New campaign material from House District 43 Republican candidate Lisa Shin which arrived Friday in local mailboxes. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com
An ad in the Jemez Thunder newspaper is angering some Jemez Springs voters. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com
BY MAIRE O’NEILL
Campaign material circulated by Republican candidate for House District 43 Lisa Shin is again drawing criticism. The Los Alamos Reporter has been contacted by both Republican and Democratic voters in the Jemez Springs area about an ad placed by Shin in the Jemez Thunder newspaper.
The ad shows what appears to be a page from a “newspaper” called The Los Alamos Post and contains an “article” with no author listed and a headline that says, “Chandler vs the Citizens: Chandler Silences the Voices of the People”.
“The ad is very misleading. It does not reflect that the news article criticizing Christine Chandler was actually written by Ms Shin and was only ever published in the mock newspapers Ms Shin is having printed for her campaign,” one caller said.
The Los Alamos Reporter asked Shin about the ad Friday afternoon. She said she had given it to Jemez Thunder publisher Robert Borden telling him it was her ad for this month and that he had accepted it without indicating that it was a problem. She said the ad contains a disclaimer that it was paid for by Lisa for 43.
Shin said the ad is “compliant with elections law” and that she has not violated codes of conduct. She indicated that the ad is also running in the Cuba News. Asked if she thought voters in outlying areas of the House district might not know that The Los Alamos Post was not a real newspaper, Shin said she had nothing more to say about the ad.
Shin first began distributing copies of the tabloid-sized “newspaper” last month in person and through the mail. It contains articles and photos pertaining to her campaign. On Friday afternoon, another “newspaper” this time called “The New Mexican Gazette” showed up in local mailboxes. This time, the front page headline is, “Sheriff Lucero Endorses Shin”.
Los Alamos Democratic Chair Robyn Schultz told the Los Alamos Reporter Friday evening that Shin clearly believes that District 43 residents in the outlying areas will be “misled by her stunt of putting ‘fake news’ in the local community papers”.
“Her ‘news’ from her make-believe papers are a series of self-aggrandizing articles coupled with deceptive misinterpretations and fictitious news articles about her opponent. Many of these articles have no attributions for her outrageous quotes. Perhaps Ms. Shin is quoting her imaginary supporters to include in her fictional newspaper,” Schultz said. “It is important to note that the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican (both real newspapers) have endorsed Christine Chandler. If Ms. Shin is unhappy with her news coverage, perhaps she should have run a substantive campaign worth covering in the press. Instead, she has run a shoddy copy-cat of her hero Donald Trump’s campaign complete with personal attacks, divisiveness and derision. Her fake news has now become old news.”
Democratic candidate for the House 43 seat Chris Chandler declined to comment.