Mayoral candidates to outline their ideas at forums
The race to become Santa Fe’s next mayor will accelerate from a measured trot to full-on sprint this month, with a flurry of forums on various topics scheduled to take place before absentee voting begins Jan. 30.
The five candidates — Councilor Peter Ives, Councilor Joseph Maestas, school board member Kate Noble, Councilor Ron Trujillo and entrepreneur Alan Webber — are scheduled for at least six January scrums, with more to follow in February.
That’s not counting the council and committee meetings where the three mayoral hopefuls who sit on the city’s governing body might jostle elbows for public airtime ahead of the March election.
Up first, the Neighborhood Network will host a mayoral forum at 7 p.m. Thursday on the campus of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
On Jan. 9, the candidates will appear at the Center for Progress and Justice to discuss issues pertaining to city workers. The event, while organized by and centered on the local chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is not closed to the public, said Josh Anderson, the union’s political coordinator.
On Jan. 17, the candidates will discuss behavioral health issues at a forum hosted by the local chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The New Mexican, with various partners, will host a debate Jan. 18 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
On Jan. 24, a group of local associations will host a forum centered on tourism in the Anasazi ballroom at the Eldorado Hotel.
A forum on Jan. 27 will be hosted by radio station KSFR at Santa Fe Community College.
Another date of note is Jan. 25, when candidates will file their first campaign finance reports.
Only Trujillo qualified for public campaign funds — $60,000 — in the mayoral contest.
Ives, who had sought the public option, did not reach the
threshold for qualifying contributions. He and the three other candidates are raising private dollars.
Four City Council seats, one
from each district, are on the ballot as well.
The Neighborhood Network will host a council-candidate forum Jan. 11, and the League of Women Voters will follow Feb. 15. The League also will host a mayoral forum in February.
An item to watch is the state Supreme Court case regarding ranked-choice voting. City attorneys have filed a petition challenging whether the rankedchoice format approved by voters in 2008 and ordered into place by a District Court judge late last year, adheres to the state constitution.
Election Day is March 6. Early voting begins Feb. 14. The last day to register to vote is Feb. 6.