STRICKLY POLITICS

While at Sandia Labs I was busy otherwise. I started working on an advanced degree. UNM did not offer a technical program that could be completed by people working full time and taking courses in the evening or on weekends. Some folks would say this was one of the subtle ways that the establishment used to keep the technical professions lily white, i.e. make it impossible for people of color to attend graduate programs. I never felt that way, but I did know that if I wanted a graduate degree I could not get it in engineering, at least not on a part time basis in Albuquerque. I chose Political Science. Some Graduate Schools call it Government, some Public Administration. The difference is very slight, in any one class there will be people who are majoring in any of the three areas. I took one or two courses per semester under the GI Bill, which incidentally supplemented my income as well. I started in February, 1955 and I finished in June 1959. My Thesis was not accepted until June of 1960. As usual, with me, it was controversial. The title was The Effects of Plural Executive in New Mexico. Dorothy Cline was on my Thesis Committee and she objected to one small part of my paper in which I indicated that one effect of electing eleven executives at the state level was that the two major parties always chose a female for Secretary of State in order to "balance" the ticket. Dorothy did not like that, I reluctantly changed the paper to eliminate that from my Thesis. I never felt comfortable "rolling with the punches." However, I got my Master's and now I was ready to make a career change. I also got commissioned a Colonel-Aide-de-Camp on the Governor's Staff at about the same time.

Master of Arts Degree from UNM and Kentucky Colonel on Governor's Staff

Colonel-Aide-de-Camp                         On Governor's Staff

I turned to Politics and Doing Good. First let's turn to politics, then to doing good. Actually the two go together but I will try to derive one from the other.

From Left CW - Eddie Barboa, Bennie Aragon, Orlando Ulibarri, Andy Chacon, Jack Campbell, Bob Goetz, Henry Kiker, Sabu Gallegos, Barbara Kiker, Isabel Chacon*, Mrs. Jack Campbell*
Cheer Leading is Bill McPherson

Jack Campbell is elected Governor of New Mexico November 5, 1960

*With back to camera!

Strictly Politics is the label on a file in one of my safes that your Mother would probably not want to revisit. But here it goes anyway. My interest in politics was triggered by a speech during the 1952 Presidential campaign. Isabel and I were arriving home from Houston and climbing the old Dixon hill in our 1951 Chevrolet. You can still see pieces of the old road if you look carefully. It wound and wound, hair pin turns they were. Scary too, sometimes like during a storm or at night. This was at night. I had the radio on and Adalai Stevenson was campaigning against Dwight Eisenhower. My West Point classmates would die if they knew that one speech by Stevenson converted me from a Republican to a Democrat. Of course, your Mother already was a Democrat. I remember as a child hearing Democrats referred to as "Los Del Moco". Stevenson was a great orator and I registered as Democrat the first time I registered. I have never changed and have never voted for a Republican in my life, never for any office!

I have always believed in party responsibility, that is a party must, in my opinion, take an ideological position from which the details are derived from. In military terms this is strategy and tactics. I have always taken the side of the underdog and the Democratic Party struck me as being on the side of the underdog most of the time. The more active I got in the party the more obvious that became. I did not need the Nixon shenanigans to convince me that, while both parties have less than desirable activists, often times at the helm; the Republicans go for big rip-offs while the Democrats nickel and dime you to death. But that was not all. Democrats are more inclusive, more diverse, they are more (d)emocratic.

In October of 1954 I accepted the position at Sandia Labs and on the first weekend I made my first political speech. It was at Peñasco. Georgia Lusk, who as the first and only Congress-woman to serve from New Mexico until the appearance of Heather Wilson in 1998, had in 1947 appointed me as a third alternate to West Point, was now running for Superintendent of New Mexico Schools. I returned the favor and asked the citizenry of Peñasco to vote for her for Superintendent. She got every available vote in my town. Governor-elect John Simms was impressed. I was offered a position in his administration but turned it down. It was as a highway engineer. I am glad I did not take it. Highway engineers, particularly field engineers, are assigned to outlying towns and villages and their families wind up living in isolation. The entire families often turn to alcohol, or so I am told. (In retrospect, I should have gone after an appointment as, say a Captain in the New Mexico National Guard. I expect that I could have eventually gotten a star or two. Oh, well)

So I got my first taste of politics. I got a nice letter from Georgia Lusk, she was the one who told me she had gotten every vote in Peñasco, and she credited me for having done it.

Well, it just so happens that this suited Isabel's father just fine. He had been the Democratic Precinct Chairman in Peñasco for years. Isabel had forgotten more about politics than I ever learned when I became involved. You have to understand that politics is not Political Science. We were soon attending Precinct 38 meetings in Albuquerque. Our lives would never be the same. It got to where we ate, lived, and slept politics. I was a charter member of the Grass Roots Democrats under the leadership of Henry Kiker, Jr. We organized Kiker's Kickers and put on "political shows" all over the state. From Los Alamos to Las Cruces we went spreading the liberal message via plays that Barbara Kiker, Mandy Pino, Isabel Chacon, and many others wrote. We also made lots of tamales and tacos for the numerous political dinners we gave for the likes of John Simms, Joe Montoya, etc. How many political parties did we give at our homes at 1131 Morris NE and later at 7105 Pickard NE in Albuquerque. I do not remember, but a good number.

Now back to that folder labeled Strictly Politics in my file. Just what does it contain? Well it is interesting, but not very meaningful to someone not attuned to the shenanigans going on in precinct politics in Albuquerque in the mid-50's and early 60's. The patron system was operating with a full head-of-steam at the time. Old-time precinct leaders ran things pretty much as they so fit. When we learned that they were making money by, in effect selling influence, we the Young Turks, as we called ourselves decided to organize. Our statement of Purpose reads as follows:

"We do not represent any particular faction or segment of the Democratic party. Our aims are; (1) To encourage the exchange of ideas among various groups interested in effective, democratic government. (2) To encourage work on a grass roots level within the Democratic party structure. (3) To encourage and support Democratic candidates for the State Legislature, County offices, and District offices who are qualified for the jobs they seek and who will campaign on vital issues, and (4) To study political and governmental problems and to make recommendations for action."

Well that is how we started, but eventually we got into the muck and started fighting fire with fire. The Strictly Politics folder will reveal that we learned to play the hard ball of local politics pretty well. Some news item clippings you will find indicate our degree of participation, some good, some bad, some ugly.

Check out my years of "doing good" service on the New Mexico Public Welfare Board, the Mental Health Board, and the Vocational Rehabilitation Board under Governor Jack M. Campbell.

Read On! Enjoy!