New Mexico News
| MEET REBECCA VIGIL-GIRON, DEMOCRAT |
| Posted by () on May 21 2008 at 4:03 PM |
Everyone but absolute newcomers to New Mexico has probably seen Rebecca Vigil-Giron on television or has heard her name.
She was secretary of state for 12 years, a high-profile job that Vigil-Giron was accused of making more high profile by appearing prominently in federally funded voter education ads.
Critics suggested Vigil-Giron did the ads to burnish her political fortunes, but she was cleared of any misdeeds after an investigation. She says she appeared in the ads because she was available and recognizable and— at that time— she didn't have politics in her future.
Her political career has been peppered with controversies like that, but they roll off Vigil-Giron.
"I have nothing to feel bad about," she said. "I did my job. I followed the law. I did great things for the state of New Mexico."
After term limits precluded Vigil-Giron from running again for secretary of state at the end of 2006, she said she was stopped in stores, on the street and in airports by New Mexicans encouraging her to get back into public service.
When the 1st District field opened up, her disillusionment with the Iraq war combined with her belief that she could win the seat propelled her into the race. "I am a credible, electable candidate," she said. "I like to campaign one-on-one; that's my forte. I've won three statewide elections. I can win."
Vigil-Giron traces her roots in New Mexico back 11 generations and, before that, to Spain. She grew up in Taos in a family where Spanish was the first language and she easily bounces back and forth between English and Spanish in speeches.
Vigil-Giron's political involvement began at New Mexico Highlands University where she earned an associate's degree in elementary education and was elected homecoming queen— sponsored by the campus Democrats.
After college, Vigil-Giron took a job as a secretary at PNM, moved into project management and, at 31, with no political experience, she ran for secretary of state and won. She has run for the 1st Congressional District before, losing to one-term Republican incumbent Steve Schiff in 1990.
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