Michael Ray Huerta
As expected, 25-year-old Michael Ray Huerta has formally entered the race for Las Cruces mayor.
Huerta unveiled his campaign website Sunday evening and announced his candidacy on Facebook.
NMPolitics.net analyzed Huerta’s impact on what is now a three-person race last week, reporting that he will portray himself as an outsider running against two politicians – incumbent Mayor Ken Miyagishima and District 2 City Councilor Dolores Connor.
As the Las Cruces Sun-News recently reported, former Mayor Bill Mattiace “hasn’t completely ruled out a run,” and East Mesa activist J.D. Rodriguez is “tentatively considering” running.
On Huerta’s website, he talks about fiscal accountability, education (though the mayor and city government don’t directly oversee area public schools), and being a full-time mayor.
Update, 9:25 a.m.
Huerta just sent a news release announcing his campaign. In it, he proposed reversing a pay increase for the city’s elected leaders that was implemented in 2008.
“In the past four years, the city budget has decreased by nearly 30%,” Huerta said. “Middle class incomes have gone down, and one out of every five Las Crucens now live in poverty, including 35% of our children. Revenues are down, and services to Las Crucens have been drastically cut. Yet in that same time, city politicians – some of whom now want to be Mayor – voted to increase their own salaries by 10-15%. That isn’t right, it isn’t fair, and it isn’t fiscally accountable to Las Cruces tax payers.
“I don’t expect this initiative to be popular with some of the politicians at city hall,” added Huerta. “For years, they’ve failed to act on this important issue. It’s about time they put the fiscal interests of Las Crucens ahead of their own personal agendas. They need to cut back the salary increase they gave themselves because in this economy, we can’t afford to keep a 15% raise for elected politicians.”