Fred Harris is at best a hypocrite. At worst he is being deliberately deceitful.

Former US Senator, and current UNM Professor Emeritus Fred Harris had an agenda when he slung his mud, link.
The agenda; convince voters to vote for Diane Denish because
ALL of the Republican candidates lack honor.


Though his premise is shattered by the "unknown" candidate;
Janice Arnold-Jones.

What ever else you hear about
Janice Arnold-Jones, for
whatever reason you find to
not vote for her, it will not be
because of her lack of honor.

Her character and courage are
proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Harris accusation is slanderous
and utterly unjustifiable.


If asked you to list the aspects of the process of election that

you find most distasteful, I would hope that among the first

you write, you would write that you find distasteful;

• the process by which voters are swayed into supporting candidates and issues.

If asked how you would change it, I would hope that you would
write; raise the level of the discourse.

Harris writes,

So to my Republican friends in the race, I say this:
Elevate the level of discourse, please.

As illustrative examples of "elevated discourse" he provided;
(edited for effect)

• .. from the Republican candidates for governor, we've seen very little (honor).

• ... Republican candidates are introducing themselves by publicly tearing someone else down.

• ... the Republicans are attacking Denish with the malice and recklessness that we usually don't see until the weeks right before an election.

• ... the Republican candidates didn't offer their opinions. They didn't even offer constructive criticism. Instead, on the day that Denish proposed these reforms, the Republicans just found another reason to irresponsibly attack her character.

• The Republicans don't only attack Denish when she makes a statement herself, but they attack her for virtually anything that may appear in the news on a given day.

• When Gov. Bill Richardson makes an announcement, they unleash a flurry of press releases attacking Diane. When the Lobos lose another football game, the Republicans blame Diane. (Well, that hasn't actually happened yet, but wait.)

• ... my in-boxes would be filled every day with Republican attacks.

If you were plotting levels of discourse, where would these fall?
Is this "elevated discourse"?

The foundational premise of representative government is
a fully informed electorate.

That end would be met by elevating the level of the discourse.

Instead, politicians like Harris, create and reinforce prejudice.
Mostly, through deliberate deception.

Harris' opinion piece is deliberately deceiving.
He cannot cite a single example of the dishonorable conduct
that he has alleged of Janice Arnold-Jones.

Yet rather than write about how Diane Denish's views on
reforming government differ from Janice Arnold-Jones',
he writes slanderous allegations, for no reason except to create
and reinforce a prejudice against ALL Republicans, including
Janice Arnold-Jones.

Fred Harris has written a perfect example of what is wrong
with this process.

Fred Harris has written a perfect example of what he argues,
nobody should be writing.

He manifest the dishonorable conduct he claims to abhor.




photos Mark Bralley