While last week brought us some difficult press that distorted the intent and character of Benny's campaign, today brings good news. The Santa Fe Reporter in its courageous endorsement of Benny Shendo, Jr. for U.S. Congress today said, "We believe electing people based on their political connections and/or money is destroying our country. To the best of our knowledge, the problems in our democracy are not as closely tied to a pervasive problem of politicians standing up and asking inappropriate questions. To the best of our knowledge, our democracy can withstand uncomfortable conversations. Perhaps it might even benefit from them."
The Reporter indicated that Benny Shendo, Jr.'s strong stand against the war in Iraq was one of the issues that impacted their endorsement. Of particular note was Benny's strong presentation at the Santa Fe Candidate Forum, where the paper's staff was impressed by Benny "speaking forcefully against the war, elucidating his positions on a variety of issues with eloquent passion, garnering loud and sustained applause several times."
The endorsement came in spite of the paper feeling quite strongly that the "Farmington Question" was poorly handled by Benny, and they held no punches in this regard, at the same time acknowledging that it raised an issue that the community needs to work on. "Make no mistake. If we really believed Shendo was a homophobic candidate, we wouldn’t, couldn’t, endorse him. ...Shendo clearly outlines his support for civil rights for all people, both in conversation and on his Web site’s position papers. And while raising the topic of a candidate’s sexual orientation was poor form, we don’t think Shendo was trying to smear Lujan on the basis of sexual orientation, we think he was trying to smear him as being dishonest. It was a dumb move, but the furor is so intense, we can’t help but think it also reflects just how uncomfortable society still is on the topic itself." In the wake of last week's events Benny is the only candidate who called for progressive dialog based on greater tolerance and acceptance of differences in our society, especially with regard to sexual orientation.
Read the full endorsement article online or in the print edition which hits the streets today, then call and email your friends and encourage them to consider Benny Shendo, Jr. the TRUE progressive democrat with the qualifications to represent all of us.
