Kamerman, Kenneth M.

Kenneth M. Kamerman, born June 21, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York, served as the State Senator from the 20th District of New Mexico (eastern Albuquerque) from 1987 to 1992 as a member of the Republican Party. Kamerman received a Bachelor of Science in Textile Engineering from Lowell Textile Institute (Mass.) in 1953 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico in 1970. He also served in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1956, achieving the rank of lieutenant. Kamerman was a business administrator and consultant. Of the view that public education was stifling, ineffective, and resistant to change, Kamerman worked in the development of experimental educational techniques for Teaching Machines, Inc. In 1963, he arranged TMI's sale to Westinghouse, where he stayed on as a manager until 1973. Kamerman also worked for the real estate companies Bellamah Corp. (1973-1978) and Honor Corp. (1979-1981). From 1982 to 1987, he co-founded and ran the company Battery Power, Inc., which furnished backup power to banks, schools, and businesses. Active in civic affairs and local politics, Kamerman served as the Vice Chair of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County. He contributed to political campaigns such as the gubernatorial candidacies of Bob Grant and Joe Mercer. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Bernalillo County Mental Health Center (1981-1986), the Albuquerque Police Advisory Board (1978-1980), and the Redistricting Committee of the City of Albuquerque (1981). Occasionally he would serve as an informal advisor and campaign volunteer for politicians such as U.S. Senator Harrison Schmidt. When Jack Stahl became Lieutenant Governor and left a vacancy in the state senate, Kamerman secured the Republican Party nomination and won a special election victory. He then served as State Senator from the 20th District of New Mexico from 1987 to 1992. He ran unopposed in the 1988 general election. He served one and a half terms before declining to seek reelection for personal reasons. The 20th district had been divided up by decennial reapportionment before the 1992 election. In the State Legislature, Kamerman became well known as a principled legislator who stood against taxation and excessive public spending. He served as a member of the Legislative Finance Committee, where he diligently read agency and analyst reports and deliberated over the formation of state budget recommendations. In his work on the Legislative Finance Committee, he met the communications staffer, Merilee Dannemann, who would become his wife and collaborator. Other committees on which Kamerman served included: Senate Judiciary; Senate Corporations; Senate Public Affairs; Interim Business, Economic Development and Telecommunications; and Interim Indian Affairs. Kamerman supported the reproductive rights of women, despite the conflict this position occasioned with the Republican Party and some of his constituency. He was against the Fort Sumner court case that mandated decentralization of mental health care. In his efforts to lower tax burdens, Kamerman devised the concept of a Subscriber District, in which individuals elect whether to pay property taxes for nonessential projects such as performing arts centers, sports stadiums, and public broadcasting. Kamerman generally advocated against higher state spending, even if it specifically benefitted his district. Kamerman died of a heart attack on April 7, 1997.