Thursday, 14 September 2000
Marco Antonio López
Meléndez
knew as a child he would be in politics.
By Carmen Duarte
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Elected Tuesday night to lead the city of Nogales at age 22, Marco Antonio López Meléndez will be the youngest mayor in Arizona, if not the nation.
It might seem like youthful hubris to take on the problems of a border city at such an age.
But López has known since childhood that he wanted to be in American politics - so much so that he pushed his Sonoran father to become a U.S. citizen.
At just 14, he took an internship for KMSB-TV in Nogales, shadowing the cameramen.
At 16, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work as a page for House and Senate Democrats - "until the Republicans came in and kicked us out." Then he came home to study political science at the University of Arizona and work for U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe - a Republican, "because I wanted to learn about both sides."
At 21 - still a Democrat - he joined the White House staff, where he was assigned to work on advance travel preparations for Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper. Yesterday, Mrs. Gore's press secretary called López an "invaluable member of the team."
After all that, 22 seems a ripe age of political maturity.
"He has the drive and the dedication and will do a wonderful job for the people of Nogales," said Michelle Kucera, press secretary for Tipper Gore. "It is very inspiring. What is he now, 24? Oh, 22!"
López won big Tuesday, taking 53.4 percent of the vote.
His opponents - Vice Mayor Jamalle Karam Simon, 66, and former Nogales Unified School District board member Anita Lichter, 62 - received 23.4 percent and 23.2 percent, respectively.
López figures he took much of the youth vote, like his distant cousin, former Nogales Mayor Louie Valdez.
Valdez was 23 when he famously flirted with an MTV reporter on a nationally televised profile of him as the nation's youngest mayor in 1995.
But López wants CNN, not so much MTV, to notice him. "I plan to welcome CNN when they come and ask how it is that we are doing such a great job with such a small budget," López said yesterday.
Among work he must tackle is "to bring down the $22 million debt that I am going to inherit. If I figure it out, cities will be calling me to see what I can do for them," López said with a chuckle. The city's 2000-2001 budget is $42.3 million.
After months of door-to-door campaigning in this city of 22,000, López said it is evident city workers and voters "want to be heard and want to have a voice in city government."
He said he plans to meet with the 345 city workers and let them know he will have an open-door policy. "I want to ensure them that they are our bloodline with the city, and without them we could not function," López said.
Other issues he plans to undertake are:
* Increasing educational opportunities and jobs.
* Supporting CANAMEX, a proposed 1,700-mile North American highway system to connect Canada, the United States and Mexico.
* Persuading companies to move to Nogales.
* Focusing on environmental issues and making sure regulations are enforced.
* Creating more youth activities through the Parks and Recreation Department.
López said he gained invaluable experience working with the Gores, which he plans to use when he is sworn in Jan. 3.
"The most important lesson I have learned is how to develop policy and putting that policy into action," he said. "It takes hard work and a lot of dedication.
"Another important tool I learned is how to listen to people. The Gores are fabulous people who listen and make things happen. They don't listen just to gain your confidence. They listen to act."
He said he will leave next week for Washington state to resume his work with Tipper Gore, although he plans to quit before he's sworn in.
UA senior Juan Pablo Guzmán, 21, a political science major, said that he was inspired by López, who asked him for support. "I am blind, and this is the first time someone took into consideration people with disabilities. We are abled," he said.
"I think the main purpose of his campaign was to propose, not to promise anything. He became very close to the voters and to their ideas," said Guzmán. His family owns Radio XENY, a Spanish-language station in Nogales, Sonora.
Another supporter, Sue Neilsen, assistant superintendent of Nogales Unified School District, said she remembers López at Nogales High School.
"I was the assistant principal and he was always hanging out in the office," she said. "He was always interested in how things run. We struck up a friendship. He went on to college and worked as a substitute teacher when he could. He is a wonderful person."
She said López ran an "excellent campaign and has a lot of energy. He speaks well and can communicate his ideas. He knows how to get things done. Voters responded to all of this."
López said he learned from his family not to be afraid of hard work. His father, Marco Antonio López, 54, is a plumber who began a general contracting business 18 years ago.
His mother, Esther, 51, worked alongside his father managing the office for years and now runs her own store, Picoretas Candy and Gift Shop on Morley Avenue, Nogales' main street.
López's older sister, Suzette, 28, who received her master's in medical technology from the UA in 1997. She works as a microbiologist at Tucson's Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
And his younger sister, Yvonne, 18, is attending Arizona Western College in Yuma on an athletic scholarship.
"My parents always stressed education for us," said López. The family became U.S. citizens March 25, 1994, in a ceremony that afforded them dual citizenship.
He offers one more thought on why it was his fate to become a politician: He was delivered into this world by a doctor in Nogales, Sonora, who became that city's mayor.
* Contact Carmen Duarte at 573-4195 or at cduarte@azstarnet.com
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