For the June 6 New Mexico primary elections, SFR will call up candidates in the CONTESTED races to test their knowledge. The rules for Pop Quiz are as follows: No research allowed and if they call back later with the right answer, too bad. To see who answered correctly (or came closest), check out our answer key below.
Questions:
1. A lot of changes have been going on in District 48 politics lately. Name the City of Santa Fe's new mayor, new city manager, new police chief and three new city councilors.
2. What is the name of the Santa Fe health care organization that has links to at least two ongoing political scandals on the state government level?
3. What hourly rate does the Santa Fe Living Wage Ordinance currently require, what is the rate scheduled to be in January 2008 and what proposals-if any-do you have for raising the statewide minimum wage if elected?
4. Name three House districts other than District 48 whose jurisdictional boundaries cover at least part of the city of Santa Fe and name the current state representative for each of those districts.
5. Name two State Senate districts that overlap House District 48 and name two state senators who currently represent those districts.
6. What two Hollywood movies-both starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte-feature the number of your district in their titles?
7. If you were starring in a buddy-cop movie of your own, what current state politician would you choose for your partner and why?
8. What nickname-other than "Lucky"-do you think would be appropriate for incumbent District 48 State Rep. Varela?
Answers:
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Ouida MacGregor, 66, is retired and a full-time volunteer for various organizations.
1. David Coss is the mayor. The city manager is in my Rotary Club for God's sakes…that's not a fair question [laughs]…it'll come to me…her name starts with an A and…Asenath Kepler. The police chief is Dave Anderson and on the Council we have Chris Calvert, we re-elected Rebecca [Wurzburger], we have Domingo Martinez and we have Carol Lopez's replacement but I can't think of his name right now. "Rodriguez" something.
2. Con Alma.
3. It's $9.50 and $10.50. I think [a minimum wage increase] is essential. I think we're going to have to do it especially since Albuquerque is doing it and Rio Rancho is about to do it and the Indian pueblos have done it. I think the groundswell has been created that will make it absolutely unavoidable by this next legislative session. I think at the very minimum it should be $7.50-I'd prefer to see $8-but $7.50 would probably be the one that's acceptable.
4. OK, what I'm thinking is that we have Ben Lujan in the north and then Peter Wirth and then we have Jim Trujillo who is on the west side. But I don't know the numbers off-hand.
5. Phil Griego and Nancy Rodriguez.
6. I'm sorry, that falls into the category of questions that have absolutely nothing to do with running for the Legislature. I have never seen an Eddie Murphy movie in my life nor do I intend to. And that does not make me ineligible for the Legislature. I'm sorry, that's a stupid question.
7. I'd say Peter Wirth. He's a friend and I would work well with Peter.
8. I have an analogy, would that work? My analogy is that [Varela] asked the homecoming queen to go to prom with him and she refused so he went to see if the girl next door would still go with him. Hopefully she's already taken.
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Andrew J Perkins, 47, is the owner of the AJ Perkins CPA firm.
1. Well, the mayor is David Coss. The three new councilors are Ron Trujillo, Carmichael Dominguez and…um…the postal worker…Chris Calvert. The city manager is Ms. Kepler and the police chief is Johnson.
2. Com Agra? No, wait. Con Umbra…uh, no…Con Alma. A-l-m-a.
3. Ooh, that's a good question. Presently it's $9.50. It's not scheduled to go up without a vote, but if it were to be voted on it would be $10.50 [in 2008]. And then my proposal-I do believe in a statewide minimum wage-would be somewhere between $7 and $8 depending on how many supporters I could get in the Legislature. If $7.50 would work-it didn't work last time, but I think it would work this time because it's been another year-I would propose a $7.50 state minimum wage.
5. Ben Lujan has part of it, then Peter Wirth and Jim Trujillo all represent parts of Santa Fe.
5. John Grubesic and Nancy Rodriguez.
6. Um…
48 Hours
and
Another 48 Hours
?
7. Rhonda King [D-Bernalillo] for sure because she's very well represented in state government, all of her bills were passed by high margins and she has great respect among her constituents and among her peers in the State Legislature.
8. "Retiring"?
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Luciano "Lucky" Varela, 71, is the current District 48 state representative.
1. I'll start with Mayor Coss. The city manager is the attorney…I'm trying to remember her name…she was there with [former Mayor Debbie] Jaramillo…I know her, I think she'll be a good city manager, but I can't recall her name at the moment. Johnson is the chief. The councilors are Trujillo, Carmichael Dominguez and Calvert.
2. Con Alma!
3. Uh…the living wage that was adopted by the City Council was around $8. I'm not sure of the specifics, but it was done by ordinance and it's a phase-in and I don't remember all the phases on it but it was taken to court and the court ruled that the Council had the authority to pass that resolution. My position on raising the minimum wage is that I support it, I supported it in the last session, I voted for it in the House and we lost it in the Senate. As far as the wage, $7.50 would have been something that I supported.
4. Jim Trujillo is on the south and the west, in the east there's Peter Wirth and up north we have Ben Lujan.
5. District 24 is represented by Senator Rodriguez and the other district-it must be 23 or 25-is represented by John Grubesic. We also have a little bit of Senator Griego.
6.
48 Hours
? And uh…what was that,
Another 48 Hours
? Those are the two that I remember.
7. Well, I would more than likely…that's a hard question, they're all good politicians, but I'd probably pick my boss, the Speaker of the House [Ben Lujan].
8. Well let me give you my baptismal name-my middle name-okay? "Amadeus." I would choose that one; it's not a name that is used that often but I think it's a name that has distinction.
Answer Key:
1. Mayor: David Coss; City Manager: Asenath Kepler; Police Chief: Eric Johnson; City Councilors: Chris Calvert, Carmichael Dominguez and Ronald Trujillo.
2. Con Alma Health Foundation.
3. The current hourly rate required by the Santa Fe Living Wage Ordinance is $9.50 and is scheduled to become $10.50 in January 2008.
4. District 45: Jim Trujillo, D-SF; District 46: Ben Lujan, D-SF; and District 47: Peter Wirth, D-SF.
5. District 24: Nancy Rodriguez, D-SF; District 25: John Grubesic, D-SF; and District 39: Phil Griego, D-SF.
6.
48 Hours
and
Another 48 Hours
.
