Democracy for New Mexico

Worth a Thousand Words

Republican City Councilor Sally Mayer (MAY-YAY) celebrating fellow traveler Marty Chavez's victory in the Mayor's race last night, at her victory party at the Sheraton Uptown. $Opah$

Money Talks

Albuquerque election lament: Pop goes the weasel. Looks like all the crooks and nasties won and weasel crud will be spreading over Albuquerque for some time to come. Even the horrendously sleazy and underhanded Sally Mayer. Turnout was incredibly low. We needed a large turnout and didn't get it. Why? People don't care I guess. The Dem Party did next to nothing to register new voters before the deadline. I recall reading an article in the UNM Lobo quoting students saying they saw no reason to vote. Well.

At least Ike Benton looks like a winner. And the clean elections code. But as I leave the computer it looks like the purveyors of lies and distortions about the living wage succeeded in convincing people that dangerous radicals would invade their children's classrooms if it passed. That's what happens when you run tons of full-page ads and tv ads and radio ads and billboards touting the lies. It works. Money talks.

With moneybags Marty winning and Chavez trooper Ken Sanchez grabbing Miguel Gomez's seat in District 1, looks like the real estate scammer -- deep pocket developer -- Walmart crowd will have free rein for the next two years at least. Hey West Side, you're gonna get your road through the petroglyphs and your 2 extra lanes on the bridge. I just want to see your faces when thousands more of those ticky tacky subdivision homes are built in response. Strangely enough, traffic will still be gridlocked. Even worse.

It is hard for me to believe that anyone with a brain or any semblance of taste could vote for Sally MAY-YAY over Marianne Dickinson, but then again, we do have Bush as a second-term president so I guess we should be clued in about how most voters see things. Qualities like creativity, decency, intelligence, fairness and reason aren't in right now. Greed, vulgarity, cronyism, corruption, ignorance and narrow-minded self-interest are all the rage. Unfortunately that creates an unsustainable and basically unlivable community in the long term. But that short-term gain for the grabbers and the wannabes is just too seductive to pass up I guess.

Hooray for all of us who donated and doorknocked and phonebanked and voted for progressive candidates and issues. Hooray for all the terrific candidates who worked their hearts out for the people and went up against opponents with big wads of slimy money to spend. Hooray for our winners -- Ike Benton and the Clean Election Code. Bah humbug to those who couldn't even see it in their hearts to help people, even in the most menial of jobs, earn $7.50 an hour in the richest nation ever on the face of the earth. Shame on you. And on all the people who would have supported a living wage and progressive candidates but just didn't care enough to get out and vote because, you know, they're way too cool for voting.

Click for offical . Albuquerque population according to 2000 U.S.Census: 448,607. Turnout for this city election: 86,757. Pathetic.

Get Your Live Election Results Here

The polls close at 7:00 PM tonight. Click for provided by Bernalillo County to the Albuquerque City Clerk. KRQE-TV's News 13 site also has live results.

Starting at 6:30 PM, you can listen to Joe Monahan's coverage of the returns on radio KANW, 89.1 FM. The show will include reports and analysis by lobbyist Scott Scanland, Republican Rep. Larry Larranaga, Dems Lenton Malry and Terry Brunner, Green Steve Cabiedes and Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera.

AFTER You Vote and Help GOTV, Stop In at the Victory Parties

When you're done with voting and helping to get out the vote, head over to any of these victory parties after the polls close at 7PM:

Eric Griego Victory Party
St. Clair Winery & Bistro
901 Rio Grande Blvd. NW
(505) 243-9916
(Across from the Sheraton Old Town on Rio Grande Blvd.)
7:00 - 11:00 PM
Great local food and wine, live music and a beautiful atmosphere!

Miguel Gomez (District 1)
Councilor Gomez's house:  2804 El Tesoro Escondido
(Just West of Ladera Golf Course)
Starts 7 PM

Ike Benton (District 3)
Ike's house:  204 Gallup Ave. SW, 7 PM
Call 268-0310

Michael Cadigan (District 5)
Councilor Cadigan's house:  2705 Bosque del Sol NW
(Near Coors and Eagle Ranch)

Marianne Dickinson (District 7)
Marianne's house:  926 Avenida Estellita NE
(South of Constitution, West of Washington)
Call Keegan at 385-8760 if any questions
Begins at 7:00 PM

Chris Catechis (District 9)
Chris' house:  1125 Monte Largo Dr.
(Nearest major streets:  Lomas and Tramway)
Call 363-2747

Living Wage Victory Party:
Letter Carrier's Hall
123 Quincy NE, across from Highland Theater
Free food, cash bar, high spirits! (Starts 7:30 PM)

Clean Elections Campaign
Gecko's
(between Scalo and the CO-OP, near Carlisle and Central)
After 8:00 PM

RECAP: Info on Voting in ABQ City Election

(NOTE: This post relates to the 2005 Albuquerque municipal election.) The League of Women Voters site provides an excellent online Voter's Guide, which includes sections on all the candidates, bond issues and ballot questions. The city clerk's site has a . Type in your address to find out where to vote. NOTE: Some precincts have been consolidated for this election so you might NOT be voting in your usual polling place. Best to double check.

REMEMBER, the candidates and ballot initiative groups need your help to get out the vote. Campaign offices will open late tonight and all day tomorrow, starting at 6 AM. Read all about it.

After the polls close at 7 PM, come on down to celebrate and watch the returns come in at the Eric Griego Victory Party at the St. Clair Winery & Bistro, 901 Rio Grande NW, across from the Sheraton-Old Town, for great local food and wine, live music and a beautiful atmosphere.

KUNM's 'Espejos de Aztlan' Tonight: What's At Stake in Tomorrow's Election?

From Javier Benavidez:
Check out KUNM 89.9 TONIGHT, Monday, October 3rd, from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM for "Espejos de Aztlan," a weekly radio program highlighting the courage, strength and beauty of the Chicano/Latino community in New Mexico. I will be interviewing three local community organizers who have been working tirelessly on various issues that are up for vote on tomorrow's city-wide election ballot.

Answering the question "what's at stake for our community in tomorrow's election" will be Dr. Teresa Brito-Asenap, a leader with Albuquerque Interfaith, Rey Garduno, an activist in the Clean and Open Elections campaign and Danny Rivera, a union organizer from the Albuquerque Living Wage Coalition.

Espejos has been on-air since 1979 and is part of the Raices Colectiva which conducts programming on news, culture and music from a Latino perspective on KUNM 89.9.

ACTION ALERT: It All Comes Down to US

As we tick down to the final hours before the Albuquerque election this Tuesday, all our progressive candidates and issues are in the running, and I'm convinced we can win every race. IF:

IF we work like hell to get out the vote (GOTV) today and tomorrow

IF we all vote and get our like-minded friends and neighbors and family members to vote

What we need is a BIG TURNOUT tomorrow, of new voters and regular voters and those who only vote sporadically. If we get it, we can win. If we don't, the task will be much harder. And only WE can make that turnout happen.

Remember that the poll numbers you may be seeing can be deceptive. The polls only include "likely voters," which means those who have a record of voting in recent elections. They only contact those with landline phones, not cells. This omits signficant numbers of OUR voters, including the many new ones who have recently registered to vote because of the living wage and clean elections proposals or for other reasons.

Given that candidates need at least 40% of the total vote to win, runoffs are likely in at least several races, even those that don't seem that close now. And if a runoff happens, all bets are off on monied favorites.

So please contact one of the progressive campaigns ASAP and sign up to help today and on election day. Consider taking the day or part of a day off tomorrow to vote and then volunteer to help get others out to vote. There's plenty of work at all the campaigns:

Eric Griego for Mayor: 224-9042

Living Wage Campaign: Call Acorn @ 242-7411

Clean Elections Code Campaign: Call Matt Brix, Common Cause NM, @ 323-6399

Miguel Gomez for City Councilor, District 1: 839-6638

Ike Benton for City Councilor, District 3: 268-0310

Marianne Dickinson for City Councilor, District 7: 385-8760

Chris Catechis for City Councilor, District 9: 271-9876

Unfortunately for me, I'm down with some awful fevered cold or flu bug, reduced to sucking down cough syrup, downing antibiotics and making Kleenex stock rise. But I thought the least I could do was get on the computer and urge all able bodied progressives, LIKE YOU, to VOTE AND GOTV. We can win these races. IF.

Sunday Bird (Balloon) Blogging

With the start of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta pumping even more hot air into the city than our homegrown political rhetoric this weekend, I had to put up a couple balloon shots. And of course they had to be bird balloons:

The local Blog.Espen has a couple photos from this year's Fiesta, including one of a special shapes balloon that is a tree populated by parrots. There are even real birds flying near the balloon.

I haven't actually been into Balloon Fiesta Park for a few years. I have to admit I liked the event much better when it was smaller and less commercialized. Come to think of it, I liked Albuquerque much better in those days as well, when it too was smaller and less commercialized.

I experienced my first Fiesta in 1980, when you could wander over to the site at dawn without horrendous traffic jams and people sold t-shirts off the backs of their pickups. Many more balloons cruised East, over the NE Heights, because there was still alot of undeveloped space for landing. Or they landed in the streets, not yet gridlocked with traffic. I recall an informal event where balloons competed in flying over the Sandias, if you can believe it. And you got most of your balloon pins from actual balloonists, if you were clever.

Now, of course, there's a permanent field with a brand new balloon museum on the site, and a "VIP" deck and tons of concession booths and a massive RV park for tourists. Still worth a visit every few years, just for the rush of being on the field next to all that color and the whoosh of the blowers as balloons are filling and rising all around you. But it just ain't the same. Like Albuquerque itself, the Fiesta is getting more and more glossy and "developed" by the year. And I think we're losing something in the transition. But that's just me.

Kimo to Host Musical Hurricane Benefit

The New Mexico Music Commission hosts a musical benefit for hurricane relief:

"CHICORY AND CHILE"
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 7:00 - 10:30 PM
KIMO THEATRE IN ALBUQUERQUE

PERFORMERS INCLUDE:
Bayou Seco
Priscilla Baca y Candelaria
Christian Orellana – NM Peruvian Music & Verse
Jenny Bird - Taos Songwriter
Rahim Al Haj - Classical Composer
Tony Rio & Voodoo ChiLi
Chuy Martinez & Oti Ruiz - Mexican maestros of Musica
Danny Solis - World Champion Slam Poet
2005 National Poetry Slam Championship Team
Bonnie Bluhm
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez - Author: The Dirty Girls Social Club

Admission is free for “Chicory and Chile,” but donations are suggested. Proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross, Gulf Coast Musicians, and the Humane Society of the United States. The City of Albuquerque, AMP Concerts, Avokado Productions, Poetic Justice Institute, KiMo Theatre staff and TM Magazine are also sponsoring the event.

Party Sunday: Placitas Dems and Friends

From Jerry and Janice Saxton and Placitas Democrats and Friends:

BIG PARTY
PLEASE JOIN US
FOR A GATHERING OF PLACITAS DEMOCRATS AND FRIENDS

Sunday, October 2, 2005, 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Placitas Elementary School, 5 Calle del Carbon, Placitas

Everyone is welcome to attend. We wish to express our appreciation of this wonderful community we all share and to celebrate our many common interests and goals.

Free hotdogs, finger foods, drinks and helium balloons
Music by the Placitas Mountain Band
Visit exhibitors for info
Get acquainted with neighbors and candidates
No speeches just mix & mingle

See you there! Directions:

Directions to Placitas Elementary School: From exit 242 on I25 travel east approximately 7 miles to Placitas village. Go through the village past the Mini-Mart and the post office on the right. The elementary school is on the left after you pass the post office. If you reach Camino de las Huertas or Tecolote you have gone too far east.