{"id":2706,"date":"2008-01-08T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-08T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/district-6-voters-are-motivated-and-have-good-choices\/"},"modified":"2008-01-08T15:59:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-08T21:59:00","slug":"district-6-voters-are-motivated-and-have-good-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/district-6-voters-are-motivated-and-have-good-choices\/","title":{"rendered":"District 6 voters are motivated and have good choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In my view, the story from Monday evening\u2019s Las Cruces City Council District 6<\/a> candidate forum wasn\u2019t the candidates. It was the 150 people who showed up to hear the candidates. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At a time when we\u2019re seeing record voter and caucus-goer turnout in the presidential election, I was pleasantly surprised to find an overflow crowd show up to the Methodist<\/st1:placename> Church<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> on Morningstar Drive<\/st1:address><\/st1:street> to hear the council candidates. There wasn\u2019t this much interest in November in forums for the regular city election that included races for mayor, municipal judge and several council seats.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Too see this sort of interest in a forum for one open council seat in a special election was exciting. I hope the interest on Election Day \u2013 a week from today \u2013 is even greater.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn from watching the forum that voters have five strong candidates vying to represent them. I left with the impression that any would be a good representative for the district.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Karen Trujillo<\/a> comes across as moderate and reasonable, someone who listens but also has strong opinions, someone who believes in serving and cares deeply about her community and, as a real-estate broker, knows on a practical level about the issues the city faces.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Sharon Thomas<\/a> comes across as extremely intelligent and articulate, as one who has the knowledge to keep up with city staffers when they\u2019re talking about complex issues or tossing lots of numbers at the council. She\u2019s clearly passionate about bettering her community.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Lawrence Joy<\/a> successfully portrays himself as the independent voice in the race who won\u2019t bow to the special interests that are backing Trujillo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and Thomas. He convincingly promises open government and to make the residents his priority. His humor makes him approachable.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Berchard Ray Shipley has the benefit of having dealt with many of the issues facing Las Cruces<\/st1:city> \u2013 with success \u2013 when he was a planning commissioner for a fast-growing city in California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. He can cite examples of what he\u2019s done when asked about many hot-button issues.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Patrick J. Curran is the consummate public servant. He\u2019s highly educated, intelligent, funny and articulate. He\u2019s approachable. He\u2019s blunt. As a former magistrate judge, he understands life under a microscope and has the experience to know how government works.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s the reality of the race: The activists who backed Ken Miyagishima, Miguel Silva and Nathan Small in November \u2013 those who say the city\u2019s growth policies need serious revision \u2013 are generally behind Thomas. Many business owners, particularly those in the real-estate and other growth industries, are generally behind Trujillo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But, despite what anyone says, this race does not boil down to a candidate who favors moderate growth versus one who\u2019s anti-growth, or a candidate who favors smart growth versus one who wants out-of-control growth as long as her friends profit. The main issue in the election is growth, but the candidates all have some good ideas about how the city should grow.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

To the residents of District 6: This isn\u2019t a race where you would be voting for the lesser of two evils. You have good choices. So get out there and pick one. Vote.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s video of each candidates\u2019 closing statement from Monday\u2019s forum:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Curran<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Joy<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Shipley<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thomas<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Trujillo<\/st1:city><\/st1:place><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my view, the story from Monday evening\u2019s Las Cruces City Council District 6 candidate forum wasn\u2019t the candidates. It was the 150 people who showed up to hear the candidates. At a time when we\u2019re seeing record voter and caucus-goer turnout in the presidential election, I was pleasantly surprised to find an overflow crowd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}