Website: www.coffmanforcongress.com

Experience
Colorado State House of Representatives, 1988-1994; Colorado state Senate, 1994-1998; Treasurer, State of Colorado, 1998-2006; Secretary of State, State of Colorado, 2007-present.

Education
Bachelor's degree, University of Colorado, 1979.

Family
Wife, Cynthia.

Would you support an expanded guest worker program and how would it work?
I would not support an expanding guest worker program until we fix the current one. For example, agricultural workers under the H2A visa program are currently given year long visas renewable up to three years (not enforced) and are allowed to bring their families with them. The program should be reformed to allow these workers to stay for no longer than the specific agricultural season that their visas are for and they absolutely should not be allowed to bring their spouses and minor children with them.

Should Congress permit increased offshore drilling? In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?
Yes, this would help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help stabilize energy prices.

Should Congress provide the requested $50 billion in low-cost loans to the auto industry for retooling and development of fuel-efficient cars?
No. The demand for fuelefficient cars is strong enough to warrant the auto industry’s ability to obtain the capital necessary to support the required retooling. Congress should instead look at tax policy changes such as increasing an investment tax credit targeted at the production of fuel efficient vehicles.

What’s your assessment of recent Supreme Court picks Samuel Alito and John Roberts?
I strongly support their appointments because they base their judicial philosophy on interpreting the laws as opposed to the judicial activists who want to make laws by legislating from the bench.

Does the American health care system need tweaking or an overhaul? What would you advise the next administration to do?
We need a more robust inspection program and we must be willing to ban imported goods when they are found to be tainted and retain the ban until they are found to be safe.

Should the U.S. government make it more difficult for American businesses to “outsource” jobs?
So long as local, state, and the federal government tax American businesses at rates much higher than our foreign competitors, the United States will continue to lose jobs. In order to stop job losses, the United States must reduce the tax burden on American businesses in order to attract investment and create job growth and new economic opportunities.

How would you reform the Department of Education or would you recommend Congress abolish it?
Their needs to be an administrative component to both higher education and K-12 education somewhere within the federal government. I’m not sure whether or not a separate department is needed. However, I do believe that education policy is best left to the state legislatures and local school districts to decide. Congress is too removed from the classroom to make effective education policies.

Do you support a constitutional amendment to bar homosexual marriage? Why?
Yes. Why? I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Are you a dog or a cat person?
Definitely a dog person.

What food do you hate most?
The MRE’s I had while in the U.S. Marine Corps. MRE stands for “Meals Ready to Eat.” I referred to them as “Meals Rejected in Ethiopia.”

The book you’d most like to read next?
“Hot, Flat, and Crowded,” Thomas Friedman

The movie that made you laugh out loud the most?
“Monty Python and The Holy Grail.”

The “one food” you would want stuck on a deserted island?
Watermelon.

The person you wish would run for U.S. president?
Newt Gingrich

What personal feat are you most proud of?
Retiring from the military with service in both the U.S. Army and in the Marine Corps.

What one question would you love to have answered and by whom?
The meaning of life? Homer Simpson.

Where do you recommend people from out of town eat?
Imperial Chinese Restaurant on South Broadway in Denver.