Politics 101: Live in the area you want to represent
Former state Rep. Idalia Lechuga-Tena seems to have a hard time grasping simple concepts of democracy, so we’ll try to boil them down for her.
Politicians shouldn’t seek to represent a legislative district when they don’t live in that district.
Individuals can’t vote in the United States if they’re not U.S. citizens.
And equating her situation with lawmakers from around the state who stay in Santa Fe during the legislative session is preposterous. As is her contention that if a judge rules she should be disqualififed, so should they.
When a candidate is trying to convince voters that she is the best person for a particular office, that candidate ought to try to put her best foot forward. But Lechuga-Tena’s approach so far leaves the impression she’s either clueless or not accustomed to having to follow the rules — neither of which instills confidence.
Lechuga-Tena, a Democrat, is seeking to run against fellow Democrat and incumbent Debbie Sariñana in the June 5 primary for the House of Representatives District 21 seat. Lechuga-Tena was kicked off the ballot for living outside the district she wants to represent, which covers much of Albuquerque’s International District.
She didn’t dispute she was living outside the district. She does argue that the home she owns is still her permanent residence because she’s registered to vote there, lived there before agreeing to rent out her house for a year and intends to move back once the renters leave. Indeed, her tenant, through tears, testified she received a termination notice in February directing her to leave the home by early April.
Lechuga-Tena and Marco Gonzales, her lawyer/ husband, also argue there’s no “physical residency” requirement for House members under state law.
State District Judge Nancy Franchini disagreed, ruling that an intent to return to her home in the district wasn’t enough. The judge determined Lechuga-Tena was required to live in the district on Jan. 29, the day the election proclamation for the primary was issued.
Franchini made the right call, and her ruling should be upheld, despite the appeal Lechuga-Tena filed with the state Supreme Court warning of “absolute chaos” at the Legislature if the decision stands. She compares her situation to that of legislators who leave their home districts for a month or two each year to rent a place in Santa Fe during legislative sessions. Nonsense. There is a vast difference between leaving your home for a 30- or 60-day session to represent your constituents and moving to another district while you rent out your home for a year as Lechuga-Tena did. We hope the Supreme Court rejects this appeal. But if some obscure precedent exists that convinces justices to reinstate her candidacy, we urge voters to think long and hard about whether they want someone who lives in that gray area between right and wrong to represent them in the state House of Representatives.
After all, this isn’t the first time that Lechuga-Tena has been mired in controversy.
When she was appointed to the District 21 seat in 2015, she acknowledged she had only recently moved into the district. At the time, she also acknowledged that about a dozen or more years earlier, she voted in a local election before she was a U.S. citizen. She has called it an honest mistake, and we have no reason to question that.
Still, the fact she parachuted into the district just before she was appointed in 2015 and is parachuting back in on the eve of the 2018 primary leaves the impression she’s a political opportunist more interested in capturing a House seat than actually serving the people of House District 21.