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Martinez talks issues; others stress ethnicity, gender
Susana Martinez
The chairman of the Republican National Committee is touting the fact that Susana Martinez is the first Hispanic woman to be a Republican or Democratic nominee for governor anywhere in the United States.
Talking with Martinez, you wouldn’t know about that distinction.
“We’ve got to talk about the issues, and not the fact that I’m Hispanic. It just is what it is, but that is not what is significant. What is significant is the contrast between Diane Denish and myself,” Martinez said Tuesday evening in an interview conducted shortly after she won the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Martinez didn’t mention her ethnicity in her victory speech – or the fact that she and Denish will square off in what the Huffington Post says is third woman-against-woman gubernatorial race in U.S. history. Martinez jumped right into highlighting the contrast, saying Denish has been part of a failed, corrupt administration.
“Diane Denish has earned a pink slip, and not a promotion,” Martinez told an enthusiastic crowd in Las Cruces. “… I have dedicated the last 13 years of my life to getting results, to taking on the machine, to prosecuting corruption, and serving as the voice for the most defenseless among us. I have delivered results in Doña Ana County, and I will do the same for New Mexico.”
But the fact remains that Martinez’s accomplishment is unique. RNC Chairman Michael Steele called her nomination a “landmark achievement” of “major national significance.” State GOP Chairman Harvey Yates also mentioned Martinez’s ethnicity and gender in his news release, calling her victory “a historic moment” that “serves as a turning point for our state.”
A unique combination
All of it – Martinez’s background and the issues she’s talking about, plus her gender and ethnicity – add up to a unique combination never before seen in New Mexico, according to political analyst Jose Z. Garcia. Republicans tossed the rule book out the window in nominating Martinez to take on Denish.
“She is going to have to think hard and hone out a message,” Garcia said. “There are no models for that message. Female Hispanic Republican in New Mexico. It hasn’t existed before, so she’s going to be breaking the mold.”
“It’s going to be an exercise in creativity, so she has a lot of latitude in where she goes,” Garcia said.
Martinez appears to know exactly where she’s going.
“Hispanic people, and New Mexicans overall, want to work hard, they want to be safe, they want to have a job and support their families,” she said in the interview. “So we just need to talk about issues and how they impact the voters.”
‘Very, very attractive to Hispanics’
Garcia, a self-described conservative Democrat, said many Hispanics are conservative when it comes to law enforcement and military issues – like Martinez – but are more socially liberal, and that’s where they part ways with Martinez. Because of that, he said, victory “isn’t automatic by any stretch of the imagination” for Martinez. But Garcia expects her to compete heavily against Denish.
Historically, many Republicans who have been elected governor have been politically moderate because that’s what it takes to win in a state that leans Democratic. Garcia said Martinez won’t have to do that.
“I think she will be very, very attractive to Hispanics in terms of law and order,” he said. “I don’t think she has to move very far to the center – like many Republican candidates do – to be attractive. She can stay right where she is.”
“So it’s likely that her presence on the ticket will cause Democrats to move to the right,” Garcia said. “And that’s an unusual position.”
Healing division
Martinez won the primary with 51 percent of the vote, but only after going negative and getting into a bitter, divisive battle with primary opponent Allen Weh. In conceding defeat, Weh didn’t pledge to support Martinez. His only reference to their fighting came when he said he “took some hits, particularly in the last month, some of which were not ethical. But we hung in there. And we ran a great race.”
Martinez said when Weh called to concede, she expressed hope that the two could work together, but Weh was noncommittal. Martinez’s other primary opponents, Doug Turner, Pete Domenici Jr. and Janice Arnold-Jones, all pledged to support her.
Martinez said the party must unite to give her a shot at winning.
“I’m hopeful that we will do exactly that. We have to,” she said. “If we want the significant and bold changes that we are hoping to bring to New Mexico, we have got to pull together as party.”
Additional pressure to unite came from Albuquerque Mayor R.J. Berry, a Republican.
“This has been a very spirited primary race, and I would like to thank the other four candidates for their willingness to serve New Mexico,” Berry said. “It is now time for all Republicans to unite behind Susana and bring a fresh approach to Santa Fe by working together and electing Susana Martinez as New Mexico’s next governor on Nov. 2.”
Denish is also focused on the contrast
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
While Martinez is working to portray herself as the agent of change and Denish as the failed politician, Denish is doing the opposite.
“I’m going to be a different kind of governor, unlike any governor or leader our state has seen before,” Denish said during her own primary-night speech. “And how do you know? Because I’ve been a different kind of lieutenant governor.”
“Susana Martinez talks about change; I have a record of delivering it,” Denish said. “She talks about job creation; I’ve helped make it happen. Susana Martinez so far has only offered sound bites and empty promises. I’ve put forward solutions and new ideas for the future.”
Denish said the race will be competitive, and she looks forward to “a spirited contest.”
The state Democratic Party was also quick to hit Martinez in a news release and fundraising letter for being a poor prosecutor and for winning her primary “by pandering to the special interests and showing her far-right wing colors.”
“Once you look past the fancy ads and sound-bytes, Susana Martinez has been an ineffective prosecutor who breaks her pledges and cuts deals with violent criminals,” Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales said. “… Needless to say, a mediocre district attorney does not deserve a promotion.”
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One issue Ms. Martinez wants to resurrect is the death penalty even though there has been only one execution since 1960 in New Mexico. The death penaty was repealed in 2009. Newly-available DNA evidence has already allowed the exoneration and release of more than 15 death row inmates since 1992 in the United States. So Mr. Martinez executes the wrong person – that is OK – I guess.
Good thinking, Thinker. Also no use of public hospitals, medicare, social security, fire protection, emergency rescue, libraries, and porta potties put on public lands to keep folks from defecating in their undies when they can’t get back to their mansions in time to sit on their private thrones.
Susana Martinez’s supporters speak volumes about what kind of world they want us to have in New Mexico if she is elected.
What, in heaven’s name, kind of world do people think they’ll live in without any taxes or government? “… I have great insurance through my employer for me and my family, my children are homeschooled, and I’m not a state employee. Give me back the money that’s being taken out and I won’t complain because I don’t need any of the services you say need to keep running and wasting our money.” Ah, yes. The “New” Republican Party’s cri de couer: I got mine–and that’s all that matters so screw you!
Fine. You quit paying your taxes and create some little island of “self-sufficiency” for yourself and family. But while you’re at it, stay off my roads and highways, don’t call my police or fire departments for help in an emergency. No airplane rides allowed–unless you can create your own private runways! When people decide they want to invade your private property and hunt down your wildlife, don’t call Game and Fish to arrest them–do it yourself. Also, please don’t utilize any modern conveniences like electricity, water, telephones, television, or the internet because they are subsidized and regulated by the government to be fair and equitable to consumers, which you don’t need. When there is an outbreak of Hanta virus or plague in the areas surrounding your private fiefdom (BECAUSE YOU LET ALL THE SPOTTED OWLS DIE THAT EAT THE MICE) don’t plan on asking the Health Department for help. And please don’t expect my son in the NM National Guard to protect your little homestead from the “illegals”–see if you can start and pay a Homeowners Association to do it. Also, too, you’re not allowed to use any highway rest stops or porta-potties while you hoof it through the desert to go see Sarah Palin speak in Roswell again. They’re for taxpayers only.
Oh, and by the way, the oil spill? It’s really, REALLY, bad. Like, in DECADES OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION bad. Of course, there will be some prime real estate available at really cheap prices for sale–maybe that’s the place you can go to live in this little anarchical paradise you so naively believe exists?
Your right, something does stink. Have you looked through Diane Denish’s finance reports? They are filled with good size donations from out of state lawyers, business’, organizations, and individual business owners (out of state and local). I wonder what they want for their donations? If you think Diane Denish has raised over 3 million dollars from just grass root fundraising then your crazy. If people are going to start scrutinizing Susana’s fundraising then they need to scrutinize Diane’s as well.
If Diane Denish, or any of Susanna Martinez’s republican opponents, had taken half a million dollars from a Texas developer Martinez would have been all over them – as she should be – as we all should be. Something stinks.
llaj- According to a 2004 MSNBC report,
“Perry donates generously to conservative causes in Texas and across the nation, but public records reflect little effort to gain the ear of politicians he’s helped elect.”
I think the Swift Boat Veterans and POW’s for Truth hated the REAL John Kerry, the one who returned to the United States and denounced his comrades as “baby killers,” essentially. Did they lie? OR Did they comment on actions that Kerry claimed to have happened to which, due to their own military and service experiences in Vietnam, they knew could not have occurred. Face it, when Kerry was “protesting,” in the late 60′s and early 70′s, he didn’t think he would ever be running for the Presidency. He ticked alot of vets off by his words and actions…as the old saying goes, what goes around, comes around. He got his payback, his comeuppance, his “reward” if you will.
Mr. Perry is a patriot and uses his finances to influence the political landscape according to his patriotic and political ideology. Same as Ben Affleck, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, and even one of our celebrity residents, Val Kilmer (who contributed to his friend Bill Richardson’s campaign as well as other wealthy celebrities). As stated by the very illiberal MSNBC, “public records reflect little effort to gain the ear of politicians he’s [Perry] helped elect.”
I’m still worried about the $450,000 Martinez received from Swift Boat liar and Texas developer Perry. What is he expecting in return? Why is he giving so much money to a New Mexico politician? Is he planning to move his business into New Mexico and expecting Martinez to smooth the way to greater profits? I really don’t see how anyone could support Martinez until these questions are answered. Perry’s lack of honesty and sordid past taints Martinez’s reputation and she should not have accepted the money.
Hemingway, you can keep giving your hard earned money to the state and federal government. I’m sick and tired of doing so. I have great insurance through my employer for me and my family, my children are homeschooled, and I’m not a state employee. Give me back the money that’s being taken out and I won’t complain because I don’t need any of the services you say need to keep running and wasting our money.
I appreciate that Martinez is not focused on race. From what I’ve observed, people talk way too much about the first Hispanic-this or the first African-American-that or first female-minority-blah blah blah. They vote for those things in disregard to the issues. (I don’t know how many people I talked to who would claim they disagreed with Obama but voted for him because they thought it would be cool to have a black president.) Who cares?!? Vote for what you believe in, no matter whether the candidate is white, black, Hispanic, or whatever.
And that’s the end of my rant.
I do hope the near loss by Ben Lujan (pending a recount most likely) sends a message to the La Politica political establishment that corrupt, crony-rewarding politicians are not safe this year. His favoring of a local church for county tax funded work really made even jaded constituents very angry. Susana will talk about issues like this, as she seeks to bring change and hope (sound familiar?) to a tired and cynical electorate feed up with the status quo of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism in our banana republic.
Ms. Martinez does not have the experience or will for reform. Easing budgetary pressures over the long haul involve really hard decisions – things like structural changes to Medicaid, redefining state employee health and retirement benefits, rethinking the needs of the educational institutions in our state, and modernizing the state tax code. New Mexico faces serious, long-term and structural financial problems. Cutting taxes is wrong at this time.
@Hemingway
You lower the tax burden on corporations and small business, they would much rather pay salaries for more emplyees than taxes. You give the same corporations and businesses tax breaks for hiring unemloyed workers. This employs many of the currently unemployed New Mexicans currently and those that will be displaced by shrinking a bloated state government. You shrink state government by getting rid of wasteful, redundant, and ineffective agencies. You transfer good state workers to areas that are productive and necessary and with a hiring freeze in state government, you allow retiremnet and attrition over a two to three year period to take effect.
This is how it is done. Businesses are allowed to prosper and buy prospering they expand and hire more employees. Put more workers in the private sector and less in state and local governements. This way our tax burdens shrink, our employment rate increases, and government becomes smaller and more efective.
Reduce unnecessary over-regulation of the oil and gas industry to allow effective utilization of New Mexico’s natural resources without worrying about the spotted owls. BP’s spill has been overly dramatized by a frenzied liberal media and the spill will eventually result in little to no drastic aftermath.
Hemmingway-
That’s the problem with our state. Too many people and politicians have come to find that government jobs are the way to go, and must be protected at all costs. Why are we relying on the government to be an employment agency? Why does our government have some sort of obligation to provide jobs? The government should exist to serve the people, not to provide jobs. The unemployment problem is courtesy of a failed “economic stimulus” that has given nothing to foster positive economic growth in the private sector, where people should be finding jobs. I hope you are correct when you say she will shrink state government – IT NEEDS SHRINKING. The overspending has resulted in cuts from schools, the most essential service our government should be providing. In comparison with Denish, what plans does she have? To keep giving her cronies jobs so the unemployment rate goes down?
There is too much regulation on the oil and gas industry. These sectors provide jobs that expand the tax base, and put more money in our coffers to pay for schools and other services, without taxing the hell out of everybody. That’s how you create jobs. That’s Susana’s plan. She didn’t say that New Mexicans don’t’ work hard, your skewing her words. What she’s saying is we haven’t been afforded these opportunities by the current administration or by the legislature and its Democrat control for the last 70-80 years.
Here we have Susana Martinez saying: “Hispanic people, and New Mexicans overall, want to work hard, they want to be safe, they want to have a job and support their families.” First New Mexicans DO work hard, and New Mexico is safe. Secondly Ms. Martinez wants to shrink government. So obviously state employees will lose jobs for more unemployment. Thirdly she thinks there is too much regulation of the oil and gas industry – just look at the Gulf of Mexico. How is she going to create jobs? She has no concrete plans. Her total experience was as a prosecuter and once as a security guard for her family business – it is a poor resume. She is more style than substance and accomplishments.
Did you watch the Republican Gubernatorial debates? Her message was loud and clear. He answer to every single question was twisted to have something to do with illegal immigration and how illegal immigrants where such criminals and how she was going to go after illegal immigration. She plans to make NM into an oppressive police state.
Susana is correct to focus on the issues – others will address her ethnicity and, as she said, ‘it is what it is’. Good luck to her.
Mr Garcia’s comments astound me. As an activist R since I co-chaired a senate campaign for Joe Skeen in Otero Co in ’66 I have never seen the “rule book” that excludes us Hispanos from the Republican party. I remember not too long ago, 8 yr to be exact, a man named Sanchez ran on the R ticket against our blind-ambition governer. He beat a lt gov in the primary. Dems like to paint us Republicans as country-clubers, against the poor, and insensitive to minorities. Hogwash. Dems win elections by branding us with that stuff and convincing enough voters that it’s true.
Martinez will have to think “long and hard” to hone a message? Give me a break. She already has a message. I’m glad she isn’t waving that ethnic flag. I have to admit that I’d like to see the first NM woman guv be a Martinez and a Republican but that is a distant second to having a governor that isn’t blinded by ambition and won’t buy votes with our tax money.
I don’t consider Susana’s claim that Weh had been for amnesty going negative. His over-reaction was going negative and unethical. He should’ve just said I am not for amnesty and let it go at that. He was asked privately by Chairman Yates to remove his nasty ads and he refused. That is when Yates went public in denouncing them. She would have beaten Weh anyway but maybe not by 23 points.
Susana Martinez is tough, pro-life, pro-gun (she carries a concealed pistol everywhere), pro-border control, anti-amnesty, fully conservative long time (re-elected over and over again – for 13 years) Doña Ana County, New Mexico District Attorney. She has won the New Mexico GOP gubernatorial primary race by a 51% landslide in a 5 way race!
Equally qualified conservative businessman, former state legislator John Sanchez won the right to be Susana Martinez’ GOP Lt. governor running mate in the November general election.
I’ve known Sanchez somewhat for years, he’s smart, pleasant, but tough as nails. I’ve spoken with Susana Martinez exactly once privately and in less than 5 minutes she convinced me that she’s the one New Mexico needs to get our house back into order, after 8 corruption filled spend-thrift years of Bill Richardson as Governor. My entire large and extended family proudly voted for both of them.
There are great sound bites and other info about Susana Martinez, at her campaign site http://www.susanamartinez2010.com/endorsement/ and her youtube site http://www.youtube.com/user/SusanaMartinez2010
There’s so much more substance to these two people than I could ever put into a blog post. Both Martinez and Sanchez’s backgrounds and personal stories are great. They are both great people. And their families are great too!
Lastly, if elected, Susana Martinez and John Sanchez will shake New Mexico’s cozy, corrupt, long time Democrat controlled legislature to it’s core. And it seems reasonable to think that one or both of them, in time, may be able to do the same on the national scene as well.