I can not imagine what went through former Mayor Marty Chavez's mind when he was informed his live in girl friend was involved in a $3.5 million dollar alleged rip off of the Christus St. Vincent's hospital in Santa Fe. These nightmare developments develop in every single campaign for office and many sleepless nights are endured trying to figure out what to do about it. As campaign nightmares go, this is a pretty major one. It doesn't matter that Chavez had nothing to do with this situation because he is now on the front page of the newspapers as being close to it.
I think this may possibly sink his candidacy for a congressional seat. That might be unfair but folks might not understand why his girlfriend of several years made him look so gullible. Also, those religious folks won't understand him 'living in sin.'
It will be interesting to see how Chavez's opponents, Eric Griego and Michelle Grisham, will handle this. Probably they will use their heads and just let this thing continue to stew. It will also be interesting to see how long the media stays on the story. If this were Bill Richardson the Albuquerque Journal would rewrite the story one hundred times on the front page.
If, however, the media plays this out for just a few days then Marty still has a fighting chance five months from now of winning this primary. Then, if he wins, you can be sure a republican opponent would have a bonanza for a negative ad campaign. That is the danger for democrats holding on to this seat.
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