{"id":25458,"date":"2024-09-24T14:07:37","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T20:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/nine-candidates-take-questions-at-la-plata-archuleta-cattlemens-association-forum\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:17:34","slug":"nine-candidates-take-questions-at-la-plata-archuleta-cattlemens-association-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/nine-candidates-take-questions-at-la-plata-archuleta-cattlemens-association-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine candidates take questions at La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"From
From left: Archuleta County commissioner candidates Wayne Hooper, Kenneth Bowles and Commissioner Warren Brown; La Plata County Commissioner Matt Salka and challenger Paul Black; House District 59 hopefuls Clark Craig and Katie Stewart; and Senate District 6 candidates Vivian Smotherman and Sen. Cleave Simpson. The candidates faced off at a forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It was all the usual chaos of a local political event Monday night at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, where the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association hosted a candidates forum.<\/p>\n

Seated before a crowd of about 80, nine candidates running for elected office in two counties, the state House and State senate dodged microphone feedback as they answered a dizzying array of questions submitted by attendees before the event.<\/p>\n

At first, the emcee threw questions before the panel and let candidates choose whether to answer them. Some were controversial and clearly intended as incendiary dog whistles; others referred to obscure legislative proposals that had died in committee; but some yielded productive exchanges, nods of mutual agreement across party lines or comic relief.<\/p>\n

Archuleta County Commissioner Warren Brown, a Republican, fielded questions alongside his two unaffiliated challengers, Wayne Hooper and Kenneth Bowles.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Commissioner Matt Salka, the Democratic incumbent, and Republican challenger Paul Black also ran through a familiar set of talking points.<\/p>\n

The two hopefuls running for House District 59, Ignacio Mayor Clark Craig and Durango School District 9-R board member Katie Stewart, also took questions alongside the candidates running in state Senate District 6, Republican Sen. Cleave Simpson and Democrat Vivian Smotherman.<\/p>\n

Black and Salka agreed that the county\u2019s budgetary constraints <\/a>will be one of the biggest challenges that La Plata County commissioners must confront in the next five years. Black indicated that newly adopted oil and gas regulations are stifling development and thus driving revenue down and said fees, such as the recently implemented road impact fees,<\/a> are \u201cjust a secret tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"La
La Plata County Commissioner Matt Salka at a candidates forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bayfield
Bayfield rancher Paul Black is running for La Plata County commissioner. He and other candidates took questions at a forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Salka, in defense of the fees, noted that development expansion has an impact on roads, and that \u201cthere\u2019s repercussions\u201d if developers are not paying their own way.<\/p>\n

In a moment of consensus and levity, the statehouse candidates offered succinct, albeit sparse, answers to a question about whether they would support any kind of law that restricted gun ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that\u2019s a constitutional right,\u201d Craig, a Republican, responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, same, guns are tools here in Southwest Colorado,\u201d Stewart, a Democrat, followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI own a lot of guns,\u201d Smotherman chimed in, followed by Simpson, who said \u201cDitto. Everybody should know my wife and I both own lots of guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe
\u201cWe have the high school athletic association that set the rules. They monitor it, they follow it, I\u2019m going to let them do that,\u201d said state Senate District 6 candidate Vivian Smotherman, noting that in general she would support legislation that protects transgender children\u2019s rights. She spoke at a forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Several questions brought up gender identity and proposed or adopted legislation around transgender children participating in sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one is directed at me!\u201d said Smotherman, who is a transgender woman, in response to the question about whether transgender children should be allowed to play sports on a team with cisgender children of the same gender.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Republican Party attacked her in a transphobic<\/a> email sent earlier this year without Simpson\u2019s knowledge. Simpson called Smotherman to apologize that day and denounced the email publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the high school athletic association that set the rules. They monitor it, they follow it, I\u2019m going to let them do that,\u201d Smotherman said, noting that in general she would support legislation that protects transgender children\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Sen. Cleave Simpson at a candidates forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Simpson, in a mirroring response, said he too wants to leave local issues to local leaders, adding \u201cmen and boys should participate in boys athletics and women and girls should be in girls athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Craig and Stewart butted heads in a brief moment of tension over a question about abortion access, specifically in cases of rape and incest.<\/p>\n

Stewart, who described herself as \u201cunabashedly pro-choice,\u201d tried to leverage a concrete answer out of Craig, who had skirted the question, to a degree. Although he is anti-abortion, Craig said voters of Colorado have spoken, abortion access has been codified in law and he would rather have a conversation about \u201ceverything else that happens with reproductive rights and having the conversation about supporting a young mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cShould
\u201cShould a 14-year-old rape and incest survivor have access to that care?\u201d asked Katie Stewart, a candidate for state House District 59, of her opponent at a forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ignacio
Ignacio Mayor Clark Craig is running for state House District 59. The candidates faced off at a forum hosted by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association at the La Plata County Fairgrounds on Monday night. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cShould a 14-year-old rape and incest survivor have access to that care?\u201d Stewart pushed back, offering to yield her time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voters of Colorado said yes,\u201d Craig said.<\/p>\n

Stewart pushed back, noting that the Roe v. Wade decision had been settled law for 50 years before it was overturned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to lean on my conservative values and try to do my best to choose life,\u201d Craig said, eventually arriving at the conclusion that, in the rare example Stewart offered, \u201cthere needs to medical solutions for those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballots will begin to hit mailboxes the week of Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hopefuls running for statehouse and commissioner weigh in on wide-ranging topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[493,28,475,1680,2035,265],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-archuleta-county","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-la-plata-county-commissioners","tag-la-plata-county-fairgrounds","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78946,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25458\/revisions\/78946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25458"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}