Sal Pace, the former state House Minority Leader and a candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, promised to cut through the partisanship and work toward collaboration and commonsense legislation at a meeting with the Durango Herald’s editorial board Thursday.

Pace, D-Pueblo, is a Fort Lewis College graduate who spent eight years in Durango.

“It feels like I’m coming home every time I come here,” he said.

Before he was elected to the state Legislature in 2008, Pace worked as a district coordinator for the state offices of former U.S. Sen. John Salazar.

Like most legislators now, Pace said his top goals are adding jobs and growing the economy. He has proposed several pieces of legislation that aim to boost small businesses and entrepreneurs. He said he supports more development in renewable energy. Colorado’s work in this area could serve as a model for the country, he said.

Colorado legislators’ ability to pass a bipartisan budget can be an example of the collaboration possible in politics, he said.

Despite tight budgetary times, Pace said he supports continued investment in infrastructure and education. In the long term, education is the key to economic success, he said.

In the face of the federal government’s budget crisis, Pace said there still are money-saving efficiencies to be found. The strict standardized test requirements mandated by the No Child Left Behind Law, for example, could be examined for potential savings, he said.

He touted his record of finding practical solutions, including one piece of legislation that freed up a backlog in the state’s air-quality modeling by allowing companies to hire third-party modelers to do the job.

He has voted across party lines on rural agriculture issues and water legislation, Pace said. He supports the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.

He currently is working on a bill allowing farmers who inherit land to avoid paying inheritance taxes if they continue the existing agricultural use of the land. He’s also pushing for certain funds in the state treasury to be invested in small businesses and startups.

“One of the biggest problems in the economy is the inability to get capital,” Pace said.

He is skeptical of the U.S. Air Force’s proposal to conduct low-elevation training flights over the San Juan Mountains.

“It raises a lot of questions in terms of property rights and the need to do these type of flights,” Pace said.

He also supports bills to expand the San Juan Wilderness Area and protect the area around the Hermosa Creek Watershed. It makes sense to do so because the issue has broad community support, Pace said.

The slight changes in the 3rd Congressional District that were approved by the state Supreme Court earlier this month will make next year’s race more competitive, Pace said.

The former district was one that Republican candidate John McCain won 51 percent to 47 percent in 2008. With the addition of Lake County and part of Eagle County, the district has a voting record of 49 percent for McCain and 49 percent for President Barack Obama, Pace said.

ecowan@durangoherald.com