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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Pearce Stresses Business Record

By Michael Coleman
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Washington Bureau
    WASHINGTON— Rep. Steve Pearce left his successful oilfield company behind when he won a seat in Congress six years ago, but says he still approaches his job like a business.
    "We solve problems— it goes back to my business background," the Hobbs Republican said in a recent interview in his Capitol Hill office, buzzing with young staffers. "We see a problem, we visualize a solution and then we try to put a check mark by it."
    Pearce, 60, hopes New Mexico voters like his businesslike approach enough to promote him to the U.S. Senate.
    The southern New Mexico congressman is running for the seat longtime Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., will give up in January. But Pearce would need to prevail in two tough battles— a June 3 Republican primary against Rep. Heather Wilson of Albuquerque, and a general election campaign against Rep. Tom Udall, a Santa Fe Democrat who is unopposed in the primary.
    Pearce said the 2008 U.S. Senate race is "extraordinarily important" for New Mexico. The state's two U.S. Senate seats have been split between a Republican (Domenici) and a Democrat (currently Sen. Jeff Bingaman) for more than a quarter-century.
    "New Mexicans have been satisfied with the balancing between Senator Bingaman and Senator Domenici," Pearce said. "Senator Domenici has been a conservative voice, and I think I would be the conservative voice that most closely matches his stance on issues."
   
Can he win?
    Brian Sanderoff, a longtime New Mexico political analyst, said no one questions Pearce's conservative credentials. The bigger question, Sanderoff said, is whether Pearce is too conservative to win in a statewide election.
    "His personal conservative views represent well his southern New Mexico district," Sanderoff said. "But moderate Republicans— those who have run to the center and not the right— have enjoyed more success in statewide campaigns."
    Pearce ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2000, but lost the GOP primary election to former Rep. Bill Redmond of Los Alamos, a Republican who ultimately lost to Bingaman.
    Pearce rejected the notion that his right-leaning posture can't appeal to a wide swath of voters in New Mexico.
    "I'm pretty conservative ... but I'm not limited," he said, citing compromises he made with Democrats when he chaired the House national parks subcommittee from 2004-2006.
    For example, he said he brokered a deal with subcommittee Democrats to use logging revenues from Civil War battlefield timber sales to help restore the landscapes to the way they were during the battles, instead of putting the money in the U.S. Treasury.
    Pearce said he's running on his record of achievement in southern New Mexico and as a bulwark against what some political observers and pollsters believe could be a tidal wave of Democratic victories in the 2008 congressional elections.
    "I can't do anything about the other seats, but we can do something about this one, so to me it was almost a matter of principle," he said. "If we can do something about it, we should."
   
90th most conservative
    National Journal, a Washington-based political magazine, recently ranked Pearce as the 90th most conservative U.S. House member out of 435 members. The magazine based its analysis on last year's votes on economic, social and foreign affairs issues.
    With the national economy sagging, Pearce is highlighting economic development in southern New Mexico. He cited proposals for a new NASCAR-style racetrack in Truth or Consequences, as well as the southern New Mexico spaceport spearheaded by Gov. Bill Richardson's administration, as examples of initiatives he has helped push.
    "As we look at the economic climate nationwide, we're having difficulties, but in New Mexico, we're pretty strong, frankly," Pearce said. "I don't claim full credit, but we're definitely at the table.
    "We focus on jobs and we focus on opportunities," Pearce said. "That's a tactical and strategic vision that I have from my business background and frankly that's how we grew our business."
   
Business past
    The son of an oilfield roustabout, Pearce owned and operated Hobbs-based Lea Fishing Tools before winning election to Congress in 2002, succeeding Joe Skeen. The business specialized in retrieving broken tools and other items from the depths of oil wells.
    The former New Mexico state senator sold the business shortly after he came to Washington.
    Federal financial disclosure forms reveal that he is a multi-millionaire, but Pearce said he hasn't put a dime of his own money into the Senate race.
    He hopes his familiarity with the oil industry will give voters confidence that he can help stabilize gasoline prices. Pearce has been a consistent advocate of opening more U.S. lands to oil exploration, a move he contends would enhance U.S. energy security.
    "If you want the high price of gas dealt with, then you need somebody to vote to make sure we're able to explore for natural gas and oil in order to produce gasoline," Pearce said.
    Wilson also supports more domestic oil drilling. Both Wilson and Pearce, for example, support opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil companies.
    A former Air Force pilot who flew supply missions in Vietnam, Pearce has been among the most unapologetic congressional supporters of President Bush's Iraq war policy. Asked if he fears that will hurt him with voters— a majority of whom now disapprove of the war— he didn't sound worried.
    "The Iraq thing you're not hearing as much about on the streets today," Pearce said. "People want a strong national defense, but it is not the riveting issue it was a year ago. As we're moving into November's election, the surge (of extra U.S. troops sent to Iraq last year) has been effective."
    Pearce said he envisions a long-term stay in Iraq for at least some U.S. troops.
    "We're still in Japan, we're still in Germany, we're still in South Korea— all of those conflicts are 50 years behind us or more," Pearce said. "I don't think we'd have a big presence, but I could see where we'd always be there to help stiffen up whichever forces we're able to help."
   
N.M. issues
    On the home front, Pearce said he has worked hard to combat New Mexico's methamphetamine problem, holding more than 50 hearings on the issue around his district over the past two years.
    He said the hearings and town hall meetings have raised awareness of the problem, and he touts prevention and treatment as far more effective than putting offenders in jail.
    The congressman predicted that so-called "pro-life" issues will be a major factor in the Republican primary election, in which the party's more conservative members tend to dominate voting.
    Pearce boasts a perfect record on "life" issues, according to the National Right to Life Committee. Wilson's record with the advocacy group is more mixed, primarily because of some of her votes related to federally funded stem-cell research issues.
    "If they (voters) have a choice, and it's framed that way, I really think it's going to be a huge issue," Pearce said.
    Like Wilson, Pearce said he would appreciate, but hasn't asked for, Domenici's endorsement. He said conventional wisdom suggests that the legendary senator prefers Wilson, whom Domenici groomed for public office in the late 1990s. But, so far, Domenici has stayed out of the contest.
    "(Former Rep.) Joe Skeen endorsed against me in the primary in 2002, and we turned out OK," Pearce said. "Our deal is just to work hard. People respect that no matter where you go."