Voters shouldn’t tolerate debate ducking

Many people in the Santa Fe/Albuquerque area don’t realize that Doña Ana County has historically been disconnected from state government and politics.

State government has historically ignored this place. And the county is not in the Albuquerque television market, so we get little news from the north.

Many Democrats from up north e-mailed or called me in the last two weeks to complain that I was running columns by Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl. Most said they believe everyone knows where Dendahl stands, so running his columns wasn’t doing anyone a service.

They were wrong. I have had more calls and e-mails from people in Doña Ana County thanking me for running the columns than I did complaints from up north. Some said they now know why they like him and will vote for him; a larger number said they now know why they won’t vote for him.

Almost all who took the time to contact me said they knew something about Dendahl they didn’t know before.

That’s the point of debates. They are a chance for the public to learn about candidates in an environment the candidates don’t control. That minimizes the spin.

Dendahl wrote those columns long before he was a candidate for office. Whether you agree with him or not, he was telling it like he sees it. That is the real Dendahl.

He’s controversial. Most Democrats and many within his own party think he’s nuts. But at least you know what he thinks.

Ask Dendahl what he thinks about cockfighting, and he’ll tell you. If you ask Richardson, he’ll tell you that he’ll tell you what he thinks, but not before Nov. 7. That’s because he doesn’t want to upset rural voters until after they have voted for him.

We know what Gov. Bill Richardson wants us to think: He would have us believe that “the past four years have been full of positive progress for New Mexico – we’ve worked hard for every person and every part of New Mexico. We’ve cut taxes, improved our schools, created 75,000 new jobs, and maintained a balanced state budget,” according to a mailer from the Democratic Party.

The mailer then goes on to list all the money Doña Ana County has received because of Richardson. What it fails to mention is that it was almost entirely capital outlay money. It all had to be approved by the legislature, too. Some was proposed by Richardson, and some was proposed by legislators.

One of the projects on the list – $12.8 million for the Las Cruces aquatic and recreation center – was an idea that came from the children of State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, not Richardson, and it was Cervantes who brought a group of legislators and the governor together to make it happen.

As for Richardson’s claim that he has cut taxes, Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican has written an article cutting through the spin on this, which you can read by clicking here.

My point is that Dendahl has given us a chance to see the real Dendahl. Richardson is spending millions of dollars to try to make us think he has a better record than he does.

I’m not saying Richardson hasn’t bettered our state, but there’s a difference between what he’s done and what he wants us to believe he’s done.

Debating was once a necessary means of spreading a candidate’s beliefs, and it helps us better know candidates before we vote. Our system wasn’t designed for the technology of the 21^st century and the massive amounts of corporate money that have permeated every level of politics.

It wasn’t designed with the realization that someday candidates would have millions of dollars they could use to buy their way out of debating. Candidates should have to speak to the people, not throw a bunch of spin at them paid for by corporate dollars.

We can’t force candidates to debate. But voters shouldn’t tolerate those who don’t.