Neomi Martinez-Parra, Democratic candidate for New Mexico Senate, District 35, responds to questions on healthcare, personal finances and more

by Kathleen Sloan | July 24, 2020
11 min read
It took about three weeks, but Democrat Neomi Martinez-Parra, who is running against Crystal Diamond for the state Senate, District 35, which includes Sierra County, answered the Sierra County Sun’s questions.

Diamond has yet to respond.

She explained the delay. “Hidalgo County has been hit very hard with COVID-19,” Martinez-Parra said. “Some of my family members are essential workers and thus we have all been exposed indirectly in some form or another. Therefore, my family and I have been taking care of my elderly mother because some of her services have been either on hold or suspended due to Covid-19.”

1.  Please explain why you are limiting constituent and press contact to a campaign website that forces one to write emails in a prescribed box on your website that makes records retention and tracking, especially for a reporter, difficult? It also is a small box that doesn’t allow for much scope. I did get an email address from a supporter of yours, so I could send this questionnaire via that method, but that was just lucky. 

In the Primary, our campaign website was just one of many ways we connected with voters, donors and journalists. Pre-COVID 19, we knocked on many doors, attended many events, handed out tons of cards, with our contact info on them and made literally thousands of phone calls. We were also quite active on social media, where both my email and phone number were listed on our Facebook page. Since the pandemic, our outreach methods have become more limited. Increased call time, ZOOM and social media replace canvassing, meet and greets or basically any in-person events. And unless the curve flattens in a big way, there will be no knocking on doors, which is what I like doing the most in campaigns – directly connecting with voters. Since our proud victory on June 2, our campaign website, as well as printed materials are all being revised. We will make it a point to include more comprehensive contact information on the website. As your Senator, I will always make a concerted effort to be accessible to all constituents – Republicans, Democrats and Independents – as well as to journalists. The work of a free press is essential to the community and to Democracy as a whole, and to candidates who are ever-striving to get our message out to the public.

2. Your website platform issues are vague. Crystal Diamond, your Republican opponent, has been accused of running a “culture war campaign,” partly because of her extremely vague platform that seeks to retain “traditional values.” Your campaign doesn’t allude to a traditional culture, whatever that is, but your planks lack similar definition. Do you think voters don’t want to know particulars? Is this vagueness based on some advice not to go into details? 

Again, the website was just one of our many outreach tools utilized in the Primary and, as mentioned, it is being revised now that the Primary is behind us. Perhaps one way to give more details on my platform is to include an FAQ page on the website. Meanwhile, our activity on Facebook and other social media has, and will continue to be, much more topic-driven and specific. And, of course, every call we make to voters and each interview we have with donors and journalists gives us that many more opportunities to explain, in detail, our priorities and answer specific questions about them, but most importantly to listen to the concerns of constituents and the media. As I engage with increasingly more voters in the district, especially Independents and those who choose not to affiliate with a particular political party, I am learning a great deal. Developing a better understanding of differing viewpoints on specific issues and telling other folk’s stories – not just my own – is the way I choose to run this campaign. This is how I plan to bring the people’s voice to the New Mexico legislature in January 2021.

3. As an educator, did you see the rise and fall of Common Core? It is gone and New Mexico is going from national to state testing. Common Core was a national test that made it possible to compare states’ performance, with New Mexico ranking near the bottom. Will the National Assessment of Educational Performance tests for rising 4th and 8th graders be used so the public can know how New Mexico is performing? The state chose Istation for K-3rd grade testing. Istation has horrible reviews from teachers, parents and students and no formal analysis and it requires small children to sit at computers with no teacher interference to safeguard test results. Do you agree with this testing choice? PSAT/SAT was chosen for upper classes and Cognia for middle grades. What do you think about these testing choices?

As an educator I never saw the rise, only the descent with Common Core, which only lasted 10 years in New Mexico. I believe there is value from testing and evaluation to effectively gauge what our students need and where teachers need assistance. As an educator my curriculum encompassed the Common Core State Standards as a mandated guide for reading and math. Every student is unique with his and her own strengths and weaknesses. Every child learns differently. Teachers must differentiate their instruction and tailor to the needs of their students. However, it is my position that standardized student tests, Common Core in particular, added unneeded stress for our students, and often left them feeling demeaned.

The NAEP has been used for nearly 50 years and it is my understanding that the NAEP will continue to be used as the nation’s report card.

As an educator and a parent, I do not agree with testing choice for Istation.
​I have administered it and my 10 year old daughter has struggled with it as well. I feel that Istation minimizes the one-one teaching. We are spending too much time testing and not teaching. However, Istation offers some good individualized lesson plans for reading (games, stories, Q&A).

I believe that assessments for Junior and High School students In New Mexico should include teacher input. However, I am mostly concerned with Special Education students who have IEPs (Individual Educational Plans) and non-special education students who require accommodations and modifications as well.

4. I have received three campaign mailings that state you were “sanctioned by the state of New Mexico and the IRS for refusing to pay over $100,000 in taxes. I emailed the public action committee that authored the mailings, The Council For a Competitive New Mexico, and asked for their sources, to which they did not respond. I checked court records and the IRS website. In court records I found A Barclays Bank complaint for debt. I found nothing on the IRS website. Without a fulsome explanation, the public would probably doubt your ability to limit spending or to stay within a budget. Please give a fulsome explanation of the state taxes that may not have been paid, the federal taxes that may not have been paid and the money owed to Barclays Bank. 

Dark money has tried to influence this race, even in the primary, which is unfortunate, yet not surprising. I thank you for bringing this issue to light. It is essential that voters get to know the truth, instead of misleading if not flat-out false information either mailed or robo-called from dark money groups. For example, the claim that I refused to pay taxes is false. It is true, however, that over a decade ago, my brother and I ran a small business that – like many other small businesses – was hit hard by the economic downturn. As a previous business owner, our Company submitted incomplete IRS tax forms. Therefore, our company and properties were the subject of tax liens, an audit was conducted, garnishments were implemented. The IRS later ruled in favor of our company and a reimbursement was issued.

Yes, we incurred debt and yes, we owed taxes, but we never refused to pay back what we owed. In fact, we worked tirelessly to pay that debt off completely, and were successful in doing so including the Barclays Bank Account.

As difficult as that time was for myself and my family, I feel that my personal experience makes me a better candidate. Knowing – first-hand – the struggles of many small businesses in scary economic times like these is one of the reasons I am running. As we brace for potentially even tougher economic times, I pledge to fight for working families like mine – who get hit the hardest while big corporations continue to be bailed out.  My story is just one of many tragic stories of small business owners. I plan to tell not just my story, but many other real-life stories of real New Mexicans in my district. I can assure you that my constituents do not have to worry about my ability to be fiscally responsible.

5. The Council for a Competitive New Mexico also claims “Outside groups are spending a fortune to get [you] elected. These funds have been traced back to special interest groups in Washington, D.C. [which are] trying to buy influence in our state.” Do you have national support? How much money have national PACs given to you? The implication is you are a “puppet” for these outside groups. Please respond. 

Fortunately, our great Secretary of State enacted rules to shine a light on dark money and put elected officials’ financial disclosure forms online. But, until Congress and the courts repeal the Citizens United decision, we are going to see an increasing influx of dark money from corporate and other special interests trying to influence elections – even here in New Mexico. They want to silence the voices of good working families. And their tactics are not always the most clear and honest. So again, no, the Council for Competitive Elections got it wrong – over 90 percent of our contributions in the primary came from New Mexican donors as opposed to outside interest groups. In addition, our average contribution in the Primary was $74.00. Your readership can verify the validity of this by seeing exactly who is supporting my campaign at the Secretary of State’s website. If your readers wish to look a little closer into the Council for a Competitive New Mexico’s elections, they might find that this group also got it very wrong in the June Primary: four of the five candidates they supported – including my opponent – lost their primaries. So, rest assured, I will never become a puppet for any outside individual or special interest groups. I am beholden only to those people of the district I will serve. I pledge to bring their stories and their voices to Santa Fe – NOT those of corporations and special interests.

6.  What, specifically, would you do to improve healthcare for New Mexicans? 

Improving healthcare starts with improving access to healthcare. In rural districts like 35, people have to drive 60 or more miles to get to a doctor or hospital – even in an emergency. This is not acceptable. My focus will be on creating a coalition of municipal, county, state and federal partners to marshal resources and invest in rural healthcare facilities and services throughout the district. This includes ensuring that the New Mexico rural healthcare extension is fully funded and supported. Although Capital Outlay coffers may become constrained in these next few economically challenging years, I will fight to secure funding for bricks and mortar projects involving regional health care facilities in Southwestern New Mexico. I would also support increased practice of telemedicine. One of the few positive things that resulted from this pandemic was the realization that telemedicine is both safe and practical. Telemedicine is also cost effective, and the legislature should prioritize making telemedicine more and more available to New Mexicans statewide. Strengthening broadband services, particularly in districts like mine, is key to achieving better accessibility to telemedicine, however. Therefore, enhancing broadband in the region will be a priority in tandem with improving healthcare.

7. You claim, on your website, that current policies are hurting local economies. Please explain. 

We’ve had a trickle-down theory of economics influencing the budget of New Mexico for a long time. It’s time to stop incentivising corporations and industry with tax loopholes and start investing in New Mexico’s families. More trickledown economics did not get us out of the 2008 recession and it’s not going to get us out of the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.

In Sierra County, 26 percent of the population lives in poverty. As of 2017, Sierra County had a median household income of $29,690.

Each county in my district is unique, but overall, we need better schools, access to healthcare and a chance to succeed. These are hard-working family people in all four counties within District 35 and they deserve a senator who will work to get our state to invest more in them. We can do this by increasing equal access to improved local public schools and other career training opportunities.

Fully staffing our under-funded and under-staffed schools will add local jobs and boost local businesses, as will paying educators the professional pay they deserve.

Boosting health care spending will also help local economies. Lastly, we should do more to do more to boost tourism, and we can definitely do more for local infrastructure such as roads and highways.

8. If you win, will you give up teaching? 

After working in education for over 20 years, I have recently retired from teaching to be my mother’s caregiver. My priorities are rooted in family. Women, like my mother who worked her entire life are the backbone and the strength. The dignity and well-being of others is a concern of mine. I respect and hold these traditional values in my heart, and I will carry them to Santa Fe to represent our district.  It is an honor and not an obligation to make sure my mother is well cared for. If I am fortunate to become the next state senator from District 35, my family and I will make arrangements for her while I attend to legislative sessions and interim committee work. My family is my foundation.

TAGS:
author
Kathleen Sloan is the Sun’s founder and chief reporter. She can be reached at kathleen.sloan@gmail.com or 575-297-4146.
Share this:
HAVE YOU SEEN?

Understanding New Mexico's proposed new social studies standards for K-12 students

“The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.”
—National Council for the Social Studies 

Reader Michael L. Hayes of Las Cruces commented: What impresses me is that both the proposed standards and some of the criticisms of them are equally grotesque. I make this bold statement on the basis of my experience as a peripatetic high school and college English teacher for 45 years in many states with many students differing in race, religion, gender and socioeconomic background, and as a civic activist (PTA) in public education (My career, however, was as an independent consultant mainly in defense, energy and the environment.)

The proposed social studies standards are conceptually and instructionally flawed. For starters, a “performance standard” is not a standard at all; it is a task. Asking someone to explain something is not unlike asking someone to water the lawn. Nothing measures the performance, but without a measure, there is no standard. The teacher’s subjective judgment will be all that matters, and almost anything will count as satisfying a “performance standard,” even just trying. Students will be left to wonder “what is on the teacher’s mind?” or “have I sucked up enough.”

Four other quick criticisms of the performance standards. One, they are nearly unintelligible because they are written in jargon. PED’s use of jargon in a document intended for the public is worrisome. Bureaucrats often use jargon to confuse or conceal something uninformed, wrong or unworthy. As a result, most parents, some school board members and more than a few teachers do not understand them.

Two, the performance standards are so vague that they fail to define the education which teachers are supposed to teach, students are supposed to learn, and parents are supposed to understand. PED does not define words like “explain” or “describe” so that teachers can apply “standards” consistently and fairly. The standards do not indicate what teachers are supposed to know in order to teach or specify what students are supposed to learn. Supervisors cannot know whether teachers are teaching social studies well or poorly. The standards are so vague that the public, especially parents or guardians, cannot know the content of public education.

Three, many performance standards are simply unrealistic, especially at grade level. Under “Ethnic, Cultural and Identity Performance Standards”; then under “Diversity and Identity”; then under “Kindergarten,” one such standard is: “Identify how their family does things both the same as and different from how other people do things.” Do six-year-olds know how other people do things? Do they know whether these things are relevant to diversity and identity? Or another standard: “Describe their family history, culture, and past to current contributions of people in their main identity groups.” (A proficient writer would have hyphenated the compound adjective to avoid confusing the reader.) Do six-year-olds know so much about these things in relation to their “identity group”? Since teachers obviously do not teach them about these other people and have not taught them about these groups, why are these and similar items in the curriculum; or do teachers assign them to go home and collect this information?

Point four follows from “three”; some information relevant to some performance measures requires a disclosure of personal or family matters. The younger the students, the easier it is for teachers to invade their privacy and not only their privacy, but also the privacy of their parents or guardians, or neighbors, who may never be aware of these disclosures or not become aware of them until afterward. PED has no right to design a curriculum which requires teachers to ask students for information about themselves, parents or guardians, or neighbors, or puts teachers on the spot if the disclosures reveal criminal conduct. (Bill says Jeff’s father plays games in bed with his daughter. Lila says Angelo’s mother gives herself shots in the arm.) Since teacher-student communications have no legal protection to ensure privacy, those disclosures may become public accidentally or deliberately. The effect of these proposal standards is to turn New Mexico schools and teachers into investigative agents of the state and students into little informants or spies.

This PED proposal for social studies standards is a travesty of education despite its appeals to purportedly enlightened principles. It constitutes a clear and present danger to individual liberty and civil liberties. It should be repudiated; its development, investigated; its PED perpetrators, dismissed. No state curriculum should encourage or require the disclosure of private personal information.

I am equally outraged by the comments of some of T or C’s school board members: Christine LaFont and Julianne Stroup, two white Christian women, who belong to one of the larger minorities in America and assume white and Christian privileges. In different terms but for essentially the same reason, both oppose an education which includes lessons about historical events and trends, and social movements and developments, of other minorities. They object to the proposal for the new social studies standards because of its emphasis on individual and group identities not white or Christian. I am not going to reply with specific objections; they are too numerous and too pointed.

Ms. LaFont urges: “It’s better to address what’s similar with all Americans. It’s not good to differentiate.” Ms. Stroup adds: “Our country is not a racist country. We have to teach to respect each other. We have civil rights laws that protect everyone from discrimination. We need to teach civics, love and respect. We need to teach how to be color blind.”

Their desires for unity and homogeneity, and for mutual respect, are a contradiction and an impossibility. Aside from a shared citizenship, which implies acceptance of the Constitution, the rule of law and equality under the law, little else defines Americans. We are additionally defined by our race, religion, national origin, etc. So mutual respect requires individuals to respect others different from themselves. Disrespect desires blacks, Jews or Palestinians to assimilate or to suppress or conceal racial, religious or national origin aspects of their identity. The only people who want erasure of nonwhite, non-Christian, non-American origin aspects of identity are bigots. Ms. LaFont and Ms. Stroud want standards which, by stressing similarities and eliding differences, desire the erasure of such aspects. What they want will result in a social studies curriculum that enables white, Christian, native-born children to grow up to be bigots and all others to be their victims. This would be the academic equivalent of ethnic cleansing.

H.E.L.P.

This postmortem of a case involving a 75-year-old women who went missing from her home in Hillsboro last September sheds light on the bounds of law enforcement’s capacity to respond, especially in large rural jurisdictions such as Sierra County, and underscores the critical role the public, as well as concerned family and friends, can play in assisting a missing person’s search.

Reader Jane Debrott of Hillsboro commented: Thank you for your article on the tragic loss of Betsey. I am a resident of Hillsboro, a friend of Rick and Betsey, and a member of H.E.L.P. The thing that most distresses me now, is the emphasis on Rick’s mis-naming of the color of their car. I fear that this fact will cause Rick to feel that if he had only gotten the facts right, Betsey may have been rescued before it was too late. The incident was a series of unavoidable events, out of everyone’s control, and we will never know what place the correct color of her car may have had in the outcome. It breaks my heart to think that Rick has had one more thing added to his “what ifs” concerning this incident.

Diana Tittle responded: Dear Jane, the Sun undertook this investigation at the request of a Hillsboro resident concerned about the town’s inability to mount a prompt, coordinated response to the disappearance of a neighbor. From the beginning, I shared your concern about how our findings might affect Betsy’s family and friends. After I completed my research and began writing, I weighed each detail I eventually chose to include against my desire to cause no pain and the public’s right to know about the strengths and limitations of law enforcement’s response and the public’s need to know about how to be of meaningful assistance.

There was information I withheld about the state police investigation and the recovery. But I decided to include the issue of the car’s color because the individuals who spotted Betsy’s car emphasized how its color had been key to their identification of it as the vehicle described in Betsy’s Silver Alert. Because the misinformation was corrected within a couple of hours, I also included in this story the following editorial comment meant to put the error in perspective: “The fact that law enforcement throughout the state was on the lookout in the crucial early hours after Betsy’s disappearance for an elderly woman driving a “light blue” instead of a “silver” Accord would, in retrospect, likely not have changed the outcome of the search” [emphasis added].

I would also point to the story’s overarching conclusion about the inadvisability of assigning blame for what happened: “In this case, a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances, many of them beyond human control, hindered the search that it would fall to Hamilton’s department to lead.”

It is my hope that any pain caused by my reporting will eventually be outweighed by its contribution to a better community understanding of what it will take in the future to mount a successful missing person’s search in rural Sierra County.

Scroll to Top