're truly putting this industry on good footing for the future, and not just bailing out failed practices to allow them to occur again.

MR. RUSSERT: Reading your bio, you said that you're a die-hard Colorado Rockies fan. How are they going to deal with the loss of Matt Holliday in that lineup?

REP.-ELECT POLIS: That was kind of the worst news of the last few weeks for me here, so I -- I sure hope that we can recover from that. We have some good young talent, great -- great kids in the minor leagues; hopefully, a few coming up. We saw a few debut in the spring last year, so I'm hopeful we'll have a good finish. As you know, we don't play in the best division, so all we need to do is play .500 ball and we should go all the way.

MR. RUSSERT: Congressman-elect, thank you very much for your time. Good luck to you.

REP.-ELECT POLIS: Thank you.

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