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Champagne for district attorney, Frazier for GOP Senate nominee

Democratic voters should pick Christian Champagne for district attorney in the 6th Judicial District. While both candidates are capable, Champagne’s way of thinking better represents the future of American criminal law.

With no Republican running, the winner of the primary will be the next district attorney.

This race, which should be a collegial contest between relatively like-minded lawyers, has instead turned somewhat nasty. But much of what is being tossed about is irrelevant or unknowable. There are, for example, any number of reasons why mistrials or plea bargains happen, and absent the details of a particular case, their meaning is impossible to judge.

Benjamin Lammons has more years of experience. Champagne, having worked as a public defender, has more varied experience.

In criminal cases, a district attorney has three interests to consider: the victim, including friends and family; the defendant, who has rights and deserves justice, whatever that may mean; and society at large, which includes the future. All deserve consideration.

In all but a tiny number of cases, someone convicted of a crime will someday be released. Will that person have learned to be a better citizen or simply learned to be a more proficient criminal?

Restorative justice, rehabilitation and innovations such as drug court are not about coddling criminals but about putting the long-term health of the community ahead of racking up wins.

Champagne is more focused on those fronts and other ways of preventing future offenses. His eloquence on the subject reflects a passion, not just for prosecuting crimes but for bringing justice to all concerned – victims, perpetrators and the community.

Vote for Christian Champagne for district attorney.

•••

GOP voters have six names to choose from for the U.S. Senate, including a write-in candidate. Based on his experience, priorities and temperament, they should pick Ryan L. Frazier.

Frazier is a Navy veteran who led a National Security Agency intelligence analysis unit. He served two terms as a city councilor in Aurora, Colorado’s third largest city. He has also started and ran a business his website says serves “the aviation, tourism, energy, education and health care sectors.”

In 2010, Frazier ran unsuccessfully against Democratic incumbent Rep. Ed Perlmutter in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. But he is perhaps most widely known for his work as a commentator on Denver television’s 9NEWS.

Frazier prefers to call himself a “pro-economic growth Republican” rather than focus on social issues, and while on the Aurora City Council, he supported benefits for same-sex couples on the city’s workforce.

The GOP came to this field after a series of the state’s top Republicans opted not to challenge Sen. Michael Bennet. Besides Frazier, the ballot now includes El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, former state Rep. Jon Keyser, former Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham and Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha.

Of the remainder, Graham is the most qualified, but it is downhill from there.

When asked about allegations that his campaign committed fraud, Keyser said he has a big dog. When asked in a debate how he would work to find compromise, Glenn said, “It’s not about reaching across the aisle.” Blaha said of Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims, “I want to go beyond just Muslims.”

Jerry Eller, the write-in candidate, has no chance.

Vote for Ryan L. Frazier in the Republican primary for United States senator.



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