El Paso County Commissioner District 5 candidate Mike Merrifield painted his opponent Peggy Littleton as the status quo Wednesday night at a multi-candidate, multi-issue debate that offered quick-hit opinions on some contentious November ballot items.

The event, put on the the Citizens Project and moderated by KOAA-NewsFirst 5’s Rob Quirk, ran the gammet, including county commission races and the proposed county ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

“We have challenges here in El Paso County. Challenges that can’t be solved by the same lock-step, single-minded thinking that the past 38 years has created,” said Merrifield, a Democrat and former state representative.

Merrifield said he would find creative ways to bring revenue into the county to combat the predicted $16.5 million shortfall in 2012. Among his proposals were to boost marketing.

Republican Littleton continuously rebutted Merrifield, saying he “never met a tax dollar he didn’t like.”

“During his tenure in Denver, my opponent voted to divert money away from critical road improvement projects in El Paso County. He supported costly new regulations, higher taxes and new fees,” Littleton said.

Discussed at length at the debate were Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101, proposed statewide iniatives that would cut taxes, reduce fees and limit government’s ability to borrow.

Economist Paul Prentice spoke in favor of the measures, saying the issues are simply about limited government, free markets and private property.

On the other side, Lobbyist Steve Durham said “the devil is in the details,” and that transportation projects and other basic government infrastructure would suffer if the measures are approved.

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