Redistricting imperils Senate’s wordsmith
Maybe this is the last chapter for the New Mexico Legislature’s resident novelist, poet and playwright.
Sen. Bill O’Neill, a man of letters, might not have the numbers to win the Democratic primary election in June.
O’Neill and Sen. Katy Duhigg live close to one another in Albuquerque’s North Valley. Logical redistricting would have made them competitors this spring for the same Senate seat.
Normal people believe redistricting occurs after a census to accurately reflect demographic shifts. In the world of politics, most incumbents see redistricting as a mandatory evil in which they maneuver to protect themselves.
Sitting lawmakers in the majority party always find a way to avoid pitting one incumbent against another. And so it was that O’Neill and Duhigg remained in separate districts.
That wasn’t necessarily good for O’Neill. His district underwent widespread changes. It’s still a safe seat for Democrats, but O’Neill is on shaky ground compared to his old turf.
Half of the residents in O’Neill’s redrawn Senate District 13 are new to him. And he has drawn a formidable primary opponent in Debbie O’Malley, a former Albuquerque city councilor and former Bernalillo County commissioner. She knows the district well, and many of its residents know her better than O’Neill.
Because local politicians typically receive more news coverage than state legislators, O’Malley’s name identification with voters might be higher than O’Neill’s.
Gender could be another factor working against O’Neill. As many as 60% of voters in the Democratic primary will be women, and many of them have supported O’Malley for 20 years.
O’Neill remains optimistic about his chances to win a fourth term in the Senate.
“It’s going well. I’m walking the district like a fiend,” he said in an interview.
O’Neill served two terms in the House of Representatives before moving to the Senate after the election of 2012.
“I take pride in my record in Santa Fe, and in the many bills I have sponsored, and passed, during my 16 years in office, especially in the areas of criminal justice reform and electoral reform,” O’Neill said. “I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to connect with new constituents who may not be familiar with my work.”
O’Neill never won appointment as a committee chairman, nor did he seek other positions of leadership. He preferred crafting legislation to help ordinary people, many of whom had few allies.
He played a key role in passing the law allowing judges to expunge the records of certain convicts, mostly people in low-level cases involving narcotics. The law prohibits expunction of records of drunken drivers, sex offenders and criminals who harmed children or caused a death or serious injury.
A believer in second chances, O’Neill also sponsored the law prohibiting employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal history on an initial job application. Employers are free to inquire about a job seeker’s criminal history in interviews.
After a luckless acquaintance of
O’Neill’s was beaten by an Aryan street gang in Albuquerque, the senator tried to add homeless people to groups covered by hate crimes legislation. His bills on that issue failed.
Though a liberal, O’Neill isn’t assured of support from likeminded Democrats. Eric Griego, former executive director of the New Mexico Working Families Party, recently phoned O’Neill to say he’s backing O’Malley.
She has a track record in government longer than O’Neill’s, notably on pocketbook issues. O’Malley helped bring to fruition projects such as Sterling Downtown, a sleek complex in Albuquerque that shows affordable housing can also be inviting.
The new portion of the Senate district covers several impoverished neighborhoods.
“It has a lot of needs. I felt like I could bring a lot to it,” O’Malley said in a phone interview.
She doesn’t know O’Neill well, but she supported him in his early campaigns for the Legislature. Now a rival of the senator, she seems to have an edge with likely voters. O’Malley, though, says she takes nothing for granted.
“The [Democratic] caucus supports the incumbents, and lobbyists will be doing the same,” she said.
Her assessment seems accurate. Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, perhaps the state’s most progressive lawmaker, has been walking the district on behalf of O’Neill.
In addition to sharing liberal views, O’Neill and O’Malley are both 67 years old. He is Irish. O’Malley’s heritage is mostly Hispanic and Native American. She grew up in Albuquerque. O’Neill was raised in Ohio.
Every difference and distinction will be pointed out as they campaign. Theirs is a competition with the sort of irony O’Neill likes to weave into his novels and plays.
O’Neill this year co-sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment to establish a nine-member independent redistricting commission with exclusive authority to reshape political jurisdictions. That measure died in its first committee.
Try as he might, he couldn’t persuade politicians that redistricting should be less political.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.