3rd District candidates square off
in Gallup

Democratic congressional candidate Ben Ray Lujan, left, republican candidate Dan East and COG Board Chairman Dr. William Hall listen as independent congressional candidate Carol Miller speaks during the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments luncheon at the Inn of Gallup Wednesday. All three candidates were guest speakers at the annual event. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — The 3d Congressional District in New Mexico is up for grabs in this year’s election.

With people not knowing very much about those running for the office, the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments hosted the three congressional candidates at their annual luncheon Wednesday at The Inn of Gallup.

The candidates were asked to speak on issues and each candidate was given a set amount of time to make his or her ideas on how to fix the problems facing New Mexico.

Dr. William Hall, representing the city of Farmington, welcomed the large crowd and introduced the speakers. Their speaking order was chosen by the flip of a coin.

Ben Ray Lujan

The first speaker was Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat.
Elected to three consecutive terms to the N.M. Public Regulations Commission, Lujan is a graduate of Highlands University. He also has worked different jobs in the state roundhouse.

“In 2004, I made a commitment to bring change,” he said. He was chief financial officer for the state’s Arts and Cultural Department. And he said, as PRC Commissioner for District 3, he held Qwest accountable for the infrastructure they promised, but never delivered.

He talked about the Gallup/Navajo water project, infrastructure needs in the 3rd District, climate change and renewable energy and said “the policies of the Bush administration have stifled the economy.” He said this country should stop spending money in Iraq and giving tax breaks to billionaires and start giving tax breaks to the middle class. “But we need to work together.”

He reiterated the need for water in this area.

“For over 50 years we’ve waited for water here. I promise to help get it.”

Dan East

Dan East, running on the Republican side, is a native New Mexican. He has a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Colorado State University and owns Cone Construction Corp. in Albuquerque. He and his wife and seven children live in Rio Rancho. He is a member of the National Contractors Association.

He decided to run, he said, because of “taxation, registration, regulation, and litigation.” We need to elect people to office who understand the problems, and not professional politicians.

“Our economy is slumping today,” he said and talked about lowering taxes across the board, not just for the middle class. “Cut all the taxes and everybody will get back to work,” he added. “The tax code in this country needs to be redrafted.”

East said that the state’s Highway Trust Fund was going “in the red” this week and there needs to be drilling “today” and additional refineries. He’s all in favor of geothermal and wind energy he said and he also supports nuclear energy.

East said he thinks we have an immigration problem and “illegal immigrants are breaking our laws.” He doesn’t support amnesty or government-mandated health care.

Carol Miller

Independent candidate Carol Miller lives in a “frontier mountain community” in District 3 and has a bachelor’s degree in art. She was appointed both by President Reagan and President Clinton to health positions in the federal government.

“Different parts of the government are not working together like they need to,” she told the crowd. In order for counties to get money promised to them on the federal level “you have to be able to work across both parties.” That was why she decided to run as an independent.

“There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to federal policies,” she said.

Miller said she worked with many tribal governments in the past. All governments on all levels need to fight “structural barriers” and come up with a plan or be more flexible.

“We have to stand together to protect our communities,” she said.

The three candidates seemed to have different opinions on health care and tax breaks but all three agreed it was time for change in government on the state and federal level.