Democracy for New Mexico

Gov. Richardson Urges NM Legislature to Pass Medical Marijuana Bill

Excellent news. According to an Albuquerque Journal article, Gov. Bill Richardson has announced his continuing support for NM Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino's medical marijuana bill, SB 238. Excerpts:

Gov. Bill Richardson today urged this year's Legislature to pass Senate Bill 238, a medical marijuana bill titled the "Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act" named in honor of the late Lynn Pierson, who advocated marijuana use while suffering from cancer, and Erin Armstrong, who has been suffering from cancer since being diagnosed as a teen-ager eight years ago.

... "I continue to support a medical marijuana bill that includes proper safeguards to prevent abuse," Richardson said in a news release. "I will work with legislators to get it passed this session to provide this option for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases."

... A similar bill passed the state Senate in last year's session by a 34-6 vote, with 12 Republicans joining 22 Democrats in voting for passage, but the bill died after reaching the House floor in the closing hours of the 2006 session, the Journal has reported.

For more information on this bill and how you can help support it, read our previous post. Having passed both the NM Senate Public Affairs Commitee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill is headed for a vote by the full Senate, probably this Thursday, February 8, 2007.

2007 APS Board Election Results

Yesterday's Albuquerque Public School Board election results as reported in this Albuquerque Tribune article:

District 1, South Valley:
Dolores Griego 698
Richard Ray Sanchez 493
Cecilia M. C De Baca 319

District 2, West Side:
Robert Lucero 1,418
Cynthia L. Jones 1,020

District 4, Downtown, Mid-Heights:
Marty Esquivel 1,639
John B. Edward 1,156
Pauline Nuñez 900
Vanessa Alarid 384
Charles MacQuigg 149

The $157 million mil levy for school improvements passed with 60% of the vote.

Keep the Spirit: Video of 2/27/07 Antiwar March in DC

From Thomas at local blog Bring Da Noise:
I had the great privilege of traveling to DC the weekend of January 27th for the HUGE anti-war march at the National Mall! I met some cool people, took some great photos, and collected some amazing footage. Check out the original short film I created with all this footage at BringDaNoise.com ! It's about 20 minutes long and if it doesn't start playing right away, press play. I posted some pictures on the front page too! Check it out!!

Moving Along: NM Sen. Feldman's Bill to Open Legislative Conference Committees

Senate Bill 288, introduced by Senator Dede Feldman (D-Bernalillo-13), and that would require that legislative conference committees be open to the public, cleared the Senate Rules Committee Monday on a vote of 4-2. Voting against the bill were Steve Komadina (R-Sandoval) and (surprisingly) Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) The measure now moves to the Senate Public Affairs Committee (click to get contact info for members).

Senate Bill 288 amends Section 10-15-2 of the state’s Open Meetings Act to make meetings of conference committees as well as standing committees of the Legislature open meetings that are subject to the requirements of the Act. The language of Senator Feldman’s proposed measure would also eliminate the current exemption for “any bill, resolution or other legislative matter not yet presented to either house of the legislature or general appropriation bills.”

“This is about having a fully public legislative process,” said Senator Feldman. At least 40 of our states have open conference committees and there is no reason why we shouldn’t as well. There’s no reason to hide the ball when it comes to having the House and Senate work to come to agreement on proposed legislation.” The proposed legislation is supported by the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

Iraq Quote of the Day: 363 Tons of Cash Goes Missing

"Over $4 billion in cash, which came from Iraqi oil exports and other sources, was sent by the Federal Reserve to Baghdad on pallets aboard U.S. military planes just before government control was given back to the Iraqis, Reuters says. The bills reportedly weighed hundreds of tons.

"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone? But that's exactly what our government did," Waxman said, according to Reuters." -- Raw Story

NM Dem Senate Caucus Leader Introduces Another DOMA

Two so-called Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMA) have already been stopped in the NM Legislature this year on the House side. Now we have to contend with another version on the Senate side, introduced by Sen. Lideo Rainaldi (D-Gallup), pictured right, who calls himself a Democrat. In fact, he holds the leadership position of Majority Caucus Chair. I find it especially galling that a Democratic leader would introduce such an unfair, anti-democratic bill. How about you? Here's what Equality NM had to say:

From Equality NM: DOMA NUMBER THREE
On Friday, Senator Lidio Rainaldi (D-Gallup-4), pictured left, introduced the third DOMA of the Legislative Session, Senate Bill 816. This legislation mirrors the previously introduced House Bill 395 and seeks to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman and deny recognition of valid marriages performed between same-sex couples in other jurisdictions.

The Senate DOMA will be much harder to kill. The Bill must go through Senate Judiciary, which is the Committee on which Senator Rainaldi currently sits. We are once again facing a vicious and hate filled public hearing on the Senate Floor. EQNM will continue to provide updates as this legislation is scheduled for public hearing.

The Attacks Continue! Help Us Stop Them By Donating Now To Equality New Mexico's Lobbying Efforts! Also, EQNM has a new Legistration Tracker that makes it much easier to follow bills of interest to the civil liberties and GLBT community and everyone who cares about equality under the law for all Americans. (End of EQNM alert.)

Note that our Democratic Senate Leadership assigned Rainaldi's DOMA bill to only two committees, unlike Sen. Ortiz y Pino's NM impeachment bill, for instance, that was assigned to be heard in three committee, which generally means the bill will have a hard time. What are NM Senate Democrats like Michael Sanchez, who has much to say about committee assignments, thinking?

Sadly, Sen. Rainaldi has consistently supported discriminatory legislation that would prevent all of our citizens from being treated equally under civil law and has voted with conservative Republicans against bills that would help minorities achieve equality here. See this post from the 2005 legislative session.

As most thoughtful people realize, religious beliefs are one thing, and are protected by our Constitution. Expecting civil laws to enforce particular religious beliefs, however, is misguided at best and mean-spirited and unconstitutional at worst. Let's hope that potential Democratic supporters of Rainaldi's bill can be respectfully persuaded with logic and real-life stories to see the difference.

And with Gov. Richardson running for president, let's hope he steps up and clearly denounces legislation like Rainaldi's aimed solely at stirring the pot and making headlines for the sponsors in areas where GLBT rights are often misunderstood or outright mocked.

Tell the NM Senate to Vote For Compassion on Medical Marijuana

From the Drug Policy Alliance Action Center:
Medical marijuana legislation is headed to the New Mexico Senate floor this week after passing the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7 to 3 on Monday evening! This is the final push to get SB 238, the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, through the Senate and into the House for final committee hearings and the House floor vote.

This is the year to finally help patients access the medicine they so desperately need! Please call your Senator by Thursday and encourage them to support SB 238 during the floor vote.

You'll want to call your Senator's Capitol office phone number, which can be found at the NM State Legislature website. If you don't know your Senator's name, just enter your zip code plus four. Click here to find your zip plus four-digit code.

Tips on Making a Call: Most legislators' staff answer their phones during the session and log all of the messages. The call only takes a minute. The call to your Senator will take little time but make a huge impact.

• Be courteous, positive, and brief.
• Identify yourself and mention that you are a constituent.
• Ask the legislator to vote yes for SB 238 on the Senate floor.
• Feel free to briefly tell them why you personally support the bill.

In Brief: The Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act would allow qualified patients suffering from certain serious illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and epilepsy to use marijuana for relief from their symptoms. Feel free to refer to our or before you call.

Thanks so much for calling - and please feel free to forward this information to other individuals and email lists that might be interested. The more voices that speak up for these bills, the more likely they will become law. If you have any questions please call us at (505) 983-3277.

Reena Szczepanski
Drug Policy Alliance Network
www.improveNewMexico.org

Learn More About the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act: The Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act would allow qualified patients suffering from certain serious illnesses - such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and epilepsy - to use marijuana for relief of their symptoms. The law would require a patient to receive a recommendation for cannabis (i.e., medical marijuana) from his/her medical provider. The patient could then apply to participate in the program through the Department of Health, and an independent review board of doctors would consider each application.

Upon approval by the board, the patient would receive a registry identification card from the New Mexico Department of Health, certifying that he/she was a participant in the Lynn and Erin program. By registering in this way, the patient and the patient's primary caregiver would be allowed to possess only enough cannabis to treat the patient. Only providers who already can prescribe controlled substances could recommend patients for the program. The Department of Health will develop regulations for licensed producers within the state, identifying standards for safety, security, and distribution.

The new law would not allow medical marijuana use in public, and would penalize lying to a law enforcement officer regarding the medical use of marijuana. The Department of Health would keep a registry of participants so that law enforcement officers could confirm the validity of a patient's registration card. Patients under 18 years old could only participate with parental consent.

First Hearing Friday 2/9/07 on NM Impeachment Bill: What You Can Do

UPDATE: The February 9th Senate Rules Committee hearing on this bill has been POSTPONED! The hearing has been reset for Friday, February 16th. Click here for more information.

From Desi Brown and State Sen. Ortiz y Pino’s office:
As many of you know, the first hearing on New Mexico’s attempt to call for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney will be this Friday, February 9th at 9 AM in the Senate Rules Committee, Room 321. I volunteer for Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino and have been asked to write a summary of what we would like for local activists and interested parties to do in the coming days both before and after this hearing.

-- This is our chance to legitimately affect national policy, and it could hinge on as little as a couple of votes in a couple of committees. Every individual, group, organization, etc who is in support of this bill needs to work their tail off doing the below listed things for the next few weeks. NOW is the time, this is YOUR chance!

-- Help us make this bill a reality! Think of it this way – we could be the heroes of several BILLION people from around the world if we are successful!

First – It is important to understand that a large number of well respected elected officials are really laying their careers on the line in supporting this resolution, therefore it is the least that we can do as activists to support them in a way that will reflect favorably on them and for passage of this bill. This means that our actions in public will be viewed as an extension of people such as Senators Ortiz y Pino or Grubesic. Please be respectful, don’t use rhetoric, and present yourselves as respectable citizens when discussing this issue with other legislators, the media, and the public.

Prior to the first hearing: There are a small handful of Senators who need to be targeted. These include:

• Senator Ben Altamirano (Rules Committee)
• Senators Mary K. Papen & David Ulibarri (Public Affairs Committee)
• Senators Richard Martinez, Lidio Rainaldi, & Michael Sanchez (Judiciary Committee)

E-mail them, stop by their offices, call them, talk to them and their staff. They are all uncommitted to supporting this bill as of now.  All other Democrats in these committees have signaled their intention to support the resolution. PLEASE BE POLITE AND TO THE POINT.

At the first hearing (and others): We will try to have information and possibly a meeting room available prior to the start of this meeting in order to make sure everyone is on the same page and sending a unified message to the committee. It is very important for us to have a significant physical presence for this bill – the more the merrier – and we want you to stand and speak if given the opportunity. If you do speak, keep it short, succinct, articulate and on topic. Pick a couple of points at most from those listed below. Remember, the less you talk, the more additional people have a chance to voice their opinion as well.

CAUTIONARY NOTE: It is also important that we all honor the legislative process and stay focused on the wording of the bill (SJR 05 – Available on the NM Legislature website ) and the reasons why these senators are discussing this bill. If members of the crowd are unruly, stray from the message of the resolution, or are in some other way distracting from the message of the bill – it may NOT pass!

As much as we all (myself included!) would like to wear inflammatory t-shirts, shout slogans, and talk about the atrocities that have occurred as a result of these two people’s actions – we must not do that in the Roundhouse. Tentative support that we may gain from the above uncommitted Senators can be lost as a result of just one person’s failure to adhere to these requests!

However, there is still a lot you can do:

• Read the resolution (SJR05). Really learn what it says, repeat this info to everyone you know.
• Memorize and practice the main issues that we have listed out below. 
• Also, there are a number of websites with info regarding impeachment. We encourage you to stay away from the ones with a lot of conspiracy/etc info. It seems that the ones with the most relevant (to us) information are:

1. www.impeachbush.tv – great talking points for our bill! (see links below)
2. www.impeachpac.org
3. www.impeachforpeace.org

• Write letters to the editor (for ALL of the papers, all over the state) all this coming week (and next week, and the week after, and the week after that!).
• Call in to radio shows (KUNM, KKOB, others and show your support). I especially encourage you to call in to KKOB – it is the most listened to station in the state, and despite its conservative leanings – you can still voice your opinion!(Please follow the same advice as that listed above for committee hearings!)
• Encourage the local TV stations to cover the issue on their newscasts.
• Organize your own local town-hall style meetings, invite qualified speakers to talk about the issue of impeachment – Invite the media!
• Contact additional legislators both in the NM State House and Senate (Republicans too!). Engage their hired help and volunteers in good conversations, this is often a great way to influence decisions.
• Spread information outside of your regular group of friends – We need support from all over the state, not just Albuquerque & Santa Fe.

What to talk or write about:

• The issue of impeachment has become a state’s problem due to a lack of action on the part of our federal government in investigating allegations that have been made against our president and vice president.
• California, Illinois, Minnesota, and Vermont all considered similar impeachment resolutions in 2006.  New Mexico is the first of several states to introduce legislation this year.
• The US Constitution and Sect. 603 of the House Rules allow for any state to ask for impeachment proceedings.
• This is about requesting the federal government to look into impeachable offences; this is not about putting them on ‘trial’ here in NM.
• The NM Democratic Party voted to call for the impeachment of George Bush on March 18th, 2006 at their annual convention. Out of 1,200 delegates, an estimated 80% voted for this resolution to be added to the state party platform.
• It only takes one US Congressman or Senator to bring this resolution to the forefront of Congress.  We believe there are potentially dozens of them who may be willing to do this (in 2006, over 30 US Congressmen signed a petition calling for impeachment).  Also, Republican Congressman Ron Paul has called for impeachment as well. As soon as we can confirm a name, we will let you know.
• Additional Talking Points and Rebuttals for arguments against impeachment can be found at:

1. Points city - (Substitute the word ‘state’ for ‘city’)
2. Points poliitical issues - Political Issues
3. Points general - Impeachable Offenses

These are all handy to have when talking to others! Copy them and use them, they are well written!

If any of you have additional ideas or comments regarding trying to get the activist community more involved in this issue, please contact me directly or contact Senator Ortiz y Pino’s office at (505) 986-4380.

Thanks for your interest and support!
Desi Brown, (505)256-0668
desibrown@comcast.net

Comprehensive NM Ethics Reform Legislation Introduced

From the NM House Democratic Leadership:
Santa Fe, NM – House Democrats joined their Republican colleagues last week in introducing a bipartisan ethics and campaign finance reform package. The package includes:

HB 818 – Public Financing of Statewide Campaigns introduced by Speaker Ben Lujan (D-Nambe)

HB 819 – Gift Act by Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque)

HB 820 – Legislative Campaign Funds for Office Duties introduced by Rep. Ken Martinez, House Majority Leader (D-Grants)

HB 821 – Campaign Reporting Requirements introduced by Rep. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque)

HB 822 – State Ethics Commission Act introduced by Rep. Mary Helen Garcia (D-Las Cruces)

HB 823 – Prohibit Certain Acts by Public Officers introduced by Rep. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces)

HJR 6 - Distribution for Legislative Expenses, CA introduced by Rep. Ken Martinez

Speaker of the House Ben Lujan said, “Maintaining the public trust and the integrity of our democratic process is important to all of us. We are working with the recommendations provided by the Governor’s Task Force and we intend to move forward with these initiatives on ethics and campaign reform.”

Rep. Martinez said, “These bills represent a tremendous amount of work by the Governor’s Ethics Task Force. This is a comprehensive package and we have a good opportunity to pass most of these bills this year.”

Rep. Cervantes said, “These bills will eliminate a pay-to-play approach to government. This is an area where New Mexico can lead the nation by adopting these reforms. They will provide citizens with the greatest assurance of ethical standards from state leaders and state officials.”

Rep. Chasey said, “We appreciate the work of the Ethics Task Force. These bills give us the opportunity to provide greater transparency in government.”

Rep. Stewart said, “I want to commend the task force on the broad view they took on ethics reform in New Mexico. We will work hard as a legislative body to pass these reforms.”

Rep. Garcia said, “New Mexico is one of the 10 states that haven’t instituted a state’s ethics commission. It’s well overdue to resolve some of the ethical problems the state has encountered.’

Rep. Eric Youngberg (R-Albuquerqe) said, “While I worked on the subcommittee that dealt with the possible impeachment of (former State Treasurer Robert) Vigil, it became clear that New Mexico was ripe for ethical reform. I am looking forward to this bipartisan effort to ensure that integrity in government is upheld.”

Rep. Kathy McCoy (R-Cedar Crest) said, “We strongly support transparency and accountability in government and quick disclosure of campaign contributions. As a member of the Governor’s Ethics Task Force, I know that the public is desperate to see public officials conduct business ethically. Our citizens deserve nothing less. Recent scandals in state agencies reflect on all of us and the public deserves lawmakers they can trust.”

Editor's Note: The website of Common Cause NM is a good place for information on the NM ethics reform package and ways you can support the effort. As the legislative session progresses they'll be issuing email alerts about this legislation. You can sign up at their website. For more on the introduction of the reform package, see this article by Steve Terrell at the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Feingold to Senate Dems: Stop the Weakness

Sen. Russ Feingold had this to say (and more) on "Countdown" last night about getting the Senate to take real action on Iraq:

"This requires public pressure. It requires people to let their elected officials know that not only do they want a debate, but they want action. They don't want just non-binding resolutions that say -- hey, we don't want to have more troops -- we want a resolution, we want legislation that says that here's a time frame during which this war needs to end -- lets' say six months from the enactment of the bill -- and that the Congress is going to cut off the funding for the war.... [Senators] want to sort of say they're against the war, but they don't want to take the steps to end the war."

Go watch the rest of his interview at Crooks and Liars. Sen. Feingold also had a conference call with national bloggers last night that pinned much of the blame for Dem foot-dragging on Iraq action on one of our favorite party elements -- the decrepit and despised DLC of Clintonista fame. Down With Tyranny discusses Feingold's call. Quote:

... it isn't only Republicans and right-wing Democrats like Ben Nelson dragging their feet on this. In fact, Russ told us the Inside-the-Beltway consultants (the old Clinton crowd) supported this war and know now they made a mistake of great historical proportions. They "don't want to come out of this with egg on their faces" and "they are setting the parameters of the debate"-- and Democratic senators are still listening to them ... "They want their cake and to eat it too since they voted for the war."

Down With Tyranny also provides a transcript of Feingold's opening remarks on the phone call. Excerpt:

...You know I went out again this weekend, in the very cold Wisconsin weather, just as I did in the previous two weekends, and I went to some of the most rural, Republican towns in the state and held town meetings. And you know this attitude about what should be done in Iraq is a consensus ... everywhere but in Washington. People do not want us to just slow walk this, they don’t want us to just worry about the escalation, they want us to get out of Iraq.

... [Regarding the Warner-Levin resolution], we should not sign onto something that in my view, looks almost like a reauthorization of what’s going on right now. It is incredibly weak, even dangerous, and I think reminds me more of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution than it does of a resolution that really gets us out of the situation.

David Sirota has an audio clip of his exchange with Feingold on the call that deals with the DLC-fueled inaction that stands in the way of real action. He suggests

You know what I'm going to say next. Please contact your Senators and other elected officials to urge their support of Sen. Feingold's Iraq Redeployment Act of 2007, which would use the power of the purse Congress is granted by the Constitution to redeploy most U.S. troops out of Iraq within six months.

I agree with Feingold that unless we keep up a CONSTANT BARRAGE of emails, calls and faxes to our elected officials, they'll continue to take the road of least resistance and refuse to take decisive action to get our troops out of the many-sided civil war in Iraq. You know what to do. Again. And again. And again. You can also participate in Act for Change's latest call for action. If we don't do it, who will?