Guv clarifies comments about “sense of relief ”

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday defended his comments a day before about having a “sense of relief” if the state doesn’t land Amazon’s new headquarters, saying he doesn’t think the company’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, would look poorly upon his words.

“If I was Jeff Bezos, I would look at those comments and say, ‘That’s just the kind of city we are looking for,’ ” Hickenlooper told reporters at an event announcing the state’s electric vehicle plan.

Hickenlooper, who is now facing a GOP attack over his words, said his comments reflected a sense that Colorado is willing to work hard on the growth challenges and other problems it could face if Amazon were to come to the state.

He also reiterated that he has “worked as hard as anybody” on the bid to bring the company to Colorado and that just because there would be hurdles it “doesn’t mean we’re not going after it 100 percent.”

“It’s a ton of work, and I think Amazon is clearly the kind of company that’s based on innovation,” the Democrat said. “And as we face the challenges of growth, which we are right now, they’d be a great partner to us. … I think any of the … cities they are looking at face similar problems, maybe not New York City.”

He added: “The cities that people talk about — Austin, Denver, Raleigh-Durham or Charlotte, N.C. — we would all have growth problems and we would all expect that Amazon would be a partner in that growth.”

On Tuesday at the City Club of Denver, Hickenlooper said “I’m not going to cry” if Amazon picked another location.

He also said: “There will be a sense of relief if they choose somewhere else, because there are a lot of challenges and lot of hard work we will be avoiding.”

The Colorado Republican Party on Wednesday said the comments were proof that the state needs to elect a GOP governor in 2018.

“While other states are doing everything they can to land Amazon’s $5 billion investment, Gov. Hickenlooper is actively undermining Colorado’s chances,” the party’s state chairman, Jeff Hays, said in a written statement.

Denver is on a list of 20 finalists for the tech company’s new headquarters, known as HQ2, worth an estimated $5 billion in capital expenditures.

But with all of that windfall come inevitable growth problems in the already jam-packed metro area, including the addition of up to 50,000 employees.

The state offered incentives that could exceed $100 million to lure Amazon, and it submitted a single bid that highlighted a host of potential sites for the new headquarters.

Sam Bailey, of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and who was among the leaders in drafting the state’s bid, said Hickenlooper’s comments Tuesday are part of Colorado’s cautious optimism toward Amazon.

Bailey told The Denver Post: “More than anything, it reflects our tone that has been there from the start. We are cautiously optimistic on this Amazon opportunity. I think the governor is looking at it as, if we lost Amazon, it’s not the end of the world for Colorado.”