Hickenlooper picks CSU-Pueblo prez as running mate

By The AP
Thursday, August 5, 2010

DENVER — Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper said today that he has picked CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia as his running mate, calling him a nonpartisan person interested in finding solutions.

Hickenlooper isn’t facing any opposition in the primary election that wraps up next Tuesday but it’s still unusual for a candidate to pick a running mate before then.

Garcia, a Harvard-trained lawyer with extensive public service in southern Colorado, was named president of Colorado State University-Pueblo in 2006.

Before joining CSU, Garcia served as president of Pikes Peak Community College, the Rocky Mountain States representative for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and as a partner in the Colorado Springs office of law firm Holme Roberts & Owen.

He obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School and his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Garcia, who has four children with his wife, Claire, joined the board of directors of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority from 1994-1999 under then Gov. Roy Romer. Gov. Bill Owens appointed him again in 2001.