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Front Page
opinion editorials
Saturday, May 17, 2008
State Senate Picks
DISTRICT 13, Sen. Dede Feldman: A tireless worker in the Senate since 1997, Feldman has emerged as a leader on health care reform, education funding and open government. She has a reputation as a collaborative legislator, more interested in moving a bill forward than getting credit for it.
She not only supports the idea of opening legislative conference committees to the public, she has sponsored bills trying to do that several times. “Sunshine is the best disinfectant” to keep lawmaking from being tainted by special interests and secret tradeoffs, she says.
Formerly a teacher, she believes the No Child Left Behind Act is flawed. “We need accountability but not constant testing.”
North Valley Democrats should re-elect Sen. Dede Feldman. There is no general election GOP opposition.
DISTRICT 14, Sen. James Taylor: With a decade in the New Mexico House and four years in the Senate, Taylor says he has the experience to best represent his diverse area’s “invisible voters” — constituents who don’t have time to go to every meeting.
From advocating for a South Valley campus of Central New Mexico Community College to bringing home millions in capital outlay, Taylor says he’s busy collaborating with officials to get things done.
“I’m not the education, social services, pro-business legislator,” he says. “I’m balanced on issues that affect my constituency.” That constituency ranges from East Mountain villages across the South Valley to Isleta Pueblo. Those issues include adequate infrastructure, jobs and equity in education. Taylor says he’s now in a position to “change the mind-set and get things heard in the Senate.”
The winner of the Democratic primary faces no Republican opposition in the fall. The Journal recommends voters keep Sen. James Taylor in Santa Fe.
DISTRICT 15, John W. Blair: The 34-year-old Democrat is a new face on the electoral roster but has paid his dues in policy work and in other candidates’ campaigns. He has worked as an aide to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, served as chief of staff to State Auditor Hector Balderas and managed the successful statewide campaign of state Supreme Court Justice Edward Chavez.
Blair is stepping out in front of his own campaign this year because “voters want change,” like capital outlay funds appropriated to meet pressing needs in the district every year — not just election years. They want health care reform, Blair says, not a power struggle over the power of appointment to a health care oversight panel. They want government that is open and responsive to the public, not to lobbyists. They want lawmakers who solve problems, Blair says. Democrats in this mid-Northeast Heights district should support John Blair. The Democratic nominee faces H. Diane Snyder in the November election.
DISTRICT 17, Tim Keller: A short stint in the world of finance was enough to put Keller on the road to more rewarding work: putting land-mine victims and other disadvantaged people to work doing data entry — high-paying jobs for Cambodia.
That experience leaves him wondering why more enterprise couldn’t be nurtured in his neglected district. Keller would be committed to bringing more of the benefits of economic development to the Southeast Heights. The capital outlay money allocated to the area’s senator should stay within the district and be directed to its most pressing needs, he says.
A district with a high dropout rate needs a strong leader who can advocate for a Manhattan Project-level effort to improve education; one obvious step would be longer school years, Keller says.
He is a graduate of St. Pius X, Notre Dame and the Harvard business school and has served the Democratic Party as a ward chair.
District 17 Democrats should vote for Tim Keller. No Republicans are running for the seat.
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