By J. Barry Bitzer
Former House Staffer
Had cancer not taken him from us so tragically, the late Rep. Steve Schiff would have been 61 this month. This March also marks the 10-year anniversary of his passing.
As his last congressional spokesman, I felt it was important five years ago to weigh in on events of the day from at least a Schiff-like perspective, and to offer some related anecdotes of his career. But when I sat down to try and tie something about Steve to events of today, it was clear that too much had happened in both foreign policy and domestic arena, and that I would be doing little more than guessing if I tried to give a Schiff perspective to it.
Then it hit me. Steve had once remarked about the amazing accumulation of seniority in the New Mexico delegation. Even after five successful runs for Congress, there was still no sure sign that he would be more than the "junior" member any time soon. Compared to the 1990s, what a barn burner 2008 would turn out to be. If they watch politics in Heaven, Schiff is surely at the edge of his seat.
So I contemplated a likely Schiff take on the sudden change in our delegation this year, a year where we already know that absolutely everyone we elect this fall will be new in the position and where everyone is pursuing the same Senate seat.
One obvious thing was that Rep. Tom Udall should not have given up his post on the pretext that he could be "more useful" in the Senate.
Schiff knew well that a seat on House Appropriations— such as the one Rep. Joe Skeen had and Udall is presently giving up— meant far more than which freshman might fill some future vacancy in the Senate. The Senate seat would, after all, be filled by someone. But not every state gets a position on House Appropriations, and within the all powerful House majority no less.
Udall's appointment to Appropriations was a huge win for New Mexico. Surrendering it might merely be tragic were it not for the timing of major lab cut proposals.
To a Washington veteran, Udall's decision looks more like a tactical exit from a House hot seat at a time when Appropriations was drawing a bead on Los Alamos than a step up to more clout for New Mexico.
For Udall, it was a clever enough exit maneuver— especially during tight budget times. But for protecting America's national security and New Mexico's economic interests, it couldn't have been a bigger letdown.
The other thing that is striking and noteworthy about the current Senate seat opening is how both camps in the primary have ignored the proverbial 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican."
If Schiff were here today— and not in the race himself— I think he would be rather alarmed that Rep. Heather Wilson is blasting Rep. Steve Pearce for supposedly having voted to "close" Cannon Air Force Base. And this while Pearce has claimed Wilson's support of funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program— SCHIP— amounts to welfare for families making $80,000 or more.
Since I worked for Schiff during the previous round of closures that put New Mexico military bases at risk, I remember well that there's a world of difference between voting for the overall process and voting to close one base in particular. Indeed, voting the other way in this instance is essentially voting to saddle the armed forces with billions of dollars a year in obsolete or redundant capacity. And Cannon had already been promised a new mission at that point.
And having administered SCHIP funds during Gov. Gary Johnson's second term, I feel qualified to point out that in order for a New Mexico family making $80,000 or more to qualify for SCHIP, they would have to have six or seven children. Most families making this much money have private insurance already. Of those few who don't, how many have that many children?
In both instances, what might especially trouble Schiff is that the two would-be Republican nominees were shooting at each other while Udall— essentially unopposed— has already raised nearly $2 million for the general election.
All the more unfortunate is that Udall's record bears so much more overdue examination than either a SCHIP vote or squandering billions of dollars on unnecessary military facilities— both of which he supported, by the way.
Both Pearce and Wilson have much to be proud of in their records of service to New Mexico and the nation— in stark contrast to Udall's leadership hiatus while the labs have been buffeted by controversy. So they would do well to forgo the reaching on each other's records in favor of some real meat and potatoes discussion of Udall's shortcomings as a would-be senator.
Finally, it is important to remember that even though Udall may seem popular right now among voters who have no real idea where he stands, what he's done, or that he has essentially cut and run when the going got tough, he is beatable.
The last person who demonstrated this was, appropriately enough, Steve Schiff himself in the 1988 race for the 1st Congressional District seat.
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