Job Description: Being a senator must be one of the sweetest jobs around. You get a hefty salary and you get to be one of the most influential people in the country, one of only two senators who represent your entire state in Washington, D.C., during a lengthy six-year term. You also get a hefty package of benefits and, ultimately, a fat pension. You write and debate legislation. You vote to confirm federal judges and U.S. Supreme Court justices. You try to haul as much pork back to your state as possible. Salary: $165,200 Term: Six years Office Currently Held By: Jeff Bingaman (D), who has served as New Mexico’s junior U.S. senator since 1982 and will be running for re-election in the November general election.
David Pfeffer Strike!
www.pfeffer-for-senate.org God bless people like David Pfeffer, a Santa Fe architect who also happens to be your best choice in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The maverick Santa Fe city councilor, Vietnam veteran and former antiwar protestor recently changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, and it isn’t hard to see why. On issue after issue, Pfeffer is a straight-up, unabashed conservative.He believes our nation did the right thing by invading Iraq. He’s convinced the war is going much better than the “liberal media” would have us believe. He also believes we will ultimately win, if we can just find the determination to stay the course.Pfeffer takes a hard line on our border problem, advocating for the construction of a wall along our entire border with Mexico and, ultimately, with Canada, too–at the bargain price of a mere $4 million per mile. (This sounds unrealistically cheap to us, but he says it’s a realistic estimate.) He spoke eloquently about how our open borders, both to the north and to the south, are putting our nation in great danger. He believes that, on this issue, President Bush has made the mistake of acquiescing to left-wing pro-immigrant groups.Pfeffer wants a larger military budget. He wants taxes to be cut even more. He wants the United States to become energy independent, partly by relying on nuclear energy.We agree with some of his basic philosophies but, honestly, we disagree with most of his policy stances. So why are we endorsing him? Good question. Because if you’re going to vote for a conservative, you might as well vote for an honest one, with his heart in the right place, who doesn’t play head games, pretending to be something he isn’t. If you vote for Pfeffer, at the very least you’ll know exactly what you’re getting.
Joseph J. Carraro Gutter Ball
www.senatorcarraro.com We respect anyone who has the courage to run for public office. That said, one of our unnegotiable requirements for any candidate is that they also have the courage to speak their minds. Carraro has an impressive résumé. He’s been a state senator representing the Westside for 18 years. He operated Carraro’s Pizza, a successful eatery in Nob Hill, for many years. He’s also been a member of the National Energy Council.My, oh my, though, we had a hard time getting Carraro to say anything specific about his political positions. He said he likes poor people. He said he wants to represent the good people of New Mexico. He made some absurd statement about how we need to convince Sunni Saudi Arabia to negotiate for the U.S. with Shiite Iran. Other than that we just didn’t get that much out of him. The policy section of his website seems to focus entirely on border issues.Best of luck trying to figure out what kind of senator he would be. We still don’t have a clue.
Allen W. Mcculloch Gutter Ball
www.allen4senate.com McCulloch’s staff ignored repeated attempts by the Alibi to setup a candidate interview. We do know that he is a physician who received his medical degree from the University of New Mexico and that he has never held elected office. You can learn more about his issue positions on his website.
