Forum is held just for the health of it

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Wednesday's forum for the candidates in this year's mayoral and council races was a chance for the contestants to showcase their health-related concerns and credentials.

Gathered into the Catholic Indian Center, two dozen-plus audience members listened to eight of this year's 15 candidates five of them running for mayor answer four questions from the McKinley Community Health Alliance on the city's role in: promoting a healthy community; engaging a diverse community in the political process; reducing poverty and income inequality; taking a position on a possible smoking ban in Gallup.

But what could have turned into a very narrow debate turned out to be a wide ranging discussion that touched on everything from minimum wage to affordable housing.

No smoking
Most of the candidates agreed on the need for a ban on smoking in most public places or at least the need for a public referendum on the matter but not all.

Mayoral candidate Ralph Richards said he reserves only six tables for smokers out of some 400 seats at Earl's Restaurant, which his family owns, and bans smoking altogether on Saturdays. His own family has suffered from the health effects of smoking. Still, he doesn't think it's the government's place to tell businesses what to do.

"We start taking rights away from people, then what's next?" he asked.

East side council candidate Barbara Stanley agreed that each store and restaurant should decide for itself whether allowing smoking was good or bad for business.

But even westside council candidate Jay Azua, a smoker himself, had to concede that smokers have at least some obligation to others, especially in closed spaces.

"I have the right to smoke if I want to," he said, "but I do not have the right to sit here and blow it in everyone's face either."

Whatever their take, none of the candidates could argue with the health effects of second-hand smoke, which has been irrefutably linked to a slew of respiratory diseases.

"The evidence is so clear ... that only a person who chooses not to look at the evidence could not be convinced," said mayoral candidate Larry Winn, who said he would support a no smoking ordinance.

Minimum wage
Richards also appeared to be one of the few holdouts on the panel when it came to the suggestion of a local minimum wage hike. Those pushing for either one of the two proposals that will appear on the March 6 ballot say a higher minimum wage will not only help working families put more food on the table, but give them a better shot at affording health care and getting them off government assistance.

Although the Health Alliance did not directly ask the candidates to take a position on a local increase, Winn and fellow mayoral candidates Mary Ann Armijo, Harry Mendoza and Anna Rondon along with eastside council candidate Michael Butler all spoke in favor of a local increase during the forum.

Richards didn't talk about the minimum wage Wednesday, but he has come out strongly opposed to an increase. Like many local business owners, he fears a higher minimum wage would force him to raise prices, which would not just hurt his business, but the rest of the city's economy as well. Proponents counter that people will, in turn, have more money to spend.

Stanley straddled the fence on the matter, coming out neither for nor against an increase. What if, for example, an increase pushes some people just a hair's length out of reach of the government benefits they've been relying on to make ends meet?

"There are all of these things we need to think about before we run out and jump into the fire," she said.

Affordable housing
Richards did join much of the panel in calling for more affordable housing. City officials have called the lack of such housing one of the main obstacles to Gallup's economic development.

Locals haven't just been paying too much on over-valued houses, Richardson said. Because of those exorbitant prices, he added, they're faced with the added burden of paying property taxes higher than they should be. Richards said something had to be done to bring prices down, but he did not specify what.

With the help of public subsidies, the current administration has convinced a private developer to start building at least 30 new units that should run no more than $175,000 each when they're finished.

But Armijo, the council's current eastside representative, wondered if such prices could really be called "affordable." She spoke of government programs that could help lower the costs below $100,000 and said she'd try bring them to Gallup as mayor.

Payday lending
Payday lenders also took a critical beating from the panel Wednesday.

According to state statistics, the average interest on a payday loan in the state tops 500 percent. Combined with repayment periods that average two weeks, those rates often force borrowers to repeatedly renew their loans. Many who end up struggling just to pay off the interest month after month pay many times the principal by the time they're clear. It's an especially prevalent problem in and around Gallup, which has the second highest rate of lenders in the state per capita.

A split City Council voted against a local proposal to regulate lenders a few years ago. And strong industry lobbying in Santa Fe has held up similar efforts in the New Mexico Legislature for at least five.

"Let's face it. It's all about greedy, selfish politicians," Richards said, blaming the holdup in Santa Fe on legislators hungry for campaign contributions.

"It's time to say, 'No, you just cannot charge that much on a loan,' " said Butler, who joined Mendoza, Richards and Winn in speaking about a need to cap the interest rates lenders should be allowed to charge.

Armijo added the need to not just regulate the lenders, but educate the borrowers to help them make smarter decisions with their money.

The other panelists did not broach the subject, but none spoke in favor of the payday industry's current practices either.

Reaching out
Everyone did, however, take a turn or two to talk about what the city could do to stimulate more public participation in the political process.

All agreed on the need to beef up the city's neighborhood associations, and to gather more public input in general before moving too far ahead with any major projects. Mendoza and Richards both suggested that the city should ask the associations for each district's No. 1 priority and address them one by one.

But part of the problem, some said, was that the associations were being underfunded and running out of money. Mendoza said he'd give up $500 of the mayor's salary each month to help fund them. Rondon suggested going after more grants.

Rondon also suggested using the city's Web site to conduct online surveys. Butler, who's running on what might be the most populist ticket this season, said he'd try to lower the voting age to 16 if elected in order to get more youth interested in city affairs and establish separate advisory committees to address youth, women's and American Indian issues. Winn suggested holding more town hall meetings. Armijo said it was important for the city to foster public events like Cinco de Mayo and, though canceled last year, Native American Appreciation Day to get people involved.

But if people showed up to the forum to hear what the candidates had to say, they were also paying attention to what they didn't say.

One lady in the audience was upset by how little talk there was at a forum dedicated to health issues about the city's problem's with alcohol abuse. Perhaps it will get more attention tonight at El Morro Theater, where the Mayor's Neighborhood Task Force will be hosting another forum at 6:30 for this year's mayoral candidates.