Pearce: Senate Democrats Out of Time

Washington, DC (March 30, 2011) Today, Congressman Steve Pearce issued the following statement on the need to pass a responsible long-term spending plan: "The federal government is spending 3.5 trillion dollars for every 2.2 trillion it brings in,” said Pearce. “The Senate has failed to respond to the nation's looming debt crisis that is threatening our economy. The House has taken important first steps, but the Senate refuses to pass even these minimal cuts.

Our Senators must realize that they are jeopardizing jobs throughout our nation and must stop spending money we don't have. It is time that the Senate steps up to provide the leadership and make the decisions Americans need."

Pearce: Senate Democrats Out of Time

Quit Downplaying Cartel Threat

NMPolitics - States are grappling with the dual problems of immigration and border security, but it’s a no-win situation for them; real solutions must come from Congress and the president. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asserts that the border is safe. She claims the cartel violence that has plagued Mexico hasn’t spilled over in a serious way. “There is a perception that the border is worse now than it ever has been. That is wrong. The border is better now than it ever has been,” she was quoted by The Associated Press as saying in El Paso last week. With all due respect, that’s crap. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Quit Downplaying Cartel Threat

King: Signals His Priorities on Driver's Licenses

Gary King

Santa Fe New Mexican - The Attorney General's Office on Wednesday said Gov. Susana Martinez's campaign committee might have violated campaign laws by spending money on radio ads in support of a bill to prohibit driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. In a letter to Secretary of State Dianna Duran, Albert Lama, deputy attorney general, said Duran's office should reconsider its decision that the Martinez ads were not in violation of the Campaign Reporting Act. "Although you did not seek our advice in this matter, we are concerned that your interpretation of the Campaign Reporting Act is unnecessarily broad and may open the door to use of campaign contributions contrary to the Legislature's intent," Lama wrote.

Dianna Duran

But Lama's letter doesn't suggest that the attorney general is going to take any further action. In February, Martinez's campaign committee spent $5,648 on radio spots that urged listeners to contact legislators and tell them to support bills aimed at stopping the practice of issuing driver's licenses to undocumented people. The effect was not successful. The House and Senate couldn't agree on the driver's-license bill, so it died. Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an immigrant-rights group, and Common Cause, a group that has advocated for election reforms, complained that the ads violated the Campaign Reporting Act.

On March 3, Duran wrote Somos, saying, "Susana Martinez meets the definition of a "candidate" who has authorized her campaign committee to make expenditures for the purpose of seeking future election to office. ... I have no reasonable belief that Susana Martinez for Governor Committee committed any violation of the Campaign Reporting Act, and I do not intend to refer this matter to the Attorney General or a District Attorney." Martinez and Duran are Republicans. Attorney General Gary King is a Democrat. Read full story here: News New Mexico

King: Signals His Priorities on Driver's Licenses

State Revenue Up $200 Million Year over Year

Capitol Report New Mexico - It doesn’t call for uncorking Champagne bottles but New Mexico received some good economic news this week. The US Census Bureau released its figures for state tax collections and in the fourth quarter of 2010 (October-December), the state received reported slightly more income than in the same time period the year before. In addition, income from severance taxes was up by nearly $20 million. The severance tax receipts are especially critical since those taxes reflect the overall strength of the oil and gas industry in New Mexico, which contribute so heavily to the state’s economic well-being. “I was expecting a slight bump.” Sen. John Arthur Smith (D-Deming) said Wednesday, “due to the price of oil going up lately.” In total, the state collected $1.3 billion in total taxes in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from $1.1 billion raked in at the same time in 2009. Read full story here: News New Mexico

State Revenue Up $200 Million Year over Year

Martinez to Sign Public School Transparency Law

Santa Fe New Mexican - ALBUQUERQUE — Gov. Susana Martinez plans to sign into law legislation aimed at improving transparency among New Mexico's public school districts and charter schools. A signing ceremony is planned Wednesday afternoon at Sandia High School in Albuquerque.

Among the legislation is a measure that would require financial information about school districts and charter schools to be posted on a government website known as the "sunshine portal." Schools will be required to provide data to the Public Education Department for online publication, including a yearly operating budget, monthly spending as well as a directory of school employees by name, title and salary. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Martinez to Sign Public School Transparency Law

Sowell: Measuring Force

Thomas Sowell

Townhall - You don't just walk up to the local bully and slap him across the face. If you are determined to confront him, then you try to knock the living daylights out of him. Otherwise, you are better off to leave him alone. Anyone who grew up in my old neighborhood in Harlem could have told you that. But Barack Obama didn't grow up in my old neighborhood. He had a much more genteel upbringing, including a fancy private school, in Hawaii. Maybe that is why he thinks he can launch military operations against Moammar Qaddafi, while promising not to kill him and promising that no American ground troops will be used.
It is the old liberal illusion that you can measure out force with a teaspoon, not only in military operations micro-managed by civilians in Washington, like the Vietnam war, but also in domestic confrontations when the police are trying to control a rioting mob, and are being restrained by politicians, while the mob is restrained by nobody. We went that route in the 1960s, and the results were not inspiring, either domestically or internationally. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Sowell: Measuring Force

Williams: Department of Injustice

Walter Williams

Townhall - One of the requirements to become a Dayton, Ohio police officer is to successfully pass the city's two-part written examination. Applicants must correctly answer 57 of 86 questions on the first part (66 percent) and 73 of 102 (72 percent) on the second part. Dayton's Civil Service Board reported that 490 candidates passed the November 2010 written test, 57 of whom were black. About 231 of the roughly 1,100 test takers were black. The U.S. Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, rejected the results of Dayton's Civil Service examination because not enough blacks passed.

Eric Holder

The DOJ has ordered the city to lower the passing score. The lowered passing grade requires candidates to answer 50 of 86 (58 percent) questions correctly on the first part and 64 of 102 (63 percent) of questions on the second. The DOJ-approved scoring policy requires potential police officers to earn the equivalent of an "F" on the first part and a "D" on the second. Based on the DOJ-imposed passing scores, a total of 748 people, 258 more than before, were reported passing the exam. Unreported was just how many of the 258 are black. Keith Lander, chairman of the Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Dayton NAACP president Derrick Foward condemned the DOJ actions. Mr. Lander said, "Lowering the test score is insulting to black people," adding, "The DOJ is creating the perception that black people are dumb by lowering the score. It's not accomplishing anything." Read full column here: News New Mexico

Williams: Department of Injustice

Williams: Embarking on a New Age of Freedom

Armstrong Williams

Townhall - There’s a relatively new collection of essays making its way around Washington circles asking a provocative question that, I’m sure, many have acted out in their own personal lives yet never really pondered what it meant — a book entitled, "Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?" Gathered and compiled by editor John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, the myriad scholarly contributors examine just how the Internet has altered the course of an individual’s thinking. "A new invention has emerged, a code for collective consciousness that requires a new way of thinking," Mr. Brockman writes. "The Internet is the infinite oscillation of our collective consciousness interacting with itself. It’s not about computers It’s about thinking." Indeed, perhaps the single greatest invention of our time has changed the way we collect, process, analyze and share information; from the most meaningless such as a casserole recipe, to state secrets pilfered by rogue military personnel and scattered like ashes to the four winds. Not since the telegraph in the early 19th century has information moved so rapidly and efficiently. Read more here: News New Mexico

Williams: Embarking on a New Age of Freedom

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