Compromise? Bi-Partisanship? What about the truth?

Julian Laws

There are a few phrases employed in the rhetoric of political gamesmanship that should be brought under scrutiny. They are usually uttered by members of the media or thrown out during debates. Some politicians feel they have to use them in order to get elected. To me they are an annoyance and I am not interested in any politician that would buy into what they suggest. The phrases are: reach across the aisle, bi-partisan, work with Democrats/Republicans to come to an agreement, and compromise. “But these are good things,” you say. Well, let’s see. Let’s pretend that in my state’s senate election that I voted for the candidate that was the best person for the job (pretending, because the best person for the job probably wasn’t an option.). He wins. He has sound economic understanding, a solid constitutional foundation, I agreed with the changes he wants to make and the ideas he wants to work for. He goes to Washington and presents a bill that he promised to present. This promise is one of the factors that caused me to vote for him. He did the research, understands what it means for American freedom, based his policy on facts and proven economic principles. In every way I feel that this bill is right, that it will benefit every American citizen and that it is exactly what our country needs. Yet some on the other side of the aisle aren’t sold on it, they want to compromise and come to an understanding. Why would I want my representative to compromise?

To compromise means to take good legislation and water it down. It dilutes the impact of the measure. It takes good policy and makes it bad. It makes right wrong. Simply, it makes 2+2 equal 3.5. As simple as this little equation is as an example. . . it works. There are politicians and pundits who have policy that is wrong on every level. It is wrong in the face of historical evidence, it is wrong in its numbers and result. It is wrong in its assertion that human beings won’t change their behaviors. It is told to the American people with straight faces and laced with lies, misdirection and false assertions that would take months to refute. It is wrong in its motivation, execution and consequences. It is 2+2 =3. These are the people who want to compromise. Some of them are called economists. All of them are called experts. Read rest of column here: News New Mexico

Compromise? Bi-Partisanship? What about the truth?

She Definitely "Lost It".....Lost What?

Sheryl Williams Stapleton

Playing political games associated with the scourge of bigotry can be a tricky business. These games are often most effectively played by Democrats hoping to keep their bigotry-fearing political bases fired up. Republicans sometimes try to play political games with bigotry too, but rarely with any success. Any unscrupulous politician can and will resort to divisive tactics if they think it can give them an edge. Take Governor Rick Perry. Floundering in the polls in recent weeks Perry decided to resort to the reprehensible practice of gay-bashing. He has done so in the hopes that he might pick off a few more votes from those who can’t come to grips with the fact that not everyone is a heterosexual. Perry's cynical tactic will fail. Take Sheryl Williams Stapleton. Stapleton is the Majority Whip in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Over the years Stapleton has gotten plenty of mileage out of the subtle practice of playing the ever-divisive race card. An example of one of her race groupings statements was made way back in the campaign of 2004: "African-Americans need to understand that the outcome of November's election is going to affect the lives of their children and their children's future. So, it's important they make themselves aware of issues affecting us statewide and get involved in their communities." In the 2006 campaign Stapleton accused CPA Demesia Padilla (now NM Dept. of Taxation and Revenue Secretary) of showing "blatant racism."

Attempting to segregate voters based on race is pretty much the favorite arrow in Stapleton's political strategy quiver. Ironically, every two years Stapleton has also been able to successfully cultivate a feeling of ethnic coalition with traditional Democratic Party Hispanic voters in her district. One of her primary themes has been that Hispanic voters should support her because she is willing to thwart the demonic and often racially motivated efforts of white men and women….. in the other party.

On Wednesday Stapleton’s race baiting political boat sprung a major leak when she referred to Governor Martinez as "The Mexican on the 4th Floor." Before she could bail her own dirty water out of her own race baiting boat, it capsized in the Roundhouse Media River of Santa Fe. By Thursday Stapleton was in full damage control mode. She issued a tearful apology in front of a sea of media cameras. However, right after she expressed remorse to Governor Susana Martinez via sound bytes, she fired a fresh barrage of blame-shifting political salvos at Senator Vernon Asbill of Eddy County.

Unfortunately, Sheryl Williams Stapleton is a poster child for what is wrong with New Mexico politics. She has constructed a political career on a foundation of ethnic suspicions and racial divisions. When summarizing what happened to her on Wednesday, Stapleton was partially correct. She did, "lose it." But what Stapleton did not accurately reveal is exactly what she actually lost. What Stapleton lost wasn't so much her temper as it was the important political cover she has enjoyed for her cynical race baiting tactics. This is valuable cover she has used repeatedly to divide her district’s voters along racial and ethnic lines. The conduct of Stapleton provides very strong indications that she does not believe the racial protocols she applies so aggressively to others, also apply to her. The catalyst for the “incident” on Wednesday actually began a couple of months ago with Stapleton becoming absolutely livid over KRQE TV investigative reporter Larry Barker’s exposure of her collusion with Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks. Together Brooks and Stapleton nodded and winked about the violation of compensation policies that applied at APS. This collusion cost NM taxpayers more than $160,000. Add to this scandal the fact that taxpayer's money was also used to build a wing of a building that was later named after, you guessed it, Representative Sheryl Williams Stapleton, and you begin to get the big picture here.

Questions remain. Will the House Majority Whip face a primary opponent in June? Only time will tell. What course of political path will Stapleton follow now that she has issued a damage control oriented apology for referring to Susana Martinez as “The Mexican on the Fourth Floor?” The betting is her most likely next step will be somewhat ironic. Stapleton will probably retreat to the Sheryl M. Williams Stapleton wing of the diversity-oriented African American Performing Arts Center and Exhibit Hall in Albuquerque. In that building, a place where the "content of character" is revered as the standard of judgment, rather than "the color of a person's skin," Stapleton will no doubt go about the business of calculating her next political move.

She Definitely "Lost It".....Lost What?

Stapleton: "I Lost it, Ladies and Gentlemen"

Pulaski note: First Stapleton said she was not referring to anyone at all and then says she thought nothing of it because Susana's grandparents are from Mexico.  Which is it Representative? Santa Fe New Mexican - A contrite state House Democratic Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton made an apology Thursday to Gov. Susana Martinez for an outburst at the Capitol this week in which she accused a Republican lawmaker of "carrying the Mexican's water on the fourth floor."

Sheryl Williams Stapleton

"I lost it, ladies and gentlemen," Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, told reporters at a news conference Thursday. Stapleton, whose demeanor normally is spirited, spoke softly. At times during the conference, her voice sounded as if it were about to break. "I expect more of myself," she said. "This is not my character."
Stapleton, the first black woman elected to the Legislature, was surrounded at the conference by several supporters, all Hispanic, some of whom told reporters Stapleton is no racist.
The incident occurred Wednesday during a break of the Legislative Education Study Committee. Stapleton confronted Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, who recently had been interviewed on a KRQE-TV investigative report about Stapleton, a school administrator, being paid by Albuquerque Public Schools while she was in Santa Fe at legislative sessions, which at the time was a violation of the district's policy. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Stapleton: "I Lost it, Ladies and Gentlemen"

The Economist Runs Feature on Governor Martinez

Susana Martinez

The Economist - TORIBIO ORTEGA, who supposedly fired the first shot in the Mexican Revolution a century ago, would have been surprised if told that a descendant of his would one day run an American state. So would Adolfo Martinez, another Mexican revolutionary, who crossed the sparsely patrolled border into America in the 1920s (whether legally or not is unclear from census records). But today Susana Martinez of New Mexico, great-granddaughter of the former and granddaughter of the latter, does just that: she is America’s first Latina governor. Her Democratic predecessor, Bill Richardson, is of Mexican descent on his mother’s side. And Brian Sandoval in Nevada is both Latino and Republican.

Martinez at Inauguration

But Ms Martinez is the only governor who is simultaneously Hispanic, female and Republican. As such, she seems well on the way to embodying the party’s hoped-for future as a conservative movement that can appeal to, rather than repel, Latinos, America’s fastest-growing main ethnic group. This is why many Republican strategists are now studying her. New Mexico, which has the highest share (almost half) of Latinos of any state in the country, is, along with Colorado and Nevada, an important swing state for 2012. John McCain, the Republican candidate last time and a senator from Arizona, thinks that Latinos are up for grabs in these states and even in his own, if Republicans will just change their nativist tone. Read full story here: News New Mexico

The Economist Runs Feature on Governor Martinez