Heath Haussamen
In politics, people lie. Certainly not all people, and not all the time, but it does happen frequently.
I devote much of my work to trying to sort the truth from the lies and the spin that falls somewhere in between. The American public is inundated with the spin and the lies daily in TV ads, news releases and other communications.
TV ads have more reach than any other attempt to influence voters. That’s why it’s so important that political candidates be able to back up the claims they make in TV ads with facts.
Enter Susana Martinez, the Republican candidate for governor who has claimed in two TV ads (here and here) that she’s “taken on members of the most violent Mexican drug cartels.”
I want to make clear up front that I think Martinez’s claim is probably true. The words of the head of the federal agency that coordinates the fight against drug trafficking in New Mexico – a man who says Martinez’s claim is accurate – add credibility to Martinez’s claim.
So does that agency’s 2009 report, which details cartel-related crimes that are being committed in New Mexico – the type of crimes that, in Doña Ana County, would be prosecuted by Martinez’s office.
As a former crime reporter in Las Cruces, I’ve covered cases involving the types of local gangs officials say act as enforcers for the cartels. I understand why Martinez doesn’t want to identify specific cases to back up her claim. Informants, government officials and journalists are killed in Mexico all the time for taking on cartels. People have been killed in New Mexico by gangs working with cartels for losing drug shipments or money owed to cartels.
This is scary stuff.
Reason to doubt
But Martinez made the statement about taking on cartels in a political context, and the bottom line is that, in that context, the gubernatorial candidate’s ads make a claim she isn’t backing up – even if there’s a very good reason she isn’t backing it up.
My job as a journalist is to be skeptical. I want to be able to show you proof.
In this case, I’ve found testimony from a federal official and narratives in a federal report about the types of crimes that Martinez’s office might be prosecuting. But, while that’s evidence in support of her claim, it isn’t definitive proof. There is a difference.
Because so much in politics is spin and lies, the American public has reason to doubt every claim a politician won’t or can’t back up. It’s no surprise that the state Democratic Party has accused Martinez of exaggerating her own importance in combating cartel activity. She hasn’t provided proof that they’re wrong.
Martinez opened herself up to such attacks by putting the ads on the air and not providing proof of the claims they make.
Of course, Martinez isn’t the only one to do that. I wrote last week about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish’s TV ad that makes an unsubstantiated leap. In that case, Denish’s campaign was unable to provide proof to support its claim that Martinez “allowed” child predators to avoid the sex offender registry.
That’s because the campaign doesn’t have proof. Denish made an allegation that was based on spin – a leap to the worst possible conclusion about two cases Martinez’s office prosecuted that required taking the cases out of context and making a claim without having all the facts.
Denish paid the price for that when the father of the victim in one of those cases called her out and left her with egg on her face.
If you can’t provide proof…
I’ve spent most of my time in the last few weeks investigating claims being made by both gubernatorial candidates. The bottom line is this: You shouldn’t make a claim – positive about yourself or negative about your opponent – that you can’t back up with proof.
Because if you can’t provide proof, the political system in which you operate has given the public all the reason in the world to believe you’re lying.