E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Speakup and View Comments
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A Final Trip to the Capitol
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
Like hundreds of others, former Gov. Gary Johnson paid last respects to Bruce King as he lay in state at the Capitol on Friday.
Johnson, a Republican, defeated King in the 1994 gubernatorial election. It was the only general election the Democrat ever lost in a political career that spanned four decades.
That election, in many ways, marked the arrival of the modern political era in New Mexico.
It was out with the folksy King and his county fair-style politics, and in with the candidate packaged for prime time.
"Bruce King was the last governor to get elected ... based substantially on his personal relationships, his friendships, his acquaintances," said Albuquerque pollster and former King aide Brian Sanderoff.
King's "personal touch ... didn't translate to electronic media," Sanderoff added.
Johnson had never run for public office but was young, athletic and wealthy. He promised "people before politics" in a slick television campaign designed by Ron Nielson, a Salt Lake City consultant. Neilson accompanied Johnson to the Capitol on Friday.
Losing to a political newcomer must have made the end of King's political career more difficult, but King was gracious.
"He was an absolute gentleman to me," Johnson told reporters Friday.
On election night in 1994, Johnson said King had "done more for this state, arguably, than anyone has ever done." It was a message he repeated Friday, remarking on the political careers of other King family members, as well.
"What a contribution they have made to this state," he said.
King's son Gary is the state attorney general. A niece serves in the House and a nephew on the Public Regulation Commission.
Gary King and his brother, Bill, were among the family members who greeted mourners at the Capitol.
Bruce King — a son of homesteaders, a former speaker of the House and a three-term governor — died Nov. 13 at the family ranch near Stanley in Santa Fe County. He was 85 and suffered heart problems.
He arrived at the Capitol for the final time at 8:25 Friday morning in the same white hearse that carried his wife, Alice, there to lie in state last December. The couple had been married 61 years.
"He was never particularly happy after she was gone," Gary King said.
An honor guard representing the State Police and the New Mexico Army and Air National Guard forces carried King's bronze casket from the hearse, down the Capitol's tree-lined east entrance and into the Rotunda.
A white pall with the state seal was draped over the casket, flanked by flowers, flags, photographs of the governor and honor guards with bowed heads.
The hundreds of mourners included a who's who of New Mexico political life over the past half-century. Gov. Bill Richardson presented King's sons with a New Mexico flag.
Richardson later told reporters that King taught him the value of retail politics, going door to door and attending large events to shake hands. "Bruce King championed the art of being accessible," he said.
As the sun was setting Friday evening, the honor guard at the Capitol returned King's casket to the hearse for the return trip to Moriarty, where his funeral will start today at 10 a.m. in the Moriarty High School gymnasium.
Former President Clinton was scheduled to attend. King will be buried in the Stanley cemetery.
A lot has been said about the man since his death, and much more will be said today.
We mourn the loss of him, as well as a time when a handshake and a "Howdy!" meant more than a 30-second TV spot.
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
| We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. |
|
|
