Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 10:41:32 -0600
From: Bob Summersgill <rsummers@unm.edu> (by way of Bob Summersgill)
Subject: Right wing candidate for Mayor of Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, September 12, 1997
PO Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103
(E-mail: opinion@abqjournal.com)
Perea Committed to Community (excerpt)
By Cindy Glover
...
   [Candidate for Myor of Albuquerque, NM, Vickie] Perea has a strong
Christian faith, and "recommitted her life to God" as an adult. As a
result, she said she works hard to avoid doing anything "illegal, immoral
or unethical."
   "It's like a three-pronged stool. if you hit one leg, it topples," she
said.
   Perea acknowledged that because of her religious beliefs, she struggled
with the hate crimes ordinance the council approved in December. The law
adds 90 days to jail sentences if someone commits a crime based on race,
religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, or
disability.
   Perea introduced an amendment that would have added a paragraph to the
"sexual orientation" part of the bill, saying it wasn't intended to "create
a special class" of people who might be able to use it in civil rights
lawsuits.
   When asked recently if that means she opposes lesbian and gay rights,
Perea said, "When you start creating classes of people, that's divisive to
the community."
   She declined to elaborate.
   The amendment was defeated and Perea ended up voting against the bill,
saying she didn't think it went far enough. She pointed out it didn't
address crimes based on age, occupation or wealth -- menaing crimes against
the elderly, police officers or homeless people wouldn't carry the extra
penalty.
   But Bob Summersgill, a board member of the Lesbian and Gay Political
Alliance, said he doesn't buy Perea's explanation.
   "She never said so in public, but from everything we've heard behind the
scenes, we believe the only reason she opposed it was sexual orientation,"
Summersgill said.
   He said the group is concerned that, if elected, perea would rescind
Mayor martin Chavez's executive order prohibiting the city from
discriminating against job applicants based on their sexual orientation.
   "That would mean the city could fire gay and lesbian people at will,
which is what we believe Perea supports," Summersgill said. "Furthermore, I
believe that Vickie Perea, if elected mayor, would go out of her way to
block any advances that would bring gays and lesbians up to equal status
with straight people."
   In a recent interview, perea said she hadn't considered changing the
executive order. "That's not on my list of major issues the next mayor
needs to think about."
   She said that she wouldn't rule out "revisiting" Chavez's order in its
entirety, but said homosexual city employees would have nothing to fear if
she were mayor.
   "I would be mayor to everyone," Perea said. "There should be no abuse or
retaliation against anyone because of who they are. I believe it's wrong to
discriminate against anyone."
   She added that she thinks her faith would make her a better mayor.
...