Ruidoso News - Democrat Rocky Lara Promises to Stand for Southern New Mexico

News Article

By Elva K. Österreich

Roxanne "Rocky" Lara is an attorney who formerly served on the Eddy County Commission. Lara is running for Congress in New Mexico's 2nd congressional district on the Democratic ticket, facing incumbent Steve Pearce.

Lara dropped by Ruidoso on her final push tour of the 19-county district she is running in to bring community Democrats a message of hope and encouragement to vote.

She said the Democratic Party in Lincoln County has always supported her with their energy.

"No matter how tired I might be when I get here, I am always boosted right up though the roof and ready to get out there when I come here," she said.

As of Saturday, Lara said 33,000 voters have voted early in the district, 17,000 of those were Republican and 16,000 Democrats.

"So far things are looking really good," she said. "When I win, I intend to hit the ground running. I can't wait to get my hands dirty."

Lara said she has been attacked by negative campaign ads for about four weeks now and that nobody attacks so relentlessly with such ugly accusations unless he is really worried that she is a threat.

Focus on southern New Mexico

When asked how she feels about Democrats compromising on their Democratic values, Lara said she believes and stands up for the values of the Democrats as much as anybody but she will put the people of southern New Mexico first.

"My number one concern is always going to be how it's going to impact our communities," she said.

Usually the party values are in line with what the communities need.

She used the example of same sex marriage, which she supports.

"I cannot be able to imagine not to be able to marry the person I love," she said. "We have it in New Mexico. I'm going to work on getting it everywhere. There's no two tracks with me."

Energy resources

Lara said there are a lot of gaps that need to be bridged in the issues surrounding natural gas and oil removal in southern New Mexico. There are oil and gas resources in the district and also many alternative energy sources being developed. She said there are two locations in the district working on algae resources, a geothermal project in Hildago County. Wind and solar are also important to district constituents.

"There is a lot of potential and we are not meeting it," she said. "I am tired of leaving opportunities on the table."

Lara said there are many grants and resources out there southern New Mexico businesses could be taking advantage of and she wants to be a resource to push those opportunities.

"We need to be more forward with renewable purpose," she said.

When asked about her stance on fracking, Lara said, as an Eddy County commissioner, she did a lot of research on the issue.

"I was very concerned with seepage into the groundwater so I learned about it," she said. "The end result for me is there are some areas and some geology where it is OK. The geology at the southeast corner is OK."

She said after doing her research, she is agreeable to the idea of the industry using fracking as a tool where appropriate but the oil industry has to be held accountable when it doesn't follow the rules.

"We have to make sure we have teeth (to protect the environment)," she said.

Fighting poverty

In response to a question from Democrat state representative hopeful Dick Mastin, Lara agreed New Mexico is one of the poorest states and there is a lot of work to do to bring it up. She said there are areas in the state that are hurting badly like Luna County with a 15 percent unemployment rate.

One of the first priorities, she said, is education.

"In the long term we have got to invest in education," she said. "From access to early childhood education to ensuring there are Pell grants available for higher education and college. We need to make sure people who want to work have training opportunities."

Second, Lara said, was the United States needs to close corporate tax loopholes for jobs overseas.

"Honestly, I'm more focused in growing 20 small businesses to hire one more employee each than in bringing in a new business with 20 employees," she said.

Thirdly the nation needs to bring minimum wage up to $10.10 an hour, Lara said. If this happened across the United States, it would bring a million people out of poverty.

Medicare and Social Security

Lara said she is not one of those Democrats willing to throw Social Security under the bus. She said she is in favor of raising the cap on wages taxed for Social Security.

"I would not support privatizing Social Security," she said.

She also rejects the concept of vouchers for the Medicare program.

"I will protect the Medicare program with all the fire in my soul," she said.

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