If we are going to get our country back on track, we need more than just a new president in the White House. We need a strong, progressive Congress as well.
Northern New Mexico deserves a strong voice in Washington who represents all of us, not just the well-connected few.
Benny Shendo Jr, is a life-long progressive Democrat -- not a recent "convert" to a popular trend. He is known throughout New Mexico as a principled leader who brings people together with respect to create real, lasting solutions and get things done.
Benny Shendo, Jr. doesn't just claim to be "green". He and his people have been practicing sustainability in harmony with the land for centuries. It’s in his blood to preserve what is uniquely special about northern New Mexico, while moving us forward to a prosperous future based on clean, renewable energy and technologies.
Benny Shendo, Jr. is the only candidate with State of New Mexico cabinet-level experience in education, healthcare, infrastructure building, natural resources allocation, environmental preservation and economic development. He is the only candidate who has significant experience working with EVERY segment of New Mexico’s diverse demographic – Native American, Hispanic and white. And he is the only candidate who has senior leadership experience working at all levels of government – community, state and national, as well as international.
Benny Shendo Jr. is the only candidate in the 3rd District race with the experience to represent all of us here in Northern New Mexico.
Climate Crisis:
The urgency of the climate crisis cannot be overstated – we are destroying our future, our children’s future. Global warming is real, it’s already affecting us, and it’s going to get worse if we don’t do anything to stop it – NOW. Changing light bulbs is a good start, but it’s not enough. The United States is the largest producer of dangerous greenhouse gases – and we have a moral obligation to be the leader in the fight to reverse the climate crisis. That means aggressively investing in sustainable energy, providing incentives for corporations who clean up their act and stiff penalties for those who don’t. It means all of us taking responsibility for our part in having created the problem, and all of us being willing to step up and be part of the solution. We have an opportunity to save the world – as people of principle we must make solving the climate crisis our first priority.
War in Iraq:
We need to end the war and put into place a plan for bringing our troops home. Iraq doesn’t need our soldiers occupying their country. What Iraq needs is our help to rebuild a country torn apart by an unjust war, and then let them get on with running their own independent nation. As soon as we start a real withdrawal, other nations particularly in Europe and in the Middle East can re-join in the rebuilding effort, including helping stabilize the area with international peacekeeping forces. And what we need here at home is to take the $720 million dollars a day we’re spending every day in Iraq to rebuild our own country, which has been torn apart by eight years of abuse, mismanagement, unchecked greed and in some cases, outright larceny by the Bush Administration. As your Congressman, I will work hard to make sure that we stop paying the price for a war that hurts all of us.
Abortion:
I believe that a woman has a right to choose. It’s not the place of government to legislate issues of personal morality and obviously, this is a deeply personal decision that should be between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her faith. Here in Northern New Mexico, we have a tremendous diversity of cultures and religious beliefs, and our government needs to protect that diversity and respect the people enough to let us make our own decisions.
Death Penalty:
The death penalty is wrong and I don’t support it. Yes, we need our laws to be vigorously enforced, but we are not perfect, we have and will continue to make mistakes. And the cost of being wrong with the death penalty is too high. We like to think of ourselves as being pretty modern here in America, but on this issue we are more than 100 years behind countries like Ecuador, which is one of more than 135 countries worldwide that have already banned state-sanctioned execution. Americans are a peace-loving, compassionate people. But in recent years, America has earned itself more of a dark, ruthless reputation. Banning the death penalty is one way we can start to repair our damaged moral leadership in the court of world opinion.
Domestic Partnerships:
I believe that a person has the right to choose their partner and strongly support the legalization of civil unions for same sex partners. Like my dad says, the world is big enough for all of us – if we take care of it and take care of each other. The recognition of civil unions protects everyone’s right to make their own decisions about what’s best for their family. Here in northern New Mexico, we’re all one big extended family, whether we always like it or not. And to keep this family strong, we need to respect everyone, including those who choose to live a different lifestyle.
Domestic Violence:
I was raised with a deep respect for women, and the issue of domestic violence is very disturbing to me. The experts are clear: prevention is the key. Thanks to the efforts of advocates in our district, Santa Fe has some of the most progressive programs available to help victims of domestic violence – programs like first-rate counseling, safe reporting to law enforcement and aggressive prosecution of offenders -- but much of northern New Mexico does not yet have the benefit of these innovative programs. We need federal funding to support bringing these programs to all of the people of northern New Mexico. Our families deserve the opportunity to live in a home free of fear and intimidation, and as your representative, I pledge to make the prevention of domestic violence a priority.
Immigration:
I think we all know there’s a great deal of hypocrisy when it comes to the issue of immigration in our country. Richard McBrien, a professor at Notre Dame, said recently, “We post a 'no trespassing' sign at our border, we erect a 'help wanted' sign at the workplace.” Before we enact any policies, I think it’s wise to remember a few things. First, we’re all immigrants. Well, most of us anyway. And second, the reality is that immigrants, whether documented or not, do the work that most Americans aren’t willing to do, and they do it because the economic conditions in their country are so poor that they can’t support their families there. And third, perhaps most importantly, much of the reason they can’t support their families in their native countries is due to American corporate business practices around the world that benefit the rich and powerful at the expense of the common people. The bottom line here is – most of us in this room have more in common with immigrants than we do with the folks in Washington. We’re all in this together, and we need to start realizing that when we shape our immigration policy.
Los Alamos Labs:
In Los Alamos, we have a special opportunity to contribute to the solutions to the problems facing our country, with the labs that form the economic and social heart of this community. We can all be proud of the amazing collection of scientific and research talent that’s gathered in this beautiful city. But if Los Alamos is to remain a vibrant, thriving community, our research needs to focus more on the future – solutions to the climate crisis, clean, sustainable energy like solar, geothermal and technology we haven’t even thought of yet – all of it can come from here. But it must come with the sense of purpose and urgency that fueled Los Alamos’s first historic project. All of it can guarantee a prosperous future for everyone here in Los Alamos and northern New Mexico.
Healthcare:
Access to quality, affordable healthcare is not only the right thing to do, it is vital to the economic viability of our communities here in northern New Mexico. 47 million Americans have no health insurance and as many more are under insured. 71% of those with health insurance get their insurance through the employer-based system, which is already coming under pressure for drastic cuts. Also, we have a system that makes its profit from treating diseases rather than preventing them. It costs a lot more to treat disease than to prevent it in the first place, and prevention involves more than just health care. Prevention involves public health protection, stopping pollution in our air, water and food supply, early access to diagnosis.
I am committed to working to reduce costs as well as increasing prevention and access by any and all means that can work. Merely forcing people to buy health insurance is not the answer. And we all know that it’s going to take a huge effort to replace the entire health insurance industry with a single-payer plan, but the good news is we are moving closer to that everyday.
No Child Left Behind:
No Child Left Behind doesn’t work. It’s underfunded, it relies on punishments instead of rewards, and it’s not responsive to the needs of individual communities. One of the most important things I’ve learned during my lifetime of work on complex issues like education is that you can’t make fundamental changes to things like how we teach our children without asking for input from the people who actually teach our children. Ask any teacher and they could have told you they need more classroom time to teach real concepts and skills, not less time because they’re teaching to a test. They could have told you their schools are already under-funded even without the unfair and excessive burden of meeting No Child Left Behind. And they could have told you that improved performance – for anyone – comes from rewards, not punishments. Our schools desperately need help at all levels, but the solutions we need must be innovative, inclusive and, above all, fair to everyone – teachers, communities, and most importantly, students.
Are You Just Going to Represent Native American Issues?
I’ve spent my whole life working to bring people with diverse backgrounds together – with respect. Whether it’s in state government, local government, national, or as a Kellogg fellow doing international relations work, my ability to work with all different groups of people has been a hallmark of my success in my work throughout my life. My concerns are the same concerns as yours. Health, quality of life, jobs, future for our children, protecting our environment, creating economic opportunities. All these are issues that are important to all of us.
Galisteo Drilling:
I don’t support the drilling in Galisteo Basin. The disruption of our way of life, environmental degradation, damage to our archeological sites is too great. We need to wake up and realize that oil and fossil fuels are yesterday’s answer to our energy needs. We need to look to the future, in our investment in renewable energies like wind, solar and other technologies yet to come. To ensure the prosperity and quality of life for ourselves and our children and their children, we need to move forward while protecting what’s unique and special about Northern New Mexico.
Veterans:
First let me say this. That I am opposed to the war and our soldiers never should have been over there in the first place. But having said that, we have a moral responsibility to our soldiers who have served our country. As a Congressman, I will fight to make the veterans budget a permanent part of our federal budget, rather than part of our discretionary fund. It’s a disgrace to learn what happened at Walter Reed and other VA facilities around the country. Here in Northern New Mexico we have over 100,000 veterans. And some of them have to drive up to four hours each way to Albuquerque to get medical care. That’s unacceptable. It’s vital to the well being of our communities all of us here in northern New Mexico to honor and respect our veterans.
If you have any questions or comments about the issues that are important to you, please contact us at: info@BennyShendoJr.com
Benny Shendo Jr. has spent his life working to bring people together – people of all colors, shapes and sizes – at all levels – community, state, national, international – to find real solutions that work for all of us.
Benny was born and raised in Jemez pueblo, a small village in the heart of the northern New Mexico. He was raised with the values and traditions that come from my people having lived on this land sustainably for generations: respect for the land, respect for the waters and respect for the animals that share this world with us, respect for family (especially the wisdom of our elders, our grandmothers and our grandfathers), respect for our neighbors, respect for our community.
Benny attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs his freshman year and won an academic scholarship to the University of Colorado Boulder as a sophomore. He holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from the UC-Boulder College of Business.
Even as a student, Benny was already working to bring people together. During his senior year, Benny was awarded the Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence Award by the institution for his contribution to the university community.
As a two-term tribal lieutenant governor, Benny’s responsibility was to take an active leadership role in dealing with local and state government and the United States Congress, as well as the private sector, working on issues important to all of us – education, public safety, healthcare, supporting our youth and their development, protecting our natural resources, and creating economic opportunity for all. This work was all about bringing people of all parts of our society together to solve problems and create opportunities for all of us.
As a State of New Mexico Cabinet Secretary for Governor Richardson, Benny’s job was to take an active leadership role in moving New Mexico forward. His department managed over 600 projects worth approximately $75 million dollars. In his role as a Cabinet Secretary, Benny and his staff worked with the almost two-dozen other cabinet secretaries on a diverse array of issues relevant to all of us like transportation, healthcare, education and infrastructure. Benny and his staff worked with the state engineer and the tribes to develop the state water plan.
Benny worked with the Department of Transportation to negotiate resolution to right-of-way issues on the Railrunner project. We worked with the Departments of Health, Human Services, Aging and Long Term Care and Children Youth and Families to develop a statewide behavioral health system that benefits all of us. This work was all about bringing all of us together to create real solutions to some very, very complex issues that affect all of us here in northern New Mexico.
In 1997, Benny was selected to be a Kellogg Fellow. This prestigious three-year fellowship gave him in-depth training and experience in international relations and took him to China, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, as well as cities across the U.S., to study innovative solutions to challenges in education, health, leadership, environmental issues as well as technological and economic development.
As a New Mexico State cabinet secretary, as a lieutenant governor and tribal judge, as a leader in legislative advocacy, as a senior administrator in higher education and as a Kellogg Fellow doing national and international relations work, Benny has spent his life drawing on the values of inclusiveness, respect and community to bring diverse groups of people together, with respect, to create real, lasting solutions that work for all of us.
As a single father, Benny has raised two children, Eileen and Benjamin. Eileen graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2005 and Benjamin is a freshman at New Mexico State University.
As your representative in Washington, Benny will continue to do for New Mexico what he has done all of his life — bring people together to solve the challenges we face, and get things done.