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| Michelle Garcia Holmes |
Narrator: Congresswoman Deb Haaland voted against law enforcement funding that would put violent criminals behind bars.
I'm Michelle Garcia Holmes. When I am in Congress I won't let drug and human traffickers or violent criminals get a pass. Defunding police does not create safer cities. It's time to vote people out who put politics above people's lives. I approved this message and ask for your vote so we can get the power back to the people.
Garcia Holmes delivers her lines in front of the downtown Bernalillo County Courthouse, hoping to get voters who are naturally obsessed with healthcare to switch gears when thinking about the congressional contest.
The ad features a photo of Luis Talamantes, a suspect in the notorious westside driveway shooting murder of Jackie Vigil, the mother of two state police officers. The ad's citations are a bit confusing. It does not cite Haaland's July vote in favor of defunding the federal Operation Legend which arrested Talamantes and was set up in ABQ and other crime-ridden cities by the Trump administration. However, the ad does cite an August ABQ Journal article about that arrest. Garcia Holmes does list on screen Haaland's July vote in favor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing measure which is her premise for the defunding police charge.
First, on her vote to defund Operation Legend Haaland said in July:
Federal law enforcement officers are snatching Americans off of street corners and placing them into unmarked cars for the ‘crime’ of exercising their First Amendment rights. The United States of America should not have secret police.
There have been no reported civil rights abuses or of federal agents acting in secret during Operation Legend, although a 2016 federal operation was accused of racial profiling in the city's crime-stricken SE Heights. And there were complaints filed against federal agents this summer who have been helping to police Portland, Oregon during riots there.
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| Rep. Deb Haaland |
Now on her vote on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Her campaign says that vote does not mean she is for defunding police departments:
Deb has never said that once.
She proudly supported the George Floyd Policing Act that does not defund the police nor has she ever said we should defund the police. She voted yes on the House Floor because it would eliminate legal protections that shield police officers from lawsuits, make it easier to prosecute them for wrongdoing, impose a new set of restrictions on the use of deadly force, and effectively ban the use of chokeholds. . . Deb believes in tackling systemic racism in all structures. She believes in true criminal justice reform.
Haaland's campaign added that the TV ad "takes the Trump approach" and is filled with "outright lies and misleading facts" and should be taken down.
The crime issue hits home in ABQ and if it were not for the pandemic would probably poll higher among voter concerns which now are centered on health care. Our media Alligators report Garcia Holmes so far has bought $112,000 in ad time running until Nov. 3. Her campaign says radio ads are also coming.
Haaland reported over $350,000 in cash on June 30 while Garcia Holmes reported $145,000. Earlier this month the ABQ Journal poll had Haaland leading 58 to 31 with 11% undecided. She has not yet gone up on TV.
The 1st Congressional district has not elected a Republican since Heather Wilson in 2006.
BITTER BOYS?
They include Grants area Senator Clemente Sanchez who friends say will not vote for either candidate in the race to succeed him. He was defeated in the primary by Dem Pam Corodva. He refuses to comment directly but is not denying the reports.
Then there's disgraced Sen. Richard Martinez of Espanola, defeated in the Dem primary by Leo Jaramillo after being busted for DWI. He went on social media to give an endorsement to the Republican candidate. Jarmalillo is expected to prevail in the heavy Dem district.
Now there's Silver City Sen. Gabe Ramos who was defeated in the June Dem primary by Siah Correa Hemphill. The photo posted here is from outside Ramos' business and sports a sign for Jimbo Williams, the R running against Hemphill. Ramos also kicked in $1,000 to Williams' campaign.
All three senators are conservative Dems who sometimes voted with Senate Republicans on key issues as part of a conservative coalition that often controls outcomes in the Senate. Their decision not to back the Dems they lost to shows their true colors, not that those colors were really ever in question.
SANTA FE'S DIVIDE
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| Don Diego de Vargas |
Mayor Webber got into a heated argument with Virgil Vigil, president of
Union Protectiva de Santa Fe, which bills itself as the city’s oldest
Spanish cultural organization, over the mayor’s June decision to remove
the statue (of De Vargas) ahead of a planned protest. The mayor has said he ordered the
removal of the statue for safekeeping — a decision that has sparked
backlash among some local Hispanics who consider the move an attack on
their Spanish roots.
Given the growing concerns in Santa Fe over the slow motion
economic collapse, fear of the virus being carried in by tourists and
the increasing ethnic divide, speculation has arisen that Webber, 72,
might even reverse his decision to seek a second term (he told us earlier this year he would be running). Not that
he couldn't win with his strong progressive base.
As for the statutes of New Mexico's various historical figures, let
sleeping dogs lie. There is always room for more of them that we can argue
about without trying to cancel our over four hundred year history. Tearing
them down only tears us apart.
This is the home of New Mexico politics.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020
E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com)
Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020