Democracy for New Mexico

Matt Brix On Next 'We The People'

WE THE PEOPLE: CLEAN ELECTIONS!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
WATCH:  7 PM, Channel 27
SPECIAL GUEST:  MATT BRIX, NM Director, Common Cause
HOSTS:  Mickey Bock & Judith Binder

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, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It is our country's government--based on law and not tyranny--that grants us FREEDOM. Watch us every Thursday 7-8 PM, on Albuquerque's Community Cable Channel 27.

www.1776wethepeople.com

Madrid & Feldman Launch Medicare Drug Petition Drive

From Madrid for Congress, 505-242-6000:

Who:  Attorney General Patricia Madrid & Senator Dede Feldman

What:  Launching a petition drive calling on Congress to extend the May 15th deadline for seniors to sign up for the Medicare Plan D Prescription Drug Program.

Where:  Barelas Senior Center, 714 7th St. SW, Albuquerque

When: 10:30 AM, Wednesday, February 22

LAST CHANCE: RSVP to Meet DNC Chair Howard Dean This Thursday

Ana Canales and others have volunteered to make lunch for this week's Dean event. To ensure there's enough for all, it's important that you RSVP FOR THE EVENT BY CALLING THE STATE PARTY AT: 830-3650 if you plan to attend. This is an excellent chance to meet Governor Dean and get his take on what the Party will be doing to turn the tables on the Republicans. Reserve now:

The Democratic Party of NM
Invites You to Meet
DNC Chair Howard Dean

Thursday, February 23, 2006
Noon to 2:00 PM

Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall
510 San Pedro Dr. SE
Albuquerque NM (Click for map)

Suggested Donation $35.00
Lunch will be served
RSVP BY CALLING 830-3650

Watch the (Windows) on Dean's strategies for rebuilding the Democratic Party from the ground up. (Right-click and choose "Save Target as" for a of the video.)

Photo of the Day

Check out DemSpeak for more info on what's going on in Rhode Island, where this billboard appears.

Join LCV Wednesday for Release of National Environmental Scorecard

From Maggie Toulouse, SW Campaign Manager, League of Conservation Voters: Your members of Congress represent you -- and you deserve to know how your congressional representatives vote on important environmental and conservation issues. Please join the League of Conservation Voters for the official release of our 2005 National Environmental Scorecard and to honor Rep. Tom Udall (invited).

Click here to attend the Release Party!

Learn about key environmental bills and how your Representative and Senators voted last year on legislation related to energy policy, global warming, water quality, forest preservation, and endangered species. We've also invited Rep. Tom Udall to honor his stellar environmental record.

WHAT:   LCV Environmental Scorecard Release Party
WHEN:   Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 6:30 PM
WHERE:  Slate Street Cafe Wine Loft, 515 Slate Ave., NW, Albuquerque

Join us for our release party and receive a copy of the Scorecard and a free LCV t-shirt. You can also find out how to get involved with LCV's grassroots campaigns.

During the first session of the 109th Congress, your representatives in Washington, D.C., cast many important votes on key environmental and public health legislation. This is your opportunity to help LCV educate voters on environmental legislation and reveal the environmental voting records of those members of Congress who represent you and your family.

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact us 505-244-1077 or email me at maggie_toulouse@lcv.org.

Visiting Filmmaker to Answer Questions on Election Fraud

From the AMERICAN GI FORUM OF NEW MEXICO, National Veterans Family Organization, Albuquerque Chapter: Come and find out what happened in New Mexico!

Penny Little, movie producer and director of the movie "Electile Dysfunction," will be making an exclusive New Mexico appearance for a special showing of her film. In addition, several local election reform advocates will be included on a panel discussion to answer questions on how to get activated and how to contribute to bringing integrity to the voting process and establishing true VOTER REFORM. This exciting event will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd at 6:30 PM at The American GI Forum, 3301 Mountain Rd. NW in Albuquerque, near Old Town.

"Electile Dysfunction" is a 55 minute investigative documentary film by exploring the story behind the scenes of the November 2004 Presidential election, showing a complicated and technical subject in lively montage style, interviews interlaced with dark humor, short animations and musical interludes. Beginning with historical interviews in 2003 from people in the street, celebrities and experts, background information on electronic voting machines, the storyline moves to the role the media plays, felon purge lists as a means to disenfranchise voters, a stolen election in Alabama 2002, and then on to irregularities in Florida,Ohio, and New Mexico in the November 2004 election.

Featured in “Electile Dysfunction,” are journalists, authors, Congressmen, prominent computer scientists, celebrities, journalists, civil rights organizations, voting rights watchdogs, international poll watchers, election officials and everyday voters.

Penny is the Coordinating Director of People to People TV, located in Santa Barbara, California.  In the summer of 2005, Penny toured major cities in Europe with a preview cut of her film project "Dust and Deceit". Other film projects include working as a producer/editor for the film "Waging Peace" with Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Trent. 

For more information, go to: www.electile-dysfunction.com/
For event information:please call: Event Coordinator-Karen Borch 247-4910

THIS EVENT IS ABOUT RESTORING THE INTEGRITY OF THE VOTING PROCESS. EVERY VOTE CAST IN THIS COUNTRY MUST COUNT. THIS IS NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE-IT IS AN AMERICAN ISSUE! PEOPLE FROM ALL POLITICAL PERSUASIONS ARE WELCOME TO THIS EVENT.

Refreshments will be served.

“Education is Our Freedom and Freedom Should be Everybody’s Business”
3301 Mountain Road N.W.   Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104
Office (505) 247-4910  Fax (505) 247-2993
americangif@earthlink.net

Sunday Boid Blogging

Papa's got a brand new bag....er, I mean Sunny the sun conure's got a brand new cage. A biggie. You can get a peek of it behind his present cage. For now, we're keeping the cage he's used to near the new one. When curiosity gets the best of him, he can explore freely but still have the home he knows and loves available for an easy retreat.

Sunny's adult feathers continue to replace his baby ones. Above you can see how yellow feathers are growing on his back where only green ones were before. Now, to go along with his growing maturity, he'll have a much bigger place to hang out in and on. It took Mary Ellen most of the morning to put together the new cage. We'll see how long it takes Sunny to adopt it as his new home.

Soon, we'll be moving out to live in our back yard as the house becomes filled with birds and birdie things. Oh, I'm kidding, but our home is definitely starting to look like bird aficionados reside there. And they do! (Click photos for larger images.)

Help Kick Off Emerge New Mexico

The Honorable Diane Denish, Lieutenant Governor, and The Honorable Patricia Madrid, Attorney General and candidate for Congress, invite you to join in a kickoff celebration of:

EMERGE NEW MEXICO
Recruiting and training Women Democrats for elected office for a better New Mexico

Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 6:30-8:30 PM
At the home of Randi McGinn
2105 Campbell Rd N.W. , Albuquerque
UPDATE: This event has outgrown the private home and has been moved to:
Slate Street Cafe
515 Slate St. NW
Albuquerque NM 87102
Phone 243-2210
Free munchies and cash bar
Please RSVP to koobjulie@yahoo.com 505.920.6002
A $50 Contribution is requested for Training Scholarships

Check out their new website at https://www.emergenm.org/.

Madrid to Give National Dem Radio Address Saturday Morning

UPDATE: New Mexico Matters has an excellent report by guest blogger Suzanne Prescott  on Thursday's press conference by Patricia Madrid on ways to make the Medicare Drug Program work. Well worth a read.

From Madrid for Congress:
New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid – as a sign of the strength of her campaign to unseat Rep. Heather Wilson – on Saturday will be the first Democratic challenger of the 2006 cycle to give the national Democratic Radio Address when she speaks to a national audience about the failed Medicare prescription drug legislation and the failing policies of the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress. Madrid's radio address can be heard locally on KKOB-770 AM at 9:06 AM MST on Saturday, February 18.

Show Me the Money

A renewed effort is being made by SCC members to obtain  clear and credible financial information from the Democratic Party of New Mexico. Recent discussions at local blog New Mexico Matters, as well as previous posts here, describe what has become an ongoing battle to get the Party to follow its own rules regarding financial reporting, and to reclaim the financial oversight powers of the SCC that are stipulated in Party rules.

The following letter was hand-delivered to State Party headquarters today by William J. Kass, Ph.D., and emailed to State Party Chair John Wertheim along with a request for financial information signed by five members of the DPNM State Central Committee. I think the letter speaks for itself:

John Wertheim, Chair
Democratic Party of New Mexico
1301 San Pedro NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110

Dear Mr. Wertheim,

My major reason for becoming involved in Democratic Party politics in New Mexico is to increase the grassroots involvement in the party.  I am trying to accomplish this from the position of a ward chair and SCC member.  We, the ward, precinct and SCC members and officers need help from DPNM. I would like support in the form of a budgeted statewide DPNM plan to educate, train
and promote precinct and ward organizing.

I believe the place to start this effort is to look at the budget of the DPNM.  Based on limited information I have been able to obtain regarding how the DPNM budget is generated and distributed, I believe major changes to this process are necessary if long term changes to the party are to be made. My goal is see the DPNM provide a sufficiently detailed budget to be used as a planning document for all DPNM activities and that includes a specific allocation for precinct and ward organizing.   

I would like to review the history of steps that I have taken to arrive at the conclusion that major changes to the budget process are necessary.

I made a request for budget information at the November SCC meeting.  The response from the Chair was that this was available at DPNM headquarters in the form of treasurer reports and FEC
submissions.

I visited Tara Geise, compliance officer, at DPNM headquarters in November to look at DPNM financial information.  I requested to see the Buckman contract.  The contract could not be found.  I inquired how the DPNM budget was produced.  Tara Geise responded that she reviewed previous years expenditures and estimated expenditures for the next year based on that.  She informed me that this review consisted of going through various sub-accounts within the bookkeeping system (Quick Books) and pulling out the appropriate items.  A review of the filings to the FEC was made and a sample FEC report was shown to me.

I spent several hours reviewing FEC reports on the web at home.  These reports are detailed in the same way a personal checkbook register is detailed.  They do not provide any overview of the budget and are not suitable for planning. 

I had an hour long telephone conversation with you regarding the requests for more budget information, especially an opportunity to examine the Buckman contract.  The result of that conversation was that you recommended I become educated by reviewing DNC and GAIN training manuals I could obtain from Matt Farrauto at DPNM.  Over the course of the next week I picked up these training manuals and reviewed them looking for budget information.  The importance of creating a budget is mentioned but, of course, there is actually not any budget information in
them. 

I also was given and reviewed a document called "Party Building 2005-2006, A nuts and Bolts Guide for Party Leaders and Activists".  This document contains a forward by you emphasizing the need for grassroots and community organizing.  It also contains a section describing a two year budget process that starts with planning activities before developing the budget that funds them. 

At a Ward 25A meeting attended by Democratic Party field organizers I was given a copy of the 2004 NM Coordinated Campaign Plan.  The appendix dealing with budget was missing.  The purpose of this history is to show that the current budget process does not meet minimum standards for transparency and suggests that little long-range planning has been initiated while creating this budget. In other words, we don't have a budget we have a collection of financial records that only serve to obfuscate the goals of the DPNM. 

DPNM rule 5.6 B requires that the DPNM treasurer

'keep full and accurate accounts of all receipts and expenditures subject to the supervision and control of the State Chairperson and make such accounts available for examination by all registered Democrats in the state by request of five (5) members of the State Central committee.'

I am hereby making that request by way of an attached copy of a letter signed by five SCC members.  I construe the meaning of 'all receipts and expenditures' to include contracts that result in expenditures. Therefore, I again renew the request to examine the original Buckman contract.

Although the rules do not require an explanation for requests such as this, I will offer the explanation that seeing the Buckman contract is important for budget transparency.  Budget transparency is important to maintain credibility with party members when fundraising - especially among grassroots Democrats. 

In summary, I request that you instruct the DPNM treasurer to furnish for examination accounts of receipts and expenditures (including the Buckman contract) at DPNM headquarters before the end of February 2006.  I further request that I be notified when these records will be available for
my and other registered Democrats examination. 

Sincerely,
William J. Kass, Ph.D.
Ward Chair 25A
Member, State Central Committee
5114 Royene Ave NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110