False campaign ad tars a working mom
James Williams wears a black cowboy hat and a toothy grin. He likes to be called Jimbo. He’s running for the state Senate on a pledge of always being truthful.
Jimbo, a Republican, will have to reform himself if he is to make good on his promise. He and the state Republican Party have distributed one of the nastier and more deceptive advertisements of this campaign.
Jimbo’s ad is aimed at his opponent, Democrat Siah Correa Hemphill. They’re in a tight race to represent Senate District 28, which stretches across three counties in southwestern New Mexico.
In their direct-mail advertisement, Jimbo and the Republican Party made false charges against Correa Hemphill, a school psychologist.
Here’s the text of their mailer: “Siah Hemphill claimed she was unable to work because of medical reasons, but she accepted another job while on paid Family Medical Leave with the Silver Consolidated Schools. We deserve honest leadership, not scam artists like Siah Hemphill.” Jimbo’s claims aren’t true.
For starters, Correa Hemphill went on unpaid leave for 30
days. Jimbo’s statement that she was receiving her salary is false.
It was 2013. Correa Hemphill had a newborn and a disabled 16-year-old son with a broken leg.
Her older child, Nicholas, has a rare genetic disorder, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome. The disease causes abnormalities of the skin and skeletal structure.
It also left Nicholas susceptible to other illnesses. He would need surgery for bladder blockages and bone cancer.
Doctors eventually amputated one of his legs to stop the cancer’s spread. Nicholas requires round-the-clock care.
Correa Hemphill asked Lon Streib, then the Silver school superintendent, if he would modify her $74,000-a-year contract so she could work part time. He declined.
In need of money, Correa Hemphill applied for part-time jobs in her field.
“I had been the breadwinner for the family,” she said.
Administrators of the Aldo Leopold Charter School in Silver City offered her a job with a limited work schedule. The pay was about $10,000.
It wasn’t much compared to her salary at the Silver Consolidated Schools, but the job would help pay the bills while allowing Correa Hemphill to care for her kids.
Streib then fired Correa Hemphill. In a three-paragraph letter, Streib portrayed Correa Hemphill finding a part-time job elsewhere as some sort of violation of her unpaid leave.
Jimbo and the Republicans obtained the letter. They’re using it to pad their argument that she did something wrong.
“Because of the inconsistency of documentation submitted to the Silver Consolidated Schools and the fact you have become employed by the Aldo Leopold Charter School the Silver Consolidated School District immediately separates its employment with you,” Streib wrote.
Correa Hemphill could have contested her firing. The Family Medical Leave Act allowed her to work part-time elsewhere while on unpaid leave from the Silver Consolidated Schools.
After her ouster, she landed another part-time job with the Cobre Consolidated School District.
Rather than battling with Streib in a courtroom, she said she decided to continue with the new jobs that gave her time for child care.
Jimbo wants to twist Correa Hemphill’s firing into something scandalous.
“I have the sincerest compassion for anyone going through hardships,” Jimbo wrote on Facebook. “We all have them. But it was my opponent’s choice to lie to her employer and take a job at another school while on family medical leave somewhere else. It was her choice to drag her family into the lie that she got caught in.”
Speaking of lies, I asked Jimbo about whether he would correct his claim that Correa Hemphill was on paid leave and then became one of those “scam artists” that cheat the public.
“Thank you for reaching out,” Jimbo wrote in a message. “We are verifying our source and will be releasing a statement should we find out we were misinformed.”
Jimbo knows what he said about Correa
Hemphill is untrue. His ad goes against everything he said he stood for.
“I have always been honest and truthful because that’s what voters deserve from someone who wants to represent them,” Jimbo stated in the same post in which he claimed Correa Hemphill had run a scam.
Another of Jimbo’s postings features a doctored photo of Correa Hemphill. Her image has been altered to show her wearing the button of a group that advocates cutting funding for police departments.
So much for truth in campaigning. “My takeaway is this highlights the need for more women in the Legislature,” Correa Hemphill said. “It just goes to show how out of touch Jimbo is about what families go through and what the Family Medical Leave Act provides.”
Correa Hemphill defeated Sen. Gabriel Ramos, an incumbent by appointment, in the Democratic primary. Smarting from defeat, Ramos is backing Jimbo in the general election.
Ramos’ campaign committee last month donated $1,000 to Jimbo. Ramos, a Farmers Insurance agent, also placed one of Jimbo’s campaign signs in front of his office.
“Respect New Mexico” is the headline on Jimbo’s sign.
It sounds good, but there’s nothing respectful about Jimbo Williams’ campaign.
He claims he’s a statesman but conducts himself like a fighter. And the first rule of fighting is there are no rules.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.