In the race for New Mexico governor, both candidates are running on platforms of supporting law enforcement. Following a summer of progressive protesters calling to decrease police funding in 2020, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is attacking Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti on who will boost the budgets more.
Lujan Grisham and Ronchetti differ on plenty of key issues 鈥� from abortion access to climate change and the economy. But for voters who want to see law enforcement budgets shrink 鈥� like the thousands of New Mexicans who protested racist police violence and called to defund and demilitarize the police 鈥� the race may lack an attractive candidate.
from the Lujan Grisham campaign asserts that Ronchetti, 鈥渨ill slash budgets for police and law enforcement agencies.鈥�
鈥淩onchetti said it himself,鈥� a voiceover says. It then quotes the candidate as saying in , 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want more money and they don鈥檛 want more guns.鈥�
But that soundbite is incomplete and out of context. In the same breath in the debate, Ronchetti went onto say, 鈥淭hey want to know that the governor of the state of New Mexico and their leaders backs them up.鈥�
Ronchetti鈥檚 campaign site lists 鈥渇und and support the police鈥� as part of
And while the ad said he opposed the governor鈥檚 budget, which included 16% raises for state officers, his criticism has not included the raises.
In a statement, Ronchetti鈥檚 campaign called the ad鈥檚 claim that he鈥檚 interested in cutting law enforcement funding, 鈥渁 complete fabrication.鈥� Spokesperson Enrique Knell went on to say that the candidate 鈥渋s clearly on the record supporting funding for law enforcement throughout the state.鈥�
As an example of how Lujan Grisham doesn鈥檛 鈥渂ack the blue鈥� in that same debate, Ronchetti highlighted the governor鈥檚 signing of a 2021 bill that opened officers up to prosecution for civil rights violations, saying it makes doing their jobs harder.
However, Lujan Grisham has boosted support, funding and recruitment efforts for law enforcement during her first term.
This week alone, an $800,000 investment in the Law Enforcement Training Assistance Fund, which invests in training and equipment for new officers at small agencies across the state. She also marked the groundbreaking of Tuesday, which will house the county鈥檚 Sheriff鈥檚 Office and Emergency Operations Center, and for which she contributed over $5 million in capital outlay funds.
UPDATE, 8/4/22: This story has been updated to reflect comment from the Ronchetti campaign.
The Your New Mexico Government project is a collaboration between 九色网 and New Mexico PBS with support from the Thornburg Foundation.
