The contest for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District has included mudslinging, rumor mongering and innuendo regarding candidates' qualifications, past business problems and campaign donors.
Now, the political fight has strayed into the topic of a candidate's sexuality.
Benny Shendo Jr. caused a stir at a Monday night candidate forum in
Farmington when he asked a question of Ben Ray Luján that implied Luján
is gay. "You say that you stand up for the people of New Mexico,"
Shendo said, "and I want to know how you can stand up for the people of
New Mexico if you can't stand up to your mom and dad about your
lifestyle."
The question was supposed to continue, but Shendo said he was cut off by raucous members of the audience.
Luján's campaign manager, Carlos Trujillo, said Tuesday: "For a
fringe candidate like Benny Shendo to use such a personal issue to try
to gain political points is despicable and has no place in this race.
Obviously Benny's been unable to gain traction in this race so he's
decided to stoop to a whole new level."
The exchange comes less than two weeks before the June 3 primary
election and at a time when negative campaign ads are starting to fill
the airwaves. After candidate Don Wiviott started airing a negative TV
spot against Luján last weekend, Luján returned fire this week with an
broadcast salvo of his own against Wiviott.
All three Democrats are seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Before this week, the campaign was relatively tame, but some observers see the recent activity as no surprise.
"When a candidate is way behind, the risk of running negative ads
is diminished," Albuquerque pollster Brian Sanderoff said Tuesday. "If
it looks like you're going to lose anyway, you can take your chances.
Candidates will have consultants urging them to 'Go negative' to take
away votes from your opponents."
Shendo's comment to Luján at the Farmington forum was captured on video.
Luján, a state Public Regulation Commission member and son of state
House Speaker Ben Luján of Nambé, responded, "Mr. Shendo, I'm very
honored to have parents like I have as you are with your parents as
well. It's with great honor that I'm before you because of my great
parents. I'm not sure what you are referring to, Mr. Shendo, but I
honor my mom and dad, and I believe that I represent them well."
Trujillo said Tuesday that Ben Ray Luján has "a loving and committed relationship with his girlfriend."
Shendo's campaign said in an e-mail later that before he was
interrupted, he had planned to continue his question by asking Ben Ray
Luján about lifestyle "choice, especially, in this day and age when
it's much more accepted to be openly gay in public life, but your
parents made you pretend to have a girlfriend at public events, for
political reasons."
While Shendo didn't offer any evidence that Ben Ray Luján is, in
fact, gay, he said in an interview Tuesday that he raised the issue
because Luján has been "purposely and aggressively introducing a young
woman at numerous political events as his girlfriend."
Reader submitted video.
Shendo also said he doesn't care if any candidate is gay. "If he is
gay, and he's deceiving people, that's wrong," he said. "The voters
have a right to be concerned about the deception — not whether one is
gay or not. The issue is deception. That's relevant."
Shendo, who earned the third-highest number of votes at the state
Democratic Party's pre-primary convention, has lagged behind Ben Ray
Luján and Santa Fe developer Don Wiviott in terms of fundraising.
Negative campaigning aside, some members of equal-rights groups
said Tuesday that Shendo's move was mean-spirited. "That kind of gay
bashing is extremely inappropriate, especially coming from a
candidate," said Alexis Blizman, executive director of Equality New
Mexico, a prominent gay-rights organization. She said it's wrong to
question peoples' sexual orientation, saying, "Until someone tells me
otherwise, I take them at their word."
Blizman said her organization hasn't endorsed anyone in the
congressional races. "We only endorse in state races," she said.
However, she said both Ben Ray Luján and Wiviott "have been supportive
of (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender) issues. Benny Shendo has
too."
Linda Siegle, a lobbyist for Equality New Mexico, said, "Whether
he's gay or not shouldn't be an issue. Whether he has a girlfriend or
not shouldn't be an issue. The issue should be the issues. Why would
another Democrat be bringing this up?"
The ad war
Meanwhile, Ben Ray Luján on Tuesday — responding to a Wiviott
attack ad and campaign mailing that charged Luján's government career
is based on family connections — started airing a television ad that
declares Wiviott is "the wrong choice for New Mexico."
Ben Ray Luján's ad suggests Wiviott's "untrue attack ads can't hide his real record."
The 30-second spot blasts Wiviott's past business record, stating,
"Wiviott's Texas trailer parts company was prohibited by the FTC from
price fixing."
According to 1992 news releases from the Federal Trade Commission,
the agency charged Wiviott's Quality Trailer Parts attempted to fix
prices with a competitor. The FTC said, "Such naked attempts to
collude, where there are no resulting marketplace efficiencies, pose a
significant risk of anti-competitive effects."
The FTC in November 1992 prohibited Quality Trailer from "engaging
in similar unfair methods of competition in the future," according to
the government news release.
Webster Cash, a Wiviott spokesman, said the case was settled.
"There's nothing there," he said. "The FTC settled the case and said
there was no violation, and that's the end of story."
"They are attacking a frivolous lawsuit because they don't want to talk about their own record," Cash said.
Regarding Wiviott's business as a real-estate developer in Santa
Fe, Ben Ray Luján's ad charges that "when Santa Fe community and
government leaders opposed his proposed developments, he sued the city
and contributed thousands to council members to try and change their
minds."
While Cash said Wiviott gave money to councilors running for
office, he said the donations weren't to influence them on upcoming
council decisions. "What proof do they have of that?" Cash said.
"That's just baseless speculation."
Records and past newspaper reports show Wiviott gave Rebecca
Wurzburger $1,000 in her 2005 City Council race; gave Carmichael
Dominguez money for his 2004 City Council race; and gave former
Councilor David Pfeffer $2,100 for his 2006 U.S. Senate race. Pfeffer,
who was a Democrat, changed his party affiliation to Republican before
the Senate race.
Wiviott in 2001 successfully sued the city after a majority of
councilors rejected a commercial and residential project that a judge
concluded met all the requirements of the city code.
Wiviott's recent attack ad criticized Ben Ray Luján's career path,
saying he had worked as a blackjack dealer in Nevada before his father
helped him get a high-paying state job. The ad also roasted Luján for
missing meetings of a committee to which he was appointed.
The impact of attack ads
Normally candidates start off campaigns with "positive" ads aimed
at introducing themselves to voters, pollster Sanderoff said. But if it
seems that isn't working, campaigns start considering other types of
messages.
One danger is alienating voters with too much negativity.
"Sometimes the front-runner has no choice but to respond. Things
escalate to the point where voters are about to slash their wrists,"
said Sanderoff, who owns Research & Polling Inc. in Albuquerque.
"Do negative ads work? Sometimes they do," Sanderoff said. But he
cautioned focus groups show the public hates negative ads. "Voters get
turned off, and it starts to promote cynicism among the electorate."
Attack ads work best against candidates who are not well-known,
Sanderoff said. That would apply to the Northern New Mexico
congressional candidates, including Ben Ray Luján and Wiviott, who
Sanderoff said haven't yet made strong impressions on voters.
The rules regarding negative ads, Sanderoff said, are to avoid
making them too personal, don't hit below the belt, and make the ads
believable.
Union defense
Several labor unions endorsing Ben Ray Luján held a news conference Tuesday to come to his defense against Wiviott's ad.
Christine Trujillo, president of the New Mexico Labor Federation,
charged Wiviott "has tainted the process by going negative" and the ad
is an insult to people who work at casinos. Trujillo said she wished
Ben Ray Luján hadn't responded with an attack ad of his own, but said
she wouldn't criticize his ad.
Former state Rep. Patsy Trujillo, a Ben Ray Luján supporter, said
at the news conference that there's nothing wrong with Speaker Luján
helping his son get a state job. "All politics is local here," she
said. "I got my first job because my father knew (former Secretary of
State) Ernestine Evans. ... I've helped many, many families here in New
Mexico get jobs. My dad did too."
Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her
blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.sfnewmexican.com. Contact Steve
Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.
