Dan Lewis Drops Out of CD # 1 Race

Janice Arnold-Jones

The news just keeps getting better and better for former N.M. State Representative Janice Arnold-Jones. This morning in a news conference, Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis announced his withdrawal from the Republican primary race for New Mexico Congressional District #1.

Fresh off a weekend when she outpolled Lewis nearly 2-1 for CD # 1 Republican delegates, Lewis was apparently convinced it was in the best interest of his party to step aside. 

Dan Lewis

Arnold-Jones still faces opposition from Gary Smith. However, Smith garnered only a tiny fraction of the delegate count at the GOP pre-primary convention and will now have to file petitions with signatures to appear on the June primary ballot.

Janice Arnold-Jones will appear on News New Mexico at 7:00am Wednesday morning to discuss her latest round of success.

Convention Attendees Claim Simonich Column a Thinly Disguised Hatchet Job on John Sanchez

Milan Simonich

Normally reporters are not newsmakers. But Milan Simonich, a reporter who works for the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership is suddenly under scrutiny for a controversial column he wrote on Sunday just after the New Mexico Republican's pre-primary convention. Simonich reported that N.M. Lt. Governor John Sanchez specified "1980" as the year he cast his first vote for Ronald Reagan during his speech to convention delegates. Reagan, a two term president was elected in 1980 which turns out to be before Sanchez was eligible to vote. Reagan was re-elected in 1984 after Sanchez was eligible to vote. In the column Simonich went on to deliver a rather scathing rebuke of the Lieutenant Governor for either voting illegally in 1980 or misleading the GOP delegates for effect. Not surprisingly, most media outlets around the state picked up the Simonich story and ran it as if it were fact.

John Sanchez

News New Mexico has been contacted by witnesses at the convention who have a different recollection of precisely what the Lt. Governor said. Aaron Henry Diaz who often co-hosts the News New Mexico radio show was also in attendance. Diaz says he did not recall Sanchez specifiying a year in his statement. It his recollection that Sanchez simply said the first vote he ever cast in a presidential election was for Ronald Reagan. This morning we sent out an email to the Sanchez camp to see if Simonich sought clarification. We are still waiting for a response.

In the meantime, just after we went off the air this morning, we received an email from Charles Galt another News New Mexico listener who was also in attendance at the convention during the Sanchez speech. Here is what Galt said:

"I was at the convention and listened to John Sanchez speak. He did not state when he voted, just that his first vote for President of the United States was for Ronald Reagan. This story and the story he wrote in the Las Cruces Sun News on page 1 section C on Sunday March 18, included a paragraph on what Heather Wilson did not say at the convention speech. This "reporter" is writing misleading, slanted news a la NY Times and Pravda, he is not reporting what was said and observed but weaving editorial comment into a matrix of seemingly accurate and witnessed words/deeds. This is a tactic that is showing up more and more in local news media like the Sun News and needs to fleshed out for what it is, left wing to Democratic Party screed. Is there not enough news to report of what actually occurred than having so-called journalists injecting and spinning their own ideas and ideology into what their editors pretend is, and print as, nothing but the news?"

After the Galt e-mail we spoke to Capitol Report New Mexico's Rob Nikolewski who was also in attendance at the convention. Nikolewski said he did not recall Sanchez specifying which year he cast the vote, but also said he did not find it significant enough that Sanchez mentioned the vote for Reagan to even write it down in his notes. More to follow as we follow up on the Simonich story.

Obama Administration's Crusade Against Voter ID Laws



Alexis Garcia

From foxnews.com -From the same machine that brought you Sandra Fluke and the contraception controversy, comes the next manufactured injustice involving the Department of Justice, Texas voter ID laws and vulnerable Hispanic voters.  On Monday, the Justice Department announced that it was blocking Texas’ new voter identification measure – claiming that the law was discriminatory under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  Yes, Attorney General Eric Holder and the ideologues at the DOJ think its wrong for states like Texas to ask you to prove your identity to vote – but don’t object to the fact that you need a photo ID to get in to the actual Department of Justice building. As the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky observes: "To exercise your First Amendment right to ‘petition the Government for redress of grievances’ by talking to anyone at the Justice Department, you have to present a government-issued photo ID if you want to get into their headquarters in Washington. How discriminatory!"  Holder claims that the Texas law goes against the "arc of history," but he has yet to build a convincing case that state voter ID laws actually disenfranchise Hispanic voters.  More News New Mexico

NM Scores a "D" in Corruptibility-Transparency

KOAT TV - According to a recent government study, New Mexico got a D- in corruptibility and government transparency. The study said it looks at scandals, prevention laws and transparency -- all areas that New Mexico needs to work on.
Sunland Park has become ground zero for "scandal-ridden" New Mexico, and analysts said the town's problems are indicative of a bigger culture of corruption.
The state said it is considering essentially taking over the town's finances in the wake of public contract and election scandals, including one where a mayoral candidate was allegedly blackmailed with a video.
Gweynth Doland, who helps run the New Mexico Fund for Open Government, said the state government has some strong points -- it has good inspection trends and a good public meetings act, for instance.
But Doland said when it actually comes to full-blown transparency, like the Sunshine Portal, there were poor marks that contributed to the state coming in at 39 out of 50 on the nationwide scale. Doland says the site can be confusing & not user-friendly. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Operating at Loss Railrunner Expands Schedule

NM Business Weekly - The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is adding more trains to its weekend service starting April 7 as it ramps up for the summer tourism season.
Two trains will be added to the northbound and southbound Saturday schedule, and the first train of the day on Saturday and Sunday will arrive in Santa Fe at 10:16 a.m., an hour earlier than the current schedule.
An additional northbound train will leave from Belen on Saturdays at 6:11 p.m., arriving in Santa Fe at 8:33 p.m. An additional southbound train will be added on Saturday leaving Santa Fe at 9 p.m. and ending its run in downtown Albuquerque at 10:32 p.m. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Smart is the new stupid

Marita Noon

With gas prices climbing, so is the popularity of fuel-efficient cars. AltTransport.com, a site “dedicated to giving you the latest news and the smartest analysis of the shift towards smarter and more efficient modes of transportation,” reports that “with gas prices rising, car manufacturers are starting to see some of their most fuel-efficient cars fly off the shelves.” A call to the Smart Car Center in my area reveals that their sales are currently about double the usual; seven sales by mid-month rather than the usual three to five.
While the Smart Car may get good gas mileage and fit into tight parking places, how “smart” is it really? The April 2012 issue of Consumer Reports is now out and features the best and worst cars of 2012. The Smart Car didn’t make the list, nor did it receive a “recommended” rating in the “Hatchback: fuel-efficient class”—where its overall road test rating is 28 of a possible 100. The April issue’s “Safety” section states: “Even a small car with a good crash-test rating will bear the brunt of a crash with a larger sedan, SUV or pick up.” The issue also states that “motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people 5-34 years old and that they amount to more than $99 billion a year in medical and lost-work costs because of injuries.” Crash tests show the Smart Car is “jarringly stupid.” Video from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that in a crash with a mid-size Mercedes C-Class sedan, “the Smart ForTwo is not only pulverized, with the passenger compartment getting squashed, but it goes airborne like a beach ball.” Just how “smart” is that? Is gas mileage more important that safety? I’d call it “stupid.”
Like burgundy is 2012’s “new black” for fall—serving as a “new neutral hue” that “will soon become the new backbone of your fall wardrobe”—and sixty is the new forty because “people are living longer today, they're healthier, and they're enjoying life more,” “smart” is the new “stupid.” Read rest of column here: News New Mexico

Courtesy of Conservative Daily News

     

janice2012.us

Prime gunwalking suspect was held by ATF but released

From CBS News - The prime suspect in the botched gun trafficking investigation known as "Fast and Furious" -- Manuel Acosta -- was taken into custody and might have been stopped from trafficking weapons to Mexico's killer drug cartel early on. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) let him go, according to new documents obtained by CBS News. An ATF "Report of Investigation" obtained by CBS News shows Border Patrol agents stopped Acosta's truck on May 29, 2010. Inspectors said they found illegal materials including an "AK type, high capacity drum magazine loaded with 74 rounds of 7.62 ammunition underneath the spare tire." They also noted ledgers including a "list of firearms such as an AR15 short and a Bushmaster" and a "reference about money given to 'killer.'" The Border Patrol ran a check and found Acosta was already "under investigation for firearms trafficking" in Fast and Furious, so they called in the lead ATF case agent Hope MacAllister. Under questioning, Acosta allegedly described his contacts with a Mexican cartel member nicknamed "Chendi," and admitted going to Chendi's house for a shipment of narcotics.Instead of pursuing charges, Agent MacAllister asked Acosta if he'd be willing to cooperate with federal agents. He agreed and was released. Apparently, the promised cooperation never materialized. The report notes that 17 days after Acosta was let loose, he still had "not initiated any contact with Special Agent MacAllister." Read more

Obama: The Affirmative Action President

Note: this old column (with author comments) is making the rounds again and we think it still has legs, as they say. From the American Thinker - by Matt Patterson -  Years from now, historians may regard the 2008 election of Barack Obama as an inscrutable and disturbing phenomenon, a baffling breed of mass hysteria akin perhaps to the witch craze of the Middle Ages. How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job? Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present"); and finally an unaccomplished single term in United States Senate, the entirety of which was devoted to his presidential ambitions. He left no academic legacy in academia, authored no signature legislation as legislator.  And then there is the matter of his troubling associations: the white-hating, America-loathing preacher who for decades served as Obama's "spiritual mentor"; a real-life, actual terrorist who served as Obama's colleague and political sponsor. It is easy to imagine a future historian looking at it all and asking: how on Earth was such a man elected president?  Read more:

Fossil Fuel Production on Public Lands at 9 Year Low

From directorblue -Last fall the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration reported a 40 percent decline in oil and natural gas production on federal lands compared to 10 years ago. The White House and prominent liberal in Congress protested. They said EIA, a trusted source for reliable energy information, was wrong. They complained that EIA hadn’t accounted for all data from the Department of Interior.  EIA released an updated analysis last week. And while the number isn’t as drastic as originally reported, EIA confirmed the Obama administration is overseeing a sharp decline in fossil fuel production (coal, oil, and natural gas) on federal lands, which recently hit its lowest point in nine years...More News New Mexico

Malia in Mexico for Spring Break

Malia Obama

From pjmedia.com -Have you heard that Malia Obama, the president’s daughter, is reportedly spending her spring break in Oaxaca, Mexico? Allegedly, she’s jetting off with some of her classmates and 25 Secret Service agents to a country that the State Department has said all Americans should avoid. But something is different about the latest “Obama vacation controversy” references to it are disappearing from the Internet — and fast. Around 3:00 EST, a Telegraph story reporting on the event was the first to vanish.  More News New Mexico

Executive Order Authorizes Peacetime Martial Law

From thenewamerican.com -President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order on March 16 giving the White House absolute control over all the country’s natural resources in case of a natural disaster or during a time of war.  In the order, the National Defense Resources Preparedness Order, the President granted to himself the authority to approve the dispensing of all domestic energy, production, transportation, food, and water supplies as he deems necessary to protect national security. Despite the national defense hurdle that ostensibly must be jumped in order for the order to take effect, the text of the document itself does not limit implementation to a time of war. In fact, the specific sections of the order make it clear that the President may take complete command and control of the country’s natural resources in peacetime, as well.  More News New Mexico

Apple Says $60B Will Remain Overseas Until Tax Law Changes

From thehill.com -Apple made an aggressive pitch for a corporate tax holiday Monday, stressing that it plans to keep more than $60 billion parked offshore until Congress makes it easier for companies to bring those profits home.  The warning from the nation’s most valuable company came as Apple announced it would pay a dividend to shareholders and buy back stock, moves that will cost about $45 billion over three years.   But Apple — which, like several other Silicon Valley titans, has spent months lobbying for more flexibility to repatriate offshore profits — said it will rely exclusively on domestic cash reserves for the transactions and will not touch the billions in profits held abroad.   More News New Mexico

Sunland Park Police Chief Arrested

From kob.com -Authorities have arrested the chief of police in the troubled border town of Sunland Park. State police spokesman Robert McDonald confirms that Luis Monarez was arrested Monday on charges of bribery and conspiracy.  He is the eighth person arrested in the southern New Mexico town since allegations surfaced several weeks ago that now Mayor-Elect Daniel Salinas and others tried to force his opponent out of the race with a secretly recorded video of the man getting a topless lap dance.  Since then, the state has launched in-depth probes of the city's elections process and the city's finances. All of the people arrested are current or former city officials accused of voting fraud or playing a role in the alleged blackmail plot.

Lujan's Aide Denounces Claim of Socialism

Ben Ray Lujan

From daily-times.com -Republican Rick Newton is guilty of spreading falsehoods by saying that U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan is a socialist, the congressman’s press secretary said today. Newton, 65, is seeking the GOP nomination to run against Democrat Lujan in November. At the New Mexico Republican pre-primary convention on Saturday, Newton during his speech called Lujan is a socialist. He amplified on his statement in interviews, saying Lujan was one of 70 members of Congress who are registered with “the Socialist Party of America.”  Newton said his evidence was a website listing. Andrew Stoddard, Lujan’s spokesman, said in a telephone interview that Newton’s claim is false. The congressman probably would make a statement later today, he said.  Lujan is only the latest Democratic congressman to face such a claim. For instance, blog posts last year claimed that New Jersey Congressmen Donald Payne and Frank Pallone were socialists. The publication PolitiFact denounced the claim. “Misinformation and smear campaigns are part of political life. But these persistent claims about socialists are riddled with errors and outright lies,” it said in giving the postings a “Pants on Fire” rating.

Report Shows NM Graduation Rates Have Declined

From koat.com -Arizona and New Mexico have both reduced the number of their dropout factories - those high schools with chronically low graduation rates. They have also increased the percentage of fourth- and eighth-grade students who can read proficiently. And more students in both states are taking advanced placement tests than several years ago. However, a report released by a group of education organizations shows Arizona, New Mexico and other western states are lagging behind when it comes to making improvements in their graduation rates.  The report says Arizona's rate dropped from 74.7 percent in 2002 to 72.5 percent in 2009. New Mexico's rate went from 67.4 percent to 64.8 percent
More News New Mexico

RNC Chair Reince Priebus to Appear on NewsNM

Reince Priebus

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus will appear on News New Mexico at 7:30am tomorrow. Priebus will discuss the upcoming visit to the state on Wednesday by President Obama.
Priebus is a previous chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Priebus graduated cum laude from University of Wisconsin–Whitewater in 1994, where he was elected student body president and earned his bachelor's degree in political science and English.
After college, he worked as a committee clerk in the Wisconsin Legislature and then went to law school at the University of Miami School of Law where he was president of the student bar association and where he received his Juris Doctorate cum laude in 1998. During law school, he interned for the NAACP legal defense fund in Los Angeles.

Priebus met his wife Sally in high school, where the two attended prom together. They married in 1999 and have two children.

Lack of Records at Sunland "Staggering"

Susana Martinez

It became abundantly clear soon after the press conference in the office of Governor Susana Martinez began this afternoon that what has been taking place within the municipal government in the City of Sunland Park, New Mexico is not just an isolated pocket of problems. Governor Martinez said the problems are "Across the board," and "New Mexico is better than this."

Hector Balderas

According to State Auditor Hector Balderas, who also participated in the press conference, “Part of what makes the auditing of the city unprecedented is, "Allegations of criminal activity in addition to civil mismanagement and malfeasance.” Balderas also said, “The volume of records that are missing is staggering.” Balderas revealed that the auditing process has already caused his office to share information with federal agencies regarding possible violations of federal laws. Balderas added that there are incomplete payroll records, incomplete purchasing records, and a complete lack of supporting documents for travel expenses, payments to city officials, and water utility operations. The State Auditor said he is, "Exploring use of certified fraud examiners," to make sure the lack of resources in his office does not become a problem. Balderas says Governor Martinez agrees that additional resources may be required to finish the job. Apparently all divisions of the government are under scrutiny.

“There is a culture of fear,” at city hall and the criminal charges filed against both the old and new mayor makes the investigation more difficult, Balderas said.

It was also made clear by Governor Martinez that advantage was taken of the absence of a photo voter identification law in the state. There have been numerous reports of widespread voter fraud in latest municipal election in addition to all the other elements of corruption that have now given the area in Southern Dona Ana County a reputation for being one of the most corrupt municipalities in the nation.

Not the First Solar Scam

Washington Examiner - A heavily subsidized solar company received a U.S. taxpayer loan guarantee to sell solar panels to itself. First Solar is the company. The subsidy came from the Export-Import Bank, which President Obama and Harry Reid are currently fighting to extend and expand. The underlying issue is how Obama's insistence on green-energy subsidies and export subsidies manifests itself as rank corporate welfare.

Here's the road of subsidies these solar panels followed from Perrysburg, Ohio, to St. Clair, Ontario. First Solar is an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar panels.

In 2010, the Obama administration awarded the company $16.3 million to expand its factory in Ohio -- a subsidy Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland touted in his failed re-election bid that year. Five weeks before the 2010 election, Strickland announced more than a million dollars in job training grants to First Solar. The Ohio Department of Development also lent First Solar $5 million, and the state's Air Quality Development Authority gave the company an additional $10 million loan.

After First Solar pocketed this $17.3 million in government grants and $15 million in government loans, Ex-Im entered the scene. In September 2011, Ex-Im approved $455.7 million in loan guarantees to subsidize the sale of solar panels to two wind farms in Canada. That means if the wind farm ever defaults, the taxpayers pick up the tab, ensuring First Solar gets paid. But the buyer, in this case, was First Solar. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Martinez and Balderas to Hold Press Conference

-BREAKING NEWS-

SANTA FE – Today Governor Susana Martinez and State Auditor Hector Balderas will hold a press conference to discuss the status of the State’s efforts to address the financial situation in the City of Sunland Park. State Auditor Balderas will provide an update on the progress of his ongoing special audit of the City. The press conference will be streamed live over the Internet at 1:00 p.m. at the lobby of the Office of the Governor in the Roundhouse.

NM Republican Convention Roundup

Heather Wilson

From alamogordonews.com -Heather Wilson carried the day by a wide margin, but she may not have shaken Greg Sowards in the Republican competition for the U.S. Senate nomination. Wilson, of Albuquerque, received 83 percent of the delegate votes at Saturday's Republican pre-primary convention. In raw numbers, she defeated Sowards 654 to 134. With 17 percent of the vote, Sowards was 3 points short of gaining a spot on the June primary ballot. He left the convention immediately and without comment, but in a previous interview he said he would petition onto the ballot if he failed to meet the convention threshold. Wilson, 51, a former congresswoman, used her speech to criticize U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich, the Democratic frontrunner for the Senate nomination. She charged that he is part of an irresponsible spending machine in Washington. So fragile is the U.S. economy that "we're where Greece was at in 2008" she said of that insolvent country.  Wilson also asserted herself as a conservative on a social issue, saying "marriage is a union of one man and one woman."  In the race for the 3rd Congressional District, Rick Newton of Taos captured 65 percent of the convention vote. He also delivered the most explosive allegation of the day. Newton charged that the incumbent Democrat, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, actually is a socialist. Newton said after his speech that he meant it literally. "He is a member of the Socialist Party of America," Newton said in an interview.  More News New Mexico

RNC Releases New Video: Obama's War on Women

The RNC released a new ad telling a very different tale about the "War on Women".

Rebuilding NM Cow Herd in Drought Areas

From therepublic.com - Rebuilding the state's cow herd in areas hit hardest by drought will present both opportunities and challenges for ranchers, said a cattle specialist with New Mexico State University. It's estimated that more than 100,000 beef cows will have to be replaced to return New Mexico's herds to 2010 levels. Manny Encinias, who also serves as the director of operations for the New Mexico Beef Cattle Performance Association, said the industry has experienced a reduction in herd inventories of more than 20 percent since 2010.  Although nearly 90 percent of the state remains in some stage of drought, Encinias said cattle producers are looking forward to rebuilding herds with higher quality genetics from regionally adapted registered cowherds. "The two largest challenges the cow-calf producers will face when restocking will be finding the females that are adapted to our arid production environment and then being able to afford these replacements," he said.  More News New Mexico

Bernalillo County Republicans File Federal Lawsuit

From ballot-access.org -Recently, the Republican Party of Bernalillo County filed a federal lawsuit against part of New Mexico’s law that provides public funding for candidates for some state offices. The lawsuit challenges the part of the public funding law that gives extra public funding to publicly-funded candidates who have well-financed opponents. There is virtually no chance this lawsuit can fail, because the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated extra public funding for this kind of candidate last year in the Arizona Free Enterprise Club decision.

NM Tourism Pulls Race From Ad Casting

From newswest9.com -New Mexico's tourism secretary says race descriptions will be pulled from a casting call for an upcoming state ad campaign after a casting notice called for Caucasian or "light-skinned" Hispanics to star in the spot. KOAT-TV reports that New Mexico Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson said the department wants the race descriptions dropped following a firestorm resulting from reports about the casting call. She said the wording created a "distraction from the true intention" and that the department's goal was not to "be racist in any way, shape or form." She said the ad's description left out Asians, blacks and darker-skinned Hispanics - populations Jacobson said the state also wants to attract as tourists.

Holder 1995: We Must 'Brainwash' People on Guns

Breitbart.com has uncovered video from 1995 of then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder announcing a public campaign to "really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way."Holder was addressing the Woman's National Democratic Club. In his remarks, broadcast by CSPAN 2, he explained that he intended to use anti-smoking campaigns as his model to "change the hearts and minds of people in Washington, DC" about guns. "What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that's not cool, that it's not acceptable, it's not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we changed our attitudes about cigarettes."Holder added that he had asked advertising agencies in the nation's capital to assist by making anti-gun ads rather than commercials "that make me buy things that I don't really need." He had also approached local newspapers and television stations, he said, asking them to devote prime space and time, respectively, to his anti-gun campaign.  More News New Mexico

Reckoning Day for the Dune Sagebrush Lizard

From currentargus.com -Perhaps the most controversial candidate in this election year is one that has never spoken a word and never will. The dunes sagebrush lizard, a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, is the central figure in a debate that the federal government must resolve this spring.  Lee Fitzgerald, a biologist at Texas A&M, probably has studied this reptile as much as anyone. Apolitical and determined to remain so, Fitzgerald has not joined the partisan conflict in which conservation groups are pressing for the lizard's listing and Republican politicians are trying to defeat it. Fitzgerald searched for the lizard last year in 50 locations of the desert. Even after locating it in 28 places, he said, he could not estimate its population. "There are areas where the habitat is very optimal for the species," Fitzgerald said in an inter-view. "There also are areas of fragmentation of the species, where its habitat has been degraded." To live, the dunes sagebrush lizard needs a combination of wind, sand and the shrub shinnery oak. If the desert winds howl just right, they create blowouts in the sandy patches with shinnery oak. The lizard can survive in those conditions but no others. Fitzgerald said he saw evidence of herbicide spraying that had hurt one part of the lizard's habi-tat in West Texas. But he is neutral on whether such findings merit an endangered listing for the lizard. "Much of the Endangered Species Act is a political process more than basic biological informa-tion," he said.  More News New Mexico

Chavez Will Take on Sanchez

David Chavez

Capitol Report New Mexico - The most surprising news from the Republican pre-primary convention Saturday (March 17) came as outgoing state Rep. David Chavez (R-Los Lunas) announced he’s running against Democrat and state Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez of Belen in District 29.
Sen. Sanchez is one of the most powerful figures in the Roundhouse and has become a thorn in the side of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, blocking a number of pieces of legislation Martinez has advocated, including ending the practice of “social promotion” for New Mexico students who cannot read at a minimal level by the third grade.
The decision by Chavez caught people by surprise because just one week ago, he announced he was resigning from his state rep seat in House District 7 to devote more time to his law practice. Why the turnabout?
“I didn’t seek out this seat,” Rep. Chavez told Capitol Report New Mexico. “It came to me. I had great support from my clients, my family, my friends, neighbors, constituents, colleagues and statewide support and encouragement to reconsider because we’ve got an opportunity to make some significant changes.”
This will be try No. 2 for Chavez against Sanchez. In 2000, Chavez lost to Sanchez, who has held the seat in District 29 since 1993 and has been the majority leader in in the Senate for the last eight years. Read full story here: News New Mexico

The Fundraising Paradox

Janice Arnold-Jones

The political “fund raising” abilities of candidates are always a hot topic. Those who can raise tons of money are treated as if somehow they are better candidates. In recent months we were told by self-described experts that U.S. Congressional District #1 candidate Janice Arnold-Jones was not taken seriously by GOP party insiders. Many media experts pointed to her tepid fund raising totals as the reason. When Arnold-Jones predicted she would garner more than 50% of statewide GOP delegate votes in the pre-primary convention last month some suggested she was merely making a wild boast. This weekend GOP delegates all over the state cast their votes. And it turned out Arnold-Jones had actually under-promised and then over-delivered on her “insider” (delegate) count.
There is a great paradox in New Mexico political fund-raising. Most Democrats find it much easier to raise money than Republicans. In congressional elections radical environmentalists from all over the nation can be counted on to pour money into Democratic candidate coffers. Unions do the same in a big way.

While GOP incumbents have no trouble raising money, they do so only AFTER they are elected. Steve Pearce is the only member of the New Mexico delegation who fits that description though veteran Heather Wilson can also raise money. We are reminded that Susana Martinez was woefully underfunded before her primary victory in 2010. Funny thing. She turned out to be a pretty good candidate anyway. Things haven't changed. Even an eminently qualified candidate like Janice Arnold-Jones must overcome an extreme funding disadvantage. Why is this the norm instead of the exception?

There is a certain irony associated with the entrepreneur community. Entrepreneurs tend to hold attitudes of fierce independence. Self-reliance is perhaps the most necessary mindset of the successful entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs don’t believe they have the time to be politically active. And they are usually uncomfortable with the mentality of collectivism that is associated with financing campaigns. “You take care of your responsibilities and I’ll take care of mine is the attitude.” Still, most entrepreneurs know that most of the time Republicans will place a much higher value on their efforts. And yet most entrepreneurs will not donate money to the campaigns of GOP political candidates.
Entrepreneurs are busy delivering products and services. They believe if they do their jobs properly customers will patronize them. Most entrepreneurs don’t hope Republicans will help their businesses. They just want the GOP to see to it that government doesn’t impede their efforts.

Here is a news flash for the entrepreneur community. Government isn’t going to leave you alone. Entrepreneurs should take note of the trends. They are subjected to an ever increasing laundry list of mandated waste. And unless they are in some sort of business that radical environmentalists or unions want subsidized, they will be under constant pressure from anti-business policies promoted by well-financed progressive Democrats.

On Monday morning the politically inactive business community will head off to work once again overwhelmed by the demands of survival mode. This is the great paradox of political fundraising. The independent and self-reliant mindset of entrepreneurs causes them to be reluctant to embrace the “collective” mentality necessary to make campaign contributions to pro-entrepreneur candidates. And their collective inattention to this critical detail has led to more and more elected officials financed by radical environmentalists and unions being in a position to destroy the economic foundations necessary for entrepreneurial success.

The Emperor is Coming to Carlsbad, NM

Inside the White House political advisors are smarting from the president's drop in the polls. They have concluded that misleading potential voters about his bad energy policies should be "job one." So next week President Obama will visit oil and gas fields on public lands in Carlsbad, New Mexico in an effort to obfuscate the policies he has implemented to make it harder to develop domestic energy supplies.
Unfortunately for Obama, the public is becoming painfully aware of the broader implications of his recent rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Instead of him getting out of the way so hundreds of thousands of jobs and million of barrels of politically and militarily secure oil can be had, the nation, living a green energy fantasy he induced, is once again paying sky high gas prices.

With China and India’s demand for oil on a steady path higher, the president’s calls for higher U.S. government mandates on gas mileage as a meaningful solution to his refusal to allow us to produce are ringing hollow. And just this week Obama allies like Senator Chuck Schumer called on the “Saudis” (of all people) to promise to pump more of their oil to reduce prices, instead of allowing Americans to do the same. Again this week the president and fellow Democrats rejected calls to open the frozen swamp coastlands of northern Alaska to oil production despite the fact that geologists conservatively estimate that these fields alone could replace every single barrel of oil the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia. Oh yes, and this America first policy would also pave the way for hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs at the same time.

What president Obama won’t tell the people in Eddy County New Mexico next week (or those who watch his sound bytes on television), is that he has made sure more than 90% of all federal lands are off limits to energy exploration. He also won’t tell those who attend the charade that he has instructed the U.S. Department of Energy to make the securing of permits for new oil production a nightmare. And no doubt he will fail to mention the billions of taxpayer dollars he pissed away on loan guarantees to his buddies at Solyndra while calling it the way to secure our future. You can also bet the president will somehow forget to remind us that his Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he hopes for gas prices in the U.S. to be the same as they are in Europe ($8 a gallon).

No fellow New Mexicans, instead the president will sweep into New Mexico on the gas guzzling Air Force One. And instead of helping produce more of the energy he so readily consumes himself, he and his huge entourage will hop in a bunch of gas guzzling limousines and head off to a cynical photo opportunity. There Obama will, with a perfectly straight face, explain why he is so proud of all the good people working in the oil fields in New Mexico. He won’t disclose the fact that he fights to kill their jobs almost every single day.

It is a safe bet the presidential motorcade will flatten a few sand dune lizards on the way out to the Eddy County oil fields. And in the meantime you can bet his Fish and Wildlife Department will use dubious interpretations of the Endangered Species Act as part of their legal maneuvers to "save" those same lizards by putting the same oil fields off limits to production. In the end, Obama does everything he can to insure that how much we pay to put gas in our own cars and fuel up the presidential motorcade and Air Force One will go even higher.

One more thought. You can count on progressive Democrats from all over Northern New Mexico to drive in their own gas powered cars, trucks, and SUV’s to Carlsbad so they can declare in unison what a wonderful royal outfit Emperor Obama is wearing, while the rest of us realize he has no clothes.