GOP congressional candidate Douglas Durbano of Mountain Green says that fiscal responsibility will be his top priority in Congress.
MOUNTAIN GREEN — One candidate to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop wants to be part of a new GOP majority in Washington D.C.
“In 2021, we will likely have a Republican (majority in) Congress and the White House,” predicts lawyer and businessman Douglas Durbano of Mountain Green. “That will give us a unique and limited opportunity to finally pass a national budget, one that holds our elected representatives accountable as required by the U.S. Constitution.”
Durbano says that taking steps to reduce “obnoxious, out-of-control spending” will be one of his top priorities if elected to Congress.
In recent years, a sharply divided Congress has been unable to pass a unified national budget, relying instead on a series of continuing funding resolutions to keep the government operating while deferring unpleasant spending realities. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a 2019 budget deal was the 42nd continuing resolution passed by Congress since 1977.
That legislation increased government spending by $320 billion over the next two years and authorized the federal government to continue borrowing funds.
“Almost every elected representatives says that they’ll (reduce spending), but they never do,” Durbano admits. “Why? Because most are indebted to big donors, lobbyists and special interest groups. They’ve sold their souls for money. I want to go to Congress with no entanglements so I can vote the way the people want me to and the way that I want to … That’s the only way we can keep from falling off the fiscal cliff we are so perilously close to.”
To avoid owing favors to such Washington insiders, Durbano says his campaign is largely self-financed and will accept no donations larger than $200.
A Utah native, Durbano is a graduate of Weber State University and holds a law degree from the University of Utah. He has been involved in GOP political activity at precinct, county and state levels, but has never held public office. Durbano has, however, served on the Davis Chamber of Commerce and the Davis County Economic Development Committee.
Durbano insists that he has no interest in becoming a career politician, but is willing to take a leave of absence from his businesses to go to Washington “to make a difference” by being a hawk on fiscal issues.
“As an attorney,” he explains, “I have taken on government bureaucrats, swampy politicians and activist judges who use their power to violate the constitutional right of Americans. I know first-hand how jobs and lives are destroyed by the illegal overreach of the government.
“I want to go to Washington and fight from inside the Beltway to get (government bureaucracies) off the peoples’ backs. How do we control them? We reduce their funding … or completely eliminate it.”
Durbano says his other priorities in Congress would be border and cyber security, national defense, healthcare reform, free-market trade policies and strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
Other candidates vying for the 1st District seat in Washington include Republicans Tina Cannon, Katie Witt, Mark Shepherd, Bob Stevenson, Kerry Gibson and Howard Wallack. The Democratic contenders are Jamie Cheek and Darren Parry.
The 1st District covers Weber County, northern Davis County, Morgan County and seven other counties in northern and northeastern Utah.