Española mayoral candidate Alfred Herrera has been getting taxpayer-funded face time on cable television in the run-up to the March 2 election.
The North Central Regional Transit District resumed airing promotional TV spots in early February that feature Herrera telling viewers they can save money and help the environment by riding the District’s “blue buses.”
Herrera, who is currently a councilor, represents the city on the District’s Board of Directors, which includes one representative from each of the District’s 11 member agencies.
District Executive Director Josette Lucero said the District had filmed five promotional spots, each featuring a separate Board member, in early 2008. The spots feature Herrera, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, Santa Fe County Commissioner Mike Anaya, former Taos County Commissioner Charlie Gonzales and former Los Alamos County Commissioner Jim West.
The District had aired the ads in fall 2008 and fall 2009, then stopped because the agency had to “get a handle” on its marketing budget, Lucero said. A marketing director hired in August put together a marketing plan last month that called for, among other things, resuming TV advertising, Lucero said. The District began re-airing the spots after Feb. 1 that feature Herrera, Coss and Anaya. The District is no longer using the Los Alamos and Taos ads because West died in November 2009 and Gonzales resigned after a heart attack last year, Lucero said.
The District paid Trident media $2,240 to air the ads between June and September 2009 in Española and Santa Fe County, and another $1,120 to air them from Feb. 1 to April 1, 2010, according to District finance records. The District also paid Comcast $4,420 to air the ads in Santa Fe and Taos from July to October 2009, then another $3,700 to air them from Feb. 15 to March 28, 2010, the records state.
The 30-second ads are running four times a day on four channels in Española and once a day on a fifth, marketing director Christina Cordova said.
Rio Arriba County Commissioner Elias Coriz, who represents the County on the Board, said he has received complaints about Herrera’s ad and planned to bring it up at the next Board meeting. Nevertheless, Coriz said he could not condemn the ad in good conscience.
“I was supposed to appear in one of them, but I was busy working in Los Alamos the day they filmed it,” Coriz said. “I’d be a hypocrite if I came out against it because if I’d done the ad, it would’ve aired when I was running for the Board of Trustees of the (Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative), and the same questions would’ve come up.”
Lucero said politics were not a consideration in broadcasting the TV ads.
“My goal is to advertise our bus system,” she said. Coss is seeking re-election in Santa Fe and Anaya has announced his candidacy as state land commissioner in the 2010 Democratic primary elections. Neither man currently represents his respective agency on the District Board.
Lucero said the District has no plans to film new TV spots with current Board members.
“I guess we could go spend a lot of money and do that,” Lucero said. “But the idea here is to promote our services as efficiently as possible.”
Herrera also argued he should not shirk his responsibility as District Board chairman to promote the agency just because he is running for mayor.
“That would be doing RTD a disservice,” he said.
Herrera voted Jan. 8 to give Lucero a $3,000 raise. The Board approved the raise on the recommendation of a study the Board had commissioned in April, which concluded Lucero should make at least $92,000 annually. Herrera distanced himself from the raise by arguing he had only voted to implement the conclusion of the study, which he initially voted for in April, before he was running for mayor.
Herrera added that his mayoral opponent, Española Mayor Pro Tem Alice Lucero, also got free exposure from her own extra-curricular involvements. Alice Lucero was executive director of the Española Valley Chamber of Commerce until earlier this month and emceed the Chamber’s 2010 banquet Jan. 30, although she had already announced her resignation and current director Deborah Torres had already been hired.
“I paid for dinner, not to hear her speak,” Herrera said. “It was very clever how she did it, ‘I’m stepping down as director to run for mayor.’ She got to say her piece on (Chamber) members’ dime.”
Alice Lucero denied using her Chamber job to promote her campaign and also has questions about Herrera’s ads.
“I’ve heard from several voters who think it’s unfair,” she said. “It is at taxpayer expense. That is a question of ethics. Alfred seems to say he’s a strong advocate for ethics, but he’s taken this a little bit too far.”