Democracy for New Mexico

North Valley Pre-Legislative Forum Set for Thursday

From DPBC e-news:
A North Valley Pre-Legislative Forum will be held:

January 6, 2005 (Thursday)
7 PM to 9 PM
North Valley Senior Center - 3825 Fourth NW

Sponsored by: North Valley Coalition and Alameda North Valley Association

Invited guests include:
Senator Dede Feldman
Senator John Ryan
Representative Ed Sandoval
Representative Rick Miera
Representative Teresa Zanetti

WILL THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION BE PRODUCTIVE?   
What are the important issues for State Government?
What health care changes are in the Governor's agenda?
What changes are in store for our schools?
What are your issues?

Attend the Forum! Find out what the Legislators have to say about North Valley issues and let them know what your opinion is!

If you have any questions for the Legislators sent them back by email and we will try to have them answered. Please share this information with your neighbor. Call 897-3052 for information and the email address.

PNM Will Match Customer Donations for Tsunami Relief

Public Service Company of NM (PNM) will match donations from customers at this website https://www.pnm.com/ and the contributions will be to the American Red Cross. Click on Tsunami Relief and enter "South Asia Relief Effort" in the "Designate funds to" field. Enter that you are a PNM customer in the "additional instructions" field.

You may also make donations at the PNM Walk-in centers identified on the website.

For any additional information, contact PNM General Administration Office at 241-2700 and ask for Customer Service.

From the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County e-news. If you are a registered Democrat that would like toreceive the e-news, please send your name, e-mail address and County to dpbc@att.net

Attend a DFA Meetup Tomorrow

Democracy for America - Democracy for New Mexico Meetups will take place in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Socorro on Wednesday, January 5th at 7:00 PM. Check the Upcoming Events sidebar on the right-hand side of this page and click on a Meetup to find out more or to sign up if you haven't already done so.

There will be reports and action items on a variety of issues including the recount situation in New Mexico, election reform bills at the upcoming Legislative Session, what you can do to get involved in the Democratic Party at the precinct and ward levels, how we can form a steering committee for each Meetup group, information on Governor Dean's possible run for the DNC Chair position, as well as other matters depending on your Meetup locale.

We'll also be contemplating plans for a possible Meetup devoted to viewing a DVD provided to all Meetup hosts by DFA about George Lakoff's framing concepts and how Democrats can start winning again. DFA and Lakoff's Rockridge Institute have also provided exercise materials that help to explain what framing is and how we can use it.

Also, here's an article on a recent Alternet interview with Howard Dean that discusses his views on the future of the Democratic Party and how Meetups can be an important element in reenergizing the Party.

Last Chance to Urge Senators to Refuse Vote Certification

Passed along from various emails:
On January 6, 2005, Congress will meet in joint session to certify the 2004 presidential election. On that day, if one member of the House and one member of the Senate object to the certification of the vote, then all members of Congress will finally discuss these issues. On January 6, 2001, not a single Senator would join with the Representatives who demanded an inquiry into the Florida recount. This year, let's make our Senators take a stand!

The following seven Senators are some of the most progressive members of the Senate. Please call them immediately, and urge them to defend democracy on 1/6/05.

*SPREAD THE WORD TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW TO KEEP DOING THE SAME UNTIL JANUARY 6.*

Senator Barbara Boxer, (202) 224-3553,
senator@boxer.senate.gov

Senator Dick Durbin, (202) 224-2152,
dick@durbin.senate.gov

Senator Russ Feingold, (202) 224-5323,
russ_feingold@feingold.senate.gov

Senator Tom Harkin, (202) 224-3254,
tom_harkin@harkin.senate.gov

Senator Jim Jeffords, (202) 224-5141,
Vermont@jeffords.senate.gov

Senator Edward Kennedy, 202/224-4543,
senator@kennedy.senate.gov

Senator Patrick Leahy, (202) 224-4242,
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

Senator Jeff Bingaman, 1-800-443-8658
(Toll Free from NM Only),
senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
Or call staff members in his New Mexico offices.

Did We Bounce An Election?

A January 1, 2005 article by Warren Stewart of VotersUnite.org published in the Columbus Free Press takes on the problem of undervotes and phantom votes in the NM election results. Excerpts:

". . . An examination of the New Mexico canvass report of the November 2 election suggests that the state might be running the risk of bouncing an election.

The canvass report (available as a pdf from the NM Secretary of State's website ) is the official record of the election results . . With so much at stake, one would expect the canvass report to be a lot cleaner than my checkbook. That is not the case.

Much has been made of New Mexico's dubious honor of leading the nation in undervote percentage . . . Secretary of State Vigil-Giron seems surprisingly unconcerned about undervotes commenting recently that she doesn't "spend a lot of time on undervote issues, I'm just speculating that some voters are just not concerned with the presidential race." Does it really seem possible that 17,095 people (almost 1 in 20) felt compelled stand in line on Election Day in order to cast no vote for president?  Did 1,664 people actually bother to cast their non-vote early and another 2,325 express their lack of opinion by absentee ballot?  It seems just as likely that some of those undervotes represent votes that were not counted by the machines - and we will never know about how those votes might have affected the outcome.

Had she chosen to spend a little more time on undervote issues she might have noticed the curious fact that 85% of these apathetic voters chose to express their lack of concern on electronic voting machines - the ones without a paper trail. She also might have noticed that the undervote rate is roughly the same in the congressional and judicial races on the ballot, suggesting the possibility that entire ballots may have been blank rather than just the presidential selections. How do we know these machines did not lose entire ballots, as paperless voting machines have been shown to do in other elections?

As for phantom votes, the Secretary of State maintains they are simply "not possible."   Much as I would like to agree with her, the canvass report suggests that there do seem to be phantoms residing in New Mexico - in almost half the counties.  In fact, 228 phantoms seem to be in Dona Ana County precinct 106 where 107 absentee ballots somehow recorded 325 presidential votes.  Bernalillo County Precinct 558, 141 phantoms voted early, while in Precinct 14, 114 phantoms waited until Election Day.  In all there are 2,087 phantom votes in this state where the margin of victory, according to the same canvass report where all these phantom votes are hiding, was 5,988. If these phantom votes were ignored what else was ignored?
-------------------
A report prepared by Ellen Theisen and Warren Stewart in support of the Green/Libertarian New Mexico recount effort along with a comprehensive database on the 2004 New Mexico election can be downloaded at VotersUnite.org.

NM Undervotes Increase According to VotersUnite.org

VotersUnite.org has a piece on Phantom Votes in New Mexico that examines data from the NM Secretary of State's website to conclude that:

". . .the discovery of 2,087 phantom votes shows that New Mexico's excessive undervote rate is really higher than previously thought. Instead of reporting 18,997 ballots with no vote (or an overvote) for president, New Mexico really reported 21,084 presidential undervotes.

Rather than an already high rate of 2.45%, New Mexico's undervote rate for 2004 is actually 2.72%."

You can download a pdf file of the report and the top twenty phantom-vote precincts in New Mexico by clicking here: Download NewMexico-Top20phantom-voteprecincts.pdf.

Click to see all 2,087 phantom votes.

Rallying Sen. Bingaman: Decertifying Electors

From: sfresearch@33o.com
Subject: Phone Calls, SF Press Conference, Rally Bingaman on January 4th, at Santa Fe Capitol, Noon

This week is going to be exciting. Activists are in negotiations with Senator Jeff Bingaman and his people on two counts: decertifying the Ohio *and* the New Mexico electors. Keep up the phone calls to Senator Bingaman on both accounts: DC: 202.224.5521 and NM: 1-800-443-8658. Full office number list: click here.

Call every influential sympathetic citizen you can think of and make sure they have the numbers and are urged to call. This is the only way Democracy is going to work. If you know who finances Bingaman's elections, contact them.

Don't like making phone calls? It's actually a lot of fun. Political conversation is the most dynamic of human interaction short of the spiritual. This is exciting stuff. Feel energized as you realize you are having an effect. Call me at 505.982.3609 if you need a coaching session.

Call friends in other states and have them call their Senators. Full court press, folks. Citizen, take courage. Remember: You have the power. If you can imagine it, you can do it.

We are moving the rally at Bingaman's office to Tuesday the 4th, though we will also assemble there on the 6th at Noon. I will have to see what can be done regarding permits tomorrow.

Regardless, Bingaman's office and the police chief Beverly Lennon (sp) will be notified in advance about the two dates: the 4th and 6th. The importance of the 4th is twofold: get a jump and be proactive before the vote which is on the 6th and piggyback on the press conference at the Roundhouse regarding the New Mexico recount which is at 12 Noon on the 4th.

Tentatively, given permission, we will march from the press conference at the Roundhouse down to the Plaza, past the library and up Marcy Street to Bingaman's office (Suite 101, 119 East Marcy). I recommend that each person bring a personal letter with them and that we each go in individually or in pairs with the letters to drop them off.

We should be dropping off letters and documentation in support of this effort all week. In particular give the Senator articles appearing at Online Journal, Greg Palast, Truthout and Free Press, and the Conyers investiation documents.

Anything you find out there that is a quality news item regarding the vote fraud and election theft is a good thing to accompany a personal letter.

Fax material to: 202-224-2852

Senators listen to their aides. These are the names of Senator Bingaman's Washington aides. Try to get either Stephan or Trudy on the line to determine what's going on and to make an impression:

Chief of Staff: Stephan Ward
Appointment Secretary: Virginia White
Legislative Director: Trudy Vincent
Press Secretary: Jude McCartin

Think of this in two ways:

1. This is citizen lobbying of our elected representatives.
2. This is we provide political cover for our Senator to do the right thing.

Would you believe that the excuse the Senators gave in 2000 for not supporting the Black Caucus in their call for a halt to the Electoral Vote was that no one asked them?

Let's make it perfectly clear. We are asking our Senator, Jeff Bingaman, to put in writing his objection to the Ohio and New Mexico electors according to the United States Code:

"3 U.S.C. ß15: Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received."

What happens after that? Here's the details: click for Daily Kos story.

To recap: all week stream into Bingaman's office with personal, handwritten or typed letters including relevant press articles from around the internet or synopses of radio shows like Air America or  Democracy Now.

On Tuesday, show up at the Roundhouse at 12pm Noon to support the continuing efforts to recount the vote in New Mexico. The recent audit in New Mexico showed hundreds of discrepancies in a tiny sampling. New Mexico is not Red yet.

After the press conference, join us for a march to Bingaman's office. This march will be either formal or informal, depending on whether or not we get permission. I will keep everyone updated. At Bingaman's office, let's stay respectful and go in one at a time if we have something to deliver.

Finally, on September 6th, let's once again keep a vigil at Bingaman's office, getting news out to the people about what has transpired in Congress.

Hey, Constitutional Democracy can be fun.

Fraud, Theft and Judicial Contempt

Common Dreams has an article published in the Columbus Free Press on Friday entitled, "Ohio's Official Non-Recount Ends Amidst New Evidence of Fraud, Theft and Judicial Contempt Mirrored in New Mexico." The article goes into detail about the horrors of the Ohio election and the recount, as well as Gov. Richardson's attempt to squash a recount here in New Mexico. This article is really a must-read in terms of understanding what happened in Ohio and New Mexico, and you're encouraged to click through to the entire text at the link above. Some excerpts:

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio presidential recount was officially terminated Tuesday, December 28.

But the end comes amidst bitter dispute over official certification of impossible voter turnout numbers, over the refusal of Ohio's Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice to recuse himself from crucial court challenges involving his own re-election campaign, over the Republican Secretary of State's refusal to testify under subpoena, over apparent tampering with tabulation machines, over more than 100,000 provisional and machine-rejected ballots left uncounted, over major discrepancies in certified vote counts and turnout ratios, and over a wide range of unresolved disputes that continue to leave the true outcome of Ohio's presidential vote in serious doubt.

Officially, Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has confirmed substantial errors in the vote count, with a shift of some 1,200 votes based on statewide recounts of about 3% of the vote. But additional new evidence of massive vote-counting fraud across the state continues to be unearthed, calling into question George W. Bush’s alleged victory in Ohio and pending re-election in the Electoral College.
[. . .]
Meanwhile, a new precinct-by-precinct analysis in many Ohio counties indicates that Bush's margin here was likely obtained by fraud. That is the main claim of the election challenge suit now at the Ohio Supreme Court, where Ohio's GOP Supreme Court Chief Justice, Thomas Moyer, has refused to recuse himself, even though allegations of vote switching – where votes cast for one candidate are assigned to another in the computerized tabulation stage – involve his own re-election campaign.
[. . .]
Parallel problems have now surfaced in New Mexico, where a bitter recount battle is also being waged. At a public hearing in Columbus convened by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), senior Democrat on the US House Judiciary Committee, Rev. Jesse Jackson testified that Sen. Kerry was informed in a phone conversation that optical scan machines were being used in New Mexico to steal votes. New Mexico allegedly went to Bush by some 7,000 votes in an election with widespread charges of manipulation and fraud, especially in heavily Hispanic precincts. According to Jackson, Kerry said he know that every single New Mexico precinct fitted with optical scan machines went for Bush, demographically a virtual impossibility.

But New Mexico's Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has refused to cooperate with Green Party and Audit the Vote activists demanding a recount, acceding to decisions that could raise the price for a recount to well over a million dollars. Despite its huge leftover war chest, the Democratic Party has not come forward to help push New Mexico's recount, which many believe could give the state to Kerry. As of now, no recount has even begun, with the issue still mired in the courts over the question of finances.

On Monday, January 3, Rev. Jackson will lead a rally in Columbus demanding, among other things, an Ohio revote.
[. . .]
The alleged Bush victory could be challenged in the much-anticipated January 6 reporting of the Electoral College to Congress. But given the mounting indications of manipulation, fraud and theft, it is virtually certain the debate over who really won Ohio -– as well as New Mexico and Florida -- and the presidency will be bitterly disputed for many years to come.

Shirley Chisholm, R.I.P.

Shirley Chisholm, who passed away Saturday, was such a sassy heroine to my friends and me back in the 1970s, when feminism was in resurgence after the deathly conformity of the 50s and early 60s, and we had a bold and brassy African-American woman in the Congress and running for president. That's Shirley with sister firebrand Bella Abzug in the photo above. If you're too young to remember Shirley, or if you've forgotten what a strong presence she was on the national scene, here's a commentary on her accomplishments and daring deeds. I think we can benefit from pondering Ms. Chisholm and her spunk as we return from the holidays to confront the political barricades of our own time:

From ms.musings:

Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and Unbossed

"My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency.”

Shirley Chisholm died Saturday at the age of 80. The first black woman elected to Congress, she was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and a presidential candidate in 1972. From The New York Times obituary:

In 1972, when she entered the presidential primaries, she did not expect to capture the Democratic nomination, which ultimately went to George S. McGovern. "Some see my candidacy as an alternate and others as symbolic or a move to make other candidates start addressing themselves to real issues," she said at the time. She did not win a single primary, but in 2002, she said her campaign had been a necessary "catalyst for change."

She was also aware of her status as a woman in politics. "I've always met more discrimination being a woman than being black," she told The Associated Press in December 1982, shortly before she left Washington to teach at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. "When I ran for the Congress, when I ran for president, I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black. Men are men."

A documentary about her political life -- Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed -- made its debut at Sundance last year. It will be shown on television in February as part of PBS’ POV series. Visit the PBS website for more information.

"Women have learned to flex their political muscles. You got to flex that muscle to get what you want," Chisholm said during her presidential campaign, according to the Washington Post.

An expert on early childhood education, Chisholm worked as the director of a daycare center after receiving her master’s from Columbia University. When she was elected to Congress, she protested her appointment to the House Agriculture Committee.

"Apparently all they know here in Washington about Brooklyn is that a tree grew there," she said. "Only nine black people have been elected to Congress, and those nine should be used as effectively as possible."

She was later reassigned to the Education and Labor Committees. Throughout her career, Chisholm was a tireless advocate of women’s rights and public policy initiatives that would benefit the poor. She fought for unemployment insurance for domestic workers and childcare providers, as well as college funds for low-income students. From the Times:

When she left Washington, she said she did not want to go down in history as "the nation's first black congresswoman" or, as she put it, "the first black woman congressman."

"I'd like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts," she said. "That's how I'd like to be remembered."

Here’s the text of a speech Chisholm delivered on the floor of the House in 1970, arguing in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment. Michigan State University has an inventory of audio recordings, some of which are available as mp3 files, including Chisholm discussing in 1974 why she ran for president.

Sunday Bird Blogging

Our new lovebird named Bosco, with one of his favorite toys. He's a peachfaced lovebird and is now about 5 or 6 months old. His face and head will get more peach-colored as he matures. He wanted me to tell you that he's a LIBERAL lovebird and is working for progressive change among the avian demographic.

Here he is in his cage, where he has lots of toys. You can click on the photos to get larger images.