{"id":2905,"date":"2008-02-21T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-22T00:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/mccamley-pledges-commitment-change-and-results\/"},"modified":"2008-02-21T18:59:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-22T00:59:00","slug":"mccamley-pledges-commitment-change-and-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/mccamley-pledges-commitment-change-and-results\/","title":{"rendered":"McCamley pledges commitment, change and results"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the sixth 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\u2019 preprimary nominating conventions on March 15.<\/span> <\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Bill McCamley<\/a> has said often on the campaign trail that politicians should be judged solely on results.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHave you made life better for the people you represent? If you can\u2019t answer that question, you shouldn\u2019t be re-elected,\u201d the Democratic Second Congressional District candidate said.<\/p>\n

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McCamley, one of four Democrats in the race, said he has produced results for his constituents since being elected to the Do\u00f1a Ana County Board of Commissioners<\/a> in 2004. Among the actions he cites are brokering a deal to end legal battles and pave the way for development of Santa Teresa and making baby formula at a shelter following a flood in Hatch.<\/p>\n

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McCamley said the fact that he\u2019s been in the congressional race since April, long before Steve Pearce<\/a> announced he was vacating the seat to run for Senate, proves his commitment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI got in this race for the right reasons, when it was against Steve Pearce, when it was hard, because we needed change,\u201d McCamley said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be about a career opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Commitment and results are themes of McCamley\u2019s campaign. So is change. He said he wants to help \u201cbridge the partisan gap in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u201d and end the rhetoric of fear that has been exacerbated by the Bush Administration.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe need to instead talk about how to work together for change,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m willing to work across the aisle and compromise, and I\u2019m not afraid to tell both parties, \u2018the way you\u2019ve been doing this is not good enough.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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The other Democrats in the race are retired Presbyterian pastor Al Kissling<\/a>, Roswell businessman and retired teacher Frank McKinnon<\/a> and former Lea County Commissioner Harry Teague<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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McCamley\u2019s campaign is focused on several issues.<\/p>\n

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Economic development<\/span><\/p>\n

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McCamley said many young people have to choose between leaving the area to find good jobs or staying to work for minimum wage. When he finished his master\u2019s degree at Harvard and returned to Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> several years ago, he had a difficult time finding a job, eventually working in real estate before he was elected to the commission.<\/p>\n

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McCamley said Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place> can create jobs by developing solar, wind and geothermal energy technology.<\/p>\n

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Health care<\/span><\/p>\n

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As a commissioner, McCamley has dealt with the fact that 20 percent of New Mexicans don\u2019t have health insurance and, as a result, wait until problems grow worse \u2013 and more expensive \u2013 before seeking treatment in hospital emergency rooms, at taxpayer expense.<\/p>\n

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He said he favors \u201can insurance program that covers everyone,\u201d because the economy of scale will help control costs. He wants to ensure people can choose their doctors. He wants to insure all children and is a proponent of the State Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI will not take health insurance from Congress until every child in this country has insurance,\u201d McCamley said. \u201cI will pay for my own. It\u2019s important for leaders to live by example.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place><\/span><\/p>\n

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McCamley, who used to teach government classes at New Mexico State University, said spending billions of dollars in Iraq each month without forcing its government to move toward independence would be like him assigning homework without due dates.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe absolutely must have a definitive timetable for withdrawing our troops from Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>,\u201d McCamley said. \u201cIraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> is not the 51st state.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Veterans\u2019 issues<\/span><\/p>\n

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McCamley\u2019s father is a Vietnam<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> veteran, and he said his family has \u201cdealt with the effects of him being in combat, even 25 years after the fact, and no one else should have to go through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said he would push for a set annual budget for the Veterans Administration \u2013 which is now funded by annual leftovers \u2013 and funding for more mental-health councilors. There is currently one serving all Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place> veterans.<\/p>\n

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McCamley noted that young people getting out of the military are twice as likely as civilian counterparts to be unemployed. He said they need better mental and physical health care and more job training to help them join the ranks of the employed.<\/p>\n

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Education<\/span><\/p>\n

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McCamley said the No Child Left Behind Act has failed because it focuses on tests rather than real-world experience. That forces teachers to be bureaucrats and doesn\u2019t motivate students.<\/p>\n

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He said he would push for more funding and local flexibility, and said improvement, not \u201carbitrary benchmarks,\u201d should be the measure of success. He said he favors \u201cproject-based\u201d education over testing.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cStudents are not going to be motivated by a test at the end of the year,\u201d McCamley said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be motivated by creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Environment<\/span><\/p>\n

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McCamley said he\u2019s a proponent of protecting the environment because \u201careas of critical concern\u201d will be lost if they aren\u2019t preserved, but also for practical reasons. For example, he said, there is enough water under Otero Mesa for 1 million people for 10 years, and it\u2019s important to protect that source.<\/p>\n

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He said he will push for the development of alternative energy not only to create jobs but also to combat the effects of global warming.<\/p>\n

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About McCamley<\/span><\/p>\n

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McCamley was born in South Korea<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> while his father was stationed there. His family lived in Virginia<\/st1:state> while his father worked in Washington<\/st1:state>, and moved to Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> when he was 14.<\/p>\n

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He graduated from Mayfield<\/st1:placename> High School<\/st1:placetype> and New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> before heading to Harvard. There he heard members of a panel of local and state government officials argue that the best place to serve is in the community where you grew up. That convinced him to return home.<\/p>\n

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During his tenure on the commission, McCamley also worked for two years as director of a non-profit that works on infrastructure and other issues in rural communities.<\/p>\n

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McCamley chaired the commission during his first year in office. His notable actions include brokering the deal to end the Santa Teresa lawsuits and pushing for a gross-receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Controversies<\/span><\/p>\n

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The spaceport tax was narrowly approved by voters but divided the community. Some argued that it was necessary to spur development. Others said it was unfair to tax a poor county for a project that will benefit the rich.<\/p>\n

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McCamley said the spaceport is a gamble but will create thousands of jobs if it\u2019s successful. He worked hard to sell the tax, giving 50 public presentations and going door-to-door. Though some disagree with his stance on the spaceport, he said it\u2019s an example of how hard he will work in Congress on health-care reform, ending the Iraq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> war and protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cAny politician who is going to tell you they\u2019ll agree with you on everything is a liar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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McCamley has also been criticized for taking thousands of dollars for his campaign from people tied to the Verde Group, which is developing Santa Teresa. Verde has proposed using controversial tax-increment-development-district funding for the project. McCamley has been asked to recuse himself from related votes, but refused.<\/p>\n

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But he has also refused to support Verde\u2019s TIDD plan because the group wouldn\u2019t promise that 15 percent of its housing would meet the federal definition of affordable housing. Because of his refusal, the TIDD proposal fell apart.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think that shows that I\u2019m not in anybody\u2019s pocket,\u201d McCamley said. \u201cI only ever make decisions based on what is in the best interest of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Prior interviews with Second Congressional District candidates:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Ed Tinsley<\/a>, published Feb. 18, 2008<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 C. Earl Greer<\/a>, published Feb. 14, 2008<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Al Kissling<\/a>, published Jan. 28, 2008<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Aubrey L. Dunn Jr.<\/a>, published Jan. 14, 2008<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Harry Teague<\/a>, published Dec. 20, 2007<\/p>\n

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

As I\u2019ve disclosed in the past, I\u2019m friends with McCamley. You can read about that by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the sixth 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\u2019 preprimary nominating conventions on March 15. Bill McCamley has said often on the campaign trail that politicians should be judged solely on […]<\/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-2905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2905","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=2905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}