Shendo takes 'lifestyle' shot at Luján

Front-runner's campaign says rival stooping to 'new level'

Kate Nash and Steve Terrell | The New Mexican

5/20/2008 -

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."

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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.

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