KRWG Public Media is covering the New Mexico State Representative race for district 38. Early voting opens October 6th. Republican candidate Rebecca Dow spoke to Noah Raess.
Noah Raess:
Can you tell us about yourself and why you are running for this office?
Rebecca Dow:
My name is Rebecca Dow. I grew up in Truth or Consequences. My parents moved here when I was ten to serve the community, and after graduating, going off to college, getting married, I came back to visit my parents with my two young children, my husband and I, and we just saw the community through a different lens as parents and young adults. And there were gaps in services that we felt that we could meet. And so we left corporate jobs and moved back. It took two years to move and began by opening a licensed child care center. The first in Sierra County, is still the only nationally accredited early childhood program, and the mission was meeting the needs of the whole child. So this is before Obamacare. Sierra County had among the lowest uninsured families, even though they were eligible for Medicaid even back then, the immunization rates were very low. Children are not going to school ready. And there was not safe places for families to take their children while they worked and went to school. So we started with childcare and our mission to meet the needs of the whole child is around the family and community. And so we began adding, partnering with the community and saying, hey, we also need this. We also need that. So in an 18 year period that added comprehensive services, pretty much prenatal through a child turning 18, supporting those families. And when the predecessor for my district stepped down, I decided to run, becoming one of the first early childhood educators elected to serve in Santa Fe.
Noah Raess:
What do you think are some of the top issues in your district, and how would you successfully address those issues?
Rebecca Dow:
One of the top areas in my district is, drought, overcrowded forests, poor land management, therefore resulting in a water crisis that is impacting, I represent through the valley. So starting in the city limits of Socorro, the middle Rio Grande irrigation district, conservancy district, all the way down to Radium Springs, Leesburg area. And so most of my district is agriculture, but water is life. So whether it is an, for example, today, a dam that was at 80% sedimentation before the floods, which is now about to breach, we have neglected maintenance on all of our watersheds, our dams, our forest, and it's resulted in some pretty catastrophic events across our state that are really impacting our watershed soil health, acequia and and our ability to deliver what communities need to survive and what wildlife need to thrive. So what can I do about it? Definitely continue to advocate, partner with allies. This is something that has had a difference of opinion and so people who lawmakers who before would be hesitant to fill the too thin of an acre of forest, even though research shows that we've got 600 to 1000 trees on an acre, and we should have between 65 and 100.We were not in agreement that those need to be thinned. I didn't think that education advocacy, unlikely allies, have really grown bipartisan support around what we need to do, beginning with our forests to recharge our aquifers, protect our watersheds, present, prevent catastrophic fires. There's a lot of bipartisan support. And so I feel like these are some essential roles of government, especially in government in New Mexico, especially my area owns the majority of the land that they must care for, the land that they currently own. It's a basic role of government, when we chose to own that land is to care for it. And I think there's growing agreement now, is it my voice necessarily? Is it that how expensive it is to recover from a catastrophic fire and the flooding that follows? But we're getting there. So just elevating the voice being a voice for my district and finding allies and educating and or just, you know, and we try and get a lawmaker to listen to me about the concerns of my district, I do.
Noah Raess:
Data centers have been a major topic of debate in southern New Mexico, New Mexico, and really nationwide. I was just wondering, what do you think the role of the state should be in data centers, both maybe upcoming in the future and ones that are in existence now?
Rebecca Dow:
Well, I would definitely start with saying that Project Jupiter. It's a 1400 acre hyperscale AI campus. And that was done substantially, almost entirely with Democrat leadership at the state and local levels. And now when you go, when you talk, you see Project Jupiter. It's all people that work with the Democrat Party, the New Mexico Democrat Party that are now the lobbyists and advocates for that super hyperscale AI campus, one of the largest in the nation. And so it to me is exactly why we need balance in government. No party and no political network should have unchecked power over projects of this scale. So I am pro responsibility and I believe that every data center should have secured adequate water. They should not compromise existing users. They've got to provide energy and infrastructure that it requires, and those costs should not be shifted to any New Mexico ratepayer. And these large projects, they've got a clear cybersecurity, environmental and transparency standards. Legally adopted moratoriums and permitting requirements should be respected and local decisions should be respected. So like two of my three counties have moratoriums and those should be respected. But I'm very concerned as an early childhood educator about something that's rarely discussed and that's what happens when AI begins replacing experiences that children need. They've got to develop critical thinking skills, creativity, and problem solving and we did that by experimenting and making mistakes, trying again and discovering solutions. And we cannot replace that by a computer or an app that handles answers. We've got to protect human growth and development. I just think there needs to be a lot more guidelines set around the testing, monitoring, human control, incident reporting, transparency, privacy protections and just these dangerous thresholds. So yes, to innovation and yes, accountability first.
Noah Raess:
And CYFD has been in hot water much of this year with the attorney general investigation and recent reporting showing that CYFD dropped a child off at the US-Mexico border. What do you see as the best path forward for this department?
Rebecca Dow:
The best path forward for this department is not a three person appointed commission. We have multiple things that have been put in place with prior administration, prior legislative bodies. We've got the substitute Care Advisory Council, we have the children's cabinet. We really need to unwind some of the things that we've done over the past couple of years, because it is a good governor appointing good leadership and reducing turnover, implementing a plan, growing, what we would consider step therapy, like a continuum of care for children, adequate foster care, foster treatment care, basically implementing the the Kevin S. lawsuit settlement and the recommendations that are in there and and taking the recommendations of the substitute care advisory council and even our attorney general. But we have created over the last couple of years just this tangled web of where does the buck stop? Is it CYFD? Nope. Is it ECECD? Nope. Is it the MCO’s? Well, they're responsible too. Is it these Carea navigators? Is it the administrative office of the courts? Is it the health care authority? Is the behavioral health department? Like where does the buck stop? We have two many chiefs. It's just a mess. We pretty much need to roll things back. Maybe to what Alice King envisioned and and go far back when under the entire tenure of Susana Martinez, we had less than five fatalities of children in state custody. In the last 90 days, we have had five fatalities of children in state custody. It's not working. It's almost at the point where we've got to start over. But a three people who get appointed by a governor or by a party in power, who then make the decisions is the wrong direction. We are electing lawmakers to govern. We are electing a governor to govern and appoint a secretary to lead. We need changes to children's code confidentiality clause. Reunification should be in the best interest of the child. Those are some reforms that need to happen.
Noah Raess:
And Mexico has ranked near the bottom in terms of education for many years. What do you think needs to be done to turn this around?
Rebecca Dow:
Well, if we literally can look at every other state in the nation for something that is producing a better outcome, we are making some progress. It's not fast enough, but we could literally look at any state. Mississippi would be the best model and it states, I think there are now 4 or 6 states that are copying what they call the Mississippi Miracle. Now, each of those elements, there's some pilot program or grant available in New Mexico, with the exception of social promotion. What Mississippi model did is there's some anchor things there where there's early and immediate intervention. Children need to be proficient by third grade or they are retained. But there is regular testing. Parents are notified. Hey, your child can be retained if they're not ready to progress to the fourth grade. If they are not proficient readers. But paired with that is ancillary services tutoring in school time, out of school time, summer programs, what children need and what was perceived to be something that would be cruel, and retaining children who, much like New Mexico, are low income and minority, resulted in over 80% of the kids becoming proficient. And so that was paired with so no social promotion, early testing, immediate interventions and parent engagement. And those things were adequately funded. That has worked so well that other states are following it. They're seeing the same results and Mississippi just passed that they will repeat that process at eighth grade. So it's not money, because New Mexico has increased their funding into education by more than 47%. I believe it's not a lawsuit because we have all kinds of targeted interventions. But if you're seeing something in another state that's breaking statistics and and especially in a state whose demographic looks similar to ours as far as income, children of color, people who have had less opportunities then we should look at that model and follow it. The other thing that Mississippi has is dollars are following students and parents have a lot more agency. So parents have a say, and I do believe parents, unless they've demonstrated otherwise, they are their child's best expert they are their primary educator and their best advocate.
Noah Raess:
And finally, what else do you think is important for voters to know about you and your campaign?
Rebecca Dow:
Well, I think the most important thing to know about me and my campaign is I grew up in the community that I represent. I know the values. I've been a voice, and I have spent my life developing with community partnerships, nonprofits that I have no ownership or interest in that meet the gaps, fill the gaps, and meet the needs of families to strengthen families. And that was doing pre-K before pre-K was cool, providing afterschool programs when we had to scrape dimes and do donor development and fundraisers and sell blow necklaces outside the PanAm center to make payroll, you know, and we added, you know, these things that support families, wraparound services, and you're only a leader if people choose to follow. So I believe that I have demonstrated elevated commitment for my community. I'm proud to be a New Mexican. I love our way of life and rural New Mexico's values are worth fighting for and protecting. So although there are 16 representatives who have a portion of Doña Ana, I represent the northern rural area and I represent the community that raised me.
