Doña Ana County Commissioner Oscar Vásquez Butler has decided to challenge Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia in the June 2008 Democratic primary.
Butler confirmed today his decision to take on the Democratic senator who has represented District 36 for 20 years. Both live in Doña Ana, a rural community a few miles north of Las Cruces.
“I am running for Senate District 36,” Butler said. “I think we’re in need of a change and I think I can make a difference.”
Butler’s decision is sure to rattle the county’s Democratic Party. Though Garcia is a giant in the party, Butler is also popular, especially in rural areas, and he is younger and more energetic. This could be one of the more difficult battles of Garcia’s political career.
Butler acknowledged that defeating one of the highest ranking senators in the state will be difficult.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle,” he said. “It’s going to be a good campaign.”
Garcia was at a legislative meeting today. A spokesman said the senator would call me Friday to discuss the situation.
Garcia, whose bar was recently cited for serving an intoxicated person, has been under scrutiny lately because, weeks after the citation was issued, she called officials from Santa Fe to a meeting in Las Cruces so she and other industry representatives and lawmakers from around the state could berate them, accuse them of unfair treatment and complain about overly strict regulations.
But the controversy hasn’t likely reached the average voter in Garcia’s district, and may not since Butler doesn’t plan to run a negative campaign.
“I’d like to keep it clean. I have a lot of respect for her,” Butler said. “I’ve always considered her a friend, and yet it has nothing to do with friendship. It has to do with the position.”
Butler, the immediate past president of the New Mexico Association of Counties, defeated Republican John Zimmerman by six points last year to be re-elected to the commission. He said he will resign from the county job if elected to the Senate. If he loses, he can keep the commission job.
Senate District 36 is largely a rural district that stretches north and west from Las Cruces all the way to Sierra and Luna counties. Many rural county residents say Butler is the first elected official to genuinely listen to their concerns and try to improve their situations.
Butler opposed spaceport tax, state cockfighting ban
Butler was the leader of the group that opposed in April a county gross receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America – a tax increase Garcia supported. Butler argued that the tax should be applied statewide, not in only a handful of poor southern counties.
The spaceport tax election may be an indicator of what’s to come. The tax was nearly defeated largely because of the opposition votes of residents of the county’s rural areas – many of them people who don’t often get fired up enough to head to the polls. Organizers are working hard to keep that momentum going and increase the influence of the rural areas, and they may seek to rally around the leader of the opposition to the spaceport tax.
Butler is one of a handful of elected officials in the county who believe the majority of their peers have allowed development to get out of control. Because of last summer’s flooding Butler has tried, unsuccessfully, to get his peers to approve a moratorium on growth in and around arroyos until the county can come up with the hundreds of millions of dollars it needs to upgrade its flood-control system.
Butler has another controversial view on a hot-button topic: He believes cockfighting is an issue that should be left up to local governments, and does not believe the state should have approved the ban earlier this year. Butler told me he isn’t a supporter of cockfighting – he’s never been to an event – and noted that cockfighting was illegal in Doña Ana County before the state ban was enacted this year.
The bill that led to the ban was sponsored by Garcia, who sought its passage for 18 years. She has a lot of support from animal-rights groups who are almost certain to come to her aid during the primary battle.
Developing a campaign platform
Butler said his campaign platform will be developed largely by the residents of the district, adding that he is “very people oriented, community oriented, issue oriented, and I really pursue those things that I feel are meaningful to the community.”
He said one issue he would seek to resolve in the Legislature involves a host of unfunded mandates the state puts on counties, including requiring counties to house state prisoners in their jails and provide office space for district attorneys. Butler has complained about such issues for years.
He said he would also pay close attention to growth and water issues.
Butler said the next step is to begin meeting with voters in the district to develop a platform of issues and garner support. He said he is “very excited about taking this on,” and said primary elections are an important part of democracy.
“It gives the voters an opportunity to evaluate the merits of my abilities with hers, to evaluate myself and what I’ve accomplished, to evaluate what she’s accomplished and put things in perspective and see if it’s the time for change,” he said. “If it’s time for change, then I’m your candidate.”
Doña Ana County Commissioner Oscar Vásquez Butler has decided to challenge Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia in the June 2008 Democratic primary. 