Democracy for New Mexico

Two Fun Events in ABQ on June 14

From the DPBC eNews: Two events on Saturday, June 14, provide a wonderful opportunity for Bernalillo County Democrats to demonstrate their support, and have fun in the process:

"Juneteenth," celebrating the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Galveston, Texas, in 1865, will be celebrated from noon to 6 PM at  Kirtland Park and Thomas Bell Community Center (3001 University  SE). The County party will have a voter registration and candidate literature table at the event. Some of our candidates will be there, and there will be lots of food, games for the kids, music, and storytelling activities. Come on out! More info.

"Live, Love, Be" is the theme of this year's Albuquerque Pride, celebrating 32 years of the gay,lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. The Bernalillo County Democratic Party will have a float in the morning Pride Parade, and the state party will have a booth at the Pridefest festival following at EXPO NM (Fairgrounds). Come watch the parade (leaves Girard and Central at 10 AM and proceeds up Central to the Fairgrounds) and visit the Pridefest after! More info.

Any one who wants to help decorate the float on Friday, June 13, please call Cheryl Harris, 321-7678 or cherylannharris@comcast.net

The Democratic Party supports equality for all citizens and the protection of our civil liberties.

Click for Santa Fe Pride events.

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NM-02: Where Does Tinsley Really Live?

We know where NM-02's Dem Congressional candidate Harry Teague (right) lives and works. He has deep roots in Lea County, having resided there since he was nine years old.

Teague attended Will Rogers Elementary and Houston Junior High in Hobbs, as well as Hobbs High School. He left school at age 17 to help support his family by working an oil field job in the area that paid $1.50 an hour, and he ended up building a highly successful oil services business from scratch in Hobbs. His company now employs more than 250 people in NM-02. Teague also served for eight years on the Lea County Commission. Teague knows the Second District and the people of the Second District know Teague.

It's a different story with GOP candidate Ed Tinsley (left). Tinsley, who owns the multi-state steakhouse chain K-Bob's, has long owned an expensive residence in the exclusive Las Campanas compound in Santa Fe, in NM-03. He's admitted that he uses his Santa Fe home as his operating base for business travel. So why is he running for office down south in New Mexico's Second Congressional District? Because he claims he now spends 90% of his time at his Capitan ranch in in Lincoln County, despite his well-known habit of using his Santa Fe abode much of the time.

Tinsley also competed in the 2002 Repub primary and lost to Steve Pearce, who ultimately won the Congressional seat (and now is running for U.S. Senate). Back then, questions arose about where he really lived and how he could represent the interests of the Second District if he did most of his living in trendy Santa Fe. And in the just-finished GOP primary, rivals C. Earl Greer and Aubrey Dunn Jr. also questioned where Tinsley really lives. Now, right out of the box, Harry Teague is accusing Tinsley of being an outsider. According to an article in the Las Cruces Sun-News:

"I would think that the people of the 2nd Congressional District would want their representative to live in the 2nd Congressional District. And he doesn't," Teague said Wednesday.

... "It is a relevant deal," Teague said. "I wouldn't want my representative living outside my district. If we don't ask our representatives to live in our district, next thing you know they won't even live in our state."

Tinsley argues he lives in Lincoln County, while admitting he has what he calls a "second home" outside the District:

"Our home is here," Tinsley said Friday during an interview at his Lincoln County campaign headquarters. "We've lived here for the last 10 years. We spend most of our time here. But I will say this: We do have a second home."

Tinsley says he regularly has used his Santa Fe residence as "an operating base for business travel," and offers a rather confusing explanation of his living and working arrangements:

"If I could just make a living on our ranch, our home, that would be my preference," he said. "But I've had to operate restaurants in multiple states. I've also in recent years been very active in the restaurant association. I'm traveling. It puts me on the road quite a bit.

"With my business the way it is now, I probably spend 90 percent of my time here," he said. "But it hasn't always been that way. It's been a deal where we've had to balance out a lot of other issues and obligations." 

I'm sure this won't be the last we hear of questions about Tinsley's primary residence.

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Straw Poll: Pick Your Favorite Dem VP

Now that Obama has clinched the Dem presidential nomination, talk has turned to possible VP choices.

Click onto the continuation page below the fold to vote for your favorite VP candidate. You have from now through next Sunday to vote, one vote per person.

To help you out, check out Mother Jones' info on the pros and cons of most of the potential VP candidates listed in the poll.

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The Cradle Project: Art Auction to Benefit African HIV-AIDS Orphans

Local photographer Naomi Natale is the driving force behind The Cradle Project, an innovative art exhibition and auction that opened this weekend in downtown Albuquerque to benefit children in sub-Saharan Africa who have been affected by the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Many are orphans because their parents died from the virus. Natale was inspired to organize the project after visiting Kenya and witnessing the devastation caused by HIV-AIDS. The Albuquerque Journal reports:

Called “The Cradle Project,” her idea was to recruit as many artists as she could to make cradles that would each be sponsored for $100, and then each of the cradles would be sold at an online auction.

... After more than two years of work, “The Cradle Project” is opening to the public. Space for the show has been donated in the Sunrise Bank building Downtown on the seventh and eighth floors, which are in a rough state of remodel.

Cradle of Civilization, Barbara Grothus, #110

The project features 550 cradles by an international slate of artists. Proceeds will go to the Firelight Foundation, which supports and advocates for the needs and rights of children who are orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Details:

• WHAT: “The Cradle Project”
• WHEN: 1-5 PM, Thursdays-Sundays through June 28
• WHERE: Sunrise Bank building, 210 Central NW, on the seventh and eighth floors
• HOW MUCH: Free.
• INFO: Visit www.thecradleproject.org for more information. You can also view the cradles online at the webite, submit bids or donate to the cause. Larger images of the cradles are available on Flickr. The photos are numbered to match items on the auction page.

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Sunday Bird Blogging: Bush Out, Obama In

Bosco the peach-faced lovebird is high on life these days, what with Obama winning the Dem nomination for president and George Bush -- known in the avian world as George Chimpface -- on the way out. All the birds in our house are Obama fans, as are the humans. And we've all been on a long journey together doing everything we can to stop Chimpface's antics. You can see Bosco above, fighting beak and nail against the likeness of George Chimpface. Obviously, Bosco can't abide Bush. He can't wait till Chimpy leaves Washington, and neither can we.

Now, at last, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel coming in January, when Chimpface Bush will finally be forced to leave office. If we all do what we need to do now to help Barack get elected, he can begin righting the many wrongs perpetrated by one of the most unpopular and stubbornly anti-Constitutional presidents in history. Even the birds will be full of hope at the prospect of real change.

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Hillary Nails It; Endorses Obama

Moments ago, Senator Clinton officially announced her support for Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton made history over the past 16 months -- not just because she has broken barriers, but because she has inspired millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to causes like universal health care that make a difference in the lives of all Americans.

Please take a minute to thank her for her hard work and for supporting this campaign.
******
Obama's website is displaying the above message and I wanted to include it here. You know how hard I can be on both Hillary and Bill Clinton, but today is the day for coming together, as Democrats and as human beings who want to join forces and defeat the negative forces that have been pulling us down for too long in so many critical ways. Now we need to unite behind our best hope for change at the national level, reach out to everyone who has been active in this extraordinary primary season, join our energies and work for the change door to door, phone call by phone call, dollar for dollar, up and down the ticket. Lives are literally in the balance.

I thought Hillary Clinton gave a soaring and inspiring concession speech today that hit all the right notes, gracefully and with dignity. She brought home the truly historic nature of her campaign, as well as that of Barack Obama, and articulated beautifully so many of the ideals and values we share as Democrats -- for equality, for justice, for the environment, for peace, for lifting one another up, for creativity and gumption, for moving humans forward into better ways of relating, working and being.

Of course given the often brutal nature of politics and power, as well as our flaws, foibles and fumbles, none of us lives up to these ideals all the time, or even most of the time. The important thing is that we try. And keep trying. That we continue to wring out the best we can from every situation, from every challenge. And work together despite our differences to replace fearmongering with hope this November. As Hillary said, echoing Obama's moving message: Yes We Can.

Of course the true test of HIllary's dedication to a presidential win for us this November will come in seeing what actions she puts behind her words, and the kind of commitment she urges her supporters to make to Obama as we go forward. But today, I feel relieved, optimistic, fired up and ready to go. I'm that corny. And that Democratic at my core.

Transcript. Videos of entire speech. New York Times live-blogging of event, with photos and quotes.

Excerpt of speech:

Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we'd had a Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court.

Imagine how far we could have come, how much we could have achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.

We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much.

Now, the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can't do it, that it's too hard, we're just not up to the task. But for as long as America has existed, it has been the American way to reject can't-do claims and to choose instead to stretch the boundaries of the possible through hard work, determination, and a pioneering spirit.

It is this belief, this optimism that Senator Obama and I share and that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make their voices heard. So today I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes, we can!

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Tonight on NM In Focus: Tom Udall, Brian Colon, Diane Denish, Primary Wrap-Up

Tonight at 7:00 PM, KNME's New Mexico In Focus features a wrap-up of Tuesday's New Mexico primary and a look ahead to November. David Alire Garcia interviews Tom Udall, special guests give their takes on the results and Gene Grant and The Line panelists provide analysis.

Guests:
• Brian Colon, Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman
• Diane Denish, Lt. Governor
• Tom Udall, Dem Candidate, U.S. Senate
•  Dan East, Repub Candidate, U.S. Senate
• Allen Weh, Republican Party Chairman

Guest Panelist:
• Michael Coleman, Albuquerque Journal Reporter

Regular Commentators/Panelists
• Hosts: Gene Grant and David Alire Garcia
• Margaret Montoya, UNM School of Law / UNM School of Medicine
• Scott Darnell, Communication Director, Republican Party of New Mexico
• Jim Scarantino, Weekly Alibi Columnist

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NM-Sen: New Defenders Ad Ties Pearce to Bush, Big Oil Profits

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund today launched its third TV ad in New Mexico this election cycle, and the first since Steve Pearce defeated Heather Wilson by about 3,000 votes to win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in New Mexico on Tuesday. It shows how Pearce and George Bush are two peas in a pod when it comes to energy policy.

The ad calls on Pearce to begin working for the public interest rather than continually supporting President Bush’s legislative gifts to big oil. It will be broadcast throughout New Mexico and highlights Pearce’s vote to give billions in tax breaks to big oil, as well as his terrible record on improving fuel economy standards, a cost cutting solution for New Mexicans that Pearce has consistently opposed. 

The ad, entitled “Both,” highlights for New Mexicans how Pearce and Bush have consistently stood together on the wrong side of environmental issues, damaging the environment and eating into people’s wages simultaneously.

“Pearce and Bush have actively worked against legislation that could have helped thousands of New Mexicans now struggling to keep up with rising gas prices,” said Defenders Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen.

Pearce sits on the House Natural Resources Committee and has repeatedly voted against clean energy solutions and efforts to combat global warming, as well as voting to give oil companies billions in tax breaks.

“New Mexico faces serious challenges from high gas prices and the threat of global warming. Pearce needs to change the way he votes on energy and environmental issues, if he is to properly serve the needs of the state,” added Schlickeisen.

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Saturday: America Votes 2008 Day of Action

America Votes and the America Votes partners invite you to the 2008 Campaign Day of Action:

Saturday, June 7, 2008, 9:30 AM-6:00 PM
at the
Defenders of Wildlife Fund/SEIU International HQ
1600 San Pedro Drive NE, ABQ, 87111

Schedule:
9:30 AM: Morning Canvasses Launch
11:30 - 11:50 AM: Canvassers Open House
1:00 PM: Afternoon Canvass Launch
6:00 PM: Pizza time for canvassers

Let’s get the 2008 Campaign started UNITED
as a MOBILIZED, PROGRESSIVE FORCE in New Mexico!

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NM-Sen: Join Tom Udall at Veterans Rally Saturday

From Udall for Senate:
You're invited to join Tom Udall tomorrow at Noon for a Veterans for Udall Rally. Throughout his career in public service, Tom Udall has demonstrated that he has the integrity to do what's right. He believes that we must provide our veterans with the care they need and opportunities they deserve when they get home. For questions or to RSVP, please call Mike Davis at 505.884.3055.

Veterans for Udall
Saturday, June 7th, 12 Noon
Bataan Memorial Park, Corner of Lomas & Carlisle, ABQ

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