Democracy for New Mexico

Viva Obama! Slideshow: Biden in Mesilla. Plus, Hillary Clinton to Visit Southern New Mexico on Saturday

Viva Obama! Obamanos!

The Obama campaign has announced that Senator Hillary Clinton will visit Southern New Mexico and host a Change We Need rally on Saturday, October 25th. More details when they're released. I'm guessing Las Cruces but I could be wrong.

The Obama campaign slideshow above displays photos from Joe Biden's packed Rally for Change on Mesilla Plaza near Las Cruces NM on Friday. By the way, the Las Cruces Sun-News endorsed Obama on Saturday.

There are only 15 days left before the election! Please VOTE EARLY if you haven't already done so. Then volunteer for Obama or another candidate on election day to help get out the vote. If we get a large turnout, we'll win. If we don't, we still can lose. Please do your part!

PS: There was an avalanche of Vote Early rallies and marches all over the state on Saturday, and Matt at New Mexico FBIHOP went to three of them. Wow! You can read about them and check out his excellent photos , and . There'll be more to come, so keep an eye out here at DFNM for more info.

Guest Blog by Eric Sedillo Jeffries: Vote for PRC Candidate Jason Marks

Jason Marks (blue shirt), our PRC consumer watchdog, and supporters.

This is a guest blog by Eric Sedillo Jeffries, an Albuquerque trial attorney who has practiced law in New Mexico for over 30 years, initially as a prosecutor in the DA's and AG's office and thereafter as a civil defense and plaintiff counsel. He has had a great deal of contact and interaction with the PRC and its subdivisions over the years. Democrat Jason Marks is running for re-election to the Public Regulation Commission from District 1.

This is to address the defamatory card you may have received last week in the mail from Jason Mark’s opponent. As some of you may know I have over 30 years experience with the PRC, from interfacing with the State Fire Marshall’s office on arson cases as a prosecutor, fighting title insurance companies and representing insureds and insurers before the PRC Commissioners. In my humble opinion, Jason Marks is the best or among the very best PRC commissioners we have or ever hope to have. Contrary to the false accusations it was Jason’s skillful negotiations, backed by potential votes of PRC commissioners, that forced the corrupt former Insurance Superintendent, Eric Serna, and his wayward assistant out of office. As you may recall, Serna’s assistant was subsequently prosecuted and convicted of taking kick backs. The Superintendant’s position, statutorily, was practically impregnable. Without Jason’s skillful negotiations it could have taken another year to remove Eric Serna from office.

In rate making, the rate payers do not have a better watchdog than Jason. His background is in both law and, prior to law school, in rate making. If you ever attended a PNM rate hearing you probably would have seen Jason whip out his calculator to cross examine a PNM expert on the basis of his justification for rate increases. Nothing can cause more fear for the untruthful witness than to see Jason punching the buttons on his calculator.

There had to be some PNM rate increases last year because of the increased cost of energy sources, but it was Jason who was primarily responsible in saving consumers millions of dollars in the initial unjustified PNM rate increase demands. Jason’s opponent neither has the desire nor skill to save rate payers the monies Jason saved them.

Lastly, under Jason’s leadership, our PRC has implemented practical energy generation and savings plans. In accomplishments, not talk, Jason is ahead of both of the presidential candidates.

I strongly recommend you reject the midnight mailing of false accusations and vote for Jason Marks.

Eric Sedillo Jeffries, Albuquerque, NM

This is a guest blog by Eric Sedillo Jeffries. 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.

Photo by Maxie Marks. Click on image for larger version.

NM-02: Tinsley's "Hometown" Mayor Endorses Teague

Gov. Bill Richardson and Harry Teague discuss the NM-02 race at a recent matanza in Valencia County (Video by M.E. Broderick)

According to an announcement today from the Harry Teague for Congress campaign, Sam Hammons, the Mayor of the Village of Capitan, today endorsed Democrat Harry Teague in the NM-02 race. Teague's opponent, Republican Ed Tinsley, claims that a ranch in Capitan is his primary residence, even though Tinsley's business office and his $2.5 million home are located in Santa Fe, outside the 2nd District. Mayor Hammons said he supports Teague, a former Lea County Commission Chairman, because of his deep roots in Southern New Mexico and his commitment to fight for working families in these tough economic times.

"I know Harry Teague will represent Capitan well," Hammons said. "Harry has lived in Southern New Mexico for 49 years and understands the needs of working families because he started as someone who took a lunch pail to work everyday. Ed Tinsley may own a ranch here, but I think he is out of touch with Southern New Mexico."

To learn more about Ed Tinsley's primary residence in Santa Fe, please visit TinsleySantaFeHome.com.

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10/21: Ministers' Fellowship & BPAC to Host Bernalillo County Political Forum

VOTE FOR CHANGE: The Ministers' Fellowship and The Black Political Action Committee (BPAC) Invite the Bernalillo County Democratic Community to a Political Forum with the following Candidates: The Obama Campaign, The McCain Campaign, Congressman Steve Pearce, Congressman Tom Udall, Sheriff Darren White, Councilor Martin Heinrich, District Attorney Kari Brandenberg.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 7:00 to 9:00 PM at New Hope Full Gospel Baptist Church, 1901 Pennsylvania NE in Albuquerque, (505) 881-7780. For futher information, please call: Lanthia Gillespie (505) 712-4505 or Joby Wallace (505) 440-7403.

Guest Blog by Lorelei Kelly - New Mexico: Centerpiece of a New Security Strategy

This is a guest blog by Lorelei Kelly, whose experience includes working with the underground democracy movements of eastern Europe in 1989, teaching at Stanford University's Center on Conflict and Negotiation, working on bipartisan national security education in Congress, and working as a professional mediator in both domestic and international conflict resolution settings. She recently co-authored "A Woman's Guide to Talking About War and Peace" and blogs at Huffington Post. She will be making a presentation tonight from 7-9 PM on "New Mexico and Our National Security Future: How to Frame an Argument for Change" at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice. Click for more information on the event.

In the final weeks of this campaign season, and with Sarah Palin accusing Candidate Obama of being pals with terrorists--the McCain campaign is going to a familiar conservative comfort zone on National Security: fearmongering.

There are many reasons why the Republican candidates should not do this: First of all, it hurts our nation to make national security a political football. It endangers all of us because it silences debate. I worked in Congress for nearly a decade and saw the impact of this climate of fear. Entire conversations become off-limits. Israeli-Palestinian issues, for example, or defense spending...These public challenges would only benefit from better communication and more creative ideas. For a safer and more prosperous tomorrow, Americans should decidedly reject the kind of conservative leadership that has made our nation vulnerable and less equipped to handle today's real security threats. Americans need a new direction for national security--and New Mexico should be the centerpiece of it. Why? Because New Mexico remains economically dependent on a concept of security that no longer exists. The state's nuclear labs--full of brilliant people--must break with the past and lead the way forward.

America's leadership crisis on national security is not new. For nearly two decades, our elected leaders, both in Congress and the Presidency, have maintained a simplistic vision of national security that prevailed during the Cold War; "us vs. them" and "guns vs. butter". But the rationale for that worldview ended in 1991 when the Soviet Union disappeared. National security-wise, our world went from a world that was linear, predictable and technological to one that is chaotic, random and very human. It really isn't all about rocket science anymore. The terrorist attack on 9/11 made this change undeniably clear. Other examples exist: Our military's own doctrine now puts civilian protection and reconstruction at the center of its mission. Our soldiers and Marines could just as likely be engaged in positive social change activities as combat. Military officers testifying in front of Congress for the past few years have pointed out that the conflict in Iraq cannot be solved by the use of force. They wait, like the rest of us, for our elected leaders to have a new conversation about security.

New Mexico is poised to start a conversation about how national security is a much broader concept than it was even two decades ago. During the Cold War, security was easy to define as a military responsibility and to measure by arms control treaties and borders. Containment was the name of the strategy we used against the Soviet Union. But today's threats do not remain within borders. From global warming to pandemic disease, today's threats require the consideration of people across borders just as much as people within them. The notion of the nation state needs to evolve, and there is nothing more symbolic of this obsolete notion that nuclear weapons. The ability to dominate and coerce is fading. Where we need skills is in the ability to influence the intentions of others. Containment is not going to disappear completely, but we must replace that form of strength with legitimacy--the moral authority to lead.

A lot of great new initiatives are already happening at the state level in NM. Governor Richardson and others have taken significant steps forward on clean energy, environmental building standards, and collaborating with neighboring states. You can see more about that here: www.westernclimateinitiative.org/.

Back in 1993, at the end of the Cold War but before the Congress flipped to the conservatives, several organizations began a much-needed discussion about converting the activities of the nuclear weapons labs to modern needs. Environmental technology and renewable energy, for example. The best of these studies came from the Office of Technology Assessment, a think tank of scientific professionals who served Congress. Sadly, this organization, along with much of the institutional memory of the American legislature-was wiped out in 1995 when Newt Gingrich took over as the new majority leader.

But these studies--along with many others--are still relevant and ready to be implemented. You can find them online here: https://fas.org/ota/otareports/topic/dtopics/

In other words, converting the labs is not about reinventing the wheel. We just need to get it rolling. Many lab personnel are already contributing to a new vision for themselves and the future: on verification technology, cultural counter-terrorism research, convening international teams....

When Obama is elected president, we must support his efforts to lead the Congress in a conversation about a security strategy that truly meets today's threats. Elected leaders haven't had a serious priorities discussion for years. They have not put everything on the table, matched ends to means, and made some hard decisions about where we spend taxpayer dollars. The list of urgent issues for the next president is getting longer by the day, so New Mexico's leadership role on shaping this conversation matters today more than ever.

Lorelei Kelly
Policy Director, Real Security Initiative
www.thewhitehouseproject.org
202-487-7728
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.democracyarsenal.org

This is a guest blog by Lorelei Kelly. Guest blogs provides our readers with an opportunity to express their views on topics of interest. To submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, click on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Must Read: Obama Camp Connects ACORN Probe to US Attorneys Scandal

See . This ACORN "vote fraud" stuff is rehashed garbage from last time out, pure and simple. And now we're seeing it's being orchestrated by the usual Republican suspects for the usual reasons -- to suppress voting by Democrats and provide an excuse for possible legal action after (IF) we win. This time, however, the Obama campaign is on it. Seems clear to me that the R's can't win unless they cheat, lie and steal, which they're perfectly willing to do for their "cause." Shameful, aren't they? In the last debate, McCain could actually say with a straight face that ACORN was "now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." No, Johnny, that would be the many voter suppression crusades repeatedly undertaken by Republicans from the 1960s on.

(Updated) SD15: Snyder Attacks Eichenberg for Supporting "Green Collar" Job Creation

Update: Check out this thread on Duke City Fix where there's a discussion going on about green jobs and the ignorance of Diane Snyder regarding renewable energy and the local economy. The original post is by the owner of 310 Solar, an up and coming New Mexico solar company.
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We've all witnessed some really horrible and/or crazy and/or dishonest campaign attack ads, mail pieces, videos, speeches, TV appearances and more on the part of Republicans this election cycle -- but this one has to go in my top ten list of nutty tactics. And it happened right here in Albuquerque, in State Senate District 15, where progressive Dem challenger Tim Eichenberg (right) is taking on incumbent Repub Diane Snyder.

By all accounts, Eichenberg has been running a top-notch, grassroots, person-to-person campaign, and the word is he's got an edge in polling against the entenched GOP insider. In other words, he has a great chance of winning and giving us another important vote for change in the Roundhouse. No wonder Snyder is flailing about trying to discredit Eichenberg and rile up the conservative base in the district.

It's hard to believe in this era of global warming and creativity exploding in the area of renewable energy, but Snyder is trying to bag Eichenberg for his support of "green-collar" jobs. In a recent mailer, Snyder says Tim's plan for creating renewable energy jobs "could take years to accomplish in New Mexico," and adds, "that's time we don't have." You can see the mailer here (PDF). Clearly, Snyder has a lot in common with U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce, who also resides permanently in the age of oil and claims renewable energy jobs are way down the road. In the photo (above left) they look like two peas in a pod, don't they?

Maybe This Is Why
Recent campaign contribution reports show that Republican Diane Snyder received more than $18,000 in donations from big oil and gas and affiliated PACs -- including Chevron Corporation, Yates Petroleum, ConcoPhillips and the Navajo Refining Company. So I guess you could say she has a vested interest of sorts in holding back change -- and the potential creation of thousands of jobs in New Mexico. Just like right-wing Steve Pearce -- who just happens to be behind in the latest polling by 20 points in his race with Rep. Tom Udall.

Green Revolution Is Happening Now
We don't have to wait for years to see green jobs coming our way. Better known "green" companies in Albuquerque include Advent Solar and Schott Solar, which broke ground in early 2008 and is expected to create as many as 1,500 jobs at peak production in an eventual $500 million complex. Many more are ramping up and contemplating start-ups here. As Rep. Tom Udall often says, New Mexico could become the Saudi Arabia of solar, wind and other renewables -- if we make the right investments and provide the right incentives. Tim Eichenberg puts it this way:

"New Mexico is perfectly positioned to become the nation's leader in the new energy economy. But to be the leader, you've got to lead. Therefore, it's of the highest urgency that we invest now to capture our share of this industry and make sure New Mexico gets these jobs for our people. Senator Snyder's opposition to renewable energy only makes sense when you look at her campaign contributions", says Eichenberg. "Frankly, during her time in the legislature Snyder has acted more like an elected 'lobbyist' for special interests like the oil industry. She should have been working hard representing her constituents in District 15."

Donate Some Time or Money to Tim
More info can be found about Tim Eichenberg at his website. We need to help Tim win this race and get rid of one more Republican legislator who's clinging to the past and beholden to special interests. We need another dynamic and creative legislator who sees the true value of a green economy -- and the thousands of jobs it can bring. Please donate or volunteer some time to the Eichenberg campaign whether you live in his district or not. We'll all benefit if Tim defeats the backwards looking Diane Snyder.

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Saturday Early Voting Events Around New Mexico

There are tons of Early Vote events taking place Saturday, October 18, 2008, when Early Voting begins at satellite locations all over New Mexico. I've posted a few of them, but be sure to check our Coming Events listing on the right-hand sidebar and visit the New Mexico for Obama site for a listing of Early Vote rallies, marches and other events all over the state. Click to find the Early Vote locations in your area. Also see our previous post with info on Early Voting in New Mexico in 2008.

10/18: Valencia County Early Vote Kick-Off BBQ

The Valencia County Obama Campaign for Change is hosting an Early Vote Kick-Off BBQ on Saturday, October 18, from 1:00 to 6:00 PM at the Law Offices of State Sen. Michael Sanchez at 505 Main Street SW in Los Lunas. Free food and drinks. Live musical performance by Ralph Miramontes. Free shuttles to Early Vote Sites. Go Obama! Avoid long lines on Election Day! Early voting ends November 1. Valencia County Early Vote sites:

• County Clerk's Office, 444 Luna Ave., Los Lunas: Mon. 8AM-5PM, Tues.-Fri. 8AM-8PM, Sat. 10AM-6PM
  
• Belen School Administration Building, 520 N. Main, Belen: Tues.-Fri. 12-8PM, Sat. 10AM-6PM.

NM-02: Harry & Troy Teague and Gov. Richardson to Rally Early Voters Saturday

Tomorrow, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Congressional candidate Harry Teague and his son Troy Teague will visit communities throughout the 2nd Congressional District of New Mexico to rally voters to hit the polls before the Nov. 4 Election Day. Harry Teague, who is running to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, together with his wife, Nancy, voted early in Lovington on Wednesday to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary. Gov. Richardson will join Harry and Troy Teague at four separate events tomorrow (Sat., October 18):

• Sunland Park: Early Vote Rally with Harry Teague and Gov. Richardson at 9:15 AM at the Sunland Park Senior Center, 1000 McNutt Rd., Suite H
  
• Las Cruces: Early vote rally at 12:30 PM at Albert N Johnson Park; Corner of N Main and Picacho Ave.
  
• Alamogordo: Alamogordo Arts and Entertainment Early Vote Rally at 2:15 PM at Alameda Park, 1021 White Sands Blvd.
  
• Los Lunas: Early vote rally at 3:40 PM at the parking lot in front of Michael Sanchez's law firm, 505 Main St. SW.