Today marks the start of a weekly column on this site written by Whitney Cheshire, a conservative
By Whitney Cheshire
The
But does anybody want to guess about the Mayor Marty Chávez factor? We’ve got some good
YO!
You’ve found the WMQB at our new home. We’re sure happy to be here! We’ve swept off the welcome mat, planted a geranium by the front door… and YES! The living room couch still feels the same.
So welcome!
As of this morning, 10 candidates running for the
This is the first year that
The District 8 seat is being vacated by Councilor Craig Loy and, so far, only one candidate – Trudy Jones – has announced her intention to run. But, thankfully, she’s an R who didn’t file any paperwork for the publicly funded program.
That leaves 10 candidates spread out over three districts…
Maybe we should be happy that there are only 10, since anyone who qualifies for financing gets financing, and the price tag is around $25,000 per person, to start.
So here’s our first WMQB prediction from Heath’s place – in two years, the number of candidates who seek public financing for city office will double.
At least…
And we’ll ALL be paying for it, whether we like them or not.
Anyway, to qualify, candidates have to collect about 300-350 individual contributions from voters in their district – five bucks each – and they only have one month to get it done. This requires no small amount of work. Banging on doors to get petition signatures is one thing. Asking people to go back inside and take out the wallets is an entirely different animal.
Should we call it a BEAR?
The difficulty factor is about the only good thing we can say about this new law.
But as of this morning, three candidates for District 2 are still “collecting,” and two will likely get it done – Council President Debbie O’Malley and challenger Katherine Martinez.
District 4 incumbent R Brad Winter won’t seek tax money to run his race, but his opponent, Paulette de Pascal, is turning in her qualifying contributions, a move which in itself could doom her candidacy in the heavily republican
In other words, de Pascal might need that $25,000 to explain to conservative voters why she wanted that $25,000.
District 6 apparently likes this public money thing. Six different candidates have announced their intention to go for it. Councilor Martin Heinrich will likely be vacating the seat for a congressional run, leaving the number at five.
Right now, Rey Garduño has already qualified for public funds, and Joan Griffin isn’t far behind.
Mayor might be playing in council races
So is that it??
Not really.
This year’s election is gearing up to be a BIG Mayor-Chávez-versus-THE-COUNCIL type of showdown, a classic example of the executive branch trying to stack the legislative branch in its favor.
Remember the streetcar tax stuffing that Chávez took this year? Or his lost pandas and special ornamental park?
He could use some more friendly votes on the council, no?
Chávez is rumored to be pulling the strings of certain campaigns – namely those of
Will Chávez disavow any that fail?
Probably.
As of today, de Pascal seems to be struggling the most out of the three. It could be that she hasn’t been given the help she expected, or she could be fighting an uphill battle at “the door” in what is a fairly conservative district – one that not only elected incumbent Winter on two previous occasions, but one in which most voters probably have philosophical objections to publicly financed campaigners.
And like radio show host Jim Villanucci quipping on the air that Chávez’s most-hated season of the year is “Winter,” most ABQ politicos see the District 4 match up as an opportunity for Chávez to pound away on Winter without any real expectations of wresting the seat away from him.
Recorded phone messages about this year’s budget votes – messages that skirt the edge of reality – have already been launched into Winter’s district and are a clear indication that third-party groups, organized by some MYSTERIOUS stakeholders, have already started to form and will likely be active until October.
Our point?
If de Pascal manages to get her public dollars, she’ll spend about $25,000 of OUR money to wage a battle that no one we’ve spoken to thinks she can actually win, and her candidacy will give Chávez the open door he needs to continue his public relations war against one of those councilors who bugs him so darn much.
After all, it’s not much fun to criticize a sitting official when he or she is running unopposed…
So here’s our WMQB pledge of the day – if de Pascal fails to meet the qualification hurtle this week, we will raise a glass and toast the writers of this HA-RI-BLE city law (that Chávez signed – thank you very much) for their foresight in making it QUITE DIFFICULT to get those funds, and we’ll honestly tout it as a darn fine component of any possible public financing bill that may show up in Legislature 2008.
And if de Pascal DOES get ‘er done?
The WMQB pledges to recruit republican candidates to run in those heavily democratic districts for the 2009 city elections. They’ll lose, BUT OH THE FUN WE COULD HAVE WITH $25,000 EACH!!!!
OK!
Our e-mail’s the same. Send the tips, comments, quips and COMPLAINTS to wednesdaymorningqb@comcast.net.
See you next Wednesday…