RIO RANCHO — The melodrama over frontrunner Ben Ray Lujan’s sexual orientation continued Wednesday as Benny Shendo Jr. issued a 900-word letter implying that Lujan being gay is a public secret while Lujan’s campaign denounced the correspondence as an "unhinged manifesto from a fringe candidate."

 

"I think the only thing that made this a story was our opponent’s lack of integrity," said Lujan spokesperson Mark Nicastre. 

 

The back-and-forth between the two campaigns turned an increasingly nasty battle for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District into a bizarre prelude to the last two weeks before the June 3 primary. It also forced political campaigns — and news outlets — to confront an issue that seldom surfaces even in the most vigorous political contests — the relevance or lack thereof of a candidate’s sexual orientation.

The race first took an unexpected turn Monday night when Shendo asked a question at a San Juan County Democratic candidate forum that implied that Lujan is  gay.

"You say that you stand up for the people of New Mexico," Shendo said according to the Santa Fe New Mexican and a vidoe of the exchange posted on You Tube, "and I want to know how you can stand up for the people of New Mexico if you can’t stand up to your mom and dad about your lifestyle." 

 

 

 

Lujan’s campaign responded by deriding Shendo’s comment as a despicable ploy to score political points by using a personal issue. 

Spokesman Mark Nicastre added Wednesday morning: "He isn’t gay. That’s kind of the end of that issue. He has a girlfriend named Dawn who is helping him out. They have been dating for over a year and a half." 

Shendo defends his question

By Wednesday afternoon, Shendo’s campaign had issued a lengthy rebuttal, saying that his question had been taken out of context. Among other things Shendo said he was questioning Lujan’s maturity to serve in Congress if he couldn’t be honest about his own sexuality and stand up to his parents who — Shendo said — played a role in keeping up a public deception. Lujan is the son of powerful speaker of the state House of Representatives, Ben Lujan Sr., D-Nambe.

"My question the other night was not about whether Ben Ray Lujan is gay or not," Shendo wrote. "And if all the people who have known Ben Ray over the years at the state House, in the community and in his own extended family, and have for years known and accepted him as gay are wrong, that’s perfectly fine. His sexuality is not the issue here."

The point, Shendo wrote, was that "A person who actively puts themselves forward as a public figure, an elected leader, by definition, is putting themselves forward to be a role model.

 

"As such, they need to accept a higher level of responsibility for their actions. If they actively put forward a deception to hide their homosexuality, then they send a terrible and damaging message that there is something wrong with being gay. In a very real sense, they become a "gay basher" by their actions, which clearly say there is something shameful about being gay.

At another point in the letter, Shendo wrote: "Many voters, especially including members of the (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered) community and members of Lujan’s own family, have expressed concern to me that there may be a level of public deception going on in the way that Ben Ray and his parents have handled this matter by so actively promoting publicly that he has a girlfriend."

Nicastre, Lujan’s spokesman, called Shendo’s accusations "totally desperate" and said his actions are sad.

"It’s sad because … a lot of people working on this campaign, they used to respect (Shendo’s) integrity. Voters across from New Mexico — they lost a lot of respect for this candidate."

 

A firestorm unleashed — and differing opinions

 

Shendo’s initial statement Monday — and his campaign’s lengthy rebuttal to Lujan’s campaign — provoked a firestorm Wednesday as bloggers, political candidates and others waded into the breach with opinions on the situation.

Santa Fe developer Don Wiviott, who is a perceived frontrunner in the race with Lujan, said in a statement that he was "disgusted" by Shendo’s comments.

"Rumors and innuendoes regarding the personal life of any candidate should play no role in this election," Wiviott said.“Northern New Mexico faces a real choice between candidates with different qualifications and positions on the issues.  That, and only that, should guide how Democrats make their decision on June 3rd.”

Barbara Wold, writing on her blog Democracy for New Mexico, meanwhile, called Shendo’s actions "inflammatory, unnecessary, unwarranted and just plain sleazy" and encouraged anyone thinking about voting for Shendo to think again to oppose such "nasty, innuendo-based politicking."

 

Max Coll of Santa Fe isn’t heeding those words. Coll, who served 32 years in the Legislature, including a stint as chairman of the powerful House Administration and Finance Committee, endorsed Shendo on Wednesday.

Coll said he and his wife "have a gay granddaughter. Gayness is not an issue to us. I do think that there is an honesty issue raised (about Lujan) and would like to see it developed and dug into by the press."

 

The back-and-forth between the two campaigns Wednesday gave pause to some media outlets as their staffs conducted informal, internal debates on how to report the story. Nothing definitive had been established about Lujan’s sexual orientation, some argued. And even if it had, was that important?

Besides, what was the news — Shendo’s assertions and how he made them or their potential fallout?

 

Sexual orientation and politics 

A candidate’s sexual orientation has occasionally figured in the political arena.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was involved in a scandal last year after being arrested in Minnesota for what a plainclothes police officer called an sexual advance in a bathroom stall.

U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. resigned his seat within weeks of the November 2006 election because of a scandal involving a male congressional page.

And former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey resigned in 2004, acknowledging publicly that he is  gay and that he gave a high-level state job to his lover. 

Sexual orientation itself also has become politicized in U.S. politics over the years. In several states campaigns to extend rights to gay and lesbian couples, including in New Mexico, have resulted in vigorous, sometimes bruising fights. Meanwhile, opponents of such laws have pushed for legislation and, as happened in several states in November 2004, successfully passed constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage.

 

Sexual orientation and the rights afforded to same-sex couples may even surface in this year’s presidential election. The California Supreme Court affirmed last week the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in that state. Four years ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Court affirmed same-sex marriage in that state, galvanizing opponents as the nation headed into a presidential election.

Even so, at least one political analyst said Shendo’s assertions won’t make much of a difference in the 3rd Congressional race, which was turning increasingly negative already. Wiviott had questioned Lujan’s experience in a negative TV ad, which prompted  Lujan’s campaign and its allies to decry Wiviott’s tactics.

"If you just have fly high rumors, people dismiss them as dirt," said University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkeson. "If you have concrete evidence, those are the real issues people use in making decisions. I don’t think it goes anywhere." 

 

 The 3rd Congressional District extends from the Colorado border to parts of Rio Rancho in Sandoval County and includes a mix of gay-friendly cities and towns like Santa Fe and Taos and rural redoubts like Chama, Farmington and Wagon Mound that may not be as welcoming.