Lt. governor candidate Howie Morales visits fair

ALAMOGORDO – The campaign trail is still going strong with little more than 40 days until Election Day.

Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Howie Morales dropped by the Otero County Fair Saturday to meet with constituents. He is running against Republican Michelle Garcia Holmes and Libertarian Robin L. Dunn in the November general election. 

“We’re excited about the energy and the amount of support that we’ve seen,” Morales said. “Me and Michelle (Lujan-Grisham) have been traveling around the state. We’re seeing that people are energized for change in New Mexico. With that change, we bring experience.”

Under current leadership, Morales said that it has been a struggle.

“The economy, education, access to healthcare and, unfortunately, dealing with the crime problems we’ve seen,” Morales said. “We know the direction we need to go. We know the changes that need to be made and we look forward to doing that.”

The economy in New Mexico is important to Morales who sits on the state Legislative Finance Committee.

“(Michelle Lujan-Grisham and I) are going to change direction,” Morales said. “We’re going to invest in New Mexico. We’re going to invest in our small businesses… We do see that we have a surplus that we’re going to benefit from. The key is to utilize that surplus and provide infrastructure from revenues that will come in year in and year out rather than solely relying on oil and gas. Now’s the time to do it.”

Morales mentioned Lujan-Grisham’s nine-step plan to help New Mexico with the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Another economic issue is seeing the staggering effects of legalizing recreational marijuana in neighboring states.

“(Lujan-Grisham) are going to make sure that we have a system in place that we are benefitting all the way around,” Morales said.

This system includes money for treatment and addiction prevention

On education, Morales said that a change in tone coming from the powers that be that would be more positive than in recent years, he said.

“A tone that is going to celebrate education rather than prosecute educators and I think that would be the first step,” Morales said. “We would need focus more on learning and learning opportunities starting by evaluating our educators and realizing that they have skills, creativity and meet the flexibility to educate students. With that, we see things that haven’t worked and the concerns that have been there: the unfair evaluations of educators. We’ve seen the confusion that the school grading system has caused and the demoralizing system in general. That’s going to change under Michelle Lujan-Grisham’s administration.”

Morales said that he and Lujan-Grisham plan to get rid of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test should they be elected.

“I’m not going to say that we’re going to change assessment, we want to have accountability systems in place,” Morales said. “But the PARCC test is one that is expensive method that has been abused by states all around the country and there’s a reason why several states have already abandoned it.”

Health care, including behavioral health is important to Morales and Lujan-Grisham.

“If we’re going to address the overall health care environment, we have to recognize that we’re treating the whole individual,” Morales said.  “With that comes access to treatment; affordable, high-quality health care and making sure that whole communities like Alamogordo and Otero County that we realize the importance of rural hospitals.”

Rural hospitals across the state are struggling, Morales said, and should Lujan-Grisham be elected, “I believe that that’ll be one of the first pieces of legislation that comes across her desk that will provide instant relief to those rural hospitals.”

With the discussion of affordable health care comes the question of where the money will come from to fund it.

Morales does not expect a raise in taxes to cover health care for the less fortunate.

“The reality of healthcare is that so many dollars are spent in our country that never reach the patient,” Morales said. “The plan is to restructure how health care is funded.”

Morales currently serves as a state senator for District 28 serving Catron, Grant and Socorro Counties which he has held since 2009 and is an educator by trade. He was a special education teacher in Silver Consolidated Schools where he was also a coach for the Cobre Consolidated Schools.

In 2005, he was elected Grant County Clerk and was appointed to take Ben Altamirano’s place following Altamirano’s death to a heart attack on 2008. He ran for that office in the 2008 election and won the seat he has held ever since.

“He is very well-liked in the southern part of the state,” campaign Communications Director James Hallinan said.

If elected, Morales would be the first educator to hold the office of lieutenant governor.