David Coss seeks-has yet to receive-backing from fellow councilors.
Endorsements are all about timing. Just ask Al Gore.
In the 2004 presidential election, the former veep threw his weight behind Howard Dean early on when it appeared the fiery Vermont doctor had locked down the Democratic nomination. A few months later, Dean suffered his legendary public meltdown after finishing third in the Iowa caucus and his campaign went on life support. Gore faded back into nothingness, his political clout wounded; his giddy endorsement was not nearly enough to resurrect Dean's ill-fated presidential ambitions.
***image1***Endorsements on a local level can be equally risky. Just ask city councilor and mayoral hopeful David Coss. With only two months until election day, Coss has yet to lock down endorsements from fellow City Councilors Karen Heldmeyer, Patti Bushee and Miguel Chavez, though all three, like Coss, are considered political progressives.
Chavez says he's holding out because he's concerned that Coss is too eager to appease Santa Fe County on annexation issues. Chavez, like Coss, sits on the joint city-county Regional Planning Authority task force. Chavez has pushed for clearer, concrete urban boundaries for the patchwork swaths of land which sit between both municipalities. "David's position so far hasn't been in that framework," Chavez says.
Chavez says his worries about Coss' allegiance to the county agenda were amplified when Coss nabbed endorsements from County Commissioners Jack Sullivan and Paul Campos last November. Still, Chavez says he's met with Coss numerous times, is not talking with any other mayoral candidates and will continue to seriously consider endorsing Coss' candidacy.
"It ultimately depends on what sort of position he takes on annexation," Chavez says.
Patti Bushee says she has no problems with Coss, likes him personally and admires the stances he's taken as a public official. Nonetheless, Coss will not garner her support anytime soon. Bushee has decided not to back any of the candidates-at least at this point.
"Initially, David and I sat down to determine whether or not I would run because we both have the same constituency, and we didn't want to be running against each other. I told him I wasn't planning on running," Bushee, who ran unsuccessfully against Larry Delgado for mayor in 2002, says.
Since that time, Bushee says Coss has approached her about an endorsement.
"At this point, I'm more interested in seeing a good Council. I've told the mayoral candidates I'm trying not to get involved," she says.
Bushee says she doesn't plan to endorse anyone in any of the city races this year but will make an exception in her own District 1, where she'll back City Council hopeful Christopher Calvert. Bushee says she'll push for Calvert in order to eliminate any question as to who she supports in light of confusion that occurred during 2002 city elections. During that campaign, Bushee says City Councilor David Pfeffer, then running for office in District 1, led voters to believe she'd endorsed him.
"He was suggesting I was backing him, and I wasn't," Bushee says.
(Pfeffer, who's vacating his seat to run for the US Senate, denies the charge.)
Like Chavez, however, Bushee says she could conceivably endorse Coss at a later time and notes she's "worked well" with Coss and former city manager and mayoral hopeful Jim Romero.
As for Karen Heldmeyer, she's not pulling for anyone yet but says she too has met with Coss, specifically to assess how he would manage City Hall employees if elected.
"I want to know how that would be integrated with his views as a mayoral candidate, what his philosophy of management would be," Heldmeyer says. "I have no idea if I'll endorse anyone. It's still early."
Not too early for Coss, who says he'll kick his campaign into high gear this month with door-to-door canvassing and phone banking. "I'm not saying I'm not hoping for more endorsements," Coss says. "But I'm doing well so far with the county commissioners, the Sierra Club, [former state representative] Max Coll and the list gets longer."
For those politicians asked to endorse their colleagues, however, one can never be too careful. Take the case of Pfeffer, who was widely supported by progressives and Greens in 2002 but switched from Democrat to Republican during his tenure as councilor, infuriating some of those who voted for him. Rick Lass, former state co-chairman of the Green Party, campaigned door-to-door for Pfeffer, but says he doesn't recognize the man he supported.
"I'm very surprised," Lass, who ran unsuccessfully for State Legislature in 2002, says. "I expected a much different person than we ended up getting. I'm not sure how it came to pass."
It's hard to imagine the mild-mannered Coss having a Dean-esque, Rumpelstiltzken-style fit and shouting to his minions: "We're going to Agua Fria…and Tierra Contenta…and Casa Solana!" Nonetheless, it's becoming clear that garnering endorsements, even from like-minded colleagues, is not as easy as it seems.
Says Coss: "I'm learning that endorsements are an interesting, complicated process."
