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ALBUQUERQUE — The Republican Party of New Mexico has ratcheted up its offensive in the battle to keep from losing control of New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, and in the process drawn a response from an attorney for the campaign of Democrat Martin Heinrich.
A TV ad paid for the by state GOP began running this week that charges Heinrich doesn’t support funding to protect U.S. troops in Iraq.
But Heinrich’s campaign fired back today with a letter from its attorney to the three Albuquerque TV stations asking them to pull the ad, which it calls “false, misleading and deceptive,” as well as “spurious and libelous.” Failure to pull the ad, wrote attorney Karen Mendenhall, could threaten the stations’ federal broadcasting licenses.
Heinrich spokeswoman Angela Barranco said one station has agreed to fact-check the GOP ad to verify its claims and another has scheduled a meeting with the Heinrich campaign’s attorney. The third has ignored the request to pull the ad, she said.
The ad starts off by saying Heinrich has smeared his Republican opponent, Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, and that Heinrich refused to condemn the group MoveOn.org last year when it labeled Petraeus as “Gen. Betray us.”
It goes on to say:
And Martin Heinrich even promised to block funding for body armor, bullets, and other critical equipment for our combat troops, unless they’re pulled from Iraq.
As evidence the ad cites the Web site Booman Tribune from Dec. 3, 2007. But the site, which ran a long interview with Heinrich that day on many subjects including the war in Iraq, doesn’t support the GOP charge.
In the interview, Heinrich says he spoke out against going to war in 2003, that he supported an Albuquerque City Council resolution to redeploy U.S. troops, and that he has called for ending the war “as soon as possible.” When asked if he would have put any conditions on the supplemental funding bills, he answered, “Yes. A safe, honorable and timely redeployment of our troops.”
Heinrich adds:
“I am a strong supporter of our servicemen and women. We must not overextend our military lest we weaken our military. Our troops have given so much for our country and we must make sure that they are taken care of both while they’re on active duty and when the retire to civilian life.”
The City Council resolution that Heinrich supported in September 2007 was explicit in its support for full funding:
As long as American Troops remain in Iraq we support providing all funding requested by military commanders in order to provide the resources necessary to safeguard them as they carry out their mission. These resources include, but are not limited to, food, shelter, body armor, weapons, goggles, heat resistant gloves, armored transportation equipment and communications equipment.
In her letter to the TV stations, Mendenhall said the state GOP’s claims are false, and she cites federal broadcasting regulations that require stations “to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.” She concludes the letter by saying, “For the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station should refuse to continue to air this advertisement.”
Ads posted by one candidate against another can say almost anything without providing any factual documentation, said Heinrich spokesman Jason Burke. But when an ad is paid for by an outside group or political party, “They have to cite everything.”
Shira Rawlinson, spokeswoman for the Republican Party of New Mexico, did not respond to a request for comment.
