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District attorney qualifications matter

Ben Lammons previously worked in our Durango district attorney’s office for one and a half years, from 2007 to 2008, where he went from felonies to misdemeanors and ultimately left the office. He didn’t stay, work up the ladder and then run for office. Now eight years later, he wants to run the office. On its face, this isn’t promising. The fact that he doesn’t speak of any successes during this time is a notable red flag and there are others.

Lammons has had five jobs in 21 years as a prosecutor – a lot of movement. He has never been the No. 2 DA in any office, which is a common pathway to No. 1.

In the past eight years, he has worked in a single-prosecutor office for the Southern Ute Tribe. This in no way prepares him to run an office of 28 employees and a $2 million budget in a completely different jurisdiction.

He has spent his career doing trials and that alone has not prepared him to be district attorney. He lacks the broad range of experiences required to administer a three-county operation (including hiring, firing and training), has shared no vision for the office, and he started off with a very negative campaign.

His opponent, Christian Champagne, is qualified with the necessary wide range of experiences. He has been in our office for seven and a half years as the No. 2 DA, and he is intimately familiar with the variety of skills required to administer his office. He will be ready on day one.

Christian’s policy vision has helped create restorative courts such as drug court and mental health court. This helps turn lives around; our community benefits and crime statistics are down. He has the right temperament and people skills, and his positive approach to work and the campaign trail is the proper tone we need in our DA office.

Please vote for Champagne. Our community needs to continue this important work improving our local criminal justice system and Christian is the DA to do it. He is the wise choice for our community.

Bonnie Schmidt

Durango



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