Dems give their take on issues in early forum
Taos event mostly amicable; fracking response draws boos
TAOS — The four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for governor met in a converted airplane hangar here Tuesday night, participating in a forum that offered an early look at how they’ll make their pitch to voters as the 2018 campaign season takes flight in earnest.
U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, businessman Jeff Apodaca, alcohol prevention teacher Peter DeBenedittis and state Sen. Joseph Cervantes talked about the state’s issues for about two hours before a couple hundred observers at Taos Mesa Brewing Co., a pub that is a popular spot for locals.
Each staked out their positions on a variety of topics, ranging from the state’s education system to President Donald Trump’s push for a border wall to New Mexico’s economy. Lujan Grisham stressed her experience in Congress; Cervantes his leadership in the state Senate; Apodaca his ideas on how to use the state’s permanent funds to move the economy; DeBenedittis his fresh take as a government outsider.
“If you want something new and different, I offer that. If you want the sameold, same-old, God bless,” DeBenedittis said at one point during the night. He echoed the sentiment multiple times.
The candidates took turns criticizing the administration of Gov. Susana Martinez on a variety of fronts, notably on education policy. Apodaca and Lujan Grisham in particular bashed the Public Education Department’s PARCC tests, controversial computer-based exams that test students’ reading and math skills and are closely tied to state evaluations of teachers and schools.
“Number one, PARCC is gone,” Apodaca said, adding that in his administration he would “work with teachers, principals and educators to come up with an evaluation for our children and our own educators.”
In agreeing with “candidate Apodaca,” Lujan Grisham noted PARCC is the subject of lawsuits in several states. “We ought to think about recouping our investments,” she said.
For the most part, the candidates were fairly amicable, as might be expected in a forum this early in the election year. Encouraged by moderator Darien Fernandez to “feel free to disagree at some point during the night,” Apodaca quipped: “We were told we could only answer the question.” Still, the candidates did plenty of talking. Asked about immigration policy and the border wall being pursued by the Trump administration, Lujan Grisham cited her recent advocacy in Washington, both fighting against funding of the wall and advocating for Dreamers — young immigrants who entered the country illegally as children and gained temporary protection from deportation under an Obama administration policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
DeBenedittis asked the audience to applaud for Lujan Grisham’s advocacy for immigrants and spoke of his own parents, both of whom he said first entered the United States illegally.
“I am the generation of Dreamers prior to this one,” he said. He promised to sign an executive order declaring New Mexico a sanctuary state.
Both Cervantes and Apodaca spoke of the possibility of trade with New Mexico’s southern neighbor, Cervantes calling the border with Mexico one of the state’s greatest assets.
“There’s no way we’re going to deport or get rid of DACA kids or any other kids,” Apodaca said.
If there was heat, it came on energy issues and campaign financing. Apodaca faced boos on the issue of fracking, shorthand for the natural gas extraction process more formally known as hydraulic fracturing, after he didn’t immediately decry the practice, which produces massive amounts of wastewater, and instead suggested working with oil and gas companies, investing together, in renewable energies.
“I agree with you we have to move away from oil and gas,” he said, “but we can’t do it overnight. We have to start investing back into ourselves to expand our economy so we’re not dependent on oil and gas.”
DeBenedittis, who wants to ban fracking, called out Lujan Grisham’s campaign donors, whom he said included representatives from the energy industry who donated thousands, according to OpenSecrets.org.
He also picked at her funding from the insurance and medical industries.
Lujan Grisham pushed back, saying “This notion that if you’ve been in government, and you have relationships with anyone — whether it’s in the oil and gas industry or whether it’s in the nursing home industry — that you lack moral confidence, or the ability and integrity to serve New Mexicans, I think is a very unfair statement by candidates in this contest who have no experience at doing government.”
Regarding campaign fundraising, Cervantes said, “I know the candidates sitting on my left and right are making phone calls every day to raise money for their campaigns. I’m not.” The Las Cruces legislator noted that a state law prohibits legislators from collecting political donations during a legislative session.
“It gives me a huge disadvantage when it comes to fundraising. … But one thing I’ve learned is that when it comes down to politics, there is absolutely no relationship between fundraising and ability and leadership and experience,” he said. “If you don’t believe that, Susana Martinez set all kinds of records fundraising.”