The Election: Gary King and Amendment One

Two factors explain the New Mexico election to me. First is the weakness of Gary King as a candidate. A decent man to be sure, a terrible candidate. No dynamic whatsoever. The outcome is much less that Gov. Martinez “won.” It is that Gary King had to win, to convince voters he was a good alternative. That didn’t happen. He lost.
The second factor is that Republicans, acting against decades of habitual incompetence, did some things right. They found legislative candidates who could walk and chew gum at the same time. They trained the candidates and got them some money. Unlike the governor’s race, voters had a real choice in the key legislative districts and, to a fair they degree, chose the Republicans.
The New Mexico precedent is in the efforts that brought conservation coalitions of around 1980 and with GOPAC nationally around 1990. Likewise the down-ballot candidates were competent. Three won: Diana Duran reelected Secretary of State, Aubrey Dunn elected Land Commissioner, Miles Hanisee to the Court of Appeals. Rick Lopez, an entirely obscure government manager, was surprisingly (to me)competitive for State Treasurer.
Allen Weh at least got Tom Udall’s attention. But Weh is even older than Udall, disqualifying him from being a fresh face. Voters are used to Udall. Udall is an old shoe. I remember a September email from the Weh campaign that said it was time to start drawing the contrast with Udall. Well, no, it was much too late. Still, Weh made a substantial effort and for that he is to be commended.
According to the Secretary of State’s tabulation constitution amendment one that would have changed school board election dates got 57.6% of the vote. It failed, however, due to once again tripping over the constitution’s “unamendable” requirement of 75% approval. A similar proposal a few years was just shy of the 75%. The Albuquerque Journal reported November 5 that the amendment was successful.
The mystery is the lack of a campaign for the amendment from sponsors Senators Michael Sanchez and Daniel Ivey-Soto. They knew about the 75% requirement. Why did they even bother with proposing the amendment?