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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

GOP, Democrats Have Contests for Top Leadership Jobs

By Barry Massey/
Associated Press
      SANTA FE — Democrats and Republicans gather this weekend to select their state chairmen and there are contested races in each party for the top leadership job.
    The elections come at an important time politically because the new chairmen will be in charge of their party organizations during the 2008 presidential campaign season.
    New Mexico is considered a swing state in presidential races. President Bush carried New Mexico in the 2004 general election by 5,988 votes, but Democrat Al Gore won the state by just 366 votes in 2002.
    GOP chairman Allen Weh is seeking re-election and faces a challenge from C. Earl Greer, a real estate broker and rancher from southern New Mexico.
    Democratic chairman John Wertheim is stepping down after three years to devote more time to his law practice. Three candidates are seeking to succeed him: former state legislator Michael Olguin of Socorro; Brian Colon, an Albuquerque attorney; and Gideon Elliot of Santa Fe, a former state party staffer.
    The leadership elections will be decided by state party central committees, which are made up of several hundreds delegates from across the state. Democrats meet in Las Cruces on Saturday and Republicans in Albuquerque.
    Greer, the Sierra County GOP chairman for nearly five years, plans to formally announce his candidacy for the state chairmanship on Thursday. He said he had been talking with other county GOP leaders and encouraged to run.
    "We want to take the party back to the grass roots, back to the counties, back to the Republicans that do the work and actually do the voting,'' Greer said in a telephone interview.
    He is a real estate broker and rancher from Truth or Consequences, and ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission.
    Weh, who became GOP chairman in 2004, said he can provide continuity in the party organization.
    "A lot of people convinced me that it was important that an experienced chairman continue at this point and take it through the presidential election,'' said Weh.
    Olguin, 58, served in the state House of Representatives for 14 years, including part of that as House majority leader. He lost a re-election bid in 1998. As a former state Democratic Party vice chairman, Olguin stresses his political experience. He noted that Democrats plan a presidential preference caucus on Feb. 5, 2008.
    "The organization of that will require a lot of manpower and raising money to ensure that it runs properly,'' said Olguin, who operates an insurance agency and works as a lobbyist during legislative sessions.
    Colon, 37, has practiced law for six years and has been endorsed in the leadership race by several labor unions: the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Communications Workers of America.
    "My goals are to make sure that we do a good job of recruiting, training and electing Democratic candidates,'' said Colon.
    Elliot, 27, served as state party deputy director in 2004. He said Democrats should adopt a broader campaign strategy and focus on all parts of the state, including GOP-leaning areas.
    "I decided to get in the race because after the 2006 election, we could see that we basically made the same mistakes we had made in 2004. We had conceded votes, and we had conceded Democrats living in Republican-dominated precincts,'' said Elliot. "The role of the party is to mobile voters, to mobilize Democrats to vote for Democrats.''

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