Gov\u2019t experience an issue in Coss-Trujillo race<\/a>, May 11, 2012), about the contest between candidates Carl Trujillo and David Coss to follow of our Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n and serve HD 46 in the New Mexico State Legislature. First, let me say, these are big and important shoes to fill. The speaker has been a fighter for our communities. He knows the issues, knows how to solve problems, and has served our district honorably for decades. The person who succeeds him will need to be ready to go and ready to address the important issues facing families here.<\/p>\nI believe wholeheartedly the person best suited to represent the district next is David Coss.<\/p>\n
David knows the issues we face. He\u2019s been working as mayor for six years, and the issues that face the city also face the county. David has a track record of success, from fighting for and winning the living wage for the city (of which a lot of northern Santa Fe County residents benefit from), to creating jobs and keeping unemployment rates down.<\/p>\n
He knows how to work with people to get things done. And, most importantly he shares our values. Congressman Luj\u00e1n said it best: we know where David stands on human rights, on civil rights, on all the issues that are important to our area and our families. We trust David because we know where he stands and we know he has the experience to do the work.<\/p>\n
Where does Trujillo stand?<\/h3>\n
There are a couple of issues I want to address from Ms. Busemeyer\u2019s article.<\/p>\n
Number one: It\u2019s nice that Trujillo wants to listen, but what we need is someone who has the guts and the spine to act. Listening is the easiest job you\u2019ll have as an elected official. But then you\u2019ll have to make decisions and actually do for the people. Trujillo won\u2019t tell us where he stands on issues, he won\u2019t debate the mayor on issues, and, quite frankly, he seems to be avoiding the issues.<\/p>\n
First he says he won\u2019t come to a Democratic Party forum because he thinks the Democratic Party is a machine, then he changed his mind and said, actually, debates are \u201cgladiator politics\u201d and now he\u2019s saying he won\u2019t talk about the issues because he just wants to listen. Makes me worried that he has something to hide.<\/p>\n
Where does he stand on issues that matter to Democrats? Will he uphold the party platform or will he side with Republicans? This isn\u2019t just a first date. We should know where he stands on all the issues, and how he\u2019d lead, before electing him for two years.<\/p>\n
Voting for Coss because of his experience<\/h3>\n
Second: In Ms. Busemeyer\u2019s article, Trujillo criticizes Coss for \u201ctrying to do two jobs\u201d \u2013 continuing to serve as mayor of Santa Fe and serving in the Legislature. I\u2019ll tell you this, I\u2019m voting for David because he has that kind of experience and knowledge, not in spite of it. Let me fill in a few gaps that were missing from the article.<\/p>\n
There are numerous state legislators, past and present, that have served in dual elected roles with distinction. Former Representative Jos\u00e9 Campos represented DeBaca, Curry, Guadalupe and Roosevelt counties. When he was elected in 2003, he had already been the mayor of Santa Rosa since 1998. He is currently serving in his third term as mayor.<\/p>\n
Down south, Representative Andy Nu\u00f1ez is also the mayor pro-tem of Hatch. And retiring State Senator Cynthia Nava served as superintendent of the Gadsden School District while also serving as a five-term senator.<\/p>\n
These legislators, and many more like them throughout New Mexico\u2019s history, have served in dual roles with honor, earning re-election multiple times from the very voters that Trujillo claims are upset by the mere notion of one person being elected to two positions.<\/p>\n
Too important to leave to chance<\/h3>\n
Ultimately, Trujillo\u2019s missing the point. By his logic, Trujillo, if elected, should not vote on any matters impacting Los Alamos National Laboratories, where he works. For that matter, he also should refrain from voting on any issues related to the homebuilding industry because he works as a home-builder too.<\/p>\n
Trujillo himself says New Mexico has a citizen legislature \u2013 \u201ca person who is part of a community, who works with the community and cares.\u201d That definition fits Campos and Nava, it fits our Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n, and it fits David Coss. Truth is, particularly in New Mexico\u2019s smaller communities with smaller populations, having a dual-elected leader makes good sense and may even be a necessity.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, the seat is too important to leave to chance. We need to usher in a strong leader who we know has a vision and is not afraid to propose solutions to New Mexico\u2019s most critical problems. I think that person is David Coss.<\/p>\n
Dean is the Democratic Party ward chair representing 46A.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s nice that Carl Trujillo wants to listen, but what we need is someone who has the guts and the spine to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2791,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[156,107,179],"class_list":["post-39909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-2012-election","tag-roundhouse","tag-santa-fe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39909","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\/2791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}