Democracy for New Mexico

NM-02: Where Will Tinsley Spend Independence Day?

We know where Harry Teague, the Dem candidate for Congress in NM-02, will be this holiday weekend. He's visiting five community holiday celebrations in Southern New Mexico during the 4th of July weekend. We don't know where his GOP rival, Ed Tinsley (right), will be this weekend. Could it be that he'll be hanging out at events near what he calls his "second home" -- in Santa Fe?

We know that Tinsley owns a home in the elite Las Campanas subdivision in Santa Fe. We also know that he's admitted to spending only 60 to 70 percent of his time in the 2nd Congressional district he seeks to represent [Las Cruces Sun-News, 11/07/07]. What we don't know for sure is where Tinsley will be this holiday weekend.

There's nothing on his campaign website about his schedule during the Independence Day festivities. In fact, it appears that the last time his website was updated was when he won the GOP primary back in early June. So, whereabouts unknown. But the Democratic Party of New Mexico has some suggestions if Ed is up at his home in Santa Fe for the holidays.

"Maybe Tinsley should consider attending some of the great Independence Day events close to his home in Santa Fe. Since Ed Tinsley admittedly spends so much time in Santa Fe, he may know more about what's going on there than me," said Josh Geise, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. Where will the Tinsleys be on July 4th? Keep an eye out at these events:

1. 33rd Annual Pancakes on the Santa Fe Plaza. The breakfast lasts from 7 AM to 12:30 PM. This tradition brings Santa Feans together for a pancake breakfast that features an arts and crafts fair, live music, a vintage car show and children's Firecracker Pajama Parade.

2. Leon Russell, Sharon Little and Alex Maryol Concert. The concert is at 7:00 PM on the 4th of July at the Santa Fe Brewing Company.

3.  Santa Fe Fireworks Festivities. Top off the evening with a fireworks display at Santa Fe High School.

If you see Ed Tinsley anywhere this weekend, let us know.

NM-01: Heinrich and Vets; 4th of July Holiday Schedule

Heinrich with veterans at Bataan Memorial Park yesterday

Yesterday, local veterans hosted a press conference for Martin Heinrich to express their support for his campaign for Congress. They have banded together to form Veterans for Heinrich and will work over the coming months with Heinrich to address veterans' issues, according to a statement from the campaign. "Our troops put their lives and their families on hold in order to serve their fellow Americans," said Heinrich. "We owe them a great debt of gratitude and I intend to make sure Congress repays this debt."

Brigadier General George Franzen introduced Heinrich at the conference and will co-chair the committee with his wife Lisa Franzen. They are both veterans and residents of Placitas. "Martin has a deep and serious concern for all our veterans, those now returning from combat as well as veterans from earlier conflicts. As a 29-year veteran of the Air Force, I know we can count on Martin Heinrich to make the changes we need in our nation."

Heinrich thanked the crowd for their support and expressed his support for veterans at home and deployed. "Our soldiers have bravely fought hostile enemies abroad. They should never have to fight federal bureaucrats here at home for the benefits they have earned."

Schedule for Holiday Weekend
Heinrich will be visiting with folks in every county in the First Congressional District during the Fourth of July holiday weekend:

Friday, July 4th

• 10:00 a.m. Marching in the Corrales Parade along with his family
• 11:00 a.m. Attending ceremony marking the 232nd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, held at the Rio Rancho Veterans Monument Park
• 1:00 p.m. Attending 4th of July Festival in Moriarty, located at Festival Park
• 2:30 p.m. Meeting with Edgewood residents at Chili Hill Restaurant
• 4:00 p.m. Attending Albuquerque's annual celebration of Independence Day, held at Balloon Fiesta Park
• 5:00 p.m. Attending 4th of July Fireworks Extravaganza
• 6:45 p.m. Attending 4th of July events in Los Lunas at Daniel Fernandez Park

Saturday, July 5th

• 10:00 a.m. Marching in Mountainair Firecracker Jubilee Parade

Martin Heinrich is a True Blue New Mexico candidate. Please do what you can to support his campaign.

Technorati Tags:

"Pearce Wrong 4 NM" Hybrid Competes in Street Race Tonight

The thrills just keep on coming in New Mexico's U.S. Senate race:

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
Cordially Invites You to Witness as

The “Steve Pearce: Wrong 4 New Mexico Hybrid Car” Drives the Debate on High Gas Prices by Lining Up Against Albuquerque’s Best in a Race to the Finish



Featuring conversations with the crowd about their feelings on the high cost of gas and what they think of Rep. Steve Pearce and Rep. Tom Udall

When:  Thursday, July 3, 6:00 PM
Where: Albuquerque Dragway, 5700 Bobby Foster Rd. SE
What:  The “Steve Pearce: Wrong 4 New Mexico Hybrid” Will be Entering the Street Race Session to Prove that You Don’t Need High Gas Prices for High Speed Action

Enter to Win
See our previous post about the Action Fund's Prius hybrid, Steve Pearce's abysmal record on energy and how you can enter the drawing to win it.

Technorati Tags:

NM-02: Teague to Attend 5 Celebrations During 4th of July Weekend

Harry Teague, NM-02's Dem Congressional candidate, will be visiting five communities in Southern New Mexico and honoring locals as they celebrate America's independence during the long Fourth of July weekend. According to a campaign release, Harry will attend the Electric Light Parade in Las Cruces on Thursday evening. Friday morning Harry will attend the Mescalero Celebration Parade, followed by the Independence Day Festival in Artesia. Saturday morning, Harry will march in the Eunice Independence Day Parade, and later in the evening, Harry will take part in the Lovington Centennial Presentation and festivities.

In today's statement, Teague thanked Southern New Mexicans for their service to the country:

"I've lived in Southern New Mexico for over 50 years, and to this day, I am continually humbled by the service, commitment and ingenuity of the American people. No other country offers the opportunities we have here in the United States – opportunities where someone like me, who at 17 went to work in the oil fields for $1.50 an hour, could build a successful company and now run for Congress. Today, we are blessed to live in the United States and honored to live in Southern New Mexico."

Harry Teague is a True Blue New Mexico candidate. Please do what you can to help him get elected and turn NM-02 blue.

Technorati Tags:

(Updated) NM-03: Lujan Issues Fourth of July Statement

DFA Chair Jim Dean, Ben Ray Lujan at DFA's Campaign Training Academy in ABQ last month

Update: Ben Ray will be visiting these communities over the Fourth of July weekend:

Friday, July 4

• 8:00 am - 33rd Annual Pancakes on the Plaza, Santa Fe
• 10:00 am - Corrales NM 4th of July Parade, Corrales Main Fire Station

Saturday, July 5

• 9:00 am - Las Vegas NM Fiesta Parade, 6th and University
• After the Parade - Las Vegas NM 4th of July Fiesta, Old Town Plaza

**************
NM-03 Congressional candidate Ben Ray Luja¡n issued the following statement in observance of the Fourth of July:

"As we will celebrate Independence Day with family and friends, we should also take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices of those who fought for our independence, freedom and ideals. Our founders constructed a nation that values the rights, liberties and freedom of its people. They had a vision we continue to work toward today.

"The Democratic Congress recently honored the sacrifices of our soldiers with a new GI Bill that expands education benefits to provide a full, four-year scholarship for returning soldiers. Our soldiers and veterans have made great sacrifices and endured great hardship, and I will work hard to get them the benefits they earned and deserve."

I especially like this next paragraph, with a FISA vote due next Tuesday in the U.S. Senate:

"America's founding fathers also went to great lengths to create a system of checks and balances and protections against government infringement of individual rights. I encourage the Senate to live up to these ideals and oppose the domestic surveillance program recently passed by the House of Representatives. Our founders and our soldiers sacrificed too much to see our freedoms given away.

"This Independence Day, take a moment to remember why we celebrate and why we need to work to uphold the values and ideals of the nation's founders. Please be safe and enjoy the holiday. Happy Independence Day, and I hope to see you on the campaign trail."

By the way, the Luja¡n campaign is preparing to launch a new and improved website in the near future, to mark the switch to their general election efforts. I got a preview of the redesign and it's looking sleek, sharp and interactive. It'll be up here soon so you can see for yourself -- and get more involved in the Democratic push towards victory on November 4th, up and down the ticket.

Netroots Nation Coming Up
We're also looking forward to seeing Ben Ray and NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich at Netroots Nation, the national blogger convention being held this year in Austin on July 17-20, 2008. Ben Ray and Martin will be participating in a panel discussion called New Mexico: Case Study for the Interior West:

The Interior West is an important part of the country for Democrats this year. New Mexico is the ultimate swing state in the region. It was the closest (in margin) in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential contests. Every Congressional seat is open in 2008, as is the Senate seat of retiring Republican Pete Domenici. The west has important regional issues: water, public lands, fire, remote rural areas, large Native American and Hispanic populations and more. Speakers include the Democratic candidates for NM-01 and NM-03.

Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich are True Blue New Mexico candidates. Please help them get elected with whatever you can afford in terms of dollars and/or time.

Technorati Tags:

NM-01: Press Conference Today Marks Official Launch of Veterans for Heinrich

In honor of Independence Day, local veterans will host a press conference at 11 AM today, July 3rd, at Bataan Memorial Park in support of NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich. According to a statement from the campaign, this will also mark the official launch of Veterans for Heinrich. In attendance with Heinrich will be Brigadier General George Franzen and Lisa Franzen, both veterans, as well as other local veterans and supporters of Martin Heinrich's campaign for change.

Technorati Tags:

Gov. Richardson Appoints Martha Burk as Women’s Issues Advisor

Gov. Bill Richardson introduced Corrales resident Martha Burk yesterday as his Senior Advisor on Women’s Issues. Great pick. Burk, who served as the Senior Adviser for Women’s Issues for Richardson's presidential campaign, is a nationally recognized expert on pay equity and other women’s issues. She's a political psychologist, feminist, and former Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations who led a protest at the 2003 Masters Tournament in Augusta, GA to bring attention to the male-only membership rules of the Augusta National Golf Club, which hosted it.

Burk currently runs the Corporate Accountability Project for the National Council of Women's Organizations. She's also a syndicated columnist, and serves as Money Editor for Ms. Magazine. She's authored two books -- Cult of Power: Sex Discrimination in Corporate American and What Can Be Done About It, and Your Money And Your Life: The High Stakes for Women Voters in ’08 and Beyond.

During yesterday's news conference, Richardson said of the appointment, “I’m not looking for more reports that will simply highlight what we already know –- that many women are not getting a fair shake when it comes to employment and pay equity. That’s why I tapped Dr. Burk for this role, because she knows these issues perhaps better than anyone and she is prepared, like me, to take bold action."

Richardson said Dr. Burk will advise him as he works with the Legislature to double the New Mexico child day care credit -– which will help more than 11,000 working families who pay more than $5,000 a year on child care:

• The child day care credit will be increased from $1,200 to $2,400 for families with three or more children, from $960 to $1,920 for families with two children, and from $480 to $960 for families with one child.

• Families with income up to twice the New Mexico minimum wage will be eligible for the credit.

• Expansion of the child day care credit will benefit 8,600 working families who qualify for the credit under current law, plus an additional 3,700 working families. The estimated cost of the expansion is $6.2 million.

Dr. Burke will also work on other women’s issues, including:

• Address pay equity in state government by requiring state agencies to report on employment and pay by gender, race and job category.

• Require employment and pay reporting from contractors doing business with the state.

• Train women, such as displaced homemakers, so they are prepared for better paying jobs.

• Build on efforts by the Commission on the Status of Women to get more women in non-traditional jobs, which pay better.

• Increase efforts to channel more of our girls into science, math, and technology, and determine when and why girls drop out of these programs.

Technorati Tags:

Hey Barack, Listen Up

Here's a video from Sen. Russ Feingold in response to the many messages he's getting encouraging him to keep fighting the dangerous FISA bill that will now be heard when the Senate reconvenes next Tuesday. He summarizes what's wrong with this bill, and says our letters, phone calls and emails are making a real difference in this fight. We need to keep up the pressure -- on our Senators and our presumptive presidential nominee.

As currently written, the bill would provide retroactive immunity to telecoms without their having to enter a court of law to try and justify their complicity with illegal acts by President Bush. Even worse, the bill would give unprecedented and wide-ranging access to all our international communications without a court overseeing the process.

How could any Democrat vote for such a constitution-shredding bill? Ask Senator Obama -- if he follows through with his stated intention to vote for the FISA bill with or without telecom immunity. Despite his campaign's previous statement that he'd support a filibuster of any bill that contained retroactive immunity, Obama suddenly seems to believe that the dangers of terrorism justify throwing our privacy rights and laws in the trash can. Can anything be farther from the truth or sound more like a Bush-Cheney-McCain punchline? Is Obama really no better than the likes of Rep. Steny Hoyer, who pushed this bill on the House side?

Tonight's Obama Meeting
We attended the Obama campaign meeting tonight at the Plumbers' Hall in Albuquerque and it was apparent that Obama's incredibly disappointing and dismissive statement about the FISA bill was much on people's minds. Obviously, the 60+ people who showed up tonight to touch base with the new field organizers and get certified as voter registrars are gung-ho Obama supporters. And yet the enthusiasm of many seemed subdued and unfocused.

There was a fair amount of whispering and muttering going on in the crowd about Obama and FISA, as well as a few other stances he's taken recently. Several people even challenged the organizers about Obama's upcoming FISA vote, saying they'd have a very hard time going door to door to encouage people to vote for Barack if he backed the bill as written.

Meanwhile, outside the meeting, clumps of people expressed their disappointment and confusion about the Obama campaign's recent tack toward the Dem spinelessness we've come to know and abhor. No, not more of that, please. We've had enough.

Danger Ahead for Obama?
If I were Obama or any of his advisors, I'd be more than a little wary about these early danger signals within the ranks of those who need to be passionate in their support if the campaign's field strategy is to succeed. I can't imagine any of us abandoning the nominee based on his wrong-headed FISA vote, his unnecessary criticism of Wesley Clark's reasonable remarks about McCain or other similar disappointments, but it sure would make it harder to nourish a healthy sense of enthusiasm for the work that's ahead. Or to dig deep to donate generously to his campaign.

Is Obama willing to risk that in order to try and avoid criticism from the fearmongering hyenas of the punditry and the right? Hasn't he learned the most important lesson we've learned from what we've endured over the past decade or more? The hyenas will attack in the very same way whether Obama toes their line or not.

WE know this. Why doesn't Obama? Maybe he'll start getting the picture from what's become the fourth largest group on my.barackobama.com.  “Senator Obama­ Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity –­ Get FISA Right” is five days old and growing fast. Their mission statement says: “We are a proud group of your supporters who believe in your call for hope and a new kind of politics. Please reject the politics of fear on national security, vote against this bill and lead other Democrats to do the same!” Click here to join the group, which currently has more than 9600 members. And read this by one of the folks who started the group. Here's a wiki that makes it easy to take action.

Much will be revealed next week. As Feingold says in the video, "I teased some of my colleagues and said we can celebrate the Constitution on July 4th and maybe when we come back you'll decide not to tear it up." Get it, Barack? Get it, Sen. Bingaman?

Let's keep up the contacts between now and next Tuesday and let those who are supposed to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law know we're watching and that we understand, very specifically, what's wrong with this bill. And with any Senator who votes for it in its present form.

P.S. As usual Glenn Greenwald says it all and says it well.

Technorati Tags:

Tonight: Meet Campaign Staff at Obama for NM Meeting in ABQ

Obama's speech on patriotism yesterday in Independence MO

RSVP for tonight's Obama for New Mexico meeting in Albuquerque and meet the campaign's new staff members. You can also find out what's happening now that the national campaign is in full gear, and get deputized so you can register voters. This weekly meeting has now moved to larger quarters:

Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 7-8:00 PM
Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall
510 San Pedro SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106

Also check out the many events scheduled in the coming weeks, including a massive voter registration drive before and during Fourth of July events around the state.

You can get trained and signed up as a voter registrar beforehand at a number of gatherings around New Mexico. And on Thursday, July 3rd, you're invited to get creative and make signs for the Independence Day actions at the campaign office of NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich.

At the New Mexico page on the main Obama campaign website, you can find and sign up with an Obama group near you, get local and national news and stay current on campaign activities. If you live in Santa Fe, also check out the Santa Fe Grassroots for Obama blog.

It's time to gear up and get involved. Can you feel it?

Technorati Tags:

NM-01: Heinrich Fundraising "Skyrockets" on ActBlue

Heinrich in discussion with campaign manager Jon Blair

Once again, NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich was among the top weekly recipients of campaign funds on ActBlue, coming in at #4 just behind widely popular and high-profile Senate candidate Mark Warner:

Top 10 Candidates on ActBlue, June 24-30, 2008
Rick Noriega | TX-Sen | $119,418.37
Kay Hagan | NC-Sen | $88,551.01
Mark Warner | VA-Sen | $47,225.00
Martin Heinrich | NM-01 | $46,252.43
Joseph Sestak, Jr. | PA-07 | $30,809.50
Barack Obama | President | $26,535.80
Jeff Merkley | OR-Sen | $25,392.64
Bob Lord | AZ-03 | $25,255.39
Mark Begich | AK-Sen | $23,704.29
Joshua Segall | AL-03 | $22,661.00

As I posted previously, Heinrich was #5 in ActBlue fundraising the week before, from June 17-23. ActBlue had this to say about Heinrich's recent online fundraising:

Heinrich's fundraising numbers have continued to skyrocket, making last week his most successful showing yet on ActBlue. After the campaign's original goal to raise $35,000 by the end of the quarter was "obliterated," the campaign quickly surpassed their increased goal of $50,000. The campaign has since raised their target to $75,000. All of the contributors in this drive were entered into a drawing to 'Hike with Heinrich' on one of his favorite trails in New Mexico's 1st District.

When all was said and done at Midnight last night, Heinrich actually raised almost $100,000 in the campaign's one-and-a-half week end of quarter push that started with a $35,000 goal -- showing the strong support he's getting from the grassroots-netroots.

Since his campaign fundraising began on ActBlue, supporters have donated a total of $305,781 to Heinrich there. Of that, $3,263.31 was raised via ActBlue pages established by the Democracy for New Mexico blog, or both of us working together on campaigns like True Blue New Mexico. And we're just getting started.

Heinrich will need every penny as the general election cycle heats up. Heinrich's opponent, Darren White, has already received about $300,000 from a George Bush fundraiser in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, and another sizeable take at this past weekend's fundraiser hosted by outgoing NM-01 Rep. Heather Wilson. Because this is one of the premier races in the nation and the GOP would love to hang onto the seat, expect money to gush in from all the usual Repub suspects. We can't let that go unchallenged.

We hear that final numbers for Heinrich's fundraising in the second quarter of 2008 will take a few days to compile, but if his ActBlue totals are any indication, Martin had an excellent fundraising period to kick off his general election run. Final numbers are due at the FEC by July 15th.

Thanks to all who contributed to Martin Heinrich's campaign this quarter, whether directly or via True Blue New Mexico. Now, I wonder who the winners will be in the drawing for a hike with Martin ....

Technorati Tags: