Democracy for New Mexico

Sen. Ortiz y Pino and DFNM on Today's Insight NM Radio Show

Montage with last week's guests on Insight New Mexico.

Be sure to tune in Insight New Mexico's weekly political show on Albuquerque's Progressive Talk Radio 1350 AM today from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. Eric Griego and sidekick producer Suzanne Prescott will be interviewing one of our local Dem heroes -- NM Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino -- who has sponsored the NM impeachment bill, the medical marijuana bill, the working families tax credit and many other progressive measures, as well as Eric Mack, head producer for the NM News Service. Eric will also be talking with some APS and CNM board candidates in the February 6th election in Albuquerque.

I'm also excited to report that we (Barbara Wold and Mary Ellen Broderick) will be featured on the show's blogger segment today representing Democracy for New Mexico. Wish us luck - we're definitely new to radio interviews!

To learn more about Insight New Mexico and today's guests, download podcasts from previous shows, stay current with guests on upcoming shows, or join the discussion, visit their website and blog at .

Listeners are encouraged to phone in questions during the show by calling 338-4090.

If we want progressive talk radio to continue in Albuquerque, now's the time to show your support by tuning in and spreading the word to your friends, neighbors and colleagues.

P.S. Eric Griego is now a regular columnist at the Albuquerque Tribune. Check out his column.

Join The League's Rally for Clean Elections: Sign Up for Feb. 9 Bus to Santa Fe

From The League of Young Voters, Albuquerque:
Are you sick of dirty money in politics?  Are you tired of corporations dictating YOUR life? And most importantly, are you down with the LEAGUE?? If you answered "YES" to any (and hopefully all) of the questions above, why not join the League's Clean Election Campaign, and help us KEEP dirty money OUT of politics! Public Financing will:

• Reduce corruption and the influence of Big Industry and Corporate lobbying.
• Allow qualified leaders to run, who due to financial reasons may not have been able to before.
• Give the power back to voters by increasing their choices and reducing negative campaigning due to spending limits.

Your Legislators will be voting on this issue soon, its up to us to tell them what the people want.

Heres How You Can Help:

• Come up to Santa Fe for our League Clean Election Rally on February 9th.
• Help us get the word out about Clean Elections by volunteering with the League.
• Write letters to your local paper supporting Public Financed campaigns.

Give us a call and let us know how you can help. You can also signup for our bus to Santa Fe by clicking here.  You can also make your self heard immediately by sending your Senator a message to support Clean Elections.

To subscribe to The League's mailing list, go to: https://indyvoter.org/join.

SB 499 Would Create NM Office of Peace

From the NM Department of Peace Initiative:
Last week Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque introduced SB 499, Office of Peace Act in the 2007 NM Legislature. The Office of Peace bill passed on the House Floor 37-22 during the 2005 session, but the Senate Public Affairs Committee tabled the bill. This session we just have the Senate bill. SB 499 has been assigned to the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Cisco McSorley remains a strong co-sponsor.

Please contact your legislators, especially your senators at this time, if you haven't already done so. Urge them to support SB 499, the NM Office of Peace bill. The general phone number for the Capitol is 505-986-4300. Also, please contact the members of the Senate Public Affairs Committee (see below) where SB 499 will soon be on the agenda for a hearing. It could be next week.

May Peace Prevail in NM!

Virginia J. Miller, Legislative Coordinator
NM Department of Peace Initiative, Santa Fe
505-986-8676

SENATE PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (Click for email contacts)
Meets Tues. and Thurs. 2:30 PM or 1/2 hr after session Room - 321

Committee Member Phone Numbers:
Dede Feldman - Chair (D) 505-986-4482
Mary Jane M. Garcia - Vice Chair (D) 986-4726
Steve Komadina - Ranking Member (R) 986-4377
Stuart Ingle - (R) 986-4702
Gay G. Kernan - (R) 986-4274
Steven P. Neville - (R) 986-4266
Gerald Ortiz y Pino - (D) 986-4380
Mary Kay Papen - (D) 986-4270
David Ulibarri - (D) 986-4265

Visit the official website of the New Mexico Legislature at https://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/default.asp for frequently updated information about bills, committee hearings, etc.

Both NM House DOMA Bills Stopped in Committee

You know I'm celebrating this one! As reported by Steve Terrell in the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Same-sex marriage isn’t legal in New Mexico, but a House Committee on Thursday halted attempts to carve in stone a state ban on gay marriages. On party-line votes, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted to table two measures that targeted gay marriage. The actions effectively killed the bills for this session of the Legislature.

House Joint Resolution 2, sponsored by Rep. Gloria Vaughn, R-Alamogordo, would have let state voters decide whether to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

House Bill 395, sponsored by Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, would have put that definition of marriage in state statute.

I suggest we thank the Democratic members of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee for voting to keep discrimination of this type out of NM law and our Constitution!

A big shout-out goes to Dem Reps. Gail Chasey, Irvin Harrison, Antonio "Moe" Maestas and Al Park!

ACTION ALERT: Help Stop Damaging NM "Terrorism" Measure

Guest Blog from Anne Kass:
Everyone who is protective of civil liberties should be very concerned about the implications of HB 653, Prohibit Terrorism. Please contact NM Rep. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces), who is sponsoring this "bill opposing terrorism" (Office 986-4248, Home 532-1145, email jeff.steinborn@nmlegis.gov), as well as Attorney General Gary King and FAIR BlogGov. Bill Richardson, both of whom are also supporting it according to an Albuquerque Journal article, and express your opposition to the bill's misguided focus.

According to the Journal, the bill makes it a felony to commit an act of terrorism. No problem there. However, the bill goes on to define terrorism to include any act or threat of violence intended to, "intimidate or coerce a civilian population" or government and causing more than $20,000 in property damage. We must convince Rep. Steinborn to remove all references to property damage, in general, and any specific dollar figure, in particular. Including property damage in the definition of terrorism is an arrow at the heart of civil protest. It is a corporate sponsored undertaking which corporations already got through the Federal Congress.

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has announced plans to oppose the bill:

"This is an unfortunate attempt to re-create the Patriot Act in New Mexico," said Peter Simonson, referring to federal law passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "What this law would do is create an overly broad definition of terrorism that could easily be used to criminalize acts of civil disobedience and even non-violent protests."

He specifically pointed to language that would allow prosecution for a "threat of violence" that reasonably could be considered dangerous. That threshold could prevent protests similar to anti-World Trade Organization protests that occurred in Seattle in 1999, when protesters tore down barricades.

Let me tell you how the federal law works.

A few months ago I watched a news report about a group of animal rights activists who had seen actual video footage of horrible animal abuse being inflicted upon laboratory dogs by the employees of an animal research laboratory. The lab technicians shook beagles until their necks snapped and threw them to the floor for resisting whatever experimental protocol was being inflicted on them. It motivated people to organize to picket the accounting firm that did the laboratory's books. Apparently research had shown that the accounting firm might be sympathetic to abused animals.

It was a peaceful protest, and it worked. The accounting firm quit doing the laboratory's books. The laboratory then persuaded a Republican U.S. Attorney to charge the protestors with terrorism because they had intimidated or coerced (picketed) a civilian population (the accounting firm) and caused more than $10,000 worth of INTELLECTUAL property damage. (The laboratory claimed it cost them more than $10,000 to find and educate a replacement accounting firm, and $10,000 is the specific figure in the federal law.)

The protestors were convicted. I watched one young man interviewed just as he was about to begin his three year federal prison sentence.

I'm not making this up.

What Needs to be Done
Not only must Representative Steinborn remove the property damage language from his bill, but he should insert language that expressly excludes at least "intellectual property damage," expressly states that the bill isn't aimed at the economic damage that may result from peaceful protest (for example boycotting a product) and that further expressly protects peaceful protest in all its forms.

This is important. Please contact your own Representative and Senator as well, and stay on top of them until you get a commitment that in New Mexico corporations do not control ALL of our legislature. The bill will be heard first by the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, followed by the House Judiciary Committee.

Clearly, under current state law, acts of violence are already criminal offenses, as is vandalism. This bill may in fact need to be defeated, not just modified. Its intent is to impose far greater penalties on political activists than it would impose on others guilty of similar offenses.

Editor's Note: This is a Guest Blog by Anne Kass. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a Guest Blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of this page.

Domestic Partnership Heath Care Bill Advances

ACTION ALERT: Please contact your NM Representative to support this bill. You can find your representative here. See our previous post on this bill for more information.

From the NM Democratic Majority House Leadership:
A bill that allows health care coverage for domestic partners will be heading to the House floor for a vote. HB 15 sponsored by Rep. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) received a do pass recommendation from the House Heath and Government Affairs Committee with a 7 to 1 vote.

“This bill gives employers the option of providing health care coverage to employees in a domestic partnership relationship. The bill does not mandate that employers provide coverage, but it does require insurance companies to do so if the business chooses to offer the coverage,” said Rep. Wirth.

Domestic partners are defined as unmarried partners over 18 years of age who are in a mutually exclusive, committed relationship and have shared a primary residence for at least 12 consecutive months. The partners must also be responsible for the common welfare of each other and share financial obligations.

For more information:
Kathleen MacRae, Media Relations
House Majority Office of Ken Martinez
Room 209, 986-4781
Primary contact: cell 505-681-3920

Last Day for Early Voting in APS Board Election

This is the last day for early in-person for the Albuquerque Public Schools board election. The election is set for February 6, 2007 with consolidated polling places around the city. Today you can voted at any of the four early voting locations in Albuquerque that will be open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM:

Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office
6th Floor, Room 6011
One Civic Plaza

APS City Centre
6400 Uptown Blvd NE

Plaza Ladera
5300 Sequoia NW Suite G

Paradise Hills Community Center
5901 Paradise Blvd NW
Note: Early Voting is in the West Annex building

Today is also the last day to request an absentee ballot and all such completed ballots must be received at the Bernalillo County Clerk's office by 7:00 PM Tuesday.

If you have any questions you can call the office of the Bernalillo County Clerk at 468-1290 or email them at clerk@bernco.gov.

Check our previous post for more information on the election and the candidates. To determine which APS district you reside in, click here and enter your address.

The Albuquerque Tribune online has video interviews with board candidates.

Feingold, Dodd Oppose Watered Down Warner-Levin Iraq Resolution

Read what Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) posted in his diary on Daily Kos. Excerpt:

When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took up the Biden-Hagel resolution opposing the President’s troop escalation proposal last week, I supported it as a first step toward ending our involvement in this war.  That resolution didn’t go nearly far enough – it was nonbinding and just focused on the escalation – but putting the Senate on record against the "surge" was a small step in the right direction. 

Unfortunately, the new Warne-Levin resolution that many Democrats are pushing is flawed and unacceptable.  It rejects the surge, but it also misunderstands the situation in Iraq and endorses the President’s underlying approach.  It’s basically a back-door authorization of the President’s misguided policies, and passing it would be a big mistake.  Under the guise of constructive criticism, the Warner-Levin resolution signs off on  the President continuing indefinite military operations in Iraq that will not address the fundamental political challenges in Iraq, and that continue to distract us from developing a comprehensive and global approach to the threats that face our nation.

Could there be anything less helpful than a watered down version of a NON-BINDING Senate resolution? So far, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has joined with Feingold in opposition to this silly compromise. According to a VOA News story:

Senator Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, argues that the resolution does not go far enough, because it does not call for the start of a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq nor does it allow for congress to withhold funds for military mission.

"The legislation that my good friends John Warner and Carl Levin and others have reached a compromise on last evening is with all due respect essentially an endorsement of the status quo," he explained.  "For that reason, I cannot support it."

Here's Feingold's legislation, which proposes some real action to stop this bloody fiasco. I'm sure you can guess how many hollow Dems will step up, straighten their spines and support it.

More on Feingold's thinking. And his video explaining his bill:

According to a U.S. News and World Report article:

The AP reports Sens. Carl Levin and John Warner, the Chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, have "joined forces...agreeing on a nonbinding resolution that would oppose the plan and potentially embarrass the White House." Warner and Levin "had been sponsoring competing measures opposing Bush's strategy of sending 21,500 more US troops to the war zone, with Warner's less harshly worded version attracting more Republican interest." The new resolution "would vow to protect funding for troops while keeping Warner's original language expressing the Senate's opposition to the buildup." The Washington Post also notes in a front page story that the resolution "does not include the Democratic language saying the Bush plan is against the national interest, but it also drops an earlier provision by Warner suggesting Senate support for some additional troops."

The Los Angeles Times, in a story titled "Senate Closer To Rebuke For Troop Increase," reports Majority Leader Harry Reid "said there was 'near unanimity' among Democrats" on backing the new measure, and "acknowledged that an alternative resolution sponsored by Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)...could not garner the GOP support to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a promised Republican filibuster." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also last night, indicated the House would move toward passage of a resolution based on the Warner compromise language.

Oh yeah, I imagine BushCo will change course immediately when this toothless excuse for Congressional oversight most likely passes next week. You know how that bunch reacts to "embarrassment." If embarrassment and/or shame worked on Bush et al., we might still have a functioning constitution and Congress, and we'd never have invaded Iraq in the first place. You have to hand it to Pelosi, Reid and the other lemmings. They bite every time on that Repub bait, nothing if not paragons of consistency.

Stop Corporate Welfare and Government Secrecy in New Mexico

From Sue Dayton:
On January 27, 2007, the Albuquerque Journal published a front-page article, “Sandia’s Manager Receives Bonus: Lockheed Earns a Contract Extension and $7.7 Million.” The article reported on Lockheed Martin’s “outstanding management” of Sandia National Laboratories. Lockheed’s management was so outstanding that Lockheed executives got $7.7 million in bonuses on top of its $16.6 million “fixed fee” for running the nuclear weapons lab! To add insult to injury the so-called “report card” with the information about Sandia’s performance and the executive bonuses is being withheld from the public. Along with the article the Journal published an editorial calling for the release of Sandia’s “report card” titled, “Let Taxpayers in On Sandia’s Open Secret.”

American taxpayers - and especially New Mexicans - should be OUTRAGED! Why?

• It’s called corporate government welfare. Taxpayers’ hard-earned money should not be used to pay the bonuses of Lockheed executives for doing what they should be doing.
• Sandia National Laboratories and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the sub-autonomous agency of the U.S. Department of Energy now in charge of the nation’s nuclear weapons labs, is creating its own system of classifying documents that should be made public.
• The “classified report card” on Sandia’s performance reeks of government cover-up under a closed-door policy instead of the new open-door policy of government that the House has now pledged to implement. The NNSA’s authority to designate public documents “for official use only” is out of control and the NNSA should be removed from running the labs altogether.
• Sandia’s “classified report card” needs to be released in its entirety. Not 50%, not 75%, not 95%, but in its entirety.

The new House Democratic leadership has pledged to “clean up Washington” by creating an honest government and open leadership policy. Your representatives need to hear from you now. It’s time to tell them that corporate welfare is not the responsibility of American taxpayers and government reports that are not classified should be made available to the public.

Feel free to use the bullet points above and send your letter to the following representatives:

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Office of the Speaker
235 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-4965
sf.nancy@mail.house.gov
www.house.gov/pelosi
(letters can be submitted via e-mail, website or by mail) 

Bart Stupak, Chairman
Energy and Commerce Committee
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation
2125 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2927 telephone or FAX  (202) 225-2525
(no e-mail address is available so send letter by mail or fax)

Senator Jeff Bingaman
United States Senate
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-5521
E-mail: senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
(letters can be submitted via mail or e-mail)

Congressman Tom Udall
1410 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
www.tomudall.house.gov
(letters can be submitted via website or by mail)

Congresswoman Heather Wilson
318 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6316 phone
202-225-4975 fax
www.wilson.house.gov
(letters can be submitted via website, fax or mail)

Government Accountability Project
Gloria Jarmon, Congressional Relations
441 ‘G’ St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20548
(202) 512-3000
E-mail: congrel@gao.gov

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via e-mail. Many thanks for taking the time to write your representatives about this matter of utmost importance. 

Sincerely,
Sue Dayton
sdayton@swcp.com

DFA-DFNM Meetup Tonight

It's that time again. If you plan on attending our Albuquerque DFA-DFNM Meetup this Thursday, February 1, at 7:00 PM, at the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche, please RSVP now or sign up to be a member of the group and get our emails: https://dfa.meetup.com/160/.

This month's Meetup will focus on what's going on at the NM legislative session and how to get involved with lobbying, contacting legislators and tracking bills of interest. Plus PAUL STOKES of United Voters NM will explain the election reform bills to be considered this year in Santa Fe and nationally.

Also, ANA CANALES will discuss her candidacy for Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County. Other candidates for this office are encouraged to speak to our group as well. Please contact me if you'd like to do so by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of this site.