From left are County Commission District 3 Democrat candidates Ralph Dominguez; District 4 Democrat candidates Marilyn Alcorn, Jeremiah Garcia, and James McCauley, with Tony Trujillo unable to attened; District 5 Democrat candidates Harry Browne, Stephen Edwards and Simon Ortiz.

By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Democratic Party, along with Western New Mexico University's MECha and Miller Library hosted the monthly Grant County Democratic Party Forum on Thursday, April 28, to hear from the Democrat candidates for County Commission, districts 3, 4, and 5. Districts 4 and 5 are new this year, but all five districts have been reconfigured with the change from a three-person commission to a five-person commission.

Allyson Siwik of Gila Resources Information Project moderated the forum. She said her job, as director, is to provide information so people can make informed decisions on natural resources.

She introduced the candidates.

District 3 Democrat candidates are Ralph Dominguez who is a native of Grant County and works at Gila Regional Medical Center, and Alicia Edwards, who is the county coordinator for Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities and was the founder of The Volunteer Center.

Democrat candidates for District 4 include Marilyn Alcorn, Jeremiah Garcia and James McCauley. Alcorn is a veteran of the military and law enforcement and is the founder of Adult Care Services. Garcia spent 40 years in the natural gas industry, with 27 of them as the PNM-Texas New Mexico operations manager. He said he has a passion to serve with integrity. James McCauley was born in Silver City and graduated from Cobre High School and New Mexico State University. He retired from Chino Mines. Unable to attend was Tony Trujillo, former WNMU regent and recently retired from Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

For District 5, Harry Browne, Stephen Edwards and Simon Ortiz are candidates. Browne is founder and business manager of Aldo Leopold Charter school and GRIP treasurer; Edwards is retired Forest Service and part-time GRMC security guard. Ortiz was raised in the Mimbres and attended Western and now owns El Gallo Pinto restaurant.

Siwik posed a series of questions, each time picking the first name to answer and then proceeding through the other candidates in that district and then giving the other districts' candidates time to answer the question.

The first question asked each candidate's vision on the integration on the triple bottom line among planet, people and profit.

Dominguez answered first. "It's important to recognize Silver City's location, 50 miles from the Interstate." Coming into the community, for social aspects a person wants to see, they want education, quality of life and health care. "The hospital has difficulty finding doctors. The doctors will come, but the wives don't have shopping and the kids don't find enough to do. If you don't have water for companies, they don't want to come. The state and the county can give incentives, but if companies are looking for a building, they may not find what they want. Those hiring new employees may get the state to pay for the first six months. That's a good thing about the university, because it will train people."

"You have to look at what we have that's good," Dominguez said. "It's a great place to work, live and raise a family. We have the forest. When people see Grant County, they want to come back. We must work in collaboration with the city."

Alicia Edward said the main thing is what the community needs for community prosperity. "We need a vision of the future. One of the first things to do would be a community visioning. We are at the crossroads for bicycling. It's a good stop over spot for the Southern Route. We have the opportunity to build on a rapidly growing bicycle industry. Arizona just created part of the U.S. Bicycle Route trail. If we tied in with the Southern Route and the Continental Divide Trail, we would have lots of opportunities. Bicycling is a clean industry. That's one idea for the triple bottom line of social, environmental and financial."

Alcorn said she might have different ideas from other candidates. Tourism and solar are on the table. "Another area that is growing is the senior population. We have a lot of opportunity around senior services. Bridge Community is working to build a continuum of care from assisted living to end of life."

"We have a university with a nursing school, occupational therapy and certified nurse's aide courses," she continued. "These programs are supportive of senior services. We need to bring more specialized medical personnel and retain them. We have one-and-a-half times the state average of people above the age of 65. We will be third or sixth within the next 10 years. We will be at crisis level, if we don't address it."

Garcia said he looks at building for the future. One impediment is the workforce. "Trying to have a strong workforce is important to me. I look at vocational education. We need electricians, plumbers and welders. Business people need them. How do we grow the economy without workforce? We need to come together, city, villages, towns and the county."

"We need to work with the workforce to build on what the business owners need for retention, recruitment and expansion," he continued. "When there are layoffs at the mine, many want to stay here. The university can train them to get jobs here."

McCauley said being isolated is good and bad. "Marilyn brought up health care. We are the health care center for four counties. Our hospital has done a good job. For the cancer center, for instance, people come from Deming. We had a shortage of nurses when I was on the hospital board. They can get their education here, and we have ready-made jobs, with doctors or with the hospital. We need to develop more home-grown nurses. As we get older, we will need more health care. Jeremiah hit it on training. Silver City has the best shop in the state. I would work with the legislators and the rest of the community."

Browne said he thinks the community "has come far, when a discussion on economic development mentions the triple bottom line, which I buy into. The County Commission can improve the quality of life. The focus is often on jobs. Job creation is sexy. Part of economic development has been looking for a big score, but that's not what is needed. Businesses can move in and move out quickly. Often the skills are not transferable. Profits leave town. There are things we can do to grow local businesses, which have a better commitment to the community."

"The Grant County quality of life will bring people to the area," Browne said. "Good schools and good libraries are important."

Stephen Edwards said he has talked to a lot of people who own businesses. "I see the needs of the population as for youth and seniors. Youth get an education and get jobs. Seniors don't have the opportunity to move somewhere else. We need to meet the lifestyle of the area, such as ranching, so they blend with the populace. We need entertainment, so kids don't go somewhere else."

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