Colorado Candy Man Runs for Office, Fights Taxes on Candy

The cost of food has gone up a lot in recent years. Basic ingredients, like sugar, are more expensive than ever and wholesale bulk candy makers all over America are feeling the pinch. So when the state of Colorado decided to raise taxes on candy, Rick Enstrom knew what he had to do. Get elected to State Congress.

What better way to overturn these candy taxes than to join the ranks of the legislators and de-legislate the tax. Of course, that's not Mr. Enstrom's entire campaign platform (though we would still support him if it were!), but his family connection to a toffee company in Colorado cannot be overlooked among the circumstances of this election.

A few years back, when the new tax was first introduced, Mr. Enstrom spoke up for small candy businesses across Colorado not only as a small businessman himself but as a member of the Nation Confectioners Association. His derision of the law brought him a lot of attention at the time.

The opportunity to run for office presented itself when the legislative maps in his county were re-drawn according to a law passed by the opposition party. Since the district has been changed, the former representative decided to run for the Senate, leaving a vacancy that Mr. Enstrom no doubt saw as his opportunity to change the candy oppressors' laws of the land!

Though we like to play up his savvy candy business experience, Mr. Enstrom has been an elected official in the past. At the age of 24, he became the youngest person ever to be elected a County Commissioner in Colorado. He followed that up with a stint as the State Wildlife Commissioner. So he has been in politics before. And his position on education reads like a passionate one.

We salute you, Rick Enstrom. May candy men and women all over be elected to office and promote a love for candy from sea to shining sea!

Colorado Statesman