Democracy for New Mexico

Emergency Rally to Stop the Nuclear Option!

Support Democracy; Stop the Nuclear Option

WHAT:  New Mexicans for a Fair and Independent Judiciary will RALLY to urge Senator Domenici to keep rules that have always guaranteed that the most controversial judicial nominees could not pass on a partisan party-line vote.

WHEN: Thursday, May 5, 12:00 PM.

WHERE: Outside Sen. Domenici's office, 201 3rd St. NW, Albuquerque (NW corner of 3rd and Copper)

WHY: To urge Senator Domenici to preserve Senate checks and balances and oppose the nuclear option.

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is expected to execute his plan to upset Senate checks and balances and end time-honored Senate rules that allow lawmakers to filibuster judicial nominees. This so-called nuclear option would eliminate senators' most powerful line of defense against nominees - including anti-choice Supreme Court nominees who are out of touch with American values.

If Sen. Frist's proposal gets enough votes, Senate moderates will have virtually no chance to block President Bush's ideologically extreme nominees.  It is imperative that Senator Domenici hears from his constituents in opposition to this drastic rule change NOW. Come to an anti-nuclear option rally this Thursday to make a difference. 

This remarkable abuse of power would let Bush and anti-choice Senate Republicans change the rules in the middle of the game to clear the way for Supreme Court Justices who are right-wing extremists.

Coalition partners include:
NARAL Pro-Choice NM, AFSCME Council 18,  AFT (NMEE),  NM Coalition Against Domestic Violence, NM Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, NM Progressive Alliance for Community Empowerment, National Women's Political Caucus-NM, Homeless Advocacy Coalition, Inc, Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice.

It Was 35 Years Ago Today

From AxisofLogic.com:

May 4, 1970 - Burned into World Memory

"...it's very hard to ignore that Kent State thing. They were down there, man, ready to do it. You can see them, they're all kneeling there, they're all in the kneeling position and they got their slings tight and they're ready to shoot. And there's this kid, this long-haired kid standin' there with a flag wavin' it ... I mean, I cannot be a man, and be a human, and ignore that." 

-- David Crosby, July, 1970, Rolling Stone interview
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"It was like -- oh my God, I can't believe it. So everybody came out and there were kids lying on the ground, running all over the place,...There isn't a day in my life that goes by that I don't wake up without some conscious thought of this. I was in Vietnam twice before. I didn't have the fear that I had on this campus -- helicopters swooping down, tear gas, bullets. It was a scary thing. I get goosebumps talking about it right at this moment,"

-- Kent State Student, Bob Carpenter
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"When I saw the students in their pools of blood, I said this is it, it's got to stop -- the protests, the war. It's gone too far,"

-- Kent State Student, Paul Tople
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"I like to call it murder. I see no justification and no justice,"

-- Kent State Student, John Darnell
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"I don't care if you've never listened to anybody before in your life. I am begging you right now, if you don't disperse right now, they're going to move in. It will only be a slaughter. Please, listen to me. Jesus Christ, I don't want to be part of this. Listen to me,"

-- Kent State Professor Glenn Frank
**********

By noon May 4, two thousand people had gathered in the vicinity of the commons. Many knew that the rally had been banned. Others, especially commuters, did not know of this prohibition. Chants, curses and rocks answered an order to disperse. Shortly after noon, tear gas canisters were fired...The guard moved forward with fixed bayonets, forcing demonstrators to retreat...The guardsmen then retraced their line of march. Some demonstrators followed as close as 20 yards, but most were between 60 and 75 yards behind the guard.

Near the crest of Blanket Hill, the guard turned and 28 guardsmen fired between 61 and 67 shots in 13 seconds toward the parking lot. Four persons lay dying and nine wounded. The closest casualty was 20 yards and the farthest was almost 250 yards away. All 13 were students at Kent State University.
**********

The four students who were killed were Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder and Sandra Scheuer. The nine wounded students were Joseph Lewis, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Alan Canfora, Dean Kahler, Douglas Wrentmore, James Russell, Robert Stamps, and Donald MacKenzie. Dean Kahler was permanently paralyzed from his injury.
**********

"You know, you see these bums, you know, blowin' up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are, burnin' up the books, I mean, stormin' around about this issue, I mean, you name it —- get rid of the war, there'll be another one."

-- Richard Nixon, May 2, 1970, New York Times
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(Click photos for larger images.)

An account with links of what happened and what came afterwards can be found at Wikipedia.

Editor's Note: The Cambodian invasion and Kent State killings resulted in a student strike that closed down the University of Illinois, where I was at college, as well as hundreds of other campuses around the nation. The rest of the semester's classes were cancelled and we all got the grades we had earned until that point.

National Guard troops killed several "hippie dogs" on the main quad on campus. I saw a professor trying to calm a situation get his face beaten in with a cop's nightstick. A friend had an arm broken by campus police. Students were lying down in front of trucks trying to deliver goods to campus warehouses. Glass got broken out in some of the less-liked stores on the main drag. I threw a rock at cops for the first and only time in my life when I saw a bunch of them pummeling a student I knew on the ground. Most National Guard troops looked very scared and had their weapons drawn almost all the time. But we were lucky. No-one was killed.

I had to add 'Ohio," written by Neil Young, performed by CSNY and released as a 45 rpm within a week of the shootings at Kent State. This was arguably the quickest music release in the history of the recording industry, before the Internet came into play:

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

DFA Meetups Today and Tomorrow

DFA - Democracy for New Mexico Meetups will be held in Santa Fe and Las Cruces tonight, and in Albuquerque Thursday night. Click on links in the Coming Events section of the right-hand sidebar on this page for event details or to RSVP.

Our Albuquerque Meetup will feature visits from Mayor Martin Chavez and District 7 City Council candidate Marianne Dickinson, as well as our honoring of citizen activists and NM legislators who were involved in the passage of the election reform bill, including Sen. Cisco McSorley, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Rep. Danice Picraux and Rep. Ken Martinez. (Although Sen. Linda Lopez was invited, she'll be unable to attend because she's celebrating her mom's birthday.)

We'll also be hearing from Matt Henderson of ACORN about how we can help with their Living Wage project. State Democratic Party Resolutions Chair Mel O'Reilly will be reporting on events at the State Central Committee and Resolutins meetings this month and his views on where the Party should go from here. And of course we'll be hearing a number of announcements, including info on upcoming election reform fundraisers featuring investigative journalist Greg Palast. Come on down!

Senator Lopez Sheds Light on Repub Distortions

Today's Albuquerque Journal contains a guest column by Senator Linda Lopez  that provides a compelling rebuttal to Republican Party Chair Allen Weh's recent distorted letter to the editor on the election reform bill that passed the NM Legislature this year.

Senator Lopez, you nailed it! Click to the continuation page to read her commentary.

Bipartisan Effort Led to N.M. Election Reform
By Sen. Linda M. Lopez
Albuquerque Democrat

New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh's commentary regarding the new election reform law is a mixture of misstatements and inaccuracies that would be amusing if not for the disservice he is perpetuating on the public.

Weh's statement about the need to "focus the light of truth" is the epitome of hypocrisy in a letter rife with duplicity. Perhaps, as the prime sponsor of the election reform bill, I can focus this light of truth that seems to have eluded the chairman of the state's Republican Party.

During the last legislative session the Senate Rules Committee, which I chair, began hearings on the need for election reform. From these hearings we learned that voter fraud and election law violations are almost nonexistent. But, we did find instances where the election process did not meet the high expectations of our citizens.

While holding our hearings in the Senate, we monitored the proceedings in the House, where a much larger number of election bills, including the governor's, had been introduced and were eating up precious committee time. Shortly after the midpoint of the legislative session I thought it wise for the Senate to have its own election reform bill ready in case there was no movement on the House side.

Based on the testimony we had received during Senate committee hearings on several election related bills, and in consultation with committee members, I introduced the Senate Rules Committee Substitute for Senate Bills 678, 680, 718 and 735.

Weh now makes the outrageous claim that the bill was written by political operatives from the Governor's Office. Nothing could be further from the truth.

After all the hearings had taken place, the language in the committee substitute was hammered out in several arduous sessions between myself, Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, who was the prime sponsor of several election measures included in Senate Bill 718, and our legislative staff.

All the proposed legislation was on the table and we selected what we considered the most innovative and best common sense remedies that had been put forth by the secretary of state, the governor, the attorney general, nonpartisan citizen election reform groups, and Democratic and Republican legislators.

\The result was a well thought out bill containing meaningful voter identification provisions; a chain of custody for certificates of registration and absentee ballot applications; standardized training, policies and procedures for county clerks; requirements that voting systems have voter-verifiable and auditable paper trails; regulation of voter registration groups; expedited absentee voter ballot counting; voter registration cards mailed to every voter prior to a statewide election; updated absentee voter procedures; and, a uniform process and set of criteria for the counting of provisional, absentee and other paper ballots.

Subsequently, after several lengthy hearings, the committee substitute was passed to the House. There it received a long hearing in the House Voters and Election Committee, and an even longer hearing on the House floor, before being passed and sent to the governor for his signature.

Weh, in his commentary, further asserts that a political emissary of the governor emerged with a substitute bill on day 58 of the 60-day session. His statement is not only a complete fabrication, but also a slap in the face of all of the individuals who spent considerable time and energy pushing real election reform forward in New Mexico.

Lastly, Weh and some Republicans continue to criticize the voter identification provisions of the election reform bill.

In developing the identification requirements we were mindful of days past when poll taxes, property ownership requirements, gender, literacy tests and ballot box placement were used to subvert and harm the very foundation upon which our government is built.

The voter identification provisions in the election reform bill are designed to provide elections that are fair and honest, while not discouraging our citizens from exercising their fundamental right regardless of age, ethnicity, income level or any other demographic consideration.

I think everyone would agree, when everything is said and done, we do hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal with certain unalienable rights, and selecting the people who will run our government may be the most important right guaranteed to all of us.

ABQ Wage Hike Proposal Already Getting Flack

Even though Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich introduced a bill merely to put a hike in the minimum wage on the ballot during the mayoral election this Fall, the proposal is already getting significant negative reaction. I mean, this isn't a bill to raise the miniumum wage or ensure a Living Wage in Albuquerque -- it just puts a minimum wage proposal before the voters. If approved by voters, the minimum wage in Albuquerque would rise from $5.15 to $7.15 an hour and exempt employers with fewer than 10 employees.

From this morning's Albuquerque Journal:

Brad Winter:  Said he had cold feet but will want to hear the debate and public comment as the legislation progresses. "I think it's a federal issue and we should not be dealing with it on a local level."

Michael Cadigan: Said he favors an increase in the minimum wage but it should be handled by Congress, not on a local level. He said he's inclined to vote against putting the issue on the ballot.

Craig Loy: Said the city should not establish a local minimum wage. "One of my pursuits has been to increase wages in Albuquerque, but you can't do that by mandate. You let the market do it."

Tim Cummins has already made derogatory statements about the proposal. Eric Griego was out of town during yesterday's City Council meeting but supports the proposal. Council Vice President Miguel Gómez voiced support for the bill, while Councilor Debbie O'Malley said it's an issue worth looking at. Mayor Chavez has said it's a federal matter.

Perhaps the most hypocritical comment about the wage bill was made by my very own City Councilor, Sally Mayer, as reported in the Albuquerque Tribune:

"Making it a public referendum is ridiculous," said District 7 Councilor Mayer, who is writing her own bill that would ask Congress to re-examine the federal minimum wage. "It's the closest thing to paying people to vote."

She ought to know about such things, given her rumored close relationships with corporate development firms and her very positive voting record on any and all development, regardless of what it will to do to the community. Does that mean she supports corporations paying councilors to vote? It does beg the question, doesn't it?

Since the federal minimum wage hasn't risen since 1997, it seems highly cynical for these folks, particularly the Democrats, to say we must depend on the Congress to raise wages. As for "the market" taking care of it, I haven't seen any evidence of that. Housing, energy, healthcare and other costs continue to escalate while middle and working class wages stagnate. As jobs are increasingly sent overseas to China and Thirld World countries, it seems obvious the "market" is experiencing a race to the bottom in terms of wages.

The Economic Policy Institute has a wealth of information about the minimum wage, including Congressional testimony that demonstrates raises in its rates do not hurt small businesses. Of course Republicans and some Democrats continue to insist that it does, despite proof to the contrary. I think they should be required to provide some documentation for this much ballyhooed excuse. More than 100 cities and towns across America, including Santa Fe, have instituted some form of Living Wage in their communities. Why not Albuquerque?

If you agree, get involved. Check out Albuquerque Living Wage.org or Albuquerque ACORN.

This Thursday's DFA-DFNM Meetup will feature a presentation by Matt Henderson of ACORN on their Living Wage Project. If members agree, DFNM plans to make the Living Wage effort an important focus of our activism in the coming months.

The "Albuquerque Fair Wage Initiative" is scheduled to be voted upon by the Albuquerque City Council on May 16. Click to on this issue.

By the way, the Democratic Party of New Mexico officially supports legislation to achieve a Living Wage for all in the state, according to the Living Wage Resolution that passed unanimously at this month's State Central Committe meeting of the DPNM. If only our Democratic elected officials would take note.

Check Out Winning DFA DeLay Billboard

Read all about it at Democracy for America's .

Then check out DeLay's falling poll numbers in his Texas Congressional District.

ACTION ALERT: PBS in Jeopardy

From FreePress:
PBS is in jeopardy. Today's New York Times describes secret efforts by Republican operatives to make our Public Broadcasting System more "fair and balanced."

Kenneth Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) -- the government-funded organization that was designed to shield PBS from political pressure -- is aggressively pressing PBS to correct what he considers "liberal bias."

He secretly hired a White House staffer to help draft "guiding principles" for the future of CPB. He brought in a consultant to monitor the "anti-Bush" and "anti-Tom Delay" content on Bill Moyers' NOW program, and then set up and funded right-wing commentator Paul Gigot's new PBS program. Now Tomlinson is working behind the scenes to stack CPB's board and executive offices with Republican Party cronies.

Click here to save PBS

Together we can stop this partisan attack. Join our call to Congress, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS station managers to:

1. Remove Kenneth Tomlinson from the CPB board.

2. Return PBS to the people by holding local town meetings in your community. We the public -- not partisan political operatives -- should decide what we want from PBS.

Tomlinson told the Times that he's trying to restore "objectivity and balance" to public broadcasting. This top-down partisan meddling goes against the very nature of PBS and the local stations we trust. Let the people speak and decide the future of PBS, not secret dealings by White House operatives.

Send your message now -- and forward this letter to all of your friends and colleagues, asking them to do the same.

Onward,
Josh Silver
www.freepress.net

P.S. -- To learn more, read the recent report on "Building a Public Broadcasting System that Deserves Public Support" by Free Press, Consumers Union, Common Cause, Media Access Project and the Consumer Federation of America.

Navajo Head Vetoes Gay Marriage Measure

While it's scary that the Navajor Tribal Council voted unanimously for another of the so-called Defense of Marriage acts making the rounds these days, it's heartening that Joe Shirley stopped it in its tracks.

From an article in the Washington Post:

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. -- The president of the Navajo Nation vetoed a measure Sunday that would have banned same-sex marriage on the Indian reservation.

The Tribal Council voted unanimously last month to pass legislation that restricts a recognized union to a relationship between a man and a woman, and prohibits plural marriages as well as marriages between close relatives.

Supporters said the goal was to promote Navajo family values and preserve the sanctity of marriage.

President Joe Shirley Jr. said in a statement released Sunday that he strongly supports family stability but the proposed measure said nothing about domestic violence, sexual assault and gangs on the Navajo Nation -- problems that are rampant.

"Same-sex marriage is a non-issue on Navajoland," he said. "So why waste time and resources on it? We have more important issues to address."

Shirley said the measure also goes against the Navajo teaching of nondiscrimination and doing no psychological or physical harm to others.
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For some background on Navajo views about this issue, check out an article that appeared in Indian Country Today when the measure was passed by the Tribal Council. And here's one from the Boston Globe about how Westernized and Christian religious views are changing traditionally more open attitudes on the reservation about homosexuality.

Boy Scouts Occupy Valle Vidal to Block Drilling

Read all about it at James Scarantino's Real Side blog.

Then go do something about it at the website of the Coalition for the Valle Vidal.

Heather and The Hammer

Rep. Heather Wilson has been named by the League of Conservation Voters as one of the top ten members of Congress who are financially tied to Rep. Tom DeLay and his oil interests. These companies, many of which have donated to Wilson's campaigns, are seeking to eliminate any financial liability they have in terms of MBTE pollution, a gasoline additive, in the current energy bill.

See pages 32 and 33 of the LCV report , entitled "Tom DeLay's Tainted Team: An Analysis of House Members Who Side With Tom DeLay and MBTE Special Interests Over Their Constitutents," for information exposing Heather's financial ties to DeLay and the oil industry.

Enlightening, isn't it? Pass it on.