Journal recommendations in area NM House races

District 24 — Christina Marie Hall

Christina Marie Hall says she is running for the state House of Representatives because she has always been drawn toward helping others: “That’s why I became a chiropractor.”

And she got a taste for lawmaking at a young age. When she was 19, Hall says, her identity was stolen and she worked with legislators to make identity theft a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico. “I thought, if I can do that as a private citizen, imagine if I ran for office.”

Hall seeks the House seat being vacated by a fellow Republican Rep. Conrad James in the Northeast Heights District 24, which is bordered in part by Interstate 40, Louisiana, Spain and Juan Tabo.

She says she would help “make New Mexico an excellent place to be” by focusing her efforts on improving the state’s economy, education policies and public safety. She supports increasing the number of officers on the street by allowing retired police officers to return to work while still receiving their pensions, funding incentives to support small businesses and draw outside interests to New Mexico, and retaining third-graders who can’t read after thorough teacher- and parent-involved intervention efforts fail.

The Journal recommends Christina Marie Hall for District 24.

District 27 — Rep. Larry Larrañaga

Larry Larrañaga, a retired civil engineer and rancher, has been a state legislator for 22 years. A Republican, he brings a wealth of government and business experience to the Legislature and to his constituents in a far Northeast Heights district.

Larrañaga was owner and partner of a consulting engineering firm, CAO for the city of Albuquerque and state Highway Department secretary.

He is chair of the Appropriations and Finance Committee and a member of the Committee on Compacts, Transportation and Public Works and Rules committees.

To deal with the state’s budget problems, he favors looking at cutting spending of the least essential programs, and then considering small co-pays from Medicaid patients and having Temporary Aid to Needy Families beneficiaries participate in training or do public service. He also would consider eliminating some tax incentives that have not shown the expected return.

His top priorities are reasonable funding for the Local Economic Development Act, the Joint Training Incentive Program and the Rapid Response Workforce Program to help create a trained workforce and attract companies to the state.

The Journal recommends Larry Larrañaga’s return for another term representing District 27.

District 29 — Rep. David Adkins

As the owner of several small businesses, Republican Rep. David Adkins understands the challenges the state’s economy faces. As a pastor, he understands the need to “sit down and listen to the other side to solve issues.”

And while he went to the Roundhouse a year ago with a business mindset — he has just over 200 employees in his specialty cake and candy shop, dumpster leasing and home care operations — he says he found himself carrying education bills to inject fairness into the system for schools that improve, veterans bills to draw retirees who have years to contribute to the workforce and pensions to contribute to the economy, as well as tax reforms to help small businesses and bail reform to keep dangerous defendants behind bars.

Adkins represents a Northwest district that includes part of Paradise Hills to the Rio Puerco and runs from the Bernalillo County line on the north to Interstate 40 on the south.

He has shown in his first term he has the necessary broad approach to improving New Mexico.

The Journal recommends District 29 voters return him to Santa Fe.

District 30 — Rep. Nate Gentry

Since 2011, Republican Rep. Nate Gentry has used his legal background to focus on crime legislation, including more complete criminal records, but he has also been a regular sponsor of bills to improve the state’s tax code, keying on “keeping taxes low and reducing unnecessary and burdensome regulations.”

A graduate of the University of New Mexico Law School, Gentry is a member of the House Judiciary and Energy, Environment and Natural Resources committees and has been majority floor leader for the past two years.

He understands the importance of a skilled workforce to attracting and keeping good jobs — he supports a requirement that “students master basic skills before they are passed on to the next grade” along with “efforts to identify and reward high-performing teachers and provide struggling teachers with the tools they need to become better teachers.”

He supports creating a state ethics commission and open legislative budget meetings and state primary elections.

The Journal recommends District 30 voters keep Rep. Nate Gentry in Santa Fe.

District 31 — Rep. William “Bill” Rehm

Rep. William Rehm has been a champion of law-and-order and good government legislation for the decade he has been in office. He has tried to close the loopholes in second-degree murder and set minimum mandatory sentences for DWI.

Rehm, a Republican and a retired Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office captain, has represented his Northeast Heights district — roughly Interstate 25 to the Sandia foothills and the Bernalillo County line to Bear Canyon Arroyo — since 2006. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Rehm says improving the economy rests on making “New Mexico more attractive for conducting business than our neighboring states. We must target incentives (advance) regulation reform and pass stronger laws aimed at career criminals.”

In a time where crime and money worries are top of mind for voters, it’s important to have someone with law enforcement experience and a pragmatic fiscal approach in the Roundhouse.

The Journal recommends District 31 voters re-elect Rep. Bill Rehm.