A Chavez campaign mailer sent this week criticizes Richard Romero for his work as a lobbyist. The card prominently features quotes from a story I wrote in July about Romero’s lobbying, but I think it’s worth pointing readers back to the original story.

Campaign mailer about Richard Romero, sent to voters by Martin Chavez.

Campaign mailer about Richard Romero, sent to voters by Martin Chavez.

The mailer takes aim at the fact that Romero was a lobbyist for three years after retiring from the state Senate, and that he gave contributions to Republican senators during that time.

Romero is registered as a lobbyist for the University of New Mexico, Southwest Learning Centers, the New Mexico Speech and Hearing Association, the New Mexico Community Foundation, the New Mexico Association of Educational Retirees, South Valley Academy, Isleta Pueblo, North Albuquerque Cooperative Charter School, Academy for Technology and the Arts, the New Mexico Association of Charter Schools, La Familia, Inc., the National Association of Social Workers, and the New Mexico Occupational Therapists Association.

In reply to the card mailed to Albuquerque homes yesterday, Romero sent out a message to supporters saying he was “proud to have lobbied the New Mexico Legislature for programs that have made a positive difference. I’m proud of having represented New Mexicans with hearing disabilities, lobbying for indigent health care, lobbying for the tuition lottery program and capital projects for UNM, lobbying for an emergency response complex, public library, and parks for the Pueblo of Isleta, and lobbying for the funding of charter schools.”

Here’s what was printed on the Chavez mailer:

“Romero himself has leveraged relationships he built over the course of his dozen years as a state senator to build a second career as a paid lobbyist… “Yes, I’m sure it was a consideration, absolutely,” (alleged cronyism) Romero said, “It’s part of our system, which is designed to keep the status quo,” Romero explained.

And here’s the passage from my story from which the quotes were pulled, with the quoted parts in italics:

But Romero himself has leveraged relationships he built over the course of his dozen years as a state senator to build a second career as a paid lobbyist on behalf of a range of clients at the Roundhouse…

When asked if the ability to immediately pivot to a lucrative lobbying career upon leaving the New Mexico Senate as a result of the relationships he built while there was a form of cronyism, Romero acknowledged that his relationships were a consideration. But he said that’s not the whole story or even the biggest part of it.

“Yes, I’m sure it was a consideration, absolutely,” he said, “but even more important is knowledge of how the system works. To be effective you need to have a good understanding of how things work there.”

“Lobbying is kind of the third rail of politics but, you know, Ben Franklin was our first lobbyist— in France. It’s part of our system, which is designed to keep the status quo,” he explained. “So you have lobbyists hired due to how well they know the system — to then either proactively promote change, or on defense trying to maintain the status quo.”

So the quotes are accurate. But I think it’s worth pointing out the larger context of the story. In our interview, Romero talked about the systemic issues with lobbying and suggested that taking the money out of politics would make it all a lot better. Steve Allen, Executive Director of Common Cause, agreed with him.

Romero went on to talk about the problem of money in politics, which came up when I asked him about his contributions to Republican legislators. In the current system, for a lobbyist to be effective, donations to legislators across the aisle have to be made.

Here’s another excerpt from the story:

“Money does play a big role in whether candidates win or not, and lobbyists are faulted for that,” Romero said. “But it’s really the system. Real reform is needed to take the money out. Public financing is a good example of that.”

Allen agreed that the issue is systemic.

“Everyone uses their personal relationships to further their professional and social life, that’s normal,” he said. “The ethical issues we face in government are systemic and the one year moratorium on ex-legislators moving into lobbying is one good step in the right direction.”

In the mailer, the Chavez camp also stated that Romero switched his political affiliation from Republican to Democrat. According to Romero spokesperson Tim McGivern, that’s true. Romero was a Republican for a period of time decades ago. But, as McGivern said, Romero came back to his roots and “served the Democratic party faithfully” for 12 years in the State Senate before becoming the Democratic nominee who ran twice against former Republican Rep. Heather Wilson.

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