The first few weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term have sent shock waves of uncertainty across the U.S. But one thing is for sure: the new presidency encouraged increased involvement in the La Plata County Democratic Party for its biannual reorganization.
La Plata County Democratic Party officials said they were impressed with the turnout. Durango, county and area residents, including registered Democrats and unaffiliated spectators, filled the conference room at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation in the Durango Main Mall on Saturday.
Chaotic school board meetings, fear-stoking immigration policies, state tax legislation for vacation rentals and the jail dispute between La Plata County and the city of Durango were issues on the minds of Democrats.
Durango resident Teal Lehto was unanimously elected as the new county Democratic Party chair, and other officers and members at large were nominated and elected without contest.
Local Democratic Party officials spoke to national and local political issues alike. Among them were Colorado House District 59 Rep. Katie Stewart, La Plata County commissioners Matt Salka and Marsha Porter-Norton, Sheriff Sean Smith, County Assessor Carrie Woodson, and 6th Judicial District Attorney Sean Murray.
Porter-Norton said community and political involvement is more important now than ever, referring to the strong turnout on Saturday. News about people being hurt in Colorado and across the country by politics and policy is exhausting, she said.
“We need dialogue, we need connection, we need to be informed. But we also need to put our phones aside so we are not inundated with all this negativity,” she said.
She encouraged attendees to pick several issues they are passionate about and to focus on those because being effective requires prioritization.
“We have to stand up for the most vulnerable right now. I was in tears this week meeting with somebody in the immigrant community, hearing what is going on right here in La Plata County,” she said. “Once Trump and Musk unleash these policies, we are going to see them at the county level. It’s going to impact our most vulnerable people.”
She said if Democrats think they are in a fight over actions on homelessness now, wait until Meals on Wheels program funding is cut and Medicaid rolls are slashed.
The country is in a crisis, she said, but it’s been through hard times before and the people will get through things together.
Salka said La Plata County is working with Stewart on a state lodgers tax bill that would allow county lodgers tax rates to increase from 2% to 6%, with voter approval, in the interest of helping child care services, housing and an expanded scope for road infrastructure.
And he told La Plata County residents that commissioners are representing them in the ongoing dispute between the county and the city of Durango regarding jailing municipal inmates and 911 service and administrative fees.
Smith, the sheriff, said La Plata County has been the “adults in the room” about the jail dispute, that he has stood up for the homeless community before, and his enforcement is based on state law.
He said he typically tries to avoid politics because he doesn’t want to come off as a “political sheriff” with politically motivated enforcement of policies.
“I don't want them to be able to say, because I stand up for immigrant rights that I’m being political. I’m following state law,” he said.
But he was fast to call out a federal funding freeze announced by the Trump administration that threatened to halt hundreds of thousands of dollars for La Plata County’s local drug task force and nearly $1 million from a co-responder mental health program.
“When Trump did his little move, even though the courts blocked it already, in La Plata County that day we got noticed, it was going to take away the half a million dollars for our local drug task force to fight drugs, and it was going to take away $800,000 for our co-responder mental health deputies on the road.”
Murray said the District Attorney’s office is fully staffed after dealing with vacancies for several years. A grant, pending county approval, from the Vera Institute (New York) will help the District Attorney’s office “dismantle racial dynamics or problems within the criminal justice system.”
“They're going to help us build our diversion program within the community, within our community partnerships, with an eye toward promoting greater accessibility to justice for various groups,” he said.
He added his office with working with Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center to ensure undocumented immigrants have the same access to justice afforded to others.
La Plata County Assessor Carrie Woodson said her office is preparing for its biannual reappraisal of property values, and values are rising at about 20% overall across the county.
“Don't be shocked to see that, because La Plata County’s where people want to live, a wonderful place to be, and people are coming here with their cash and paying lots of big dollars (to buy) property,” she said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story misidentified the Vera Institute.
