Democracy for New Mexico

Celebrate Thursday with SAGE Council

From SAGE Council: Join us this Thursday as SAGE Council brings in the holidays with great food, great friends, and a great time! We will present awards and recap some great moments and victories from this year! This will be a potluck event, so please bring a side dish to share!

SAGE Council's Holiday Celebration this Thursday!   
When: This Thursday, December 6th, 7:00-9:00 PM
Where: At Out Ch'Yonda!, 929 4th St SW
Where is Out Ch'Yonda?

Support SAGE with a gift for the holidays! To make a donation to SAGE Council, please mail in your gift or give online right now! email: sage@sagecouncil.org; phone: 505-260-4696; web: https://www.sagecouncil.org

NM-01: Booman Tribune Questions Martin Heinrich

Martin Heinrich speaking at South Valley event

It's already obvious that the 2008 U.S. House and Senate races in New Mexico will be getting intense scrutiny from all quarters, locally and across the nation, in the traditional media (such that it is) and on the blogs. New Mexico's voters will have a critical role to play in deciding whether the progressive Democratic agenda can move forward in Congress -- and get help from a Democratically held White House. We have a chance to turn New Mexico Blue in a big, big way, in all three Congressional Districts and in a Senate race for a second Dem-held seat. Not to mention the seats we can pick up in the NM Legislature and other locally elected offices. Despite the continuing horrors of Bush and his minions, It's a hopeful and exciting time to be a progressive Democrat, isn't it?

I linked to an interview with Dem Senate Candidate Tom Udall conducted by MyDD in an earlier post today. And now I just ran across an indepth interview with Martin Heinrich, who's running for the Democratic nomination in New Mexico's First Congressional District, conducted as part of the Booman Tribune's Open Seat Initiative. Their Initiative provides an opportunity for candidates in open House and Senate races who are seeking the support of the Progressive Netroots to answer a standardized set of questions. The questions are very specific and designed to put the candidates on record as to their positions on critical issues like "FISA, torture, the Bankruptcy Bill, the Military Commissions Act, and other issues where Bad Democrats have let us down," as Booman explains.

I encourage you to read all of Heinrich's responses to the questionnaire, as I think his answers are quite compelling, complete and satisfying in terms of showing where he stands on the Bad Democrat - Good Democrat scale on many important issues. What comes up over and over again when we discuss Democrats with our friends, families and colleagues? That we need Dems with backbone who aren't afraid to speak out clearly and coherently about what they believe in, on behalf of the people. In my opinion, Heinrich has done just that on the Booman questionnaire, but go judge for yourselves. Excerpts:

BOOMAN TRIBUNE: If elected, would you join one of the congressional caucuses (New Democrat, Blue Dog, Progressive)? Why, or why not?

HEINRICH: I haven't yet decided which caucuses I will join. However, I can say without a doubt that I will not join the New Democrat or Blue Dog caucuses. I believe that we need more and better Democrats in Congress. We need strong leaders who are willing to stand up, speak out and fight for our values. We don't need more Republicans in Democratic clothing. In Congress, I'll be a strong voice for our values - and, I'll continue to use the internet to engage in a conversation with my constituents and the American people.

BOOMAN TRIBUNE: The Protect America Act of 2007 had a six-month sunset, and it is now being marked up in the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees. The Intelligence Committee recommended providing the telecommunications corporations immunity from responsibility for prior cooperation in illegal warrantless surveillance. Presidential candidate, Sen. Chris Dodd has against immunity, and has promised to on any bill that provides for it.

"While the President may think that it's right to offer immunity to those who break the law and violate the right to privacy of thousands of law-abiding Americans, I want to assure him it is not a value we have in common and I hope the same can be said of my fellow Democrats in the Senate.

"For too long we have failed to respect the rule of law and failed to protect our fundamental civil liberties. I will do what I can to see to it that no telecommunications giant that was complicit in this Administration's assault on the Constitution is given a get-out-of-jail-free card."

Do you agree with Senator Dodd's position?

HEINRICH: Yes. I oppose amnesty for telcos who violate our civil rights and who violate the law. I believe that sets another dangerous precedent. All people must be treated equally under the law - regardless of one's wealth or influence. I teach my children that when you do something wrong - you get punished for it. And, just as petty criminals get punished for committing crimes, so too should the Scooter Libby's and the telcos of the world who commit crimes.

Go read the rest at Booman Tribune.

Click to donate to the Heinrich campaign via our DFNM Netroots page at ActBlue. To read our previous coverage of the 2008 Congressional race in NM-01, visit our  archive.

Three Ways to Donate to Expanded DPBC Holiday Vets Project

In a November post we announced a project organized by the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County to benefit the New Mexico Veteran's Reintegration Center in Albuquerque. The project has now been expanded in scope, and donations of food, clothing and other needed items -- as well as cash donations -- are being collected for presentation to the Center and its 75+ residents on the evening of Thursday, December 20, 2007.

See below the fold for a list of items being sought.

You can make a donation in three ways:

• At the DPBC office located at 1301 San Pedro NE, weekdays before 12/20 from 9AM - 5PM
• At the DPBC Third Thursday Meeting and potluck at 6:00 PM on December 20 at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall at 510 San Pedro SE
• At the DFA-DFNM Meetup at 7:00 PM on Thursday, December 6 at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall on the SW corner of Carlisle and Comanche

The Democratic Party of New Mexico's kicking donkey float -- festooned with holiday lights -- will be driven by Terry Riley to both the December 6th Meetup and the December 20th DPBC Third Thursday Meeting to collect donations (see panel above). After the Third Thursday Meeting, well-wishers will accompany the float to the Veteran's Reintegration Center to make the presentation.

More Info from DPBC:

Welcome to the First Annual Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Holiday Season Service Project

In keeping with the spirit of the holiday season, and the DNC “7 in 2007” activities (which are suggested to include a Democratic sponsored service project) the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County has selected the Veterans Reintegration Center at 6101 Central Ave NE as the recipient of our service project efforts. The Veterans Reintegration Center provides housing, food, and job training for returning vets, especially those who are homeless. There are approximately 75 men and 5 women housed at the center.

The plan: All of us collect money and needed items between now and December 20.

Bring these items, and cash, to the 3rd Thursday potluck dinner on December 20, 6 PM, at the Plumbers and Steamfitters Hall, 510 San Pedro Blvd. S.E. (or bring to party headquarters at 1301 San Pedro NE if you are unable to attend the dinner or to the DFA-DFNM Meetup on December 6 at the First Unitarian Church).

Following a wonderful shared potluck dinner and visiting with each other, we will then spend an hour or two putting together our gift boxes and wrapping them. The State Party kicking donkeys float will be used to deliver the gifts that evening.

Items needed:

· Personal toiletries: deodorant, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, lotions, toothbrushes, combs, shaving lotion, razors, etc.

· Towels: new or gently used please!! We would like one bath towel, one hand towel, and 2 wash clothes per person in each box.

· Socks, slipper socks, and underwear- various sizes and types will be fine.

· Gloves and caps- one size fits all will be best.

· Sweatshirts, sweaters, and/or flannel shirts, various sizes.

· Stationery, first-class stamps, envelopes, and long-distance phone cards.

· Home-made cookies, brownies, etc. No store bought!!

· Copier-paper boxes to pack gifts in. (This will make all gifts uniform size)

DONATED CASH WILL BE USED TO PURCHASE COATS FOR THE MOST NEEDY RESIDENTS!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SPIRITS AND WARM HEARTS!

CLICK FOR FLYER

Today's Must Read: MyDD Interviews Rep. Tom Udall

Jonathan Singer at the national blog MyDD has posted an excellent interview he conducted this weekend with Rep. Tom Udall. Udall formally kicked off his campaign for U.S. Senate in New Mexico last week during a 9-city tour of the state. Singer provides both a text transcript and an mp3 of his talk with Udall, which includes discussion of Udall's votes against the Iraq invasion and the Patriot Act, his reasons for running, his recent vote on the Los Alamos National Labs budget, how he intends to run his campaign and his positions on issues like health care and renewable energy that will be the core of his platform. You really should go read and/or listen to the whole thing, but here are a couple excerpts:

On Negative Campaigning:
Singer: Now this is a complete non sequitur, but we're seeing so far in the race - even before you got in the race - a negative campaign in the Democratic primary. A lot of primaries you don't see negative campaigning at all. But when you do see it, it tends to be towards the end of the campaign. Were you surprised by the mudslinging even before you made a decision to get in the race?

Udall: I believe that the American people and New Mexicans don't like nasty campaigns. And we've had some of my opponents get very nasty and say that they're going to run nasty campaigns. And my response has been I think you're going to see a very bad reaction from New Mexicans to this kind of campaigning. People don't like mudslinging. They don't like that. They don't like the feeling about it. They don't like the failure to have any positive vision.

What I'm going to try to offer is a positive vision for communities in New Mexico, talk about the things that we can really do working together. I've viewed my job in the House of Representatives as being empowering communities to fulfill their dreams and working with those communities on specific issues to see that they get things done. That's what people want out of public servants.

There are others out there that want to demean the whole process and demean the system. I find that a very sad commentary on our political life nowadays and I wish we could focus more on the positive. And in fact the best advice my father gave me was just to be positive and work hard, and the best will work out for you. And he just told me that recently.

Running for a Statewide Race:
Singer: Moving forward, of course you don't want to look too far ahead, but as someone who has run and won two successful statewide bids for Attorney General within New Mexico, how does that prepare you for the campaigning statewide? A lot of people think that maybe moving from the House to the Senate is more difficult, but you have statewide election experience. What did that teach you?

Udall: I served two terms as the state Attorney General. In my job I chose to travel widely in New Mexico. We had a state plane available to us, and so we would have some of my division directors... I would always make it known several weeks before we were traveling so that others in the office could do work in a variety of communities in New Mexico. And we'd take off very early in the morning and come back pretty late at night and get a lot of work done.

One thing I learned is that it's a big state. There's a lot of diversity. Even in a fairly fast plane it takes you an hour from the center of the state, the state capital of Santa Fe, it takes you an hour in almost any direction to get out to the far reaches of the state. In order to represent the state you have to travel a lot. It may be by train, it may be by car. But all of these communities are wonderful communities that are engaged in a variety of ways with the federal government in some cases. There are three military bases in New Mexico, two national laboratories. We have a diversity of other kinds of industry and businesses, many small businesses. We don't have many large Fortune 500 type of companies. We do have Intel, and Intel has been a major player in my Congressional district, and we have some wonderful people working there.

So what you end up learning is you learn the whole state, you understand the state, you understand what the needs are. And that helped me, in my eight years as Attorney General, understand what people want, and I'm going to step up to the plate and try to help them fulfill their dreams and empower them to work hard to fulfill their dreams.

If you're as enthusiastic about Rep. Udall's run as I am, head over to the Netroots for Tom Udall page at ActBlue and make a campaign contribution right now. You can also visit Udall's campaign website, which will be revamped soon, at https://www.udallforusall.com/.

To read our previous coverage of the 2008 Senate Race in New Mexico, visit our archive. If you haven't yet seen our video clips from Rep. Udall's formal announcement event at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque last Thursday, click here and here.

ACTION ALERT: Stop Tax Increment Financing for Sprawl

The Albuquerque City Council Meeting where the bill that limits TIFF financing will be discussed is set for today at 5:00 PM in City Council Chambers in the basement of the City/County Building at One Civic Plaza. Please contact your City Councilor about this matter and attend the meeting if you can.

From :
We are asking all 1000 Friends Albuquerque members and community allies to Take Action by contacting your City Councilor to urge him/her to stop allowing Tax Increment Financing on Albuquerque's edges.

This coming Monday, December 3, our Albuquerque City Council will consider a bill that limits Tax Increment Financing for use only to support urban redevelopment efforts in the city's core. 1000 Friends of New Mexico and a number of other community-based groups support this measure.

Why? Tax Increment Financing currently allows huge developments in outlying fringe areas to be subsidized to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. This subsidy robs economic activity, jobs, homeowners and vitality out of core neighborhoods. Learn more about Tax Increment Financing in ABQ.

Help 1000 Friends and other groups put a stop to another tax give-away to developers. Take Action now! Tell your City Councilor:

• Keep Albuquerque neighborhoods', not billion-dollar developers', best interest in mind. Vote YES to prohibit Tax Increment Financing for vacant land at the edge.
• Remember Albuquerque's $1.7 billion backlog in infrastructure needs in the already-built community. Fix-it-First!
• Remember that home values, small businesses and economic activity in their districts are negatively impacted by subsidized growth at the edge.

For more - keep an eye out in the Albuquerque Journal for this Op-Ed, submitted recently by 1000 Friends and the SouthWest Organizing Project.

Please contact 1000 Friends of New Mexico at 848-8232 if you have any questions.  We appreciate your time and your dedication to making Albuquerque a better place.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Nims, Executive Director

Also see our earlier guest blog by Gabriel Nims.

League of Women Voters to Conduct Workshop on Citizen Lobbying

The League of Women Voters of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County will conduct a workshop on how citizens can effectively lobby their elected representatives:

Saturday December 8, 2007, 9:15 AM - 12:30 PM
Sandia Prep, Building 100, 532 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, NM

The workshop is designed to help the public and nonprofit groups communicate with their legislators. Topic include lobbying in general and will not address specific issues. State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, a Democrat, and State Rep. Larry Larranga, a Republican, will discuss lobbying from the legislator's perspective. Other speakers include a representative from the Secretary of State's office and a professional lobbyist. There will also be a presentation on "Lobbying at Home and on the Internet."

The workshop costs $10 for people who are not members of the League and reservations are required as space is limited. For reservations, contact the League of Women Voters at 884-8441.

Divas for Diane Host Champaign & Manicures for the Holidays

Divas for Diane
December 8, 2007, 6-8 PM
Diane Denish Champaign and Manicures for the Holidays
La Bella Salon and Spa – ABQ Uptown Mass
2201 Uptown Loop NE 87110
Suggested: $100 and a non-perishable food item
Attire: Spa Casual

Make contributions payable to: Committee to Elect Diane Denish, POB 30561, Albuquerque, NM 87190. Hosted by Cristy Carbon-Gaul, Shannon Bacon, Toni Martorelli and Jackie Baca. RSVP to: Michelle Mares, mmares@dianedenish.com, (505) 255-1282 or (505) 270-2330.

Next Santa Fe County Public Meeting on Oil & Gas Drilling Set for 12.6.07

From Drilling Santa Fe:
On December 6th, beginning at 6:30 PM, Santa Fe County will host a public oil and gas meeting at the Santa Fe High Gym. This is a much bigger venue, so people should not be turned away at the door this time. Officials attending: all five of the Santa Fe County Commissioners; Representatives King and Wirth; Senator Geigo; John Bemis of the State Land Office; and Mark Fesmire of the Oil Conservation Division (OCD).

This meeting is critically important. Not only do we need to address the draft oil and gas ordinance that if left as is, would weaken, not strengthen the protections of the existing mining ordinance.

In addition, the oil and gas industry is being hostile about any proposed regulations beyond the currently adopted State regulations. The oil and gas industry is on the attack about the proposed OCD pit rule that would help protect groundwater from the oil and gas industry waste pit pollution. The oil and gas industry is threatening to have legislation passed that would eviscerate the Oil Conservation Division and to disallow counties the ability to regulate oil and gas activities. By attending this meeting, you would show your support against such legislative attempts.

Santa Fe High School is at 2100 Yucca St, Santa Fe, NM (505) 467-2400. It is just South of Siringo Road.
Mapquest map link, which can be enlarged, is here.

You can download a meeting flyer in pdf hardcopy here for printing and distributing, which is highly encouraged. If you have a problem with the link, email drillingsantafe@earthlink.net and we will send it to you as a pdf email attachment.

Links to our previous posts and other background info on this issue are available here, and DrillingSantaFe.org has a wealth of information, a petition, etc.

Let's Move to Scandinavia

RSVP Now for DPNM Ambassadors Luncheon

The Democratic Party of New Mexico
Cordinally Invites You to

THE AMBASSADORS LUNCHEON
with
AMBASSADOR ED ROMERO and AMBASSADOR JOE WILSON

Thursday, December 13, 2007, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Salón Ortega
1701 Fourth Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico
$100 per person

Respondez-vous, S’il Vous Plait: 505-830-3650 or email laura@nmdemocrats.org by December 7, 2007. Download the invitation (PDF).