DENVER Keep Telluride and give us Cortez, several Southwest Colorado residents told the state Supreme Court on Monday.
A group of 150 residents and the Western Slope lobbying group Club 20 filed a legal motion to oppose a plan that would split Durango and Cortez into separate legislative districts, with Telluride joining Durango in a ski-town district that also would be politically balanced between Democrats and Republicans.
The plan puts Cortez in House District 58, which is centered on Montrose.
An 11-person panel adopted the map this fall and now has to defend it at the state Supreme Court. Durango lawyer William Zimsky filed the local opposition statement on behalf of Club 20 and an ad-hoc group calling itself Southwest Colorado Citizens for a Constitutional Map.
The Ouray and San Miguel County portions of the district are fundamentally different communities from Montezuma, San Juan, La Plata and Archuleta, which are a world of their own, Zimsky wrote in the brief. Due to geography and weather, they are remote outposts from the rest of the district.
Democrats created the Durango-Telluride district as a way to make House District 59 more competitive.
The incumbent in District 59, Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, was among the 150 people who signed their names to the statement of opposition.
The list includes several other prominent Republicans, including Montezuma County Clerk Carol Tullis, La Plata County Commissioner Kellie Hotter, former La Plata commissioner Sheryl Ayers, and state oil and gas commissioner Tom Compton.
The pleading includes a statement from Michael Ertle, a Ouray snowplow driver, on the dangers of Red Mountain Pass, which would be the districts main north-south road.
In my opinion, Red Mountain Pass is not a dependable thoroughfare for purposes of transportation during the winter, Ertle wrote.
Zimskys brief mocked the commissions rationale that the Durango-Telluride plan would create a ski-town district. Each of the districts three ski areas is very different from the other two, Zimsky wrote.
Telluride markets itself to the likes of Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump, while Durango Mountain Resort attracts families from Farmington, Albuquerque and Texas, the brief said.
Silverton Ski Areas market niche is for the expert skiers who spell extreme without the first e. Zimsky wrote.
The plan splits San Miguel County for purely political reasons, i.e., to make House District 59 more competitive by adding heavily Democratic precincts in and around Telluride to counterbalance the Republican areas of rural La Plata, Archuleta and Montezuma counties, the brief said.
The brief asks the Supreme Court to reject the map because opponents say it is unconstitutional. Districts are supposed to be compact and avoid splitting counties if possible.
Lawyers for the state have until Monday to respond to the brief. The Supreme Court has not yet scheduled a hearing.
Reach Joe Hanel at [email protected].
