Patricia Madrid for Congress

At the moment I am only looking as far ahead as '06, and the hope of recapturing Congress from the right-wing Republicans who now own it. With this in mind, the group at this blog has discussed offering a snapshot of candidates running for office in various parts of the country, candidates whose election is devoutly to be hoped.

With only six months left until the November elections, it's high time to get started on this process. I will be voting in a new part of the country, and have done some small amount of investigating the field. My district will be be NM 01, a strangely shaped area that includes the largest city in NM, Albuquerque, as well as a large rural swath of the state. The current representative from this district is Republican Heather Wilson. Running against her is Patricia Madrid, currently the state's Attorney General, and the first Latina ever to have held this position anywhere in the country. Madrid already has an impressive list of endorsements: From Labor: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Teamsters, and UFCW. In National Organizations she has: EMILY's List, League of Conservation Voters, Women's Campaign Fund, as well as the personal endorsement of General Wesley Clark.

The environment is a big issue in New Mexico, and it was Madrid's endorsement by the LCV that first alerted me to her campaign. From the press release announcing her endorsement by the organization:

As Attorney General Madrid has fought for the interest of New Mexico's families against big corporate polluters and the Bush administration poor environmental record. She has filed lawsuits on behalf of the citizens of New Mexico against efforts of oil and gas exploration in grassland area that could destroy wildlife, native plants and private ranches.

Of her efforts on behalf as a champion of the environment in New Mexico The Albuquerque Tribune editorial page said, "Thanks to Attorney General Patricia Madrid, whose no-nonsense interpretation of the federal Clean Air Act favored people over corporations, New Mexico was one of 14 states that sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and prevailed in a March 17 federal court ruling."

From this I went to her campaign website, Madrid for Congress, and did some more reading, as well as googling some of her articles and speeches. Her views on many of the issues we are interested in here at the Voice: the Iraq war, congressional corruption, social security, medicare and health insurance, the environment, seem to qualify her as as a candidate I can not only endorse, but once I get to New Mexico, actively campaign for. This will be happening in just about a month, so I will keep you posted on Patricia Madrid and her campaign as I become more familiar with her and her stands on further issues. Strangely, I am unable to find anything on her campaign site on immigration, certainly a current and timely issue that a Latina candidate will have to opine upon.

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