Democracy for New Mexico

Important Drilling Santa Fe Meeting Coming 8.23.07

From Drilling Santa Fe: Important Drilling Santa Fe meeting at Cloud Cliff Café, 1805 2nd Street, at 6:30 PM on Thursday, August 23, 2007. Click for poster.

Drilling Santa Fe has currently documented more than 80,000 acres of mineral rights in Santa Fe County, New Mexico leased to oil and gas drillers. How is the County planning on regulating oil and gas drilling? The Drilling Santa Fe petition calls for a moratorium on drilling permits until the existing codes are strengthened. Will the County accept the petition? Are more minerals being leased? What is split-estate? What is pooling? Could I find a drilling rig in my backyard? What can I do? These and other questions will be addressed. For more information, please go to our website, where you can also sign up to be on our email list.

Please tune in to "The Journey Home" with Diego Mulligan for an interview with Drilling Santa Fe at 4:00 PM, Tuesday, August 21, 2007.

Also, to get some background of oil and gas exploration in Santa Fe County, please listen to "Living on the Edge" with David Bacon and Zubi Wilson, a forty minute interview with Drilling Santa Fe that originally aired on July 22, 2007. For the direct link to the interview, go to R3 Productions.

Link list:

• https://www.ksfr.org/
• https://drillingsantafe.blogspot.com/
• https://www.r3productions.net/local.htm

See you at Cloud Cliff,
Johnny Micou
drillingsantafe@earthlink.net

Dem Women of Sandoval County to Host Celebration Picnic

From the Democratic Women of Sandoval County:
Celebration Picnic
Coronado Campground, 106 Monument Road, Bernalillo
Sunday, August 19, 2007 Noon until 3 PM

Join us as we celebrate our second anniversary as Democratic Women of Sandoval County! We will meet for a picnic in the pavilion at the Coronado Campground (turn right into the campground immediately after you turn off the highway) on Highway 550 in Bernalillo.

This is a free public event. Everyone is welcome. The more the merrier. Bring your relatives, your friends, your neighbors, and anyone else who wants to have fun. Come meet the newly announced candidates and potential candidates. Greet your friends and neighbors and make new friends. There will be good food, music, and balloons for the kids, and information about local organizations. The pavilion is a short hike from the river and a short drive to the monument. Admission to the monument is free on Sundays.

Please help us spread the word to local community service and non-profit organizations  that they are welcome to set up their own table at this event. Let your favorite cause know about our celebration. We’d welcome their participation. If you have questions call Janice Saxton at 867-1139 or email jnjsaxton@msn.com.

Editor's Note: The Democratic Women of Sandoval County list their events on the Democratic Party of Sandoval County website.

Laura E. Sanchez Named DPNM Executive Director

From the Democratic Party of NM:
Brian S. Colón, Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, announced on Friday that Laura E. Sanchez was his choice for the position of Executive Director. Sanchez is a native of Deming, New Mexico. Her appointment comes at a critical time for the Democratic Party as it gears up for the 2008 election in what is considered a key state in the race for the White House. 

"Laura Sanchez is a model New Mexico Democrat. Her education and experience will help me advance the electoral prospects of Democrats at all levels. Ms. Sanchez's knowledge of the state, her life story, legal background, and work experience in legislative bodies and with advocacy groups make her tremendously qualified for this demanding job," said Chairman Colón. 

"I am honored and thrilled to have this exciting opportunity," said Ms. Sanchez. "The Republicans have sought to systematically tear apart the fabric of our communities: gutting workplace protections, under-funding the educational system, pillaging our environment, and neglecting the health care crisis in America, not to mention continuing to send our young service men and women off to fight a misguided war. Clearly, we need a Democrat in the White House. As Executive Director, I will work to ensure that New Mexico goes blue in November 2008, and elects a Democratic President." 

Ms. Sanchez comes to the DPNM from her position as Energy Solutions Policy Fellow for the Natural Resources Defense Council. She is an attorney who worked as a Senate Majority Analyst assigned to the Judiciary Committee in the 2007 session. Ms. Sanchez has practiced in public finance and commercial real estate transactions in Albuquerque since 2004. During the 2006 campaign, she directed the Get-Out-The-Vote operation for a statewide initiative for the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.

Ms. Sanchez received a Masters in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the University of Arizona in Tucson. She held a number of political and public service positions in Arizona including working for the Pima County Community Services Department, Congressman Ed Pastor, the Office of the Pima County Attorney, and the Arizona State Senate.

Ms. Sanchez received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles. During law school, she clerked for the National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington, DC. She also has experience working for the California Legislative Analyst's Office in Sacramento.

"Selecting someone to lead the staff and run the day to day operations of the state party is one of -- if not the -- most important decisions of my tenure," said Chairman Colón. "I campaigned for the position of Chair on the idea of being more fair, energetic, and inclusive, and I am proud that the executive director selection process has met this standard. I am grateful for the executive director search committee's work with each and every one of the 29 applicants for the position."

Now Available: Video of Tweeti Blancett Event for Drilling Santa Fe

To view videos of Tweeti Blancett's recent presentation for Drilling Santa Fe, go to their website at https://www.drillingsantafe.com or use this direct link. The Drilling for Santa Fe site has quite a collection of information about the possibility of extensive oil and gas drilling in Santa Fe County, what such drilling can do to the land, a petition and much more. Our previous posts about this issue can be found here and here.

More Health Care Community Forums Scheduled

More health care community forums, sponsored by the Health Care for All campaign and other groups. Attend and express your views on universal health care in New Mexico:

Farmington: Aug. 16, 9-11am and 6-8pm (location to be determined). Call the Community Health Care Fund, 505-564-3628.

Taos: Aug. 22, 6-8pm (location to be determined). Call the Taos Co. Health Council, 505-776-8705.

Rio Rancho: Aug. 23, 7-8:30pm at the Meadowlark Senior Center, 4330 Meadowlark Lane. Call the Sandoval Co. Community Health Alliance, 505-771-7941.

Las Vegas: Aug. 28, 4-6pm at Luna Community College, 366 Luna Dr. Call the San Miguel Co. Health Council, 505-454-1401

Carlsbad: Sept. 10, 5:30-7:30pm, at NMSU-Carlsbad, Room 101, 1500 University Dr. Call the Eddy Co. Community Health Council, 505-887-9511.

Bayard: Sept. 11, 6-8pm at the Bayard Community Center, 290 Hurley Ave. Call the NMSW NM Council of Governments, 505-388-1509.

Santa Fe: Sept. 18, 10am-12pm at St John’s Methodist, 1200 Old Pecos Trail (pending) and 5:30-7:30pm at Santa Fe County Chambers, 102 Grant St. (confirmed). Call the Santa Fe Co. Health and Human Services Dept., 505-992-9840.

Roswell: Sept. 20, 2-4pm at ENMU-Roswell, Occupational Tech. Center Bldg., Room 124. Call Barbara Thompson, 505-623-61723.

Los Alamos: Sept. 20, 7-9pm at Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Ave. Call the League of Women Voters, 505-662-5900.

Gallup: Oct. 4 (time and location to be determined). Call the McKinley Community Health Alliance, 505-863-5107.

Citizens Restless About Real Health Care Reform

Jerry Ortiz y Pino has an excellent column in last week's alibi about the recent community forum in Albuquerque on NM health care reform sponsored by Health Care for All -- and about Gov. Bill Richardson's stance on reform. I highly recommend you read the whole thing, but here's an excerpt:

... the event did have an emotional highlight. It came when a speaker cautioned those in attendance that the prospects for true reform of our health care system were dimmed significantly by a pronouncement from Gov. Richardson that he would never approve any measure that didn’t include a role for private insurance. The chorus of boos, hisses and angry shouts that greeted this statement was immediate and deafening.

Speculation afterward on why Richardson would have made such an unpopular public statement at a point in the process far, far before he needed to take any position on it at all (to say nothing about it also being in the midst of an uphill campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination) ranged from the cynical to the outright libelous.

Clearly, it is a stance he might want to reconsider, as no other issue likely to come up in the campaign would be as effective in propelling him up into the top tier of racehorses as would an enthusiastic endorsement of single-payer health care.

... But our governor is quoted by his health care advisor, Michelle Welby, as believing that the 80 percent of New Mexicans who have health coverage are “happy with the current system,” so he won't likely want to end the blood leech role played in our current health financing system by our legion of private insurers.

That is, unless he begins to listen to the thousands who have coverage but who are desperately unhappy with it--citizens like Pam Parker, a businesswoman in Taos, who tearfully detailed for a Legislative Committee last week how her eight-year struggle with breast cancer has left her family financially devastated because her insurer raises the premiums and deductibles annually so that she now pays $1,500 a month … for a policy with a $5,000 deductible. She doesn’t dare switch as her health history makes her essentially uninsurable by any company other than the one she has now.

... The War over Health Care will soon be bigger news than the War in Iraq. Gov. Richardson needs to switch sides. [emphasis mine]

I couldn't agree more.

Make Your Views Known
Right now, Gov. Richardson's presidential campaign website is soliciting questions from the public in a sort of continuation of the recent CNN-YouTube Dem presidential forum. Click here to submit a comment or question about why he has said he won't support a health care reform plan that doesn't preserve a strong role for insurers. If we want an affordable universal health care plan here and nationally, we need to be relentless in pushing for a single-payer type plan (like the NM Health Security Act) that removes the number one cause of rising health care costs -- the for-profit brokers and insurers.

The NM Legislature will take up health care reform at the 30-day session in January, and the Interim Health and Human Services committee is meeting now in various parts of the state to discuss the issue. Contact members of the committee and your legislators and let them know where you stand.

Sign up here with What If You Knew, to stay current on what's happening at the grassroots level to advocate for an effective universal care plan. Join the Health Action NM alert list to get news on Health Care for All New Mexicans activities.

Click here to get the facts on why single-payer universal coverage is the only effective way to cover everyone while keeping costs down -- in a detailed article by none other than noted economist and New York Times journalist Paul Krugman.

Health Care Reform Community Forums
Health Care for All has held two recent, heavily attended health care town halls in Albuquerque and Las Cruces. Such community forums on health care reform in NM will be held in many other parts of the state. In August, town halls are scheduled for Farmington, Taos and Las Vegas, NM, with more on the way. Click here for Health Care for All's calendar of events for more info, and pledge to attend and express yourself at a forum in your area.

Cheney in Albuquerque Monday 8.6.07

Cheney's high school yearbook photo

VP Dick Cheney will emerge from his cave in an undisclosed location and be in Albuquerque on Monday, August 6. He's set to address the joint opening session of the Marine Corps League's national convention at the Marriott Hotel located at 2101 Louisiana Boulevard NE. According to the meeting agenda, Cheney will be speaking to the convention from 10:30 to 11:00 AM. No word yet on any other events scheduled for Dick while he's in town.

I wonder if he'll try to raise some bucks for the faltering Repub team while here. Or maybe he'll just have a conversation or two with Pat Rogers or another of the NM Repub biggies about how to illegally keep Democratic voters off the rolls with voter caging techniques or trumped up claims of "voter fraud."

As we previously reported, Bush himself will be attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici in New Mexico sometime in late August.

Karl Rove must be fretting about the GOP's chances in New Mexico in 2008. With the House Ethics Committee meeting behind closed doors to hear testimony about  Rep. Heather Wilson's pressuring phone call to fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, Sen. Pete Domenici entangled in a similar controversy on the Senate side and Rep. Steve Pearce voting against a recent House resolution to establish that permanent bases won't be built in Iraq (that passed by a 399-24 margin), Rove has his work cut out for him.

RSVP Now: DFA-DFNM Meetup with Martin Heinrich

Our next regular monthly Albuquerque DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup will feature special guest MARTIN HEINRICH, the Democratic candidate for Congress in NM-01 who'll be challenging Republican incumbent Heather Wilson. We'll hear about Martin's platform and strategies and have a chance to ask him questions or offer comments. Gabriel Nims of is also scheduled to stop in and, as usual, there'll be a few other announcements and info.

Don't miss this Meetup. Come to the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church on the SW corner of Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque at 7:00 PM on Thursday, August 2nd. Click to join our Meetup group, RSVP or get on our email list.

Mark Your Calendars: Our September 6th Meetup will feature NM Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino as our keynote speaker so mark your calendars now. He's expected to talk about what's coming at the next NM Legislative Session and provide some perspective on what happened at the last one. Sen. Ortiz y Pino has sponsored many excellent pieces of progressive legislation, including the NM Senate resolution to impeach Bush and Cheney.

Note if you haven't yet donated to Martin Heinrich's campaign, you can do so at the DFNM Netroots page at Act Blue.

Guest Blog: Mayoral Makeover - How Marty Chavez is Working to Reinvent His Image

This is a guest blog by Keegan King (right), co-director of Young Voters NM. It was originally published as an op-ed in Albuquerque's alibi weekly.

Historically, much has been made of the fact that people under the age of 25 vote at dramatically lower rates than any other segment of the population. Apathy is partly to blame, but I believe the primary reason for a lack of youth involvement in the political process is cynicism. And much of this cynicism stems from watching politicians who manipulate the media to conceal their true policy agendas.

Take the chief executive of our own fair city, Mayor Martin Chavez. Two recent news items reveal how Chavez is working overtime to reinvent his image:

Item #1: Gail Reese, a top assistant to Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, made an on-the-air call to his radio talk show and, using a fake name, parroted the administration's talking points while flaming several city councilors. When Reese was busted for her crude attempt to mislead the public by trying to pose as just another "Jane Q. Citizen," her first response was to feign memory loss.

After Reese finally fessed up, the mayor's office swung into damage control mode by issuing a press release that spun her surreptitious call as nothing less than a valiant exercise of free speech. KKOB station manager Art Ortega was charitable in characterizing the incident as "disingenuous." The Tribune editorialized against fake "Astroturf" grassroots lobbying efforts emanating from the mayor's office.

Item #2: Albuquerque's morning daily newspaper reported that Chavez had received something called the "Climate Protection Award" at a recent meeting of the National Conference of Mayors. The story trumpeted the claim that Albuquerque had reduced greenhouse emissions by an extraordinary 67 percent since 2000, making it a "Green City."

But there were some glaring problems with the story.

For one thing, the claimed emissions reductions were for — not for the community as a whole.

That's a huge difference and it illuminates the challenge Chavez faces in refashioning his image.

Sandy Buffett, executive director of , cut right through the hype in a Journal letter to the editor: "One only needs to look at the unbridled real estate sprawl development to know that Albuquerque's carbon footprint is rapidly exploding ... If Chavez is serious about reducing Albuquerque's carbon footprint, than he needs to get serious about managing and planning Albuquerque's growth." As anyone who has lived in Albuquerque for the past few years knows, Chavez has been the developers' darling by shepherding their big-box, cookie-cutter sprawl development over and over again.

Oh, and one more thing. The story neglected to inform readers that Chavez' award was sponsored and underwritten by none other than Wal-Mart — the outfit that builds all those big-box stores that do so much to fuel the very sprawl development and car culture that is at the heart of the problem.

There are more recent examples of Chavez manipulating the media as he works to revamp his image and obscure long-held policy positions.

Last month, Chavez issued a sweeping "Executive Order" to ban smoking outdoors on all city government property. TV reporting featured footage of the mayor intoning piously about the health dangers of smoking.

Oddly, this was the very same Mayor Chavez who in 2002 brandished veto threats to block the City Council's efforts to pass an ordinance banning smoking in restaurants. His complaint then? The ordinance restricted to eating establishments was too sweeping and unenforceable. Talk about a 180!

And then there is Chavez' unveiling of his "Open Government" initiative. It calls for posting the minutes of city board and commission meetings online and reducing photocopy costs for public documents. With the ABQ PAC slush fund scandal fading from public memory, Chavez clearly has calculated that it’s time to jump on the "ethics" bandwagon.

But again, when you get past the hype, it's worth recalling that Chavez' silence was deafening during the last Legislative Session when really tough ethics reforms were being debated — contribution limits, an independent ethics commission and clean election financing (which he opposed for city elections in 2003).

This, of course, is what explains Marty's rush to makeover his image. Anticipating a gubernatorial run in 2010, but facing lagging poll numbers, Chavez is desperately trying to reinvent himself to appeal to Democratic primary voters around the state.

Hollow posturing of this sort is exactly what turns off young voters, who are a growing force to be reckoned with. After years of lagging participation, their turnout surged in the last two elections. Young voters demand honesty and authenticity from those who would presume to lead us. That's bad news for Martin Chavez and his big bamboozle.

Editor's Note: [all emphasis above mine] This is a guest blog by Keegan King, co-director of Young Voters NM. It was originally published as an op-ed in Albuquerque's alibi weekly. Guest blogs provide readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on issues of the day, and may or may not express our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Must See TV Tonight on NOW: Repub Plan to Disqualify Dem Voters in NM, Other Battleground States

Tonight, July 27, 2007 at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on PBS' NOW on KNME: How Secure Is Your Right to Vote? Those interviewed include investigative journalist Greg Palast, who has done extensive work on the issue in New Mexico and elsewhere. (Check local listings.) NOW investigates a secret Republican plan designed to disqualify voters by various means including voter caging:

Was there a White House plot to illegally suppress votes in 2004? Is there a similar plan for the upcoming elections? NOW examines documents and evidence pointing to a Republican Party plan designed to keep Democrats from voting, by targeting people based on their race and ethnicity. Congress is investigating, and so are we. NOW speaks with David Iglesias, one of eight fired US attorneys, who says he lost his job because he refused to go along with the White House plan to suppress votes.

Was the White House involved? David Iglesias, one of the fired U.S. Attorneys, thinks so: "It's reprehensible. It's unethical, it's unlawful. It may very well be criminal." Iglesias told NOW he was repeatedly urged by his superiors at the Justice Department to investigate allegations of false voter registrations. After his investigations came up short, Iglesias said Republican officials got angry, complained to White House aide Karl Rove. Soon after Iglesias lost his job. As a result of allegations by Iglesias and others, Congress is investigating whether the White House acted unlawfully.

The NOW website also reveals key emails and documents covered in their investigation and also features an extended interview with David Iglesias, as well as one with another fired U.S. Attorney, Bud Collins. Excerpts of Iglesias interview:

NOW: It wasn't only officials at the Department of Justice who were expressing an interest in pursuing such [voter fraud] cases. You were getting requests from other individuals, correct?

DI: That's correct. In fact, there was a Republican attorney, Pat Rogers, who was a prominent local attorney who tried to pressure me to come up with cases. He would send emails to my assistant, who I had tasked with running this election fraud taskforce ... And I had lunch with Mr. Rogers last fall and he expressed his concern about what he believed to be this systemic, ongoing election fraud. I did not know at the time that he belonged to an organization called the American Center for Voting Rights. He did not disclose to me that he was representing any other interest. And I've also found out that the Republican Party was very interested in stamping out what it believed to be instances of voter fraud.

NOW: The State Republican Party or the National Republican Party?

DI: Both. But who contacted me or some of my assistants was the State Republican Party.

... NOW: In one press account you're quoted as characterizing Mr. Rogers' interest in this issue as "obsessive."

DI: Yes. I was aware of grumbling within the State Republican Party. I had friends of mine who were attorneys. One was a former federal prosecutor himself and he would tell me during the course of early 2005 through mid-2006 ... "The Republicans are still upset with you. They still expect you to prosecute cases."

So I knew there was this belief that was I intentionally not prosecuting prosecutable cases. And I knew Rogers, as a prominent Republican, who had actually represented the State Republican Party in some civil litigation related to the voter ID issue ... I knew he was interested in the issue. And then I was also aware of the emails and phone calls he had been leaving with my assistant, who I had tasked with prosecuting this. So I knew there was a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction of me not prosecuting any cases.

What I believed, however, was consistent with historic practice—that the Justice Department would insulate me from any partisan political pressure. As it turns out, they didn't do that. And that was one of the bases for forcing my resignation.

... NOW: Trying to use the office of a U.S. Attorney for partisan political purposes is unethical. But you're saying it is actually illegal?

DI: Right. That's why there has been such a circling of the wagons around Karl Rove and Harriet Miers and Sarah Taylor. I believe there to be incriminating, possibly criminally incriminating evidence contained in those e-mails and other memoranda. That's why the White House doesn't want to produce it to Congress.