Ju'da or the art of wasting money
by Matt Worley

We were almost off second deadline on Wednesday when a rumor (soon confirmed as fact) wafted across the newsroom. Steve Schiff, our district's congressman who had been sick with skin cancer for over a year and a half, was dead at age 51--this age made him a "young" man to the writers of TV news. The event of his death turned a leisurely Wednesday into a frantic Wednesday. And it changed my day off Thursday into another day of work. Anytime something like this happens, everything is thrown into disarray. All of the advance work for the next day's paper gets put aside to rework a paper that is already done. It's like cleaning the bathroom and then letting a drunk friend throw up all over everything.

Not that Steve Schiff was a drunk friend. At best, he was an acquaintance--a guy I saw every once in a while in the papers. My only real connection to Schiff is a college friend who works in his office in D.C. And since Schiff's politics were usually different from mine, I can't say I had great admiration for the man. But he voted his conscience most of the time, which is saying something in these days of party line politics. I never voted for him, and I even called for his resignation a while back. Nothing against the guy, but it is my job to bitch.

I reasoned that fighting cancer and representing a congressional district were not two things a man could do at the same time. While Schiff's death eventually proved me right on this, my reasoning is about the nature of public service--not what a body can or can't do. Public service, as I learned way back in grade school, is about representing the interests of the constituents. Voting, maintaining influential posts in sub-committees, taking bribes (I mean considerations) from lobbyists--these are the kinds of things we need our congressman to do for us. We can't be there to pull the lever, or to sit in a meeting and push for extra money to help the New Mexico Cattle Association. We have to be at our regular jobs. If our representative isn't representing us--what is he doing?

Well, the ugly truth of this story is that Steve Schiff was dying. His last term (which ends in November) was one of absence. He knew it was going to be like that when he was re-elected in 1996--at least for a year or so while he went through treatments and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, his timetable (he had wanted to be back in his office by last fall sometime) turned out differently. And while I'm sure that Schiff had the best of intentions when he set his timetable in 1996, what has occurred because of Schiff's absentia term will end up costing the state and district much more than anyone could have imagined.

Schiff's announcement earlier this year that he would not seek re-election in November set off a huge race for his soon-to-be empty seat. Understandable since an empty seat is much easier to capture than a seat held by an incumbent. Because of Schiff's death, we will have two elections for our congressional seat this year. One in July to fill the seat temporarily (cost: $700,000), along with the main one in November. And while finding three quarters of a million dollars for the special election won't be that hard, finding shelter from the campaign posters and TV spots will be. And, lucky for us, we're gonna have to endure this idiocy for almost eight months.

Governor Gary Johnson decided last week that there was no way election law could be changed to avoid a special election. This is from the guy who's been trying to change every other law in the state by decree from his office. Does it really help us, as constituents, to have more than one election for the same position in the same year? Did I mention that the primaries for the November election will be in June, about a month before the special election to fill the seat for about five months? Do they really think voters are going to vote in the primary, the special election and the main election? We have enough trouble getting people to vote for president--choosing between the same people for the same office three times in a span of six months isn't something the ordinary man is gonna go for.

So the turnout will be low in the primaries. This is ordinary--usually the primary is populated by party supporters and older people who have nothing to do but watch TV. Dangerously, however, the special election will be populated by the same people. Which means the incumbent in November will be elected by the same people who are paying for the campaign. Even a five month old incumbent is the incumbent. The little (I) will be by the name, and many in the main election will punch that button out of supposed loyalty.

But I don't want to beat a dead horse. Okay, maybe I already have, but the point here isn't to degrade a dead congressman. The purpose is to point out the futility of a government without common sense. In a democracy, common sense should prevail. The notion of 'common' is the will of most of the people. In this case, the will of most of the people will be to stay home and ignore the chaos.

Matt Worley thought about running for Schiff's seat, but realized if he knew enough people to fund a million dollar campaign, he probably would have a different job.

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