Campaign Manager Faith McKenna "My View" was recently published in the New Mexican in response to our opponent's smear campaign. You can read the full article below or that the New Mexican website
here:
Regarding Marcos Trujillo's May 14 letter, "keeping company," that calls me an "out-of-state operative" who has "worked with Republicans":
First, it's important to note that Trujillo conveniently fails to disclose that he's our opponent's, Mayor David Coss', campaign treasurer, so his letter isn't a letter from some ordinary citizen expressing a concern. It's part of an ongoing dishonest smear campaign.
As to his "accusations," as Carl Trujillo's campaign manager, I have never made a secret of working with candidates and groups on both sides of the aisle, from Republicans to progressives, who sought a more respectful, more inclusive way to engage in our political process. I believe that my work and the work of others who try to build bridges, not walls, represent the best of what our democracy can be -- dialogue instead of argument, collaboration instead of combat.
Hyperpartisan political rhetoric already demonizes people just because of their political affiliations. Now it seems we've moved to a new level of intolerance and bigotry that demonizes people for even associating with people who have ideas we don't agree with. How very sad for our democracy if we're not even allowed to communicate with anyone who doesn't share our point of view.
Also, this is exactly the sort of partisan nastiness and bigotry that drives good, honest people out of the political process. The more we leave things to the Swift Boat campaigns, the Karl Roves, Koch brothers and the Marcos Trujillos of the world, the less likely it is that good people like Carl Trujillo and his supporters will be willing to be part of the process.
But come to think of it, maybe that was the real agenda behind Marcos Trujillo's letter, to discourage anyone besides the career politicians and their cronies from participating in our government. How very sad that would be in a city that calls itself progressive. As to the "out-of-state" part, I certainly can't claim to have been part of this community for 400 years like Carl Trujillo's family can, but I did grow up in New Mexico and have lived in Santa Fe since 2007.
