Democracy for New Mexico

Bingaman, Udall Rated Tops in NM Delegation on Middle Class Issues

Short clip of Tom Udall talking about the disastrous economic policies of the Republicans and how Democrats are dedicated to serving the middle class (3.1.08 Bernalillo County Dem Convention)

The nonpartisan Drum Major Institute for Public Policy just released its ratings of members of Congress based on their voting on legislation that impacts the middle class. The letter grade was given for voting in 2007 and the percentage number applies to votes so far this year:

Here's DMI's explanation of their analysis and grading system and why they utilize it. Even though Republicans like to pretend they're for the ordinary folks, almost across the board their votes say otherwise. With economic woes exploding this year, especially for middle class workers, the economy consistently appears at or near the top of the list of what's important to voters this election year. Democratic candidates should fare extremely well, including Rep. Tom Udall, the Congressman with the A plus rating who's running for U.S. Senate against whoever wins the Heather Wilson - Steve Pearce dustup on the Repub side.

(Video clip by M.E. Broderick.)

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."

(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.
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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).

(Updated) More on Allegations About Vote Buying at NM GOP Delegate Elections

UPDATE: At 3:00 PM today, KKOB radio's Pat Frisch will discuss the alleged NM GOP vote buying at the Party's ward conventions last month, along with the resulting controversies. Frisch is filling in for Jim Villanucci, who's on vacation. You can listen to the show online or on AM radio at 770.
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Local and national blog posts are proliferating about the story broken by Dennis Domrzalski regarding allegations of vote buying at the recent NM GOP delegate ward elections and KKOB's decision to pull Laura MacCallum's news coverage of the allegations. MacCallum quit her news anchor job at the radio station in response. I previously posted on the story a few days ago.

I don't have time to write more about this right now because I have some business to take care of this morning, but I'll get back to it later today. In the meantime, I thought I'd publish a recent Democratic Party of New Mexico press release on the story:

HEATHER WILSON DOESN’T REFUTE ROLL IN VOTE-BUYING SCHEME

DPNM Calls on Senate Candidate to Answer Charges Directly

Albuquerque – The Democratic Party of New Mexico today called on U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson to directly answer charges that she bought votes at a recent Bernalillo County Republican Party delegate nominating convention.

“Once again, Heather Wilson is caught in an ethically compromising situation in which she faces allegations of manipulating the system to come out ahead in an election,” DPNM Chairman Brian Colon said today. “This time, she refuses to directly answer the charge that she bought delegate votes and her silence on such a serious charge is incriminating.”

On Monday, allegations of intra-Republican vote buying continued to surface on 27-year veteran news reporter Dennis Domrzalski’s blog. Domrzalski’s post included accounts from former New Mexico Governor Dave Cargo, State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones and former KKOB radio reporter Laura McCallum indicating that people who showed up had been paid by Heather Wilson and Darren White’s campaigns.

“Cargo said that over the course of the meeting many of the participants said that they were from Wilson’s senate campaign and from Bernalillo Country Sheriff Darren White’s congressional campaign,” Domrzalski reported. “Several people told him that they were being paid $35-an-hour (for two hours) by their campaigns and that the campaigns had also paid their $30 registration fees.”

Wilson’s senate campaign has not refuted the charges.

“Allegations of vote-buying should not be taken so lightly,” said Colon. They cut to the heart of our nation’s democracy and electoral process. In fact, this is not the first time Heather Wilson has been caught engaging in ethically ambiguous behavior. Heather Wilson has established a clear pattern of ethically compromising actions that simply do not reflect the values of New Mexico voters.”

In 2006 Heather Wilson proved ethically challenged when she personally called former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to pressure him to reveal details and expedite a pending investigation during her 2006 reelection campaign.

Said Iglesias, “I received a call from Heather Wilson. She said ‘what can you tell me about sealed indictments.’ The second she said any questions about sealed indictments, red flags went up in my head, because as you know, we cannot talk about indictments until they’re made public. In general, we specifically cannot talk about a sealed indictment.”

When asked if he felt “pressured during that call” by Sen. Chuck Schumer during a March, 2007 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Iglesias responded, “Yes, sir. I did.”

Although she has claimed a constituent asked her to place the call to Iglesias, Heather Wilson has refused to publicly identify the mysterious individual.

Following Wilson's call, Iglesias was subsequently fired by the Bush Administration in a purge that resulted in the questionable firing of at least nine U.S. Attorneys nationally.

In a piece published by the New York Times on March 21, 2007, entitled “Why I Was Fired,” Iglesias cited the phone call from Congresswoman Heather Wilson.

He also told The Associated Press, “I know it’s not performance-related, I know it’s not misconduct. What does that leave? Politics.”

(Updated) BradBlog, Crooks & Liars Pick Up on NM GOP Vote Buying Story

BradBlog has now picked up the story about alleged vote buying at the New Mexico Republican Party ward conventions by the Heather Wilson and Darren White campaigns. On Monday, I posted about the scandal broken by Dennis Domrzalski, as did other local blogs including (who also posted about it on Daily Kos), m-pyre and ClearlyNewMexico.

I wonder if the campaigns will ever be pressured by the authorities to provide the truth about what happened. I wonder, too, if KKOB will ever be pushed to explain why they pulled the reports on this by news anchor Laura MacCallum, who has since resigned in protest. Will these scurrilous goings-on really be allowed to fade into oblivion without anyone having to face any consequences?

It's too bad that New Mexico's newspapers and TV news outfits are apparently uninterested in pursuing a story like this. For example, the Albuquerque Journal's main political reporter, Jeff Jones, hasn't mentioned it at all, preferring to write derivative stories like this one that consists primarily of a laundry list of Gov. Bill Richardson's statements on whether he will endorse a presidential candidate. Journalism? What's that?

UPDATE 1: Another national blog, Crooks and Liars, posted on this story late yesterday. Who's next?

UPDATE 2: Now Mark Crispin Miller's Notes From Underground has picked it up.

Must Read: Vote Buying by Wilson & White Campaigns at NM GOP Delegate Nominating Meetings?

On the heels of his story about threats reportedly being made by powerful NM Repubs to those thinking of mounting a primary challenge to NM-01 Congressional candidate Darren White, Dennis Domrzalski has a new post on what is being termed vote buying -- allegedly carried out by the campaigns of Darren White and Heather Wilson at certain GOP ward conventions in Albuquerque on February 24. The allegations against White's NM-01 Congressional campaign and Wilson's U.S. Senate campaign are being made by former-NM Governor Dave Cargo (right), and corroborated by State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones. Quote:

Cargo says he noticed something different when 59 people showed up at the Albuquerque Marriott to elect delegates from the 31^st ward in Albuquerque.

“This is probably the biggest ward in the city, by far. Normally we have between 9 and 15 people show up,” Cargo said. “And so along comes the convention on Sunday and 59 people show up.”

Cargo began passing around a signup sheet. “I said ‘I’m going to pass around notebook and would like to have you write down your names and address and phone number so I can call you and put you to work for the party,’” Cargo said. “Then one gal got up and said, ‘We aren’t working for any party; we’re here only this one time and we won’t be back.’”

Cargo said that over the course of the meeting many of the participants said they were from Wilson’s senate campaign and from Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White’s congressional campaign. Several people told him they were being paid $35-an-hour (for two hours) by their campaigns and that the campaigns had also paid their $30 registration fees. [emphasis mine]

“I told them that this was known as vote buying, that it was illegal and that it was fourth-degree felony,” Cargo said.

... State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, said she saw the same thing in the 24^th Ward’s convention. Many of the participants said they had been paid to attend and vote for certain delegates, she said.

“They were free about telling us why they were there and what they were trying to do,” Arnold-Jones added. “Some people said they had been paid to participate in the convention. It was clear that some of them had no stake in the process and that they were not coming back for the convention.”

The allegations about possible vote buying were first reported last week by KKOB Radio News Anchor Laura MacCallum, who quit her job in protest when News Director Pat Allen pulled the stories after being contacted by Wilson campaign spokesperson Whitney Cheshire (right).

MacCallum was outraged by the situation.

“I had an ethical problem with the stories being pulled because Heather Wilson’s campaign put pressure on newsroom management,” MacCallum said. “They allowed political pressure to dictate the news. As journalists we can’t do that. The news has to stand alone. That a political candidate can inject herself into news department management is just mind blowing. Should we just be doing the Heather Wilson news? And as soon as we make her angry she’s going to call and start giving everybody trouble?

You really must read the entire post at Domrzalski's blog. Also check out the post on this at , who jumped on Domrzalski's story first this afternoon.

SFR: Repub Senate Candidates Seek to Define Post-Domenici Religion

Former State Sen. Tom Benavidez discusses his so far unsuccessful quest to get on the primary ballot to take on Repub candidates he calls "carpetbaggers."


Current NM-03 Rep. Steve Pearce views SCHIP as a socialized medicine plot and doesn't allow filming while he eats

I'm a fan of the political coverage being produced by the folks at the Santa Fe Reporter (SFR), so I'm pleased to see they've launched their own video channel on YouTube. It should come in handy as we edge ever closer to election day 2008. The videos above complement "Elephant Warfare," their cover story this week on the Republican contenders in the U.S. Senate race in New Mexico. The vids feature interviews conducted by David Alire Garcia, with camera work by Dave Maass. As Alire Garcia's story explains:

From Feb. 14-23, GOP county conventions all across the state will pick delegates to send to the March 15 state pre-primary nominating convention, the first skirmish of what is expected to be a money-soaked, hard-fought Senate primary between heavyweights Wilson and Pearce.

... On one level, this election is a struggle for the soul of the New Mexico's Republican Party in a post-Domenici religion.

Rep. Heather Wilson, who refused an interview with SFR, is now defining herself as a "common sense conservative" in contrast to Steve Pearce's to-the-right-of-Atila-the-Hun conservatism. One example of Pearce's distaste for (and ignorance about) the push for 21st century-style civil liberties:

"The pressure for same-sex marriage, the pressure for multiple partners,
polymorphism, that's a pressure that is actually going on legally right now," he says. "And then you got pressure from people saying, "˜I got a legitimate right to my pedophilia.'"

Say again?

"There will be no legal impediment to stop anything based on emotion once you get started, even pedophilia,"Pearce theorizes.

Should be a winner on the right-wing talk show circuit, no? The early positioning and framing being used by Pearce and Wilson in this race were on display Tuesday in their first debate in Alamogordo.

The  SFR story also touches on the political problems Wilson may continue to face related to her pressuring phone call to former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, which came to light during the U.S. Attorney firing scandal in Congress last year:

Some of Wilson's baggage includes her now-infamous phone call to New Mexico's former US Attorney, David Iglesias.

Iglesias testified before the House Ethics Committee last August as part of a preliminary investigation of the call Wilson placed to him inquiring about a public corruption case that targeted prominent Democrats.

"She was snooping around, she wanted me to give her privileged and confidential information that she had no business knowing," Iglesias says of Wilson. "She's clearly intelligent, she's been in office a number of years, she knows what honor means. I think she made a terrible choice and I think there needs to be consequences."

Wilson has previously defended her call to Iglesias as "entirely appropriate."

Iglesias believes Wilson's role in Attorneygate will come back to haunt her on the campaign trail.

"Part of Steve Pearce's stump speech is his three reasons why Heather Wilson is unelectable," Iglesias says. "And one of the reasons is her phone call to me."

The most recent polling available in race for U.S. Senate shows that current NM-03 Rep. Tom Udall, who'll be the Dem candidate, would beat both Pearce by 14 and Wilson by 15 points. Clearly, the NM GOP will have their hands full trying to stem the Dem momentum that's been apparent in the presidential primaries as it morphs down ticket to Senate and House races and beyond.

To help make a Dem tsunami a reality in New Mexico, visit Udall's campaign website and sign up as a supporter.

To see our previous coverage on the 2008 U.S. Senate race in New Mexico, visit our archive.

(Updated) Support True Blue New Mexico: Diss Rove and Cheney

UPDATE: We've posted a guest blog by Martin Heinrich about moving beyond the politics of Karl Rove, and in support of our True Blue New Mexico effort. Check it out.
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This is an effort organized by the New Mexico netroots including and this blog.

Have you heard? The Bush-Cheney-Rove machine is still going strong, working to maintain the far right's obstructive stranglehold on Congress and beyond. Turns out Karl Rove will appear at a fundraiser for the New Mexico GOP today in Artesia, NM. And in D.C. today, Dick Cheney will host a campaign fundraiser for Steve Pearce's Senate run. He's already done a similar event for Heather Wilson, the other Repub candidate for Senate here, with the same $5000/PAC and $2000/person price tag. Given how much Republican elites have gained financially during Bush's two terms, they have a lot of money to burn for the cause, don't they?

As usual, these Repub affairs will bring in big dinero for New Mexico's Bush cronies. What can we do about it? Fight back with True Blue New Mexico! We might not be able to match the big donations of BushCo, but we can certainly blunt some of their clout with hundreds of small donations from ordinary people.

We've set up a special fundraising page at Act Blue to support the campaigns of Senate candidate Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich (NM-01), Bill McCamley (NM-02) and whichever Dem wins the primary in NM-03. Every dollar you donate from now until next Wednesday will go towards helping turn New Mexico's Congressional Delegation True Blue -- and fight back on behalf of Democrats against the relentless BushCo money machine. How can you resist?

The True Blue New Mexico Candidates
True Blue New Mexico is supporting current NM-03 Rep Tom Udall for U.S. Senate. Having voted against such travesties as the invasion of Iraq and the Patriot Act, Rep. Udall is a True Blue New Mexico progressive. His environmental credentials are impeccable and New Mexicans from every corner of the state respect Tom for his integrity, honesty and passion for Democratic principles like fairness and working for the common good. Think about what it would mean to New Mexicans from all walks of life to replace the pinched perspective of Pete Domenici with the forward-looking vision of Tom Udall -- while keeping right-wing Bush rubberstamps like Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson out of the Senate chamber altogether.

In NM-01, True Blue New Mexico is backing former Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich, who's been working hard within the local conservation and environmental communities for many moons. He's been instrumental in raising the minimum wage for Albuquerque, promoting smart growth over sprawl. He's won award after award for his work to preserve and maintain New Mexico's stunning landscapes. Now he's calling for an Apollo-style program to achieve energy independence and cut greenhouse gases. Against the Iraq invasion from the start, Heinrich wants to end the occupation as soon as possible and start using the billions being spent there to benefit our pressing human, clean energy and infrastructure needs here at home. Think what it would mean to New Mexicans if we replace Heather Wilson's hypocrisies with someone who really does care about the people. Side benefit? We can keep likely Repub candidate Darren White -- who chaired the Bush-Cheney campaign in Bernalillo County -- out of the halls of Congress and away from the fray.

True Blue New Mexico believes the fresh, creative, passionate voice of Bill McCamley needs to be heard in the U.S. House representing NM-02. Running a truly grassroots operation fueled by the people power of small donations -- and face-fo-face dialogue with voters all over Southern New Mexico -- McCamley is known for working hard while other candidates are hardly working. McCamley was a breath of fresh air during his service on the Dona Ana County Commission, pushing to tamp down the destructive effects of down and dirty sprawl development and inject the process with ethical, reasonable safeguards. He's helped solve long-standing battles over water and improved health care financing. With a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, McCamley is smart, organized and effective in whatever he tackles. In a diverse district, McCamley uses effective negotiation skills, honesty and common sense to bring people together to solve problems. Think of replacing Steve Pearce with a Congressman dedicated to creating solutions -- not pushing rightwing ideologies at any cost.

Because there are several excellent candidates in NM-03, True Blue New Mexico decided to raise campaign funds for the eventual primary winner. Green builder Don Wiviott, PRC member Ben Ray Lujan and Jemez Pueblo member , among others in the crowded field up north, are running lively campaigns to get on the Dem primary ballot. Whoever wins, we hope the funds we raise for the eventual nominee in NM-03 will help them carry forward the progressive platform of current Congressman Tom Udall.

Many Small Donations = Big Mojo
The forces of the Bush-Cheney -Rove agenda may have the big donors and Beltway clout to try and have their way in New Mexico's Congressional districts. What they don't have is authentic grassroots-netroots people power -- the many coming together to support a common cause. If we all pull together and toss a few bucks into the effort right now, we can be instrumental in achieving a True Blue New Mexico. We can add a second Democrat to New Mexico's Senate roster and help transform our U.S. House delegation from 2 Repubs and 1 Democrat to all True Blue. Any donation, no matter how small, will help do the trick. We can't let Rove and Cheney go unanswered today, now can we?

For our previous coverage of these races, visit our archives:

• 2008 U.S. Senate Race
• NM-01 Congressional Race
• NM-02 Congressional Race
• NM-03 Congressional Race

NM-Sen: AFSCME Unanimously Endorses Tom Udall

From AFSCME New Mexico PEOPLE:

Candidate's Experience and Strong Record Drive Decision
Albuquerque, NM -- The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents over 12,000 city, county, and state employees, has endorsed Congressman Tom Udall for United States Senate. AFSCME is fully dedicated to putting all of its resources to use to make sure Congressman Udall is representing New Mexico as our next U.S. Senator.

On Tuesday evening, AFSCME New Mexico's PEOPLE (political action) Committee voted unanimously to endorse Congressman Udall because he has a strong track record of fighting for New Mexico's workers and has the experience we need.

"Tom is a once-in-a-lifetime elected official. He is the type of person that we never have to second guess where he stands on workers issues.  He has always been with labor and we are very thankful for that," said AFSCME Executive Director Lawrence Rodriquez.

PEOPLE committee member and State employee Christine Serrano added "Congressman Udall has been a wonderful representative for all of us in northern New Mexico.  We are going to miss him as our Representative, but we all know he will make a great U.S. Senator."

Click to visit Rep. Tom Udall's campaign website.

To read our previous coverage of this race, visit our archive.

(Updated) Tonight on KNME's "NM in Focus-The Line": Volunteerism, Local Politics and Yours Truly

UPDATE 12.16.07: You can now see video clips of the entire show at MySpace and comment about it at KNME's online forum.
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Pre-show preparation

I've long been a fan of the local KNME political talk show, "New Mexico in Focus - The Line," co-hosted by Santa Fe Reporter writer David Alire Garcia and Albuquerque Journal columnist Gene Grant, respectively. Being unrepetentent political junkies, the show is part of our Friday night TV ritual that also includes "Washington Week", "Bill Moyers" and Bill Maher's "Real Time."

This week, producer Kevin McDonald invited me to participate as a panelist on Gene Grants' "The Line" segment of the show, along with fellow guest panelist Pat Frisch, AM operations manager of Citadel Communications, and regulars Margaret Montoya, who's a professor at both the UNM Law School and School of Medicine, and Jim Scarantino, an attorney and columnist at the alibi. You can watch the show tonight -- Friday, December 14, at 7 PM and on KNME, Channel 5 or tune in for the repeat on Sunday, December 16, at 6:30 AM.

You might say I was a bit nervous about appearing on the show. I'd never been on TV before and I have to admit I had visions of myself becoming entirely tongue-tied or babbling incoherently during the taping. Thankfully, the show's hosts, participants, producers, director and techies made me feel right at home and helped me relax enough to make some sense during Tuesday's taping. At least I think I made sense -- but I won't really know until I see the show for myself tonight.

Lights, camera, action

Thankfully, "The Line" folks all said I did a fine job, but then they probably tell that to all their guests, being the gracious people they are. The proof will really be in the viewing. I hope I did DFNM proud. Phew. After the initial jitters, the experience turned out to be exciting and fun -- you know how much I like to talk and debate about politics. Our fast-moving discussion touched on a wide range of topics, including Mayor Martin Chavez's withdrawal from the Senate race, Hispanic voters moving back into the Dem column, the latest news about Gov. Bill Richardson's presidential run, the new Spaceport director, immigration, the new medical marijuana regulations and more.

It definitely helped to have Mary Ellen along for the ride as my behind the scenes sidekick, offering much appreciated moral support and humor. She produced the photos in this post and got to hang out in the control booth with the important folks who work out of camera range to make the show a reality. She reports being fascinated by the inside look at tv production, and she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Of course she didn't have to sit under the lights, face the cameras and attempt to be spontaneously articulate!

In the booth: staff and interns who handle the technical end

Monitors and camera angles

As usual, the first segment of tonight's show will feature David Alire Garcia of the Santa Fe Reporter hosting "New Mexico In Focus." Tonight's topic is volunteerism, including a discussion on where New Mexicans rank when it comes to volunteering, and what local officials are doing to boost civic participation. His guests are Gregory Webb, executive director, New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism; Jean Block, ABQ The Magazine’s 2007 Humanitarian of the Year; Kerrie Copelin, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central New Mexico; and Brenda Wolfe, clinical psychologist. After that comes "The Line" segment, with our discussion and the infamous "On the Clock" sequence, where we have one minute per topic on five different issues.

You can check out blog posts and video clips from past and present shows in the series at the New Mexico PBS page on MySpace, or visit their online forum. KNME's pledge drive is also in full swing so please consider supporting public TV and local shows like this one by becoming a member and contributing to the future success of KNME.

"New Mexico In Focus" is a prime-time news magazine show covering events, issues and people shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. The one-hour show concentrates on bringing viewers important topics of our time, in a cohesive package. The show takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic, health, education and arts issues and explores them in-depth, with a critical eye to give them context beyond the “news of the moment.” This episode is co-produced by Karl Swanson, UNM intern. Support has been provided by McCune Charitable Foundation; closed captioning has been made possible by a gift from Mrs. Elspeth G. Bobbs.

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