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| Daniel Salinas |
Sunland Park Mayor Arrested Again
Sanchez Response to Simonich Column
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| John Sanchez |
SANTA FE – Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez has issued the following response to a story published by Milan Simonich concerning remarks made at the Republican Pre-Primary Convention on March 17, 2012: “In response to questions regarding my remarks made at last Saturday's Republican Pre-Primary Nominating Convention, I want to be perfectly clear. I turned eighteen on January 11, 1981. The first time that I was able to cast a ballot for President was in 1984 and I proudly cast that vote for Ronald Reagan. On Saturday, I stated that ‘My very first vote when I turned eighteen years old was for a man called Ronald Reagan.’ I was referring to the first time that I was able to cast a ballot for President after turning eighteen years old.”
Pearce: The Path to Prosperity
Washington, DC (March 20, 2012) Today, Congressman Steve Pearce issued the following statement after the release of “The Path to Prosperity,” the Fiscal Year 2013 budget introduced by House Republicans: 
The Path to Prosperity takes on these issues by cutting government spending and working to ensure economic security. Importantly, our budget plan also promotes domestic energy production, which will lower gas prices and create jobs.”
“Budget cuts alone are not enough to fix our economy,” Pearce continued. “Instead, we must couple significant budget cuts with small business growth and job creation. Our budget creates opportunity for this type of economic growth through tax code reforms that will make America more competitive and help put money back in the pockets of hardworking Americans. This is a genuine step in the direction of more effective and efficient government.”
Cruces Dust Ordinance Will Cost a Fortune
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| Las Cruces City Hall |
For several years the city council in New Mexico's second largest city has been dominated by progressive anti-business types. These days they are eyeing new fees, costly ordinances, and onerous rules and regulations that will further damage a construction industry that is experiencing 65% unemployment rates. A case in point is an effort to pass a local “Dust Ordinance.” This proposal will cause the city itself to bear huge costs to stay in compliance on its city-owned vacant and disturbed land.
It seems that professional engineer’s explanations of why this area is dusty are continuously ignored. As yet another wave of codes and rules looms it seems likely that Las Cruces is sure to begin wasting water and money on dust that has been in the Mesilla Valley for two hundred million years. Las Cruces residents are about to get another reminder of why elections matter and eco-dreamers are in reality uninformed job killers.
10,000 Acres for Endangered Frog in NM and AZ
Big Quake Shakes Mexico City
Story Scrub Was Requested by White House
On Monday, the AFP reported that Obama's daughter was on a school trip along with a number of friends and 25 Secret Service agents. The story was picked up by Yahoo, the Huffington Post, and the International Business Times, as well as UK publications like the Daily Mail and the Telegraph and other overseas publications like The Australian. But on Monday night, the story had been removed from those sites. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Finding Creativity in Scoffing at Voter Fraud
The wonders of the Internet and the impact of the widespread availability of electronic recording devices never ceases to amaze. This morning on the News New Mexico radio show we had a discussion regarding a column written by reporter Milan Simonich on the John Sanchez speech at the GOP pre-primary convention. Simonich reported that Sanchez, "Spoke of the pride he felt as an 18-year-old when he voted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election." Well, that is pretty close, but not quite exactly what Sanchez said.
Sanchez did not specify that it was the election of 1980 (instead of 1984 when he actually cast his vote for Reagan) nor did he say he was actually 21 when he voted for Reagan. No doubt it was his first presidential vote, and no doubt Sanchez was 21 and not 18 when he cast it. In effect the Lt. Governor got the recipient of his vote correct, but the age when he cast his vote wrong. He batted .500 on that line of his speech. This afternoon according to the Sanchez team's response to our inquiry, Simonich never called them for a simple clairification of which Reagan election the Lt. Governor actually voted in.
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| Joey Peters |
A recording we obtained through the courtesy of Joey Peters of the Santa Fe Reporter reveals that Sanchez actually said, "My very first vote when I turned 18 years old was for a man called Ronald Reagan."
Sanchez did not specify that it was the election of 1980 (instead of 1984 when he actually cast his vote for Reagan) nor did he say he was actually 21 when he voted for Reagan. No doubt it was his first presidential vote, and no doubt Sanchez was 21 and not 18 when he cast it. In effect the Lt. Governor got the recipient of his vote correct, but the age when he cast his vote wrong. He batted .500 on that line of his speech. This afternoon according to the Sanchez team's response to our inquiry, Simonich never called them for a simple clairification of which Reagan election the Lt. Governor actually voted in.
Instead, pouncing on this seemingly nebulous slip of the tongue, Simonich loaded up the column and offered several "theories" on the Sanchez bobble. One, Sanchez is older than he says he is. Two, he embellished to inspire the audience, or three, he voted illegally. Simonich admitted it would take a stretch of the imagination, even for conspiracy theorists to think Sanchez voted illegally in 1980. It was all rather strange. After thinking about the Simonich column today, we wondered out loud, what's the big deal? Then we re-read the column again.
Near the end of the Simonich column we actually found the actual target behind his noting of the Sanchez bobble. He wrote: "New Mexico's least effective sleuth, Secretary of State Dianna Duran, publicly said last year that she had evidence of more than 100 people voting unlawfully. Sanchez was not among Duran's suspects, but his own testimony leaves him open to her next great investigation into voter fraud."
With this line we realize the Simonich swipe at Dianna Duran was pretty cleverly orchestrated. The Sanchez date bobble created a tremendous opening to scoff at the idea that voter fraud occurs in New Mexico. Well maybe.
We would direct Simonich's attention to the "next great investigation into voter fraud." It is actually already well underway in Sunland Park where there have been widespread reports of blatant voter fraud for years. In the recent municipal election voter fraud became a side show, as it seems clear people who will steal and cheat and extort will also commit voter fraud. The voter fraud story in Sunland Park is actually much easier to cover than having to sit through a boring pre-primary convention in search of a zinger that could then be tied back to Dianna Duran for having the temerity to advocate for a photo voter ID law.
Dan Lewis Drops Out of CD # 1 Race
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| Janice Arnold-Jones |
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.
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| Dan Lewis |
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
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| Milan Simonich |
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| John Sanchez |
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
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
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| Alexis Garcia |
NM Scores a "D" in Corruptibility-Transparency
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
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
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| Marita Noon |
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
Prime gunwalking suspect was held by ATF but released
Obama: The Affirmative Action President
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