Arn Menconi, the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, talked about the change he would like to see in Washington, D.C. on a visit to Durango on Sunday in the middle of the holiday weekend.
“The thing that brought people here on a bright summer Sunday is moral integrity,” Menconi, 57, told the group. “Why are we doing what we’re doing? There are 65 million people living in refugee camps, with most of them there because of war. America’s the superpower on the planet, and we’re not even willing to bring in the 10,000 we agreed to?”
Six voters met with him at the Steaming Bean to discuss his platform and issues on their minds.
Root Routledge, who will be a delegate to the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia at the end of the month, wanted to know where Menconi’s positions fall compared with those of his preferred presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders.
“I’m more progressive than Bernie Sanders on foreign policy,” Menconi said. “I don’t think he’s spoken against the drone program, which is an assassination program, and he hasn’t said enough to release Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning. And I would not vote for the military budget in any form without an audit.”
Menconi served as an Eagle County commissioner from 2000 to 2008 and founded SOS Outreach, which provides funding and activities for at-risk youth.
“The key to success with kids is building long-term relationships, finding an intellectual basis for communication,” he said, “and encouraging them to take action in finding what is wrong in their community and making it right.”
Menconi has attended protests and demonstrations with Black Lives Matter, Code Pink (Women for Peace) and with anti-fracking groups.
“I’m using civil unrest as part of my campaign strategy,” he said with a bit of a smile. “I’ve gotten a crash course in the injustices going on in the country. And the kids have pushed me to do what we tell them to do.”
Guinn Unger is the La Plata County campaign chairman for Amendment 69: ColoradoCare, the single-payer health care initiative on November’s ballot. Menconi said he supports the amendment.
“This tends to get lumped in with other issues, and I’ve been very disappointed in some of the Democrats who haven’t supported it,” Unger said. “Some of the things you’ve talked about, there’s not a chance they’re going to turn around, but this is possible, and it would help a lot of Coloradans.”
The U.S. has a two-party system, Menconi said.
“We have the inside party and the outside party,” he said. “I want to represent the 99 percent of people who are in the outside party. If people really want change, really want a revolution, I can bring that.”
Menconi will face Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado; Darryl Glenn, a Republican from El Paso County who claimed the party’s nomination in Tuesday’s primary, and Lily Tang Williams of the Libertarian Party on the November ballot.
abutler@durangoherald.com
