{"id":40212,"date":"2012-05-23T06:22:25","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T12:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=40212"},"modified":"2012-05-24T11:02:56","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T17:02:56","slug":"chavezs-past-may-be-a-double-edged-sword","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/05\/chavezs-past-may-be-a-double-edged-sword\/","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s past may be a \u2018double-edged sword\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Marty<\/a>

Marty Ch\u00e1vez (Courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Democratic 1st Congressional District hopeful Marty Ch\u00e1vez has significant name recognition and can point to lots of accomplishments, but he also has lots of baggage.<\/h4>\n

This is the first of three profiles<\/a> of the Democratic 1st Congressional District candidates.<\/em><\/p>\n

Marty Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> is a well-known public figure in Albuquerque. The former mayor is now trying to leverage his name recognition and record in public office to win this year\u2019s Democratic primary in the race for the open 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

Many Albuquerque voters likely still remember him as Mayor Marty. That may be a \u201cdouble-edged sword,\u201d according to UNM Political Science Professor Timothy Krebs, who said Ch\u00e1vez \u201ccan point to a lot of accomplishments; he\u2019s certainly got wide name recognition, but there\u2019s also a substantial amount of baggage there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

One negative may be that Ch\u00e1vez lost his re-election bid<\/a> for mayor in a three-way race in 2009. The Democratic vote was split between Ch\u00e1vez and State Senator Richard Romero. Republican Richard Berry avoided a runoff election by garnering 40 percent of the citywide vote.<\/p>\n

Krebs said some Democratic primary voters might come to the polls with a bad memory from when the city tilted politically to a Republican the last time Ch\u00e1vez was on the ballot.<\/p>\n

During the CD1 Democratic primary, Ch\u00e1vez has also been criticized by his opponents for some of the achievements he touts \u2013 like increasing infrastructure development on the edges of the city and focusing on business development.<\/p>\n

He also has received negative media scrutiny<\/a> since his girlfriend, Loretta Mares, was indicted on charges of embezzlement at Christus St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe earlier this year. Ch\u00e1vez told NMPolitics.net he cares deeply about Mares and said she has the right to defend herself in court, adding that he has maintained a focus on his campaign and has no connection to any of the allegations.<\/p>\n

When asked about the current status of their relationship, he said, \u201cShe has her job to do, I have mine, and we\u2019re no longer together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez said name recognition and even close scrutiny in the primary makes him a stronger candidate, because, \u201ceverything good or bad that can be said about me has been said. I\u2019ve been vetted.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.C. is \u2018more broken than they can imagine\u2019<\/h3>\n

The decision to run for the U.S. House this year goes directly against what Ch\u00e1vez told NMPolitics.net in 2007, when he said he would never run<\/a> for the House because it was a \u201cvile\u201d place and he didn\u2019t want to face a campaign fight every two years.<\/p>\n

But Ch\u00e1vez said his time in Washington D.C. after leaving the Albuquerque mayor\u2019s office changed his mind. He was working on sustainability issues as the executive director of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, and said both Republicans and Democrats were not making progress on the issues he cares about like alternative energy and green development:<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think Washington is broken. They\u2019re right, but it\u2019s more broken than they can imagine.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Instead of turning cynical, the career politician said he started to see ways he could bring his experience as the mayor of New Mexico\u2019s largest city to address those issues in Congress.<\/p>\n

A three-way primary<\/h3>\n

Ch\u00e1vez faces two strong opponents in the final weeks of the Democratic primary campaign \u2013 State Sen. Eric Griego<\/a> and Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham<\/a>. Polls released by each of the three campaigns<\/a> on Tuesday make it difficult to determine the status of the race, but his opponents\u2019 polls show them gaining voters and Ch\u00e1vez losing them.<\/p>\n

Each has been successful in fundraising and gaining significant endorsements, though the others have outraised Ch\u00e1vez.<\/p>\n

It appears that attention from national progressive groups has helped Griego in both endorsements and financial contributions. Ch\u00e1vez has secured some high profile endorsements, including those of former President Bill Clinton, actor and environmentalist Robert Redford and Chicano activist Dolores Huerta. Grisham has been endorsed by the Albuquerque Journal and The Weekly Alibi, along with former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.<\/p>\n

All three candidates\u2019 campaign stances are strikingly similar except for the nuances that each might add from personal or professional experience. Like his opponents, Ch\u00e1vez says he would make jobs, education and the environment some of his top priorities in office.<\/p>\n

Krebs, the associate professor, said it\u2019s not uncommon for there to be several good candidates for an open seat in Congress and \u201csplit hairs on issue positions\u201d as they try to convince voters to nominate them.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s focus has been on his record in office and the argument that he would be a strong candidate in the general election. The Democrat who wins the primary will face Republican Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, a former state representative who has no primary opponent, in the general election.<\/p>\n

\u2018A hard one for Democrats to win\u2019<\/h3>\n

The 1st District includes Albuquerque and parts of Torrance and Valencia counties. The seat is open because current Rep. Martin Heinrich<\/a>, a Democrat, is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Jeff Bingaman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before Heinrich was elected in 2008, Republican Heather Wilson held the CD1 seat for five terms, though she won by very narrow margins in 2004 and 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a Republican seat, and it\u2019s going to be a hard one for Democrats to win,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez said.<\/p>\n

Sarah\u00a0Gustavus\u00a0is a freelance reporter based in Albuquerque. She\u2019s currently finishing up a master\u2019s degree in media and communication in London. E-mail her at\u00a0sarahgustavus@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic 1st Congressional District hopeful Marty Ch\u00e1vez has significant name recognition and can point to lots of accomplishments, but he also has lots of baggage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2809,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[228,294,156,139,116],"class_list":["post-40212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-1st-congressional-district-race","tag-1st-district-profiles","tag-2012-election","tag-albuquerque","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40212","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\/2809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}