Here are some thoughts on the local side of the 2014 election.
Notably, we got a good look at the political toilet bowl into which Citizens United cast us. We saw some last-minute splurges on huge and dishonest attack ads. Some were very effective.
I've written elsewhere (see my blog or KRWG's website) about Allen Weh's mailer accusing Tom Udall of having no allegiance to our country because Udall protested the Vietnam War. You can love your country – or father or spouse – without always agreeing. That war was morally wrongand endangered our national interest rather than furthering it. Saying so, at some personal risk, seemed important to some of us. We were young, but we turned out to be right. McNamara, Rusk, and others who sold us the war at the time have since admitted we were. Allen Weh served his country. So did Udall and I. Weh's charges are as stupid as if I said he lacked patriotism because he fought in a pointless war that obviously would hurt our country.
In 2012, Dr. Terry McMillan beat Joanne Ferrary by eight votes. This time, she stepped up her game. But during the final week, we saw an incredibly expensive barrage of dishonest attack ads against Ferrary. They filled air waves and newspapers too late for her to respond or journalists to investigate – and timed so we'd have no idea who paid for them. They had nothing to do with Ferrary, and little to do with McMillan. Governor Susana Martinez and her allies wanted a legislature dominated by Republicans; this was a close race Ferrary would likely have won. Enter big bucks and bigger lies.
McMillan (said to be a nice doctor, and more moderate than other local Republicans) spent a lot of credibility. I congratulate Joanne on her substantive campaign, and hope she tries once more. [See her op-ed column in the Sun-News, also published this morning, in which the recounts the facts that god twisted way out of shape by the huge barrage of attack ads.]
In Bill McCamley's radio ads Bill said, very naturally and directly, “I'm not attacking anyone; but here's what I stand for . . . ; if you agree I hope you'll vote for me. If you don't, vote for someone else.” Even a stranger passing through town remarked on the freshness of the tone and content.
Meanwhile, Nelson Goodin's attacks on Samantha Madrid (which were at least pretty truthful: her lack of experience was a fair issue, and she should have been more precise in describing her experience) didn't prevail. He became about the 6th Martinez judicial appointee the voters rejected at their earliest opportunity. Maybe the attacks helped him: he came marginally closer to winning than he had as a District Judge.
Billy Garrett's re-election shouldn't have been close, and wasn't. He's a bright fellow with a strong interest in making this County the best it can be. His opponent seemed primarily interested in religion and morality.
The Bardwell/Rawson race was predictably close. Beth would have been a superstar as a Commissioner; but Ben had a well-known name, superior connections, and the money for numerous gigantic billboards and signs. Beth had substantive knowledge about water issues, and a record of seeking non-ideological solutions by consensus, that we sure could have used.
I do think Ben's sincere. I like him, though he's too set in a certain political track. It's also pretty obvious that Martinez, his father, and others have higher political ambitions for him. He may not seem so likable in a few years, when he has (I fear and expect) a track record of doing the things the folks with big money want done. I fear he lacks the imagination and the motivation to think for himself – and seek and find serious solutions to actual problems.
Peter Goodman is a local writer, photographer, and sometime lawyer. He initially moved to Las Cruces in 1969, holds two degrees from NMSU, and moved back here in 2011 with his wonderful wife. This is his most recent Sunday column in the Las Cruces Sun-News. His blog Views from Soledad Canyon contains further information on this subject, as well as other comments and photographs, and past newspaper columns.