I was open to supporting him – quickly changing my mind after hearing them both debate three different times.

I’m supporting Champagne because in all three debates, he spoke of his qualifications, his goals for the office, his view of a balanced and fair approach to dealing with victims and defendants, and he spoke of programs he helped create and implement that have lowered incarceration and recidivism rates.

His opponent started with negative attacks and hasn’t let up since. At the county assembly, he stated this was “OK, everybody does it.” Well, it’s not OK with me. I wanted to hear his vision for the office, not his fear-based message that “the sky is falling in our district with so much crime.”

As a long-term resident, this is not my sense at all, and with mass incarceration out of control in the U.S., I don’t want an “ask for the max sentence for everything kind of guy.”

Champagne has hands-on management experience right here in our county dealing with a staff of 28 and a budget of $2 million. His opponent is a sole prosecutor for the Utes with a staff of one. Champagne was a public defender for four years and a prosecutor for more than seven years.

His opponent may have more prosecution years, but Champagne has greater breadth of experience and knows both sides of the legal process.

Recently, Lammons started adopting Champagne’s talking point about criminal justice reform and special programs such as diversion and drug court. I would have more faith that those are in fact his views had he spoken of them from the beginning.

The sheriff, Durango Police and the DA’s office have been doing a fine job and crime is down. Could it be better? Always, and I know Christian Champagne will continue making those improvements. Vote for Champagne on the June primary ballot

Calixto Cabrera

Durango