Dems Duke It Out Over Airwaves

By KATE NASH

VOTE 2008

3rd Congressional District

Wiviott attack of Lujn work experience draws sharp response

Dems: New ads for Lujn this week

It’s attack ad No. 1.

And the TV spot by Don Wiviott targeting Ben Ray Luj n might not be the last in the Democratic primary battle for Northern New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District seat.

Wiviott’s ad, which began airing over the weekend, suggests Luj n only secured state government work because of his politically influential father, House Speaker Ben Luj n of Nambe.

The 30-second message — which begins by declaring, “Most New Mexicans work hard to make it on their own. Not Ben Ray Luj n Jr.” – - notes that the younger Luj n was a casino card dealer before he got into state government. It also says he didn’t show up for 13 of 14 meetings of a health care commission.

The Luj n campaign says the ad proves Wiviott is desperate. The campaign also fired back at Wiviott in an e-mail that refers to the Santa Fe businessman as a “Texas multimillionaire developer.”

“Don Wiviott has resorted to extremely deceptive false and misleading attacks,” Luj n campaign spokesman Mark Nicastre said.

“This type of ad has no place in the Democratic primary and plays like something out of Karl Rove’s Republican playbook,” he said.

Webster Cash, a Wiviott spokesman, said the ad seeks to let people know about Luj n’s background.

“It’s not a negative ad. It’s a comparative ad that seeks to inform voters. It’s not surprising Luj n doesn’t want to talk about his background,” Cash said.

“Basically, his resume is the definition of nepotism and patronage. … The fundamental facts hold,” Cash said.

The ad was still airing Monday but wasn’t included among the TV spots posted on Wiviott’s campaign Web site.

The Luj n campaign said it would hold a news conference in response to the ad this morning. The Luj n camp plans to run new ads of its own this week, but declined Monday to talk about the nature of the TV spots.

The e-mail to Luj n supporters lambasting Wiviott’s latest ad repeatedly refers to him as a “Texas multimillionaire developer.” Wiviott, who develops mixed-use real-estate projects in Santa Fe and calls himself a “green builder,” worked in Texas for several years before moving to New Mexico in the 1990s. He has contributed more than $1 million of his personal funds to his campaign.

The Luj n e-mail urges his supporters to stand up against the attacks by donating to the campaign “to set the record straight.”

When a reporter asked earlier this month whether Luj n had been a blackjack dealer, Nicastre said Luj n had worked jobs including as a dealer at a Pojoaque Pueblo casino from 1994 to 1998.

Nicastre on Monday said he misspoke when he provided the Pojoaque employment dates for a profile of Luj n that ran in Sunday’s New Mexican. He said Monday that Luj n worked at the pueblo from 1993 to 1995.

The Wiviott ad says Luj n was a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas from 1995 to 1997, which had been reported in a 2004 profile of Luj n in The New Mexican.

Nicastre on Monday confirmed Luj n worked as a dealer in a casino in Nevada — at Lake Tahoe, he said, not Las Vegas — from 1995 to 1997.

Wiviott’s 30-second spot also says Luj n’s “famous father” got him a state job. The campaign fired back that Luj n in 2004 was elected to the state Public Regulation Commission.

Before that, Luj n, 35, had worked in the State Treasurer’s Office and at the state Department of Cultural Affairs. Cash suggested Luj n owed his job as deputy state treasurer, a post he held briefly in 2003, to his father’s influence rather than to his qualifications.

The spot, which began airing over the weekend, claims Luj n didn’t attend 13 of 14 meetings of “the health care commission.” Luj n’s campaign acknowledged he missed “a number” of meetings of the governor-appointed Telehealth Commission, a panel working on delivery of health services through telecommunications technology. The campaign said Luj n missed the meetings because they coincided with PRC meetings.

The Wiviott campaign cites minutes of the meetings of the Telehealth Commission from March 30, 2006, through September 2007, which they say shows he was there at just one of 14 meetings in that period.

In response to the Luj n campaign saying the commissioner missed Telehealth meetings to be at PRC sessions, the Wiviott campaign said it cross-checked the dates of the two groups and found that only three of the 13 that Luj n missed were held at the same time.

“Of the 14 Telehealth Commission Meetings scheduled, Luj n had only 3 PRC meetings scheduled for the same days,” the campaign said in its “Fact Check of Ben Ray Luj n’s Fact Check,” issued Monday evening.

On his campaign Web site, Luj n touts his role on the Telehealth Commission, saying it’s a place “where he works to encourage a single, statewide effort to create a system to deliver health- related services and information via telecommunications technologies.”

“Luj n Jr. doesn’t even show up,” claims the Wiviott ad. The Luj n campaign says Luj n attended 97 percent of PRC meetings since being elected.

Wiviott and Luj n, the only candidates in the race airing TV ads so far, are considered front-runners for the Democratic nomination in the June 3 primary.

Cash said it’s Luj n’s campaign that has run a negative race all along, including hiring a private investigator “to dig up dirt on their opponents.”

Luj n has paid Albuquerque investigator Michael Corwin $5,141 for “research,” according to Federal Election Commission reports. Corwin, who once ran for a state legislative seat, has worked for several Democratic campaigns, including Bill Richardson’s presidential and gubernatorial races and former Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca’s 2006 state land commissioner race.

However, Wiviott also has hired a company that specializes in “opposition research.” According to campaign finance records, the Wiviott campaign has paid more than $23,000 to Stanford Research Company of Austin, Texas. Like Luj n’s expenditure report regarding payments to Corwin, the Texas company’s payments are listed as “research.” Stanford’s Web site describes itself as “one of the leading Democratic opposition research companies in the country.” Among the firm’s clients are Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, who won an upset election in 2002.

The New Mexican’s Steve Terrell and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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