Democracy for New Mexico

Tim Keller: Truly a Progressive Dem

Tim Keller (center) with Digital Data Divide workers in Cambodia

Recently I've been writing positive things about Tim Keller, who's a progressive Dem running in the primary for State Senator in District 17. I've had a chance to talk with Tim at some length, and he spoke at last week's DFA-DFNM Meetup, making a very positive impression on the group with his passion and his positions. There's a lot of excitement in the progressive community about Keller's candidacy, including right here on this blog.

Unfortunately, I noticed that there's an item on Monahan today trying to make an issue of the fact that when Keller was 18 he registered as a Republican. Tim was also an independent for some years afterwards as he involved himself in exploring life and finding his niche -- before developing a focused political identity. It appears that Tim's opponent, four-term incumbent Shannon Robinson (SD-17), may try to use this to discredit Tim, but it's clear to me that Keller has a solid record he can stand by.

Monahan could have explained what Tim was doing when he wasn't registering himself as a Democrat. What was he up to? Among other things, getting a top notch education and helping to develop an innovative non-profit program overseas:

• He was away at Notre Dame getting his undergrad degree
• He helped start a non-profit in Cambodia helping land mine victims and other displaced persons (see article about Digital Data Divide)
• He went to get his MBA at Harvard 
• He moved back home--to be closer to his family

Tim in Cambodia

Since returning to New Mexico, he's been busy working at his regular job in addition to volunteering for groups that foster economic opportunities in Albuquerque's Southeast Heights—putting his business skills to work in the district where he lives. He also serves on the boards of numerous groups in the state and has helped develop small businesses here. The sum of his experiences led him to run for office as a Democrat -- because core Democratic values match his own heartfelt values. As Tim says:

"I have been a registered Republican, an Independent, and a Democrat. I am not a political insider and have got my experiences and values from things outside of politics, through community involvement, economic development and poverty alleviation both abroad and in New Mexico."

"I have a record I am proud to explain. I was born and raised in New Mexico. I went away to school and lived and worked overseas to improve the lives of disenfranchised people. I paid attention to issues more than I did politics. But now, I want to take those same organizing, civic minded skills to politics and the public sector--to help people.

"I became a progressive Democrat thoughtfully and through conviction."

Tim (upper right) with Digital Data Divide workers in Cambodia.

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of respect for a real Dem who started out in a Republican family, became successful in the business world, found a way to put his business acumen to work to help people in need help themselves -- and decided to run for office to serve his community.

Unfortunately, there are too many politicians in office today who call themselves Democrats but who have lost their way and abandoned many of their Dem ideals in order to acquire and hang onto power and clout. From my point of view, Tim's the real deal, and he came to his political identity through his rich experiences in life, as well as a conscious choice. I hope he's a harbinger of many more caring, progressive candidates to come, in his generation and beyond.

To read our previous coverage of New Mexico legislative races, visit our archive.

Attend Public Hearings in NM to Fight Nuke Weapon Production

These meetings provide an opportunity to express your concerns and ask questions about various aspects of the new DOE draft upgrade plan, including the renewed production of plutonium pits. See below for how you can submit your comments if you can't attend one or more of the hearings.

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently published its newest draft plan to upgrade the entire U.S. nuclear weapons complex and recreate the infrastructure to research, develop, and manufacture new nuclear weapons. First announced in 2006 as Complex 2030, the new plan is now called Complex Transformation.

I am writing to encourage you to attend one or more public hearings in New Mexico on Complex Transformation. These hearings are a part of a legally required review of the environmental impacts of the DOE’s plans; the review is called a draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SPEIS). While applauding efforts at consolidating and eliminating redundant capabilities within the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, the Union of Concerned Scientists opposes the elements of Complex Transformation that would return the United States to the production of new nuclear weapons. Click here for the draft SPEIS.

Hearings Info

March 10, 2008, 6-10 PM
Socorro, New Mexico
Macey Center (at New Mexico Tech), 801 Leroy Place

March 11, 2008 - 11 AM-3 PM AND 6-10 PM
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque Convention Center, 401 2nd Street, NW

March 12, 2008 - 6-10 PM
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Hilltop House, 400 Trinity Drive at Central

March 13, 2008 - 11 AM - 3PM
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Hilltop House, 400 Trinity Drive at Central

Santa Fe, New Mexico - 6-10 PM
Genoveva Chavez Community Center, 3221 Rodeo Road

As you likely know, New Mexico is home to two nuclear weapons research facilities, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. Under Complex Transformation, the role of Los Alamos in particular would grow, most notably with a new and unnecessary facility to annually produce up to 80 plutonium “pits,” the primary explosive component of a nuclear weapon. The United States has thousands of pits in storage and does not need to produce new ones. 

The New Mexico hearings are part of the SPEIS process. It provides the public with an opportunity to present comments or concerns, ask questions, and raise a range of issues. We encourage you to attend one or more of these hearings and tell the DOE that the United States should not be expanding its pit production capacity at Los Alamos nor return to the business of making new nuclear weapons. Instead, any major changes at Los Alamos or the nation’s nuclear weapons complex must be preceded by a comprehensive re-evaluation of the role and future of nuclear weapons in U.S. security policy.

A thorough re-evaluation would conclude that it is in the interest of the United States to pursue a world free of nuclear weapons. The DOE should focus on maintaining a safe, secure, and credible nuclear deterrent while supporting efforts to eliminate these weapons globally, and on dismantling warheads and safely securing weapons-grade materials. The United States should NOT pursue new nuclear weapons.

If you cannot attend the hearing, I strongly encourage you to submit comments on the Complex Transformation draft SPEIS proposal (by April 10, 2008) by fax, letter. or on our website. You can send them to:

Mr. Theodore Wyka
Complex Transformation SPEIS Document Manager
Office of Transformation, NA-10.1
U.S. Department of Energy/NNSA
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585
by fax—1-703-931-9222
or on our website

Please mark your letters, faxes, or emails “Complex Transformation SPEIS Comments.”

If you are planning to attend the hearing and need assistance or have questions, please do not hesitate to call or email me at smeyer@ucsusa.org or 617-301-8065. Also, if you do attend, please let me know and call or email me with any feedback or information that may come out of the hearing and could be relevant to our work on the issue.

Sincerely,
Sean Meyer
Project Manager, U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy Initiative
National Field Organizer, Global Security Program
Union of Concerned Scientists

NM-01: Photos & Video, Dem Congressional Candidate Debate

AG Gary King, Martin Heinrich, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Robert Pidcock, Rebecca Vigil-Giron


Part of the crowd at UNM Law School lecture hall

Saturday's NM-01 Dem Congressional candidate forum hosted by the Democratic Women of Bernalillo County and moderated by AG Gary King was well-attended and smoothly run. Candidates who participated were Martin Heinrich, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Rebecca Vigil-Giron and Robert Pidcock. Each got to respond to questions submitted by Democratic Women on issues like health care, Iraq and Afghanistan, civil liberties, water issues, the economy, education, the environment and renewable energy and give a short closing statement. Attendees I spoke with said all of the candidates did well, but most added that they thought Martin Heinrich's answers were generally head and shoulders above those offered by his rivals in terms of his grasp of the issues.

Closing statement by Martin Heinrich


Heinrich campaign displays some of its many endorsements

The event provided an opportunity for the four main candidates to answer questions and delineate positions before next Saturday's DPNM Pre-Primary Convention to be held at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. Delegates to the State Convention will vote on Congressional candidates in their District. To get an automatic place on the ballot, a candidate must receive at least 20% of the delegate vote in their District. If they don't, they must obtain additional petition signatures. The vote will also determine the order in which candidate names will appear on the June 3rd primary ballot, in addition to providing a gauge of the candidates' strength within the Party.

Closing statement by Michelle Lujan Grisham


Entry to UNM Law School with campaign signs


Volunteers at the Tom Udall for Senate table

You should also check out Bread for the World's blog. The local blogger had a chance to ask the candidates about increasing poverty-focused development assistance, the and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals after the forum. Nice photos too. Also, A Female New Mexican's Point of View covered the candidate forum, as well as the recent NM GOP vote-buying scandal.

Click on photos for larger images. All photos by M.E. Broderick.

To read previous coverage of the 2008 NM-01 Congressional race, visit our archive.

New APS Superintendent Accepts Congratulations With 'Homo Humor'

This bothers me. The first paragraphs of the front-page article by Zsombor Peter in today's Albuquerque Journal on the selection of a new Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent report:

Winston Brooks took little time displaying his trademark sense of humor after a divided board named him the new superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools on Sunday evening by a 5-2 vote.

"Just so long as I don't have to hug the guys," he said while accepting the board's congratulations. [emphasis mine]

Imagine the furor if Brooks responded to winning his new job by displaying his "trademark sense of humor" this way: "Just so long as I don't have to hug the beaners," or "Just so long as I don't have to hug the chicks," or "Just so long as I don't have to hug the darkies," or "Just so long as I don't have to hug the cripples," or "Just so long as I don't have to hug the slant eyes."

I know, I know, locker-room-style "humor" designed to demonstrate that the joker isn't (God forbid) "gay" or "queer" is still acceptable in many quarters, long after verbal affronts to other minorities have faded from the public lexicon. But to start off your reign as APS' new head honcho with "humor" like that shows about as much cultural sensitivity as a turnip. Maybe it's still de rigueur in places like Wichita, Kansas, where Brooks is currently employed, but you'd think an educator would shy away from such expression when accepting a new job in new community.

Of course the Journal's staff writer apparently had no qualms about the "humor" either. It's related as a charming anecdote about the "very casual" Brooks and how "thrilled to death" he is about his new $276,000 a year job. The article continues, "As his first order of business, Brooks said he would hold a series of public meetings throughout the community and meet with local government and Chamber of Commerce officials."

Maybe Brooks should start with a reach out to the GLBT community, including a few GLBT students. Maybe he'd get a clue why an APS superintendent who uses hackneyed, juvenile, hardee har har humor -- that implies "hugging guys" would be an affront to any manly man -- doesn't exactly present a positive role model for the youth of Albuquerque.

Think about how teens who are GLBT or perceived to be GLBT are often harrassed -- sometimes resulting in violence or suicide -- and then think about the wisdom of a new school superintendent blurting out the kind of "funny" statement Brooks did as one of his first public comments. Some stats on what GLBT students are up against. You'd think an experienced educator like Brooks would be well aware of them, wouldn't you?

Hightower Uses Hildalgo County Medical Services as Example of Grassroots Change

In an excerpt from his new book, Swim Against the Current, long-time writer and activist Jim Hightower tells the grassroots success story of Charlie Alfero and the innovative community partnership he used to develop Hildalgo Medical Services, which began in Lordsburg, NM in 1994. Hildalgo County, in New Mexico's boot heel, was abandoned by copper companies and lost its hospital in 1979, and then its last doctor in 1983. You really should read the whole article, but here are a few tidbits to get you started:

There was an obvious need and demand for health services, but Hidalgo is hardly the sort of lucrative market that such profit-hungry chains as Hospital Corporation of America are willing to consider. The county's leaders realized they would have to put something together for themselves. So in 1994, they asked the state rural health office to send some experts to Lordsburg, the county seat, to help guide them. One who came was Charlie Alfero. Years previously, he had attended a small college up the road in a neighboring county, and he was glad for the chance to revisit a region he loved.

Alfero had been working with the rural outreach program of the state university's medical school, and he remembered from his earlier time in the boot heel that despite economic difficulties, the people of the area shared strong egalitarian values. He felt that they might do big things. He arrived with a vision: The people there could create a health commons of their own design -- a community complex that would provide one-stop service for medical, dental and mental healthcare, with family support services and economic development built in.

Most of Hidalgo's residents have lived in the county all of their lives and have an attachment to the area and to one another. "We stick together; we help each other in times of need," said Irene Galven, now the city clerk. It was this sense of community, the residents' willingness to throw in on projects to benefit everyone, that inspired Alfero to throw in with them.

It was not a simple project. For nearly four years, Charlie made the 600-mile round-trip commute each week from his home in Albuquerque to Lordsburg to work with eager locals to establish Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS), get it on its feet financially and get it moving -- one small step at a time.

...  A dozen years after opening its doors, HMS has become the health commons it was envisioned to be. On its tenth anniversary, it opened the doors of its new 22,000-square-foot clinic in Lordsburg, a modern, full-service facility with nine exam rooms, lab and x-ray rooms, a dental clinic with six chairs, and offices to deal with mental health problems, substance abuse and family support needs. It has a staff numbering more than 140, operating on a budget of more than $10 million a year.

In addition to Lordsburg, HMS now has clinics in six other communities in two counties, including one in Silver City, where it originally had to go to find doctors who were willing to come to Hidalgo twice a week.

"I didn't deliver healthcare," Alfero noted. "I'm not even a doctor. I just gave people an idea, pointed them in a direction and they built this themselves. People who rely on external forces to determine their future are going to find a bad future. The people in this area are showing what healthcare can be if we invest in people, not in the layers of intermediaries looking to make money off a top-heavy system. Our country needs more clinics like this."

Hightower's book, written long-time collaborator Susan DeMarco, relates other such tales of people power producing real change when other, more traditional, efforts were less than succcessful:

The inspiration came from the people themselves, people that I had come across in my travels, and I found that unlike what you find in the New York Times or on the nightly news, there is a very progressive spirit in the countryside, enormous progressive activism ... not merely in politics but also in business, the food economy, healthcare, religion, numerous different ways.

These people's stories were very uplifting, yet not being told.

Thank goodness that Hightower and others like him are willing to go where mainstream media outlets fear to (or won't) tread -- sharing inspiring tales of real change started by ordinary people in ordinary places like Hildalgo County.

AG Gary King to Speak at League of Women Voters Lunch in Rio Rancho

From the League of Women Voters:
Attorney General Gary King will be the luncheon speaker for the Sandoval Unit of the League of Women Voters. The cost of the luncheon is $20.00 and will be held on Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 11:30 AM, at Joe's Pasta House, Rio Rancho. Reservations are required and seating is limited. For more information contact Lisa Franzen (505) 867-0112 or geolisafranzen@aol.com.

AG Gary King is the elected officer that serves as the head of the Department of Justice. He functions as the state's legal officer; legal counsel to the state and government; consumer advocate and guardian of the public interest. In practice, Gary King is thought of as the "people's lawyer" and the public looks to the Attorney General to provide leadership that builds confidence in the state government and assures the people of New Mexico that as Attorney General he works for all of us.

Huge Turnouts for Wyoming Dem Caucuses Today; Results

First off, you should be aware that Obama won Texas in that he won the most delegates. Now, on to Wyoming: CNN results, updated as votes come in. Updated 3/09/08 (final):

Race		Candidate	State Del.*	%	Del*	Pcts
Wyoming		Obama	5,378	61%	7	100% reporting
		Clinton	3,312	38%	4
		Uncommitted	63	1%	0

The caucuses in counties around the state have various start times throughout the day. Twelve pledged delegates are at stake. This diary on Kos has the nitty gritty on how the delegates relate to the CNN numbers and will have genuine delegate results. According to Yahoo news:

Sen. Barack Obama took the lead over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in early returns as Democrats deluged caucuses in Wyoming Saturday, straining the ability of party officials to accommodate crowds. Obama led Clinton 57 percent to 40 percent with 6 of 23 counties reporting as they vied for the next prize in their extraordinarily tight Democratic presidential nomination race. During the first caucuses of the day, it appeared the state's Democrats were showing up in record numbers. In 2004, a mere 675 people statewide took part in the caucuses

In Sweetwater County, more than 500 people crowded into a high school auditorium and another 500 were lined up to get inside.

"I'm worried about where we're going to put them all. But I guess everybody's got the same problem," said Joyce Corcoran, a local party official. "So far we're OK. But man, they keep coming."

Party officials were struggling with how to handle the overflow crowds. The start of the Converse County caucus was delayed due to long lines.

In Cheyenne, scores of late arrivers were turned away when party officials stopped allowing people to get in line at 11 a.m. EST. A party worker stood at the end of the line with a sign reading, "End of the line. Caucus rules require the voter registration process to be closed at this time."

Vera Double, 71, said she arrived late because she had a hard time finding parking.

"I'm so proud to see there are this many Democrats showing up in Cheyenne, but I'm very disappointed in the rules because we had difficulty parking and we had a long walk and they closed it off at 9 (a.m. MST)," she said. "I consider it — we're disenfranchised, which they've done in other parts of the country."

Iglesias' Coming Book: Pressure from NM Repubs and All Roads Lead to Rove

The issue of inappropriate and probably illegal political pressures placed on New Mexico's former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias by Rep. Heather Wilson (R, NM-01), NM Sen. Pete Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans is back in the news. Dahlia Lithwick at Slate discusses what we've learned about the U.S. Attorney firing scandal and comments on a draft of a new book by David Iglesias to be published in June. Excerpt:

Iglesias emphasizes the extent of the political pressures placed on him to bring indictments that would influence the midterm elections and illuminates the obsessive campaign by New Mexico Republicans to force him into unearthing and prosecuting Democratic vote fraud, even when he'd determined that there was none to be found. He details the phone calls received from Rep. Wilson and Sen. Domenici. And he describes what it was like to be a man with sterling performance reviews suddenly drop-kicked onto "the list" as a result of political complaints about his unwillingness to play ball. [emphasis mine]

Given the documented involvement of NM GOP operatives, Domenici and Wison in the shady, Rovian maneuverings to politicize the U.S. Justice Department and cast out ethical U.S. Attorneys, is it any wonder that most thinking people believe it's a story when fellow Repubs accuse Wilson's campaign of paying for votes at local GOP delegate conventions?

More excerpts:

In his forthcoming book about the scandal, In Justice, co-written with Davin Seay, Iglesias attempts to puzzle out who did him in and why. Like another purged colleague, former U.S. Attorney John McKay from Washington's Western District, who has recently written a long law review article about the firings, Iglesias is persuaded that the nameless, faceless folks who engineered the firings were engaged in serious, if not criminal, wrongdoing. And although the evidence is, he concedes, still mostly circumstantial, one of his chapter titles is "All Roads Lead to Rove." The mild-mannered McKay, for his part, argues for bringing obstruction of justice charges against Gonzales.

What most shines through in the draft copy of Iglesias' manuscript, provided to Slate by the author, are the raw politics animating both his dismissal and the subsequent cover-up. Indeed Iglesias describes that at his very first meeting with then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales in 2001, which took place shortly after he became a U.S. attorney, Gonzales offered him the following warning: "This is a tough town. They are out to destroy the president, and it is my job to protect him."

'Nuff said.

Iglesias, whose book will be published in June, writes that immediately after receiving the news of his dismissal in December 2006, he put in a desperate call to another U.S. attorney from Texas' Western District, Bush protégée Johnny Sutton. According to Iglesias, Sutton immediately warned him that the firing was a "done deal" and that "[T]his is political. If I were you, I'd just go quietly." When Iglesias, still unaware that this had been a mass firing and ignorant of the basis for his dismissal, pushed Sutton to explain how he knew it was "political," Sutton replied, "I saw your name."

NM-03: Adams' Petition Challenge Against Wiviott Dimissed By NM First Judicial District Court Judge

First Judicial District Court Judge Daniel Sanchez today dismissed the petition challenge filed by Jon Adams against Don Wiviott, a candidate for the third congressional district.

“I’m not surprised by today’s outcome. I have been a champion of ballot access for candidates so that voters have a choice at the polls,” Wiviott stated. 

“I’m running for Congress so that I can fight for change in Washington—bring new energy and new ideas to begin repairing the damage that George W. Bush has caused over the past seven years. I will fight to be a leader in the tradition of Tom Udall: working as he has to end the war, protect the environment, provide affordable health care for all, and fight for the federal funds needed to ensure good schools, adequate water resources and economic development in all our communities.”

Here's my post reporting on the petition challenge by Jon Adams. To see all my previous coverage of the 2008 NM-03 race, visit the archive.

(Updated) Cargo, MacCallum, Alleged NM GOP Vote-Buying Story on Collins Radio Show Tonight

UPDATE: Click to listen to an podcast (mp3) of about an hour of the show that focuses on the NM story. Both former Gov. Dave Cargo and KKOB's former news anchor, Laura MacCallum, are interviewed.
********
As posted on BradBlog by Brad Friedman:
New Mexico Republican Vote-Buying Scandal to be Covered Tonight on Peter B. Collins Show Guests to Include Myself, Along with Former US Attorney from NM, Former NM Republican Governor, Former KKOB Anchor Who Broke Story...

During my regular weekly Friday guest appearance on the syndicated Peter B. Collins Show at 5pm PT tonight (that's 6pm in Albuquerque), we'll be joined by guests:

• Laura MacCallum (now-resigned KKOB reporter who broke the Heather Wilson Vote-Buying stories before they were spiked by her own station after complaints from Wilson.)
• Gov. David Cargo (former Republican NM Governor. One of several officials who made the initial allegations)
• David Iglesias Did not make it (former US Attorney from NM who was fired in the U.S. Attorney Purge after receiving inappropriate phone-calls from Heather Wilson and Pete Domenici.)

You can listen live right here. If there's time for calls, you can get in via 888-5-PeterB (888-573-8372).