{"id":3729,"date":"2008-09-18T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T18:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/09\/cd1-race-descends-into-a-nasty-battle\/"},"modified":"2008-09-18T12:56:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T18:56:00","slug":"cd1-race-descends-into-a-nasty-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/09\/cd1-race-descends-into-a-nasty-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"CD1 race descends into a nasty battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>First it was Martin Heinrich<\/a> who stood accused of ducking a debate<\/a> earlier this week. On Wednesday, the Democratic 1st Congressional District candidate tried to turn the tables by saying his opponent, Republican Darren White<\/a>, skipped a forum after confirming his attendance. <\/p>\n

\n

Heinrich\u2019s attack is the latest in what is becoming an increasingly nasty battle between the two candidates, who are sparring over allegations each has made against the other at the expense of tackling policy stances or major issues of the day — like the economic doldrums affecting the country. <\/p>\n

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

In addition to the back and forth over who is attending what, the question of whether Heinrich worked as a lobbyist has dominated the debate over the past week. White has raised the issue that Heinrich was paid to push for creation of the Ojito Wilderness several years ago but didn\u2019t register as a state or federal lobbyist. Heinrich says he didn\u2019t have to register, but the GOP alleges that he was required to do so.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The latest back and forth started when Heinrich declined an invitation to a planned event sponsored by KRQE-TV<\/a> and AARP<\/a>. White attacked him for ducking a debate, even though the Heinrich campaign said it had agreed to other debates. Heinrich then seized the offensive by accusing White of skipping the Every Child Matters<\/a> forum at the New Mexico State Fair. Heinrich showed up Tuesday to find that White was not attending. <\/p>\n

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

Heinrich put out a news release<\/a> stating that White had confirmed his attendance and accusing him of \u201cducking a debate to avoid discussing the overdue debt to New Mexicans.\u201d But the event\u2019s organizers say White never promised to be there. <\/p>\n

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

Laurel Wyckoff, co-director of Every Child Matters in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, said a staffer for White told her twice that White would try to attend the forum, but she said White\u2019s confirmation \u201cwas never very solid.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

That matches with what White\u2019s spokesman, Stephen Schatz, said in an interview. He said the White campaign \u201ctold the organizers that we had a conflict, so they were well aware, and we told them that we might stop by.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

The \u201cdebt\u201d referred to in the Heinrich release is $5,000 the Bernalillo County Sheriff\u2019s Department spent to provide security for President Bush<\/a> when he attended a fundraiser for White\u2019s campaign earlier this year. White is the Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> sheriff, and Heinrich has demanded that he reimburse the county for the expense. <\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s common for local governments to help provide security when presidents visit for government or political business, but perhaps less common in White\u2019s situation is that the president\u2019s visit was to raise money for White, who runs the department helping to provide security. <\/p>\n

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

\n

Heinrich hits; White accuses him of politicizing kids<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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

Regardless of the reality that he never promised to be there, the fact remains that White skipped Tuesday\u2019s forum on children\u2019s issues. Heinrich seized on that in his news release.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shame Darren White refuses to represent the children of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. I am committed to attending forums and debates, going door-to-door and talking to voters about the issues that concern all New Mexicans. Whether it is sticking them with a $5,000 bill, opposing providing them health care, or standing them up at a special event, Darren White sends a strong and clear message that the children of New Mexico are not his priority,\u201d Heinrich said in the release. \u201cI guess we should expect no less from the man who played a critical role in re-electing George W. Bush, the biggest opponent of children\u2019s health care.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

In response to the Heinrich news release, Schatz was quick to point out that White \u201copposed the president\u201d in the recent battle over the State Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program<\/a> (SCHIP), choosing to instead support an expansion of the program. <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDarren White actually supports expanding health care for children, seniors and all New Mexicans, and Darren believes it should be affordable and accessible to every American,\u201d Schatz said. <\/p>\n

\n

Schatz accused Heinrich of getting his facts wrong — on White\u2019s position on SCHIP and whether he had confirmed attendance at the forum — in an attempt \u201cto politicize children\u201d with a \u201ccheap political stunt.\u201d He also said Heinrich is attempting to \u201cdivert attention from his own illegal lobbying effort and his failure to debate Darren White at the KRQE candidate debate.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

Asked why the Heinrich campaign believed that White had confirmed his attendance at Tuesday\u2019s forum, spokeswoman Angela Barranco said she saw two tickets waiting for him at the entrance to the fair and said that, at the start of the forum, the organizers asked publicly if White was in attendance. <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFrom all appearances, he was expected there,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First it was Martin Heinrich who stood accused of ducking a debate earlier this week. On Wednesday, the Democratic 1st Congressional District candidate tried to turn the tables by saying his opponent, Republican Darren White, skipped a forum after confirming his attendance. Heinrich\u2019s attack is the latest in what is becoming an increasingly nasty battle […]<\/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-3729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729","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=3729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}