{"id":33711,"date":"2011-11-09T01:26:02","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T08:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33711"},"modified":"2011-11-10T07:34:10","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T14:34:10","slug":"cruces-voters-are-happy-with-the-city%e2%80%99s-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/cruces-voters-are-happy-with-the-city%e2%80%99s-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruces voters are happy with the city\u2019s direction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima<\/p><\/div>\n

You can view unofficial results from Tuesday\u2019s election by clicking here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t even close. In a resounding manner, voters in Las Cruces endorsed the work of incumbents who were up for re-election on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s contest was a test of what voters think about the work of progressive-backed candidates who took over city government<\/a> between 2007 and 2009. Mayor Ken Miyagishima<\/a> said the large margins by which he and other incumbents won are easy to interpret.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think voters are happy with the way things are at the city,\u201d Miyagishima said after winning 62 percent of the vote in a three-way contest. \u201cThey\u2019re happy with the way that we try to be as transparent and inclusive as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miguel Silva<\/a>, the District 1 councilor who won re-election with 69 percent of the vote, called Tuesday\u2019s election \u201can affirmation of the work that we\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done some good work in some very tough times,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n

According to the campaign Miyagishima ran, that work included being fiscally responsible by storing up twice the required amount of cash in city reserves and cutting the budget, increasing amenities by building a new aquatic center and adding new parks, enhancing public safety with a new emergency alert system and a police audit system, increasing openness and accessibility with more neighborhood meetings, growing more smartly with new policies, building a new city hall and revitalizing downtown, and implementing curbside recycling.<\/p>\n

In other words, Miyagishima argued that, under his leadership, the city has done it all in the last four years.<\/p>\n

Voters saw no reason to boot him or the other incumbents from office, which means they\u2019ll have another four years to make the changes they promised to voters. Miyagishima said the economy will remain the biggest challenge. He expects state and federal funding for cities to continue to drop in the coming years and said Las Cruces must operate more efficiently.<\/p>\n

He plans an initiative to allow some city employees to volunteer to work from home \u2013 cutting their personal costs such as driving and childcare \u2013 in exchange for taking 5-percent pay cuts. He also hopes to reduce the city\u2019s health-care costs with an initiative that encourages employees to exercise more.<\/p>\n

\u2018No one has figured out how to beat progressives\u2019<\/h3>\n

Of course, it wasn\u2019t just the incumbents\u2019 policy work that led voters to re-elect Miyagishima, Silva, and District 4 Councilor Nathan Small<\/a>, who won 70 percent of the vote in his race. Campaigning was key. On the NMPolitics.net election night liveblog<\/a>, a commenter who called himself High Range Lefty \u2013 a volunteer on Miyagishima\u2019s campaign \u2013 credited Don Kurtz, a progressive strategist who worked for Miyagishima.<\/p>\n

\u201cKudos to Don Kurtz who has brought organization and discipline to running grassroots-driven elections in LC,\u201d High Range Lefty wrote.<\/p>\n

On the liveblog, Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Scott Krahling<\/a> agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these results hold, it also says that no one has figured out how to beat progressives in this community,\u201d he wrote before the results became final. \u201cThe common assumption was that these folks came into office because of the horrible land deal on the east mesa. Maybe it\u2019s bigger than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krahling was referring to the rapid growth Las Cruces experienced in the years leading to the progressive takeover. Fueled in part by a controversial 90,000-acre land deal on the East Mesa, progressive candidates took control with a promise to be smarter about growth and development.<\/p>\n

\u2018Forward-looking leadership won big\u2019<\/h3>\n

The organization and political strategy of progressives was key to Miyagishima\u2019s re-election victory. But there\u2019s no denying the message voters sent in re-electing incumbents. Noting that turnout was about 10,100 voters \u2013 about 1,300 fewer than in 2007<\/a> \u2013 High Range Lefty suggested that, \u201cThe lower vote total coupled with the incumbents winning may indicate that more people are satisfied with how the city is working these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on Facebook<\/a>, former State Rep. Jeff Steinborn wrote that the election \u201cshows that this town has much more of a consensus on where we would like to go than some have tried to make us believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally am heartened to see that forward-looking leadership won big tonight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Others had their own ideas. Brian Kirby wrote on Facebook that national politics made their way into the Las Cruces election. Republicans running for mayor and council seats all lost, badly. With the exception of Judge Melissa Miller-Byrnes, a Republican, all of Tuesday\u2019s winners were Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree recent polls show that the majority of Americans believe that Republican congressional members are putting their own agendas ahead of the greater good,\u201d Kirby wrote. \u201cLocally, people have a negative view of the parenthetical R that appears before\/after a politician\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Cornelius, a Republican and former land commissioner candidate, noted the low voter turnout in writing on Facebook that it\u2019s \u201chard to gauge the meaning of an election when such a small percentage took the time to vote in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A very definite message<\/h3>\n

The only non-incumbent to be elected Tuesday, Gregory Z. Smith<\/a>, who won the open District 2 seat on the City Council, said the incumbents\u2019 victories \u201cwould seem to be an endorsement for their efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith replaces Dolores Connor<\/a>, who gave up the seat to run against Miyagishima. Silva said Connor \u201cwas one of the hardest-working councilors\u201d and will be missed.<\/p>\n

Connor posted on Facebook<\/a> that it takes \u201cdedication and compassion to be a part of an election, and as we now can see, it can happen with those who turn out to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Las Cruces, those who turned out to vote sent a very definite message about the city\u2019s direction on Tuesday: Keep it up.<\/p>\n

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that turnout was about 9,100 in Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t even close. In a resounding manner, voters in Las Cruces endorsed the work of incumbents who were up for re-election on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,145,214],"class_list":["post-33711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-growth-and-development","tag-las-cruces","tag-las-cruces-election"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33711","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=33711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}