According to national surveys, when it comes to incumbents, Americans are inclined to “vote the bums back in.” I think we can all be much smarter and proactive in our decision-making around incumbents. Cory Gardner is a hand-selected candidate of the Republican Party. The party’s sole purpose in running his campaign is to mold his image into one that appeals to as many as possible and offends as few as possible so the party can gain power. We can be assured that manipulation will continue once he is in office, and that we will have elected another party puppet. Mark Udall has proved himself to be a thoughtful senator who is not controlled by Democrats and is willing to work with Republicans. Vote for the incumbent Mark Udall because you know you can count on him.

Scott Tipton is part of a group of Republicans who can hardly tolerate not being the party in power, and who will do anything – including shutting down the government – to include that anger and resentment into their decision-making. Abel Tapia is an earnest, hard-working, well-respected state representative whose goal is to restore confidence in Congress’ ability to get something done by working across party lines for the people he serves. Get rid of the incumbent: Vote for Abel Tapia, even though he doesn’t have a federal government track record.

As for Sheriff Schirard, over all his years in office, I’ve often wondered why we never hear much from him in terms of his vision, plans and programs. And now that we’re hearing more from him, I’d like to hear, well, less. Get rid of the incumbent: Vote for Sean Smith because he intends to serve all county resident, not just his friends.

Wayne Mass

Durango