Dr. Leon Kelly, Republican candidate (incumbent) Campaign phone number: 719-310-7835 Campaign email address: leonkelly@ mac.com Website: drkellyfor coroner.com

Mailing address: 4630 Ranch Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80918

What are your top three priorities if elected?

My top priority is to help lead our communitywide efforts to combat the rise of fentanyl deaths which have doubled every year since 2017 to reach 99 in 2021, including 5 youths. Next is to continue our collaborative work on suicide prevention that began with youth in 2015 and is extending to veterans and the broader community this year with hospital partners and our local mental health nonprofits. And lastly, as deaths of nearly every category have increased and the pipeline of pathologists and investigators with the necessary specialty training fail to meet needs, adequate staffing is an immediate challenge.

What do you bring to this race that none of your opponents can offer?

I am the only candidate that brings professional competency. The statutory responsibility of the coroner is to determine cause and manner of death. This is done through a combination of autopsy, death scene investigation, and toxicologic studies. It requires years of specialized medical training in pathology and the forensic sciences that only medical examiners possess. This training and experience is necessary to lead forensic pathologists, death investigators, and toxicologists and to testify as an expert witness at criminal trials. I am the only candidate with this training or who has accomplished any of these tasks, ever.

What experience has prepared you for office?

I am a board-certified forensic pathologist whose medical specialty is figuring how and why people die. I have performed over 4,000 autopsies, supervised thousands of death investigations, testified and consulted in hundreds of criminal trials and have served as a medical examiner in this community for 14 years. I lead the busiest coroner’s office in the state, serving nearly one-third of Colorado counties, overseeing a team of death investigators, medical examiners, and toxicologists who are at the forefront of investigating the worst tragedies occurring in our community in hopes of preventing similar deaths in the future.

Dr. Rae Ann Weber, Republican candidate

Campaign phone number:

Unavailable Campaign email address: raeannweber@yahoo.com Website: electdrweber. com Mailing address:

Unavailable

The Gazette did not receive a response from Dr. Rae Ann Weber.