Name: Samantha Barncastle Salopek
Age: 39
Party: Republican
Occupation: Full time Attorney & Mother
Relevant Experience: After getting my law degree from from the University of New Mexico School of Law, I went to work for law firms focused specifically on water issues in Las Cruces. I started my own practice in 2014 and now help farmers, ranchers, and local businesses fight for their water and property rights. My experience with water resources, agriculture law and economic development issues will allow me to serve the unique issues of the Southern New Mexico community. I also serve as Counsel for the Elephant Butte Irrigation District in the ongoing Supreme Court battle for water in the Rio Grande (TX v. NM).
Additionally, when I gave birth to our daughter with special needs in 2020, my husband and I were forced to leave New Mexico for her healthcare because access to local, quality medical care was unavailable. Since that time, the extreme policies of Santa Fe politicians have driven doctors out of New Mexico and caused direct harm to our community. Daily we watch more doctors leave Las Cruces and head across the Stateline to El Paso. Because I know the frustrations of dealing with our healthcare system, I have fought for changes to it and even expanded my law practice to help families with children experiencing medical challenges, free of charge. Working moms have it hard enough, I would know, so I am helping as much as I can, but there’s so much more to do.
Personal: My husband and I both come from farming families in the district. My family has deep roots here dating back almost 200 years in the local area, with most of my extended family still residing in the same locations as those generations who came before us. I have two children – a son and a daughter who has special needs. We enjoy hiking, especially in New Mexico’s National Parks, and I take significant pride in coaching a youth basketball team. I also take every opportunity to get involved in my community including volunteering on the Board of the Parent Teacher Organization at my children’s school.
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Samantha Barncastle Salopek is running for New Mexico State Senate 38. Here are her answers to KVIA’s questions regarding her candidacy.
Do you support the new public safety laws Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed earlier this year?
I commend the Governor for working toward reducing crime, and it is clear that there are extremists in her own party that have their own agenda, refusing to even consider her crime policies during special session. What I do think needs work is closing the loophole that allows dangerous criminals back onto our streets to reoffend. I also believe there needs to be a greater emphasis around stopping illegal drugs, crime and human trafficking at our border. Finally, with all costs rising for families throughout New Mexico, we cannot afford to keep looking the other way on property crimes issues either. Within the Las Cruces area, we have more than 5000 property crimes per 100,000 people committed each year in each of the last 3 years. This is an additional burden on our local families, employers, workers, and all of us trying to make ends meet. I support anyone willing to take on those issues directly for New Mexico recognizing that they’re incredibly complex issues.
Fires have threatened New Mexico’s forests the past few years. What measures do you think the state should take to prevent future fires?
Watershed management is key to watershed health. Forest fires are a symptom of improper management. So is the lack of runoff we’re seeing in our watersheds that have historically nourished NM’s key rivers. New Mexico needs to think big, and take a much more holistic approach to watershed management, because in doing so, we will be able to increase available water supply, decrease opportunities for wildfires, decrease flood risk, and repair and restore upland and riparian habitat along the way (providing for much more pristine recreation opportunities as well). Left unattended, this is a large slow moving disaster that everyone should wake up and be aware of as it affects so much more than those in the middle of the fire, it affects our drinking water, our ability to water crops, our ability to ensure healthy ecological populations and so on. Our state has the resources and the expertise to lead the charge in managing our increasingly more arid climate, water resources, watersheds, and infrastructure, and it should do so with haste.
Do you agree with New Mexico’s current abortion laws?
There is currently a complete lack of standards that puts mothers and minors at risk. Late term abortions up to the date of birth is too extreme and most New Mexicans agree it is unacceptable. I support women and have myself been faced with the very serious question of what to do when I was told my daughter, whom I was pregnant with at the time, would be severely handicapped if she survived birth. But, I do not agree that certain abortion practices actually do protect women, and most often what I’m hearing when I talk to members of my community is that women need is access to healthcare in a meaningful way, and resources to help support them in making this important decision. Access to healthcare does not necessarily mean abortion clinics, and my views are that we are not supporting women until they actually have options, and are not simply forced into a clinic due to lack of options.
Housing costs are rising. How will you work in the state senate to help New Mexicans make ends meet?
It’s not just housing costs that are rising. Costs of everything is going up and the state has completely ignored the needs of New Mexicans. In fact, many of the policies implemented in the last four years are the direct cause of costs rising within our state. We need the legislature to do their part and cut spending, lower taxes, and give back to the people they serve instead of taking from them.
Several agencies located in District 38, including the Sunland Park Fire Department, have responded to a large number of calls involving migrants the past few years. How can the state help relieve this growing pressure on the departments?
We need to start at the source and put more security measures at the border. It is clear the illegal activity that we’ve seen in our neighborhoods is stemming in part by the illegal drugs, weapons and human trafficking flowing into our state. Our own communities are suffering, and we don’t have the resources to support an influx of immigrants as well. Immigration is like water, and since I am a water attorney, I speak in terms of water. Not all water is good water. Flooding that runs into a heavily populated area in the middle of the night unannounced can be incredibly detrimental to our wellbeing. But a flood properly contained by adequate infrastructure to ensure it doesn’t devastate homes or cause loss of life, but instead is redirected to cropland for food production, now that is good water. It’s the same with immigration. Immigration is a good thing, especially when there is a process that works and allows people to come to our communities as law abiding citizens who put as much into the local community as they take out. But what’s actually happening is the local border communities are being inundated and none are equipped to handle it; this is not just happening to fire departments. We do not have the cash resources, the workers, the food, enough housing and shelters, and so on, to properly care for people coming in, because the process is not working. We need a process that works, but until we have that, we need to do more to send resources to our local communities to support first responders and others who are immediately and most directly involved in helping migrants. Many of these local communities are colonias, or otherwise impoverished areas anyway, so prioritizing their needs is important to me.
New Mexico is seeing an increase in taxes from marijuana sales. What should the state be doing with this revenue?
We should be giving it back to the taxpayers or investing it in education. Taxpayers have suffered under high tax rates and cost of living, and the state has given them nothing in return. There is no accountability for the rampant spending. The taxpayers would be a much better steward of this money than the government.
What is the most pressing need in Senate District 38?
Just like everyone in New Mexico, crime has become a problem and it’s had an effect on everything from jobs to businesses to families. Law enforcement officers are working for all-time-low wages, with all-time-high liability. It’s no wonder first responders are leaving their careers in droves and criminals are walking the streets free. You ought to be able to call 911 and get a quick response, but our extreme politicians are too worried about their own agenda.
Additionally, we have our own unique needs when it comes to serving rural communities, especially in terms of access to water rights for our agriculture industry. Instead of supporting farmers and ranchers, politicians in Santa Fe have made power grabs for the control of our water resources that our ag industry relies on. My job as an attorney is to advocate for water rights and funding for water projects that Southern New Mexico needs to thrive economically, and I’ll do the same in the Senate.
Why are you the best candidate for this office?
I have given so much of myself to this community from my work in agriculture to my involvement as a mother. I am in tune with the needs of this district including opportunities for their children, the ability to do their jobs without overregulation or government interference, and more money in their pockets. The current State Senator, my opponent Carrie Hamblen, doesn’t seem to want to address any of these things, but has her own agenda that is just too extreme for our Southern New Mexico families. We need a Senator who will fight for our values, and I will.
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Publish date : 2024-09-09 11:01:00
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