I Am Honored

This campaign for the City Council District 2 seat has been about what works for Las Cruces from the get-go.  Yes, I have some things I personally want to see done: a parking structure downtown so that downtown revitalization continues to be an asset for ALL of us, a multipurpose pool so that our "Aquatic Center" can truly be one, innovative transportation that connects us and draws positive attention to Las Cruces.  However, I know that we have to spend what limited resources we have judiciously and not commit those resources too quickly to things that may not directly or quickly benefit the community.  The job of councillor is more complicated than perhaps meets the eye, and I know I will have to learn a lot to do that job well.

So, I am honored by the support expressed in today's Las Cruces Sun-News.  They have distilled what I have been doing and what that means for Las Cruces into a few short paragraphs.  Let me take one sentence from those paragraphs that distills even further what their endorsement means to this community, "We believe Smith's leadership experience and history of volunteerism make him the best candidate."  I thank the Sun-News editorial board members for their endorsement.

What gratifies me even more, if I may say this, is the support of such a wide range of individuals in this community, from the man who preferred that I speak Spanish to him in front of his manufactured home in District 2 to the man whose Mesilla home will someday be a state museum and who has said several times he'd vote for me if he lived in my district.  I have been touched by the people in other cities in New Mexico and even other states in the United States wanting to contribute to my campaign (and whose efforts to do so I've always politely declined).  They have often expressed a desire, not just that I should win, but that Las Cruces should have someone working in its best interests the way that I would.  From artists to city staffers, from executives to college students, and from people well known in this community to those who've come here because of a vague promise of a better life, I keep hearing words similar to these, "Bless you for caring about what we need here enough to want to do this."

So, let me humbly say that I am honored.