{"id":97589,"date":"2018-10-08T15:14:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T21:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rancher-vs-engineer-battle-in-state-senate-district-6\/"},"modified":"2018-10-08T15:14:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T21:14:00","slug":"rancher-vs-engineer-battle-in-state-senate-district-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rancher-vs-engineer-battle-in-state-senate-district-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Rancher vs. engineer battle in state Senate District 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

State Sen. Don Coram, a veteran lawmaker with a reputation as a moderate Republican, is facing Democrat Guinn Unger, an active backer of the single-payer health care measure in the 2016 election in state Senate District 6.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, said his top priority if returned by voters to the state Senate would be to fund a statewide water plan that identified best practice in nine river sub-basins. No funding was ever approved to implement the water plan\u2019s findings.<\/span>The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Coram<\/a>, who has been involved in ranching and mining most of his adult life, is proud to be an active legislator. He\u2019s quick to note he sponsored 69 bills in the last session of the Colorado General Assembly \u2013 almost 10 percent of all bills.<\/p>\n

Colorado Civil Rape Shield Law, House Bill 2018-1234<\/a>, which gives victims of sexual assault similar protections in civil court proceedings that they have in criminal proceedings, Coram<\/a>, a Montrose Republican, said it was the bill he\u2019s proudest of in the 2018 session. He sponsored the measure in the Senate with state Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora.<\/p>\n

\"Guinn
Guinn Unger says his top priority if elected to the Colorado state Senate would be to lower the cost disparities in health insurance costs between the high-paying Western Slope and the more affordable rates on the Front Range.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Unger<\/a>, a Bayfield Democrat and a retired computer software developer and implementer, said Amendment 69, the single-payer health initiative, may have been soundly defeated in 2016 with almost 80 percent of the voters opposed, but he believes support is mounting nationwide for a Medicare-for-all model, and he expects it will soon be adopted at the federal level as Democrats gain the upper hand in Washington in the next four years.<\/p>\n

He notes a recent Reuters national poll shows 70 percent of voters in favor of \u201cMedicare for all\u201d and that 52 percent of Republicans even favored it. He said he is not against the state taking action on a single-payer health care model because he expects it will be adopted nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a progressive in the best sense of the word,\u201d said Unger, who serves on the La Plata Electric Association<\/a> Board of Directors. \u201cAs an engineer, you can\u2019t do anything without first understanding the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

To-do list<\/div>\n

If elected to Senate District 6, which covers Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, Ouray, San Juan and San Miguel counties, Coram\u2019s top-five priorities would be:<\/p>\n

Find funding for ideas identified in the Colorado Water Plan, which stems from his predecessor, Ellen Roberts, who championed an effort to examine water policy in nine river sub-basins in Colorado and bring stakeholders together to identify best practices to guide policy. <\/em>Push for measures to increase school security. <\/em>Push for measures that improve security on the electrical power grid to harden it against terrorist attacks. <\/em>Push for measures that improve mental health and suicide-prevention efforts.<\/em>Push for measures that help Coloradans caught in the opioid crisis.<\/em>Unger\u2019s top-five priorities in the Statehouse would be:<\/p>\n

Work for passage of a bill that would lower health insurance premium differentials between the Western Slope and the Front Range.<\/em>Find a way to increase funding for teacher pay. <\/em>Build incentives in law to move to renewable energy. <\/em>Raise the state minimum wage to around $15 an hour. <\/em>Fund programs to help victims of sexual assault. <\/em><\/p>\n

Reader-asked questions<\/div>\n

Work for passage of a bill that would lower health insurance premium differentials between the Western Slope and the Front Range.<\/em>Find a way to increase funding for teacher pay. <\/em>Build incentives in law to move to renewable energy. <\/em>Raise the state minimum wage to around $15 an hour. <\/em>Fund programs to help victims of sexual assault. <\/em>The Durango Herald<\/em> asked readers what questions they\u2019d like candidates to address.<\/p>\n

A reader asked Coram and Unger how they would work to lower unaffordable health insurance policies on the Western Slope.<\/p>\n

Coram suggests increasing the size of health insurance pools<\/p>\n

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