3rd Congressional District Debate

With just an hour on live television Sunday night, the three candidates in the 3rd Congressional District contest took swipes at each other almost as soon as they had the chance.

Most of the questions at their last debate before Election Day didn't allow for direct interaction between Democrat Ben Ray Luján, independent Carol Miller and Republican Dan East.

But the offensives began as soon as they could turn to question each other, and Miller asked Luján about his time in the state Treasurer's Office and the Public Regulation Commission — two places in state government that have seen problems in recent years.

"What I want to know is, when you are in these places where there is corruption going on, do you miss it, or do you know about it or do you care?" she asked.

Luján, a former deputy state treasurer and current member of the PRC, replied that he's "proud of my record on reform and ethics."

"While I've been at the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, we've taken this head on," he said.

"I adopted and actually drafted a code of conduct to make the commission more open and transparent. Our documents are available online for the public to see," he said.

Miller was referring to former Insurance Superintendent Eric Serna and former Deputy Insurance Superintendent Joe Ruiz.

Serna in 2006 resigned from his post after the PRC asked the attorney general to investigate a contract Serna signed in 2003 with Century Bank to manage funds deposited by insurance companies doing business in New Mexico. The contract was amended to let the bank charge higher fees than allowed in state regulations and later was changed again to comply with state regulations. Serna also faced questions over his controversial Con Alma Health Foundation.

Ruiz was sentenced to prison time after a federal jury convicted him of 30 charges in a scheme through which he got insurance firms to donate to charities in lieu of paying fines.

Miller, in her rebuttal to Luján's answer, brought up what political observers have said is a weakness for the state Democrats. "The question is, and many people want to know this because New Mexico has had problems with people ... it was the media that brought forward the problems with the insurance commissioner, and it was the media and the federal courts that first brought up the problems with the state treasurer; it wasn't from inside those offices," she said.

Luján served as deputy treasurer under Michael Montoya but wasn't implicated in the kickback scandal that led to prison time for Montoya and Montoya's successor, state Treasurer Robert Vigil.

Luján spokesman Mark Nicastre, in an interview after the debate, emphasized Luján "wasn't involved with anything at the state Treasurer's Office," calling the move by Miller a "false claim the other candidates are using because they are desperate and running out of time."

The three have only faced off a handful of times in the race.

Luján is the projected front-runner in the heavily Democratic Northern New Mexico district now represented by U.S. Rep. Tom Udall. Luján got 41 percent of the vote in a recent Albuquerque Journal poll. East got 18 and Miller 14.

Luján's question was for East. "I really want you to be very clear to the people watching and paying attention today why you want to privatize Social Security in light of the financial crisis meltdown and (why) you don't want to get them universal health care, recognizing that over 50 percent of bankruptcies come from high health care costs," he said.

East said he favors allowing younger people to have the opportunity to invest but wouldn't take benefits from people now receiving them. "When I talk about privatizing Social Security, I mean privatizing enough for youth today, so they can have opportunities, greater opportunities within retirement," he said.

As for the health care part of Luján's question, East worked to point out a key difference between him and his opponents. Both Luján and Miller support universal health care, which East opposes.

"I believe in our free enterprise system," he said. "Government-run systems are not efficient, nor will they provide you the same type of value that you can get from the private system today."

East's question was for Luján and about whether he'd raise taxes to pay for programs like universal health care.

Luján said he'd pay for the program by closing corporate loopholes that allow corporations to locate offshore, which he said cost the country $100 billion a year. "That would more than pay for universal health care," he said. Luján also said the country could use money saved by ending the war in Iraq.

Early voters have already begun casting ballots. In-person absentee voting is available at the County Clerk's Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Oct. 31 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 1. Ballots can also be sent by mail.

Early in-person voting sites in Santa Fe County opened Saturday. The locations are:

• Santa Fe County Fairgrounds, 3229 Rodeo Road

• Santa Fe County Clerk's Office, 102 Grant Ave.

• El Dorado Senior Center, 14 Avenida Torreon, Eldorado

• Edgewood Fire Station No. 2, 25 E. Frontage Road, Edgewood

• Pojoaque Fire Station, 17919 U.S. 84/285, Pojoaque

• Abedon Lopez Center, 155 B Camino de Quintana, Española

Those sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. next Saturday and Nov. 1. They also are open from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday this week and Oct. 28-31.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.santafenewmexican.com.