Golly, it's campaign season!

New Mexico Business Journal, Sept, 2000 by Bob Cochnar

By the time you read this--well after Labor Day--the campaigns should be in full swing in New Mexico and around the country. The presidential aspirants have visited our state and its six electoral votes, quite possibly because they, like most folks, happen to like visiting New Mexico and not because we are even close to being an important swing state (as is our neighbor to the East, Texas). You'll recall that President Clinton kept on returning to New Mexico. During one trip, he found his way onto an Albuquerque golf course. During another, he holed up in a hotel room for a couple of nights.

It probably won't matter a whit who claims New Mexico in November, George Dubya or Al Gore unless, of course, the presumed vote in the Electoral College is razor-thin and our six measly votes make a difference. Don't count on it. (Incidentally, did you know that the designated electors who will meet in Washington in December to cast their votes are, in fact, able to vote for whomever they choose regardless of how the popular vote went in the states? You could look it up. So, in theory, a majority of disaffected electors could get together and put, say, Colin Powell or Warren Beatty in the White House. Don't count on that, either.

Closer to home, every one of the 112 seats in the state legislature (42 in the Senate, 70 in the House) is to be filled in November. Some seats are uncontested, others are pretty nearly owned by incumbents. But you can expect some real donnybrooks in some districts and some fresh new faces in Santa Fe in January when the 60-day session commences. Republicans, who can't remember when they held majorities in either house, are hoping to tilt the balance in their favor. Democrats, of course, wish to increase their majorities so that the veto logjam can, at long last, be broken. Since I have never been very good at predicting outcomes of elections, I am not about to make a fool of myself in this space. Rather, I'll suggest that the legislative races are important, even vital, and that you ought to be casting an eye in that direction.

Governor Johnson begins his final two years in office in January. He will be, by all accounts, the lamest of lame ducks, which is made especially apparent when he muses about his planned climb of Mount Everest once he leaves office, or when he hopscotches about the country, urging the legalization of marijuana. Presumably, Johnson is the leader of the New Mexico Republican Party, but you can expect some normally stalwart Republican candidates to become skittish when their governor talks about dope and vouchers. This time around, a Johnson endorsement may not be the holy grail for some candidates.

I've discovered over the years that our legislators are very approachable people, no doubt because few of them are professionals and must find other ways to make a living. We have what is called a "citizen" Legislature (which suggests that professional politicians aren't citizens, but that's another story). This is a cute way of saying they don't get paid for their labors aside from per-diem allowances and mileage reimbursements. This fanciful notion no doubt worked well in 1912, but I doubt it ought to apply in the 21st Century. Legislators, by and large, do work hard and ought to be reasonably compensated. It's sometimes hard to figure why intelligent men and women would want to run for state office and receive no money and plenty of grief. That may be why there are so many retired folk in the Roundhouse.

Business people readily complain that legislators aren't responsive to their needs and interests. These are often the same people who don't know who their elected representatives are and haven't bothered to find out. These are the same people who think lobbying is beneath their dignity (despite the fact that the redress of grievances is a right specified in the U.S. Constitution). Or they'll pay dues to a business organization or professional to do their lobbying. Telephone calls and letters to legislators and candidates actually receive attention.

Most people, even legislators, are reasonable. They may well have opinions that differ from yours, and why shouldn't they? It therefore becomes the job of those who have grievances to persuade legislators of the rightness of his or her arguments.

During a campaign period, candidates are especially eager to know what you're thinking and will pay attention. Most candidates don't take opinion polls and so a number of voices on the same theme tends to be persuasive. You can help shape the Legislature. But nobody won a contest he never entered.