Victor Mitchell

Infobox State Representative
name=Victor Mitchell


state_house=Colorado
state=Colorado
district=45th
term_start=January 10 2007
preceded=James Sullivan
succeeded=Incumbent
date of birth=birth date and age|1965|12|12
place of birth=Edison, New Jersey
date of death=
place of death=
spouse=Amy
profession=Entrepreneur, Investor
religion=Roman Catholic
party=Republican|

Victor Mitchell (born December 12 1965) is a Colorado legislator. Elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Republican in 2006, Mitchell represents House District 45, including Teller County and southern Douglas County, Colorado.cite web |url=http://comaps.org/district45h.html |title=State House District 45 |accessdate=2008-01-26 |format=html |work=COMaps ]

Biography

Born in Edison, New Jersey, Mitchell attended San Diego State University, earning a bachelor's degree in finance in 1988. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Business College of San Diego State University.cite web |url=http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=66275 |title=Representative Mitchell |accessdate=2008-01-26 |format=html |work=Project Vote Smart]

In 1987, while in college, he started a transportation business, and, over the course of his career, founded and served as CEO and chairman of five companies: Advantage Advisory Service (1989-2004), Advantage Cellular (1991-1995), Advantage Wireless (1996-2004), Motion Telecom, (2002-2004), and Ricochet Networks (2003-2004). After selling Advantage Cellular to AirTouch (later part of Verizon) in 1995, Mitchell moved to Denver, Colorado in 1996 and founded Advantage Wireless, a wireless distributor. After expanding to 114 branded locations, Advantage Wireless was sold to private investors in 2004. Advantage Wireless, Inc. was named "Colorado Small Business of the Year" by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce in 2000. Mitchell has also served on the boards of the Denver Metro Chamber and the Denver Better Business Bureau.cite web |url=http://www.victormitchellforcolorado.com/about.php |title=About Victor Mitchell |accessdate=2008-01-26 |work=Victor Mitchell - Republican House District 45 ]

In 2003, Mitchell acquired control of Ricochet Networks, a data service provider that had suffered multiple bankruptcies. The follow year, after turning its first annual profit under Mitchell's leadership, Ricochet was acquired by Young Design, Inc. Mitchell was named by the "Denver Business Journal" as one of their "top 40 under 40" for business executives of Colorado, and was a finalist for Ernst and Young’s "Entrepreneur of the Year" recognition. Mitchell also returned to school to earn a Master of Public Administration degree in 2005 from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Currently a resident of Castle Rock, Colorado, Mitchell is married; he and his wife, Amy, have three children: Lauren, David, and Emily. He has been a member of the Castle Rock Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club of Castle Pines North, the Douglas County Senior Foundation, and the local nonprofit Ready to Work Strive, as well as Saint Thomas More Catholic Church and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education Advisory Committee. With his wife, Mitchell helped launch the Douglas County arm of Project Lifesaver, a project that provides tracking devices to Alzheimer's patients and others with a propensity for wandering. Mitchell is also an avid tennis player.cite news |author=Staff Report |title=Citizen legislator, February 1 |url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/feb/01/citizen-legislator-february-1/
work=Rocky Mountain News |date=February 1 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-27 ]

Politically, Mitchell chaired the Douglas County arm of the political committee opposing Colorado's 2005 Referendum C, and was a director of the Colorado Leadership Program of the Rockies. In 2000, he attended the Capitol Conference in Washington D.C. on behalf of U.S. Senator Wayne Allard.

Political career

2006 election

In 2006, Mitchell faced Democrat Linda Constantine in the overwhelmingly Republican district. Mitchell campaigned on his opposition to Referendum C, cite news |first=Deedee |last=Correll |title= District 45 — clash of the businesspeople |url=http://www2.gazette.com/display.php?id=1321890&secid=31
work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=September 23 2006 |accessdate=2008-01-27 ] and on his support for education reform, including support for charter schools.cite news |author=Staff Reports |title=Area lawmakers win and lose |url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_21999___article.html/bills_colorado.html
work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=May 7 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-27 ]

2007 legislative session

Infobox Colorado Legislation
Title=Rep.
Name=Mitchell
Year=2007
Bill Number 1=HB07-1064
Bill Link 1=http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2007a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/13A2C4BAEDE4B44A87257251007BFE31?Open&file=1064_enr.pdf
Bill Title 1=Concerning grants to encourage the use of tracking technology by counties to locate people who become lost as a result of a cognitive impairment [...]
Bill Status 1=Signed by Gov. Ritter

During the 2007 legislative session, Mitchell served on the House Education Committee, the House Finance Committee, and the Legislative Audit Committee.cite web |url=http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2007a/directory.nsf/HouCommWp?OpenView |title=House Committees of Reference |accessdate=2008-01-26 |format=html |work=Colorado General Assembly] Mitchell expressed his frustration with the pace of educational reform as a minority member of the Education Committee, blaming the lack of substantial reform on teacher's unions.cite news |first=Ed |last=Sealover |title=Education reform is slow-going |url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/education_21740___article.html/merrifield_house.html
work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=April 28 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-27 ]

Building upon his work with Project Lifesaver, Mitchell sponsored successful legislation to encourage the project's expansion, including $380,000 in grants to counties to provide tracking bracelets for cognitively impaired people and coordination with law enforcement agencies.cite news |first=Kevin |last=Simpson |title=Bracelets help wanderers return home |url=http://www.denverpost.com//ci_5567070
work=Denver Post |date=April 1 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-26 ] cite news |first=Ed |last=Sealover |title=Ritter signs bills for aging, disabled |url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/home_23060___article.html/bill_bills.html
work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=May 31 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-27 ]

2008 presidential election

In 2007, as a state legislator, Mitchell was named a member of the Colorado Legislative Leadership Team for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.cite press release | title=Governor Mitt Romney Announces Colorado Legislative Leadership Team | publisher=Romney for President | date=November 15 2007 | url=http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/CO_Legislative_Leadership_Team | accessdate=2008-12-30 ] Shortly before Super Tuesday in February, he was announced as a Douglas County chair for Romney's campaign.cite press release |title=Romney For President Announces Colorado County Chairs |publisher=Romney for President |date=2 February, 2008 |url=http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48742104_mitt-romney-romney-president-announces-colorado-co |accessdate=2008-05-03 ] After Romney dropped out of the presidential race a few days later, Mitchell offered support for Arizona Sen. John McCain.cite news |first=Chuck |last=Plunkett |coauthors=Anna C. Mulkern |title=Colo.'s GOP elite shift to McCain |url=http://www.denverpost.com/nationalpolitics/ci_8201610 |work=Denver Post |date=8 February 2008 |accessdate=2008-05-03 ]

2008 legislative session

In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Mitchell sits on the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee and the Legislative Audit Committee.cite web |url=http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2008a/directory.nsf/HouCommWp?OpenView |title=House Committees of Reference |accessdate=2008-01-26 |format=html |work=Colorado General Assembly]

After joining with moderate Republicans to criticize an executive order issued by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter allowing collective bargaining for state workers,cite news |author=Staff Reports |title=Briefs: GOP lawmakers say Ritter "badly betrayed" them |url=http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_7399314
work=Denver Post |date=November 8 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-26 ] Mitchell unsuccessfully attempted to amend a Republican proposal for punishing striking public employees to moderate fines; both his amendment and the Republican version of the proposal failed in committee.cite news |first=Bob |last=Mook |title='Anti-strike' bill limps out of committee |url=http://washington.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/01/21/daily52.html
work=Denver Business Journal |date=January 25 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-26 ] Mitchell criticized the Democratic version of the bill for not having sufficiently high penalties for striking state employees.cite news |first=Ed |last=Sealover |title=Colorado House panel rejects ban on strikes by public workers |url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/state_32361___article.html/house_strikes.html
work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=January 25 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-26 ]

Mitchell has also proposed legislation to require students to pass a high school proficiency exam before graduating,cite news |first=Andy |last=McElhany |title=Opening day speeches |url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/09/opening-day-speeches/
work=Rocky Mountain News |date=January 9 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-26 ] and to enhance the ability of the state to inspect public school buildings by giving the Division of Oil and Public Safety the power to delegate building inspections to other parties, a measure which passed the state house.cite news |author=Staff Reports |title=Lawmakers Try To Give Local Governments Power To Inspect Schools |url=http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15807308/detail.html |work=TheDenverChannel.com |date=6 April 2008 |accessdate=2008-04-10 ]

Retiring from legislature

Mitchell became CEO and chairman of ReLogic, an online real estate company, in November 2007. Citing business responsibilities and frustration with advancing legislation while a member of the minority party in the legislature, Mitchell announced in January 2008 that he did not intend to seek re-election to a second term.cite news |first=Ed |last=Sealover |author2=Michael Davidson |title=Tuesday in review |url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/mitchell_32023___article.html/legislature_house.html
work=Colorado Springs Gazette |date=January 16 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-26 ] Republicans Mark Sievers and Carole Murray have both declared their candidacy for the open seat.cite news |first=Jeremy |last=Palzer |title=Teller County GOP Chair Enters House District 45 Race |url=http://www.politickerco.com/teller-county-gop-chair-enters-house-district-45-race-448
work=PolitickerCO.com |date=22 February 2008 |accessdate=2008-02-23 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/House/members/Hou45.htm Legislative web site]
* [http://www.victormitchellforcolorado.com/ Personal web site]