Conrad James - 1st Year Lawmaker

Conrad James

Capitol Report New Mexico -  Editor’s Note: Now that the 2011 60-day legislative session is over, we thought it would ask Rep. Conrad James for some of his thoughts. James is a political newbie — a Republican, he took over Janice Arnold-Jones’ seat in District 24 in Albuquerque at the first of the year. An engineer at Sandia Labs, the 36-year-old had no prior political experience. So what’s it like for a freshman at the Roundhouse? Here are some of Rep. James’ thoughts: The 50th legislature was quite an experience for a political novice such as me. Although I have always been an avid consumer of public policy and political debate, navigating the actual machinery of state government as a first-time elected public official was something I knew would be a significant challenge. But with the assistance of hard-working legislative staffers/aides/analysts (http://www.capitolreportnewmexico.com/?p=3811 ), I was able to join the legislature at full-speed and learn quite a lot about our state in the process. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Conrad James - 1st Year Lawmaker

Heath: Don't Dismiss Johnson

Gary Johnson

NMPolitics - Former NM governor shares the tea party’s ideology but has actually had to balance that ideology with governing in a practical way; his candidacy may present a moment for the tea party to decide its future. Conventional wisdom might suggest that former N.M. Gov. Gary Johnson has no chance of winning the GOP presidential nomination next year, but I believe people would be foolish to dismiss his candidacy at this point.

Heath Haussamen



Remember that many dismissed then-District Attorney Susana Martinez as a “regional candidate” when she entered the gubernatorial race in 2009. As it turned out, she was, in fact, the “game changer” a headline on this site called her. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Heath: Don't Dismiss Johnson

Keller: Calls on Martinez to Advance SIC Reform

Tim Keller

NMPolitics - In the recently completed 2011 legislative session, Senate Bill 17 (Keller, D-Albuquerque and Neville, R-Aztec), a bill designed to complete State Investment Council reforms by removing the governor as chairperson, passed with wide bipartisan support. It now sits on the governor’s desk waiting to be signed. Senate Bill 17 was carefully crafted in the interim by the bipartisan Investment Oversight Committee, long before the recent gubernatorial election. It is composed of original sections from the 2010 bill, including sections to ensure minority party legislative appointments. It now also includes an amendment that allows the governor to serve for two more years in the chairperson role before being removed from the board. Signing SB 17 provides our new governor with an appropriate chance to oversee a transition and recovery of lost funds and then turn over the reins at the SIC. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Keller: Calls on Martinez to Advance SIC Reform

Malkin: Project Gunrunner

Michelle Malkin

Townhall - Buried in Barack Obama's failed trillion-dollar stimulus program was a $10 million bloody border racket that has now cost American lives. This goes far beyond the usual waste, fraud and abuse underwritten by progressive profligacy. It's bloodstained government malfeasance overseen by anti-gun ideologues -- and now anti-gun ideologue Attorney General Eric Holder will "investigate." Welcome to Project Gunrunner. Prepare for another Justice Department whitewash. First, some background. Like so many border programs run amok, Project Gunrunner was the spawn of Beltway bipartisanship. It was established in 2005 as a pilot project under the Bush administration and run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The intended goal of the program's sting operations: stop illicit firearms trafficking along the Southwest border through close surveillance of undercover gun purchases and coordinated intervention with Mexico. The deadly result: federally sanctioned gunwalking of high-powered weapons from U.S. officials right into the hands of drug cartel killers. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Malkin: Project Gunrunner

Bingaman and Udall Push for New Conservation Areas

Jeff Bingaman

From newswest9.com - Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation are continuing to push for the designation of conservation and wilderness areas in Taos and Rio Arriba counties. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman on Tuesday reintroduced legislation that would preserve about 236,000 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management by designating a combination of conservation and wilderness areas. Much of the land - 214,600 acres - would be managed as a conservation area. Two other parcels would be managed as wilderness.  Fellow New Mexico Democratic Sen. Tom Udall is cosponsoring the Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act.  Reps. Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich have introduced a similar bill in the U.S. House.

Bingaman and Udall Push for New Conservation Areas

NM public schools will now get graded the same way their students are

From Capitol Report New Mexico - Gov. Susana Martinez appeared at an elementary school in Edgewood to officially sign a bill into law that will require public schools across the state to begin receiving annual report cards with letter-grades attached. Just as kids across New Mexico wonder (or worry) whether they’re getting an A, a B, a C, a D or an F, individual schools will now be in much the same boat. The Governor signed the bill in front of a large group of students at the Route 66 Elementary School in Edgewood, one of three schools nominated by the US Department of Education as a “blue ribbon school.” “We have to find ways to honor out students, we have to find ways to honor our staff,” school district superintendent Karen Couch said. “This will be a much better system than No Child Left Behind.” Under the new law, if a school receives a failing grade twice within four years, parents can take their kids out of that failing school and transfer them to another. Read more

NM public schools will now get graded the same way their students are

Govt. Spends $1 Mil So Illegals Don’t Drown

From themoralliberal.com -In a reprehensible waste of taxpayer funds, a government agency is spending more than $1 million to install floating devices along a canal where hundreds of illegal immigrants have drowned trying to sneak into the United States. The costly project was inspired by pressure from the mainstream media, which portrayed government officials as “indifferent and callous” that scores of illegal immigrants have died in the canal that runs along the California-Mexico border. More than 100 life-saving buoys have been bolted across the desert waterway in the last few months at a cost of $1.1 million, according to a national news wire.  More News New Mexico

Govt. Spends $1 Mil So Illegals Don’t Drown

At a Tea Party Rally, Sanchez Inches Closer to Senate Run

John Sanchez

Pulaski note:  In a recent article that can be seen here John Sanchez had this to say about the Tea Parties: "Sanchez said the support of Tea Party activists won't be the deciding factor in the primary race. "I don't necessarily need to be the Tea Party candidate," he said, noting he shares their values of "lower taxes, less government."" 
From newmexicoindependent.com -Lt. Gov. John Sanchez inched closer to announcing a Senate run this weekend at a tea party rally in Moriarty. Sanchez has been named as a potential Republican candidate for the open Senate seat.  KOAT reported that “Sanchez sounded like a man with a plan to run for the Senate.” “If we do, we’re in it to win it clearly,” Sanchez told KOAT. Sanchez recently attacked perceived frontrunner Heather Wilson, a former U.S. Rep., as a moderate and signaled that he was close to announcing his Senate intentions.Wilson was also at the Moriarty tea party event.  More News New Mexico

At a Tea Party Rally, Sanchez Inches Closer to Senate Run

Sex, Work Slavery Spikes in NM

From koat.com - The FBI and Albuquerque Police Department said human trafficking cases have increased in New Mexico, and the agencies are desperately trying to save people from becoming slaves. “(It’s) modern slavery,” FBI Supervisor Lenny Johns said. Human trafficking, which includes both sex and work slaves, has spiked in New Mexico in recent years. “It’s the second fastest crime that we have growing right now,” Albuquerque Police Department Commander Doug West said. West said the increase can be linked to the thriving Internet sex industry. In the past year, West said the department has prosecuted four human trafficking cases in Albuquerque, including the arrest and conviction of Tilford Black. “It’s a substantial increase because we basically never had a human trafficking case up until last year,” West said. The FBI also said human trafficking has jumped in border states like New Mexico.Both federal and local law enforcement members said there are several reasons that make New Mexico’s human trafficking unique, including the intersection of two major interstates. “It’s a corridor. It’s a central location for people to come,” West said.  More News New Mexico

Sex, Work Slavery Spikes in NM

Gary Johnson to reportedly announce run for 2012 Presidential race

From Capitol Report New Mexico - Gary Johnson, presidential aspirant? Is America ready for a President who: a) wants to slash federal spending (and is serious about it) b) greatly reduce (or even eliminate) the US military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq c) eliminate President Obama’s health care plan and have states run their own systems and d) legalize marijuana? It looks like we’ll find out because there are reports that former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson – a Republican unlike any other, it seems — is going to announce his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election at the end of April. Fox News and Politico quote a political adviser saying that Johnson will make his announcement in New Hampshire, site of one of the most important presidential primaries and a place where the former Governor has been spending a lot of time in the past year. In addition, the adviser says Johnson will skip the process of forming an explatory committee to look at his chances and plunge right into officially declaring his candidacy. Read more

Gary Johnson to reportedly announce run for 2012 Presidential race