Tinsley touts his experience and fundraising ability

This is the fifth in an occasional series of articles based on conversations with the Second Congressional District candidates. Articles on each candidate who agrees to an interview will run before the parties’ preprimary nominating conventions on March 15.

When Ed Tinsley ran for Congress in 2002, he didn’t have the experience to understand the inner workings of Washington.

One of the focuses of Tinsley’s 2008 campaign is the fact that he now has that experience.

After Tinsley, the owner of the K-Bob’s chain of restaurants, lost the 2002 Republican primary to Steve Pearce, he became heavily involved in the National Restaurant Association, serving as chairman of its board in 2006. In that capacity he has met often with elected officials and staffers in Washington to promote the association’s views on issues including health-care reform.

That experience has helped him understand how things work in Washington. It’s also given him a strong base from which to raise money. Tinsley, as of Dec. 31, had raised more money from outside sources than any other Republican or Democrat in the race.

“You can have ‘the right message and the right image,’ and the charisma, but if you can’t raise the money, you won’t be successful,” Tinsley said.

The other Republicans in the race are rancher and retired banker Aubrey L. Dunn Jr., former Sierra County GOP chair C. Earl Greer, former state Rep. Terry Marquardt, Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman and Las Cruces daycare-center owner Greg Sowards.

Tinsley is focusing his campaign on four issues: health care, taxes, immigration and border security and national defense.

Health care

Tinsley said his primary goal in health care is to protect the “sanctity, integrity and quality of our private health-care system.” That includes, he said, protecting the doctor-patient relationship.

He is opposed to a socialized health-care program, but wants to help increase coverage by allowing small-businesses to form large associations to bargain for cheaper health plans for their employees. That’s currently prohibited.

Tinsley helped lobby in recent years, on behalf of the restaurant association, for a change that would allow small businesses to do that, but he wasn’t successful.

“In all candor, I feel like the insurance companies fought us on that,” Tinsley said. “They divide and conquer.”

Tinsley also favors tax breaks and deductions for health-care premiums, and said he is a proponent of tort reform. In less-populated areas, where there are fewer specialists in a given field, he said the cost of health care is driven way up by frivolous lawsuits.

Taxes

Tinsley said tax-policy is a family-values issue, because lower taxes “help families and individuals keep more money in their pockets.” He favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

Tinsley said that would “create a more optimistic outlook” for the nation’s economy. Many people are nervous right now because they’re worried that the tax cuts, which help them and their families, might not be made permanent.

Immigration and border security

Tinsley said dealing with immigration and border security starts with securing the border. The Border Patrol needs funding to hire additional agents and also needs to improve organization to ensure efficiency, he said.

He favors a fence as “an important component” of a plan to secure the border, but said it’s “not the answer to all the issues.” He also favors a greater focus on using technology to monitor border activity.

Tinsley said a guest-worker program is necessary for America’s economy, but the system needs more accountability. Those who want to participate should be required to speak English and undergo background checks. He said the federal government needs to improve its monitoring of such people while they’re in America and needs to ensure they leave when there legal residency expires.

Tinsley said he opposes amnesty, but trying to deport the millions who are here illegally poses an “interesting challenge.” Because of that, he said the best answer is to “entice them to come out of the shadows and become part of the legal process.”

“How we do that, I don’t know,” Tinsley said.

National Security

Noting the importance of White Sands Missile Range, Holloman Air Force Base and Fort Bliss to local economies in the Second Congressional District, Tinsley said it’s critical to “have a congressman who unequivocally supports” the mission of the military and the bases.

But the next congressman for the district must also focus on ensuring that America takes care of its soldiers. He said the physical, mental and financial challenges of soldiers and their families must be met.

“I think it’s wrong that we have not placed a bigger priority on making sure those issues are addressed,” he said.

Tinsley said there is a lot the private sector can do to help, and shared that, after the Iraq war began, his restaurants offered to feed soldiers and their families for free for a time.

“It’s walking the walk,” Tinsley said.

‘Preserving the American dream’

Tinsley said he has “the track record of being a tried and true Republican.” He was raised by moderate Democrats, but, when he was dating his now-wife in 1976 and proposed to her in Midland, Texas, the first question she asked was, “You are a Republican, aren’t you?”

He became one after that and has remained one for more than three decades.

Tinsley and his wife moved to New Mexico in 1978 to be closer to their ranch, and they bought a Schlotzsky’s franchise. He cooked and his wife ran the cash register.

Today, in addition to owning the K-BOB’s chain, they also operate a cattle ranch in Capitan and are active in the oil and gas and real estate industries. They own a second home in Santa Fe, but most of their business interests are located at the ranch.

Tinsley and his wife have been married 31 years and have two adult children.

Tinsley has been repeatedly accused, because of the Santa Fe home, of not living in the Second Congressional District, but he is quick to point out that he and his wife vote and file their taxes in Lincoln County. He said he spends most of his time at the ranch, but business interests and his work with the restaurant association have taken him away from home a lot. He also said he feels fortunate to be able to afford a second home.

Noting his experience as a small business owner and in agriculture and oil and gas, Tinsley said he understands on a personal level the economic situations of people throughout the Second Congressional District.

“I’m the only candidate that has the diverse business experience in each of these areas,” Tinsley said. “I understand the challenges and the opportunities.”

Tinsley said that has led him to consider “what we could or should make better before we hand things on to the next generation.” He said he’s especially concerned about “preserving the American dream” through dealing with regulation, taxation and legislation that makes it more difficult for families and business owners to be successful.

“That’s probably the most passionate part of the reason I’m running,” Tinsley said.

Prior interviews with Second Congressional District candidates:

• C. Earl Greer, published Feb. 14, 2008

• Al Kissling, published Jan. 28, 2008

• Aubrey L. Dunn Jr., published Jan. 14, 2008

• Harry Teague, published Dec. 20, 2007

A prior version of this posting stated that Tinsley lobbied on behalf of the restaurant association. Though it was a technically correct statement – he pushed the association’s viewpoints to members of Congress – he was not a paid, formal lobbyist, so the wording of the sentence has been changed for clarification.