The assistant district attorney must be an effective trial lawyer but must also be an organizational force, leader of the district attorney’s team and fairly enforce the DA’s prosecution and sentencing policies. The ADA must be capable of making any decision required of the DA and to step up and do the DA’s job at any moment. For these reasons, Christian Champagne is by far the best candidate and most qualified to be our next DA.

His opponent, instead of outlining his specific experience and qualifications (he has never served as ADA in four offices), has taken this race to a new low, using negative attacks which are misleading and misconstrue many of the outcomes of trials by Christian Champagne. For an accurate response to these misstatements visit Christian’s website: ChampagneForDA.com.

Christian is a positive person who will continue the highly effective restorative justice policies already in place throughout Colorado. He has a varied professional background, not only as prosecutor with almost eight years experience, but he also served four years as a public defender. As ADA he has earnestly protected the rights of victims while insuring the fairness of the process to victim and defendant. The public and victims deserve a balanced prosecutor, not one prone to go off on a sentencing tangent to please those who confuse hard line prosecution policies with true justice.

He has learned to attack the public safety risks presented by hardened criminals while balancing the need to rehabilitate those who are not career criminals, thus, avoiding expensive jail and prison costs. He is a balanced and fair-minded person who will serve this judicial district well.

Please vote for Christian Champagne for District Attorney in the June primary. He has served honorably as ADA and will remain a diligent prosecutor with a sense of balance, fairness and a public safety perspective that will serve the district well.

Michael E. McLachlan

Durango