Controversial Susana Martinez Ad Campaign Features Slain Baby Brianna Lopez

Setting the record straight.

In an ad campaign, Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Susana Martinez said, ?Baby Brianna was five months old when she died. She had many broken bones, bite marks, and she was beat to death. So we went to the Legislature and fought for three years to make it a life sentence, and we succeeded.?

The ad has Democratic New Mexico Sen. Mary Jane Garcia questioning if Martinez is just using baby Brianna Lopez as a political ploy.

“This is unconscionable and she needs to stop doing that – exploiting the death of a child for political reasons – that’s all I?d ask her to do,? Garcia said. ?Don?t show that for the next 3 months, people are tired of it.”

The air-brushed picture of Brianna Lopez shown in the ad, Martinez said, is a daily reminder of her fight for justice.

In 2002, Martinez prosecuted the case, where Brianna?s mother, father, and 2 uncles were convicted of deadly child abuse.

But Garcia said for three years after the case, she was actually the one who fought for a new law mandating life sentences for intentional child abuse resulting in death.

But Martinez said she too, worked tirelessly to change legislation.

In response to Garcia?s accusations, Martinez? campaign manager, Ryan Cangiolosi, sent this statement:

?It seems that Senator Garcia is attempting to rewrite history in an election year. The evidence of Susana Martinez? role in passing the child abuse law was well documented in the press and acknowledged personally by the Governor when he signed the bill into law. It is unfortunate that Senator Garcia has chosen to continue her notorious history of twisting facts in a shameless attempt to score cheap political points.?

And Martinez said using Baby Brianna in her ad takes the issue of child abuse beyond her case ? in reference to how she will continue the fight for all New Mexico children.

“We are going to provide the stiffest penalty, which is a life sentence if you intentionally kill your child,? Martinez said. ?And that was a three year fight, finally we were successful at it, and I think that’s what people are looking at. They want to see, are we fighting for them, for what’s right, and is that part of your character. And so that’s why we did the commercial in reference to Baby Brianna.”