Restore The Balance-
La Plata County Branch
Restore the Balance – La Plata (RTB La Plata County) is a branch of a 501(C)(4) nonprofit organization.
We are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents working together for the purpose of building an alternative to political violence and extremism.
RTB members have endorsed seven fundamental principles of political action and discourse, and RTB’s main activity is the evaluation of candidates for public office.
April 2025 La Plata County Ballot Candidate Questionnaires
The City of Durango has an upcoming election for City Council as well as a sales tax proposal. We requested information from all of the candidates. Kip Koso and Shirley Gonzales responded by the requested deadline and Chris Elias and Jessika Buell have subsequently responded. All four responses have been reviewed and rated. Please see the summary chart below.
You may click on the candidate's name below to see their full responses.
November 2024 La Plata County Ballot Candidate Questionnaires
This election cycle the La Plata County Branch is reporting on races for State Senate SD6, State House of Representatives HD59, County Commissioner and County Treasurer.
The La Plata Branch Steering Committee, composed of 11 community leaders, convened a five-member subcommittee including experienced voter education and participation advocates. This team developed a questionnaire to measure the candidates’ positions on four critical election topics.
Based on these eight candidates’ responses, our team has summarized each candidate’s alignment with those four key topics and the results have been reviewed by the La Plata Steering Committee.
La Plata County News
Ignacio and Bayfield School Board Member Questionnaire & Report
Oct 13, 2023
Restore the Balance (RTB) - La Plata Branch embarked on its first effort at non-partisan voter education and enhanced participation by distributing a candidate questionnaire to the candidates for the Bayfield and Ignacio school boards.
La Plata County
Steering Committee
• David Tanaka
• Janalee Hogan
• Karen Zink
• Laurie Meininger
• Louis Meyers
• Michael Hudson
• Michael Hudson
• Nancy Wharton
• Pam Patton
• Paul DeBell
• Sidny Zink
• Steve Short
