Chávez hits Udall over proposed lab funding cuts

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez is hitting U.S. Rep. Tom Udall hard as the two battle for the Democratic Party nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici.

In a weekend news release, Chávez announced that he is meeting in Los Alamos today with employees of the national lab located there. A pending and controversial bill that Udall supported would cut about $400 million from the budget for the state’s two labs compared to the previous fiscal year.

“Numerous members of the LANL community have been in touch with us about this devastating blow,” Chávez said in the release. “(Today) I’ll be taking the message up to the hill to Los Alamos that New Mexicans must send a senator to Washington who will stand up for them, not someone who supports job cuts at our state’s national laboratories.”

Then the attack, from Chávez campaign manager Mark Fleisher:

“Tom Udall now has the dubious distinction of being the only member of Congress from New Mexico in history to vote in favor of decreased funding and cutting jobs at LANL and Sandia,” he said. “Udall owes these families and other lab workers an apology.”

Fleisher also said Udall has broken his promise to the people of New Mexico.

“Tom Udall said he would fight for New Mexico in Washington,” he said. “But when the time came, he joined forces with the Beltway insiders against our state.”

The attack had the same tone as criticism from the GOP that has been directed at Udall for months. Udall has said the cuts would be part of a push to shift the focus at the labs in part to developing renewable energy. In a statement published Sunday in The Santa Fe New Mexican, his campaign elaborated:

“The budget cuts at the lab, if they occur, are part of a larger issue involving our nation’s nuclear footprint. Tom Udall’s vote did not affect those larger issues,” the campaign said. “Tom Udall has always supported the lab, its valuable employees and (its) core mission. He has always worked to direct the lab toward a future, sustainable workforce. For the mayor to focus on possible job cuts demonstrates a lack of understanding of the issues and a penchant for putting politics ahead of the best, long range interests of LANL employees.”

Chávez is focusing on winning the support of the moderate wing of his party. He’s called Udall a liberal since before the congressman entered the Senate race and is highlighting his own moderate record. In addition to appealing to LANL employees, Chávez recently visited the other conservative stronghold in Udall’s House district, Farmington. His campaign is highlighting on its Web site an article from the Farmington Daily Times that covered his visit. Chávez told the newspaper he knows he will “do well in Doña Ana County” and on the east side of the state, and hopes to win Albuquerque and do well in Northern New Mexico.

It’s unusual to appeal to moderates in a primary, but Chávez is trailing Udall in the polls and Udall has the support of most Washington insiders, so Chávez has to do something unique to set himself apart.