Democracy for New Mexico

DFA-DFNM Meetup Tonight

It's that time again. If you plan on attending our Albuquerque DFA-DFNM Meetup this Thursday, February 1, at 7:00 PM, at the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche, please RSVP now or sign up to be a member of the group and get our emails: https://dfa.meetup.com/160/.

This month's Meetup will focus on what's going on at the NM legislative session and how to get involved with lobbying, contacting legislators and tracking bills of interest. Plus PAUL STOKES of United Voters NM will explain the election reform bills to be considered this year in Santa Fe and nationally.

Also, ANA CANALES will discuss her candidacy for Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County. Other candidates for this office are encouraged to speak to our group as well. Please contact me if you'd like to do so by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of this site.

DFA-DFNM ABQ Meetup Tonight

Our regular monthly DFA-DFNM Albuquerque Meetup takes place tonight, December 7th, at 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall at Carlisle and Comanche. Click here to join the group or RSVP for the meeting.

Our speakers this month include:

DANA MILLEN, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Heath Security for New Mexicans Campaign presenting their plan for universal healthcare.

MAGGIE TOULOUSE, an applicant for Bernalillo County Clerk, discussing your issues of concern for the person who will fill the clerk slot vacated by our new Secretary of State, Mary Herrera.

JOE CASADOS & ANGELA CHAVEZ, DPNM Field Coordinators, who will talk about 2006 election lessons learned, and brainstormwith us about future party building and outreach strategies.

DFA-DFNM Meetup Tonight

Our regular monthly Albuquerque DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup is set for tonight, Thursday, October 5, 2006, at 7:00 PM, at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall at 3701 Carlisle Blvd NE. Featured speakers include Felicia Griffin, Director of Development, New Mexico Voices for Children; and Shay Rose, Dem candidate for State Representative in District 28. We'll finish with an open discussion on the upcoming election so you can share your thoughts with the group and say your piece about recent events.

Click here to RSVP for the Meetup or join the group and get on our email list.

DFA-DFNM Meetup Tonight: Special Guest Diane Denish

It's that time again. Our DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup is set for tonight, Thursday, November 7, at 7:00 PM, at the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque.

We're very pleased to have Lt. Governor Diane Denish as our keynote speaker. She'll be leading an interactive discussion on party building, the upcoming elections and more. Don't miss it! You can learn more about Diane Denish at her , as well as sign up to support her incumbent candidacy for Lt. Governor.

If you want to join the group's email list and/or RSVP for tonight's event, please visit our Meetup group website.

Jim Baca Keynote Speaker at Tonight's DFA-DFNM Meetup

Jim Baca stops in to say hi at our Meetup in April.
This time he's our featured speaker.

Our monthly Albuquerque DFA-Democracy for NM Meetup is set for tonight at 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque.

Our keynote speaker will be former Albuquerque Mayor JIM BACA, who's running on the Dem ticket for State Land Commissioner. It's a very important race in terms of our state's environment and use of public lands. Baca is running hard against an incumbent Republican who's funded largely by oil and gas interests. Come meet Jim Baca and learn more about this race. You can also visit his website linked to his name above or check out his blog, Only in New Mexico. All Dems are strongly urged to donate some bucks or time to Jim's campaign.

We'll also have a short presentation from our local Communities United to Strengthen America group about their work on healthcare and retirement security, and a short report from Lynn Jacobs on her trip to this year's DFA DemocracyFest in San Diego. To join our email list or RSVP for tonight's activistiies, visit our group page at the Meetup website.

DFA-DFNM MEETUP THURSDAY: Politics & Ice Cream

Our regular monthly DFA-Democracy for NM Meetup is set for this Thursday, July 6th, at 7:00 PM, at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque. Click to RSVP or join our group.

This month's agenda includes Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Chair Marvin Moss, who'll update us on coming rules changes and other Party news and take your questions.

Our featured segment will be a compelling talk by Bill and Anne Kass, who just returned from a Global Exchange "reality tour" of Bolivia. They'll have all kinds of fascinating news and anecdotes about the changing political and social situation there with the election of Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Activism and democracy are on the march with Bolivians working hard to take control of their water, energy and natural resources, and struggling to benefit the disenfranchized and indigenous populations via their socialist movement.

Afterwards, stay for our FREE ICE CREAM SOCIAL. Savor a refreshing ice cream sundae while you hang out and chat with other participants. We'll provide the ice cream, whipped cream, syrup, nuts and maraschino cherries. You provide the bon appetit.

Hope to see you there! Many of our members are on vacation or out of town this week, so our Meetup should be intimate and afford plenty of opportunity for questions and interaction.

DFA-DFNM Meetup Tonight: Ethics in Government

DON'T MISS THIS ONE! DFA-Democracy for New Mexico's regular monthly Meetup tonight in Albuquerque will focus on the timely issue of ethics in government and politics. Our panel includes MATT BRIX of Common Cause NM and JIM NOEL, Executive Director of the NM Judicial Standards Commission, both of whom are members of the Ethics Task Force appointed by Governor Richardson to examine what needs to be done to improve ethics and make recommendations for legislation to achieve it. Also on the panel are CARTER BUNDY of AFSCME and ELI LEE of Soltari.

We'll have a panel discussion and Q and A about reforming ethics laws in New Mexico that regulate campaign finance and the conduct of candidates and officeholders.

DFA-DFNM Meetup
Thursday, June 1, 7:00 PM
First Unitarian Church Social Hall
Carlisle and Comanche, Albuquerque

The Ethics Task Force met on May 30th and will meet again on June 28-29 up in Santa Fe. Anyone interested in reforming our state's antiquated and inadequate campaign finance, lobbying and accountability laws are urged to attend and keep the pressure on for genuine reform. Our discussion tonight can provide you with what you need to know about the process and how we can be effective advocates for ethics reform in New Mexico.

According to an article in the Albuquerque Journal, the task force set these reform priorities at their May 30th meeting:

• publicly financed campaigns
• caps on contributions
• legislative salaries
• a state ethics commission
• limits on gifts to candidates and public officials

The Albuquerque Tribune has more on this too. Governor Richardson has asked for a report from the group by November 1st and has stated he will use the recommendations of the task force to form the core of his legislative push for ethics and campaign reform at the next session in January. New Mexico is one of only five states that have no limits on campaign donations and one of only 11 that lacks a state ethics commission.

If you haven't yet RSVPed for tonight's Meetup, click here. To join our Meetup group and get on our email list, go here.

The DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup was established in April 2003 as a Dean for America campaign Meetup. Once Howard Dean was out of the presidential race, we transformed ourselves into a progressive grassroots activism group and an information clearinghouse for progressives. We hold regular monthly Meetups on the first Thursday of each month. Our email list currently contains more than 680 people. We have loose ties to the national group Democracy for America but, like all DFA-related groups in every state of the country, we operate independently with no legal ties to DFA.

May 4th DFNM Meetup Features Noted Activist Mark Rudd

Our next DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup is set for Thursday, May 4th, at 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche. To RSVP for the Meetup or to join our email listserve, visit our Meetup website.

Photo credit Tina Larkin, Daily Lobo

Our featured guest this month is noted political activist and TVI faculty member Mark Rudd (above). Mark will be leading a wide-ranging, interactive discussion on approaches to getting progressive nonvoters to the polls, immigration issues, the Iraq war and the threat of an Iran war. Check out Mark's bio below. By all accounts this should be a free-wheeling and compelling discussion. Don't miss it.

Coincidentally, May 4th is also the 36th anniversary of the killing of four students and the wounding of nine others at Kent State University by members of the National Guard during an anti-Vietnam protest. Unfortunately, the atmosphere in the U.S. appears to be in danger of coming full circle.

Our agenda also features shorter segments with Stephanie Gonzales (left), Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, and Geno Zamora (right), Democratic candidate for Attorney General, as well as our usual array of announcements  and information on opportunities for activism. Come on down for another evening of grassroots community and a lively discussion on the issues. Bring a friend.

Mark Rudd Bio:
Mark Rudd was the Chairman of the Columbia University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society in April, 1968, during the student rebellion there against the university's support for the war in Vietnam and its institutional racism. After being kicked out of Columbia, he helped found the Weatherman faction of SDS and was elected SDS' last National Secretary in July, 1969. He then made the disastrous decision to destroy SDS and found the Weather Underground; he was a federal fugitive from 1970 to 1977.

Mark has been living and working and organizing in Albuquerque since 1978. He was active with the Mt. Taylor Alliance, opposing uranium mining and waste dumping, in Native American solidarity movements such as supporting the Big Mountain elders on the Navajo Reservation, fighting against the arms race in the early eighties. He helped found the NM Construction Brigade to Nicaragua in 1985 and was active in the Central America Solidarity Movement. He was Board Chairman of the
Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice in the late eighties. 

He helped found the TVI Employees Federation, an AFT local union, and participated in a four-year organizing effort there; he continues as his local's COPE Co-chair.  He helped found the Alliance for Academic Freedom in 2003 to defend local teachers who had been dismissed or suspended for allowing anti-war expression.  He has been involved over the years in supporting the right of Palestinians to a state and opposing Israel's occupation of their territory.  He has been active
in environmental health organizing in his South Valley neighborhood and also in opposing the Mixed Waste Landfill at Kirtland Air Force Base.

He continues to write and speak about the history of the Vietnam anti-war movement and its relevance to today.

DFA-DFNM Meetup to Feature New Dem Field Organizers

Our regular DFA-Democracy for New Mexico Meetup is set for Thursday, March 2nd at 7PM at the First Unitarian Church on Carlisle and Comanche. If you plan to attend, please RSVP.

Our special guests are two of the new DNC field organizers in NM who are charged with outreach and Party building. Joe Casados and Anathea Chino will be explaining their roles, reporting on their activities and plans and explaining how we can help. We want to build a good working relationship with the field coordinators and this is an excellent opportunity to connect.

Howard Dean with Irene Para, Anathea Chino, Angela Chavez, Joe Casados
(Photo courtesy DPNM)

We'll also be hearing about the paper ballot bill, which will be signed by Governor Richardson the morning of Meetup, and what we need to do to make sure the machines are purchased in every county as soon as possible. In addition, we'll have announcements from several folks and a chance to discuss last week's visit to NM by Howard Dean.

Hope to see you there!

Q & A With Patricia Madrid at Next DFA-DFNM Meetup

NM Attorney General Patricia Madrid will be speaking to our group and answering questions at the next DFA-DFNM Meetup on Thursday, January 5th, at 7:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church Social Hall at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque. Click to join our Meetup group or RSVP.

As you surely know by now, Madrid will be challenging Rep. Heather Wilson for the CD1 seat in 2006. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post ranks the competitiveness of this race ninth in the nation and says this will be Heather's "toughest race since she claimed the seat in a 1998 special election."

The 2005 campaign fundraising filing period ends on December 31 and Madrid's campaign would like to see a strong showing to demonstrate that thousands of New Mexicans are willing to step up and support her challenge to the awful policies of Bush and his rubberstamp, Heather Wilson. You can make an online donation right now at her new website.

Heather Wilson is nothing more than an enabler for the radical agenda of the Bush/Cheney/DeLay machine. She voted for them and time and again she votes with them on legislation that puts the interests of wealthy elites ahead of the people. This may be our last and best chance to stop her before she becomes SENATOR Heather Wilson! Let's get involved.

MoveOn is already targeting the race with a tv ad criticizing Wilson's position on the Iraq War. In MoveOn's recent petition campaign demanding an Iraq exit strategy and timeline, Wilson's office was presented with 2500 signatures, the most of any candidate targeted. Her response? According to the Albuquerque Journal, another parroting of the BushCo line: "As the Iraqis stand up, we can stand down." Wilson spokesman Joel Hannahs dismissed MoveOn.org's effort as that of a "left-wing" political group. We know where Wilson stands.

On the other hand, Madrid is advocating establishment of a definite, clear timeline for troop withdrawal that begins bringing our men and women serving in Iraq home by December 2006. She's also taking strong positions on healthcare, prescription drugs, tax policy and government reform. We're excited that we'll have a chance at Meetup to get detailed answers directly from Attorney General Madrid about her views on these and other issues like election reform.

Contribute a few bucks at her website before the end-of-year deadline and then come on down to our Meetup on Thursday, January 5th and take advantage of an excellent opportunity to meet the candidate and find out face-to-face what she stands for. A large attendance will demonstrate that Madrid's early reachout to the progressive community is much appreciated. Hope to see you there.