Valerie Plame talks 2020 candidacy

CLOVIS — If it were up to her, Valerie Plame would probably still be doing some important mission for the Central Intelligence Agency and not traversing the edges of New Mexico.

But you play the hand you’re dealt, Plame said, and she’s chosen a new mission of running for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District in 2020.

Plame, who has lived in Santa Fe since 2007, is seeking her first elected office as one of eight Democratic candidates to succeed Ben Ray Lujan, who has announced his intent to run for the Senate seat to be vacated by Tom Udall’s retirement. Plame visited The News last week to discuss her candidacy.

Roosevelt County rancher Audra Brown is the only Republican who’s announced her intentions to run for the district, which includes Colfax, Curry, Harding, Los Alamos, Mora, Quay, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Taos, and Union counties and areas of Bernalillo, McKinley, Roosevelt, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties.

Plame’s identity as a CIA agent was leaked after her husband, Joe Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times questioning a claim by President George W. Bush that Saddam Hussein sought “significant quantities of uranium from Africa” during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Nobody was formally charged with leaking the information, but I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators in the matter March 6, 2007. The next day, Plame and her husband moved to Santa Fe and have been there since.

“I think I can get to work starting on Day 1,” Plame said. “Unfortunately, I know how Washington works. Everybody knows my name, for better or for worse. I feel I can use my experience to work for New Mexico right away.”

Plame said she’s largely still in the process of listening to potential constituents about their concerns, but said most of the conversations she has reveals problems in three baskets:

• Education: Plame said New Mexico being ranked 50th in education is an outrage, and that New Mexico’s next generation is simply not equipped for the future without quality education. She is optimistic for reforms by new Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, but said there is still a long way to go.

• Economic opportunity: Plame said residents speak of a double-edged sword in that they don’t want to see their children leave New Mexico, but they realize the available jobs aren’t good enough to keep them in the state.

• Environment: At the end of the day, “if you aren’t taking care of the land, air and water, what’s the point?”

She is in favor of Medicaid and Medicare expansion, the Green New Deal and expansion of college access, and wants to attract new investment in the state for better-paying jobs. She said during visits in places like Clovis, there’s a feeling the community is somewhat forgotten. She noted visiting Questa, which is still feeling the impacts from a 2015 mine shutdown.

“Santa Fe gets the lion’s share of attention, but I want to represent all of the district,” Plame said.