Lackluster Gov Forum

It's been a putrid campaign season in New Mexico thus far, and by the looks of the first gubernatorial forum between Gov. Susana Martinez and challenger Gary King, things won't be getting better.

The forum might very well have symbolized everything wrong with the state's politics and power structure in recent times.

First, let's take a look at the format. The Albuquerque forum, which moderator Kent Walz took time to explain was "not a debate," came with the sponsorship of no less than 15 business and construction organizations, many of which were listed on the podium like a sick, half-assed cousin of the corporate sponsorships people are used to seeing in sports stadiums or on the uniform of a Nascar driver.

Walz, editor of the Albuquerque Journal, explained that the questions both candidates for the highest office in state government would soon answer were written by the organizations putting on the forum.

Questions from audience members would not be allowed, which didn't so much matter once it was taken to account who most of audience members were. Before the forum began, attendees sitting at the coveted tables near the podium got a chance to introduce themselves, coming from the likes of local law firms and energy companies like PNM.

"In my book, if you're here today, you're a VIP," said Jim Chynoweth, managing director at the Albuquerque offices of real estate marketing company CBRE, shortly before introducing Walz. "So, why don't we give ourselves a round of applause."

Unless you were with media, attendees of the forum had to pay $30 to get in. The timing of the forum, held during the lunch hour on a workday, also wasn't exactly optimal for ensuring public turnout.

Walz read an introduction he says was crafted by each candidate, beginning with Martinez, who he said "turned the largest structural deficit in state history into a surplus while protecting key priorities like classroom spending and basic health care. This was done without raising taxes."

It's a claim that's been constantly repeated by Martinez for years now, and one that's truthfulness has come under heavy scrutiny from some of her Roundhouse colleagues as well as local media.

Questions hinged around such topics like Obamacare, "onerous" federal regulations and whether the state should outsource government jobs to the private sector ("What types of jobs could be outsourced?" was the follow-up). Worse yet, both candidates had a chance to see the questions in advance—well in advance.

Martinez, the incumbent Republican, clearly had a prepared answer for each question. King, on the other hand, tended to range on multiple issues in the same response.

"I think that it's actually great that we're here to talk about the No. 1 issue in New Mexico, which is the economy," King, the state's current Attorney General, began in his opening remarks. "And I think though the course of this campaign so far this summer, we've seen a lot of ads on TV, hardly any of them talked about the economy. The one that's most recent talks about a fellow named

. And it does have one piece of truth in it and that piece of truth is that he was convicted and sentenced to 34 years. The piece that is missing is that it was my agents, as attorney general, who went and found him in Boston and brought him back to New Mexico and it's my attorney that prosecuted him and put him in prison for 34 years."

King was referring to charges about his office's role in allowing a career con man out of prison nearly three decades early. SFR published

in June and an analysis of his dispute with the Martinez commercials

.

King continued long-windily: "And the rest of the outcome, not so good. But we fought all the way through the system and made sure he didn't get out early. And so the real reason we have ads like that in campaigns now is because we don't want to talk about the real hard truth in New Mexico. And the real hard truth in New Mexico is that we have the worst economy in the country."

So much for capturing the audience with first impressions. When King talked, he could scarcely be heard. In fact, during the entire forum, both candidates performances felt like they were there out of an obligation rather than a true desire to campaign for the state's highest office.

Martinez projected a much more public relations-friendly image during the forum, one that was frankly better suited for the special interests responsible for the event. When the topic of education came up, she lauded the work of her administration's controversial A-F school grading system.

"When I think about what's important, I think about a recent trip I took to Gadsden, which is a high poverty Spanish-speaking school district," Martinez said. "I went to that school, and when we first graded them three years ago, they had one 'A' and the rest were 'D's and 'F's. When I visited them a couple of months ago, there are five 'A' grades and a bunch of 'B's and not a single 'D' or 'F' school in that school district."

Martinez didn't mention

"I passed by a child that waves at me and says, 'Miss, I read at 6.2,'" Martinez continued. "I holler back and I say, 'What grade level?' And they'll say, 'the fourth.' And we'll high-five each other, give each other a hug, because they know what it means to read at grade level or above. And that's exactly what we're doing. That's what I mean by education reform."

Martinez declined an invitation to appear with King at the New Mexico Press Association's annual meeting this weekend.

Both candidates, however, are scheduled to attend at least two more debates before November 4. One will be a Spanish language debate on Univison on Oct. 6—Martinez will speak Spanish while King uses an interpreter—and the other will be aired on KOAT-TV on Oct. 19.

Here's to hoping both top today's event.

Santa Fe Reporter