Democracy for New Mexico

Pictures of the Day

Tom "I'm Not a Crook" DeLay thanking NRA members for their support at their Sunday convention.

According to CNN: "About 2,550 NRA members paid $75 to hear DeLay's speech and dine on salad with goat cheese and sirloin steak with peppercorn cognac sauce. Many wore stickers that read: 'I'm for the NRA and Tom DeLay.' "

Ah, the right-wingnut elite!

And you can't say he doesn't hang out with the costumed elite:

I haven't seen a Davey Crockett coonskin cap that cutting edge since, well, 1957! And to top it all off, they had rocker slash throwback Ted Nugent time-traveling back to ye olde West:

Nugent said each NRA member should try to enroll 10 new members over the next year and associate only with other members. Alright by me! All this kinda makes ya pine for Charlton Heston though, doesn't it?

Sunday Bird (Doggie) Bloggie

Once again, we're featuring a canine version of our regular Sunday Bird Blogging. Sue, my long-time friend and partner in crime, got a new pet this week:

The sweet and friendly Heidi Mae is a 7-month-old cross between a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and Australian Shepherd. She looks more like a Mountain Dog, but will be residing in Rockford, Illinois, which is flat as a pancake. I don't think she'll care! I imagine her days will be filled with love and fun, and playful romps with Sue's several felines who are just a might wary of Heidi Mae so far. Cats are like that. Soon they'll probably be riding on Heidi's back!

Click to read more about Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs. (Click photo for a larger image.)

Download DPNM Meeting Documents

Here are links to documents from the Democratic Party of New Mexico for the upcoming State Resolutions Committee meeting and State Central Committee meeting and events:

Download State Resolutions Committee 4/16 Meeting Call

Download State Central Committee Meeting Call

Download State Central Committee Fundraiser Reception Invitation and Registration Form

Download State Central Committee Registration Form

Download DPNM State Central Committee Voting Proxy Form

The State Resolutions Committee Meeting is set for Saturday, April 16, at 8:30 AM at the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Hall. Any Democrat can attend and participate in debate about the resolutions passed at County meetings around the state that will be voted upon by the Committee.

State Central Commitee Meeting activities begin Friday, April 22, with a 7 PM opening Party fundraiser reception with special guests Governor Bill Richardson And Congressman Tom Udall at the Macey Center on the NM Tech campus in Socorro. Tickets are $25 for SCC members and $30 for nonmembers.

The SCC Meeting itself begins at the Macey Center with registration at 9 AM and the meeting from 10 AM to 1 PM. The agenda includes voting on resolutions and election of State Party officers.

From 1 to 1:45 PM, there will be a cookout lunch at the duck pond behind Macey Center for $7.50. Afternoon breakout sessions will include caucus meetings for Progressives, Native Americans, Veterans, Democratic Women and Young Democrats, as well as training sessions on messaging and grassroots organizing.

Although only folks elected to the State Central Committee can vote at the official meeting, any Democrat is welcome to attend any of the meetings and events.

Interested progressives are urged to attend the breakout caucus on Saturday afternoon. Like-minded folks from around the state will be discussing the possibility of creating a statewide Progressive Caucus, how this would be structured and how it would relate to the State Party.

DPBC Hosts Town Hall Meeting 4/19

From the Democratic Party of NM:

We cordially invite you to attend a Bernalillo County Democratic Party

Town Hall Meeting

featuring local Senate and House Committee Chairpersons

and special guest Lt. Governor Diane Denish

April 19, 2005 at 7:00 PM

UNM Law School, Room 2401

You are invited to attend an Albuquerque area Town Hall meeting featuring our local legislative Committee Chairpersons on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at 7:00 PM at the UNM Law School Room 2401.  Lt. Governor, Diane Denish will kick-off the town hall with remarks on the success of the Democratic agenda during the 2005 legislative session.  All Albuquerque area elected official have been invited. 

For local Democrats, the 37th legislative session was productive and successful.  In just sixty days, legislators considered over 2,500 bills, resolutions and memorials.  They approved a $4.7 billion budget that invests in our children’s futures, funding our public schools, state health care, and public safety and also promotes business through tax credits.

Our featured guests will include:

• Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish
• Representative Gail C. Beam, Chair, Government and Urban Affairs Committee
• Representative Miguel P. Garcia, Chair, Labor & Human Resources Committee
• Senator Linda M. Lopez, Chair, Rules Committee
• Senator Cisco McSorley, Chair, Judiciary Committee
• Representative Rick Miera, Chair, Education Committee
• Senator Bernadette Sanchez, Chair, Land Grant Committee
• Representative Edward C. Sandoval, Chair, Voters & Elections Committee
• Representative Mimi Stewart, Chair, Oversight, Courts, & Justice Committee

Members of the public and the press are encouraged to attend.  Members of the public interested in hearing Bernalillo Democrats’ committee and individual accomplishments, as well as their vision for next year’s session should contact 505/830-3650 or visit www.nmdemocrats.org

ABQ Councilor Gomez to Introduce Memorial Against Social Security Privatization

From NM PACE, Re-Visioning New Mexico:

Hola Everyone!

On Monday, April 18th Albuquerque Councilman Miguel Gomez is going to introduce a memorial to reject plans to privatize Social Security benefits.  See below for a copy of the memorial.  If you are opposed to privatizing Social Security then please call your City Councilor and ask that they support the memorial and Councilman Gomez's efforts.  Also, please call Brad Winters, President of the City Council and ask him to put the Memorial first on the Agenda for the Monday night meeting.  The City Council phone number is 768-3100. (Click to find your .)

You are also invited to come to the Re-Visioning office on Friday April 15th to make signs, learn more about the memorial, and have an informal discussion about Social Security.

Should you have any questions, please call Re-Visioning New Mexico Reyna at 505-255-4266.  Feel free to tell your City Councilors to also call Re-Visioning New Mexico if they have questions about the memorial.

Reyna Luz
reyna@nmpace.org
255-4266
1-888-625-8888
Re-Visioning New Mexico
New Mexico Progressive Alliance for Community Empowerment

Click to the continuation page for a copy of the bill:

SIXTEENTH COUNCIL

COUNCIL BILL NO.                                 ENACTMENT NO.   ________________________

SPONSORED BY:

MEMORIAL
URGING THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO REJECT PLANS TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY BY CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY'S GUARANTEED BENEFITS AND DIVERTING MONEY OUT OF SOCIAL SECURITY INTO PRIVATE INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS.

WHEREAS, Social Security's income protections-guaranteed lifelong benefits, cost-of-living adjustments to guard against inflation, increased benefits for families, greater income replacement for low-income workers, and disability and survivor benefits-are the backbone of retirement security and family protection in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Social Security provides crucial, often indispensable income protection for the 47 million individuals-one of every six Americans-receiving benefits; and

WHEREAS, approximately 87,000 Bernalillo County residents receive Social Security benefits that total in excess of $70 million monthly; and

WHEREAS, Social Security is the nation's most successful and most important family income protection program, but it has long-term funding needs we should address; and

WHEREAS, some policy makers propose to address these needs by cutting guaranteed benefits and privatizing Social Security, that is, diverting two-thirds or more of workers' payroll tax contributions out of the Social Security Trust Fund and into private investment accounts; and
    WHEREAS, privatization will worsen Social Security's funding by draining resources from the Trust Fund into private accounts, increasing the federal deficit by $4.9 trillion and putting us in deeper debt to foreign creditors; and

WHEREAS, some officials and members of Congress have suggested the federal government will not pay back the money it has borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund over the past 20 years, thereby denying working families the money they paid into Social Security and leading to further benefit cuts; and

WHEREAS, privatizing Social Security will cut guaranteed benefits by 46 percent for young workers, even for those who do not participate in private accounts, costing them $152,000 over their retirements, denying them benefits they have earned and imperiling their economic security; and

WHEREAS, cutting guaranteed benefits will hurt the elderly because Social Security provides at least half the income for nearly two-thirds of older Americans and lifts more than 11 million seniors out of poverty; and

WHEREAS, cutting guaranteed benefits will particularly hurt women and people of color, as they are especially likely to rely on Social Security for most of their retirement income and are less likely than average to receive job-based pensions in retirement; and

WHEREAS, diverting resources from Social security to fund private accounts will threaten guaranteed survivor and disability benefits, thus harming working families, particularly African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, as roughly one in five workers dies before retiring and nearly three in ten become too disabled to work before reaching retirement age; and

WHEREAS, Congress should not rush through drastic and damaging changes in Social Security that undermine its family income protections but instead should take the time necessary to develop careful and thoughtful reforms that address Social Security's funding needs without slashing benefits or exploding the deficit.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE that:

Section 1.  Congress should first commit to repaying all the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund, so that Americans can be paid the Social Security benefits they have paid for.

Section 2.  Congress should carefully consider prudent changes that will strengthen Social Security's finances, to ensure the program continues to meet its purpose of providing income protection and economic security for America's families; and

Section 3.  Any changes adopted by Congress must strengthen Social Security's family income protections without significantly reducing guaranteed benefits or increasing the budget deficit.

Section 4.  Congress should reject any proposal that diverts money out of Social Security to fund private accounts.

Vino and Valle Vidal

Drink Wine and Help Save the Valle Vidal

For the entire month of April 2005, Wild Oats Market in Santa Fe and Albuquerque (Carlisle location only), Napa Wine Company in California and The Coalition for the Valle Vidal in Taos are coming together to help prevent coal bed methane drilling in the Valle Vidal of the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico.

In support of the Valle Vidal, the Napa Wine Company has introduced two new organic wines: Habitat Red and Habitat White.

When you shop at Wild Oats for Habitat Red and Habitat White during the month of April you will not only save $3.00 a bottle at the sale price of $7.99 but in addition $1.00 per bottle sold will be donated to The Coalition for the Valle Vidal to help preserve the 100,000 acre "Valley of Life" in the Carson National Forest.

Join us each Friday in April at Wild Oats in Santa Fe from 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. and hear first hand about the proposed drilling in this pristine wilderness while you sample both organic Habitat wines from Napa Valley.

Time is running out to get your letters into the Forest Service. Please visit our GET INVOLVED page for more information.

For more information, please call:
Jim O'Donnell, Outreach Coordinator
Coalition for the Valle Vidal
505-758-3874 

Tune In Tonight

We The People is an innovative call-in television show looking for TRUTH and TRANSPARENCY in local, state and federal governments. We hope to remind viewers of their legacy and heritage coming from the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution--with the Bill of Rights that gives us our FREEDOM.

Watch us every Thursday 7-8 PM on Albuquerque Community Cable Channel 27.

Deanna Archuleta-Loesser, Bernalillo County Commissioner from District 3, is our guest for April 14th.

Call-in or e-mail us and we will try to answer your questions and concerns.

https://www.1776wethepeople.com

Contact Information - Email: mickbo@earthlink.net

NM Democratic Progressive Caucus Plans & More

From Charlotte Roybal:

Dear Fellow Dems:
By now members of the State Central Committee should have received a packet from DPNM about the April 23, 2004 meeting in Socorro. Many of you expressed an interest in a Progressive Caucus. We will have a break out session on the afternoon of April 23, 2005. This session is an opportunity to meet other progressives from around the state to discuss whether we want to become a Progressive Caucus and perhaps a structure for a Progressive Caucus. Hopefully we can identify some leadership and a steering committee to work on this. Nothing has been decided. All State Central Committee members are invited as well all Democrats who are interested across the state. We want to be as inclusive as possible.

Please, if you know of anyone  in your community who is interested in a progressive voice in the party ask them to come. If they cannot come please sign them up on our sign up sheet at the State Central Committee session on April 23, 2005.

This is a totally inclusive process for all. I do not have email addressees for everyone but included as many as I had. Feel free to pass on to anyone you think might be interested.

Thank you and any questions you may have please call me at 930-0563, Charlotte Roybal

ADDITIONAL ITEMS:

These are some items taken from the party rules that will happen at the State Central Committee

District Vice-Chairs:
Two Vice-Chairs of opposite sex from each congressional district shall be elected by the respective members of the State Central Committee.  Each District Vice-Chair shall be elected separately by majority vote (state rule 5-1).  District Vice-Chairs serve on the Judicial Council.  The Judicial Council may be called upon to review challenges concerning the election of State Central Committee members or interpret state rules.

State Rules Committee:
Eleven members are appointed to the State Rules Committee by the State Chair.  These eleven members are announced at the first meeting after the election of state officers (state rule 15-2).

State Platform and Resolution Committee:
Seven members shall be elected by the State Central Committee after the election of officers (state rule 16-2.B).  Each Congressional District shall elect two members.  Equal division of man and women is not required (state rule 16.2).  Voting must follow appendix A of the state rules.  One additional at-large member shall be elected.  Seven additional members are appointed by the State Chair.

I do know that Steve Fettig who is County Chair in Los Alamos is running for a seat on Resolutions Committee.  He can be reached at osprey@cybermesa.com

I also know that in CD3 Conny Maki is running to retain her seat as District Vice Chair.  She will be having a Hospitality Room at the Holiday Inn Express in Socorro on Friday night at 9 PM if you are interested in meeting with her.

Jason Bousliman is running for District Vice Chair in CD 1 (Albuquerque).

Connie Salazar from Santa Fe County and Barbara Wold from Bernalillo County have been appointed to the State Resolutions Committee. I do not know at this time who is running for other positions. I encourage all of you to consider running or asking to be appointed to fill a seat.

Editor's Note: Also see information on the State Resolutions Committee meeting this Saturday, April 16, in an earlier post on the DFNM website.

If any of our Albuquerque DFNM members are interested in attending the State Central Committee meeting and/or the planning meeting for the progressive caucus in Socorro on April 23rd or in running for any of the elective offices noted above, please contact me at dfnm_albq@comcast.net. You do not need to be a ward or precinct chair or a member of the State Central Committee to run for these positions. Any Democrat can attend the State Central Committee meeting as a nonvoting participant or be a part of the progressive caucus meeting.

Join Councilor Griego for 'Enchantment FIRST' Organizational Meeting

Councilor Griego Calls on Community, Education and Business Leaders to Join Him for ‘Enchantment FIRST’ Organizational Meeting Friday

New Program to Help Students Achieve in Technology

City Councilor Eric Griego is calling on community leaders, high school principals and business leaders to join him Friday for the organizational meeting of Enchantment FIRST, a new program forming in Albuquerque to encourage students to achieve in technology-education through team competitions in which students design, build and operate robots.

“This is the kind of innovative program we need, to ensure that our high-tech economy continues to grow and we have enough local talent to attract new employers and staff innovative, start-up businesses,” said Griego, who also serves as Gov. Bill Richardson’s appointed chairman of the state Economic Development Commission.

The meeting, set for Friday, April 15, from 3-5 PM at Northrop Grumman’s main facilities on Sun Avenue in Albuquerque, will allow potential mentors, participants and sponsors to learn more about the program and how they can get involved.

Enchantment FIRST is a coalition of New Mexican high schools, employers, higher education, economic-development interests, technical associations, and committed individuals working to inspire students to pursue careers in science and technology, connect students with employers and higher education, and to contribute meaningfully to the region's economic development.

"The coalition approach will employ a managed strategy to ensure both student and economic impact," said program organizer Rick Dove, CEO of Paradigm Shift International in Taos County.

Enchantment FIRST is the New Mexico employment of the program from FIRST, a non-profit organization “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” FIRST has more than 1,000 student teams participating nationally this year.

Each year, student teams design and build a robot that they take to a regional arena-style competition, typically held at a university. Southwest regional events are held in Denver and Phoenix. The competition has the excitement and character of the Olympics Games -- complete with awards, national media coverage, and typically major Discovery Channel exposure. Regional winners may go on to a National competition in Atlanta if they choose. Additionally, FIRST has an annual scholarship fund currently at $5 million.

More information is available at www.parshift.com/EnchantmentFirst and www.usfirst.org/about/.

Amy Goodman AND Voting Reform in Taos

From VoterAction.org:
Amy Goodman will be speaking at 9:00 AM this Sunday, April 17 at the Convention Center, Bataan Hall, in Taos. Immediately afterwards we will be presenting a forum on the state of voting in New Mexico and Taos County and what we can do about it.

8:00 AM
Tickets go on sale for Amy Goodman for $5. Petition signing as people wait in line and after they enter:

1. Petition for Paper Ballots for Taos County…NOW!

2. Petition the Taos County Clerk to release the voting machine tapes from the 2004 Election to Voter Action! New Mexico … NOW!

3. Petition the Taos County Clerk for automatic election recounts when the margin of victory is less than _____ of the total vote.

4. To be announced.

5. "After Amy … Action!" cards on every chair

6. Announcement from the podium about "Take Back Democracy … NOW!"

9:00 AM
Action Coalition of Taos Presents: AMY GOODMAN's Un-Embed the Media! Tour

10:30 AM (Immediately After Amy)
Voter Action! New Mexico: https://www.voteraction.org & Democracy Network Taos Present:

Take Back Democracy … NOW! Join New Mexico Voting Reform Activists taking actions to Take Back Our Elections.

10:30 Start with Action: Pastries + Coffee & Tea

10:30 Speaker: Pat Leahan, Voter Action! New Mexico; Las Vegas, New Mexico

10:45 Action Break: Discuss and sign petitions about further voting reforms for Taos & New Mexico

10:50 Speaker: Joe Pezzillo, Citizens for Verifiable Voting; Boulder, Colorado

11:05 Action Tables