News New Mexico: 08/15/11

Governor's Great Grandparents Were Illegal Immigrants

From KOAT-TV.com - New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and the protestors against her fight to ban driver's licenses for illegal immigrants have more in common than they might think. The bill to ban foreign nationals and illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses have created a controversy in the state, sparking rallies, vigils and heated debates, but the governor remains firm in her stance. "I've lived and worked on the border for a long time. I will fight to repeal that law," Martinez said. Martinez said she has something in common with the protesters because her own ancestors came to the country illegally, but it will not affect her position. "I know my great grandparents on my mother's side came from Mexico, (but) my stance doesn't change. This is not an immigration issue. This is a public safety issue," Martinez said. "Clearly, there is a political agenda here. Read more

Martinez order review of state taxes

From the New Mexico Independent - by Luke Johnson - Gov. Susana Martinez issued an executive order Friday asking the Taxation and Revenue Department to lead an investigation into the cost-effectiveness of “state tax expenditures” or the credits, exemptions and deductions that cost the state $1.3 billion in lost revenue each year. Martinez vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have created a committee to review the approximately 300 loopholes, preferring to have TRD look at the expenditures by executive order. In her order, Martinez said that tax credits were the same as spending programs: “These provisions have the effect of reducing state revenues and are thus equivalent to spending programs. For this reason they are referred to as ‘tax expenditures.’” Read more

Special session to start Sept. 6; now get ready for another debate over driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants

From Capitol Report New Mexico.com - It’s official. Gov. Susana Martinez on Monday (Aug. 15) announced that the legislature’s special session will start on Sept. 6 at the Roundhouse. The lawmakers’ primary job is to settle on how to redistrict the state for national and local elections. But Martinez has also placed some controversial issues on the docket. Chief among them is her desire to eliminate the current state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Supporters of the law, which was enacted under previous Gov. Bill Richardson, say that overturning the law won’t do anything to really keep illegal immigrants from driving and will therefore encourage illegal workers from coming forward should they get involved in traffic accidents.But Martinez and the law’s critics say that since New Mexico is one of just two states that allow illegal immigrants to legally drive (the other is Washington state), that New Mexico has become a magnet for improper licenses to be issued. Earlier this month, the state government sent out letters to 10,000 foreign nationals with driver’s licenses in New Mexico requring them to set up appointments to verify their legal status. More than 8,500 of those letters have gone unanswered, leading some to suspect that the license law has been abused. Earlier this year, in the legislature’s 60-day regular session, a bill aimed at repealing the law sparked furious debate. In a dramatic move, Rep. Andy Nunez (I-Hatch) forced a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives, where it passed. But the bill died in the Senate. Polls show that a vast majority of New Mexicans oppose the current law but Democrats still control both the House and Senate. Read more

Yes Virginia, there are Badgers in Clovis: Officers remove badger from outside restaurant

From the Clovis News Journal - Whether it was looking for a late-night snack or just lost its way, a badger that wandered into the bushes at a Clovis fast-food restaurant Sunday night attracted a lot more attention than it bargained for. Around 8 p.m. Clovis police and animal control were dispatched. The adult badger was captured without incident and relocated to an area near the city’s landfill south of Clovis. “I’m on break and there’s this guy poking around in our bushes,” said Mark Miller, a night manager at the restaurant. “He said there was a badger in the bushes. “He was hissing at us quite a bit and trying to hide, but he was pretty spooked.” Miller said he never learned the man’s name, but the stranger told him he followed the badger to Taco Box after it crossed in front of his vehicle while making its way from the park. Police Sgt. Mike Harmer said it was the first time he’d seen a call regarding a badger in more than 18 years in the department. Read more

Violent weekend in Juárez leaves 12 dead

NewsNM Swickard: So how is it working out that normal citizens have no way of fighting back? They are just fish in a barrel. Wouldn't someone like to be able to shoot back at the bad guys?
From the El Paso Times - By Marisela Ortega Lozano \ EL PASO TIMES - Execution-style killings were prevalent around Juárez over the weekend, leaving 12 victims in their wake. Two men were found dead Sunday morning on a dirt road at Privada Montes de Oca and Torres del Valle streets in south Juárez, Chihuahua authorities said. Also early Sunday morning, a 38-year-old man was shot and killed inside a home in the 300 block of Rivera de las Piedras at Rivera de las Barrancas streets. The man was pronounced dead at the scene; authorities recovered 30 bullet casings. Read more

Obama Conversation With Tea Partier Gets Heated

From Fox News.com - By Ed Henry - DECORAH, Iowa – President Obama got into a heated back-and-forth Monday with a Tea Party activist who demanded to know at the end of a town hall meeting here whether Vice President Biden had called Tea Partiers “terrorists” during the debt ceiling debate on Capitol Hill. In public, Obama did not directly answer the question from Iowa Tea Party activist Ryan Rhodes about Biden. But Obama fired back that he knows better than anyone what it’s like to be slammed for his political views and was not about to accept a lecture on the topic. “Now, in fairness, since I’ve been called a socialist who wasn’t born in this country, who is destroying America and taking away its freedoms because I passed a health care bill, I’m all for lowering the rhetoric," Obama said.Obama did say he would discuss the matter further with Rhodes, founder of the Iowa Tea Party, after the event. And the duo was spotted in an animated conversation a few moments later. In an interview later with Fox News, Rhodes claimed that the president had insisted that Biden had not made the original comment. Read more

ATF Promotes Fast and Furious Supervisors

From latimes.com -The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border with Mexico. All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. More News New Mexico

No Consensus on Wisdom of King Water Lawsuit

Gary King

Santa Fe New Mexican - The New Mexico attorney general's fight with the federal government over distribution of water from Elephant Butte — the state's largest reservoir — promises to be an expensive battle, as water cases usually are. A lawsuit filed Aug. 8 in federal district court will be paid for initially by a $1.5 million state legislative appropriation. New Mexico Attorney General Gary King thinks Texas is illegally taking millions of gallons of New Mexico's Rio Grande water under a 2008 agreement between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and irrigators in Southern New Mexico and El Paso.

Elephant Butte Dam

The agreement dictates how water will be accounted for and released from Elephant Butte. The attorney general filed the complaint in federal district court against the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation, seeking to void the deal. King argues that the bureau failed to analyze the agreement's environmental impacts and violated an interstate stream compact and state water law with changes in the reservoir's operating agreement. "We think the federal government had an obligation to make sure the agreement treated (irrigators in) both districts fairly," Assistant Attorney General Stephen Farris said. "It doesn't. It heavily favors Texas." Read full story here: News New Mexico

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