Wilson, shown here during the Domenici Public Policy Conference at NMSU last week. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
‘This isn’t my first rodeo, but it isn’t my last, either,’ former congresswoman says
Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson is usually a decisive person. But she says she still hasn’t made a decision on whether she’s going to run for governor next year.
“I’m still considering it, and I honestly haven’t made a decision, which is very unlike me,” Wilson said Thursday during an interview in Las Cruces.
Wilson says she’s torn. She believes she “would be a good and effective governor” and could help the state address fiscal accountability and ethics problems.
But the Republican, who represented the 1st Congressional District in Washington for 10 years, said she isn’t the sort of person who needs to hold an elected office. She said she has a number of opportunities to serve and find satisfaction, “and choosing one means forgoing others.”
In addition, Wilson, who left Congress nine months ago, said she’s enjoying not having her life scheduled into 15-minute segments. She and her husband and children are watching movies together as a family. Her children have been asking for a dog for years, and they recently got one.
“Those things seem pretty trivial compared to the needs of the state, but they are life’s luxuries,” Wilson said. “… I’m enjoying having a bit more normal family life.”
Wilson’s indecisiveness keeps in flux a Republican primary field that currently includes four other candidates and likely candidates — state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, public relations professional Doug Turner and former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh. Some analysts have said Wilson would enter the race as the favorite, and other candidates may have a difficult time raising money and gathering support until Republicans know what Wilson plans to do.
Wilson said she has no timetable for making a decision on whether to run.
Sounding like a candidate
When she speaks about the issues, Wilson sounds a candidate. During the interview, she said Santa Fe needs change because of corruption, the state’s historically high unemployment rate and the unacceptably low high-school graduation rate.
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the only Democrat who has entered the 2010 gubernatorial race, hasn’t done enough to stop corruption or address other problems, Wilson said.
“I like Mrs. Denish,” Wilson said, “but she’s been there for eight years, and when did she draw the line?”
Wilson said the state’s other problems are related to its corruption. For example, she said rewarding friends and donors with investment contracts means the state hasn’t always made the smartest investments with public money.
On education, Wilson said she has never heard Gov. Bill Richardson “talking passionately,” and said, “I haven’t heard anything from his sidekick on that either.”
‘Not a target’ of U.S. attorney probe
Some have said one potential stumbling block Wilson might face in trying to win an election is the ongoing investigation into the 2006 firings of New Mexico’s David Iglesias and several other U.S. attorneys. Iglesias alleges that Wilson and former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., pressured him weeks before the 2006 election to speed indictments in an ongoing criminal investigation involving a high-ranking Democrat — a charge both deny.
At the time, Wilson was in a tough re-election battle that she ended up winning by fewer than 1,000 votes out of about 211,000 cast. Days after the election, Iglesias was fired.
Some, including Iglesias, have suggested that Wilson, Domenici or others might face obstruction-of-justice charges. But no statements from officials close to the investigation or media reports have indicated that Wilson is a target of the probe.
Wilson said that’s because she’s not.
“I’m not a target or a subject of the investigation,” she said, adding that she has cooperated with investigators from the start.
This isn’t Wilson’s last rodeo
Wilson was a top target, however, of Democrats in Washington and New Mexico during her entire tenure in Congress. Her races were always listed among the top 10 in the U.S. House. Because of that, millions of dollars were spent casting her in a negative light on television across most of the state, and she was almost constantly running for re-election.
And last year, when she opted not to seek re-election so she could run for the Senate seat being vacated by Domenici, Wilson lost a divisive primary against former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce.
Wilson mentioned those tough election fights as she discussed the trouble she’s having making a decision about running for governor. She said she won’t enter the race unless she’s fully committed. Though she’s aware that most politicians don’t have to fight as many bloody battles as she did to keep her House seat, that history enters into her consideration about whether to run for another office.
Another factor is that Wilson is 48.
“This isn’t my first rodeo, but it isn’t my last, either,” she said. “I don’t feel that kind of compulsion that it’s now or never.”
“There are a lot of different ways to use your gifts,” Wilson said. “You pray for guidance and then you wait for the answer. So far, I wish that He would speak up.”
A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Wilson is 49.