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Friday, June 18, 2004

GOP Candidates Take Drug Test

By Andy Lenderman
Journal Staff Writer
    Eight New Mexico Republicans volunteered to take a drug test Thursday afternoon during an unusual break on the campaign trail.
    The judicial and legislative candidates urged elected officials to voluntarily test for controlled substances at an Albuquerque medical lab, as the fallout from a high-profile judge's drug charge arrest continues to play out.
    "The reason we're here today is because obviously the public does not trust the courts," said Ned Fuller, a Republican who's running against Supreme Court Justice Edward L. Chavez, a Democrat, in the November election.
    State District Judge W. John Brennan, who has since offered his resignation, was arrested May 29 on drug charges in Albuquerque.
    Paul Barber, running against state Court of Appeals Judge Michael E. Vigil, said he paid for the $35 test himself.
    But the chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico says Thursday's news conference was a stunt.
    "I think it's obviously a disingenuous publicity stunt by a series of fringe Republican candidates," party chairman John Wertheim said.
    Wertheim said he'd be willing to take a drug test himself.
    Among those who went to the S.E.D. Medical Laboratories on Thursday were Fuller, Barber, Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque; Sen. Kent Cravens, R-Albuquerque; John Ryan, who's running in Senate District 10; Fernando C. de Baca, running in Senate District 14; Gwen Poe, running in Senate District 12; and Mary A. Gilbert, Senate District 17.