{"id":4025,"date":"2008-11-26T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/tim-jennings-double-standard-on-negative-campaigns\/"},"modified":"2008-11-26T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-26T14:00:00","slug":"tim-jennings-double-standard-on-negative-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/tim-jennings-double-standard-on-negative-campaigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Jennings’ double standard on negative campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By John V. Wertheim<\/p>\n

The 2008 elections brought many surprises to New Mexico: voters delivering handily for Barack Obama<\/a>, all federal positions now in Democratic hands for the first time in decades, and even additional seats for Democrats in the state Legislature. As a former Democratic chairman, I felt a mixture of pride at the ascendancy of important progressive policy ideas and awesome responsibility at the shear size of the work ahead of us. Both feelings were welcome, albeit sobering.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Seeing a top Democratic leader campaigning on behalf of a particularly partisan Republican was, however, decidedly unwelcome.<\/p>\n

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

Democratic Sen. and President Pro Tem Tim Jennings<\/a>, who raised eyebrows by ardently defending Republican Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a> in the final days of a tight election contest against criticism of Rawson\u2019s record, demonstrated an indefensible double standard.<\/p>\n

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

After all, quite a few of Jennings\u2019 fellow Democratic candidates were falsely accused and roughed up by Republicans during the give-and-take of the election season. But Sen. Jennings said not a word in defense of them. What gives here?<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019ve known Sen. Jennings for years and have often admired his principled stances, even when he opposed the party mainstream. I consider him a friend, and friends should be able to tell each other when they\u2019ve done something wrong. And make no mistake: It\u2019s wrong to apply double standards, especially for purely political motivations.<\/p>\n

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

Fearful of losing his president pro tem job to the cadre of new progressive senators coming into the Legislature, Jennings recorded a robo-call and radio spot on behalf of Rawson, who lost narrowly to progressive Democrat Steve Fischmann<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

A pious response<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Jennings, of course, has cut many an amiable deal in the Senate with Republican Rawson over the years. Much of Jennings\u2019 power comes from such horse trading. Nothing wrong with that. Politics is just that way a lot of times. But to try to preserve the status quo at all costs, even when the voters don\u2019t seem to like the status quo all that much? Well\u2026 nothing right about that.<\/p>\n

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

The Roswell Democrat says he recorded the robo-call and radio spot only after getting a campaign call at home (interesting: Jennings does not live in the district) that supposedly called Rawson a \u201ccrook.\u201d The unkind words about \u201ca good man,\u201d Rawson, drove Jennings to campaign for his re-election. After being upbraided by the state\u2019s Democrat leaders for the unusual action, Jennings expressed pious motives to the media for his campaigning for Rawson. Ask whether they\u2019re not a little too pious, coming from a seasoned, hardball politician like Jennings:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 \u201cI have no desire to go against my party or anything else, but I for one believe you should stand up when somebody says something that isn\u2019t true… his mother should not have to listen to that crap.\u201d (Heath Haussamen\u2019s blog<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 \u201cI look at that as a true attack on democracy. When someone goes out and falsely accuses someone of something, you should stand up.\u201d (Green Chile Chatter blog<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 \u201cIf someone is spreading lies about someone, I\u2019m not going to sit and say, \u2018Go ahead.\u2019\u201d (The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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

Democrats were attacked too<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The mothers of a few New Mexico Democrats cannot be too pleased with the harsh and untrue character attacks made by Republicans on their children, but Sen. Jennings — stalwart defender of what is true and of democracy — was silent in their cases.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Tim Eichenberg<\/a>, successful Democratic Senate candidate from Albuquerque, was attacked by Republicans with direct mail that said he was \u201cbankrolled by anti-military extremists,\u201d \u201cviciously oppose[d] our men and women in uniform\u201d and \u201cdishonors our men and women in uniform\u201d — all because he utilized ActBlue<\/a>, a Democratic online credit card processing platform, to raise campaign funds. The mailer featured a grisly-looking photo of a wad of money splashed with fake blood.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Victor Raigoza<\/a>, Democratic candidate for Senate in Albuquerque this year, was harshly attacked with mail and phones by New Mexico Republicans saying he was a \u201cradical\u201d who wants to \u201ctear down\u201d our state\u2019s \u201cwholesome way of life and its traditional values.\u201d The attacks strongly implied he was gay. The piece was widely condemned by civil rights leaders and moderate Republicans.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Rep. Andrew Barreras<\/a>, Democrat from Tome, N.M., was attacked in this election by Republicans with mail that featured his photo festooned with marijuana leaves, suggesting he was in favor of illegal drugs. With mail and phones, the New Mexico GOP said Barreras promised \u201cpolicy for a price,\u201d \u201cfavors for friends,\u201d was corrupt and sold his votes in the Legislature to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n

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

Where was Tim Jennings when these good Democrats were \u201cfalsely accused,\u201d personally maligned and attacked by New Mexico Republicans? He never said a word in defense of any of them.<\/p>\n

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

Oh, and if Jennings tries to say lack of familiarity explains his deafening silence, I know everyone mentioned above very well, including Sen. Rawson, and let me vouch for Messrs. Eichenberg, Raigoza and Barrerras. They\u2019re good men, too, and just as deserving of a spirited defense.<\/p>\n

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

The stakes are high<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Unless it\u2019s a anti-progressive Republican named Leonard Rawson — a sure vote for Jennings to remain as president pro tem in the 2009 Session — Tim Jennings can\u2019t be bothered to stand up for victims of campaign smears.<\/p>\n

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

So here are two questions Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans should ask:<\/p>\n

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

Why is Jennings so afraid of the progressive agenda that voters embraced in this recent historic election? Can we count on Tim Jennings to give up his double standards as president pro tem of the Senate?<\/p>\n

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

The stakes are high. In just two years, the state legislature will have responsibility for creating a new redistricting plan for all of New Mexico\u2019s legislative and congressional electoral boundaries — boundaries that will go far in determining the future of progressive politics in New Mexico for years to come.<\/p>\n

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

Wertheim is the former chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John V. Wertheim The 2008 elections brought many surprises to New Mexico: voters delivering handily for Barack Obama, all federal positions now in Democratic hands for the first time in decades, and even additional seats for Democrats in the state Legislature. As a former Democratic chairman, I felt a mixture of pride at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025","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=4025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}