{"id":3247,"date":"2008-05-19T20:47:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T02:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/wiviotts-attack-ad-triggers-brawl-in-cd3-race\/"},"modified":"2008-05-19T20:47:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-20T02:47:00","slug":"wiviotts-attack-ad-triggers-brawl-in-cd3-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/wiviotts-attack-ad-triggers-brawl-in-cd3-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiviott’s attack ad triggers brawl in CD3 race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott<\/a> picked a fight this weekend when he unveiled an ad attacking primary opponent Ben R. Luj\u00e1n<\/a>. Now the two are accusing each other of misleading the public in an increasingly contentious battle. <\/p>\n

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

The AFL-CIO and other union groups plan to jump into the fight by holding a news conference on Tuesday to, according to a release, \u201cset the record straight on Don Wiviott\u2019s misleading attacks on Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In the ad, which you can view by clicking here<\/a>, Wiviott claims that Luj\u00e1n hasn\u2019t worked hard to become successful. <\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u201cLuj\u00e1n was a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> before his famous father got him a state job. Now Luj\u00e1n makes $90,000, but he didn\u2019t show up to 13 of the 14 meetings of the health commission,\u201d the ad states. It ends by claiming that Luj\u00e1n \u201cdoesn\u2019t even show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The Luj\u00e1n campaign put out a \u201cfact check\u201d news release today calling Wiviott\u2019s ad false and misleading. The release claims that Luj\u00e1n was never a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas<\/st1:city> and has never lived in Las Vegas<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. It also claims that he has \u201cworked hard to make a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

As for the statement about Luj\u00e1n\u2019s \u201cfamous father\u201d getting him a state job, the release states that Luj\u00e1n \u201cwas elected overwhelmingly by the people of the third Public Regulation Commission district to represent them, and his peers elected him three years in a row to serve as chairman of the PRC.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The Luj\u00e1n campaign doesn\u2019t dispute the claim about him missing meetings of the Telehealth Commission, but says that \u201chas nothing to do with his elected duties as a Public Regulation commissioner despite the deceptive tie Don Wiviott tries to make here. His membership on the Telehealth Commission is unpaid. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n missed meetings to perform his duties as Public Regulation commissioner, which Commissioner Luj\u00e1n believes take priority since he represents the people of the third district as a PRC Commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The Luj\u00e1n campaign also took issue with the claim that Luj\u00e1n \u201cdoesn\u2019t even show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cHe has participated in 97 percent of the PRC meetings since he was elected. And in 2007 and 2008 he participated in 100 percent of the commission\u2019s meetings,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n

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

In response to the Luj\u00e1n release, the Wiviott campaign put out its own release stating that Luj\u00e1n\u2019s fact check \u201cdeserves its own fact check.\u201d Luj\u00e1n \u201cwas a Las Vegas card dealer for two years,\u201d the Wiviott release states, citing 2004 and 2007 articles in The Santa Fe New Mexican as proof. The release states that Luj\u00e1n worked as a dealer at Harvey<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s Hotel and Casino from 1995 to 2007.<\/p>\n

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

In addition, the Wiviott release states, 11 of the Telehealth Commission meetings Luj\u00e1n missed where held on days \u201cwhen no official PRC meetings were scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The bottom line? It\u2019s all spin. Look for this race to get nastier as the June 3 primary approaches.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, May 20, 9:40 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Luj\u00e1n unveiled a new TV ad last night attacking Wiviott. I don\u2019t have the video, but here\u2019s the transcript:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n and I approve this message. Multimillionaire developer Don Wiviott\u2019s untrue attack ads can\u2019t hide his real record. Wiviott\u2019s Texas<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> trailer-parts company was prohibited by the FTC from price fixing. When Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> community and government leaders opposed his proposed developments, he sued the city and contributed thousands to council members to try and change their minds. Don Wiviott. The Wrong Choice for New Mexico<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, May 20, 3:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Here\u2019s Luj\u00e1n\u2019s newest ad, courtesy of Kate Nash<\/a> at The Santa Fe New Mexican:<\/p>\n

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

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

Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott picked a fight this weekend when he unveiled an ad attacking primary opponent Ben R. Luj\u00e1n. Now the two are accusing each other of misleading the public in an increasingly contentious battle. The AFL-CIO and other union groups plan to jump into the fight by holding a news […]<\/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-3247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247","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=3247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}