An embarrassing mistake in the local newspaper had politicos all over Doña Ana County talking this weekend.
On Saturday, the Las Cruces Sun-News ran an article about an issue I wrote about last week: allegations that Environment Secretary Ron Curry sent inspectors to a local restaurant after he was refused service there. Instead of a photo of Democrat Ron Curry, the front-page article was accompanied by the photograph of Doña Ana County Commissioner Paul Curry, a Republican.
The article mentions the environment secretary’s first name once, with a lot of references to a Curry after that, alongside the commissioner’s photograph.
So do you think the one reference to Ron Curry or the photograph of Paul Curry left a more lasting impression?
Those who actually read the article thoroughly certainly didn’t confuse the two. And anyone who doesn’t know what Paul Curry looks like probably didn’t notice the error.
But studies have shown that the vast majority of people don’t read articles thoroughly. Most don’t get past the headline or the first sentence, but they do look at photographs. And Paul Curry’s face is well-known around town. He is a politician, builder, church member and avid bicyclist who was born and raised here.
The damage is done. Thankfully, though Curry’s seat is up for grabs this year, he chose not to seek re-election, or the mistake would be much worse.
I attended the Democratic candidate forum at New Mexico State University this weekend. Many Democrats thought the mistake was hilarious.
Many Republicans were, obviously, upset.
Give the Sun-News credit for correcting the mistake on the front page of Sunday’s edition. Journalists are human, just like everyone else, and we sometimes make mistakes. Front-page corrections are almost unheard of, so the newspaper took a big step toward righting this wrong.
Mistakes like this happen in part because that newsroom, like those across the nation, is understaffed and overworked. As newspaper circulation continues to drop nationwide, editors are forced by corporate bosses to repeatedly slash their budgets, even though newspapers continue to make healthy profits that, in terms of percentages, rival those of the oil industry.
Editorial quality suffers as a result. Work is rushed. Staffers are forced to cut corners to get their jobs done.
Newspapers will always make mistakes, but the current climate in the corporate newspaper industry creates a workplace where more mistakes are going to happen. Unless that changes, credibility will continue to suffer.
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The Democratic primary race for the Public Regulation Commission District 5 seat turned nasty at a candidate forum in Las Cruces this weekend.
Incumbent E. Shirley Baca defended herself from an attack by challenger Sandy Jones.
Baca showed up to the forum at New Mexico State University looking angry and passing around a Jones mailer stating that she had missed 40 percent of PRC meetings since taking office. When it was Baca’s turn to speak to the group of about 70, she held up the mailer and told the group that her primary opponent had gone negative.
“This is not acceptable,” she said. “… We don’t do this.”
That elicited cheers from many in the group, though some looked confused as they clapped because they hadn’t seen the mailer and didn’t know what Baca was talking about.
Baca also called the 40 percent statistic “misleading.”
I spoke with Jones afterward, and he stood by the mailer, telling me Baca was not physically in attendance for 40 percent of PRC meetings, though she attended about 10 percent of those by phone “for a few minutes.”
“It was certainly a negative ad, but it was absolutely factual,” Jones said. “Showing up to work is probably the most important thing you can do.”
So I asked the obvious: If you’re going negative, why not attack Baca on the marijuana issue? She was arrested last year and charged with possession of marijuana, but the charges were later dismissed.
“If you’re not convicted, you’re innocent, and as far and I’m concerned, that’s off limits,” Jones said. “We’re going to hit her on facts, and there’s more coming,” he said.
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Former Las Cruces City Councilor J. Henry Gustafson died Friday of a heart attack. He was 86.
Gustafson was born and raised in Las Cruces and was a U.S. Marine who fought in World War II. He owned Gustafson Realty.
I interviewed Gustafson when President Ronald Reagan died in 2004. He brought Reagan to Las Cruces in 1961, five years before the actor was elected California governor, to speak at a chamber of commerce banquet at New Mexico State University.
“I’ll never forget how funny he was,” Gustafson said at the time. “He just absolutely kept us laughing.”
Gustafson served as president of the United Way, Rotary Club of Las Cruces, Community Concert Association and the NMSU Alumni Association through the years, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News.
He was a city councilor from 1995 to 1999.
Gustafson touched many people during his life. He will certainly be missed.
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It appears I missed two local candidate Web sites in Friday’s posting. E. Shirley Baca’s Web site can be found at http://www.eshirleybaca2006.com/, and the Web site for Scott Witt, the Republican candidate for House District 37, can be found at http://www.scottwittnm.com/.
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