Monday, October 17, 2022Monster Monday Blog: Deleted Tweets Upend Vasquez In Race With Herrell; Her Heavy Baggage Taking Back Seat To Character Attacks, Plus: Stansbury Handles Garcia Holmes In Congress Debate, Also: RGA Gets It Half Right But That's Not Good Enough
"It's not the crime, it's the cover-up" is one of the older adages in politics. In the case of Dem congressional hopeful Gabe Vasquez there was no crime but he did cover up his past and that past is now being brought to the fore by Republicans. That the liberal Vasquez of Las Cruces could be a fish out of water in the largely rural southern congressional district (which includes parts of West ABQ and the South Valley) is no secret but his challenge of GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell really hit a sandbar Friday when CNN came with this deflating report: (Vasquez), campaigning as a moderate in a tightly contested race, deleted tweets attacking the oil and gas industry, rationalizing rioting in summer 2020, and comparing the Trump administration to the Ku Klux Klan. Vasquez's deleted tweets won't be incendiary to supporters on the left but they are sure to rattle more middle of the road voters. For example, this tweet: The tip of the spear of a white supremacist system ends in state sanctioned, cold-blooded murder of black individuals. There is so much to undo, to unravel this system & shift power structures to fundamentally change this country. That’s why the cars and buildings are burning. And a deleted tweet from November 2020 now drips with irony as Vasquez urges his supporters to "stay strong" and to proudly express their left wing views, only to later delete his declaration: To my fellow Dems, let’s avoid playing to the R’s talking points & playing on their field! It’s OK to oppose fracking, OK to support the Green New Deal, OK to support Medicare for all, OK to talk about progressive immigration reform, OK to stand for what you believe. #StayStrong,” Veteran political operative Steve Cabiedes, a Vasquez supporter, summed up the damage this way: One should never hide who they are. DC consultants suck. Cabiedes assumes it was the national Dems who scoured Vasquez's social media and had him delete the controversial tweets in preparation for his run for higher office. In reaction Vasquez did not address the deleted tweets but said: I do not believe defunding the police is a path toward a fair criminal justice system. That’s why, as a Las Cruces council member, I voted to increase funding for the police by millions and worked directly with our police chief to improve community policing. … I will always put New Mexico’s oil and gas workers first, by supporting responsible fossil fuel development that protects their health, wages, and futures. At the same time, I will hold oil and gas companies accountable who are not paying their fair share and polluting our public lands. As for not supporting defunding the police, the national GOP is airing a hard-hitting spot that shows Vasquez being interviewed by a TV station wearing a mask to prevent himself from being identified and saying: We need serious police reform in this country. . . It's not just about defunding the police, it's about defunding the system. To which the GOP ad says: We can't trust a fraud like Gabe Vasquez. Vasquez responded with this ad from retired Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos vouching for his funding of law enforcement while on the Cruces city council. The Vasquez campaign says the then Las Cruces city councilor disguised himself for the TV interview because he wanted the organizers of the protest to be the focal point not himself. CORNERING HERRELL
The new Second Congressional District is friendlier to the Dems than the old district that elected Herrell in 2020. In fact Biden carried the new district by six points and Vasquez's polling shows him with a very slight lead. Vasquez and the national Dems have effectively used abortion against Herrell, arguing that she supports the procedure with no exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. She was forced to clarify her position, saying that Vasquez is misrepresenting her stance and that she does support exceptions. Herrell refused to vote to certify the election of President Biden. She also voted against critical federal funding for victims of this year's brutal wildfires in the north. And she voted against the $280 billion Chips Act that expands government support for domestic semiconductor companies, even though Intel is one of the largest employees in the ABQ metro. S And she has downplayed the January 6 Capitol riots and has not separated herself from extremist and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin of Otero County. That's a lot of baggage but Herrell is consistent and authentic in her beliefs which makes the claim that Vasquez is not authentic--a left wing Dem posturing as a moderate--a significant issue between the competitors. Some Democrats say the fault for their problems doesn't only rest with Vasquez but also US Senator Martin Heinrich who championed the candidacy of his former aide early on and cleared the field for him of serious primary challengers. Heinrich has become a serial endorser of Dem hopefuls up and down the ballot. But serious vetting is required of a congressional candidate for one of the few toss up districts in the nation. That obviously was not done by Heinrich and done too late by the national Democrats. Vasquez may still have a path to victory but it has become much more narrow--when it should have been wide open. ABQ CONGRESS DEBATE  On crime, Garcia Holmes, a retired APD detective, bore down on the crime crisis by pledging a tougher border policy to stem the tide of fentanyl and using federal grant money to hire more police. And she charged her Dem opponent with supporting the defunding of the police. Stansbury grappled with the defunding charge when she won her seat in a special election in June 2021. This time she responded by pointing to her record as an incumbent providing additional resources to law enforcement. But that was the last of her being on the defensive as she sharply and repeatedly shifted the narrative with the slogan: I am the only pro-choice, pro science, pro democracy candidate. That was a triple threat for Garcia Holmes who was the GOP 1st District congressional nominee in 2020 and lost the race 58 to 42 to Dem Deb Haaland. On the election charge, she said voters deserve to know that elections have "integrity" but she did not deny that she was a denier when Stansbury pointed out Garcia Holmes had filed a lawsuit along with the state GOP asking that the 2020 Bernalillo County ballots be impounded. Previously when asked whether the election had been stolen Garcia Holmes said she "did not know and had no idea." At the debate she said "I am not an election denier; I am an election defender." She denied signing a pledge in support of banning abortion in all instances, but Stansbury twice said she had and state Dems posted the signed pledged on their social media. In an earlier statement Garcia Holmes said she could not comment on a proposal from Senator Lindsay Graham that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In the debate Garcia Holmes said she was "being persecuted for her religious beliefs." Stansbury is also up with a TV ad on the Garcia Holmes abortion stance. Another ad highlights her first year in office. Garcia Holmes is running an ad touting her service in law enforcement and her crime fighting credentials. In the money race the Roswell Daily Record reported Sunday night that in the quarter ending September 30 Stansbury received $411,511 in contributions and Garcia Holmes $125,962. Stansbury had $380,609 in cash on hand Sept, 30 and Garcia Holmes had $256,134. Stansbury has raised a total of $1.144 million for the '22 cycle compared to $350,000 for Garcia Holmes. FROM PROGRESSIVE TO PRAGMATIC Elected amid what now seems like a progressive peak, Stansbury has taken to calling herself a "pragmatic" Democrat not a progressive, although she still retains support from the party's left. The switch in descriptions is acknowledgment that the ABQ district now stretches south into conservative Otero, Lincoln and Chaves counties. Actually, a bit of moderation may be good for her as she becomes more appealing to the state as a whole. Stansbury, 43, an ABQ native, is a cool cucumber media wise. Her appeal is her competence, her quick intellect and the fast and productive start she has gotten off to in DC. Garcia Holmes has a warm personality, works well with others and as half Native American and half Hispanic represents the diversity of the district. The ABQ area seat is ranked likely Democratic by the major DC political pundits. ALLIGATOR STRIKE
The RGA dark money PAC, with enough cash to light up a black hole, tried to Willie Hortonize the race between Republican Mark Ronchetti and MLG but instead of setting the electorate on fire they burned themselves. Their choice of Willie Horton this time is Chris Beltran, featured in a 60 second ad that rains down on MLG for allegedly releasing him from prison too early and then seeing him kill his ex-girlfriend. But Beltran was released twice from prison and the ad screws up the timeline and provokes an argument over whether Republican prosecutors were at fault for not fully prosecuting him to keep him locked up. That started the word slush. Well over a thousand of them from the ABQ Journal, ditto for the New Mexican and a damning fact check from KOB-TV that called out the accuracy of the ad. All of that coverage to try to explain a 60 second ad that should have been a clean, late-inning knockout or TKO. Do these guys not know what they are putting out or don't they care? Take a look : (Ronchetti is targeting) the Lujan Grisham executive order that authorized more than 700 inmates to be released early from prison due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The executive order was issued in April 2020 and rescinded last month, though a Lujan Grisham spokeswoman said the decision was not related to Ronchetti’s criticism. The (RGA) ad. . .targets the policy, even though the murder Beltran is accused of did not occur during the time period after Beltran was first released from prison under the executive order as the ad implies. “Michelle Lujan Grisham is failing to keep us safe,” the ad’s narrator says. And more confusing word salad from the New Mex. And here's the TV fact check that delivers a hammer blow to the high-paid consulting class lounging around the RGA: This ad by the Republican Governors Association highlights a horrific case of a repeat offender going in and out of our state's correctional system then eventually killing his ex-girlfriend. . .Visually attaching Christopher Beltran's second release to the Governor's executive order is inaccurate. All this to explain what is supposed to be a cut and dry hit piece that sends MLG reeling. If done right the only thing the press should be writing is an answer to the question: "Why did you release this guy, Governor?" And then take her to the woodshed. Of course, the apologists on the socials pass it off as a minor mistake and note that Beltran was released and did kill someone. But even one hole in an ad at this nuclear level is inexcusable and incompetent. What? The public is supposed to say. "It's okay if you tell us half truths. We'll figure out what you got right." Heck, we'd bet former NMGOP hitman Kevin Moomaw spilled his bourbon over in Austin when he got wind of this one. And, no, we're not playing favorites. We were the first media to call out MLG's consultants when they wrongfully accused Ronchetti of wanting to defund the police. RGA, for only getting it half right in your most important '22 NM Guv ad, you are hereby the victim of an Alligator strike. Congrats. . . or something This is the home of New Mexico Politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022 |
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