Democracy for New Mexico

Guest Blog: Urgent Aspartame Ban Action Alert

This is a guest blog by Stephen Fox of Santa Fe:
New Mexico Needs Your Immediate Help! New Mexico Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s Senate Bill 498, to ban Aspartame in New Mexico, may end up being scuttled this week in the Senate Public Affairs because of an ”analysis” by an Assistant Attorney General, Zach Shandler, which essentially throws in the towel and agrees with corporate theories of the FDA’s approval of aspartame preempting and preventing any state level legislative ban on Aspartame, in order to protect New Mexicans from, for example, Brain Tumors and Multiple Sclerosis resultant from ingesting Aspartame/Methanol/Formaldehyde and another brain tumor causing agent/metabolite of Aspartame: Diketopiperazine.

This cannot be the work of the Attorney General of New Mexico, Gary King, Ph.D. Organic Chemistry. He was asked to write a letter endorsing the two bills, one in each Chamber of the Legislature, which he may still be doing; that support letter may be still in the works, which at this writing is completely unclear.

After all, Gary helped write the bill back when he was the Attorney General candidate whom we endorsed so strongly in dozens of New Mexico publications, precisely because with his background in chemistry and his long history of Consumer advocacy as former chairman of the House of Representatives Consumer Affairs committee and as the legislator who wrote most of the administrative procedures for the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy back in the 1990’s, he could understand the medical and biochemical harm done by this artificial sweetener, which is metabolized as methanol and formaldehyde, and should never have been approved by the FDA in 1981, when its approval was forced through the FDA by then CEO of G.D. Searle, Donald Rumsfeld, for vast personal fiscal gain, as well as the obvious parallels between Aspartame corporate liabilities and the corporate liabilities at the heart of the $235 billion tobacco suits in the 1990’s.

States and even cities can and must protect themselves, and in fact do all the time in these jurisdictional realms. For example, New York City was not preempted by FDA approval of artificial trans-fats when its city council recently banned them. States have gotten rid of all kinds of things with prior federal approval by FDA or EPA other agencies: Asbestos, another fine example. The Vioxx suits in Texas were not preempted by FDA approval of Vioxx! There is no potential Balkanization of consumer statutes in the USA, or as Shandler alluded, no potential threat of suits by the FDA over jurisdictions herein.

I ask you to telephone Gary King, Attorney General of New Mexico, as soon as you can, starting Monday, to inquire whether Mr. Shandler’s minion’s opinions are the final word from the A.G. on this vital issue, or will King come through with a strong letter defending all states’ rights and states' obligations to protect the health of their citizens, especially when we have a corporate-manipulated United States Food and Drug Administration that will facilely rubber-stamp just about whatever ghastly new chemical additive industry asks it to approve!

There are hundreds of millions of lives at stake, because of the neurodegenerative afflictions attributed to Aspartame, even in the FDA compiled consumer complaint lists: Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gerhig's disease, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Brain tumors, etc.

Please also ask all of your friends, neighbors, associates, colleagues, and family to also call him, even if you are not a constituent from New Mexico. We are not at this point talking about suing 25 corporations: we just want to pass a long overdue bill that prohibits the sale of Aspartame in New Mexico.

If Attorney General King also capitulates to the corporate demands that New Mexico stop impugning Aspartame because of its proven neurotoxicity and cancer-causing 26 year record of killing people, our battle becomes an almost impossible uphill battle, which must be prevented by direct citizen intervention, communication, and correspondence to New Mexico Attorney General Gary King.

This is urgent, as the Senate Public Affairs Committee will decide this matter this week, and two Senators, Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces and Dede Feldman of Albuquerque, would vote against this measure easily, just because of this pusillanimous “analysis” from Assistant New Mexico Attorney General Zach Shandler, really the last quarter from which we could have expected such a pathetically weak consumer protection stance, which we cannot allow to ruin or eviscerate the most important consumer protection legislation in the United States in 2007!

After you call, take the time to write it down and mail it or Xerox it or email it to Gary King on his website as Attorney General.

Thank you very much,
Stephen Fox
Stephen@santafefineart.com

Contact Information for your calls Monday and later this coming week:

Attorney General Gary King
(505) 827-6000, Executive Assistant, Lisa Wood

NM State Senator Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces
NM State Senator Dede Feldman of Albuquerque, Public Affairs Chair
(505) 986-4300

At the same number, you can also reach two Senators whose support is also absolutely vital, just not quite so urgently as the two above:

NM Senate, President Pro Tempore, Ben Altamirano of Silver City
Majority Leader, Michael Sanchez of Belen

After all of our medical articles and warning, two of these four Senators, and actually many others in both houses, still consume beverages with Aspartame, which is tragic, of course, but still "their business."

They should not, however, let their own consumer choices, govern their votes on efforts to protect the rest of the 1.8 million New Mexicans from the harm done by Aspartame/Methanol/Formaldehyde/Diketopiperazine. We can still ban it entirely, rather than use a fall back plan, to ask the Legislature to require every Aspartame product to have a cross and bones poison label on every product.

Click to read Stephen Fox's previous guest blog on this topic.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Stephen Fox. Guest blogs are meant to permit readers to express their opinions on issues and the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of DFNM. If you'd like to submit a guest blog for consideration, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the main page.

Listen to NM Sen. Dede Feldman's Messages About Her 'Green' Bills

Sen. Dede Feldman (R) at Opening Day of Legislature
(Photo from Feldman blog)

From NM Senator Dede Feldman (D-13-Bernalillo):
Listen to Dede Feldman's short audio description of Senate Bills 542 (Energy-Efficient Appliance Tax Credit) and 543 (Sustainable Building Tax Credits) here (mp3). And here's more information (mp3) about Senate Bill 542, in which Senator Feldman tells consumers how to take advantage of the savings if SB 542 is passed.

You can express your support by contacting members of the Senate Corporations Committee at 1-505-986-4300 and asking for their extension, or by emailing them directly by clicking their email links below:

Sen. Shannon Robinson
Sen. Gerry Ortiz y Pino
Sen. Diane Snyder
Sen. Mark Boitano
Sen. Dianna Duran
Sen. Phil Griego
Sen. Stuart Ingle
Sen. Cynthia Nava
Sen. David Ulibarri

Here are links to the actual text of each of the two bills:
SB 542 (ENERGY-EFFICIENT APPLIANCE TAX CREDIT)
SB 543 (SUSTAINABLE BUILDING TAX CREDITS)

Editor's Note: You can visit Senator Feldman's blog at https://senatorfeldman.typepad.com/.

Sen. Ortiz y Pino and DFNM on Today's Insight NM Radio Show

Montage with last week's guests on Insight New Mexico.

Be sure to tune in Insight New Mexico's weekly political show on Albuquerque's Progressive Talk Radio 1350 AM today from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. Eric Griego and sidekick producer Suzanne Prescott will be interviewing one of our local Dem heroes -- NM Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino -- who has sponsored the NM impeachment bill, the medical marijuana bill, the working families tax credit and many other progressive measures, as well as Eric Mack, head producer for the NM News Service. Eric will also be talking with some APS and CNM board candidates in the February 6th election in Albuquerque.

I'm also excited to report that we (Barbara Wold and Mary Ellen Broderick) will be featured on the show's blogger segment today representing Democracy for New Mexico. Wish us luck - we're definitely new to radio interviews!

To learn more about Insight New Mexico and today's guests, download podcasts from previous shows, stay current with guests on upcoming shows, or join the discussion, visit their website and blog at .

Listeners are encouraged to phone in questions during the show by calling 338-4090.

If we want progressive talk radio to continue in Albuquerque, now's the time to show your support by tuning in and spreading the word to your friends, neighbors and colleagues.

P.S. Eric Griego is now a regular columnist at the Albuquerque Tribune. Check out his column.

Join The League's Rally for Clean Elections: Sign Up for Feb. 9 Bus to Santa Fe

From The League of Young Voters, Albuquerque:
Are you sick of dirty money in politics?  Are you tired of corporations dictating YOUR life? And most importantly, are you down with the LEAGUE?? If you answered "YES" to any (and hopefully all) of the questions above, why not join the League's Clean Election Campaign, and help us KEEP dirty money OUT of politics! Public Financing will:

• Reduce corruption and the influence of Big Industry and Corporate lobbying.
• Allow qualified leaders to run, who due to financial reasons may not have been able to before.
• Give the power back to voters by increasing their choices and reducing negative campaigning due to spending limits.

Your Legislators will be voting on this issue soon, its up to us to tell them what the people want.

Heres How You Can Help:

• Come up to Santa Fe for our League Clean Election Rally on February 9th.
• Help us get the word out about Clean Elections by volunteering with the League.
• Write letters to your local paper supporting Public Financed campaigns.

Give us a call and let us know how you can help. You can also signup for our bus to Santa Fe by clicking here.  You can also make your self heard immediately by sending your Senator a message to support Clean Elections.

To subscribe to The League's mailing list, go to: https://indyvoter.org/join.

SB 499 Would Create NM Office of Peace

From the NM Department of Peace Initiative:
Last week Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque introduced SB 499, Office of Peace Act in the 2007 NM Legislature. The Office of Peace bill passed on the House Floor 37-22 during the 2005 session, but the Senate Public Affairs Committee tabled the bill. This session we just have the Senate bill. SB 499 has been assigned to the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Cisco McSorley remains a strong co-sponsor.

Please contact your legislators, especially your senators at this time, if you haven't already done so. Urge them to support SB 499, the NM Office of Peace bill. The general phone number for the Capitol is 505-986-4300. Also, please contact the members of the Senate Public Affairs Committee (see below) where SB 499 will soon be on the agenda for a hearing. It could be next week.

May Peace Prevail in NM!

Virginia J. Miller, Legislative Coordinator
NM Department of Peace Initiative, Santa Fe
505-986-8676

SENATE PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (Click for email contacts)
Meets Tues. and Thurs. 2:30 PM or 1/2 hr after session Room - 321

Committee Member Phone Numbers:
Dede Feldman - Chair (D) 505-986-4482
Mary Jane M. Garcia - Vice Chair (D) 986-4726
Steve Komadina - Ranking Member (R) 986-4377
Stuart Ingle - (R) 986-4702
Gay G. Kernan - (R) 986-4274
Steven P. Neville - (R) 986-4266
Gerald Ortiz y Pino - (D) 986-4380
Mary Kay Papen - (D) 986-4270
David Ulibarri - (D) 986-4265

Visit the official website of the New Mexico Legislature at https://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/default.asp for frequently updated information about bills, committee hearings, etc.

Both NM House DOMA Bills Stopped in Committee

You know I'm celebrating this one! As reported by Steve Terrell in the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Same-sex marriage isn’t legal in New Mexico, but a House Committee on Thursday halted attempts to carve in stone a state ban on gay marriages. On party-line votes, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted to table two measures that targeted gay marriage. The actions effectively killed the bills for this session of the Legislature.

House Joint Resolution 2, sponsored by Rep. Gloria Vaughn, R-Alamogordo, would have let state voters decide whether to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

House Bill 395, sponsored by Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, would have put that definition of marriage in state statute.

I suggest we thank the Democratic members of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee for voting to keep discrimination of this type out of NM law and our Constitution!

A big shout-out goes to Dem Reps. Gail Chasey, Irvin Harrison, Antonio "Moe" Maestas and Al Park!

ACTION ALERT: Help Stop Damaging NM "Terrorism" Measure

Guest Blog from Anne Kass:
Everyone who is protective of civil liberties should be very concerned about the implications of HB 653, Prohibit Terrorism. Please contact NM Rep. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces), who is sponsoring this "bill opposing terrorism" (Office 986-4248, Home 532-1145, email jeff.steinborn@nmlegis.gov), as well as Attorney General Gary King and FAIR BlogGov. Bill Richardson, both of whom are also supporting it according to an Albuquerque Journal article, and express your opposition to the bill's misguided focus.

According to the Journal, the bill makes it a felony to commit an act of terrorism. No problem there. However, the bill goes on to define terrorism to include any act or threat of violence intended to, "intimidate or coerce a civilian population" or government and causing more than $20,000 in property damage. We must convince Rep. Steinborn to remove all references to property damage, in general, and any specific dollar figure, in particular. Including property damage in the definition of terrorism is an arrow at the heart of civil protest. It is a corporate sponsored undertaking which corporations already got through the Federal Congress.

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has announced plans to oppose the bill:

"This is an unfortunate attempt to re-create the Patriot Act in New Mexico," said Peter Simonson, referring to federal law passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "What this law would do is create an overly broad definition of terrorism that could easily be used to criminalize acts of civil disobedience and even non-violent protests."

He specifically pointed to language that would allow prosecution for a "threat of violence" that reasonably could be considered dangerous. That threshold could prevent protests similar to anti-World Trade Organization protests that occurred in Seattle in 1999, when protesters tore down barricades.

Let me tell you how the federal law works.

A few months ago I watched a news report about a group of animal rights activists who had seen actual video footage of horrible animal abuse being inflicted upon laboratory dogs by the employees of an animal research laboratory. The lab technicians shook beagles until their necks snapped and threw them to the floor for resisting whatever experimental protocol was being inflicted on them. It motivated people to organize to picket the accounting firm that did the laboratory's books. Apparently research had shown that the accounting firm might be sympathetic to abused animals.

It was a peaceful protest, and it worked. The accounting firm quit doing the laboratory's books. The laboratory then persuaded a Republican U.S. Attorney to charge the protestors with terrorism because they had intimidated or coerced (picketed) a civilian population (the accounting firm) and caused more than $10,000 worth of INTELLECTUAL property damage. (The laboratory claimed it cost them more than $10,000 to find and educate a replacement accounting firm, and $10,000 is the specific figure in the federal law.)

The protestors were convicted. I watched one young man interviewed just as he was about to begin his three year federal prison sentence.

I'm not making this up.

What Needs to be Done
Not only must Representative Steinborn remove the property damage language from his bill, but he should insert language that expressly excludes at least "intellectual property damage," expressly states that the bill isn't aimed at the economic damage that may result from peaceful protest (for example boycotting a product) and that further expressly protects peaceful protest in all its forms.

This is important. Please contact your own Representative and Senator as well, and stay on top of them until you get a commitment that in New Mexico corporations do not control ALL of our legislature. The bill will be heard first by the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, followed by the House Judiciary Committee.

Clearly, under current state law, acts of violence are already criminal offenses, as is vandalism. This bill may in fact need to be defeated, not just modified. Its intent is to impose far greater penalties on political activists than it would impose on others guilty of similar offenses.

Editor's Note: This is a Guest Blog by Anne Kass. 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 this page.

Domestic Partnership Heath Care Bill Advances

ACTION ALERT: Please contact your NM Representative to support this bill. You can find your representative here. See our previous post on this bill for more information.

From the NM Democratic Majority House Leadership:
A bill that allows health care coverage for domestic partners will be heading to the House floor for a vote. HB 15 sponsored by Rep. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) received a do pass recommendation from the House Heath and Government Affairs Committee with a 7 to 1 vote.

“This bill gives employers the option of providing health care coverage to employees in a domestic partnership relationship. The bill does not mandate that employers provide coverage, but it does require insurance companies to do so if the business chooses to offer the coverage,” said Rep. Wirth.

Domestic partners are defined as unmarried partners over 18 years of age who are in a mutually exclusive, committed relationship and have shared a primary residence for at least 12 consecutive months. The partners must also be responsible for the common welfare of each other and share financial obligations.

For more information:
Kathleen MacRae, Media Relations
House Majority Office of Ken Martinez
Room 209, 986-4781
Primary contact: cell 505-681-3920

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.

Update: NM Health Security Act

From the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign:
More Local Governments Supporting Health Security Act! The Village of Los Lunas, the Otero County and Rio Arriba County Commissions recently unanimously passed resolutions in support of the Health Security Act. Total to date: 14 municipalities and 11 counties. Below is the complete list.

Counties: Bernalillo, Cibola, Doña Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Otero, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Taos, Valencia

Municipalities: Albuquerque, Belen, Carlsbad, Corrales, Deming, Grants, Hatch, Las Cruces, Las Vegas, Los Lunas, Mesilla, Pecos, Rio Rancho, Silver City

Sen. Cisneros Calls Press Conference to Announce Introduction of Health Security Act: This Wednesday, January 31st, Sen. Carlos Cisneros (right) will be holding a press conference at the State Capitol (Room 326) at 12:45 PM. The Mayor of Albuquerque, the Mayor of Carlsbad, Cibola County Commissioner Jane Pitts, Taos County Commissioner Nick Jaramillo and other officials will be present along with Campaign supporters. Please come!!!

Without a doubt, growing public support combined with the deterioration of our health care system has led counties and municipalities to conclude that it is time for the legislature to pass the Health Security Act. It is the only proposal that has been designed by New Mexicans for New Mexicans.

The Choice for New Mexico Is Clear:

• continue to pour more and more taxpayer dollars into a failing private insurance system, or
• move in a new direction with the Health Security Act

The Health Security Act will enable New Mexico to set up its own health plan - like a cooperative - with freedom of choice of provider and a comprehensive benefit package.

How You Can Help
Contact Dana (northern New Mexico) or Cathilia (southern New Mexico) if you want to set up a meeting with your local county commission or city/village.

Dana: 269-3779; e-mail: dsmillen@msn.com
Cathilia: 635-0996; e-mail: cathilia@gmail.com

Let us know if you are willing to be a phone contact person, which means you are able to get 5 other people in your community to contact their local representative when the time is right at the legislature.

More News to Come: We are planning a lobby day at the legislature. Details will be available shortly.