{"id":2944,"date":"2008-03-04T17:41:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-04T23:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/marquardt-touts-12-years-of-experience-as-a-legislator\/"},"modified":"2008-03-04T17:41:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-04T23:41:00","slug":"marquardt-touts-12-years-of-experience-as-a-legislator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/marquardt-touts-12-years-of-experience-as-a-legislator\/","title":{"rendered":"Marquardt touts 12 years of experience as a legislator"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the eighth 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

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

\"\"<\/a>Terry Marquardt<\/a> is quick to point out that he has more legislative experience than any other candidate in the race to replace Steve Pearce<\/a> in Congress.<\/p>\n

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The Republican was a state legislator from Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for 12 years, including a stint as the House minority whip.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSouthern New Mexico has the opportunity to elect a congressman with 12 years of training and experience,\u201d Marquardt said, adding that he has voted against giving drivers licenses and lottery scholarships to undocumented immigrants and sponsored tax-cut and pro-life legislation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not just that I have experience. I\u2019ve done things for the district,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Marquardt was narrowly defeated in 2006 by current state Rep. Nate Cote<\/a>, D-Las Cruces. That came four years after redistricting shifted most of Marquardt\u2019s conservative, Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> district into the more Democratic Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

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Marquardt said House District 53<\/a> is now 35 percent Republican. Because of that, he said, criticism that\u2019s based on his 2006 loss is unfair. He points out that he won re-election twice after redistricting, in 2002 and 2004, before losing in 2006.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe real question is, how did I manage to win for two cycles in such a liberal district?\u201d Marquardt said. \u201cMy record is a record of very conservative values, very conservative principles, and I never wavered from those even when I was redistricted into only a 35-percent Republican district.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The other Republicans in the race are rancher and retired banker Aubrey L. Dunn Jr.<\/a>, former Sierra County GOP chair C. Earl Greer<\/a>, Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman<\/a>, Las Cruces daycare-center owner Greg Sowards<\/a> and rancher and restaurant-chain owner Ed Tinsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The issues Marquardt is focusing on during his campaign are immigration, government spending and health care.<\/p>\n

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Immigration<\/span><\/p>\n

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Marquardt said immigration is a national security issue.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe absolutely have an obligation to control our borders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Marquardt supports building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, but said better use of technology and increasing the number of Border Patrol agents is also necessary.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think we need to use all the tools available to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Marquardt said he wants to foster a new attitude about the Border Patrol.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not just illegal immigrants crossing the border. It\u2019s also terrorists \u2013 people who would kill Americans on our own soil,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we need to treat the Border Patrol as another branch of our military.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marquardt opposes amnesty, saying it would encourage more illegal immigration and send a message that America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> does not enforce it laws. Marquardt also supports \u201cstaggering financial penalties\u201d for employers who hire illegal workers and stripping federal funding for cities that refuse to report undocumented immigrants to federal agents.<\/p>\n

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Government spending<\/span><\/p>\n

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Marquardt said he favors a law that requires the federal government to balance its budget. He notes that, as a state lawmaker, he helped balance the budget in Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> every year. The state is required to do that.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think the federal government is bloated and undisciplined, with open-ended spending,\u201d Marquardt said. \u201cI have a plan. I have a solution, and that would be a balanced-budget act.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wasteful government spending, Marquardt said, necessitates high taxes and harms the economy. He said in addition to a balanced budget, his plan to grow the economy includes limiting government spending and lowering taxes. He said that would lead to stable inflation. He also favors reducing taxes on capital gains and dividends to make it easier for people to invest.<\/p>\n

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Marquardt said he has a proven record as a tax cutter. When state research and development taxes were causing programs to leave Holloman Air Force Base and White<\/st1:placename> Sands<\/st1:placename> Missile<\/st1:placename> Range<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, he sponsored, as a state representative, legislation that cut the tax. The bill was approved, he said, and opened the way for such programs to return.<\/p>\n

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

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

Marquardt, an Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> optometrist, said he has a unique perspective on the American health-care system.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know health-care from the standpoint of the patient and I know health care from the standpoint of the provider. I assure you we do not want socialized health care in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Americans may buy Canadian drugs, but Marquardt said Canadians come to the United States<\/st1:country-region> to see specialists because of long waits in Canada<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. He said the problem with socialized medicine is that there aren\u2019t enough doctors.<\/p>\n

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

He also said the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> government has problems running other health-care programs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think that working Americans want to have a health plan administered by the same people that take care of our returning veterans in our VA hospitals and the horror stories that we\u2019ve heard and the poor care they\u2019re receiving in our government-run hospitals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt favors tax incentives for employers and employees to establish health-saving accounts for day-to-day medical expenses. He said he would couple that with catastrophic insurance to take care of major incidents.<\/p>\n

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A record of \u2018conservative values\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Marquardt said the most important thing about his candidacy is his 12-year record of \u201cconservative values, of family values, of Christian values.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cPeople know how Terry Marquardt will vote, because it\u2019s the same way he\u2019s voted for 12 years, representing their conservative values and principles,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when I go to Congress, I\u2019ll stay with their values.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt said if he\u2019s elected he will place his optometry practice in the care of associate doctors. When asked how much time he would spend in Washington<\/st1:state> if elected and how much time he would spend in the district, Marquardt said Pearce \u201chas set an ideal example of doing his congressional work in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and returning to the district to live and play and interact with his constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt said some \u201cnational groups\u201d asked him to run for Congress because he was able to keep his state House seat through two election cycles after redistricting without compromising his conservative values.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhat their research showed is that I didn\u2019t go soft,\u201d Marquardt said. \u201cI stayed firm with conservative values.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt said some of the groups will endorse him, but he declined to name them.<\/p>\n

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

The current battle is to secure the votes of 20 percent of delegates at the state GOP preprimary nominating convention on March 15. Many other candidates don\u2019t consider Marquardt a serious competitor in that race, but he said they should. When asked if he\u2019ll have 20 percent by March 15, he said he had that much support by Feb. 26 \u2013 the day of the interview for this article.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe people in Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place> elected me to the state House of Representatives six times. I\u2019m confident that, given a decent mix of voters, I will be elected again,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 <\/span>I\u2019m confident that I will be placed on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe other candidates, all they can tell you is how they feel or what they want or what they think should happen,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a proven record of performance, of working hard for the district, hard for the constituents that live in the district and of staying firm on conservative values and issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

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

\u2022 Monty Newman<\/a>, published Feb. 27, 2008<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Bill McCamley<\/a>, published Feb. 20, 2008<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the eighth 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. Terry Marquardt is quick to point out that he has more legislative experience than any other […]<\/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-2944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944","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=2944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}