Democracy for New Mexico

(Updated) NM-01: Three First District Sheriffs Endorse Heinrich

Update: On his blog, Sheriff Greg Solano explains his support for Martin Heinrich -- and why he can't support Darren White -- with this powerful statement:

For me I feel just a little bad that I cannot support Sheriff White but he has always been a staunch Bush supporter and the Bush administration has decimated law enforcement in his last 7 years in office. The really bad part is I have never heard Sheriff White admonish the Bush administration or even lobby the Bush administration to stop the bleeding. Officers across this nation are going with out Bullet Proof Vests, without ammunition for training and with out funding to keep cops on the streets and in the schools. I would love to see a fellow Law Enforcement Officer in Congress, Darren White is just not that officer.

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The Martin Heinrich for Congress campaign informs us that three central New Mexico sheriffs publicly endorsed candidate Martin Heinrich this past weekend. According to the campaign, all three sheriffs cited Heinrich's crime-fighting record on the Albuquerque City Council as a main reason for supporting him in the race for Congress, and all expressed optimism for the future of New Mexican law enforcement with Heinrich acting on their behalf in Congress.

Valencia County Sheriff Rene Rivera appeared Saturday at a Valencia County welcoming event for Martin Heinrich. In his endorsement, Sheriff Rivera said, "I've been in law enforcement for over 19 years fighting against crime and drugs. Martin Heinrich was tough on crime on the Council, and I know he's the right partner in Congress to help keep our streets safe. That's why I'm endorsing him."

"We need Martin Heinrich in Congress," said Sandoval Sheriff John Paul Trujillo in his statement of endorsement. "This is the year to send the right representative to be our man in Congress, our voice for New Mexico law enforcement. Martin Heinrich will fight for critical legislation, like the COPS program. President Bush has succeeded in almost completely defunding COPS, but Martin will fight for the grants and funding law enforcement needs."

Santa Fe Sheriff Greg Solano endorsed Martin Heinrich earlier in the general election, but released an official statement of endorsement today. "This was not a hard decision – supporting Martin Heinrich and endorsing his candidacy," said Sheriff Solano. "I will always support my fellow sheriffs and members of law enforcement, but this year I know the best man to represent us in Congress is Martin Heinrich.

As City Councilor he worked to fight crime and meth production in Albuquerque and increase the minimum wage to help out all of us living here. Martin Heinrich will bring the same ingenuity, creativity, and focus to Congress."

In response Heinrich said, "I am honored that Sheriffs Rivera, Trujillo, and Solano have decided that I am the one person in this race they know they can count on to be their partner in fighting crime."

Martin Heinrich is a True Blue New Mexico candidate. Please give what you can in terms of time and donations to help him get elected in NM-01.

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Guest Blog by Alex Flores: Marty's At It Again

This is a guest post by Alex Flores, who blogs at Alex on Politics. Alex is from Corrales, NM and will start work on a Master's at Princeton this Fall.

I've only been in politics a short time but it hasn't taken long to start associating Martin Chavez with Joe Leiberman. Both are the type to disparage other Democratic candidates for personal gain. A few days ago, the always-excellent web reporter Heath Haussamen wrote a piece quoting Martin Chavez - here are my favorite excerpts:

1. "The real question in my mind is whether Senator Obama is going to be able to capture Hispanics by a significant margin," Chávez was quoted in the article as saying. "That's a big 'if,' because he's clearly an urbanite."
2. "(Obama) walked into the Flying Star and did an event with the latte crowd," the magazine quoted the mayor as saying. He added that Obama needs to "get outside Albuquerque."
3. He pointed out to the news magazine that, when Obama recently visited Albuquerque, he met at a coffeehouse with working women but didn't reach out to Hispanics. Chávez said Obama probably has the edge in New Mexico but has yet to make his case with Hispanics.

Let's address these in order!

1. First of all - how is being an "urbanite" relevant to public policy and running for office? It's not. It has nothing to do with being President of the United States and it has no place in the ongoing discourse. But I'll play anyway: Mayor Chavez - he's an "urbanite" too! Here's what I found on his upbringing:

Born in Albuquerque and of Hispanic heritage, Chávez attended both parochial (St. Charles Borromeo and Holy Ghost) and public (Van Buren Junior High and Manzano High) schools. After graduating from Manzano High School, Chávez earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of New Mexico and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, following in the footsteps of his father.

Well, the Mayor should know that Albuquerque isn't the smallest town in the west. In fact, we're a huge city! It wasn't always this big, due in some part to his leadership, but he's still not exactly a country bumpkin. Albuquerque currently ranks around 34th in US cities with about 520,000 people - making us bigger than Sacramento, Omaha, Miami, Oakland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburg, Newark, and Orlando - just to name a few (data as of ). Wasn't it under Mayor Marty's leadership that Albuquerque was named to Forbes magazine's list as the number-one place to do business?

Mayor Chavez grew up here - and he governs here. He also spent a few years, like me, in Washington DC. So let's stop calling the kettle black and own up to our own identities. This attack angle just isn't going to work for him.

2. Obama needs to get outside Albuquerque? That's advice to someone about how to win a statewide election. But the history isn't really on the Mayor's side (we'll tie number 3 back into this one, too). In 1998, he ran against Gary Johnson to be Governor of the state and lost, 55-45. Recently, he considered running for Governor but decided he couldn't beat Lt. Governor Diane Denish. So he switched over to the Senate race, and before the Primary ever got under way - was already losing to Tom Udall - an undeclared candidate - by 30 points.

Marty has been a great Mayor - his biography on the Albuquerque website and the tangible benefits of growth we see all around us are testaments to that. He's just not the authoritative source on statewide elections or how to win them.

3. Obama has yet to make his case with Hispanics. Really? Ok, let's go back to number 2. In 1998, Chavez was the Hispanic who ran against Republican Johnson. He was the de facto Hispanic candidate against Denish for 2010. Chavez was the headline Hispanic candidate against Don Wivviot and Tom Udall for the Democratic nomination for Senate this year. Every time, he lost - as the sole major Hispanic candidate in the race. The 98 race was lost by 10. The 08 Senate race is more recent - here are the 5 polls I remember:

• SurveyUSA Poll #12737, between 10/05-10/07, 2007, commissioned by KOB-TV, shows Udall beating either Republican candidate for Senate and Chavez only competitive.
• SurveyUSA Poll #12878, between 10/27-10/30, 2007, commissioned by Roll Call newspaper, Washington DC. Chavez beats both Rep. Wilson and Rep. Pearce but within the margin of error.
• Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, between 10/23-10/27, 2007, shows Chavez losing to Udall in a 3-way race, 50%-30% with Udall winning Hispanics by 8 points.
• Research 2000, between 11/05-11/07, commissioned by DailyKos, shows Chavez losing to both Pearce and Wilson but within the margin of error.
• SurveyUSA Poll #12979, between 11/16-11/18, 2007 commissioned by KOB-TV, shows Udall over Chavez for the Democratic Senate nomination, 62%-32%. In this poll, Chavez tied Udall among Hispanics.

So maybe Mayor Chavez isn't the biggest authority on how to reach Hispanic voters, either. Especially not after this:

According to a nationwide survey by the reputable Pew Hispanic Center of 2,015 Latinos in June and July, registered Latino voters support Barack Obama for President over Republic John McCain by 66%-23%!

Want more? Here's more of my analysis from when the poll was released. More numbers about Obama and Hispanics follow later in this post. Let's not forget that Senator Obama is spending more money and resources to register Latinos to vote and get them to the polls than any other candidate in HISTORY. Period. Let's not forget that back in September of 2007, Obama appointed former Denver Mayor and Clinton Cabinet Secretary Federico Pena to be national co-chair of the campaign. Or that in February of 2007, when the campaign began, Obama appointed Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Figueroa to be the NATIONAL Field Director. Previously, you may recall, Temo was the Administrator of AFSCME Council 18 - RIGHT HERE IN NEW MEXICO!

And lastly, let's not forget Senator Obama's commitment to do more in the Latino community than any other Presidential candidate in history; in July, the campaign launched a massive $20 million Latino Vote program. The program will greatly benefit New Mexico and a number of other states. After all of that - here's why I'm really angry with Mayor Chavez. This kind of underhanded attack against members of his own party rings all-too familiar. Remember that article in The Politico from November 10, 2007? Jog your memory:

In an interview with Politico on Saturday, Chavez said his achievements as mayor would compare well with what he called Udall's lackluster record in the House. [You can read why this simply isn't true here.]

And this from Steve Terrell, a New Mexico reporter, on November 8, 2007:

"Philosophically, he's so far to the left," Chávez told Las Cruces political blogger Heath Haussamen last month. In an interview with the Washington, D.C., publication Roll Call published Thursday, Chávez said, "The contrast in records between me and the Congressman won't situate him well for the general election."

Well Mayor Chavez might have been right - Udall was farther left, but the voters approved of it. Now, the Mayor is falling back into his same old habits - attacking those who he doesn't support or agree with - even if they all call themselves Democrats. So Mayor - please stop spending time attacking Democrats who aren't voting against our Party's values. Please stop attacking Democrats for personal gain. And please stop speaking as an authority where you haven't thought it all through. Here are more numbers from the Pew Poll:

Three times as many respondents said being black would help Obama (32%) with Latino voters than said it would hurt him (11%); the majority (53%) said his race would make no difference to Latino voters.

Obama is rated favorably by 76% of Latino registered voters, making him much more popular among that voting group than McCain (44% favorable) and President Bush (27% favorable). Hillary Clinton's ratings among Latino registered voters are 73% favorable and 24% unfavorable; Obama's are 76% favorable and 17% unfavorable. Also, more than three-quarters of Latinos who reported that they voted for Clinton in the primaries now say they are inclined to vote for Obama in the fall election, while just 8% say they are inclined to vote for McCain. That means that Obama is doing better among Hispanics who supported Clinton than he is among non-Hispanic white Clinton supporters, 70% of whom now say they have transferred their allegiance to Obama while 18% say they plan to vote for McCain, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Latino registered voters rank education, the cost of living, jobs and health care as the most important issues in the fall campaign, with crime lagging a bit behind those four and the war in Iraq and immigration still farther behind. On each of these seven issues, Obama is strongly favored over McCain--by lopsided ratios ranging from about three-to-one on education, jobs, health care, the cost of living and immigration, to about two-to-one on Iraq and crime. In addition to their strong support for Obama, Latino voters have moved sharply into the Democratic camp in the past two years, reversing a pro-GOP tide that had been evident among Latinos earlier in the decade. Some 65% of Latino registered voters now say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with just 26% who identify with or lean toward the GOP. This 39 percentage point Democratic Party identification edge is larger than it has been at any time this decade; as recently as 2006, the partisan gap was just 21 percentage points.

This is a guest blog by Alex Flores of Corrales. He currently is a member of the Platform and Resolutions Committee of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. He'll serve the New Mexico delegation as a page at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25-28. Also check out Alex's previous guest blog on DFNM.

Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on pertinent political issues. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

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More Details Revealed on Lawsuit by Defeated Dem Incumbents Robinson, Taylor & Silva

Even though it's Sunday, I thought I'd follow up on yesterday's post about a suit filed in state district court by Shannon Robinson, Dan Silva and James G. Taylor that alleges campaign finance fraud in connection with the victories of three Dem challengers to long-time incumbents in the June 3, 2008 Dem primary. Today's Albuquerque Journal includes an article by Sean Olson that reveals more details about the suit, which was filed late Friday afternoon.

According to the article,

The lawsuit names the Center for Civic Policy and its director Eli Lee; Conservation Voters New Mexico, its director Javier Benavidez and its president Ned Farquhar; the SouthWest Organizing Project and its director Albert Ozawa Bineshi; and New Energy Economy Inc., its president John Fogarty and director Keegan King as the nonprofits allegedly working with the winning Democrats in the campaign.

The three incumbent losers and their backers must be miffed indeed by their defeats to go after some of the most respected nonprofits and issue advocates in New Mexico.

"Our organizations have a long and proud history of working for ethics reform, good government, health care and a clean environment," Lee said in an e-mail Saturday. "As nonpartisan, not-for-profit organizations, it is our responsibility to educate the public about the votes and contributions of our elected officials."

Then again, it's not usual for the forces that defend business-as-usual practices in Santa Fe to harbor resentments against those seeking reform and progressive solutions to our problems. They like things just the way they are. The last of the good ol' boy machine clings to its power base.

Olson describes the suit as "alleging a conspiracy among [the defeated lawmakers'] opponents and local nonprofits to defraud voters and skirt campaign finance laws." More:

Sens. Shannon Robinson and James Taylor and Rep. Dan Silva all seek to have the primary election annulled in the state District Court lawsuit. The lawmakers, all Democrats, allege in the lawsuit a "secret campaign" among opponents Eric Griego, Tim Keller and Eleanor Chavez to distribute literature, make phone calls to voters and funnel at least $180,000 of undisclosed campaign funds using local nonprofits.

The three incumbents would not have lost the election without the alleged fraudulent activity, the lawsuit states. "You can't create a scheme to violate campaign finance laws. ... It's fraud," Robinson said Saturday.

The Challengers Won by Large Margins
Is it just me, or do you find it hilarious (if sad) that the three primary losers are asserting that they would have won if certain nonprofits had not revealed their voting records and positions on the important issues like health care, a raise in the minimum wage and ethics and campaign finance reform? After all, the incumbents were beaten by large margins in their primaries.

In SD 14, Eric Griego beat James G. Taylor, a Senator since 2004 and before that a State Rep, by 62%-38%. In SD 17, Tim Keller defeated Shannon Robinson, who's been in the Senate since 1989, by 66%-34%. Eleanor Chavez beat Dan Silva, who served in the House since 1987, by 54%-46%. Not exactly squeakers.

Response
The Journal article also relates some statements by those named in the suit that were first revealed last May in the paper when similar complaints were made about the actions of the nonprofits:

Officials for the Center for Civic Policy said in May they had sent out literature for the Legislative Accountability Project in conjunction with several other nonprofits, including the SouthWest Organizing Project. They said they sent the materials out as mailers starting after the end of the last legislative session as educational materials for voters based on the legislators' voting records, not as campaign materials intended to unseat lawmakers.

The mailers, which criticized the losing officials for their voting records and campaign contributors, were stopped more than a month before the primary to avoid the appearance of any partisanship, they said.

AG King's Involvement
Again according to the Journal the suit implicates the since disbanded New Mexico League of Young Voters and points the finger at New Mexico Youth Organized as its alleged successor group:

The lawsuit claims the $180,000 was distributed to the listed nonprofits to put out negative campaign materials without notifying the Secretary of State of any contributions or spending in the campaign. The $180,000 was originally distributed by the New Mexico League of Young Voters to the other organizations, it states.

The League of Young Voters group, however, disbanded last year and re-formed under a different capacity as New Mexico Youth Organized, a division of the Center for Civic Policy. It is directed by King.

Back in May, the office of the New Mexico Attorney General sent a letter to the Secretary of State advising that it was their opinion that New Mexico Youth Organized should be reclassified as a PAC. New Mexico Youth Organized claims the AG's office never contacted them to ascertain the facts:

The Attorney General's Office sent a letter to the secretary of state in May advising that New Mexico Youth Organized be recategorized as a political action committee, not a nonprofit, based on a complaint from Robinson. The secretary of state has not yet responded to the letter.

An attorney for New Mexico Youth Organized said at the time that the AG's letter was based on inaccurate information provided by Robinson, and the group was never contacted by the AG's Office for any fact-checking before the letter was issued.

Help Me Re King Quote
I swear I recall reading in the Journal that when Attorney General Gary King was later questioned about the letter from his office to the Secretary of State, he claimed not to know much about it as he was out of the country when it was sent by one of his deputies. Unfortunately, I can't find anything on the Journal site about this. Unfortunately, that's often the case when I use their incredibly poor search tool. Anyone else remember the quote by AG King?

What Evidence Did the AG's Office Rely On?
There has been no response yet from the Secretary of State's office or the Attorney General's office about this lawsuit by the incumbents. Isn't it time for AG King to come clean about the findings his office made that prompted someone in his office to send the letter to Mary Herrera about changing New Mexico Youth Organized's status? For starters, what were the criteria and evidence used in the AG's decision?

Gov. Richardson Contributed to the Incumbents
As an FYI, another Journal article from May of this year reports on primary candidate contributions made by Gov. Bill Richardson via his state campaign fund:

Receiving contributions from Richardson were: ... Rep. Dan Silva, D-Albuquerque, $2,000; ... Sen. James Taylor, D-Albuquerque, $5,000; ... Sen. Shannon Robinson, D-Albuquerque, $5,000.

For more background, see this Journal op-ed by Eli Il Yong Lee and Keegan King about the free speech activities by New Mexico Youth Organize. Also check out yesterday's AP article on the suit.

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Robinson, Taylor, Silva: Fallen Dem Incumbents File Sour Grapes Lawsuit Alleging Campaign Finance Fraud

Note: Also see my later post on this, published on Sunday, 8/3/08.
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Ah, now I get it. I posted the other day about the melodramatic whining and harumphing coming from certain blogs about the operations of certain local nonprofits and those who manage and donate to the organizations. The nonprofits have been circulating facts about legislative voting records and promoting a number of mainstream issues like expanded health care and ethics reform. Oh, horrors, not that!

Now I see that the alligators and eyes on Albuquerque were likely serving as mouthpieces for a concerted effort to create a useful reservoir of talking points. It appears they were preparing the way for the forces of business-as-usual to take action in court to try and get things back to the way they used to be. Back to when folks paid less attention to what their legislators were doing up there at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe and information sources were few.

New Mexico FBIHOP made the catch on a KRQE report that three long-time Dem incumbents who lost their June 3rd primary elections to reform Dems -- Shannon Robinson, James Taylor and Dan Silva -- filed a joint lawsuit late Friday. Among other things, the suit alleges that campaign finance fraud on the part of certain nonprofits cost the plaintiffs their seats. Get this: three legislators known for their antipathy towards campaign finance and ethics reform -- and often accused of being in cahoots with special interests -- are now claiming progressive reform candidates beat them soundly by employing unethical means. Do you hear the hypocrisy sensors going off all over Albuquerque? Woooo-woooo!

According to KRQE:

The lawsuit, filed minutes before court closed for the weekend, named the winning candidate, several nonprofit organizations and their managers and alleged illegal campaign tactics warrant voiding the election.

... It's a void election," Robinson told KRQE News 13. "When fraud so permeates the election as this, and it is done intentionally, it has to be voided."

Robinson filed the election contest on behalf of himself and the other two. Their chief claim alleges $180,000 from two nonprofit organizations was transferred to six other organizations to pay for attack ads. Shuffling the money that way was done to let the winning candidates avoid reporting the source of contributions to the secretary of state, the suit claimed.

Griego, Chavez, Keller: Incumbent Topplers

I see. It wasn't that Eric Griego, Tim Keller and Eleanor Chavez beat the three incumbents through their vastly superior field operations and voter outreach. It wasn't that the three worked hard to personally knock on doors for months in their districts. They didn't win because they garnered widespread support by taking strong positions on issues that matter to voters. And, of course, the voters weren't tired of being represented in Santa Fe by politicos who had completely lost touch with them.

No, according to the vanquished incumbents, they were beaten because the winners cheated somehow. Sour grapes from bitter losers. Well, it IS hard to see your little insular kingdom crumble to the forces of people power.

Read on:

"These people were reckless," Robinson [right] said. "They disregarded the campaign finance laws; they disregarded the ethics laws of New Mexico. They also disregarded the federal tax laws."

Those alleged violations plus other irregularities led to a "substantial difference in the three elections contested and would have changed the results had the fraud not occurred," according to the suit.

Not much response yet from the sued parties:

Two of the winning candidates, Keller and Griego, said they hadn't seen the lawsuit.  However they said Robinson and the other losers are resorting to a sour-grapes lawsuit.

And, so far, the only stories out there about the suit are the two I've cited. However, I'll bet that Monday morning's alligator post has been written for quite some time now. There's been what looks like a deliberate and longish rollout of the framing for this legal action by the champions of the monied lobbying classes. Count on it: When candidates of the people start winning, entrenched power cliques move quickly to try and stop the progress in its tracks -- before it multiplies.

You can see previous posts on the primary legislative races of those who filed suit in our 2008 Legislative Race archive.

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Bernalillo County Dems to Host Fundraiser for Convention Delegates

The Democratic Party of Bernalillo County is hosting a
Unity Lasagna Dinner for all Bernalillo County Delegates
To help with their expenses for the upcoming
Democratic Convention in Denver
Door Prizes-Raffle-Music-Fun-Food!!

Saturday, August 9, 5:00-7:00 PM
Plumbers and Steamfitters Hall-510 San Pedro SE
Tickets are $20.00 each
Call Terri Holland at 604-3589 or Richard Cooley at 268-2439

Saturday: Grand Openings & Phone Banking Set for 16 New Obama Offices in NM

The Obama Campaign for Change in New Mexico announced that grand openings at 16 new offices across the state will take place on Saturday, August 2, 2008. See below the break for a complete listing of Obama campaign offices that will open tomorrow. Has another presidential campaign ever had this many campaign offices in the Land of Enchantment? I don't think so. The McCain campaign will be hard pressed to compete with this effort.

Following this weekend the Obama campaign will have a total of 17 offices across the state. In a statement, they said they'll work to harness the enthusiasm of Obama's grassroots-level supporters and organize them in communities across New Mexico -- neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend and colleague to colleague -- working for the benefit of Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. 

Those wishing to attend should visit this page for more details about the grand opening celebrations and/or participating in phone banking on Saturday.

According to the Obama campaign, these office openings are a perfect way to learn about their strategy in New Mexico and get to know fellow supporters. Making calls will help you introduce the movement for change to friends, family, and neighbors in your community. No previous experience is necessary to get involved. All you need is a hunger for change and a willingness to turn your enthusiasm into action.

Locations and Times for Grand Openings:

Albuquerque - Volunteer Headquarters
3523 Central Avenue NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
6:00 PM

Albuquerque - Northeast Office
10200 Menaul Boulevard NE, Suite 200
Albuquerque, NM 87112
6:00 PM

Alamogordo Office
1517A 10th Street
Alamogordo, NM 88310   6:00 PM

Anthony Office
880 Anthony Drive, Suite 13
Anthony, NM 88021
3:00 PM

Bernalillo Office
240 South Camino del Pueblo
Bernalillo, NM 87004  6:00 PM

Carlsbad Office
201 North Canal Street
Carlsbad, NM 88220
6:00 PM

Clovis Office
305 North Main Street
Clovis, NM 88101
6:00 PM

Farmington Office
208A West Main Street
Farmington, NM 87401
6:00 PM

Las Cruces Office
255 East Lohman Ave
Las Cruces, NM 88001
6:00 PM

Las Vegas Office
1801 7th Street
Las Vegas, NM 87701
6:00 PM

Los Alamos Office
2610 Trinity Drive, Suite 22
Los Alamos, NM 87544
6:00 PM

Raton Office
101 North 3rd Street
Raton, NM 87740
6:00 PM

Rio Rancho Office
4100 Southern Boulevard SE, Suite 6
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
6:00 PM

Roswell Office
105 West 3rd Street, Suite 317
Roswell, NM 88201
6:00 PM

Santa Fe Office
720 Saint Michaels Drive, 2-N
Santa Fe, NM 87505
6:00 PM

Silver City Office
503 North Bullard Street
Silver City, NM 88061
6:00 PM

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Tonight: IndyMedia TV Tackles Big Oil Issues

From Allan Cooper of the IndyMedia Collective: Watch IndyMedia TV tonight on Comcast Cable's Channel 27 in Albuquerque at 7:00 PM. We're on the web too at https://quote-unquote.org/ in real time.

Shrayas Jatkar from the Sierra Club will be talking with us about the fallacy of 'Peak Oil' and how the big oil companies are raking in billions off the lie. Also, Senators Pierce and Mc Cain are recipients of millions for their upcoming campaigns. Last quarter the so-called big four oil companies made over 35 billions dollars in profits! That's 'our' money sisters and brothers ... Capitol X, political Hip-Hop artist will join us by phone to give us an ear full (and eye full). Plus, Armon from Burque will update us on the resistance building to stop the next war/attack on Iran. We all need to stand up and speak up NOW, please, for the children. Our call-in phone is 505-346-1633. Info? Call 505-304-3144.

Comcast Sucks

I've been without my cable connection since this morning. Even now, I have very slow, intermittent service. I spent a lot of time on the phone with a Comcast service person today, unplugging and replugging equipment, rebooting everything, etc., to no avail. Now, hours later, I have some service, but it's very shaky. I did nothing to the system since I got off the phone with Comcast, yet my cable modem's lights suddenly starting working, at least somewhat. So my guess is that the problem is with them, as usual.

Comcast, however, told me the problem was at my end and that they'd have to send a repair person. Of course that repair person couldn't make it out until tomorrow afternoon sometime, if then. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'll try to go check my email despite the fact my connection is slower than dial-up at the moment and it keeps going on and off at odd intervals. Bear with me. I'm not neglecting the blog today. I just have my hands (and keyboard) tied up by Comcast. Somehow I don't think this kind of thing happens in Europe or Japan. Do you?