Gabriel Ramos faces Moses Clark in primary election June 3

May 29--SILVER CITY -- Incumbent county commissioner for district one Gabriel Ramos faces democratic opponent Moses Clark in the upcoming primary election June 3.

Ramos, 43, said that he has considerable experience for the job. Besides already serving as Grant County commissioner for the last four years, he was elected as county clerk in 1996. According to Ramos, he was the youngest person elected to that office. He served for two terms in that position, and left in 2002 to run his own business, a State Farm insurance agency.

In addition, Ramos says he served the town of Hurley as a councilor for one four-year term. During two of those years, he held the additional title of mayor pro-tem. Ramos was a Hurley councilor from 2004 to 2008. He also served the Cobre School Board for three years, from 2002 to 2004.

Ramos said he is running again because he wants to help people.

"I believe that I am the type of person who likes to help people, and complete a project," Ramos said. "I definitely think I'm the most experienced person for this job."

Ramos cited his efforts as Grant County commissioner at lobbying the New Mexico state Legislature for issues such as finishing the Grant County Administration building, lobbying organizations for a water project in Twin Sister Creek, and working with other counties that own hospitals to try to help the Gila Regional Medical Center, a county-owned hospital.

Ramos also cites his work and expertise on budgets as a reason why Grant County voters should consider voting for him.

Ramos said the town of Hurley was running $250,000 over budget when he became a Hurley city councilor but before he left that office, Ramos says the town found ways to solve their budget problems.

Similarly, Ramos says that when he joined the Cobre School Board, the Cobre schools were $600,000 over budget and that, too, changed during his tenure. When Ramos joined the county commissioners in 2010, he says the county was behind by three audits, but now they have caught up.

"I take a lot of pride in working with budgets," Ramos said.

Ramos, who has been married for 19 years and has two children in the Cobre school district, currently lives in Arenas Valley. He was born in Silver City and raised in <location value="LU/us.nm.hurley" idsrc="xmltag.org">Hurley. He graduated from Western New Mexico University in 1993 with a bachelor of science degree in business and public administration. In addition, he spent four months in a communication school in the Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1989.

Ramos said that if he is re-elected he wants to utilize money to create water infrastructure projects. One such project he mentioned are the effluvia waters that come from Bayard, which says are 98.3 percent pure, according to Ramos. Currently, Ramos says, that water is going into the tailings at the mines owned by Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc.

"We feel we need to utilize those waters and put them back into natural systems," Ramos said. "A completed study showed the mining district -- Bayard, Hurley, Santa Clara and Hanover -- could have 120 years of water if we complete this."

Ramos said that the main reason voters should consider him at the voting booth on June 3 is because of his experience.

"I have experience with projects, with streets, roads, just overall, I have experience," Ramos said. "I've always been a servant of the community. I have an open door policy. Sometimes we have to make really tough decisions. I know I'm the person who can make those tough decisions that will make our County succeed.

Moses Clark, 37, is hoping to upset Ramos at the primary election June 3. Clark, also a Democrat, has one daughter who attends Aldo Leopold Charter School and a son at La Plata Middle School. Clark, who is single, currently works as a binder for Unicorn Press. He is also the owner of gilacommunity.net, a website that provides a variety of information for Grant County.

Clark said that if he is elected, he would like to have wells dug at Grant County airport to create what he called a loop system that would provide a regional water system that could connect Hurley, Santa Clara, Bayard, Arenas Valley and Silver City. Clark also said a regional water system by the Grant County airport would provide water and sewer to an industrial park near the local airport.

"That would half-way develop that industrial park and bring more jobs to Grant County," Clark said.

Clark also graduated from WNMU. He got a bachelor degree in operations management and supervision and minored in economics in 2004. He was born in Sante Fe but his family moved to Silver City when he was six months old and he has lived here, minus what he called a brief stint in Albuquerque, ever since.

Clark said he is running because he is not a career politician.

"I saw a need and I felt like we weren't being represented," Clark said.

Clark says that if he is elected next week, he hopes to be instrumental in bringing a vocation and technical school to Grant County and couple it with the already existing Youth Conservation Coalition to get students interested in the community and increase job skills. Clark cited a concern, as a parent, that there are not enough well-paying jobs in the area to entice Grant County's youth to stay and create a home here.

"One of the biggest problems Grant County and Silver City have, the major businesses we do get here, the owners don't generally live here, those businesses funnel the money outside of Grant County," Clark said.

Clark said he believes entrepreneurship needs to be fostered in Grant County.

In addition, Clark says he is the best person for the job because he believes in open, honest and transparent government.

"I feel like I am that. Open, honest and transparent," Clark said. "It doesn't take a few people, everybody's input is needed for the very best plan."

Susan Dunlap can be reached at 575-538-5893 ext. 5803.

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