GOP House candidates to skip nominating convention

What about the Democratic hopefuls?

The chairman of the fund-raising committee for House Republicans recently told congressional hopefuls they should not shy away from criticizing fellow Republicans and would be wise to skip next month’s GOP presidential nominating convention in Minnesota.

New Mexico’s Republican House candidates are skipping the GOP convention at the beginning of September, their campaigns said. And all three — 1st District candidate Darren White, 2nd District candidate Ed Tinsley and 3rd District candidate Dan East — released statements touting their independence.

“We’re going to run our race the way we’ve been running it. I am a Republican, but more importantly, a conservative who listens to people to understand the issues facing this district and find solutions,” Tinsley said in a statement released by his campaign. “My real-life experiences fit the diversity of our district and are more important than party labels.”

White campaign manager Sara Lister said the campaign wasn’t on the conference call during which Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., gave the advice to congressional hopefuls, so she couldn’t speak specifically about it, but she did call White “a straight shooter who has never been afraid to criticize leaders of his own party when he disagrees with them.”

“White gave up his job when he disagreed with Gary Johnson on drug legalization and has been very blunt about his disagreements with President George Bush on Katrina and the handling of the War in Iraq,” she said. “White speaks his mind without regard to the political benefits or consequences.”

East released this statement:

“As Lew Wallis said, ‘Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico.’ We are a state of pioneers and we will run our campaign based on the people of New Mexico, not the people in Washington,” he said.

‘Don’t hesitate to be anti-Washington, D.C.’

It was during a conference call last week that Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told GOP candidates they should not hesitate to criticize Republicans and Democrats alike, according to the Washington publication The Hill.

“These (congressional approval) ratings are worse than we had on the eve of losing the majority,” Cole said, according to The Hill. “Don’t be afraid to say you are disappointed in fellow Republicans… don’t hesitate to be anti-Washington, D.C.”

According to the article, Cole also “discouraged candidates from attending the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, saying that spending days there would be a ‘waste of time,’ and they would be better off campaigning.”

Tinsley said he isn’t attending the convention because he’s too busy.

“There are too many personal and campaign-related events going on at that time, including the All American Futurity horse race, meeting with constituents and spending time with my family,” he said.

East and White gave no explanation for skipping the convention.

But at least the Republican candidates have decided and were willing to say whether they’re attending their convention. Getting answers out of the three Democratic House candidates from New Mexico on whether they will attend their party’s presidential nominating convention in Denver later this month was more difficult.

A campaign spokeswoman for 1st District Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich said Heinrich hasn’t decided whether he’ll attend the convention. Spokesmen for the campaigns of 2nd District Democratic candidate Harry Teague and 3rd District Democratic candidate Ben R. Luján wouldn’t comment for the record when asked if the candidates will attend the convention.