Next city election attracting array of candidates
Competition for council seats heats up earlier, grows fiercer as more enter field
Two years ago, interest in running for the Santa Fe City Council was so low that only one of four council races was contested.
Now candidates are emerging on a regular basis even though Santa Fe’s municipal election is still seven months away.
Though interest in running for elective office is higher than in the 2016 municipal election, the tone has also gotten nastier, particularly with racist posts on Facebook from members of the Santa Fe Power group. Some say this lack of civility is cause for alarm because it threatens to divide the city.
“I’ve been here 11 years, and if I recall correctly, this is the first time that I have seen such negativity early from a group,” said Susan Popovich, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Santa Fe County.
“Their tone is not what Santa Fe should become known for,” she added. “We can oppose one another as candidates. We can do it with decency and civility.”
So far, two incumbents have declared their candidacies and at least five others are gunning for two open City Council seats.
District 1 City Councilor Signe Lindell announced Tuesday she would seek a second term.
“My priorities haven’t changed — you can count on me to continue fighting to protect animals, create jobs, lower our carbon footprint and ensure equality for all Santa Feans,” Lindell, 62, wrote in an email to supporters.
No other candidate has formally announced plans to run for District 1. But Roger Rael, a vocal member of the Santa Fe Power group, met Tuesday morning with City Clerk Yolanda Vigil
to discuss a possible run. Rael, who listed his address in District 4 as recently as May, is said to have moved into Santa Fe’s north side District 1 to challenge Lindell, who has been a target of his on social media.
Also on Tuesday, Eric J. Holmes, general manager of four small businesses and a former boxing promoter, said he would seek the District 4 seat being vacated by threeterm incumbent Ron Trujillo, who is running for mayor.
The only other declared mayoral candidate is Abigail Fox, a former Santa Fe Public Schools teacher who now manages the Museum Hill Cafe. Mayor Javier Gonzales has not yet said whether he will seek a second four-year term.
Holmes, 44, faces at least two other potential challengers, Greg Scargall, veterans’ resource coordinator at Santa Fe Community College, and JoAnne Vigil Coppler, a real estate agent.
Councilor Mike Harris, who ran unopposed last year after incumbent Bill Dimas decided not to seek re-election in his south-side district, said Santa Fe politics has taken an ugly turn lately.
“You see articles these days, and I think there’s some merit that talks about the coarseness and the vulgarity that’s gone into our civic life,” Harris said. “I certainly think that that’s true in these recent incidents with the group affiliated or known as Santa Fe Power.”
Harris has said that the May 2 special election in which voters rejected a proposed tax on sugary beverages to fund preschool programs “was not our city’s finest hour.”
“Things were said and done, and behavior was really not always a credit to our town,” he said. “Obviously, the national tone is even, perhaps, worse.”
Harris suspects one of the reasons more people didn’t run for office two years ago is because of the city’s financial situation. At the time, City Hall was grappling with a $15 million budget deficit.
“The headlines in The New Mexican and kind of reinforced in the Albuquerque Journal was a major budget deficit,” he said. “I think it really gave people pause about whether or not they wanted to get in the middle of that. I know a number of people said something to me about how difficult it was going to be.”
Popovich said she believes the election of President Donald Trump in November is also motivating more people to run for office.
“Since November through today, the interest level is higher,” she said. “People want a voice.”
The proposed soda tax, which was fiercely opposed by some residents, may have inspired others to get involved, too, Popovich said. The Santa Fe Power group grew out of opposition to the mayor’s proposed soda tax.
“There again, people want to have their voices listened to, and sometimes you get that when you have more candidates running than just one,” she said.
Holmes, a Santa Fe native and father of four, has lived in the south-central District 4 for 13 years. He said he would prioritize both education and workforce training programs.
Holmes, who took business classes at Santa Fe Community College but never received a degree, said he wanted to improve pathways into the local workforce for youth who cannot or do not want to attend college.
“I know we have the means to help those kids that are disconnected and dropping out,” he said.
The Santa Fe school district’s 71 percent graduation rate, he said, demonstrates a need for better early childhood education, as well.
Holmes said this year’s proposed tax on sugary beverages that would have funded additional early childhood education was “the wrong approach,” but he wondered where the conversation about funding through another mechanism had gone.
“We started this big thing six or seven months ago with the sugar tax, but when it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind,” he said. “Everyone seems to forget about it, but I haven’t.”
Holmes did not have a specific source of alternative funding in mind to expand early childhood education in mind. But, he said, another sugary-drink tax was not in the cards.
He said he would push the city to work more closely with Santa Fe County and education nonprofits to identify possible solutions.
“I haven’t spent enough time with different organizations to see what they can fulfill and what they can’t,” he said. “But with resources we have, we can make these things happen. We have the means. We have the facilities.”
Holmes said he was not a member of or affiliated with the Santa Fe Power group, which is seeking to back candidates to focus on basic municipal services.
“But the basic needs of our city have to be fulfilled,” he said, referencing road maintenance and increased funds for a growing population of senior citizens.
In her announcement, Lindell said the city has “gotten a lot done” since she was elected in 2014, including eliminating a $15 million deficit without raising taxes, banning cruel animal trappings in Santa Fe and starting a rewrite of the city’s historic code.
“But above it all, my top priority stepping into this role was working for you, responding directly to your concerns and complaints and helping you get more from your city government,” she wrote. “Because I believe that what our district needs most is a councilor who makes city government accessible to everyone, I’ve put constituent services and casework at the top of my to-do list, every day.”
Lindell, a former member of the city Planning Commission, won by a landslide in the 2014 race against Michael Segura with 70 percent of the vote. Lindell is a strong ally of Gonzales and serves as mayor pro tem.
Contact Daniel J. Chacón at 505-986-3089 or dchacon@sfnewmexican.com. Follow him on Twitter @danieljchacon.
Contact Tripp Stelnicki at 505-428-7626 or tstelnicki@sfnewmexican.com.