Lopez survives fierce battle

 

"I'm cleaning the house," she said late Tuesday night. "My mom taught me to never go to bed with a messy house."
 

For someone who didn't know, Tuesday could have been any other night. Except it wasn't. Lopez had just weathered one of the strongest challenges to her legislative career, beating Padilla by a comfortable, if not, wide margin. She won 53 percent of the vote compared to Padilla's 47 percent. And the victory had left her as one of the last legislative incumbents standing on the West Side and South Valley following the primary. Earlier in the night colleague after colleague had fallen -- incumbent James Taylor lost his seat to Eric Griego in District 14; Shannon Robinson lost to Tim Keller in District 17; and in House District 13, West Sider Dan Silva fell to newcomer Eleanor Chavez.

It was a bad night to be an incumbent. It didn't matter that that the three had gotten help from Gov. Bill Richardson, too. Here she was, running into a fierce anti-incumbent wind, without the aid of the state's governor, and she had won whereas her colleagues hadn't.

"I was concentrating on my race, but I was truly surprised watching the other races," she said. "I am now the senior West Side legislator and that will bring me some added challenges. But I will keep working for the West Side the way I have the past 12 years. This election made me work very hard walking and knocking, but it also got me talking to the people in this District and that was a very good thing."

Lopez said she stayed focused in a year in which, it turned out, some incumbents were toast.

She raised about $60,000 for her campaign in this election -- nearly twice what she has raised in previous races, she said. Her opponent outspent her almost two to one, according to unofficial campaign reports. 

"This was by far the most money I've had to raise," Lopez said. "And that was hard. It takes time. But once the money did start to come in for us, we were able to get the word out about what we were about. My opponent really put out some very expensive literature and mailers. It makes it hard to compete."

Eventually, her loyal constituents stayed by her side, she said.

Sen. Linda Lopez, 44, was elected to the seat in 1996. She serves as chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee and the Welfare Reform Oversight Committee, as well as on a number of others. Her Legislative priorities are education funding, the environment, infrastructure, child care and supporting substance abuse programs. 

"I'll get back to working on all of those priorities," she said. "I see opportunity here on the West Side, and I want to see those opportunities, such as good-paying jobs and better education, come to this part of town. We all deserve that."

Lopez took some heat from environmental groups for her support of the SunCal Companies' tax increment district. SunCal is planning a large development on some of the 55,000 acres it purchased in 2006 from Westland Development Corporation.

"The reason I support SunCal is because they bring opportunity," she said. "Development is going to happen on the far Southwest mesa, and I would rather be a part of that growth to make sure it is done responsibly and sensitively. SunCal has plans to bring economic development with its community, and that is something we need on this side of town, desperately."

While her fellow legislators, Taylor and Silva, were being beaten by progressive candidates who waged a grassroots campaign, Padilla was more the corporate politician. He's never held office before, but apparently had the support of Gov. Bill Richardson, who it has been said is unhappy that Lopez has gone against some of his healthcare and other initiatives. Lopez and Richardson have clashed repeatedly over everything from ethics reform to the amount of progress made against domestic violence in the state.

Lopez, however, would not comment on whether or not she thought Richardson played a part in Padilla's campaign and the charge to put her out of office. 

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