Democracy for New Mexico

Meet Candidate for NM Secretary of State Tonight

From Terry Riley:
A meetup will be held at my house tonight, October 11, at 7:00 PM featuring Democrat Priscilla Valdez. Ms. Valdez is gathering signatures to run for NM Secretary of State. This group was formerly known as the NM Democratic Friends Meetup. We're working on renaming it since NMDF is now holding their Meetups in conjunction with DFA-Democracy for New Mexico. For directions to my house, please email me at terryactivist@aol.com.

A Sad Anniversary

Three years ago today, October 10, 2002:

The House voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, with or without U.N. support. Despite an unprecedented flooding of Congress with calls, e-mails, letters, and faxes in opposition, both the House of Representatives and the Senate overwhelmingly pass resolutions authorizing President Bush to unilaterally launch an invasion of Iraq at any time for any reason.

Visit https://www.peacebuttons.info/ for more information on the history of peace and justice or to sign up for their free weekly peace calendar.

Timely Reads:
Why the U.S. must leave Iraq: Sen. Russ Feingold says it's time to admit the war was a disaster -- and accuses his fellow Democrats of going along with Bush out of fear.

Democracy Itself is in Grave Danger: Speech by Al Gore to the American Constitution Society at Georgetown University Law Center

on democracy and the media.

ACTION ALERT: Wage Peace

From Terry Riley:
The American Friends Service Committee has proposed a nationwide demonstration on the day that the number of American soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan reaches 2000. They have set up a web site where you can register to attend and from which you will be notified.  The demonstration is supposed to be non-partisan and they ask that the signs be to the issue ONLY.  I believe that this is an excellent opportunity to get the word out and make the rest of the public aware that we have to get out now.

If you would like to join us on that day please go to the following web site and register   https://www.afsc.org/2000/   

This web site also has signs that you can download so that our demonstration is as uniform as possible and our message is as powerful as possible.  Please consider joining in this opportunity to speak out in large numbers.  We HAVE to start doing things to stop the killing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I have selected the intersection of Montgomery Blvd. NE and San Mateo NE.  There are several parking lots at each of the corners of the intersection and the traffic is higher here than any other intersection in New Mexico.  My plan is that we line the sidewalks coming out from the intersection with all that show up.  People driving home that day will see a consistent message and hopefully a lot of people.  We need to MAKE the average person start to do something!

You are welcome to also e-mail me here for more information.

Thank you,
Terry Riley: Terryr345@aol.com

Editor's Note: Click to learn more about the American Friends Service Committee's Wage Peace campaign, including their Wage Peace video and Homeward Bound resolution. The site also provides extensive background information on the war in Iraq, AFSC's positions and activist resources.

Sunday Barnum & Bailey (Bird) Blogging

Since our digital camera is on its way back from North Carolina today with the photographer in the family, I couldn't get any new pictures of Bosco the peach-faced lovebird or our numerous parakeets for my traditional Sunday Bird Blogging. Instead, here's a couple of the dogs that shared the beach house on the Outer Banks this week during Mary Ellen's family reunion vacation. That's Barnum on the right (6-month-old chihuahua) and Bailey (yellow lab) at left, above. And here's a particularly charming shot of Barnum (who has green eyes):

By all accounts, the two were quite the beach buddies, although the surf at Corolla Beach was a bit much at times for Barnum. And no, despite their names they're not circus performers. Well, except maybe in their own minds....ARF!

Mark Your Calendars: West Mesa AAUW Election Reform Forum Set for Early November

Election Reform Forum
First Unitarian Church, Carlisle & Comanche, ABQ
Saturday, November 12 at 1:00 PM

Moderator:  Sharon Booth, President West Mesa AAUW
Refreshments follow the panel discussion.

Panelists will include Dr. Pat Leahan, Dr. Sonja Elison, Dr. Kim Kirpatrick, NM Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino and Lowell Finley, Esq.

More on panelists:

Panel will include:

Kim Kirkpatrick has lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico for forty years, thirty of which he taught Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science at New Mexico Highlands University. He serves on the steering committee of Verified Voting of New Mexico, and has participated in several public discussions of security issues raised by the use of voting machines.

Patricia Leahan lives near Las Vegas, New Mexico.  She is the Founder and Director of the Las Vegas NM Peace & Justice Center. Pat has taught at the university level for 17 years in social work and behavioral sciences, and although her primary work is now full-time volunteer community organizing, she still teaches select classes at New Mexico Highlands University. Her work at the Peace & Justice Center encompasses a wide range of social justice issues, including election reform. It was Pat's passion for justice that led to her interest in voting rights. She is a founding member of VerifiedVotingNM (VVNM.org), serves on their steering committee, and works closely with United Voters of New Mexico (UVoteNM.org). She is also an active member of the VoterActionNM Team (VoterAction.org). Pat has helped organize research, educational forums and community-based actions around the voting machine issue in New Mexico since 2003.

State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino represents Bernalillo County District 12. Recently retired, his career was spent working as a social worker, social welfare program administrator, human services and human resource management professor, community organizer and social services planner. His interests broadened over the years from an initial focus on mental health and children’s protective services to work on child and family advocacy, substance abuse, positive youth development and early childhood programming. He has a BA in Latin American Studies from UNM and a Masters in Social Work from Tulane. He writes regular newspaper columns on social issues for the Santa Fe Reporter and on political issues for the Weekly Alibi. He helped found a private adoption and foster care agency called La Familia and co-founded the Robert F. Kennedy Charter High School for which he serves as president of the governing board. He was instrumental in the passing of the 2005 Election Reform Bill, which provides a voter verifiable paper trail and automatic audit, and is currently serving on the Election Reform Task Force.

Sonja Elison, Ph.D. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Sonja has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and has taught political science at Georgetown, American and Gonzaga Universities, before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since the 2004 recount effort Sonja has become a central figure in election reform within the state.

Lowell Finley, Esq. (not yet confirmed): Mr. Finley is an attorney from Berkeley, California, with over 20 years experience in election law. He is one of the few attorneys in the nation with experience litigating electronic voting issues, having successfully sued Diebold Election Systems, Inc. in a California qui tam action. Mr. Finley’s election experience also includes blocking newly-elected California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from soliciting or using special interest campaign contributions to repay illegal $4 million personal loan, helping to brief several cases on the redistricting of California congressional and state legislative districts before the California and United States Supreme Courts. He won a lawsuit giving Chinese-American candidates access to the ballot in San Francisco and successfully sued an Orange County, California candidate for hiring uniformed security guards to intimidate Hispanic voters at the polls in the November, 1988 election. Mr. Finley is a founding member, Past President (1992), California Political Attorneys Association.

Inside Scoop on Election Reform in Southwest

From Common Cause:
In less than two weeks, a group of citizens who are dedicated to finding solutions to election problems and challenges in the Southwestern states will gather for a conference in a beautiful setting in the Rocky Mountains.  If you care about fixing our broken election system, you should be there too.

What:   Common Cause 2005 Southwest Election Reform Conference   
Who:   Lawmakers, election officials, advocates, experts, academics, and citizens
When: Friday, October 21, 2005, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Where: Estes Park, Colorado
To register, please go to:
   
The day's agenda will include a panel of experts, participatory workshops, and networking opportunities, culminating in the basis of a plan of action for reform in each state.  You'll be getting in on the ground floor, ready to play a part in the making of history in your state.

Invite your colleagues to come along, but don't delay; the conference is only a few weeks away.  Sign up today. For more information about the conference or registration, please contact me at jflanagan@commoncause.org or call 303-292-2163.

I hope to see you in Estes Park.  If you can't come, please pass this message along to someone else who might be able to attend.  In the meantime, thanks for all you do to make our democracy stronger.

Sincerely,
Jenny Rose Flanagan, Common Cause Colorado
On behalf of Barb, Ed, Mary, Lisa, DJ, Susannah, Jennifer, Kirstin & Murshed
Common Cause Election Reform Team

Respite

While many of us have been suffering the stress and strain of Albuquerque's city election, my partner in crime has been spending a week at a family reunion at a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Although Mary Ellen hails from the Salem, Boston and Syracuse NY areas, her family pitched in and rented a house on the sea in Corolla, NC for their get-together. She's been sending me photos all week, despite the slower than slow dialup connection she has out there. She sent two beauties this morning, of sunrise over the Atlantic. To help get our minds off the political muckety-muck, I thought I'd share them here.

Both shots show dawn at Corolla Beach, NC. (Click images to see larger versions.) The Outer Banks are a chain of narrow barrier islands midway on the Atlantic Seaboard, 90 miles south of Norfolk, Virginia. Corolla is the northernmost town on the island chain, north of historic Kitty Hawk (really Kill Devil Hills), where the Wright Brothers had their first powered flight.

Starting last weekend, Mary Ellen has been flying a kite (literally), riding a pink, fat-tired bike along the seashore, playing pool, getting tossed by the waves, sitting in a hot tub with a view of the ocean, reading, eating gourmet meals prepared by her brother-in-law, hanging with family, playing with a chihuahua named Barnum and a yellow lab named Bailey and watching Red Sox games. My only comfort is that my Chicago White Sox are beating her Boston Red Sox 2-0 in the baseball playoffs. Needless to say, Bosco the peach-faced lovebird is missing her. Peep peep.

Wal-Mart Watch: National Week of Action

Wal-Mart Watch is proud to announce Higher Expectations Week: National Week of Action taking place November 13-19, 2005. Featuring 200+ partner organizations, 1000+ local events, and the premiere of “Wal-Mart:  The High Cost of Low Prices” at over 3500 house parties.

Learn more, and pledge to take part.

Special Session of the NM Legislature Convenes Today

Governor Richardson has called a Special Session of the NM Legislature, which starts today at noon. The Santa Fe New Mexican online offers a useful Special Session Resource Guide that will include daily coverage of events, as well as useful links and other information.

Click to find your legislators and their contact information.

Lawmakers are limited to considering matters that the governor specifies in the proclamation calling for the Special Session. Richardson has proposed nearly $100 million in assistance to help New Mexicans with high gasoline prices and home heating costs. His proposals include a tax rebate and a measure to outlaw price gouging. The House also has the power to start impeachment proceedings against indicted state Treasurer Robert Vigil.

According to the New Mexican,

Legislative leaders agreed Wednesday to budget enough money for a seven-day session. They also set aside $500,000 for impeachment-related expenses, such as special staff.

Gov. Bill Richardson — frustrated that he can’t keep Vigil from going to work — said Wednesday that he’ll back whatever the House decides to do about impeachment, whether it’s a vote during the session or the formation of a committee to meet afterward.

“I believe the issues raised about Treasurer Vigil’s action merit impeachment ,” the governor said. But he added he didn’t want to appear to be interfering by telling lawmakers how to proceed.

Next Election Reform Task Force Meeting Set for October 13-14

From Verified Voting NM:
Election reform activists are urged to attend and report back on the 4th meeting of the Legislative Election Reform Task Force, set for THURSDAY-FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13-14 in Room 307 of the Roundhouse. There will be a demonstration of voting machines, a presentation by Steve Fettig of VVNM on voting machine considerations, and time set aside for public comment. If you can possibly make it, please go. For the lastest information on this interim task force, visit the NM Legislature website.

Herewith the agenda:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13

10 AM – Call to Order, Approval of Minutes: Rep. Ed Sandoval and Sen. Linda Lopez, Co-Chairs

10:15 AM – Voting Machine Demonstrations

12:30 PM – Lunch

1:30 PM – Voting Machine Considerations, Stephen Fettig for VVNM (invited)

2 PM – Types of Voting Machines Available that will Comply with HAVA and State Law: Costs of Converting Voting Systems to Voter Verifiable Paper Ballot System: Ernie Marquez, Director, NM Bureau of Elections

3 PM – Rules for Handling Provisional ballots and Canvass Observer Issues: Ernie Marquez and Denise Lamb, Chief Deputy Clerk, SF County

4 PM – Public Comment

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14

9 AM – Call to Order

9:15 AM – Review of Laws 2005, Chapter 70, Suggested Fixes: Ernie Marquez and Denise Lamb

11 AM – Precinct-Level Reporting Fix

12 Noon – Public Comment