Veterans’ activist to battle for right to take on Pearce

A prominent Vietnam veteran who has run unsuccessfully for Congress in the past plans to fight for the right to take on U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M. next year.

Democrat Rick Bolaños said he is “absolutely” running and plans to officially declare his candidacy later this week.

Until recently, Bolaños lived in east El Paso, and he ran in 2006 against former Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas. Mid-way through that election cycle, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the controversial 2003 Texas redistricting, but forced the redrawing of Bonilla’s district.

It also ordered a vote on Election Day 2006 that included all candidates who wanted to run, with a runoff in December if no candidate received 50 percent.

Bolaños was already in the race at the time, but he was joined by five other Democrats after the ruling. He withdrew before the election, saying lack of funding was a factor but also that he “took one for the team” because, with so many Democrats in the race, Bonilla was likely to be re-elected. Democrat Ciro Rodriguez ended up winning the race.

According to records from the Federal Election Commission, Bolaños raised about $28,000 for that race.

Bolaños said he isn’t deterred, however, by the fact that one of two other Democratic challengers to Pearce, Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley, has already raised almost $140,000, and that Pearce has almost $400,000 in the bank for his re-election campaign.

“We’ve already been working the district,” he told me.

He said his family moved to La Mesa in southern Doña Ana County in January and opened a personal health care business there.

Bolaños and his three brothers served in Vietnam at the same time, and they have become nationally known veterans’ activists who traveled with John Kerry during the 2004 presidential race. Bolaños has publicly endorsed Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2008 presidential bid, introduced him at one public event and said he’s the co-chair of the governor’s veteran’s outreach team.

Bolaños said he plans to run on a platform of securing the border, health care and education reform, veterans’ issues and campaign finance reform. He said he has written a book, “America the Whore,” which is being published by a private financer and deals with “how we’ve prostituted our nation and how political leaders don’t vote their constituents any more. They vote their donors.”

It will be published in a few months, he said.

“It’s a sad thing that you would use that kind of title but I wanted it to be a shocking title so people would read it and find out what is really going on with our political system,” Bolaños said.

Whether Bolaños likes it or not, money is a big factor in any race, so the fundraising gap is significant, especially given the fact that he had to drop out of his last race in part because of a lack of financing. In addition, he will probably have to fight charges that he’s a carpetbagger.

At the same time, Bolaños’ prominence will help him gain some attention. And he has some allies in Doña Ana County among the veterans’ community.

His entrance means there are two Anglo candidates – McCamley and Al Kissling – and one Hispanic in the race, which adds a whole new dimension to the contest. As the two lesser-known candidates, if Kissling and Bolaños both stay in the race, Kissling will likely have a harder time getting the 20 percent of votes needed at next Spring’s preprimary nominating convention to get on the ballot. And Bolaños won’t be as easy for McCamley to ignore as Kissling is because he’s Hispanic and a veteran.

McCamley remains far out front in the race for the right to take on Pearce, but Bolaños could make the contest interesting.