Javier Gonzales
Republican Chairman Harvey Yates’ recent, baseless attack on Lt. Gov. Diane Denish serves only to highlight the lack transparency and openness from his own Republican candidates for governor.
Diane Denish is running the most open and transparent campaign in the state, inviting voters and the media to review her campaign contributions more often than the law requires.
Conversely, the Republican candidates for governor – with the exception of one — have conveniently not responded to an inquiry from a reporter for this very Web site on whether they plan to follow Lt. Gov. Denish’s lead and report their contributions more frequently. What exactly are the Republican candidates hiding?
Specifically addressing Yates’ accusation, Lt. Gov. Denish has absolutely no involvement with or jurisdiction over the State Investment Council or its investment decisions. To suggest or imply otherwise is reckless and desperate, even for Mr. Yates.
Furthermore, if Mr. Yates wants to take a critical look at who is contributing to the various campaigns, perhaps he should start with the gubernatorial candidates in his own party. For example, maybe he can explain the correlation – should one exist – between the thousands of dollars that Allen Weh gave to Republicans in Congress over the same period of time that his business received more than $200 million in federal defense contracts during President Bush’s time in office?
While the Republicans have offered nothing more than the same old negative politics, Diane Denish is a different kind of leader. Her knowledge and commitment to the state of New Mexico is unmatched, and her common sense, bipartisan approach leads to solutions for New Mexico families. During these challenging times for our state, that’s exactly the type of new leadership we need.
The key difference
Here’s the key difference that’s emerged early in this race: The Republicans talk about being governor; Diane Denish shows the people of New Mexico why she’s prepared for the state’s top job.
Take this week for example. The Republicans continue to throw stones from the bleachers. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Denish is visiting with small business owners in communities across the state – from Albuquerque to Alamogordo to Las Cruces — listening to their concerns and helping them get access to capital, so they can create jobs for New Mexicans.
Last week, Lt. Gov. Denish launched the state contractor database that she championed, which allows New Mexicans to track how state government spends their taxpayer dollars on large contracts. It marked a major step forward toward giving New Mexicans the open and transparent government they deserve.
And the week before that, Lt. Gov. Denish joined Attorney General King and announced a tough plan to take on predatory lenders who take advantage of New Mexico families.
These are historically challenging times, and New Mexicans need a governor with the new ideas needed to take our state in the right direction. That’s Diane Denish.
We fully expect the Republicans to continue attacking Lt. Gov. Denish’s character and distorting her record. But that type of reckless negativity is the last thing New Mexicans need when they’re worried about paying the bills. The 2010 governor’s race should be about ideas for New Mexico’s future. Thus far, Diane Denish is the only candidate in the race who has any.
Gonzales is chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico.