Pride of the South Valley Parade

I drove past the Westside Community Center at 8:00 am on the way to drop off my daughter for an overnight camping trip. She takes part in a leadership program directed by the Cornstalk Institute. I knew that the parade would start later in the day. By 9:00 am I had dropped off my daughter and was at the Westside Community Center on Isleta. The candidates started to show up and put up their tables. The first to show was Michael Padilla who is running against Linda Lopez for state senate. Michael had everything well organized and planned out for the day. Linda show up in the parade but did not have a table. County Clerk Maggie Oliver Toulouse was there helping to register new voters. Maggie has been doing a wonderfully job as our county clerk.

State District Court Judges Elizabeth Whitefield and Judge Carl Butkus showed up. Judge Whitefield arrived in the parade. Judge Butkus show up around 12:30 to meet and shake hands with voters in the south valley. Judge Ben Chavez from the Metro Court who is running for a district court seat walked the parade route shaking hands with the voters. Judge candidates for the metro court that showed up and walked the parade and visited with voters were Reed S. Sheppard, Garry Breeswine, and Maria Dominguez. Missing from the judicial line up was our favor outsider “Judge” Bob Schwartz. I guess being a republican for so long made him forget just how important support from the south valley is to candidates in our party. Bobby please don’t forget you are one of us democrats this year. You should be out talking to the democratic voters.

Congressional District One Candidates that show up to take part in the parade, and talked with voters afterward was Martin Heinrich and Michelle Lujan Grisham. Michelle now has Lujan on the ballot because the court ruled in her favor. But she also has Rebecca on the ballot because the court ruled against her in that case. Michelle said that Martin Heinrich should get lighter colored t-shirts for his supporters now that it is spring. If Martin Heinrich gets his wish then he will also need caps to keep the sun off their heads later this summer. One does have to wonder where Robert Pidcock and Rebecca Vigil Giron were today. Both should realize just how important support for the south valley voters could be to a candidate.

Last but by no means least was Jill Copper who was out for her husband Congressman Tom Udall. Married to Congressman Udall for thirty years with their now grown daughter Amanda, Jill has always been one of Tom’s strongest supporters. It is nice to see a couple so much in love after 30 years of marriage. It is also nice to see a wife that can get out and speak well of her husband to the voters.

There are lots of pictures of the parade on my Webshots. The link is at the bottom of the page with the other links. The Westside Community Center was celebrating its 50th year servicing the south valley community. Awards were given out to local community leaders. By 3:00 p.m. all of the speech giving was over and I was ready to head home to type out this blog.

The day was a windy one and the sun was getting just a little too hot. The south valley has a lot to be proud about and the parade and party afterward was very well attended. Everyone knows that the south valley is a good place to start a campaign and to go to get support for a democratic candidate. The north valley parade was not half as well attended as the south valley parade this year. South Valley residents really know how to throw a party.