Incoming lawmaker has racy name, conservative stands
State Sen.-elect Crystal Diamond knows her name raises questions and suspicions. “My parents weren’t hippies, and I’m not an exotic dancer,” she said in a phone interview. Before introducing her first bill, Diamond has mastered the art of delivering a pithy quote.
But let’s get back to the origin of her name. At 41, Diamond is from the same generation as the late actor River Phoenix, whose younger siblings include Rain, Summer and Liberty.
Unlike the Phoenixes, Diamond didn’t receive a provocative name from her parents.
The former Crystal Runyan kept her married name of Diamond after a divorce. Diamond is raising two daughters with modern but less charged names than her own. Cayden and Reece Diamond are 11 and 10, respectively.
Because Crystal Diamond might sound like someone starring in a burlesque show, her candidacy got off to a slow start. The simple job of establishing a campaign website turned burdensome.
“I had to prove this wasn’t an adultonly website,” she said. “The challenges that only Crystal Diamond has to face.”
A lesser hurdle turned out to be the election itself.
Diamond, R-Elephant Butte, won in a breeze. She will succeed former Democratic Sen. John Arthur Smith in District 35, covering parts of Luna, Sierra and Doña Ana counties.
Smith, a conservative Democrat, held the seat for almost 32 years. Liberal groups mobilized against him this year, and he lost the Democratic primary to Neomi Martinez-Parra, a special-education teacher.
Without Smith, Senate Democrats knew they would have a tough time holding the seat in the general election. Through their political action committee, they attacked Diamond with one of the more misleading ads of autumn, an act covering considerable ground.
Senate Democrats distributed a mailer with inaccurate and selective information to make it seem like Diamond had been convicted of drunken driving 14 years ago.
In truth, state prosecutors dismissed the charge against Diamond. But innocent unless proven guilty doesn’t matter in the grimy world of political advertising.
Diamond said exposure about the negative ad actually helped her. She routed Martinez-Parra, taking 58 percent of the vote.
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, called Diamond the day after her victory to offer his congratulations. Diamond considered it a classy move after a classless ad.
Diamond said she hasn’t spoken with Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, whose phone number was listed on the attack ad sent by the Democratic Senate PAC. Stewart pleaded guilty to drunken driving in 1999 but had a hand in urging voters to reject Diamond based on a charge that prosecutors dismissed.
Stewart is the Democrats’ choice to become president pro tem of the Senate. It’s safe to say Diamond won’t be supporting her.
Of course, Diamond wouldn’t back Stewart, a liberal firebrand, under any circumstance.
Democrats will control the Senate 27-15. Diamond and the rest of the Republicans are holding onto the faint hope that they can help a more conservative Democrat become president pro tem.
It won’t happen. Five Democratic senators who were amenable to voting with Republicans lost their seats in the primary. The Senate will be more liberal in 2021 than it has been in a decade.
Smith recently resigned his seat. Diamond might take office a bit early if
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appoints her to finish out the final weeks of Smith’s term.
Diamond already has met online with almost every local government in her district. Those discussions are shaping her ideas on legislation.
She says she wants to end the practice of passing laws that require cities and school districts to spend more money. If legislators mandate something, they must pay for it, she says.
Diamond also hopes to narrow the urban-rural divide in health care. For instance, she says, air ambulances have trouble operating without a financial loss in rustic New Mexico.
Some names are a perfect fit for their job. No quarterback ever sounded more formidable than Bart Starr. No big-league pitcher could match Early Wynn in fulfilling a job description.
Paul Theroux sounds like he was born to write wry tales, and he was. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. is the one Supreme Court associate justice familiar to the masses, even though he died 85 years ago.
Crystal Diamond doesn’t sound like a senator’s name. Just ask those policing the internet.
There’s an upside, though. She’s the one freshman every lawmaker, lobbyist and legislative staff member will remember.