Gubernatorial Candidates
Bill Richardson
Democratic Party
Richardson has said he wants a state cabinet secretary, instead of a superintendent, to oversee public schools. He opposes a voucher system. In an interview with the Daily Lobo in August, Richardson said he wants the lottery scholarship to remain unaltered. He supports the death penalty, a woman's right to an abortion without permission and opposes the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana. He supports the phasing out of the food tax and medical services tax. Richardson has proposed establishing a special court system that specializes in settling water rights claims.
John Sanchez
Republican Party
Sanchez said he supports a voucher system to allow families to send their children to private or parochial schools. He has also said he favors tying teacher salaries to student test scores. Sanchez supports the death penalty, says he supports parental notification laws for minors seeking an abortion and also opposes legalization and the decriminalization of marijuana. He supports the phasing out of the food and medical services taxes. He also supports water rights judges, but has said he would emphasize industries that use water rather than protection of endangered species that rely on it.
David Bacon
Green Party
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Bacon has said he opposes the diverting of state funds to private schools and a voucher system. He also opposes eliminating excess administrative costs and giving more power to teachers and principals. He opposes the death penalty and wants to see it repealed and supports the legal right of a woman to choose an abortion if she wants one. He also supports the phasing out of the food and medical taxes. He supports the Endangered Species Act when it applies to water issues. Bacon is mostly running his campaign from a platform of an open, honest government and clean, renewable sources of energy.
U.S. Senate candidates
Pete Domenici
Republican Party
Domenici said that he favors the Bush tax-cut and opposes stricter federal gun laws and the Endangered Species Act, citing its infringement upon the state's natural resource crises. He supports privatizing Social Security and is against blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants. A supporter of the death penalty and pro-life legislation, he opposes stricter federal gun laws and supports military action in Iraq. An advocate for publicly-financed public school vouchers, he supports the USA PATRIOT ACT and increasing law enforcement's power. Domenici, an Albuquerque native, earned his bachelor's degree at UNM. He has been a senator for 35 years.
Gloria Tristani
Democratic Party
Tristani said that she opposes the Bush tax-cut and stricter federal gun laws. She favors the Endangered Species Act, claiming that it preserves the biodiversity of our environment. She opposes privatizing social security, and supports limited amnesty for illegal aliens. Tristani supports the death penalty and the woman's right to choose, and promotes stricter background checks rather than federal gun laws. She insists on military action in Iraq as a last resort, and is a supporter of Medicare. She opposes school vouchers. She supports strong oversight of the USA PATRIOT ACT by Congress and the courts.
U.S. House District One candidates
Heather Wilson
Republican Party
Wilson was first elected as a U.S. representative in a special election in 1998 and re-elected in 2000. She voted for the USA PATRIOT Act because it modernizes wiretapping laws and ends statutes of limitations on terrorism. She opposes the privatization of Social Security through investment in the stock market. She has said abortion is morally wrong and opposes partial and late term abortions and supports waiting periods and parental notification. She supports the death penalty, especially in cases where children or police officers are murdered. She also has said the U.S. must prevent Saddam Hussein from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Richard Romero
Democratic Party
Romero is the current State Senate president pro tempore and has been in the N.M. Senate since 1993. He said he supports a balance between national security and constitutional freedoms and that the court system will help achieve this. He also opposes the privatization of Social Security. Romero supports a women's legal right to choose. Romero also supports the death penalty and wants to establish DNA testing, although costly, as a more solid basis for imposing the sentence. He said that Congress should fully debate the issue of war with Iraq, but if necessary, then it should use the full military force required to achieve victory.
Bond B: UNM funding
Voters in today's election will decide whether to pass the $93.1 million Bond B issues to fund major renovations at New Mexico's colleges and universities.
Dolores Gonzalez, senior program manager for the UNM office of advancement, said UNM would receive about $13.4 million.
Specifically, the bond will give UNM $7.51 million for renewal, renovation and installation of a clean room — an environment totally free of pollution — for the Manufacturing Training and Technology Center and $2 million for patient care equipment at the UNM Health Sciences Center.
UNM would reserve $2 million for Phase III construction at the Taos branch, $1.2 million for infrastructure improvements and Phase I construction at the Valencia branch and $750,000 for infrastructure at the Gallup branch.
The Associated Students of UNM Senate has endorsed the bonds and urged students to vote in favor of the bill.
Gonzalez said that only property owners would be affected by the repayment of the bonds, which would be covered by an increase of about 43 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value.
"It will impact students if they are home owners," she said. "If a student owns property, then it will affect them."
