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Last night's Santa Fe County League of Women Voters forum got off to a dramatic start.
When the moderator asked the candidates for Congressional District 3 to begin the forum with an introduction, Republican long-shot Jefferson Byrd stood up to read a protest statement.
"Our campaign believes in transparency and the intellectual capabilities of the electorate," he said. "We have consistently requested that the Santa Fe League of Women Voters either allow you to ask your questions directly of the candidate or allow us information about the political affiliations of those screening your requests or to allow a member of each campaign staff to be a part of the screening process."
Byrd and his campaign then left the forum, protesting that the Santa Fe County chapter was censoring the audience's questions by having a three-member panel screen each question before asking them. At the very least, Byrd's campaign wanted to know the party affiliation of the panel.
"Please understand that we are interested in engaging with you without the interference of the League," Byrd said before he left. "We would invite you to speak to us directly about any issues that would affect your decision in voting in the Third Congressional District race."
Byrd, a Tucumcari rancher, is in the midst of his second attempt to unseat Rep. Ben Ray Luján, who has served Democratic Party-dominated district, which includes Santa Fe, since 2009. Two years ago, Luján beat Byrd by 26 percentage points. During that election cycle, he participated in the Santa Fe League forum and claims that the questions then were one-sided in favor of Luján.
"Last time Jeff was here, the deck was stacked," says Todd Hathorne, Byrd's campaign manager.
Hathorne says that the protest came after many attempted negotiations with the league to allow the candidates to speak directly with the audience. He says they were able to do so in a recent League of Women Voters of Los Alamos candidate forum, which he adds resulted in a more authentic engagement.
Santa Fe League President Donna Reynolds says that different league chapters have different rules. Her chapter's screening process is meant to ensure that things like duplicate questions aren't read and that overly partisan questions are screened. She adds that she was disappointed to see Byrd walk out and that campaigns are increasingly trying to control independent candidate forums.
"We’ve been using this format for a number of years and really this is the first time we’ve had anyone feel like it's unfair," she says. "We think our process works for the public and for the voters."
Santa Fe Reporter