NAME: Cliff R. Pirtle
POLITICAL PARTY: Republican
RESIDENCE: Pirtle Farms, Roswell
AGE: 26
EDUCATION: Honor Graduate, Roswell High School
OCCUPATION: Farmer/ Small Business Owner
FAMILY: Wife Aysia, one son
POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: None. Not a politician
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Graduating from high school with honors; becoming a manager/owner of a large agribusiness enterprise through hard work and perseverance. Creating a promising future for my family and the families I employ.
MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Staying true to myself, being the best husband and father I can be, and finding the right balance between work and family.
1. Support. This is a public safety issue, not an immigration issue. If we continue with this policy, New Mexicans will have to show a passport to board a flight. We must also stop the counterfeiting.
2. Support making them solvent for current employees close to retirement. That could mean increasing the minimum retirement age, increasing employee contributions, or decreasing benefits. In this struggling economy we cannot burden the taxpayers any further.
3. Support. Politicians throughout America have erred by encouraging virtually all public employees to retire between ages 42 and 52. Current/future generations cannot sustain these pension plans without paying 50-60% of their salaries in taxes.
4. No. We cannot burden New Mexico taxpayers with any higher taxes, on anything. We clearly have much work ahead of us in fixing these systems, but it cannot be on the backs of the taxpayer.
5. Oppose. I support access to affordable health care for all New Mexicans—through market-based solutions, including competition across state lines, tort reform, and common sense-based risk pools. ObamaCare must be repealed, it will break our state.
6. Support. This is a moral issue as well as an educational one. We cannot doom a significant portion of another generation of New Mexicans to low-paying jobs because they cannot read. We must do better.
7. Support both. New Mexico is capable of developing accurate measures of student progress and performance. The educational system should allow consumers to distinguish between outstanding educators and those who aren’t. The outstanding should be rewarded.
8. Oppose. The problem New Mexico government faces is not insufficient revenue. It’s that we spend too much. No one I meet door-to-door tells me they are not taxed enough. We must begin to prioritize spending.
9. Oppose. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman. I support privacy for everyone, but the concept of actual marriage is a societal foundation and should not be redefined.
10. Support. I want to know what happens in my children’s lives. It’s wrong for the state to assume total control of a child’s health and safety, or information related to that. States are not parents.
11. No.
12. No.
13. No.
