In a campaign season filled with distortions, half truths and outright lies, the least I can do is correct my own mistake.
I made a factual error in my last column by writing that state House District 31 had three Republican candidates and no Democrat. I missed Vicky Estrada-Bustillo, Democratic candidate for that seat. The error has been acknowledged and corrections have been published.
But what worries me are all the distortions, half truths and outright lies that will not be corrected, because most of them are not in newspaper articles written by journalists but in mailings sent by campaigns.
There was some very nasty mud-slinging in some of the contested legislative races. Most of the allegations were delivered in glossy card-stock mailers that, according to one legislator I asked, cost at least $5,000 per mailing – and many of them were not from one candidate to the other but from anonymous political action committees.
One mailer accused an incumbent of “selling us out” because she didn’t vote for one version of a bill but failed to mention there were two versions. Another accused a candidate of lying by “taking credit for things she didn’t do,” and “misrepresenting her record.”
All in all, I’m concerned that these groups were able to spend so much money in supporting candidates for unpaid legislative positions.
But here’s one that came directly from a candidate. Martin Heinrich “wants to ban gas stoves.”
This accusation is in a fundraising letter from Nella Domenici, the Republican candidate opposing Heinrich for the seat in the U.S. Senate.
This statement was embedded in a paragraph of allegations about Heinrich’s alleged “socialist policies” and environmental extremism. I focused on it because it’s a simple statement that can easily be proven or disproven.
Heinrich’s office sent me this response:
“Senator Heinrich has never voted to ban gas stoves. In fact, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he voted for legislation to prevent the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves.”
That vote should not have been necessary because nobody was trying to ban gas stoves. The frustration is that this kind of accusation turns a subject that should be a reason for legitimate discussion into a political symbol.
The gas stove issue arose a few years ago. A commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission observed that gas stoves emit toxic chemicals that are bad for people’s health and suggested that a ban could be considered. Even though he later said this would only apply to new stoves in the future, he should have known better.
The chair of the commission stated that no ban is under consideration, but Republicans started saying that all Democrats — ALL Democrats — want to take your stove away. The House of Representatives has now passed the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act while life and death legislation like the bipartisan border bill languish without a vote.
The scientific information about gas stoves has come to public attention in the last few years. If you have a child with asthma or any respiratory illness, changing your stove might be worth considering. But if you can’t get rid of an appliance that might be harming your child because the political symbolism is more important than your child’s health, that’s really too bad.
By the way, Nicole Chavez is the unofficial winner of the primary in District 31 and will face Vicky Estrada-Bustillo in November. I’m glad I was able to straighten that out.Contact Merilee Dannemann through www.triplespacedagain.com.