APS Election Goes Negative

Albuquerque school board elections, traditionally the domain of small budgets and positive campaigning, took a negative turn this year with an injection of attack ads funded by a political action group.

The election was held Tuesday, with nine candidates vying for three contested seats.

Without the knowledge of candidates, glossy mailers were sent out in support of some candidates with more-conservative views and attacking incumbent board president Paula Maes. Maes, who was defeated Tuesday, was in the four-way District 6 race to keep her seat.

	Close race certified Longtime educator Don Duran won a spot on the school board by 12 votes, according to results certified Friday by Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver. Duran won the four-way race in District 6 with 12 votes more than incumbent David Robbins. Robbins said Friday he hasn’t decided whether to challenge the results and will think about it over the weekend. “I cannot say yes or no at this time. I have some people who are saying, ‘Dave, move on,’ and others saying, ‘Dave, you’ve got to challenge it,’” he said. He said if he does so, he would likely ask for a re-examination of absentee ballots, which heavily favored Duran. The other candidates in that district were incumbent board president Paula Maes and Angela Gonzales Carver. The redistricting process consolidated board districts on the east side of the city and pitted incumbents Maes and Robbins against each other.

The ads, which urged people to vote against Maes, attacked her opposition to a law that would mandate retention of third-graders whose test scores show they cannot read at grade level. The mailers also attacked Maes for traveling to conferences and for speaking in support of APS administrative travel.

The ads say they were paid for by “A+ Albuquerque,” and list the treasurer of the group as Mark Kunzman, former president of the University of New Mexico College Republicans.

Kunzman referred questions about the ad to Adam Feldman, a former executive director of the state Republican Party. Feldman also served in Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration as the director of boards and commissions, before starting his own consulting firm, Red Tag Strategies.

Feldman said in an email statement Friday that “A+ Albuquerque” was “formed to counter labor unions,” specifically for this election. The group was active in all three contested board races, with mailers and robocalls.

At Wednesday’s school board meeting, Maes lamented the changing face of school board elections.

“It’s very sad that what once was a true nonpartisan race has now really been politicized,” Maes said, adding that the soft money will limit who can run for the board. “That means that mostly, no one can run for the race anymore. Because it just means that that mother who is on the PTA at Bellehaven who doesn’t have the money, she really can’t run. And that’s another sad thing that happened.”

Other school board members, including those who were supported by the “A+ Albuquerque” PAC, also frowned on the attacks.

The group sent out mailers in support of David Robbins, who also ran in District 6 and lost by 12 votes to challenger Don Duran. Robbins said he was disturbed that those mailers emphasized he is a Republican, since the school board is nonpartisan. He said he had no contact with the PAC and did not know it was planning to support him until he saw the mailers.

“I think by putting the term ‘Republican’ on there, it really did taint things,” Robbins said. He said he also felt the attacks on Maes were uncalled for and unfair.

“I think it’s always better to put forth your goals and agenda rather than knocking down someone else’s,” he said.

The PAC also sent out mailers in support of Leah Persons, who was running for the District 3 seat in the North Valley. Persons said she was surprised by the mailers and called them “overkill.” She lost to incumbent Lorenzo Garcia in District 3.

As for Maes, she had said in a Journal questionnaire that retention should be an individual decision but said Wednesday that she held her own son back in first grade. During Maes’ tenure, she attended annual conferences put on by the Council of the Great City Schools. Other board members, including Robbins, attended the same conferences.

Feldman said Friday that the mailers were “very issue-based” and were based on news reports.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, A+ Albuquerque is a political action committee that registered Tuesday – election day. New Mexico law requires PACs to register within 10 days of receiving or spending $500 in a calendar year.

Because the PAC is so new, it has not yet been required to report any of its financial information. The next financial reporting date is in April.

Feldman said in an email that the group spent about $6,000 on the school board race and will file all appropriate reports with the Secretary of State’s Office.

The style and wording of the mailers is similar to mailers sent out during the November general election by Reform New Mexico Now, a PAC run by Martinez’s political adviser, Jay McCleskey.

During Wednesday’s meeting, school board member Kathy Korte said she thought McCleskey was involved.

“I will say that I just read these mailers that Paula has, and of course they’ve got the key words, ‘social promotion, reading coaches, reform eduction,’ so there’s no doubt in my mind that I bet there’s a Jay McCleskey behind those mailers. And it angers me,” Korte said.

McCleskey did not return phone calls, but Feldman said McCleskey was not involved in A+ Albuquerque. The two worked together at the Lincoln Strategy Group, which produced attack ads for the New Mexico Republican party during the 2010 gubernatorial election and also worked on the election of Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal