Democracy for New Mexico

Speaker Lujan Laid in Rest at the Rotunda for the Day

Speaker Lujan was a leader. A leader for people and for the earth. The rotunda was full of people this afternoon. The lines were very long to pass by the Speakers dressed casket and to share respect to the Lujan family. My heart ached.

Carmen Lujan looked strong and beautiful, but you could see the past year of taking care of her best friend husband lover soul mate has taken it's toll. We hugged, and I for one did not want to let go. We are still here on the side of the living. I can feel the pain that Carmen is feeling and will feel. Loss is so hard. Even when you know the end is coming the living partner gives their all to comfort the sick and give them the up most dignity for every hour they are here.

Congressman Lujan was steadfastly standing next to his mom, and his other brother on the other side and sisters on the other. All beautiful children, brought into the world and protected and cared for by their Dad. Just a Dad to them. Further down the family line was the grandchildren. Picture boards were in different locations in the rotunda showing Mr. and Mrs. Lujan smiling very proudly in practically every shot.

Gov. Richardson spoke, Representative Ken Martinez spoke, other democratic leaders were in attendance. Missing was Gov. Martinez and other republican leaders. More sad evidence of the lack of cooperation this 60 day session will be mired in. If one of your colleagues dying does not unite us for even one day, we are living in a very sad time.

When Barb was sick and when she passed Congressman Ben Ray Lujan reached out to us many times. I asked him to speak at Barb's celebration of her life ceremony, he of course said yes. Congressman delivered a heart felt remembrance speech. The whole time not mentioning one word of what his family was going through with their own loved one, their Dad.

I remember hearing the news of the Speakers battle with lung cancer in the roundhouse the first day of the session in January. My heart ached. I watched the speaker in the session and was blown away with his stamina. Wow. The word ego was not a word used to describe the Speaker. Humble, humility, strong willed, principled, these are the words that describe this Dad. EGO to me means "Edging God Out" we have too many in our society with huge ego right now.

May the strength of the universe and the God of their understanding be with the Lujan family as they travel this wonderful gorgeous planet. The Speaker did a great job while here on this planet, worked for the greater good til his end. We must too.

December 21, 2012 Winter Solstice

earth-chrysallis from Eden Sky

Here we are at the end of the Mayan Calendar, December 21, 2012. Through the years Barb and I read about this day and this time. One of the things she said a few days before she left the planet was; "I hope I at least make it to the year 2012." That was not to be, but I wanted to assemble a post that would share some of the believes she would say, and that I beleive in as well, or at least hope for.

Let's start with the concept of a Paradigm Shift.
This is a great positive take on the 2012 Prophecy ~ by Eden Sky

To put it simply, it is not the end of the world that is coming, it is the end of a world age. This shifting of World Eras is a cycle change that will steadily shift our human orientation from an ego-based perspective dominated by separation, fear, greed, and destructive, imbalanced tendencies - towards one based in conscious interconnectedness, fueling our tendencies for harmony, compassion, and life-affirming energies and actions. This represents a shift beyond the patriarchal cycle we have been in, sometimes called a "male-dominant linear perspective," into an Age in which masculine and feminine energies and perspectives are balanced, ideally uniting mind and heart, logic and intuition, spirit and matter. The most blatant example of this shift is in re-prioritizing our values and Placing Planet and People over Profits, in true recognition of the intricate, interdependence of the One Web of Life. It is obvious we cannot survive or thrive on this planet without this transformation of our worldview.

Eden Sky's conclusion:

In conclusion, let us strive to evolve into our deepest human potential to be wise and loving human beings, that we may contribute as consciously as possible to the greater well being of human culture, understanding our place upon this glorious Planet, and within this sentient Universe. Let us honor our place in the vast cycles of time, and heed the calls of our ancestors who left these prophecies for us, now. Let us activate the wisdom given to us by Dr. José Argüelles who urged that we honor our Earth as a Living Work of Art and realize that we can each be instruments of harmony and beauty, serving as Planetary Artists! The tasks to be accomplished in these momentous times call us to cooperate on new and grander levels, that we may manifest ever greater harmonies together. Let us synchronize and unify in deep courage, compassion, creativity, willingness and joy with our brothers and sisters of humanity, to be who we truly are here to be, and do what we are truly here to do. Let us awaken our dormant powers. Let us dream the highest dream. Let us ride the upward spiral through the accelerated currents of change. Let us face the death of the body that we may live from a place of realizing who we are as an essence; a heart. Let us seriously invest in cultivating our intuition and inner-knowing. Let us celebrate and nurture our interconnectedness. Let us paint new beauties upon the canvas of our Earth. Let us be grateful for this life we are given, here and now, ever-evolving as children born of the One Great Mystery.

Bingaman, Udall Seek Answers on REAL ID

From Senator Udall:

U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall today asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide New Mexicans with immediate assurances that their travel plans early in the new year will not be disrupted by a federal law governing drivers' licenses.

While the senators support strengthening the standards governing IDs, they are concerned that as many as 38 states - including New Mexico - will not be able to meet the January 15, 2013 deadline to comply with the law. DHS has previously told the senators that New Mexico drivers' license holders will still be able to travel domestically and enter federal buildings using the state licenses but has not made a public announcement of its plans regarding REAL ID implementation.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the senators said enforcing the January 15 deadline could cause a significant disruption in air travel. In their letter, the senators urged DHS to quickly clarify its plans regarding the implementation of the REAL ID Act:

"The lack of guidance by the Department of Homeland Security is causing a great deal of anxiety for our constituents, who are seeing news reports that they may need a passport in order to fly on domestic flights after January 15. We have been expecting an announcement that your Department will extend the deadline or delay enforcement of the Act, but to date there has been no statement either way. Such delays mean that many people may alter or cancel their travel plans or bear the expense of obtaining a passport they do not need," Bingaman and Udall wrote.

In 2005, Congress passed legislation -- called the REAL ID Act -- requiring states to tighten requirements related the issuance of drivers' licenses because they are used as a standard form of identification for a variety of federal purposes, including air travel. In 2009, DHS extended the REAL ID Act compliance deadline until January 15, 2013.

"If the Department intends to extend the deadline, please make such an announcement immediately. If the Department does not intend to provide such an extension, please issue a public statement as soon as possible to reassure the traveling public that you will work to mitigate the adverse impact of REAL ID," Bingaman and Udall wrote.

The full text of the letter is available here.

Speaker Lujan Passes Away

Speaker Lujan words of wisdom; Feb. 15,  2012

It is with a very heavy heart that we write a blog post regarding the passing of our New Mexico Speaker for the House of Representatives Ben Lujan. Speaker Lujan passed away last night at around 10:45 from lung cancer. 

A tireless man working for the good of the people, and the earth.

The following press release was issued from his wonderful son, our Congressman, Ben Ray Lujan:
Speaker Ben Lujan succumbs to lung cancer. He died at approximately 10:45 Tuesday evening after a short stay at CHRISTIS St. Vincent’s hospital. His wife Carmen, children including Congressman Ben Ray Lujan and their grandchildren were all at his bedside. He died peacefully without complications. Funeral arrangements are pending. He was a member of the House since 1975 and served as Majority Whip, Majority Floor Leader and House Speaker. On opening day of the 2012 legislative session, he announced that he was not going to seek re-election and disclosed that he had stage 4 lung cancer. 

The Sierra Club released the following statement:
New Mexico loses an environmental champion. When New Mexico Speaker of the House Ben Luján passed this morning, the world lost an environmental hero.
Over and over through the years, Luján protected the people of New Mexico from destructive legislation that would have put our children and grandchildren in jeopardy. He initiated and advocated for many successful laws that preserve our unique quality of life in the Southwest.
The Speaker's continued work for the state during his illness was a sign of his steadfast dedication to the greater good, and in that time he made important progress in protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink.
New Mexico and the world are truly better places because Ben Luján served our state. The Rio Grande Chapter will miss him, and we send our condolences to Lujan's wife, Carmen, his son, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, and his entire family.

What a gift to New Mexico to have Speaker Lujan in our presence. To watch his wife Carmen and the Speaker together you could see true companionship, true love and commitment. To watch how proud they were and humble is a lesson to us all.

My heart goes out to Carmen and their family and to Congressman Lujan you are gifted as well. Take good care in these days ahead.

My Favorite poem regarding the passing of our loved ones:

The Ship by Bishop Brent
A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says She is gone.
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large now as when I last saw her. Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment, when someone at my side says she is gone, there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon and other voices take up a glad shout - There she comes!
That is what dying is. An horizon and just the limit of our sight.
Lift us up O Lord, that we may see further.

One Year Ago Today

Barbara Rose Wold loving our earth

One year ago today Barb left the planet at least in the form we recognized her in.

The support from the community of friends has been outstanding, fantastic, life sustaining. Thank you is too small of a word to express the gratitude. Time and love from friends and friends we do not even know we have heals us. 

There is not a day that goes by without me remembering in full detail some aspect of our life together.

I find rest with the understanding that Barb is fullfilling her souls journey. And that we found each other and had the good fortune of traveling together for 23 years. I have to fulfill my life journey, you have to fulfill your life journey and there is no time to waste.

Love and Service

Bottoming Out Culture 2012

Just as any drunk and addict bottoms out so will a culture. As much as the cold blooded killings to those beautiful children and teachers that occurred on Friday would possibly be the bottoming out of our addicted culture it will not. This one has stumped us though as a country and a culture.

Where does one start to express the anger and sadness about such an act as Sandy Hook. It is all of one piece like a tapestry. Gun laws, the making of weapons, the life of perpetual war, the senseless killings of other harmless countries children, the years of funding a war machine, killing machine. The incredible toxicities in our air and water and land, polluting our minds beyond what we really comprehend and we are not willing to fund for better understanding because of our love of weapons.

Not funding those that teach us, our teachers. Doing long days working for very little pay, their reward watching the light of learning go off in that child's mind. More funding for teachers less for war I would like to hear spoken from our politicians mouths. Teachers should be held up as high and dignified as our first responders. They were the first responders in this Sandy Hook tragedy.

How about the glorification of killing in movies and videos. These industries make billions all just making killers. The young males that get into this particular addiction should be discussed. Maybe even that the killing craze is mainly done by white males should be studied.

Greed, how about greed fellow humans. Why won't we take care of each other? Some people don't have bootstraps folks. We are continuing generations of poverty now, just so the filthy rich don't have to help others. Many good citizens now jobless, no future, no dignity, no way out, sickness hitting home, cancers. Tons of cancer, an epidemic that we don't talk about either affecting millions of people.

The planet we call home we are continuously harming. Killing off entire species. Polluting our waters so our children will be waterless. Polluting our air so our children can not breath.

It is all of the same friends. One sick addicted selfish culture.

Buy buy buy, consumerism, materialistic craze. All just band aids to a sick culture. Almost every product having some sort of plastic in it. What is plastic made of? Petroleum, fossil fuel our other major addiction. What are the hazards of plastics? Plastics are known to kill off sperm counts in males, what does it do to female eggs? Maybe that is what is causing such depravity? Ingesting plastics. We fashion ourselves an advanced culture, we could study this relationship of plastics and mental illness. But we can not as long as most of our collective money goes to the american war machine. How can we study this when we have guns to make and sell to the world.

The rant could go on. The point is it is all of one piece. We can not blame the NRA or this or that when we allow our weapons killing manufacturing buzz to continue, each of us have to consider our relationship to this massive killing machine industry. We cannot look for answers without looking at our fossil fuel oil addiction and what relationship we have to it. It is all of the same. The NRA is every military base, every nuclear weapon stored here in Albuquerque. More jobs in this country are for the killing machine then are for helping others. We are a culture based on violence and we all have a part right now.

One more thing, am I the only one that is disgusted with the vision of one of the swat military peace officers and the stupid machine gun they carry walking beside a youngster exiting the school? Is this what we have become? Ever since 911 we have funded homeland security to the tune of billions as well. For sure one of the answers to this sickness will be to have more security, instead of dealing with the problem head on. More security devices and gadgets and guns will be sold in order to protect us. Some rich pig becoming more filthy rich all with the disguise of protecting us. Maybe every school will have it's own militia like APS does now. All funded by our tax dollars.

Just like an addict we will let one day slip to the next and eventually the horror of the previous action will become distant we will forget and slip back into our addiction.

On Thursday SWOP Delivered Pit Rule Petition Signatures to The NM Gov

From SouthWest Organizing Project:

Groups and Community Activists Hold Press Conference in Albuquerque yesterday to discuss 12,000 New Mexico petitions in support of our strong Pit Rule; Petitions delivered to Gov. Susana Martinez in Santa Fe

In September, the Chile Lovers of New Mexico delivered a petition composed of over 10,000 signatures from New Mexicans in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in support of protecting New Mexico’s landmark Pit Rule to Governor Susana Martinez. Since then, an additional 3,000 New Mexicans from our rural communities have spoken up in support of a strong Pit Rule.

The Pit Rule is an important safeguard that protects our land and groundwater from oil and gas industry waste. Currently, Martinez’s Oil Conservation Commission is considering dismantling the Pit Rule in ways that will hinder its ability to protect the land and water that sustains all New Mexicans.

The commission has delayed making a final decision several times, and is set to reconvene in January. Supporters of a strong Pit Rule are asking Governor Susana Martinez to not change the rule by adopting amendments proposed by the oil and gas industry.

Yesterday, organizers and volunteers gathered to hold a press conference in Albuquerque, and to deliver the petition to the Governor's office in Santa Fe. Here are some quotes from the statements made at the press conference:

Molly Brook, Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund: "...With drought and other factors making our water increasingly scarce, it is critical that every drop of water is clean and safe for us to use. Protecting New Mexico's water should be common sense, but that's why it's puzzling that we even have to be here fighting for our water in the first place- all because the safeguard that currently protects our ground water from pollution is under attack."

Patricia Atencio, community volunteer: "I do have a sister that does live in Las Cruces and she has some land out there in Doña Ana and they plant alfalfa and if the water is contaminated there will be no longer alfalfa, there will be no longer chile, and that goes for all of New Mexico. So I want to ask the people, the New Mexicans... to support us in this Pit Rule, we need it desperately."

Tomás Garduño, SouthWest Organizing Project: "All the people that we've been working with over the past several months, volunteers who have called the governor's office- over 300 people have called the governor's office- and these over twelve thousand total petition signatures that are going to be delivered to the governor's office really show that New Mexicans understand the connection between making sure that our water is not contaminated, and having a thriving economy."

The Chile Lovers of New Mexico is collaboration between the Southwest Organizing Project and the Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund.

The Pit Rule is a law that protects New Mexico’s land and water by ensuring that industries properly lines their waste pits to prevent contamination. Before the law was enacted in 2008, there were over 400 known cases of groundwater contamination that could be linked directly to poorly maintained oil and gas industry waste pits. Since then, there have been zero known cases.

12,000 New Mexicans Ask Gov. Susana Martinez to Protect the Pit Rule

From the SouthWest Organizing Project:
Groups and Community Activists Hold Press Conference in Albuquerque Thursday to discuss 12,000 New Mexico petitions in support of our strong Pit Rule; Petitions delivered to Gov. Susana Martinez in Santa Fe

In September, the Chile Lovers of New Mexico delivered a petition composed of over 10,000 signatures from New Mexicans in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in support of protecting New Mexico’s landmark Pit Rule to Governor Susana Martinez. Since then, an additional 3,000 New Mexicans from our rural communities have spoken up in support of a strong Pit Rule.

The Pit Rule is an important safeguard that protects our land and groundwater from oil and gas industry waste. Currently, Martinez’s Oil Conservation Commission is considering dismantling the Pit Rule in ways that will hinder its ability to protect the land and water that sustains all New Mexicans.

The commission has delayed making a final decision several times, and is set to reconvene in January. Supporters of a strong Pit Rule are asking Governor Susana Martinez to not change the rule by adopting amendments proposed by the oil and gas industry.

Who: New Mexicans in support of protecting the Pit Rule and our groundwater
What: Press conference
When: Noon, Thursday, Dec. 13
Where: Washington Park at Park and 10th Streets, Albuquerque

What: Petition delivery in Santa Fe
When: 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13
Where: Gov. Martinez’s office, Santa Fe

The Chile Lovers of New Mexico is a collaboration between the Southwest Organizing Project and the Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund.

The Pit Rule is a law that protects New Mexico’s land and water by ensuring that industries properly line their waste pits to prevent contamination. Before the law was enacted in 2008, there were over 400 known cases of groundwater contamination that could be linked directly to poorly maintained oil and gas industry waste pits. Since then, there have been zero known cases.

Udall, Grijalva Highlight Taxpayer Losses, Lack of Needed Data Revealed in New Oil and Mining Report

Press release from Senator Udall's office:

A report released this morning by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), originally requested by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), describes glaring shortfalls in the data publicly available on hardrock minerals and highlights lost revenue from extraction on federal lands.

In 2011, Udall and Grijalva requested the report from GAO to identify the amount and estimated dollar values of minerals extracted from federal land. The report examined available data on minerals extracted from land administered by the Department of Interior, which includes 700 million acres of federal land, 57 million acres of Indian lands, and 1.8 billion acres below offshore water. The full report is available here.

In its report, GAO concluded it could not estimate the available data on the amounts, types or values of so-called locatable minerals – such as gold, silver, copper and uranium – that are mined from federal lands each year because the 1872 Mining Law provides no royalties for the public. The law, which still governs hardrock mineral extraction, does not require mining companies to disclose how much they extract, where such minerals are sold or what the overall value of each mining operation is, even for multi-billion-dollar mining operations conducted on federal land.

"This report confirms what we've been saying all along – that we need to reform the mining law of 1872," Udall said. "Hardrock minerals are natural resources that belong to the American people, and we need to make sure we are getting the best return on what should be an investment – not a giveaway."

The report also details the value of minerals – including oil, natural gas, and coal – that are subject to lease and administered by the federal Office of Natural Resource Revenue. Although royalties are paid on these minerals, the report details a discrepancy between the amounts actually paid in royalties – which GAO calls the effective royalty rate – and the rates set out in existing law.

“We’ve been hearing from conservatives that we need fewer hours at national parks, less reclamation of valuable lands, fewer services for park visitors and a whole gamut of supposedly necessary cutbacks,” said Grijalva, the ranking member on the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. “Well, now we know we’ve been leaving a huge pot of money on the table that could change all that. There’s no reason to keep these extraction and royalty laws out of date. At the very least we need disclosure so American taxpayers know what is being taken from their lands. Keeping the public and Congress in the dark any longer about what’s going on with federal property doesn’t serve any public purpose, and it should end."

“There’s a simple legislative fix for this big hole in the federal government’s revenue stream, and it’s only fair that companies benefiting from access to public lands pay their fair share,” Grijalva added. “The Department of Interior should continue to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Congress should make sure disclosure a priority, and then we can talk about how to make sure the American people financially benefit from the sale of public minerals the way they should have been all along.”

Grijalva is a cosponsor of H.R. 3446, formally known as the Fair Payment for Energy and Mineral Production on Public Lands Act, which would set a 12.5 percent royalty rate on hardrock minerals. He has said he looks forward to supporting and strengthening an updated version in the upcoming Congress.

"I hope this report can be a catalyst for discussion about reform, but at a minimum it shows we need better disclosure on extraction of our natural resources," Udall said. "Both parties want to solve our economic challenges and make government more efficient for the taxpayers – here's an opportunity to do both. We should be able come together on this issue, and I look forward to making that case to my colleagues in the next Congress."

Udall is a member of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works.

Why is NM Job Growth Non Existent? A Response to Abq Jrnl Winthrop Q

Dear Winthrop, You are one of my favorite writers for the Journal. You always offer a less slanted objective then what the paper is known for. In your piece today regarding job growth you suggest readers offer their suggestions of how to improve job growth in NM. Knowing the Journal is selective over what they publish I figured I would respond here to your request.

There is an elephant in the room you neglect to mention in the article and listing of "It's" (ex. It's the Labor Pool?). It's the war and the size of the defense budget.

It's the cost of the wars we have been in since October 7, 2001, for 11 years and counting. The Afghan and Iraq wars have cost our country 2 billion dollars a week. $2bil per WEEK. Staggering costs, no one mentions this cost anymore. How much is the cost of the Afghanistan war now? Last I heard it is costing 1.5bil per week.

These are enormous numbers of which no one mentions. No politician, no media. The real cost is calculated out in trillions, which includes taking care of the wounded soldiers for years and the hard costs of these wars in dollars expended, hard earned dollars which could have been used in this country

The following article featured on TruthAlliance.net dated July 17, 2012 starts to expose some of the reason we are screwed as far as job growth here.

Photo above is “The Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility, about 12 miles northeast of Baghdad, is seen with unused building materials nearby. The site is a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million. The official in charge of monitoring America’s $51 billion effort to reconstruct Iraq has estimated that $6 billion to $8 billion of that amount was lost to waste, fraud and abuse.”

The article goes on to say “In Friday’s report, Bowen said the exact funds lost to fraud and waste “can never be known,” largely because of poor record-keeping by the U.S. agencies involved in the effort. These include the Departments of State and Defense, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development.”

And these articles from Judicial Watch: “Billions for Iraq reconstruction lost to fraud", highlighting an audit done by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) dated July 13, 2012. And this arictle The largest theft of funds in history. And in 2008 this article "Pervasive fraud and waste in Iraq reconstruction efforts. “

So here we have it we were ripped off and no one has the will to stand up and say this, the political will or the media will. Where does 2 bil per week go for years and years? We at DFNM have been asking this question for years. Mr Quigley we suggest you look into this and see what you come up with, just a suggestion. See if you as an american citizen can find where this gross amount of money could have gone. How could we spend 2 billion dollars a week? Let's see a breakdown of costs for one week in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I have worked on public design and construction projects most of my adult life and I know when I work for the US or State government, I am held accountable for every dollar and to every dollar for the work I produce. And if the media or regulatory agencies find out otherwise there is hell to pay.

To surmise the cost of these wars at 2 billion a week has destroyed our prospect of jobs for years to come. The elephant in the room is the cost of the Afghan and Iraq wars, the cost of the actual war and the cost of the reconstruction both of these having no restrictions for costs and billions of dollars of waste and fraud.

Our military spending is totally out of control. We as a country have no money for other matters and concerns, like taking care of our seniors and building schools for our children. All our tax dollars go to the War Machine, if you are not part of the war machine business you have no work, both in the public sector and the private sector.

What to do now? Get out of Afghanistan. Stop spending our tax dollars over there. Let’s start a reconstruction effort here in this country. Let’s start with New Jersey and New York.

And if I was a real journalist and not an architect pretending to be a journalist while looking for real work myself, this story of the fleecing of America from 2001 to 2012 would be my passion to expose. To have it be known in every household what has occurred these critical years, and the lack of accountability of our elected officials and media.

PS. Please take a look at the SIGIR audit linked to above and here for your ease, just this report alone only 31 pages long is so light weight as to the corruption and robbery that has taken place. Meanwhile many people go yet another day without full employment.

12/10: ABQ Fair Redistricting Fundraiser

PLEASE COME TO A FUNDRAISER FOR OUR LEGAL FUND AT ARTICHOKE CAFÉ!

MONDAY, December 10, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
ARTICHOKE CAFÉ, 424 Central Ave. SW (corner of Central and Edith)
Suggested minimum contribution: $100.

Whether or not you live in the downtown/Old Town/north valley, you should be concerned about the implications of this Republican-engineered rediststricting plan that could lock in a Republican majority on City Council for the next decade. The biggest losers would be the old neighborhoods along the east side of the river who have the greatest infrastructure needs, but will be reduced to only one vote on Council.

Attorneys at the national League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) believe that we have a strong case and have agreed to represent us in court to overturn the unwise and unjust decision to eliminate our center city Council District.

LULAC is a 501(c)(3) corporation, and contributions for its advocacy litigation purposes are tax-deductible. This is a legal effort, not political, and your contribution, employer and identity are not subject to campaign reporting requirements. There is no limit to your contribution. Please make your check to LULAC, with “ABQ redistricting” in the memo space.

For more information or to donate on-line, see our website: https://abqfairredistricting.org. Just click on the “Contribute” link and you’ll be directed to a secure LULAC contribution site that sends donations directly to our defense fund.

You can also mail your check to us at: Albuquerque Fair Redistricting, 1106 Santa Fe Ave SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102.

Thanks, and see you on the 10th!

Guest Blog: Winter DNC Meeting - Democrats United for 2014 by DPNM Chairman Javier Gonzales

Following is a guest blog from Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales. Javier has been DPNM Chair for two terms. He was elected in September 2009 and then again in April 2011. Javier is serving as the NM Democratic Party Chairman until April 2013, when the party will elect a new chair for this very difficult important position to lead the State Dem Party.

This past weekend as Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and appointed member of the ASDC Executive Committee, I was honored to represent New Mexico Democrats at the Winter Association of State Democratic Chairs and Democratic National Committee meetings in Park City, Utah.

Utah was a great location, in particular for New Mexico’s attendance, because its proximity allowed me to bring the staff so our state party was able to gain the most from this series of meetings and trainings.

You may ask, “What was so important about this particular meeting?” Good question.

The ASDC is the best forum for both State Chairs and Executive Directors of State Parties to meet together and within their own groups to discuss best practices, goals of the association and also as a means to continue the training and education necessary to best execute our jobs in our home states. These forums also allow the states to coordinate and speak with a unified voice to the DNC – failure to do so would diminish our collective ability to adequately move forward together as a group of state parties.

For most of the time we were in Utah, myself and Executive Director Scott Forrester were in meetings fighting for the preservation of an initiative called the State Partnership Program (SPP). This program provided direct monetary resources to state parties across the country from the DNC. At the close of the 2012 cycle, the DNC had announced it may not continue the program.

To put this in practical terms, the absence of this financial support would jeopardize the ability of our state party and other state parties to adequately staff their offices in off-year cycles and it would also impact our ability to continue to elect Democrats in New Mexico.

I am happy to announce that at the conclusion of the ASDC meeting – after strong lobbying by Chairs and Executive Directors – the DNC has committed a minimum of $5,000 per month to New Mexico, which represents a guaranteed $60,000 of funding for the 2013 calendar year. As well the DNC – committed to transferring OFA data collected over the last four years into the DPNM voterfile.

Along with these two big successes, the DNC and State parties left Utah united and ready to take back the House of Representatives, hold the Senate and make sure we beat Republican Governors, especially Susana Martinez.

Additionally, during the ASDC meeting – and while myself and Executive Director Scott Forrester were negotiating for the continuation of the SPP program – day-long panel discussions, workshops and regional breakouts were attended by our other DPNM staff members.

Particularly of importance were workshops on the use and future improvements to our data and technology programs. It is no secret that Democrats were aided by a very strong data program, and the ASDC meeting provided an opportunity for state data file managers to get together with the DNC, Clarity Campaigns and the national VAN CO-OP to provide direct feedback on programs, data management and troubleshooting.

This kind of access is crucial for a state like New Mexico – one of the stronger data usage states – to gain advanced tips and techniques to build on the already strong technological foundation which exists already at the DPNM.

Finally, one of the last opportunities for New Mexico that the ASDC meeting provided was an informational panel on preparations for the 2013 Presidential Inauguration. Like the DNC Convention, many New Mexicans will be traveling to support our President as he is sworn in on January 20 and 21, and the ASDC forum with the presidential inaugural committee provided crucial information, deadlines and structure which will benefit all New Mexicans who are choosing to travel to Washington, DC. The DPNM, along with our NM Members of Congress will play a lead role in securing tickets to this historic event and will be better equipped to do so because of this meeting.

In all, I found the ASDC meeting to be the perfect opportunity for the DPNM to not only be fully represented, campaign to maintain the strong working partnership which currently exists with the DNC, and gain crucial professional development for the headquarters staff as we transition to the 2013 election cycle.