U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich and his Senate campaign in New Mexico are restricting media access in an effort to shield the candidate and his views from the public.
In its online endorsement of Congressman Martin Heinrich, the Council for a Livable World states:
“He [Congressman Heinrich] opposes building a new generation of nuclear weapons.”
On Oct. 18, I sent an e-mail to Whitney Potter with the Heinrich campaign, asking, “Is this statement accurate?”
I have not yet received a response, nor a reply to my follow-up phone call. Knowing Heinrich’s views in detail on that subject is important to the future of nuclear deterrence and Los Alamos National Laboratory, the design agency for four existing nuclear weapons systems.
That’s one example.
You can see Heinrich’s stonewalling in action in the video above, when our correspondent in Las Cruces, Daniel Sonntag, attempted to ask him a question about coal policy, following Heinrich’s Senate debate on Oct. 17 with Republican Heather Wilson.
That’s important because Heinrich’s green energy advocacy could have big implications for carbon-based energy industries, consumer utility rates and New Mexico jobs.
I approached Heinrich Oct. 11 in Albuquerque, after a previous debate to get his response to former Sen. Domenici’s claim [in a Wilson ad] that Heinrich’s vote to authorize sequestration could cost New Mexico 20,000 jobs. You can see what happened here…
The latest account of the Heinrich campaign’s stonewalling comes from Santa Fe-based Capitol Report New Mexico reporter, Rob Nikolewski, who also writes for New Mexico Watchdog. Who Said New Mexico has cross-published a number of Nikolewski’s posts. Here’s what he encountered…
A spokeswoman for US Senate candidate Martin Heinrich prevented Capitol Report New Mexico from taking part in a media briefing Wednesday evening with Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), who was in Santa Fe for a fundraiser on behalf of Heinrich on Wednesday evening (Oct. 24) at a restaurant in Santa Fe.
Whitney Potter of the Heinrich campaign told Capitol Report New Mexico that “the event is closed to the press” and that Kerry had “very limited time.”
When Rob Nikolewski of Capitol Report New Mexico pointed out that Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, Milan Simonich of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership (among other reporters and photographers) were on hand, Potter said, “It’s a closed event. These are one-on-ones I’ve set up.”
Read Nikolweski’s account here.
If Rep. Heinrich is only willing to take questions from favored media sources, whose questions will he answer if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate?
[Updated below 11/1/12]
On Oct. 27, The Alamogordo Daily News posted these Facebook reports from the New Mexico Press Association’s annual convention:
“Listening to U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson speak at the New Mexico Press Association convention in Albuquerque.”
“Congressman Martin Heinrich was also a scheduled speaker at NMPA, but he didn’t show up!”
