Democracy for New Mexico

Guest Blog: We Didn't Cross Any Borders, They Crossed Us

This is a guest blog by JaciCee that originally appeared as a diary on Daily Kos:

Okay, maybe we did cross a couple of borders.  We marched up through Central America and Mexico and entered Native American land when we first settled here.  But since the early 1600's we haven't moved.  Who are we?  The first families and explorers that settled into New Mexico.  You know, that state that sets between Texas and Arizona and is north of Mexico and under Colorado.  We are actually part of the United States and have been since 1912.  Many Americans don't know that.  In case you don't believe me, check this out.  One of our local publications features stories about misperceptions and flat out ignorance about our state.

Let's talk a little about what happened before we became a state in 1912.  I'll give you a quick historical rundown but if you want more on our state's rich history, go here or here.

The Native American cultures were thriving here when the Spaniards first arrived.  Those incredible cultures date back to at least 1100 A.D.  The first Europeans arrived in New Mexico with Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's expedition in 1540.  Up until 1821 we lived under the Spanish flag.  In 1821 Mexico acquired New Mexico from Spain.  We then lived under the Mexican flag until 1846 when we fell under US control.  In 1862 Albuquerque surrendered to the South during the Civil War.  In 1912 we officially became a state.  We have lived under three flags without going anywhere. 

Some of our families had relatives living south of the New Mexican territory.  The borders were open. We could travel all over and see who we liked.  These relationships still exist today.

Why does this matter?  My family arrived here in 1603.  They came here with other families.  They married other Spaniards, Indians and Mexicans.  They created an incredibly diverse human landscape that is still thriving today.  These same families, whether they live in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Espanola or Taos still speak Spanish in their homes.  Many still have accents.  They are Americans. They are dark, light, tall, short, skinny and fat.  They have brown eyes, blue eyes and green eyes. Many outsiders can't tell the difference between a sixth generation New Mexican or an illegal immigrant.

I have been somewhat silent about the immigation debate. I have some pretty strong views about it but not until I saw this yesterday did I become absolutely enraged.

Some local Republicans have decided it is cool to drive a billboard around Albuquerque with the slogan "Mayor Chavez's sanctuary city for criminal illegal immigrants!"  They are pissed off because Mayor Chavez refuses to use the Albuquerque Police Department to round up "illegal aliens."  According to Allen Weh, a local Republican:

"We’re talking about public safety, and in the area of public safety, my view and our view is it’s a non-negotiable item, we’re all in this together, we all live in this city, we all live in this state, and our families should be safe,"

Safety?  I would like to see some hard facts from Mr. Weh about how many crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in New Mexico. But I doubt any New Mexican will get any facts from hatemongers.  I don't call them hatemongers lightly either.  Look at the message they are currently driving around a major US city that has a huge Hispanic population.  They are associating the workers they depend on to manicure their lawns, clean their houses, work on their roofs, care for their children, clean their hotel rooms, wash their dishes, cook their food, pick their chile crops to the level of a criminal.  I feel bad for the children of the shadow workers, who on their way to school, have to watch a billboard rolling by on a publicly funded street that equates their mother or father to a murderer.

I feel worse though that Republicans, like Weh, think they have a right to be abusive and uninformed towards a population that they know nothing about.  I am sure Weh could not tell an American citizen from an illegal in this state. 

Kudos to Mayor Marty for standing firm on this.

"And I will not have the police stopping Americans based on the color of their skin, so they need to get off it and help our congressional delegation find meaningful solutions to our immigration dilemma," said Mayor Martin Chavez.

That is my greatest fear; that someday somebody who has moved to New Mexico from a flyover state will question me or my children about our citizenship. My family has been here for multiple generations. Each of those generations has produced family members who served our nation during times of war.

Before you consider immigration reform, please think about how any of those reforms will affect American citizens, like me.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by JaciCee. It was originally posted as a diary on Daily Kos.

Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express themselves and may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Guest Blog: Senator Bingaman, You Work for Us Summer Tour

This is a guest blog by Barbara Grothus, sending along a report from a small group of grassroots activists who requested a meeting with Senator Jeff Bingaman, and who had an opportunity to sit down with him this past Monday in Albuquerque for a productive discussion. It's cross-posted at Firedoglake as an excellent example of using their You Work for Us Summer Tour idea.

Our small group met with Senator Bingaman at a chain restaurant near the airport where he was between flights to small NM towns.  He arrived with a fact sheet designed to dispel the Republican Main-Stream-Media Talking Point that we have a "Do-Nothing Congress."  The list of legislation passed and signed, passed and waiting to be signed, and passed in both houses but awaiting completion of conference reports is impressive.  Unfortunately, the list of legislation passed AND SIGNED was quite short, making it clear that we need more than a marginal Democratic majority if we hope to see significant change.

Senator Bingaman was very clear that the agenda has certainly been changed by the Democratic Congress.  Under bare-bones Democratic control, there have been significant legislative accomplishments on behalf of students and children (higher education, head start, student loans, health insurance), workers (raise in minimum wage), small businesses (tax relief), the environment and energy (renewables, efficiency, biofuels), implementation of 9-11 Commission Recommendations, more benefits for war vets, significant ethics reform, and support for research and development (from the National Labs to schools) to increase America's competitive edge. 

Our group is aware that the 110th Congress has been productive with some very good legislation, including ethics reform, however, we were more interested in discussing our disappointment that the message sent by the voters last November has failed to penetrate the Washington bubble.

Our representative from Voter Action had prepared his own handout for the Senator on the disaster of Senator Feinstein's pathetic attempt at voting protection.  In contrast, the superior bill HB 811 (Holt) needs sponsors in the Senate.  Paul emphasized the strong (paper, verifiable) and weak (audit needs improvement) elements of New Mexico's voting reforms, and he encouraged Senator Bingaman to become a Senate sponsor of S.559, the Senate version of the Holt bill.

We had a great opportunity to press Senator Bingaman over issues like FISA.  What happened?  Was it leadership failure?  How did this get the support of 16 Democratic Senators?

In brief, it appears that being called "unpatriotic" and "soft on terror" is more terrifying to some elected officials than the loss of habeas corpus.  Further, the 6 month limit and legislative weariness (August break) compelled many to vote for the FISA bill. 

We discussed the criminal activity throughout the executive branch, subpoenas, and especially the failure of Democrats to create and always use effective talking points to counter the prevailing message of the Republican-controlled corporate media. We suggested that the Democrats adopt the strategy of attacking perceived Republican strengths: for example when the Republicans accuse the Democrats of being weak on national defense, instead of denying the charge, the Democrats should strike back by pointing out that the US spends more on national defense than all the rest of the world combined. This does contribute to national security, but it is national lunacy, because it results in wrong-headed budgets that leave us fatally vulnerable to collapsed bridges, not to mention lost cities from breached levees, an unimaginable horror from which there remains no recovery.

Raul Torrez, an Assistant Attorney General noted that along with our failing infrastructure, all the resources--time, energy, money--that are being consumed by Iraq and necessary investigations of the Executive Branch results in practically no resources available to deal effectively with other pressing domestic problems such as a growing methamphetamine epidemic. 

What the people want most is to end the war and to have universal single-payer health care.  With regard to the war, we emphasized that Democrats want to see some strong indications of push-back against the Republican policy of continuing the war indefinitely.  The Democratic base would be energized, even though the votes aren't there yet.  As one of our group said, "We have your back".

The bottom line on the war (as with all legislation) is that we need 60 votes in the Senate.  A campaign to influence some Senators who have been unwilling to cross the President is the only hope.  Senator Domenici, you work for us. We need to talk.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Barbara Grothus. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their views on relevant political topics and may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Guest Blog: Take the Greed Out of Politics

This is a guest blog by Judith Binder of Skills for Democracy, Albuquerque:
Universal Health Care - Since the early 1990s, Uwe E. Reinhardt, Ph.D. Economist from Princeton University, has maintained that "greed" must be taken out of politics if we are to have appropriate health care in this country. The pharmaceutical industry, hospitals for profit, insurance companies, and corruptible politicians should not be allowed to control the legislation.

Clean Elections will create a healthy nation—an economically stable nation.

Reinhardt was in Albuquerque in 1992 or 1993 keynoting a health care forum. You can find his views at RSNA News (PDF), page 10.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Judith Binder. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their views on issues of interest, and don't necessarily express our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Guest Blog: Mayoral Makeover - How Marty Chavez is Working to Reinvent His Image

This is a guest blog by Keegan King (right), co-director of Young Voters NM. It was originally published as an op-ed in Albuquerque's alibi weekly.

Historically, much has been made of the fact that people under the age of 25 vote at dramatically lower rates than any other segment of the population. Apathy is partly to blame, but I believe the primary reason for a lack of youth involvement in the political process is cynicism. And much of this cynicism stems from watching politicians who manipulate the media to conceal their true policy agendas.

Take the chief executive of our own fair city, Mayor Martin Chavez. Two recent news items reveal how Chavez is working overtime to reinvent his image:

Item #1: Gail Reese, a top assistant to Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, made an on-the-air call to his radio talk show and, using a fake name, parroted the administration's talking points while flaming several city councilors. When Reese was busted for her crude attempt to mislead the public by trying to pose as just another "Jane Q. Citizen," her first response was to feign memory loss.

After Reese finally fessed up, the mayor's office swung into damage control mode by issuing a press release that spun her surreptitious call as nothing less than a valiant exercise of free speech. KKOB station manager Art Ortega was charitable in characterizing the incident as "disingenuous." The Tribune editorialized against fake "Astroturf" grassroots lobbying efforts emanating from the mayor's office.

Item #2: Albuquerque's morning daily newspaper reported that Chavez had received something called the "Climate Protection Award" at a recent meeting of the National Conference of Mayors. The story trumpeted the claim that Albuquerque had reduced greenhouse emissions by an extraordinary 67 percent since 2000, making it a "Green City."

But there were some glaring problems with the story.

For one thing, the claimed emissions reductions were for — not for the community as a whole.

That's a huge difference and it illuminates the challenge Chavez faces in refashioning his image.

Sandy Buffett, executive director of , cut right through the hype in a Journal letter to the editor: "One only needs to look at the unbridled real estate sprawl development to know that Albuquerque's carbon footprint is rapidly exploding ... If Chavez is serious about reducing Albuquerque's carbon footprint, than he needs to get serious about managing and planning Albuquerque's growth." As anyone who has lived in Albuquerque for the past few years knows, Chavez has been the developers' darling by shepherding their big-box, cookie-cutter sprawl development over and over again.

Oh, and one more thing. The story neglected to inform readers that Chavez' award was sponsored and underwritten by none other than Wal-Mart — the outfit that builds all those big-box stores that do so much to fuel the very sprawl development and car culture that is at the heart of the problem.

There are more recent examples of Chavez manipulating the media as he works to revamp his image and obscure long-held policy positions.

Last month, Chavez issued a sweeping "Executive Order" to ban smoking outdoors on all city government property. TV reporting featured footage of the mayor intoning piously about the health dangers of smoking.

Oddly, this was the very same Mayor Chavez who in 2002 brandished veto threats to block the City Council's efforts to pass an ordinance banning smoking in restaurants. His complaint then? The ordinance restricted to eating establishments was too sweeping and unenforceable. Talk about a 180!

And then there is Chavez' unveiling of his "Open Government" initiative. It calls for posting the minutes of city board and commission meetings online and reducing photocopy costs for public documents. With the ABQ PAC slush fund scandal fading from public memory, Chavez clearly has calculated that it’s time to jump on the "ethics" bandwagon.

But again, when you get past the hype, it's worth recalling that Chavez' silence was deafening during the last Legislative Session when really tough ethics reforms were being debated — contribution limits, an independent ethics commission and clean election financing (which he opposed for city elections in 2003).

This, of course, is what explains Marty's rush to makeover his image. Anticipating a gubernatorial run in 2010, but facing lagging poll numbers, Chavez is desperately trying to reinvent himself to appeal to Democratic primary voters around the state.

Hollow posturing of this sort is exactly what turns off young voters, who are a growing force to be reckoned with. After years of lagging participation, their turnout surged in the last two elections. Young voters demand honesty and authenticity from those who would presume to lead us. That's bad news for Martin Chavez and his big bamboozle.

Editor's Note: [all emphasis above mine] This is a guest blog by Keegan King, co-director of Young Voters NM. It was originally published as an op-ed in Albuquerque's alibi weekly. Guest blogs provide readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on issues of the day, and may or may not express our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Guest Blog: Join Santa Fe ENOUGH Protest or Create Your Own

This is a guest blog by Kaye Hancock of Santa Fe, NM:
Have you had ENOUGH? If you aren't sure, watch this video: How To Create An Angry American. Then join an ENOUGH PROTEST! Happening every Sunday in Santa Fe and all around this country!

Here are the ground rules, from chief instigator Wes Clark Jr. in Los Angeles: see diary at Daily Kos.  There have been updates by Wes Clark Jr. on Kos and at Young Turks with photos of people standing as ONE or in groups. We are in the process of recruiting more people every Sunday. Everyone add two friends or family members, then hopefully they add two or more to say "ENOUGH," ... and watch it grow!

So, JOIN ME and others around the U.S.A. who are giving up ONE HOUR A WEEK to celebrate democracy and breathe life back into it ---is it worth it to you?  If it is worth it to you, then stand with me this Sunday and all other Sundays, from Noon to 1:00 PM at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Old Pecos Trail at the Capitol Roundhouse in Santa Fe, and wear a t-shirt or hold a sign that simply says ENOUGH!

Note: "Enough" Tees can be purchased cheaply .

Our signs and shirts are limited to one word: ENOUGH. It doesn't matter what color the shirt or sign is. We're not going to yell anything or subject people to bad music, long-winded preaching to the choir, or shouting matches with pedestrians or carloads of people who may disagree with us. We're just going to stand there wearing our shirts. Signs saying "ENOUGH" are welcome, too. If people respond that they have had ENOUGH, we will ask them to come back the following Sunday to join us. That's it. It's really simple.

You will also note from the photo below that I have a homemade sign that I carry, and I am in the process of making a couple more signs appropriate to the theme "ENOUGH." I found the second Sunday I was out that the sign incited more attention, thumbs-up, hoots, hollers, and honks, especially since I was alone. Signs are welcome!

We hope to geometrically build a leaderless movement of people to put pressure on the politicians to stop shredding the Constitution whenever it is politically expedient for them to do so. By coming back week after week with no draw other than standing with our fellow citizens around this country, we're letting them know we are the kind of dedicated voters willing to put in the time and effort to throw them out if they can't respect the foundation of our Republic. 

I'd like to stay home on Sundays for the next eighteen months, but I don't think this can wait until the next election. By then damage will be done and the guilty will walk away, only to re-enter politics with the next swing in the election cycle.

COME JOIN ME! It started with one here in Santa Fe: ME! 

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH?

Let me know if you are interested by emailing me with "ENOUGH" in the subject line. I'll be on the corner waiting for more of you to join me! And if you have a contact list of people in Santa Fe who have had ENOUGH, forward my message to them as well!  ~ Thanks! ~

This is a guest blog by Kaye Hancock of Santa Fe, NM who can be reached at KayCeSF@aol.com. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their views on pertinent issues. The views expressed may or may not match ours. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand side of the page.

Ben Luce Guest Blog: The Real Reason Desert Rock Coal Plant is Happening

This is a guest blog from Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:
Have no doubt, plans for the Desert Rock Power Plant are still rolling forward: Break The Grip! has learned that Sithe Global intends once again to seek a tax incentive from the New Mexico Legislature, and recently obtained more money from the Navajo Nation to keep their development on track. Although there are upcoming hearings on the plant's Environmental Impact Statement, there is little reason to believe that these hearings will be little more than pro-forma inputs to an unresponsive EPA.

Why is this happening? How, in an age of near panic about global warming, and with New Mexico supposedly adopting greenhouse gas reduction targets and policies to achieve those measures, can another massive conventional coal plant be built in New Mexico?

The answer is simple: The Richardson Administration and the Majority Leadership in the Legislature have utterly failed to oppose this project. True, the Administration and the Legislature have little jurisdiction over the Navajo Nation. But this is beside the point: They do have jurisdiction over the proposed tax incentive, and if the Governor were really serious about doing something about global warming, he would use his bully pulpit to oppose the project and press for economic incentives to help convince the Navajo Nation that they do not need Desert Rock.

Instead, Richardson only indicated some mild concern about Desert Rock's impact in one newspaper article during the last Legislative Session, and nothing since, a far cry from his extensive opposition to drilling in Otero Mesa (which he also lacked jurisdiction over). The impact from Desert Rock will likely be far greater than drilling in Otero Mesa, by about a factor of 50 in terms of emissions (and more over the long term).

What about the Democratic Majority Leadership? They were fully FOR Desert Rock: The Senate Sponsor was the Senate Pro Tem Ben Altamirano and the House Leadership, headed by Speaker Ben Lujan, was by all accounts pushing hard for Desert Rock behind the scenes. Watch for the Speaker to route the Desert Rock incentive directly to the House Business & Industry Committee in the next session, to simply bypass the House Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Committee (which opposed and helped kill the bill during this past session). The House Business & Industry Committee is completely hopeless from an environmental issues standpoint (and the committee is chaired by the Speaker's goddaughter).

Why is the Democratic Leadership so in favor of Desert Rock? It is enough to note that the lobbyist of Sithe Global, Richard Minzer, is a major fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, and that Sithe Global has lots of money to contribute. It's another classic example of undue corporate influence in New Mexico.

It's great that there are environmental groups and Navajo groups like Dooda Desert Rock out there fighting hard. But they have no power to stop this project directly: Their role can only be to get our governments to oppose this project. Either that or be dragged off the site in hand-cuffs at the bitter end.

Unfortunately, they will likely fail to sway our state leaders, because the Governor, and the majority leadership, completely let us down. And the Navajo Nation, in the face of the possibility of $50 million in cash from Sithe Global each year, and with no counter offer from the State, is unlikely to change course either.

It's time for the New Mexico public to realize that the environmental and Navajo opposition to Desert Rock has effectively been steam-rolled by our elected officials, and to start really holding those officials accountable.

You can email the Governor at https://www.governor.state.nm.us/emailchoice.php?mm=6.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Luce recently launched the nonpartisan citizen action group Break the Grip! because of concerns about the undue influence of powerful corporations on New Mexico government. Ben's previous guest blogs can be found here and here.

Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their views on pertinent issues. The views expressed may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand side of the page.

You can access recent posts on DFNM about the Desert Rock Power Plant and the public environmental impact statement hearings now being held around the state here and here.

July 16, 2007 at 09:03 AM in Corporatism, Democratic Party, Energy, Environment, Guest Blogger, Native Americans | Permalink | Comments (5)

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Guest Blog: How to Get Health Security for Everybody

This is a guest blog by Terry Riley of Albuquerque:
New Mexico is working on health care coverage reform. The movie "Sicko" will convince you of the critical need for such reform if you are not already convinced. I urge everybody to take everybody that you know to the movie. I cannot imagine anybody coming out of the movie without understanding that our system of health care reimbursement is broken and that there are plenty of systems that we could adopt that work well.

I have been working on a plan here in New Mexico that will work well and will reduce what New Mexico pays for health care plus it will cover everybody in the state. The Governor and the Legislature put together a committee to study the problem and to make a proposal in time for the 2008 legislative session. As part of the work that they have done they hired a consulting firm to calculate how much each of the three systems that the committee had narrowed to would cost. The Health Security Plan would cost less than we spend as a state now where the other two plans would cost more.

Cost should never be the only reason to rely on when making such an important decision. What and who will be covered should be of equal importance. The Health Security Plan won again. It is the only plan where everybody in the state will be covered. The other two plans have some small gaps, which I fear will become wide gaps after implementation. One example of a group of people who would not be covered in the two more expensive plans, is people who are homeless due to domestic abuse.  Personally, I don't need to look for any more examples of who would not be covered. These people desperately need coverage and they are not. I see that everybody is covered under the Health Security Plan.  I don’t understand why the other two plans are still being considered. They cost more and they don't cover everybody.

The hearings that were held on Thursday and Friday, June 21 and 22 also reported on the impact on gross receipts taxes, job losses vs. job gains, legal ramifications relating to federal government medical assistance programs, etc. The study by Mathematica was extremely detailed. I believe, from having attended the reports from Mathematica, and from having read as much of the 218 page report that I have completed so far, that the Health Security Plan is the least expensive, the least difficult to implement, and everybody is covered. 

Thursday afternoon the committee received a communication from Governor Richardson. Michele Welby who is on the Governor's staff and is a member of the committee relayed the communication. What I feel is the most significant and most disturbing point in his communication is that he will not support any plan that does not include the health insurance corporations. This is the largest and most unnecessary cost in our entire health care delivery system.

The argument that the Health Security Plan is a single payer system - AND - unworkable because it would be run by the "Government", is stupid. The Health Security Plan is a Co-Op, which is a distinct type of single payer system that has a long history of success in the development of our country. The argument that we cannot trust the "Government" to run anything seems very unrealistic to me.  Aren't our fire departments, police and sheriff's departments run by the government?  Aren't Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid run by the government?  Aren't our streets and highways maintained by our government?  What about the obvious failure of the privatization of services to our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan?  The same failure due to the privatization of aid to the victims of Katrina?  A government system that is constructed by people who have a financial interest in that system's failure will likely fail.  A government system that is constructed by people who have a personal interest in the success of that system have a high probability of success.

I want success. I want lower cost. I want everybody covered. We will only achieve these goals if we get organized and convince our elected representatives that we will accept nothing less. Please join me as I develop the necessary organization for New Mexico to bring health security to everybody.

The web site for the Health Security Plan is not working; for information on the Health Security Plan and to join in supporting the Health Security Plan please go to:  www.whatifyouknew-nm.com. The Health Security supporters do not have the funding of our private health coverage corporations and therefore cannot afford the fancy literature, TV ads, radio ads, and expensive retreats and luncheons for our legislators and for our Governor. We are citizens who are trying to put together a plan that will improve life for all of our neighbors.  The plan that we are proposing has now been analyzed by a company with extremely good credentials and has passed the test. It is time for us to come together and to explain to our representatives what we want done in our name.  In New Mexico we want the Health Security Plan.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Albuquerque citizen-activist Terry Riley. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

June 26, 2007 at 08:59 AM in Film, Guest Blogger, Healthcare, NM Legislature 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Monday, June 25, 2007

Guest Blog: Ben Luce on Why He Launched "Break The Grip!"

This is a guest blog by environmental activist Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:

For the past ten years I have tried as hard as I could to work through our existing political system, as a mostly polite and "professional" environmental advocate, to bring about policies that support renewable energy development and energy efficiency. I collaborated with the Richardson Administration and the utilities, to the extent that this was possible, to "move the ball forward" as people say. Mind you, this was not an easy process, I sometimes sparred publicly with the Administration and the utilities, and often sparred with them behind the scenes, but I mainly pursued the usual channels of lobbying politely, participating in PRC cases, etc.

We did make some progress, to be sure, getting things such as solar tax credits and stronger solar rights through, and the initial renewable energy standard and some other things. I am still very happy and proud about those things.

But I did fight many quiet wars, things were often delayed or compromised to a great extent, and I was always bothered by the pervasive and blatant undue corporate influence that I saw around me at the Legislature in general.

Then, in the recent Legislative Session, I experienced undue corporate influence to the extreme: The Richardson Administration, to my great sadness and dismay, basically teamed up with PNM to exclude citizen advocacy at all costs and try to gut the effectiveness of the new renewable energy standard, of course while making it look good for Richardson. They also tried to strip out crucial renewable energy provisions from the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (already an extremely scary piece of legislation), and force a clean coal incentive down our throats. The Administration even had a PNM lobbyist working inside and officially representing the Administration (Art Hull), who was assigned to work on the Transmission Authority. Similarly, the clean coal incentive was forced us by a coal-industry connected LANL person named Charryl Berger, who was "on loan" to the Legislature.

Moreover, I sadly watched as the Democratic Leadership put a PNM lobbyist forward and bully citizen advocates to pass a PNM originated bill that rolls back protections for low-income people, and also try to force a $60 million tax incentive through for the Desert Rock Power Plant.

All of this obscene abuse of power was finally too much for me. After mulling it all over, and writing down my experiences over the past ten years (and storing this for safe keeping with others), I finally decided to go public about what actually happened. More than that, instead of just issuing an angry "rant" (as the Administration characterized my first press conference), I decided to launch, with other concerned citizens, a new campaign called "Break The Grip!". This will hopefully be a persistent citizens' campaign to systematically expose as much of the corporate political monopoly over New Mexico as possible, and call for a wide range of reforms.

I spent a few weeks developing the web site , which now contains much detail about the past relative to my own experiences, and we launched the campaign on Tuesday, June 19th (Tuesday being associated with the Greek God of War).

Since that time, AP coverage of the event has spread widely, including nationally, so I think we've made some impact.

We've also received tremendous support from the public: It seems that many people feel the way I do.

But we will need lots of help from the public on keeping the buzz going. We already used up a lot of publicity capital in our first press conference, so we need people to write letters-to-the-editor, join our network , etc. Don't let these guys hear the end of it!

The forces that be are already fighting back: A Richardson appointee named Gregory Green already crashed my press conference on behalf of the Administration and attempted to blunt our coverage by playing dumb about what happened during the session (he was a lobbyist for my former organization during the session), and apparently conveniently managed not to mention that he is currently a Richardson Appointee to the powerful Environmental Improvement Board. This is the kind of unethical response that needs to be countered. Who knows what else they will try? I've certainly written my fair share of embarrassing emails in the past, and I expect to start seeing them turning up in public. Do I care? Sure, things will likely be painful for me. But I'm persona non grata now anyway (at least among the corrupt! I've gotten lots of support from people on the inside too).

So, please help us rid our state of the obscene grip of corporations over our political system here in this state. Now is the time. Visit , read through the materials there, join the network, and await news of further opportunities to participate. We intend to take this campaign to the doorsteps of the powerful, and not back down.

Thanks and best wishes,
Ben Luce

Editor's Notes: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

Click to read a previous post on the formation of Break the Grip!

June 25, 2007 at 11:01 AM in Corporatism, Energy, Environment, Ethics & Campaign Reform, Guest Blogger, Local Politics, NM Legislature 2007, Nuclear Arms, Power | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Guest Blog: Patrick Lyons Needs to Answer Questions About Campaign Contributions

This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois of Las Cruces:
"Fair and honest" are the words used by Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons. He was the same Patrick Lyons that thought buying a pick-up truck with campaign funds was acceptable.I am sure he believes he was fair and honest. I can't say with any certainty that Mr. Lyons has done anything illegal according to New Mexico law.

We, as New Mexican voters, extend to our elected officials a certain amount of trust and we have the expectation that trust will be honored. Some of the comments attributed to Mr. Lyons might cause one to think there is a credibility gap. On one hand he says "everything we do is fair and honest" and he is doing everything he can to raise money for state trust funds. On the other hand he doesn't feel compelled to answer questions about campaign donations given by the same developer before and after the bid was awarded to him. When called by an Albuquerque Journal reporter about those donations he told the reporter, "don't call me back again." He then hung up. I think the commissioner doth protest too much.

To my knowledge, there is no bid process on state trust lands, yet Mr. Lyons created a Request for Proposal process with a reported deadline of February 1. He awarded the bid to a Las Cruces developer on December 26. Mr. Lyons claimed that this contractor had by far the best proposal. Question: How could Mr. Lyons know it was the best proposal if he didn't see any of the others? And why would he go against his process by awarding the bid almost a month early?

The contractor can donate to any campaign he wishes, as long as he doesn't have some expectation of some kind of return. For me, I think there should be an investigation of all transactions made while Lyons has been in office. Unlike the legislature, which must have a majority vote to pass legislation, Lyons is able to make decisions unilaterally and arbitrarily. We learned in the recent past that behavior isn't always wise. Let's have answers to the right questions.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their personal opinions on relevant political issues. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

To learn more about the controversy over Patrick Lyons' handling of a development bid in Las Cruces and campaign contributions he received from the chosen developer, try these for starters:

• Lyons Got Donations After Vote, Albuquerque Journal, 6.16.07
• Land Commissioner on Shaky Ground, Albuquerque Journal, 6.19.07
• On trip to Las Cruces, Lyons defends land lease, Heath Haussamen, 5.16.07

June 24, 2007 at 11:45 AM in Ethics & Campaign Reform, Guest Blogger, Local Politics | Permalink | Comments (3)

Friday, June 22, 2007

Guest Blog: Dem Senate Candidate Jim Hannan on Don Wiviott

This is a guest blog from Democratic Senate candidate Jim Hannan:

Don Wiviott has announced he wants to run against Pete Domenici for the US Senate as a Democrat. I've been talking to Don for several months about the race. I have a concern about Don. In 2006, Don contributed the maximum allowable, $2,100, to David Pfeffer. David Pfeffer was running as a Republican against Jeff Bingaman.

As you know, 2006 was a critical year for Democrats. We all worked hard to take back Congress. During that time period, I was contributing money to the DCCC, and walking door to door for Patricia Madrid.

David Pfeffer was running against Jeff Bingaman as a hard right conservative. He was a very vocal supporter of the invasion of Iraq. In 2006, the centerpiece of his campaign was to support the Minutemen camped out on the border of New Mexico and Arizona. 

I told Don that by supporting David, he had positioned himself to the right of Pete Domenici on the immigration issue.

I also raised my concern with Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Brian Colon and the State Party's current Executive Director, Matt Farrauto.  I told Don Wiviott that he should talk about this issue with his campaign supporters. The fact that Don still decided to run means that they don't think it's an important issue. I guess I differ.   

Editor's Notes: This is a guest blog by Jim Hannan. Click to visit his campaign website. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they don't necessarily represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

Click to read DFNM's earlier post on the candidacy of Don Wiviott.

June 22, 2007 at 12:39 PM in 2008 NM Senate Race, Democratic Party, Guest Blogger, Immigration, Iraq War | Permalink | Comments (5)

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