Soap Box

In reference to Karen Pontius’ letter on Sept. 15, our Rep. Lauren Boebert said, “The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church … I’m tired of this separation-ofchurch-and-state junk. This is not in the Constitution,” despite what the First Amendment says. Centuries of legal experts confirm our founding fathers’ intention: to keep The People’s government free from the control of any church.

Boebert’s close ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene recently said, “I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” thereby openly embracing this white supremacist terrorist ideology identified with Nazism.

Shelli Shaw, candidate for Colorado HD59, embraces and aligns with Boebert on stage, social media and political signs. She moved here from Texas last year with a strong mission to rectify Coloradans’ lifestyles. From her Facebook: “I am in this to fight for the protection of our God-given rights against a government that wants to create a dependent and thoughtless society.” From her website: “Our Bill of Rights is a list of rights given by God, not by government,” so she is committed to “dismantle Colorado’s devasting (sic) anti-life law and replace with a pro-life law...”

Those God-given rights apparently include pushing public funding of religion-centered charter schools such as Ascent Academy. She also intends to “encourage oil and gas production in Colorado” to “unleash the state’s vast energy resources through the reduction of government regulations and restrictions.”

Let’s keep Barbara McLachlan in the State House and elect Adam Frisch for Congress.

– Kirby MacLaurin, Durango

In Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, independent voters make up 43% of registered voters and hold the key to the election. Independents register that way for a reason – they make up their own minds on the issues facingiColorado and the nation. I hope Independents will consider carefully their choice in the November election.

Lauren Boebert wants “the church” to tell the government what to do; she denies that climate change exists; she’s against health care for veterans affected by the toxic burning pits in Iraq; she voted against infrastructure improvement for Colorado and the nation; she’s against women’s rights; she voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors. She’s a puppet of Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. And these are just a few reasons why she’s unfit to represent the people of Western Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Adam Frisch is a no-nonsense, common-sense leader who understands the real issues facing Colorado and the nation. Getting things done for the citizens of Colorado is the reason he’s running for Congress. And he knows that getting things done requires thoughtful analysis and reaching across the political aisle.

Independents, please look at the facts in this election. – Joe Lewandowski, Durango

Vote Texas out of Colorado

Texas is attempting to export its unrepresentative and repressive government into Colorado.

Do we want doctors to risk jail time for saving the life of a pregnant woman? Vote for reproductive freedom!

Do we want people in prison for four ounces of cannabis? Vote for decriminalization and personal liberty!

Do we want it to be more difficult to vote? Vote for safe and secure mail-in voting!

Do we want someone representing us who moved here last year from Katy, Texas, and believes that the white guys who stormed the capital on Jan. 6, 2021, carrying Confederate flags, were with Black Lives Matter? Vote for the rule of law, not wild lies!

Shelli Shaw is running for Colorado Representative in our district. She wants to impose the tyranny of big government over us. She is for making abortion illegal even in cases of rape and incest.

By contrast, our current Rep. Barbara McLachlan used her time in the government to make our lives better. She passed legislation that supports small businesses with grants and loans. She sponsored bills to finance public schools, to address teacher shortages, to improve math education and to hire more law enforcement officers. She actually works to build a better future, rather than the GOP aim to tear down social good.

Stand for freedom and common sense! Don’t let a Texan move here and gain public office to restrict freedom and impose lying authoritarianism. Vote for McLachlan as our Colorado Representative.

- Steve Self, Durango

Trump’s ‘top secret’ plans

The FBI search of Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home was conducted based on a legal search warrant. The search retrieved boxes of documents which should have been handed over to the National Archives, including more than 300 classified documents, some classified top secret. Documents included national security information involving intelligence gathering, clandestine operations in foreign countries, nuclear capabilities and defenses of foreign countries. Could any foreign intelligence agents have accessed these documents?

Trump says he declassified the documents. Is there something in writing referencing his declassification process? When I was in the Navy in the ’50s and ’60s, I held a topsecret cryptographic clearance. Classified documents had to go through a formal procedure to be declassified or reclassified (up or down). The agency originating the classification had to initiate the declassification or reclassification, and agencies and departments utilizing the documents had to provide input to the formal procedure.

Why did Trump take these documents? Was he planning on utilizing them to approach Vladimir Putin and negotiate real estate deals in Russia? Or maybe in China? Or in North Korea? After all, Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un are Trump’s communist tyrant friends.

Trump absconded with highly classified documents that could be used against the U.S. He is untrustworthy, un-American and a threat to our national security. – Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.

McLachlan – a proven leader

Barbara McLachlan has served the people of southwest Colorado for nearly 50 years. First as a teacher, then as a legislator, and always as a leader. Her opponent moved here a year ago from Texas, she has no track record of caring for the people of Colorado.

McLachlan has been an effective leader in Colorado’s statehouse. She understands water issues, she’s successfully worked to provide teachers with better pay, she’s helped pass legislation to bring harsh penalties to fentanyl dealers, and she’s working to put more teachers in Colorado’s rural areas.

To put it simply, McLachlan is one of us. She’s made Southwest Colorado her home for five decades, she knows the challenges and issues facing this region, she cares about the people here.

We need to send McLachlan, a true Coloradan, back to the statehouse.

– Samantha Brow, Durango

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