Report from Santa Fe; Tom Rutherford

... ... ... ... Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by grants from New Mexico Tech on the Frontier of Science and Engineering Education. For bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees, New Mexico Tech is the college you've been looking for, 1-800-428-TECH. I'm Lorraine Mills, welcome to report from Santa Fe. Our guest today is Tom Rutherford, and we were deciding what to put under your name. State Senator, former State Senator, former Bernalillo County Commissioner, Balloon Impressionario, and lobbyist, and all those things.

So you tell us who you are, we're glad to have you. Let Mallory tell us a cute story about after he left the County Commission and had been in the legislature, he said a woman walked up to him one day and said, didn't you used to be somebody? So that's my new role in life, I used to be somebody. You know, I'm proud of having been a public servant, I'm proud to be a politician, I'm proud to be a lobbyist. I loved my career as Balloonist, I don't do so much to that anymore, but I'm really proud of the people who do do it and have made the Balloon Fiesta such a great success. And I'm proud to be a friend of yours, so I'm glad to be here today. And it's good to have you back, you've been on the show over the years, many years, and it's wonderful to have you here. Well, people probably don't know how you started in the legislature, and we're going to start a little bit, we have a clip from a film that was made by Paul Evans and the Albuquerque Motion Picture Company. It was designed as a tribute to kind of sum up your career when you retired from the Brindley County Commission.

But let's just take a minute to look at this piece of tape about how you looked when you started as the youngest state senator on the planet, and a little bit about what Governor King, former Governor King had to say about you. Let's just take a moment and look at it. Of course, I've known Tommy Rutherford ever since he was 12, 13 years old. You see his dad, Jim Rutherford was a representative in Brindley County in the years that I was speaker of the House back in the early 60s. Tom Rutherford's career in politics started when his dad Jim asked the then speaker of the House Bruce King if his young son could be a page at the Capitol. I think we paid him all the $5 a day and they were supposed to do the things that pages do, but Tommy was always so innocent what was going on. He would come to me and he'd say, Mr. Speaker, couldn't you let me read sometimes? And perhaps the practice he got reading all those bills is what led to that golden voice that became his signature as far back as his early days in the legislature 30 years ago. It didn't sit well with the senators that you had a long-haired young state senator. He was the youngest state senator elected in the history of New Mexico at that time.

Long time friend and fellow Senator Mani Aragon says Tom was outspoken, principled, strong in his beliefs. And he says he greatly admired him for standing up for what he believed in even when it didn't sit well with a conservative Senate. Many times he was denied leadership positions and he was absolutely entitled to as a member of the Senate with his seniority. But he persevered and never took him personal. That was one of the things that I think was to his credit that he was laugh about it and would move on. Back in 1996, just as Tom was in the winter of his senatorial career, he had a chance to reminisce with report from Santa Fe's Ernie Mills about some of those difficult learning days of the Senate in the 70s. There was a tie and it co-whip and the group that I probably should have supported was so angry with me. My committees that you served on the parking committee and the coffee committee, that was it. And if there'd been a chair out in the hall, I'd have had it. The thing that was unsettling about it was a great film that he did for me. It was just lovely. But I watched myself age 32 years in just about eight minutes on that.

I looked pretty good compared to how I looked yesterday. But boy, compared to 32 years ago, it didn't seem quite fair. Well, you did look wonderful then. And the other thing that has not changed and you must not be depressed about is your remarkable voice. So let's talk a little bit. You did do some early broadcasting work and then you read bills for the House and then continued to be kind of the voice of the balloon. Tell us a little about your early broadcasting thing. Then we'll go back to what the Senate was like for you when you served on such important committees as the coffee committee and the parking committee. My dad went through World War II with John Sims. They met at boot camp. And my dad was from Columbus, Ohio and John was from here. And after the war, John Sims came home, became Speaker of the House. And in the early 50s, called my dad and said, I need you to come to New Mexico and run my campaign for governor. So we moved to New Mexico in 1954 to get into politics. And I can remember as a young, I was seven then in parades through the South Valley, throwing out loaves of needs, fine bread and bags of burrows, peanuts.

And so I was sort of raised in the politics. And when my dad came to the legislature in 1959, I came along as his page boy and did that for a couple of years and then asked the then speaker Bruce King if I could try reading the bills. And I became the reading clerk in the house in the old capital building where there wasn't really any sound system. So you had to project them. And fellow named Ed Pigeon was the director of the Broadcasters Association. Then he said, Tommy, you should have a job in radio. So I began a career in radio at about 14 or 15. It was a wonderful experience for me and great fun. And I worked at a number of stations in Albuquerque, lots of which aren't still around. And that's what led to my balloon career is that I was working at KOB FM at the time. And that's when we had our first balloon fiesta in April of 1972. So tell us a little more. Let's go to ballooning for a minute. How did the balloon fiesta actually start? I was a KOB radio and we were celebrating our 50th anniversary.

And we were going to have the world's biggest birthday cake at Coronado Center. And we thought, well, how many of you have the biggest balloon? And so we knew Sid Cutter had a hot air balloon. And that would really be a big balloon. So we called him and he said, why don't we have a balloon race? Because my brother's got a balloon and my friends do. And we said, we won't, unless we can have the world's biggest balloon race, we wouldn't do it. So he says, well, I think we could do that. And we found out that if we had 19 balloons, we'd have the biggest. And we had commitments from that many. And then there was a snowstorm that we can Chicago and several of them got stuck in air freight, but 13 balloons showed up. And on April 8, 1972, they launched from a field right next to Coronado Center at San Pedro and Menol. And the balloon fiesta began. Linda Rutherford went to school with Penny Marshall at UNM and Penny and Rob Reiner were dating at the time. And he had just started all in the family as meathead.

And our across the street neighbor was doing some promotions with the sale of land with slim pickens. So on that morning, we had Bruce King slim pickens and Rob Reiner all up on the stage at Coronado Shopping Center with about 30,000 people there. And it was quite a, quite an auspicious beginning to what, of course, has become an internationally famous event and a beloved activity of most Albuquerque. So we have some clips from your early balloon days where you were known as Captain Tom Rutherford. And so let's take a moment and look at this. This is Governor King talking about when he first went down to join you to promote this little balloon fiesta. And then going through that wonderful ad that you did for Valley Gold. And then we speak on this tape with Sid Cutter about you as a balloonist in your career. Let's just take a moment and look at that. Tom's interest in hot air ballooning has helped put New Mexico on the map. Welcome to Albuquerque, New Mexico, home of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

By 1972, he had gotten around where they had about a dozen balloons. And he would come and say, well, Governor, please come and help us to get a little bit more visibility of the launching of the balloons. So it's always cold in the morning, but we'd go down and we'd launch the balloon. You have never seen a television site like this before, a politician, a weatherman, and a pig. Pretty soon, Tom's efforts led to Albuquerque being the first host of the World Championship of Ballooning at a push into years of worldwide attention from beer to milk. Balloons were great publicity. You know, ballooning has really helped put New Mexico on the map. And no wonder it's a sport that really gives you a lift. So does this a cold glass of fresh Valley Gold Milk. And not just at Neil Times, because whether you're ballooning or relaxing or having fun with friends, Valley Gold Milk makes it perfect. There's just nothing like the frosty cold sun country fresh taste of Valley Gold.

So next time you buy milk, why not do what I do when I need a lift? Always ask for Valley Gold. Long time enthusiast Sid Cutter says it was their love for the sport that brought he and Tom together as friends and business partners. He was a pretty great balloon pilot, but he went off to do other things. And so he quit flying and did mostly announcing things like that. So I'm sure, you know, I want your politician like he is. He'll want to stay in it some way or a tether. Well, I loved how he said you how you'd stay in politics one way or tether. So let's go back to your political hat that you've worn for so many years. What how did the legislature change in all those years? You started out in the house and you were elected in the Senate. Well, I started as a page boy and a reading clerk in the house. But then and my dad served a couple terms and I actually stayed on a year or two after he left. He left when they when they began to have to district the legislature and and legislators ran his districts and he wasn't reelected. But I was elected as the youngest ever member of the Senate at 25 and 1970 election was in 1972 and it was the year of the 18 year old vote and there was a lot of attention being paid to young people in politics and all of that worked well for me at the time.

And so I started in the Senate and and and made a lot of missteps. I was really really lucky because I was very liberal Democrat from the University area and I'm a govern Democrat and and came to the Senate and I had long hair and didn't really fit in. But a lot of the people knew my dad and so as a favor to him they sort of took me under their wing and tried to help guide me through all this and I ended up having mentors that that if it weren't for him wouldn't have been available to me. And so I was really lucky about being brought along and sort of raised in the legislature even as an elected senator raised by the older members. Who were some of the mentors that that showed you how things were done in the Senate?

Well, I remember particularly Teebo Chavis was an old friend of my dad's and he was really helpful to me and Bob McBride and Jerry Apidaca and John Conway and there's lots and lots of them and Harry McAdams. So with their with their guidance and their sort of tolerance and patience, I mean I didn't stop introducing controversial bills. And I remember I used to be the only one to vote for things and then there'd be two of us and and then there were three or four and we finally got 10 votes one day and that was a big deal and and those things became less controversial with time. I used to in the old days the finance committees would meet in the middle of the night when and after everybody left is when they'd start spending money. Well, I was in a member of the committee, but I would stay around and I would like bring apples and pork coffee and sharpen pencils for the members and I would be sitting in the back of the room at five o'clock when they finally finish.

And I remember Aubrey Dunston. Well, Tommy sir, been nice to us all night. Let's see if Tommy wants anything and so I'd get some money for the newborn intensive care unit at UNM Hospital or something like that. And so I so I grew up. It was a great way for me to learn about the legislature. It kind of it got me off my high horse. I thought I was a really hot deal me and the youngest ever elected and it slowed me down a little bit, but also it taught me the importance of service to others and how important the idea of the Senate as a family was. And I was the younger son of the family, but I was part of the family and I always approached it that way and that served me really well in my years in the Senate. It was only the Santhers that treated you like family. I think you would get grooming pointers during the wild 70s and 80s from people like Margaret Levergoyte.

Well, when I was really when I was the page boy and I would move up here with my dad, he would be busy all the time. So I would stop by the Capitol on my way to school and Margaret and some of the clerks then would make sure my hair was combed and my homework was done. He had my lunch with me and they kind of raised me up around here. And then one Eater Pino was the chief clerk of the Senate and she was sitting at a buck keeping me from wearing my beat a lot fits in the Senate. You know, that was pretty funny. And the fascinating thing I guess now that I look back on it is the balloon fiesta started on the same day as my first fundraiser for my state senate campaign. And the first world championships for ballooning where we really became internationally known was like the third week of my first session in the legislature. So I kind of ran off with a circus, you know, with Zid putting on that first world championship right in the middle of my first campaign.

And the two came, we came tied together for all those years. What are some of the issues that you were the lone voice crying in the wilderness with that are now totally accepted and there have been issues of controversy that you've shepherded through all the year years in the Senate that now people can't remember that we didn't have such a law. What are some of your favorite issues you've seen reach total acceptance? I don't know about total acceptance, but we used to argue years ago that we needed more attention to early childhood education, family intervention, programs to help with parenting, all that kind of stuff. That's that to a generation of people who'd come out of World War II and the Korean War just didn't resonate that it didn't make sense to them. That wasn't how they'd done it. And we were watching it happen. I say we, me and some of the younger members were kind of watching it happen in our neighborhoods and began to.

And things like remember a huge victory we had was to get permission to allow medicate money to be spent for in-home care. And the old days before you could receive any federal financial assistance you had to go into a nursing home, which was a bad thing to do for a lot of people. Oh yeah, they thought it was the end. I mean, it wasn't healthy for them. It was way too expensive for the level of care that most people needed. And so when we finally passed Senate Bill 123, which was the coordinated in-home care, it was a major success. Well, these days, of course, everybody understands that and the need for it. And also early education is, you know, last year they finally got the kindergarten full day kindergarten. And now this session, the one that's coming up, they're going to work on pre-cave voluntary, you know, for four-year-olds because they've just found that the earlier you get people, kids thinking and comfortable in the school environment, the better they're going to do through their career in school. And you want to diversion programs to keep kids from getting into trouble and things like that. And we're now four generations into a problem that we were trying to address back then.

And if we think back sometimes, and it's a shame that we didn't know then what we know now, but of course that it doesn't work that way. So, you know, when I pushed early on for I remember the equal rights amendment was the big issue when I first ran and I pushed for human rights initiatives and empowering young people, some of my early bills were for 18-year-old drinking and decriminalization of marijuana. And I feel a little differently about that today than I did back then, but I was sort of seen as a spokesman for young people. And didn't you sponsor the hate crimes legislation? I've been on Manny and I sponsored bills for bidding discrimination based on sexual orientation and also hate crimes legislation where we enhance penalties for crimes which, you know, when you commit a violent act against someone because of their color or ethnicity or gender or sexual orientation, you really attacking more than that person. So, you know, it's not just an attack on society and potentially everyone, and especially everyone of that particular class, and so we believe that that needed to be punished more severely just because of the societal impact.

And we pushed for that for years, and it's been successful lately. And a lot of people continue that battle, and I was happy to see. Now, you'll be lobbying this session, and you'll be lobbying among other people for UNM, but I was wondering if you could take a moment to tell us your long history with UNM and why it's so natural that you would lobby for them. And I want you to tell a little bit about the wonderful thing you do. I know you wouldn't mention it unless somebody brought it up, but you'll work with the premies, the premature babies. I grew up in the neighborhood of UNM, and where the dormitories are now used to be a golf course, and as a kid I would go hunt golf balls lost in the tall grass and sell them back to the golfers and make money. And I got two degrees from UNM, and my brothers and sisters all went to school there. One sister worked in the fine arts department.

My mom went back to school and got a degree in computer science there, and worked at the Computing Center, and that's how she was able to support herself upon her retirement. My father, when he died, he was at UNM Hospital, having suffered a major heart event, and they were able to keep him alive long enough for my mom to get back from a family vacation to be with him before he died. You can imagine what that means to a family when that happens. So I just, I love UNM, and it's been so much to my family in all those ways. I mentioned earlier, I sat in the back of the room and got some money for the New Board Intensive Care Unit, and it's ironic that years later I'm a cuddler, and we have a program at UNM where people like me come in for a couple hours. I work on Thursday nights, and hold the little babies, most of them are in there because they're low-birthweight babies, and probably born before their full gestation.

I don't know any of the technical terms, but the premesis is a good way to think of it. Anyway, these little tiny one-and-two-pound babies, and of course it's really important for them to have that human touch. And UNM is a university that serves students from all over the state, but the hospital really is the safety net hospital for a lot of the state and a lot of areas, including difficult babies. So, lots of times the families are hundreds of miles away and can't be there with the kids, and so the cuddler program's really an important one, and has been going on there for a long, long time, and as a model for programs around the nation. But it's one of the things that keeps me the right size. When I've got one of those little babies in my hands, all my problems just disappear. The troubles I've got seem really silly.

Speaking of the human touch, we're almost done with our time today, and I like the viewers and us to look at this little piece of tape again with Bruce King, and many are gone talking a little about your career, as you've decided to step down from being an elected public official. So, let's just take a moment and look at Governor King and send the air gun. I mean, we'll never leave the people. He's like me. He's always very interested in well-being of all of the citizens, particularly the middle class citizens of New Mexico and those that have no representation. Thank you for your friendship and your counsel and your mentoring, and for all the support that you've given over the years, and especially for all the kindness that you've shown to people, and the positive contributions you've made to New Mexico, and to me personally and my family. Thank you. I would like to thank you, particularly for always coming up to the Governor's office and saying, Governor, I think we could do a better job with the amount of funds we have in education and health and welfare and many things. Again, I just want to say thanks to you, Tommy, and don't worry about that little bit grand in your beard. You're still a very young man, and you just keep up the good work.

Well, now Governor King is reminding you, even though you have a touch of grain in your beard, you're still a young man, and in just a few minutes we have left, tell us what you're working on now for the future, what you see in your future. You know, I've enjoyed lobbying, and I'm sure there will always be work for me to do in some way in helping people. The thing that touched me about that was, I believe those are two great leaders, Bruce King and Manny, and their styles were different, and both are still around, but they're not in their positions at the legislature anymore. And the legislature does, it has some leaders that are continuing, but it has a whole new crop of leaders. I think it's going to be really interesting to watch the legislature. I think there'll be a whole new style and a new mood there, and it'll be really interesting to see how it settles in in its new configuration.

It is a family, and there are some new members of the family, and some of the other members of the family have moved on, and so it's going to be a little different family dynamic. I think it's really going to be interesting to watch. I'm concerned about the plight of children in New Mexico from those little bitty babies to the older ones, and I hope that I'll be able to continue to work in some way promoting kids. I serve on the board of Camp Sierra Blanca, which is a youth detention facility that helps turn boys lives around. And education, are you pleased with the way education is going in the state? You know, I love some of the exciting things that are happening. I know most about UNM, but medical advances, engineering advances. The lottery scholarship has allowed so many young Mexicans to get a college education. It's been a great thing for the state. I'm really happy about it. I had no idea the impact it would have people like Senator Sanchez and Lucky Varela and others who fostered this from the beginning really did a great thing for the state.

And I think the pre-K and all those initiatives are great. I think we really have to pay more attention to education and really pay attention to devoting sufficient resources to it. And do you have a watch word for us for this upcoming 60-day session? Well, it'll be fun to see what the agents of change bring along. You know, the governor has had his sort of honeymoon session already, and his work will be a little different than it's been. I don't know about particularly controversial issues. Money is always a big deal, but I think how they settle in and just watching how this new family moves on to its next level will be great fun. Well, I'm going to be watching too, because our office for years was in the Senate Radio Gallery, and we've always felt part of the Senate, and I love the whole legislative process.

I want to thank you for being with us today. And our guest today is Tom Rutherford, and we can say former Senator former Bernalillo County Commissioner, but forever a dedicated New Mexican and really a friend to humanity I don't want to make you feel embarrassed, but you've done a lot. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you very much. And I'd like to thank you our viewers for being with us today on the report from Santa Fe. Thanks. Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by grants from New Mexico Tech on the frontier of science and engineering education for bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees. New Mexico Tech is the college you've been looking for 1-800-428-TECH. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.