Former state senator blasts Boebert’s switch
Montrose’s Don Coram calls the congresswoman ‘all hat and no cattle’ in her bid to stay in office
A former Colorado state senator who tried unsuccessfully to upset Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in the 3rd Congressional District in 2022 has scorched Boebert for her switch to eastern Colorado’s 4th District.
Don Coram, R-montrose, emailed a statement to the Journal-advocate Wednesday afternoon accusing “The Rifle Reject” of hypocrisy in making the switch.
In a scathing denunciation, Coram pointed out that Boebert herself hurled the epithet at state Sen. Kerry Donovan, a Democrat, in 2021 when Donovan attempted a run in the 3rd CD. Donovan’s home was moved from the 3rd
District to the 2nd District by redistricting in 2021, although her family’s ranch was still in the 3rd. Boebert reportedly called running for office “a calling, not a career move,” and accused Donovan of “pandering to folks she doesn’t even know.”
Donovan’s state senate district straddled the line between the two re-drawn congressional districts, a fact Coram pointed out in his statement.
Coram pointed out that, while Boebert may be the darling of Western Slope Republicans, she failed to carry her home county, Garfield, in either 2020 or 2022. He labeled her run in the 4th District as a “rebranding effort … ditching the glasses and donning a black cowboy hat. The term ‘All hat and no cattle’ seems like a pretty good description.”
The 4th District already has a long list of viable candidates who are native to the area, Coram said.
“The good news is that the folks in the 4th CD have a wide range of candidates to choose from in the primary who already reside in the 4th CD,” he said. “You don’t need to import someone who will only embarrass you.”
Coram is an outspoken advocate for his 6th State Senate District and is known for his adamant defense of Western Slope water. During a 2018 “Voices of Rural Colorado” symposium in Denver, Coram said people west of the Divide don’t necessarily resent trans-mountain diversions, but do resent wasteful consumptive use.
“We need to devise a plan so that water that’s flowing out of
the state has been reused as much as possible,” he said. “We’re already doing that (in rural Colorado.) By irrigating, we use that water seven times before it leaves the state. If it wasn’t for reuse, that (Uncompahgre) river would be dead by mid-july.”
Widely considered a moderate Republican, Coram sponsored a bill in 2021 that would require the Colorado Department of Education to modify existing academic standards to address civics education, including the “history, culture, and social contributions” of ethnic, racial, and religious minority groups, to assure that students acquire an understanding of “how laws are enacted at the federal, state, and local government levels,” and to inform students about “the methods by which citizens shape and influence government and governmental actions.”