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While running in CD-4, Lauren Boebert stops to listen in Ignacio

Congresswoman offered a tepid endorsement of Jeff Hurd, the Republican running for her seat
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert held a listening session at the Sky Ute Casino Resort on Friday. (Reuben M. Schafir/Durango Herald)

SOUTHERN UTE INDIAN RESERVATION – With just under five weeks until the election, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is spending time on the Western Slope – her stomping grounds for another three months.

Boebert, a Windsor Republican who is wrapping up her second term representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, is running for a seat representing District 4 on the eastern side of the state.

“There’s really a lot that I want to inform you about today,” she said, kicking off the listening session before a crowd of about 25 attendees Friday afternoon at Sky Ute Casino Resort.

Formalities began with a brief ceremony commemorating the late former SUIT council member Alex Cloud.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert held a listening session at the Sky Ute Casino Resort on Friday afternoon. From left, Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin and Southern Ute Police Department Chief Michael Barrow; Sean Pond, the “Halt the Dolores Chief” who leads opposition to the proposed national monument around the Dolores River Canyon; Boebert; Boebert’s Southwest Colorado Regional Director Naomi Dobbs; Southwestern Water Conservation District General Manager Steve Wolff; and Shak Powers, regional programs manager with Region 9 Economic Development District. (Reuben M. Schafir/Durango Herald)

The tone of the event oscillated between leaders in the district’s community vocalizing concerns to their elected representative, and that representative taking a victory lap for some recent wins.

“I’ve not stopped working for the 3rd District, passing legislation for the 3rd District, I travel in the district regularly,” Boebert said in an interview with The Durango Herald when asked why she was making stops in District 3, rather than stumping in District 4.

Over the course of the 2½-hour event, she repeatedly made mention of Congressionally directed spending – sometimes called “earmarks” – that she secured for communities in her district, despite voting against the omnibus spending bills that contained the allocations.

Southern Ute Vice Chair Lorelei Cloud touched on tribal sovereignty in Colorado River negotiations at a listening session held by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert on Friday at the Sky Ute Casino Resort. (Reuben M. Schafir/Durango Herald)

In defense of her actions, Boebert said the vote was a way for her to fulfill two commitments: one to direct funding to her district, and another not to vote for bills that fund the entire government in a single up or down vote.

“Voting ‘yes’ on a bill is not the only way to get something,” she said, adding “I worked very hard with … local stakeholders, county commissioners, so on and so forth, to get these appropriations requests.”

Boebert has advocated for single-issue bills and frequently threatened to cut the budgets or salaries of federal agencies or individuals with whom she does not agree.

One of the speakers seated next to Boebert, Sean Pond, the “Halt the Dolores Chief” who leads opposition to the proposed national monument around the Dolores River Canyon, gave a presentation railing against the proposed Dolores National Monument. Conservationists are pushing President Joe Biden to use the Antiquities Act to create a 400,000-acre national monument in Western Colorado, something he could do without an act of Congress. Boebert opposes the proposal, calling it an “abuse” of the law.

However, there was no mention during the listening session of the National Conservation Area, a different proposal to protect the stunning canyons of the Dolores River through an act of Congress.

Boebert and Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper introduced complementary legislation in 2023 to create the NCA. Boebert says she has not backed away from the proposal.

“Voting ‘yes’ on a bill is not the only way to get something,” Rep. Lauren Boebert said after taking credit for federal spending on projects she supports contained in bills she voted against, adding “I worked very hard with … local stakeholders county commissioners, so on and so forth, to get these appropriations requests.” (Reuben M. Schafir/Durango Herald)

Who attended

Once seated before the room, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was accompanied by Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin and Southern Ute Police Department Chief Michael Barrow; Southern Ute Vice Chair Lorelei Cloud, a late addition who touched on tribal sovereignty in Colorado River negotiations; Sean Pond, the “Halt the Dolores Chief” who leads opposition to the proposed national monument around the Dolores River Canyon; Boebert’s Southwest Colorado Regional Director Naomi Dobbs; Southwestern Water Conservation District General Manager Steve Wolff; Shak Powers, regional programs manager with Region 9 Economic Development District; Attorney Jeff Hurd, the Republican nominee for Boebert’s current seat in CD3; and Hinsdale County Commissioner Robert Hurd.

“I’ve already been moving that legislation through the House, so it’s up to the senators, who have a companion bill in the Senate, they can absolutely bring that up and we could move this forward,” she told the Herald.

Boebert’s bill has not received a committee hearing, while the Senate bill has.

Although he appeared only under the title “Attorney,” Boebert’s one-time primary challenger Jeff Hurd was a conspicuous presence at the event.

Boebert faced a crowded field of primary challengers in District 3 and stumbled over personal strife after her victory in the tightest congressional race in the country in 2022, in a district where Republicans should have an advantage. She announced in December 2023 that she would run in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, where Republicans have an even stronger hold.

Jeff Hurd is the GOP’s nominee in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Hurd received a tepid endorsement from one-time challenger Rep. Lauren Boebert, who said “I don’t know, I don’t not endorse him.” (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)

In her absence on the CD-3 ballot this November, Boebert did offer a tepid endorsement of Hurd.

“I don’t know, I don’t not endorse him,” she said, before noting “all of our Republican nominees have our full support and endorsement.”

rschafir@durangoherald.com



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