Santa Fe mayor attacks rival for ‘no’ vote on mask ordinance

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Recriminations about face-mask mandates are creating new tension between Democratic candidates in the election campaign for mayor in Santa Fe. In a flier distributed by mail Friday, incumbent Mayor Alan Webber highlighted a dissenting vote by mayoral candidate and City Councilor Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler last year in the creation of a city ordinance requiring face masks. The ordinance reinforced a statewide mask mandate from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in the early months of the pandemic, before vaccines were available. Vigil Coppler says she considered the ordinance impractical but never opposed state mask requirements and called the ad a distortion.