For the Nov. 7 New Mexico general election, SFR will call up candidates 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. Name three US territories that have a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives.
2. Only two Representatives have been expelled from Congress as the result of a House vote in the last 145 years. Name them and tell us why they were expelled.
3. When US Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) was elected to Congress in 1998, she was the first woman to have done what?
4. How many Democrats from New Mexico have served in the US House of Representatives during the last 25 years and how many can you name?
5. If you could have your own theme music playing when you walk into the House chambers, what song would you pick?
6. What is one of your biggest guilty pleasures?
7. What do you consider to be the most important legislation considered by Congress in the last year that pertains specifically to New Mexico?
8. What legislation, proposals or initiatives will you champion during the next congressional session if you're (re)elected?
Answers:
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Ron Dolin (Republican), 46, is a Homeland Security expert at Los Alamos National Laboratory and serves on the UNM/Los Alamos Advisory Board.
1. Puerto Rico, Guam and…uh…I guess I don't know a third one.
2. Well, if I remember right there was one that was expelled for having sex with a minor, but I can't think of his name. [Tom] Delay [R-Texas], he resigned. And I guess [Duke] Cunningham [R-Calif.] resigned too. I guess I don't recall the distinction between resigning and hanging in until you get kicked out.
3. I think she was the first woman to be elected to Congress from New Mexico.
4. Let's see, there was Manuel Luján and he served forever. Then there was Bill Richardson, then there's Udall and…that's all I can recall.
5. I would pick Don Quixote's theme song, "The Impossible Dream."
6. Let's see. I'm trying to think what's the most guilty of all my pleasures. If you're going to answer this you should go big, right? [Laughs] Um…I guess my biggest guilty pleasure would be sneaking away to go fishing and hunting.
7. I'd probably have to say immigration because it pertains specifically to New Mexico.
8. I think we need to have a bill that allows seniors-or all people-to stockpile their prescription medicine. We have to overhaul No Child Left Behind. We have to have really hard anti-corruption legislation. We have to have legislation that throws lobbyists out of Congress. We have to balance the budget. Another thing that I would work on in Congress that has nothing to do with legislation would be to try and get beyond the partisan bickering. I think that so many of the problems in Congress would resolve themselves if we could just get past that.
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Tom Udall (Democrat), 58, is the US Representative from New Mexico's Third District.
1. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam.
2. James Traficant for, let's see, it would have been solicitation of a bribe. And…that's the only one I've got.
3. I think she was the first Air Force woman in Congress and I think she may have given a speech about the Air Force Academy on the House floor.
4. Let me see, Democrats in the House since '81? There was Skeen and Pearce so the Second [District] is out. There has never been [a Democrat] in the First District. In the Third District, back to '81, would be Bill Richardson and myself.
5. [Laughs] Let me think here…"On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson.
6. My biggest guilty pleasure is eating dark chocolate.
7. I'd say the bankruptcy legislation, which short-changed middle-class New Mexicans.
8. Reform of Leave No Child Behind, protect and strengthen Social Security, strengthen the Clean Air and Clean Water acts and pass a global warming bill.
SFR Key
1. The US territories of American Samoa, Guam and the US Virgin Islands each have a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives. Puerto Rico has a nonvoting Resident Commissioner.
2. Rep. Michael Myers (D-Pa.) and Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) are the only two representatives to be expelled by House vote in the last 145 years. Myers was convicted of accepting bribes in 1980 and Traficant was convicted of racketeering, bribery and tax evasion in 2002.
3. Wilson was the first female veteran of the armed services (Air Force) elected to Congress. She is the second woman from New Mexico to be elected to the House of Representatives. Georgia Lusk was the first.
4. There have been two Democrats from New Mexico who have served in the House within the last 25 years. They are former congressman (and current governor) Bill Richardson (1982-1997) and Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM). Former Rep. Manuel Luján, Jr., (R-NM) is a Republican.
