Democracy for New Mexico

LCV Events: Meet With Wilson This Week & Earth Day

From Maggie Toulouse, League of Conservation Voters:
LCV has been working in New Mexico with our friends in the Coalition for the Valle Vidal (www.vallevidal.org) to protect one of New Mexico's and America's most precious places -- the Valle Vidal -- from harmful drilling for gas and other minerals.  LCV has also been working diligently to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- Alaska's version of the Valle Vidal -- from a similar fate.  Your opportunity to help protect these beautiful places is happening this week.

Meet with Representative Wilson
In Albuquerque, Congresswoman Heather Wilson is holding coffees with constituents this week.  We are urging our volunteers and supporters in the Albuquerque area to meet with Representative Wilson and urge her to take action to protect the Valle Vidal and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Here are the opportunities to meet with Rep. Wilson:

Thursday, March 23 at 2:00 PM:
Johndi's BBQ
Southwest Corner of Griegos and Rio Grande
For more information, call the event organizers at 505-345-3354. Let us know if you will attend!

Friday, March 24th at 10:00 AM:
Coffee at Krispy Creme in Paradise Hills
3709 Ellison NW Albuquerque, NM 87114
For more information, call the event organizers at 505-890-7300. Let us know if you will attend!

Volunteer with us on Earth Day
April 22 is Earth Day 2006! LCV and Sierra Club will be holding an Earth Day gathering and community canvass to commemorate this important event.  Please join us and Representative Tom Udall (invited) and other environmental leaders as we plan to make the environment a key issue in this year's important election.

What:  Earth Day Gathering and Community Canvass with LCV and Sierra Club
When: Saturday, April 22, 9:30 AM - Speakers begin, 10:30 AM - Canvass begins
Where: Immanuel Presbyterian Church - Fellowship Hall
114 Carlisle SE, Albuquerque
To attend, click here.

I hope you'll be able to attend these important events. Together we can let our elected officials know that the environment matters to New Mexicans.

Sincerely,
Maggie Toulouse, SW Campaign Manager
League of Conservation Voters

What Are We Fighting For?

Iraqis gather near bodies of men and children, who were allegedly killed during a U.S. raid in Ishaqi area near the city of Balad, north of Baghdad, on March 15.

Lest we lose sight of what we're fighting for -- or I should say against -- read James Wolcott's gut wrenching analysis of what's going on in Iraq. The war is now a tragedy of epic proportions while Bush and his toadies cling insanely to fantasies about "victory," blind with monstrous denial about the realities on the ground in Iraq. For a more personal take on recent events, here's on-the-ground in Baghdad's Riverbend on her blog, Baghdad Burning, lamenting the state of Iraq three years into the occupation.

Need I say that we must keep up the fight against this neo-con bloodbath and bring our troops home NOW? There is no good way out of there. There is no "solution" or "plan" that will make things OK there. But we can get out now, before we make things even worse. As John Kerry said as the Viet Nam war was pulverizing both the Vietnamese and the troops in a no-win situation:

... how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

Feingold on Daily Show Tonight

Sen. Russ Feingold will appear on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show tonight. In Albuquerque, you can see it on cable TV's Comedy Channel, which is Comcast Channel 48, at 9:00 PM MST. It repeats at 11:00 PM tonight and on Thursday at 8:00 AM, Noon and 6:00 PM.

Victory for NM Dem Native American Caucus

A rule change that allowed an official Native American Caucus to be created within the Democratic Party of NM passed unanimously at Friday's State Central Committee Meeting. An article by Erny Zah in the The Daily Times of Farmington provides good coverage on this important achievement. Excerpts:

"It's a good thing," said GloJean Todacheene, a state committee member and vice president of Shiprock Chapter. "It's a darn good thing."

... With the committee's approval of amendments to the state bylaws to include a Native American Caucus, New Mexico becomes the second state in the country to have the Democratic Party recognize Native Americans with a caucus. The first state to have a Native American Caucus was California, which established it in 1998.

... For New Mexico, Harris said that the approval of the caucus validates the role Native Americans have in the party. She said Natives account for about 10 percent of the state's population, and about 16 percent of the Democratic vote. In addition, about 75 percent of registered Native voters are Democrat.

"One of the ideas we hear that is usually true is Native Americans are taken for granted as a base group," said Harris, who is Comanche.

Now that Native Americans are a viable party within the party, she said that will open doors for Natives for funding that include helping get Natives registered to vote and for training for Natives so they can become more involved with campaigns as volunteers and candidates.

"That's important because of tribal sovereignty," she about that role of Natives in the political process.

... Even though the State Central Committee unanimously approved the formation of a Native American Caucus, Natives are still vastly under represented on the state committee. Of the 357 people on the state committee, only four members are Native American.

Linda Yardley, a State Central Committee member, said she believed going into the vote for approval of the caucus that Native Americans were "overlooked and neglected" by the Democratic Party.

Harris said Native Americans have "caught up pretty quick" with the rest of the party since they have only had the right to vote in state elections since 1962. Now Harris hopes the number of Native Americans holding office will begin to be more reflective of the percentage of Native Americans in the state.

"There's not enough Native American's running for office," she said. She said there are reasons why Native's have been under represented.

"We have been building ourselves. We have been in survival mode for so long. It's just now we can look beyond mere survival," she said.

There will also be increased voter outreach to tribal populations in the state by the Democratic Party of NM's field director, Anathea Chino. Anathea is one of four new field organizers in NM paid by the DNC to do Party building and outreach, and is from Acoma Pueblo, west of Albuquerque. She'll be concentrating on San Juan, McKinley, Sandoval, Cibola, Valencia, Torrance, and Lincoln Counties with an emphasis on the Native American communities throughout the state.

Impeachment and More: What We Won at NM Dem Weekend Meetings

UPDATE 3/22/06: Today's right-wing Drudge Report features a link to this Santa Fe New Mexican article on the Bush impeachment resolution passed at Saturday's Democratic Pre-Primary Convention. I guess we've hit the big time, big time. NM Dems: Out in front of the pack and calling attention nationwide to the abuses of power perpetrated by the Bush administration. You can comment on the New Mexican story here.
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Despite the ruckesses described in previous posts here, we won some big battles at the NM Democratic Party SCC Meeting Friday and Pre-Primary Convention Saturday. You can see one of them depicted on the front page of today's Albuquerque Journal above. A copyrighted story  by Journal political writer Jeff Jones, describes passage of a floor amendment to the Party platform introduced by Bernalillo County delegate Robb Chavez that says:

...the Democratic Party of New Mexico supports the impeachment of George Bush and his lawful removal from office.

Since this was a floor amendment, it had to pass by at least a margin of 2/3 of the delegates. In the article, NM Democratic Party Chair John Wertheim is quoted as saying

"It was probably 80/20" in favor of the resolution. "There was not a single person to speak in opposition."

In another excerpt, Chairman Wertheim continues:

Realistically, "impeachment is not going to happen while we have a Republican Congress." But he said the resolution shows "there's widespread sentiment among Democrats that the Bush administration has been fraught with abuse of power -- and a greater degree of violations than anything the Clinton administration did."

Above: Dallas Timmons at the Convention mic proposing a floor amendment.

In addition, Dallas Timmons, another delegate from Bernalillo County, who's also an SCC member, introduced this amendment to the platform, which also passed by a large margin:

We believe the United States should abide by the Geneva Convention on all issues of conduct of war and prevent the U.S. military and our nation's intelligence agencies from utilizing torture of prisoners or detainees in any manner or at any time whatsoever.

It's telling that if an amendment or motion from the floor was allowed to be introduced by the Chair, it generally passed by a large margin, sometimes almost unanimously. What does this mean? That the Democratic Convention delegates are definitely from the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, oftentimes way ahead of elected officials on timely and crtitical issues.

Above: Jeff Armijo, who got 70% of the delegate vote for State Auditor, rounding up votes at Friday's SCC Meeting. He passed out stickers that said, 'You Matter.' And we do.

In addition to wins at the Convention, we also had some significant successes at the SCC Meeting on Friday. SCC member Bill Kass of Bernalillo County introduced a motion to require the Party to create a budget committee to help plan and oversee the Party's financial dealings. Ann Dunlap, another SCC member from Bernalillo County, introduced a motion requiring the Party to institute a regular audit process of its books. Both passed almost unanimously.

Also Friday, SCC members passed a State Rules Committee report that included requiring that each of our three congressional districts be represented in appointments to the Rules Committee, and that changed the Party bylaws to allow the creation of a Native American Caucus within the Party.

What do these successes show? If the Dem grassroots keeps at it, has the gumption to introduce business from the floor at meetings and learns to do it properly by studying the intricacies of Roberts' Rules of Order, members and delegates are often quite receptive and generally vote to approve the measures.

At this weekend's meetings, almost every motion or resolution from grassroots Dems that managed to make its way to the floor was approved by a wide margin. You can see why there's been an ongoing effort in some quarters to quash floor motions and resolutions before they get to the floor. A number of additional platform planks, including ones on equal rights for all and banning weapons in space, would no doubt have passed if they had been allowed by the Chair to reach the floor. Unlike some of our candidates and officeholders, rank and file Dems are ready to rumble and to confront the right-wing noise machine head on. If not now, when?  As legendary Democrat, President Franklin Roosevelt, once said, "The only thing we have to fear is -- fear itself."

There's a movement afoot among Dems of many stripes. It has to do with fighting for what we believe in. With speaking truth to power. With saying what we mean. With fearlessly persuading, educating and leading on issues where voters have heard only the argument of the right-wing cabal. As the badges worn by a number of Dems at this weekend's meetings said:

"I'm a Murtha - Feingold Democrat. Are You?"

Wake Up: 2006 is a Base Election

The recommended reading of the day is provided by Matt Stoller of MyDD. Think about it in terms of the battle the grassroots is having with NM Dem Party officers and insiders about the watered down, weakly written 2006 Platform. And how an effort to replace it with the actual resolutions that traveled up the committee structure and had previously been approved by the State Central Committee, was stymied out of fear of being too "controversial." The base here definitely isn't happy. Not a good thing if you're a Dem candidate. They've got to give people something to fight for, don't they?

Listen to Marine Discuss Iraq Tonight On KUNM

From Javier Benavidez:
Please tune-in to KUNM 89.9 TONIGHT, Monday, March 20th, from 8:00 to 8:30PM for a half-hour interview with Anthony Garcia of Albuquerque on "Espejos de Aztlan." Anthony is a 24-year old former Marine who served in Iraq for seven months at the start of the war. He spoke at Saturday's anti-war march and rally in front of over 1,000 protesters about his personal experience in Iraq and decision to become an activist against the war which began 3-years ago this past Sunday.

Espejos de Aztlan has been on-air since 1979 and is part of the Raices Colectiva which conducts programming on news, culture and music from a Latino perspective on KUNM 89.9. For more information about the show, or to suggest questions for tonight's guest / submit feedback, please contact me at email.

Sound Off: Open Letter to State Dem Party Chair

This letter is from Guy Watson, Democratic Precinct Chair and Pre-Primary Convention Delegate. He sent it directly to Mr. Wertheim and others as well.

To: John V. Wertheim, Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman.

I am a Democratic Precinct Chairperson and was a delegate to today's Democratic Party of New Mexico Pre-Primary Nominating Convention.  During the discussion on the NM Democratic Party Platform you used a parliamentary maneuver to first table a delegate's amendment to the platform and then, when the Chair of the Platform committee refused to cut off the discussion you asked another  member of the Platform Committee to go to the mike and call for the vote on the main motion, a non debatable motion. This action assured there would be no discussion of the tabled amendment.You then called for a vote of the delegates to accept the platform thus killing the tabled amendment.  The amendment presented by Mr. Riley was a request to substitute the more specific and shorter wording of the twice passed Resolutions for the poorly worded and vague misstatement of the document arrived at during the Platform Committee's March meeting. Your maneuver effectively cut out an open  discussion of interest to at least half of the delegates.

I was an observer and participant in the March Platform Meeting. The wording agreed upon at that meeting is not the wording or the content that was today made the Platform of the NM Democratic Party. Following the Platform meeting in early March you or a member of the Platform committee rewrote the platform into an almost apologetic statement of vague "memories" of the original intent of the Resolutions voted on and approved in April 2005 and November 2005. As soon as you tabled the amendment delegates sitting around me made numerous disparaging comments to the effect that you can be counted on to shove through your view over the views of the rank and file Democrats.

I am angry that you refused to allow a vote on the amendment. I'm embarrassed that you reinforced a belief that the grass roots work by volunteers in the party is less important than the agenda of the State Central Committee's Chairperson. I was given a sticker to wear during the convention that said "You Matter". Observing your control over the Platform discussion today convinces me that the sticker is wishful thinking.

Guy Watson, Ed.D, Albuquerque, NM
Email: drguy@qwest.net

Editor's Note: An earlier blog post covered problems with other aspects of the Party's platform process. Sound Off is an occasional feature on DFNM. If you'd like to submit a post for this series, please email me by clicking on the link in the upper left-hand side of this page. We encourage your participation.

1000+ March For Peace in ABQ; Sea of Crosses Honor Troop Deaths in Santa Fe

UPDATE 3/20/06: Kathy F. posted a link in the comments section to some photos she took at the London protest and posted on her blog What Do I Know?. Go take a look.

There were Iraq War protests all over the world yesterday, including a red rose show of solidarity with Iraqi women in Istanbul, Turkey (above). According to the Albuquerque Journal, more than 1,000 people joined the antiwar protest in the Duke City yesterday. Excerpts:

With the same refrain that echoed through Albuquerque three years ago - chants, songs and pleas such as "Stop the War," "Impeach Bush and Cheney," "Give Peace a Chance" - more than 1,000 anti-war protesters marched from the University of New Mexico to Downtown to mark the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

"Why have we created this destruction?" Travis McKenzie, an 18-year-old UNM student, asked in the midst of the long line of people that stretched to the west on Central Avenue. "You still to this day cannot get a good answer. And it's all propaganda when they do give you the (expletive) on the news, in the media."

... they came from all walks of life. From the "Raging Grannies" to middle-aged dads pushing baby strollers, people with dogs, spiked-haired, saggy-jean-wearing teens and a band of bicyclists.

Outside the UNM bookstore, words that read "spying," "fear," "no peace with occupation" and "chicken hawk recruiting" were scrawled on the sidewalk.

... Part-time waitress Mary Kraft of Albuquerque held up a sign, "Bring My Grandson Home Now." He was recruited by the Army while at Eldorado High School. He's been in Iraq for six months.

"I'm doing it (protesting) for everybody," she said. "I think it's just criminal that they have their recruiters all over our high schools. Because at the age of 17 that was not a good decision for him to make."

Laura Berg, a government employee who was investigated for possible sedition after writing a newspaper letter to the editor criticizing President Bush, was a featured speaker, as was Anthony Garcia, a former Marine who served in Iraq for seven months at the start of the war.

He talked of Iraqi women and children being used as shields and troops being forced shoot them. He said a "little boy" he killed returns to him in his dreams all the time. "He tells me, 'I'm OK,' '' he said.

Protesters at Trevi Fountain, Rome

Another article in the Albuquerque Journal describes an observance in Santa Fe called "2 Days at Arlington West" organized by Veterans for Peace to honor the troops who have given their lives in the Iraq War:

The 276-foot long banner with its photos of U.S. service members killed since the war in Iraq began three years ago tells the story better than any words could.

So does the sea of white crosses, each one gently pressed into the earth outside the College of Santa Fe.

The message: Here is what the war in Iraq has cost, measured in the lives of servicemen and women. Veterans for Peace, the group organizing the two-day memorial dubbed "2 Days at Arlington West," said the event wasn't a protest.

Each cross bore the name of a soldier killed in Iraq. Members of Veterans for Peace and other volunteers planned to install 1,000 crosses for the temporary memorial in an open field in front of the College of Santa Fe. Other Veterans for Peace groups will be setting up crosses in California; there will be more than 2,000 crosses set up in the Western part of the country. The number of dead in Iraq so far totals more than 2,300.

NM Dem Convention Primary Results

I'll have more about this weekend's Democratic Party SCC Meeting and Pre-Primary Convention in Albuquerque, but I'm down with a bug right now. I did want to get the numbers up today for primary candidates, however. According to the Albuquerque Journal, here's how the primary race voting in contested races went with Democratic Party Pre-Primary Convention Delegates yesterday:

UPDATE 1:34 PM: I've amended the percentages based on info provided by the DPBC.

Attorney General:
35.95%  Geno Zamora
32.70%  Lemuel Martinez
31.34%  Gary King

Secretary of State:
34.09%  Mary Herrera
33.48%  Stephanie Gonzales
21.14%  Shirley Hooper
11.29%  Letitia Montoya

Land Commissioner:
74.12%  Ray Powell Jr.
25.88%  Jim Baca

State Auditor:
69.98%  Jeff Armijo
30.02%  Ray Buckman

Winners in uncontested races: Jeff Bingman, U.S. Senator; Patricia Madrid, U.S. House CD1; Albert Kissling, U.S. House CD2; Tom Udall, U.S. House CD3; Bill Richardson, Governor; Diane Denish, Lt. Governor; James Lewis, State Treasurer.

To get on the primary election ballot without having to get additional signatures, candidates had to receive at least 20% of delegate votes. The order of the candidates on the ballot for the Democratic Primary Election on June 6, 2006, will be determined by the number of votes received from delegates in contested primary races. Whoever got the most delegate votes will be at the top of the ticket for that race.