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Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Diane Denish: It's All About What's Next
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish says she and Gov. Bill Richardson share some qualities: energy and enthusiasm for their jobs, a commitment to make New Mexico a better place.
"But I think in terms of style, I'm different in that I work very much on the collaboration, cooperation, creativity, bringing the stakeholders together to hammer out the solutions and actually being part of that hammering out," Denish says.
Denish's portrayal of herself as a coalition builder was one possible theme for her campaign to succeed Richardson that emerged in an interview last week.
Another possible theme: Denish is your Average Jane.
"People are very surprised to see me at the grocery store. I was buying something at Dillard's the other day ... ," she says. "I go to my local restaurants. I walk around my neighborhood.
"I see myself as much more involved in my community in a lot of ways, my local community, than maybe a more high-profile person would be, or that somebody like the governor (Richardson) might be."
So far, Denish is the only announced candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2010.
Denish made it clear she'll campaign on her plans for the state, not so much the Richardson record.
"It's really not about that," she says. "It's about not what happened then, but about what's next. People make their decisions on what you're going to do next, not what you did in the past."
Asked whether she was concerned that voters were fatigued with Richardson and that could hurt her in her bid for chief executive, Denish says:
"I don't want to comment on what I think voters think of Bill Richardson. There's a lot of things that have been happening, that are under way, that have caused the slippage in his polling numbers. ... My future is not what they (voters) think about Bill Richardson."
Denish says she has read the reports that her relationship with Richardson is chilly, but she describes the relationship as cordial, cooperative, friendly and professional.
"We're had our differences, some of them public, some of them not, but that's the nature of a good partnership," she says.
Perhaps Denish's most damaging comments about Richardson came in 2005 when she was asked about Journal photos showing the governor's hand near Denish's backside at a public event.
Denish said the governor had never touched her in an improper way but that such physical contact in a public setting was inappropriate because it could be misconstrued.
Richardson called it innocent teasing, but the incident came as he was preparing a run for the presidency and contributed to an image that he could be more frat boy than statesman at times.
Denish says she's willing to stand up for the actions by Richardson that have improved life in New Mexico but says she's unwilling now to say how she would have done things differently.
"I'm still the lieutenant governor. I'm still a partner with the governor. We still have a lot of work to do," she says.
With former Democratic state officials convicted of corruption in recent years, more Democrats accused of wrongdoing and the Richardson administration itself under investigation in an alleged pay-to-play scheme, Republicans already have begun to make clean government an issue in the 2010 gubernatorial race.
Denish has her response: "I'm not involved in any of those things. I think they'll try to make it a big issue, but I think the people of New Mexico care about what's next."
Despite serving in the shadow of the larger-than-life Richardson, Denish has managed to be one of the state's most high-profile lieutenant governors — thanks in large part to an aggressive public relations effort.
"When I ran for lieutenant governor, I said I thought it was a job that hadn't reached its full potential, that there were lots of things to be done. I poured myself into it," she says.
"You can use the bully pulpit. You can advocate for important things and bring people around the table."
She says she led on issues ranging from prekindergarten to anti-meth laws to payday loans to government transparency, including an online database of government contractors and more frequent campaign finance reports by public officials.
"I would say I've worked on things that really improved the quality of life here in New Mexico ... ," she says. "The (political) upside is people see me as a leader. They see me as my own person. They see me as a hard worker. They see me as somebody who's very committed to New Mexico."
Denish adds, "I think I'll be graded on the issues on which I've taken a leadership role ... I think people see me as autonomous and independent."
How Denish distinguishes herself from Richardson is just one of the many hurdles she faces in winning the Governor's Mansion. Some of those hurdles are based in history.
No woman has ever been elected governor (she is the first female lieutenant governor). And since statehood, only one lieutenant governor has been elected governor. That was in 1916.
UpFront is a daily front-page opinion column. Thom Cole can be reached in Santa Fe at (505) 992-6280 or at tcole@abqjournal.com
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