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Friday, March 23, 2012
Michelle Lujan Grisham Positioned to Win in November by Rep. Gail Chasey
From the Michelle Lujan-Grisham campaign.
If you did not hear the news, Republican Dan Lewis dropped out of the race for the 1st Congressional District earlier this week, making room for the national Republican machine to put its resources behind the remaining candidate, Janice Arnold-Jones.
The Republican Party leadership is embracing the opportunity to have two women at the top of the ticket in November: Heather Wilson for Senate and now Arnold-Jones for Congress. They think that is their ticket to victory--and they might be right.
But there is one person standing in their way: Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Michelle Lujan Grisham is a strong advocate for working New Mexicans with unquestioned integrity and ability to work with others to protect Medicare, make millionaires pay their fair share, and stand up to the bullies who are waging the War on Women. She is a strong defender of a woman's reproductive freedom. As NM Health Secretary, Michelle stood up to the Bush Administration and fought to protect women's access to health care and family planning.
The remaining Republican candidate, Arnold-Jones, on the other hand, may not be what she seems. She is described as a moderate who can attract Independent votes. But that won’t last long in Washington where she will surely take her marching orders from Republican leaders who have declared war on women’s health in this country.
Arnold-Jones supports the Republican plan for massive cuts to Medicare and she opposes reproductive freedom. And that is what is what we know-for sure.
Will she stand with Heather Wilson and support the Republican men who are trying to deny women’s access to family planning and other preventive health care? If she wants campaign funding from her Republican party bosses in Washington, you bet she will.
Democrats can’t afford to let that happen. We have the ideal candidate in Michelle Lujan Grisham, and we know we can count on her to fight for the values and issues that are most important for New Mexicans.
We must nominate our strongest candidate to counter the Republican strategy of running women who masquerade as moderates, but who will jump on the anti-women bandwagon in Washington. That's Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Michelle trusts women.
Thank you for your support.
Representative Gail Chasey
March 23, 2012 at 04:08 PM in Candidates & Races, Michelle Lujan Grisham, NM-01 Congressional Race 2012 | Permalink
Comments
With all due respect, Michelle Lujan Grisham would be a disaster for the Democratic ticket in the general election.
https://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/democracy_for_new_mexico/2007/05/grisham_resigns.html
The Republicans just need to run a couple of TV ads to say that she was sued by the federal government (true) because people died because of her mismanagement of the Ft. Bayard Medical Center (true).
Almost any 30-60 second clipping from the following KRQE news story will be enough to sink her in the general election, and bring down the rest of the ticket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_QniDHecJ0
Since Eric Griego is too progressive, we need someone who can get things done like Marty Chavez.
Posted by: Ann | Mar 23, 2012 4:59:33 PM
Michelle Lujan Grisham is all talk, and no amount of preaching about solidarity among women will change the fact that she has gotten nothing done -- and if anything, have done a very poor job. Eric Griego's done nothing but fight with the Republicans. In this economy, we need more leaders who will get things done. Go Marty!
Posted by: Ann | Mar 23, 2012 5:05:00 PM
It looks like Michelle Lujan Grisham is now running like a moderate and sounds more and more like Marty Chavez on the stump. At one event, she sounded almost exactly like Marty did, talking about doing not talking. For a while, she was running like a progressive but she seems to have given up on trying to carve out that space away from Eric Griego. Maybe she's trying to capitalize on the girlfriend scandal that's hurting Marty. Very interesting.
Posted by: Dem on the Fence | Mar 23, 2012 5:42:43 PM
Dem on the Fence -- That's because Michelle Lujan Grisham is a fraud. She has no core political beliefs. She ran as a "progressive" when it suited her interest but is now running like a moderate because she's nothing if not opportunistic. Most people never believed her as really a progressive anyway, since she's supported by the most conservative lawmakers in the legislature, such as Tim Jennings, John Arthur Smith, Mary Kay Papen and Dona Irwin.
Posted by: Ann | Mar 23, 2012 6:08:01 PM
Ann: It wouldn't be fair to call Michelle a fraud. Just because she's supported by those conservative legislators, it doesn't make her not a progressive. After all, Gail Chasey is a progressive. Let's keep it fair.
Posted by: Dem on the Fence | Mar 23, 2012 6:19:47 PM
"Eric Griego's done nothing but fight with the Republicans."
Oh my heavens. I'm shocked, shocked, to think that a Democrat might actually, like, you know, uhm, "fight" with Republicans. It'd be so much better if he just went for some of that bi-partisanship; you know, where the Republicans get everything they want, the rich get richer, and most people continue to get poorer and sicker.
I'm sure you're right in saying that Marty Chavez won't fight with the Republicans. Of course, if I wanted a Republican, I'd vote for a Republican. I want a Democrat, so I'll support Griego.
Posted by: Michael H Schneider | Mar 23, 2012 7:06:45 PM
If fighting with the opposition was all a candidate was good for, then how are we ever going to get anything done? These are tough times. People want and need jobs. They want Congress to stop bickering and work together to find compromises to get things done. Fighting and more fighting won't get things done. Sitting down to find compromises will solve problems. Look at the Tea Party -- all they did was fight Obama and the Democrats tooth and nail and we all got screwed.
Posted by: Ann | Mar 23, 2012 7:36:32 PM
I agree that Michelle is the best person to win this seat. Griego is lefty and Chavez is crooked.
Posted by: Ed Riley | Mar 23, 2012 9:01:40 PM
"If fighting with the opposition was all a candidate was good for, then how are we ever going to get anything done?"
By winning the fight
"They want Congress to stop bickering and work together to find compromises to get things done."
Nonsense. Republicans have completely refused to work for the good of the nation as a whole. Their sole priority is making the rich richer - even if that means making the country as a whole poorer.
If the sensible people want deficit spending to promote jobs, and Republicans insist that austerity is the only answer, there's no point in compromise. That will just leave too many people unemployed.
People want this country to improve - and the only way to do that is by keeping the Republicans out of power. Republican ideas have proved wholly and completely bad for the country. All those ideas have done is make the top .1% obscenely wealthy, and the rest of us poor.
Compromise just means that the top .2% will get obscenely weealthy instead of only the top .1% - and I don't see that as a worthwhile goal
Posted by: Michael H Schneider | Mar 23, 2012 9:43:11 PM
Griego can't even get legislation out of the senate when his party, the Democrats, have an overwhelming majority. He is such a poor legislator that he passed one piece of legislation in 4 years. The Democrats hold 27 out of 42 seats in the senate. They hold 64% of seats, and was only able to get 3 bills through the senate and only one of them became a law. His record is 1 out of 51.
The only thing Griego can do is yell. If he cannot get things done with a super majority, what can he do in Congress?
Bills Introduced from 2012 to 2009 Outcome
SB 43 DIED
SB 105 DIED
SB 107 DIED
SB 152 DIED
SB 207 DIED
SB 268 DIED
SB 370 DIED
SB 371 DIED
SB 92 Passed in Senate DIED in House
SB 93 DIED
SB 94 DIED
SB 95 DIED
SB 181 DIED
SB 182 DIED
SB 229 DIED
SB 270 DIED
SB 294 DIED
SB 342 DIED
SB 379 Failed
SB 382 Failed
SB 419 DIED
SB 420 DIED
SB 515 DIED
SB 544 DIED
*SB 563 DIED
SB 569 Passed in Senate DIED in House
SB 11 DIED
SB 15 DIED
SB 49 DIED
SB 50 DIED
SB 51 DIED
SB 52 DIED
SB 86 DIED
SB 128 DIED
SB 242 DIED
SB 7 DIED
*SB 30 DIED
SB 163 Failed
SB 164 DIED
SB 165 DIED
SB 318 SIGNED INTO LAW
SB 365 DIED
SB 367 DIED
SB 414 DIED
SB 415 DIED
SB 420 DIED
SB 480 DIED
SB 489 DIED
SB 592 DIED
SB 644 DIED
SB 693 DIED
Posted by: Mary | Mar 24, 2012 7:43:08 AM
The Republicans gave us their strategy one week ago when the party got behind Jones. They pushed her through the primary because she helps Wilson and has the best chance to win. Jones is far worse than any of the Democrats in the primary. The candidate who can help win the senate seat and is the strongest opponent against Jones is Lujan-Grisham. We need to be smart and put her up against the Republican.
Posted by: Jesse | Mar 24, 2012 8:07:45 AM
"If he cannot get things done with a super majority, what can he do in Congress? "
He can stand up for what's right.
Posted by: Michael H Schneider | Mar 24, 2012 11:16:39 AM
He can yell about the devastating policies passed under the Bush administration, but he will not be able to change them.
How does that help New Mexicans?
Posted by: Mary | Mar 24, 2012 12:41:08 PM
It is interesting to compare the number of comments on the different blog posts about candidate in CD1. Gisham is getting the most traffic. I guess the other campaigns are targeting the strongest candidate.
Posted by: Anthony | Mar 24, 2012 12:52:54 PM
IMHO, the primary election is the time to vote for the candidate you want to represent you. I want Eric Griego to be my next Congressman, so I'm supporting him.
The fact that Lujan-Grisham is making arguments about electability in this "leans Democratic" district speaks volumes about her lack of support as a candidate. All she has is identity politics. She's a woman. So what! She's a bureaucrat through and through.
@Mary: Your argument is weak. The NM Senate is ruled by a conservative coalition of Conservadems like Tim Jennings, Michael Sanchez, and John Arthur Smith, along with their Republican allies. They control committee assignments and chairmanships. Little progressive legislation has passed the Senate in the past 4 years.
No Democrat will be able to do much in a Republican-majority House. OTOH, if Democrats hold the majority, then a progressive champion like Eric Griego can do a lot of good. Centrists like Lujan-Grisham and Marty Chavez? Not so much.
Posted by: Proud Democrat | Mar 24, 2012 1:29:47 PM
It sure seems like Michelle's candidacy is making a few people nervous. Maybe they're noticing Marty's supporters peeling off and moving to Michelle. It makes sense that they would start to go negative against her.
Posted by: Carolyn | Mar 24, 2012 2:59:42 PM
"He can yell about the devastating policies passed under the Bush administration, but he will not be able to change them. "
Standing up for what right is always the right thing to do.
Maybe he won't be able to get DOMA repealed; but he'll push for it, because it's the right thing to do.
Maybe he won't be able to get anything to cut back on carbon emissions, but he'll push for it because it's the right thing to do.
Maybe the Republicans will win more batles in their war on women, but he'll push for women's rights and reproductive freedom because it's the right thing to do.
Maybe he won't be able to imrpove internet acces in the US because the Republican's business allies are making too much money from it, but he'll try because it's the right thing to do.
I want someone who will at least try to do the right thing, and not simply give away the country in a doomed effort to compromise with people who won't compromise.
Posted by: Michael H Schneider | Mar 24, 2012 3:07:07 PM
It is obvious Grisham is a real threat or there would not be attacks . I guess they need to be on blogs and whisper campaign, because the other candidates are low on money. Both Marty and Eric blew 200k trying to keep Michelle off the ballot. It did not work. Now she has more money in the bank.
I hope they start talking about what they can achieve in DC instead of parroting talking points. There is no Democratic version of Limbaugh, because we think. We want to know what a person will do in office. Talk is cheap.
Posted by: Mike | Mar 24, 2012 6:52:31 PM
"We want to know what a person will do in office."
Well, let's look at what Michelle L-G says she'll do. This is from her web site:
"Fiscal Responsibility
As small business owner, Michelle knows how to balance budgets. Fiscal discipline is a matter of setting priorities and sticking to them. To that end, Michelle supports a balanced approach for getting America’s fiscal house in order. The federal government is going to have to start doing more with less but it must also demand more from those who have prospered over the last decade while so many New Mexicans have fallen behind. Through a combination of cutting wasteful spending, weeding out fraud in government programs, and revenue enhancements like ending the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and subsidies for Big Oil, we can restore fiscal sanity to Washington."
Okay, let's look in detail: "cutting wasteful spending, weeding out fraud in government programs" - that's Republican code talk for cutting the programs that help people. Fraud, abuse, and waste are the big Republican monsters under the bed. No thanks.
"The federal government is going to have to start doing more with less ..." That's the Republican talking point for reducing the size of government until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub. No thanks.
"As small business owner, Michelle knows how to balance budgets. " Unless she's owned a small business that minted its own currency and mostly produced things it sold to itself, this is an absurd and nonsensical claim. The US is not like a small business. Moreover, as a recent paper demonstrates(1), trying to balance the federal budget right now is about the stupidest idea imaginable. In fact, it's one of the ideas Arnold-Jones strongly favors.
So if we believe what she says about what she'll do, I don't like any of her economic ideas. Of course, maybe she's lying, and won't be as bad as she claims.
(1) Delong & Summers, currently at the top of this web page: https://delong.typepad.com/
scroll down for links to others commenting on the paper.
Posted by: Michael H Schneider | Mar 24, 2012 9:44:09 PM
Michael, you are correct. When Michelle got to the Commission, she worked with the Republicans to cut county government so she can drown it. Everyone knows how much Weiner loves her and Johnson could not wait to elect her Chair.
Wait I have my facts wrong. Art de la Cruz, a Marty supporter, is working with the two Republicans. Grisham voted for Hart-Stebbins, and we all know how much Hart-Stebbins has embraced the Tea Party.
All anyone needs to do is look at Michelle's record on the Commission to understand her values and what she can accomplish. We need someone who can stand up for our values and do something to force change. A dog that is all bark and no bite wont cut it.
Posted by: Sean | Mar 25, 2012 1:47:24 PM
I thought this headline was joke when I first read it.
Posted by: LOL | Mar 26, 2012 12:19:08 PM
