Unions’ endorsements divided among candidates for mayor
None of them has put money in the race yet
The electrical workers are for Webber. The nurses are for Noble. Police for Trujillo.
Labor unions, whose organizations funded political action committees and affiliated nonprofits that coalesced around one mayoral candidate four years ago have spread their endorsements across the fivecandidate field this time around, a lack of unanimity that stands in stark contrast to the threeway 2014 election won by Javier Gonzales.
Many have gone for Alan Webber, the entrepreneur. They include New Mexico chapters of the Laborers’ International Union; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; the International Association of
Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union; the Santa Fe Federation of School Employees; the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico; the New Mexico Building and Construction Trades Council; and the Northern New Mexico Central Labor Council.
A few have sided with Kate Noble, a school board member. Among them are the National Education Association of Santa Fe and the local chapter of the hospital and health care employees union.
City Councilor Ron Trujillo has the support of groups that represent city workers and police officers, AFSCME Local 3999 and the Santa Fe Police Officers Association.
In another contrast to the 2014 race, in which the labor-aligned PACs and nonprofits that backed Gonzales narrowly outspent Gonzales’ publicly funded campaign, the unions have not substantiated their candidate endorsements with funds in this election, at least not in the first round of campaign finance reports, posted late last month.
But that could change. Webber’s campaign said donations from at least four of the unions that have endorsed him would appear in the next campaign finance reports, scheduled to be filed Friday. Webber has already raised more than $209,000 in individual contributions, a record for Santa Fe mayoral elections.
And the entrance into the campaign of a Coca-Cola-funded political committee, called People for Santa Fe, might flip the switch.
Jon Hendry of the New Mexico Federation of Labor and IATSE Local 480, the film technicians’ union, said different labor groups’ varied statements of support for different candidates might now develop into more proactive campaigns. “And it might not necessarily be in support of one candidate,” Hendry said.
“As long as nobody was out there pushing one candidate, nobody was going to get out there and push the rest,” he said. “But if somebody else is doing it, we’re sure as hell gonna do it. … I think them [People for Santa Fe] coming in is going to motivate people.”
People for Santa Fe raised a little more than $10,000 in the first reporting period, the bulk of it in a pair of $5,000 donations, one from the local Coca-Cola
Bottling Co. of Santa Fe and the other from Coca-Cola North America, the beverage giant based in Atlanta.
The group’s stated purpose is to support Trujillo, an opponent of the proposed sugary-drink tax last year that beverage producers likewise opposed. City voters overwhelmingly rejected the tax in May.
Mark Chaiken, a Santa Fe attorney listed as a contact for the committee, said People for Santa Fe continues to raise funds and will spend what it’s got and what it hauls in over the coming weeks to support its favored candidate.
“One reason People for Santa Fe is supporting Ron is that he has a record of opposing local tax increases that hit working families hardest,” Chaiken said.
Hendry said labor was ready to make a move. “If they want to move this onto the next level, OK, we’re happy to do it,” he said.
Councilor Joseph Maestas, another candidate for mayor, meanwhile, linked to a New Mexican
story about the Coca-Colafunded committee last week and wrote that “the money and power behind both sides of the soda tax fight are intent on using this mayoral election to keep our city divided. Santa Fe cannot be bought!”
On his campaign website, Maestas writes, “This campaign is not powered by big money or big business; it is powered by the people of Santa Fe.”
Union representatives reached by The New Mexican last week generally demurred when asked what form their support for their endorsed candidates would take. Some, such as the Santa Fe Police Officers Association, which represents 145 city officers, said it stood at the ready to contribute outreach material — whether as a letter, radio spot or video — on Trujillo’s behalf but ruled out financial contributions.
Touting Trujillo as a “strong voice for the local community,” the PEOPLE committee of the city workers’ union, which unanimously voted to back Trujillo, said in a statement that the three-term councilor would usher in a “new day in city government.”
Grace Mayer, president of NEA-Santa Fe, said her members would operate phone banks and knock on doors, and last week they hosted a meet-and-greet event with a silent auction, the proceeds of which Mayer said would be passed on to the Noble campaign.
Noble “really stood out as someone who not only has a visionary outlook for the city but also has the pragmatic solutions,” said Mayer, whose organization represents 1,400 local school employees.
Webber’s campaign manager, Neri Holguin, highlighted in particular the candidate’s potentially influential endorsement of the Central Labor Council.
Webber “is the most qualified, the person with the best experience, and he understands the needs of working families,” Mike Archuleta, a council trustee, said in a Webber campaign release last month.
In 2014, three labor-aligned or labor-funded groups — two political action committees and a nonprofit — collectively spent more than $60,000 to support Gonzales, a maneuver critics viewed as flouting the city’s public campaign finance system, which is intended to level the playing field between candidates.
All three mayoral candidates were part of the public campaign finance system in 2014. Only one of the five, Trujillo, is participating in the system in the 2018 race.
The dispersed union endorsements to date reflect the quality of the field, Hendry said.
“There’s some really proworker, progressive candidates out there,” he said.