
District 3 Congressional Candidate Sharon Clahshischilliage| 2024 Candidate Conversations
Clip: Season 18 Episode 18 | 18m 48sVideo has Closed Captions
Sharon Clahshischilliage, shares her goals for Congressional District 3.
The republican candidate for Congressional District 3 talks a bit about her background in state politics and shares her perspective on climate change, immigration and in vitro fertilization.
New Mexico In Focus is a local public television program presented by NMPBS

District 3 Congressional Candidate Sharon Clahshischilliage| 2024 Candidate Conversations
Clip: Season 18 Episode 18 | 18m 48sVideo has Closed Captions
The republican candidate for Congressional District 3 talks a bit about her background in state politics and shares her perspective on climate change, immigration and in vitro fertilization.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSharon CLA ailich thank you so much for being with us today thank you so much glenneth I'm looking forward to this um it's nice little reunion after I don't know how many years a number but yes you've been in politics a long time and uh you know 177% of this District identifies as Native American and you've spoken passionately about what it has been like uh growing up on the Navajo Nation without running water electricity public sewers what would you do in Congress to improve the lives of indigenous people in New Mexico definitely requests more funding there is so much need for more funding and the money is there with Congress um it just need to network collaborate with people and gain support to get those you know get the support for funding um it's a shame that we have a portion District 3 in New Mexico that still does not have a lot of the basic necessities utility infrastructure and that's a real like you said passion of mine thinking about education uh you've been a special education teacher you serve on the public education commission what do you think New Mexico needs to do to improve outcomes for our kids oh my gosh you know um we've tried a whole number of things we've tried new administrators we've tried new uh regulations for teachers we've looked at parents we've looked at students and on and on and on we've looked at the boards we're wondering if we should return to maybe a a state board back to where it used to be but you know the one thing we haven't done is we have not acknowledged the schools within New Mexico who are doing phenomenally well we need to go to those schools and see what they're doing and replicate it throughout the state we aren't doing that going and getting experts from the outside doesn't necessarily work and hasn't worked so I would suggest that maybe we look at the success schools in New Mexico and and replicate what they're doing Simple you know your District includes uh Santa fean and Los Alamos but the biggest group of workers are those who only have a high school degree so what do you what would you do in Congress to create more jobs for those workers without a college degree oh my gosh training a lot of them would like to have um more training and um areas uh well such as s what sanan college in in my area sanan County provides we need to have te technical schools that concentrate on needs in the area plumbing um construction um electricians areas like that that is needed in the various community ities and I think it's it's very important that Congress look at those areas they aren't they aren't Alternatives they've always been there they just haven't been a priority and we're finding that you know since Co a lot of the students are not going to higher ed college education and there there's a tendency of students who graduate from high school wanting to go right to work and start earning a paycheck so I think trade schools are going to be something that I'm going to be real supportive of because I've seen that in District 3 a lot of our young people say I I don't want to go to college um I need to get to work so that's what I would support I would support trade schools I would support alternatives to University education and the trades have been a big driver of the economy uh New Mexico me's economy relies largely on oil and gas especially historically in your area in the four corners area it used to be huge in Farmington but it's it's contracted now and it's a fraction of what it once was and we know that oil and gas can't last forever so what do you think uh New Mexico needs to do to stabilize and future prooof our economy oh my gosh you're you're asking a big question and a good question well I think first of all we need to go to what is going on with the economy we have a lot of our people who don't have money in their wallets to spend and their concerns are only getting that paycheck making it through the month paying bills and making sure there's food on the table and so we have an economy that keeps increasing and doesn't balance out with the um the the wages of individuals so there's no balance there so we've got to remember we've got to keep money in the pockets of the people because if we don't then they're not spending money and we're not circulating that Revenue throughout our state you know when we talk about jobs a lot of what we hear has to do with immigration um you know is immigration a net positive or negative for New Mexico what do you think I think it's negative um we have illegal immigrants coming in and it seems like our government is really yielding to them in an extreme way to where it's affecting us as citizens of New Mexico and what I mean by that is um our health care is going to them money for health goes to the illegal immigrants um education is going to the illegal immigrants in other words a lot of our resources meant for our state um citizens are going to e legal immigration so the priority isn't us the priority are the immigrants who are here illegally I should say that 95% of the residents of your District are US citizens yeah right so they say okay so they say we have a lot of illegals in our our um um let me talk about what I've T what I have um been told from the south a lot of the ranchers a lot of the farmers are really upset because they right now are targeted um a lot of the illegal immigration has appeared now in um the middle part of the state um at ranchers at Farmers homes and their break-ins and on my reservation along the border we have a lot of illegal immigrants occupying empty homes going through the garbage the areas within um homes to find what they need looking for clothes looking for food um and I'm very concerned about the safety as a result and I feel that uh we you know whatever the numbers are I'm talking about what we actually see and what we experience being present in our state as the activity of illegal immigration so yes I feel like um there is a presence here well that let's move straight to Crime here you've said that we need to address crime crime before we can talk about gun control if you were elected to congress what would you do to reduce crime in New Mexico well first of all you you you mentioned gun owners um gun you didn't say violence but I'm looking at um a lot of the activity that has occurred because of um um I guess people having guns um and you look at the people who have guns a lot of them are criminals a lot of what is going on within our state um are criminals and they're not being prosecuted so for me I would definitely look at that uh and whatever is decided in cities regarding gun control doesn't work for us in rural New Mexico because because we rely on guns to help us um protect our cattle our our livestock and so a lot of what goes on in cities has got to include exceptions for us who are in Rural and Ultra rule communities you have said that climate change is real but that humans are only responsible for part of it a small part and that climate change is a natural cleansing cycle for Mother Earth given the effects of climate change that we have seen very recently hotter temperatures into October this year bigger fires more destructive hurricanes what do you think should be done to aggress climate change um I guess I look at climate change well I not I guess I know I look at climate change differently than um what is now being addressed throughout the country I I feel like our our Earth is going through a natural cleansing and I say this because of articles that are not being printed and studies that reveal that every so many decades or centuries the earth goes through a cleansing and it's gone all the way back to before Christ and those patterns have been studied and what they have found is a lot of what goes on now is very I mean it just verif that there is a cleansing going on now we don't read about that because it counters the present thinking about climate change so you look at that and I've been told that the um you know we had that big fire in District 3 re uh hermit's Peak and calf Canyon fire that occurred initially it was claimed to be the result of climate change it's like wait a minute wait wait a minute that didn't happen because of climate change that was controlled burn and that was supposed to be a control burn and went out of control so that was not the cause of climate change and then I've heard other people saying that the storms in um Florida are the result of um gas emissions um carbon carbon emissions uh electricity Etc Etc however you look at these studies and you look at the patterns climate change occurred during times when there was no electricity when there were no cars so in my view I see that climate change as a cover for controlling the thought of people in regards to what is going on and and I don't know what the purpose of it but it is but it's seems to be a political Ploy and I don't like that I mean you know just be honest with me if you don't want certain things to happen or if you want to control um certain areas to occur then tell me that don't blame it on something like climate change so that's where I'm coming from I I just I just looking at these studies it just verifies what I'm saying I have two more questions and two minutes okay so you do not support abortion rights but I want to ask about invitro fertilization do you believe that Americans should have the right to use IVF to grow their families um I guess whether not the right is there is out of my control because depending upon who's moving that and pushing that it's going to be it's going to be there what I believe in it or not and I personally personally I don't agree with it mainly because it's similar to abortion there's a control made on and uh a control made on a life that could possibly occur and say say like a woman decided to use an egg and was able to have a pregnancy and have a child so what happens with to the other eggs that are are being saved as well are they discarded and that is very serious to me because I look at that as life I look at that as similar to abortion we're getting rid of a life of um of those areas and it's it's very controversial for me I I you know I'm a I'm a spiritual being and it really goes against my my belief in that area so um um I would have to I guess being in Congress I would look at this very carefully to see how it's I guess sold marketed um but right now no I can't I can't I can't support it last uh is Trump you have been a strong supporter of a former president Trump do you believe he lost the 2020 election um it appears so it appears so um there are more reports showing that there was illegal activity and having been in Washington I know that um protesters are hired paid to do certain work I watched it when I was there and the one thing there's a lot of information that isn't revealed to the public and having like I said having been in Washington myself and having had um people around me friends around me find there there it's a um when they have friends of mine have legislation that they're trying to push what they've done is they've gotten people who hire out as protesters and they have and it was known when this occurred that the protesters that were there at the capital were paid and were they're protesting I mean they interviewed a lot of them but you know that footage was not shown so knowing that and having had that experience I feel like there's question there's question to all of it and just the fact that there's question makes me question what was really going on there I mean you look at what was approved what wasn't approved who pulled in what and when did I mean you look at time span there's no there's too many questions to make me believe that it was not a questionable event well let me put it this way why do you think a second Trump presidency would be better for New Mexico than if kamla Harris won the White House truth the truth would be told I don't like what's going on now I don't like how my intelligence is insulted with um half truths full truths and me being told that how to think what not to think about um I I don't like that kind of control being placed on me and and that's an insult on my intelligence the intelligence of other people I I like the history of Donald Trump I like what he did in terms of policies in terms of legislation in terms of helping America in terms of looking out for our safety against other countries I I like that um so so please I mean and I'm not saying this to you I'm saying this to the public so please don't tell me that Biden did a phenomenal job in keeping the other countries that they look at what's going on now and look at how the media is not reporting accurately what is going on that I don't like and I don't like how um kamla has these interviews and it's very insulting to us insults our intelligence we we can see what's going on and so that alone gets me to supporting Trump I'm going to support him um because he's a better choice over what we are currently getting and you know people can watch and see for themselves unless unless they have been convinced and doctrinated to think otherwise Sharon CLA schillage thank you so much for being with us today and sharing your thoughts thank you very much WTH I really appreciate this
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