KRWG Public Media is covering the New Mexico State Representative race for district 32. Early voting opens October 6th. Republican candidate Jenifer Jones spoke to Noah Raess.
Noah Raess:
Can you tell us about yourself and why you are running for this office?
Jenifer Jones:
Yes. Thank you for the opportunity. And yeah, my name is Jenifer Jones and right now I'm serving my second term in district 32, which is Hidalgo, Luna, and part of Doña Ana County and after I had a long, varied career in nursing, and I've retired from that career for the most part, I did run for the legislature four years ago, and I'm running for my third term. I think it takes a while to get acclimated, to understand really the needs of the district, to understand how to make things happen in Santa Fe. And I feel like I'm working on a lot of really significant projects and things that will benefit the communities that I serve and that's why I'm running again.
Noah Raess:
And what do you think are the top issues in your district, and how would you successfully address those issues?
Jenifer Jones:
It's so hard to pick a favorite. You know, we have every issue. I think my district has unique issues where the southernmost district, we are on the international border. I serve most of the international border, 150 miles of that in Hidalgo and Luna counties and we have the highest poverty rate in the state. We also have the highest unemployment rate in the state. So the issues look a little different here. Being very rural, we have the rural issues, all of them. So I will just say that among the tops would be, first of all, I think anything that has to do with roads, bridges, infrastructure is really an issue in rural New Mexico. And I think that's all over the state, but especially in these outlying districts where roads are plentiful. And we have to have them to make anything happen. Everything's more expensive because it takes more money to get goods and services here to our areas. So, that's always a challenge. I'm planning on continuing with an effort to provide more maintenance money, dedicated state maintenance money for the district for DOT. They do a good job with what we give them, but we underfunded them. They're severely underfunded and without a state transportation road fund in the state of New Mexico. And maintenance especially often gets overlooked. And so I'm working on that. I'm also working on the other issue that I believe is one of the prime responsibilities of government right next to infrastructure and roads, bridges and that sort of thing. Utilities and such is safety and security. And so I've been working for a couple of years now. We're close to starting a dedicated police force in Columbus, right there. It's the only border community actually, in New Mexico. True border community and they've been without a dedicated police department for some time now. So, that's another place where we're really deficient in rural New Mexico is to find enough sheriff's deputy resources, enough city resources to cover an entire huge area. So Columbus needs that support, and they're growing, and it's time to do that. So I'm happy to be involved in that initiative for more safety and security there. As far as others like I said, education is a huge issue and we've lost a lot of our youth. Just recently, I gave a presentation about the 32,000 disengaged youth across New Mexico and we have the largest number of them. According to data we have in Luna County, we have over 800 of those disengaged youths. We're looking at how to find them, train them, give them opportunities and hope for a better future.
Noah Raess:
And data centers have been a major topic of debate in the state, but also nationwide. What do you think the state's role should be in handling new data centers and maybe ones that are already existing?
Jenifer Jones:
Well, I know that's going to be a huge issue in the upcoming session and I believe, in what's happening in a couple of the counties here, one that I serve and then one just north of Grant County and Hidalgo County in my district that, well, on the county level. You asked about state, we will be looking at bills on the state level as to how we can monitor how we can make sure that the people are being served and we're not setting aside economic growth and development, but we're also watching carefully as to how we protect our resources and protect the environment that we have to have that balance and I think everybody's aware of that at this point. So there has been a moratorium, temporary moratorium, passed by on the county level by Hidalgo County commissioner at their last meeting and I know Grant County did that as well. I'm sure Luna is looking at that. We don't want to make any rash decisions. And as far as I'm concerned, any effort to establish a data center is and a lot of other issues as well, a lot of other things as I'm the same. I don't make rash emotional decisions. I want to see the facts and I am until proven otherwise, I'm going to be a no until somebody can prove to me that what we're doing is good for the economy, but also good for the environment and good for the people that we serve. Then I would be a no on that. So there needs to be some real, careful monitoring of that situation both on a state and county level.
Noah Raess:
CYFD has been in hot water for a while, but especially this last year between Attorney General investigation and 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?
Jenifer Jones:
The best path forward for CYFD. I just got out of a presentation about CYFD and there are so many, so many ways to look at that. The department is seriously dysfunctional. We all know that. The question would be, do we continue that department under the authority of the governor or do we take that out from under the authority of the governor? Those are kind of the two questions at the very top of that bigger question. But, the other issue that I've dealt with a lot in CYFD and this is big too, and I'm sure that everyone's concerned about the babies that we've lost, because they've been substance exposed. And the governor's executive order to take those babies from their mom, if they're exposed to drugs at birth, that is a huge controversy right now that we're dealing with. And, that was really what we discussed today as well in a couple of different presentations in Las Cruces, in the health committee. We have to do better. We have to find ways to help moms and to provide resources and really to look at that on the front end and not to be punitive. Moms need to understand if they're pregnant and they're in a situation where they're using drugs, that there's help for them, and we need to provide those resources, we need to make sure that we have the health care workforce to provide the resources and the licensed people and the people who know how to deal with substance abuse and provide the resources that are needed for families to take care of their children properly. It's a really difficult situation. But we want to strike that balance, too. And we also discussed today where we draw the line with saying, you know what? There's a problem where this child needs to come out of the home. And so there is going to be that line drawn. And yeah, it's a difficult situation, but we need to help strengthen families through that and I think, like I said, as much on the back end, we need to work on that on the front end with providing resources, so that women don't ever get into that situation in the first place. They're not in a place where they would ever get into using drugs. And so that's another huge situation that we need to look at from many perspectives and we're busy doing that.
Noah Raess:
And New 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?
Jenifer Jones:
Thank you for that question. I think really what we need to do is focus more on what each individual, public school, department, public school district needs. Each of the school districts is different. They have different issues. We certainly have ours down here at the very southern most district. And so providing a local look and giving local school boards, local districts, more of a say in how they use their resources, I think is probably the biggest thing we could do to help serve our students, the teachers who are in the classroom, they know what they need. So listening to the teachers, listening to the school board members who listen to the public, those are the people that we really need to be talking to about how we can make a better district. So, yes, we need some direction from the state. We definitely need the resources from the state that it's local control that I really believe in when it comes to each district.
Noah Raess:
Finally, what else do you think is important for voters to know about you and your campaign?
Jenifer Jones:
I guess it's my approach. What I want people to know is my approach toward policy and my approach in Santa Fe about how we how we need to to pass laws and spend your tax dollars, my very first thing that I will always do is uphold our constitutional rights for the citizens of New Mexico and then, because I work in a rural district and I serve a rural district is stand against any bills that will harm rural New Mexico. We always have that discussion, urban versus rural. And how can I protect rural New Mexico and the people of our rural districts? The other thing that I am really focused on now is to not make any policy, don't ever vote on a bill, based on fear or emotion. We need to vote on our bills based on facts and data and what we know about our district and so I'm very much against fear based or emotional based policy. It's really, it's a danger. I think we pass bills that too often need to be fixed later because we were not approaching it from a fact based position. So the other thing I want people to understand is that I want them to be educated. I want the public to be educated. This last session, we made a lot of progress, for instance, in health care, which I as a former nurse, I serve as a ranking minority member on the health committee in, in the session and in the interim as well. And what we need to know is that we heard the public in health committee. And because of that, we changed and reformed medical malpractice laws. And we did a lot of other things that will help. Hopefully we can hang on to them this next session and not go backwards on those issues and draw physicians back to the state of New Mexico and keep them, retain them here because it's a better place. It's not a hostile place like it has been the last few years. We need to improve on that. And I just want the public to know that we're listening to you and that you need to be involved. Your vote matters, and your voice matters in Santa Fe. And so I'm always an advocate for more public input.
