Heinrich is the One

I first met Martin Heinrich when he and Julie Hicks marched into my campaign office in 1997. I was running for Mayor and was considered to be a candidate with little chance of winning. The powers that be, the Chamber of Commerce and development community, had decided they wanted City Council Vicki Perea to take over for Marty Chavez. I won the race in a wild and crazy campaign that saw eight candidates running. Perea, who has now cloned into a Republican right winger, came in second.

Martin and Julie came to work in the campaign because of my stands on the importance of common sense development that did not threaten the sustainability of our water and air resources. I also felt it was important to reinvest in the older areas of the city that had been left on the side lines as the west side sprawled.

Martin and Julie were strong conservationists and moderate on many other issues. Julie worked as my Communications director after I was elected. She did a great job and she and Martin became our good friends. I remember going to visit Martin's place of work several times at a place called Cottonwood Gulch! He ran a camp for kids from all over the country to introduce them to nature and our wild lands in the west. He did great work for those kids futures and engendered a love of nature in them.

When Martin decided to run for City Council I whole heartedly endorsed him because of his progressive thinking and honesty. He easily won. I always kid him that his victory was because of his being tall and handsome. We all know tall guys always win, right? But really he won every vote because he had a vision for his mid heights city council district and he was able to articulately communicate it.

Now, he appears to be ready to take on Congresswoman Heather Wilson. I think he will win easily, even in the Primary against respected folks like Rick Homans and Al Park. Certainly, he would be a breath of fresh air. Martin is currently working as the New Mexico Natural Resource Trustee for Governor Richardson. That is a plus for him and I for one don't think the Governor will have much time to take sides in that Primary election for Congress.

He will be more articulate than any candidate that has run against Heather and he will not be afraid to take her on over issues like Iraq, the US Attorney embarrassment, and Heather's absolutely ghastly energy policies which are mainly centered on helping bush and his big oil friends.

I am going to work very hard for Martin and hope many of this blog's readers will do the same.