Democracy for New Mexico

Help Rey Garduño Campaign at Saturday Petition Signing Party

Elect Rey Garduño – He Is Running A Clean Campaign
414 Vassar, Dr. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
505.266-4424, 505.688-6981 mobile
reygard@unm.edu
https://www.reygarduno.blogspot.com

PETITION  SIGNING  PARTY

When?  Saturday, June 2nd, 9 AM-1PM

Where?  We will meet at our house: 414 Vassar, Dr. NE (Just inside the UNM Campus – from Girard and Campus; go West on Campus into the campus, first right is Vassar, first house is 414 Vassar. If your having difficulties call 266-4424 or 688-6981 cell.)

Why?  To celebrate our accomplishments and to kick-off of our Petition Drive. Come to door-knock or if you don’t have the time, stop by for some refreshments and to sign the petition! 

Who?  All community members that support clean elections, and a strong community voice on the City Council. Especially people registered to vote in City Council District 6. 

We Did It!
Democracy Lives! Clean and Ethical Elections Supported by District 6 Voters.

Dear family, friends and supporters:

We have made clean elections a viable democratic process by gathering the required $5 contributions and signatures, 10 days ahead of time.  You helped me become the first candidate to qualify in this inaugural publicly financed election. We will now take this momentum to the next level, knowing that our support is widespread and just as important, community-based.

In order to be placed on the ballot for the October 2nd City Council Election we must now gather 542 petition signatures from registered voters in District 6. This is a task we can accomplish quite easily; witness the quickness with which we gathered $5 contributions.

Join us on Saturday, we will celebrate our victory, and launch our next one.

Rey Garduño

Editor's Note: To determine your City Council District, . To see our previous posts on candidates for Albuquerque City Council, click here. Anyone can help Rey gather petition signatures but only registered voters in District 6 can sign the petition.

Rey Garduño First to Qualify for Public Campaign Funding in ABQ City Council Race

Suzanne Prescott has the story over at . If you can, remember to link up with the new web radio show, New Mexico Blog Radio, today at 4:30 PM. Rey, who's running for Albuquerque City Council in District 6, will be joined by Debbie O'Malley, who's running for reelection in District 2, to discuss their experience with Albuquerque's new public campaign finance law. Listeners can call in and ask questions during the half hour show by dialing (718) 664-9717. I'll be joining Suzanne, who produced the radio show Insight New Mexico that aired on 1350 AM during the Legislative Session, as a co-host for today's show. Visit https://www.blogtalkradio.com/nmblogradio at 4:30 PM today to listen in. And cut me some slack if I come across on the show as a bit nervous -- I'm a rank amateur in the radio hosting department, internet or otherwise!

For more info, see our previous post on New Mexico Blog Radio, as well as our post archive on the 2007 Albuquerque Municipal Elections, which will take place this coming October.

New Mexico Blog Radio Premiers May 24

Rey Garduño & Debbie O'Malley Are the First Guests
on New Mexico Blog Radio

From New Mexico Blog Radio:
ALBUQUERQUE, NM, MAY 22, 2007 -- New Mexico Blog Radio modifies an old medium, radio, and dresses it up before  moving it to the Internet.  A new Internet radio show, ‘New Mexico Blog Radio’ begins Thursday, May 24th at 4:30 PM (Mountain time) live on the Internet. Host of the show, Suzanne Prescott, says the show will fill the need for coverage of local New Mexico issues, “We’ll cover issues with our guests that aren’t getting enough coverage in the press and on local TV or commercial radio.” Joining Suzanne as co-host for this first show is the force behind the popular blog, Democracy for New Mexico, Barbara Wold. (Yes, that's me.) Listeners can call in during the show at (718) 664-9717.

Please join Suzanne, Barbara and guests when the show airs on May 24th at 4:30 PM Mountain time (6:30 Eastern) at https://www.blogtalkradio.com/nmblogradio.

The first show will bring together candidates for Albuquerque’s City Council, Rey Garduño  and Debbie O’Malley. Both candidates are using Albuquerque’s new public campaign finance law. The City Council Election on October 2nd will be the first test of the public campaign finance regulations. How well have the regulations worked so far? What do the candidates who are trying out the law have to say about it?

Since its beginning in late 2006, Blog Talk Radio has mushroomed rapidly into one of the most popular sites on the Internet. New Mexico Blog Radio joins over 1000 political blog radio shows already on the Blog Talk Radio site. 

For a lineup of guests who will be on future shows contact Suzanne directly at (505) 304-3960.

(Updated) More on Rey Garduño's Run for District 6 City Councilor

Suzanne Prescott has posted of an excellent two-part interview with Rey Garduño (left), who's running for the District 6 seat on the Albuquerque City Council, on New Mexico FBIHOP. will be is now up there tomorrow as well. As explained in our previous post, Rey is one of several progressive candidates who are trying to qualify for public campaign funding under the city's new clean elections law. He needs help to be successful. You know what to do: email him at reygard@unm.edu or call 505.266-4424 or 688-698. Also be sure to check out Garduño's new campaign blog called "Elect Rey Garduño - He's running Clean!" to learn more.

O'Malley Also Needs Our Help
District 2 incumbent Debbie O'Malley, one of our most effective City Councilors, is also trying to qualify for public campaign funding. Read more about that in a recent DFNM guest blog by Suzanne Prescott. To find out how you can lend a hand call 304-3960 or email .

(Updated) Rey Garduño Seeks Public Funding for ABQ District 6 City Council Race

UPDATE: Rey Garduño now has a website: https://reygarduno.blogspot.com/
****************
Long-time community activist, public information specialist and small businessman Rey Garduño (right) has decided to pursue public funding for his campaign to replace Martin Heinrich on the Albuquerque City Council in District 6 in the Southeast Heights. Heinrich has plans to run for Congress in CD1 against Repub incumbent Heather Wilson and will resign his seat on the Council when his terms ends. City Council elections are set for even numbered districts this coming November.

Garduño currently serves as Vice Chair on the Board of Common Cause NM. He's also a member of the Board of the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP), and operates Rey Garduño Photography. He retired in 2005 from his post as head of marketing for UNM Hospitals, and he was a Public Affairs Representative at Carrie Tingley Hospital for nine years. Click to see his extensive resume detailing 25 years of professional experience in managing staff and resources, as well as his many years of service to the community on various boards and professional organizations. Rey has also worked hard in support of various initiatives including passage of minimum wage and clean elections legislation, the Better New Mexico campaign and ethics reform.

Like Debbie O'Malley, who's running for reelection to her North Valley City Council seat in District 2, Garduño is currently in the process of collecting signatures and $5 donations from registered voters in his district so that he can qualify for public funding. He has to gather more than 250 before the May 31 deadline. If you live in District 6 and would like to sign up, you can contact him at 266-4424 or reygard@unm.edu. He's also looking for people to help collect the signatures and donations. You don't need to be a resident of District 6 to help out.

Other reported candidates for the District 6 seat include UNM graduate student Joe Garcia, who is president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, and Joan Griffin, who owns a local ad agency and operates a dating service franchise. Griffin served as Mayor Marty Chavez's press person during his 2005 reelection campaign.

More on O'Malley's District 2 Race
See our previous guest blog by Suzanne Prescott to learn more about the public financing program, as well as how to get involved with Debbie O'Malley's (left) campaign in District 2. According to a post today on Joe Monahan, O'Malley will have a competitor in her race to retain her seat in the form of Katherine Martinez, who has close ties to Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez:

Meantime, on the city election watch 34 year old Katherine Martinez, who is active in the mayor's ABQ Green initiative and is the government affairs director for the Central NM Homebuilders Association, has launched a campaign against City Council President Debbie O'Malley who has often clashed with His Honor over growth issues. Martinez also worked in government affairs for the ABQ Chamber of Commerce.

Martinez (Katherine Carroll), a Democrat like O'Malley, was born in North Carolina and moved to New Mexico eight years ago with her native New Mexican husband. She says she has lived in the ABQ North Valley district only two and a half years, but "it doesn't take long to get to know people."

to determine which Albuquerque City Council district you reside in.

UPDATE: Also see our later post on Rey Garduno, which includes links to a two-part interview with him by Suzanne Prescott that appeared on New Mexico FBIHOP.

Guest Blog: Albuquerque City Council Candidates to Test New Public Financing Option

This is a guest blog by Suzanne Prescott:

Maria Martinez (right), Democratic Chair of Albuquerque's precinct 162, says campaign finance reform is a good thing, and helps to insure that our elected officials represent their communities and not special interests. Listen:

Voluntary public campaign finance reform for Albuquerque municipal elections was passed by referendum in the fall election of 2005. This is the first time that the law is being put to the test. Candidates and their supporters will have to feel their way through what is at present an untested procedure set in motion by the referendum that was passed in 2005. To qualify for public campaign funding, the new law requires that a candidate for City Council get signatures and $5.00 from 1% of the registered voters in their district from May 1 to May 30  -- that's gives them less than a month.

For Debbie O'Malley, running for City Council from District #2, that means collecting 300 signatures.  A question worth raising is whether it's worth the effort to get the signatures if a candidate is running unopposed. At present O'Malley has no opposition, but that could change. Collecting the signatures now could be good insurance if an opposing candidate decides to enter the race at a later date. If O'Malley is unopposed and decides not to run a campaign, then the money that has been collected would have to be returned to the initial signators.

ith an official campaign organization just getting off the ground, and with no explanatory literature to hand out, it may not be easy to quickly gather the needed signatures. The first week of collecting signatures is already over -- close family members, and friends have been mined for their support.  Now the hard work begins of explaining the new law and reaching out to those less familiar with the candidate.

Some observers say that with the money in hand there would be at least two advantages to running a campaign: First, it would allow O'Malley to get her name and credentials before a larger audience. This could be useful later if O'Malley were to decide to run for another elected office and there seem to some available. Second, O'Malley's collection of 300 signatures is a good opportunity for supporters to actively engage registered voters in a discussion of public campaign financing and its merits. There are still voters who are not sure what public campaign financing entails and why it's important.

Get Involved
Signatures are already being collected. Registered voters in District  #2 who support Debbie O'Malley can sign a form by calling 304-3960 or emailing . Anyone who is not a registered voter in District #2 and who would like to become one of the 300 signators must register to vote by the end of the month and also sign the form and submit the $5.00. Use the contact information above to become a registered voter. You don't have to live in District #2 to help O'Malley round up signators who will donate $5.

Those who qualify would receive $1 for every registered voter in their District that would be used to finance their campaign. Click for a copy of the issued by the Albuquerque City Clerk.

Editor's Note: Albuquerque will be electing City Councilors from Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 in November, 2007. :

District 2: Debbie O'Malley is running as an incumbent. No other candidates have announced.

District 4: Brad Winter running as an incumbent. No other candidates have announced.

District 6: Incumbent Martin Heinrich will not run again so that he can enter the Congressional race for CD1. One candidate who has announced he will enter this race is Rey Garduno, who has said he will pursue qualifying for public financing. A subsequent post will provide more information on his campaign.

District 8: It's not known if incumbent Craig Loy is planning to run again for his seat.

This is a guest blog by Suzanne Prescott. Guest blogs provide an opportunity for readers and others to express their views on issues of political interest to DFNM. 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 the main page.