by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Congressional hopeful Jim Spiri said he'd rather walk than run a campaign.
"This district is so small that I can walk it," he said. "Let the others run a campaign, but I'm going to walk and feel the heartbeat of every electorate."
Spiri, an independent, was on campus Tuesday collecting signatures needed in order to be placed on the November congressional ballot.
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He has about half the 3,123 signatures needed to get on the district ballot, he said. He received 46 signatures on campus Tuesday, he said.
Spiri is hoping to run against Rep. Heather Wilson, a Republican, and Attorney General Patricia Madrid, a Democrat, to represent District 1 in the November election. District 1 is composed of Torrance County, the Albuquerque metro area and parts of Valencia and Sandoval counties.
Spiri said he wanted to collect signatures at UNM because the University area has a large amount of registered voters in a concentrated area. Also, the people in the area are not afraid to express their views, he said.
Spiri said he is running his campaign without the help of monetary donations. He said America's founding fathers never intended for only the wealthy to run for office.
"I'm proving you don't have to be a Kennedy or a Bloomberg, but people who are like myself who run without money," he said.
Spiri said he works on aviation at Kirtland Air Force Base.
Spiri said he spent about $60 on gas to travel around the district and for business cards for his campaign. He won't be running any commercials or advertisements, he said.
Student Isaac Montano was studying in the SUB when Spiri announced he was a candidate to a crowd of nine students. Spiri solicited the students for questions.
Montano asked Spiri about his stance on U.S. immigration policies.
Spiri said the United States should build a fence at the border of Mexico to try and stop illegal activity.
Montano said he disagreed with Spiri's policy on immigration.
"I don't agree we should fence the border of Mexico and not Canada," Montano said.
Spiri said he is not against immigration, because his father was an Italian immigrant.
But immigrants should become American citizens by following proper guidelines of becoming a citizen, he said.
However, Montano said he made a good impression by speaking to students.
"(John) Kerry came to UNM. I spoke to him, and I voted for him," he said.
Spiri said health care is a main priority for him.
"I want every American to have what she (Wilson) has, or she should have what I have - and that is nothing," he said.
Spiri said politicians have been talking about health care for the past 15 years, but not one party has done anything to fix the problem. He has a solution, he said.
"It's very simple. What they (congress) have, the rest of America has," he said.
Spiri said health care became a priority after his son, who was serving in the military in 2001, was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Because his son was commissioned the day before he was diagnosed and had not reported to duty yet, he was considered an inactive reservist, and his health care was not covered. His son died 56 days after he was diagnosed.
The death of his son prompted Spiri to push for an amendment that would cover all military officers from the day they are commissioned. In November of 2003, the Jesse Spiri Military Medical Coverage Act of 2003 was included in National Defense Authorization Bill.
