Election ’07 winners: checks, balances and ABQ

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By Carter Bundy The big story from the Albuquerque elections is that a very powerful mayor went 0-for-4 in city council races and also was rebuked by voters on several referenda. Lots of people are going to be talking this week about Marty Chávez’s diminished authority and the rise of an independent city council. But those who think this is somehow the end of Chávez’s career underestimate him at their own peril. Chávez is bright. He can be charming and engaging. Continue Reading

Shareholders of the world, unite

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By Carter Bundy Got shares? Most of us do. If you don’t have a 401(k), you might have an IRA. You might be lucky enough to work for a company that chips in for your nest egg. So if half of us or more own huge, publicly-traded companies, how do we keep getting ripped off by Enron, Worldcom, Exxon-Mobil and Home Depot? Continue Reading

Mississippi celebrating

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By Carter Bundy I’m not a statistician. I mean, I can do the math of how many more games the Sawx have to lose to complete one of the great collapses in baseball history, and understand the numbers that back up Derek Jeter as one of the great clutch hitters ever. But I need some help with these numbers: Thank God for Alaska? What are the odds that all three of New Mexico’s Republicans in Washington would end up on the list of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress? That’s a statistical freakshow. Continue Reading

Lowe’s lows

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By Carter Bundy Jim Lowe, who is leading the recall effort of Albuquerque City Councilor Don Harris, had the chance to lay all of his cards on the table this past weekend during the television program Eye on New Mexico. Unfortunately, Lowe set new, low standards for what should constitute recall. I’ll repeat my disclaimer: I personally, and my union, supported Harris’ Democratic opponent in the 2005 city council race, although our members did prefer Harris in the all-GOP runoff. I personally am a strong Dem and certainly would not rank Councilor Harris at the top of a list of liberal councilors. So in one sense, I really don’t have a dog in this fight. Continue Reading

The five guardians and Teddy Roosevelt

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By Carter Bundy Our country is the most prosperous in the history of the world, and often our free markets and corporations get the credit. But while capitalism plays a central role in our prosperity, if left to their own devices, corporations wouldn’t have created the widespread prosperity, safety and health most of us generally enjoy. Five counterweights to untrammeled corporate power are all that stand between us and a filthy, dangerous, crime-ridden, unjust, poor country. Whatever country just popped into your head, whether it is capitalist or not, chances are excellent it’s missing most or all of the five guardians. Guardian No. Continue Reading

Beyond Baghdad

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By Carter Bundy The Iraq Summer group just finished a surprisingly lively, fresh town hall in Albuquerque about, well, Iraq. It was fresh because there were a few great speakers, including Bruce Clark, a retired Marine with a son near Baghdad now. And congressional candidate Martin Heinrich gave all of us hope that there are still bright, progressive, unifying candidates out there willing to run for high office. Anyone who questions the family values or patriotism of those of us who think this war is a drag on our national security and domestic life needs to watch the town hall, which will be available on YouTube shortly. But with W visiting and the Iraq Summer Campaign town hall, there’s been more than enough Iraq talk for one week. Continue Reading

Left, right and decent in Albuquerque

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By Carter Bundy Six weeks from now we’ll know if Albuquerque is truly an independent, intelligent beacon of the Southwest or if it’s backsliding into another ugly sprawl, insider-dominated fiefdom. By way of disclosure, I’m writing this solely in my personal capacity, but I’m only writing because I personally agree with the endorsements that our members made. Had I disagreed with any of the endorsements, I wouldn’t be writing this both out of respect for our members and also out of personal integrity. Fortunately, I think our members did a thorough, thoughtful job, and so I can let it fly. None of the candidates running this year is a bad person. Continue Reading

You can fool Texans all the time

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By Carter Bundy Karl Rove snowed Texans for nearly 20 years. I don’t know if I’d call that “all the time,” but since they never caught on to the obvious until he left the state (and still may not have), let’s go with it. You can also fool all Americans some of the time. But to quote two of the greatest philosophers ever, you can’t fool all the people all the time. Abraham Lincoln gets the original credit, but Bob Marley’s contribution to the popularity of the quotation shouldn’t be underestimated. Continue Reading

Learning lessons

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By Carter Bundy As the Minneapolis and Utah tragedies continue, we ought not to politicize a tragedy of infrastructure. There will be plenty of time for investigations and, if appropriate, blame. That doesn’t mean we can’t make something good of these tragic events. We have all heard stories about how American infrastructure is in dire straits. We’ve all known this is an impending problem. Continue Reading

Representatives rumble in D.C.

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By Carter Bundy Round 1: foreign agribusiness vs. hungry kids Congressional Republicans did something quite amazing during this week’s farm bill debate: They advocated letting foreign multinationals pay almost no tax on earnings from farming in America. That really says it all, doesn’t it? A party so owned by big corporations that it turns its back on American farmers and American taxpayers. Here’s how the Delta Farm Press (required reading if there ever was) described the battle: “(Foreign agribusiness) lobbyists also became concerned about the House leadership’s inclusion of a proposal to raise $7.8 billion by ending a practice that allows foreign-owned companies operating in the United States to shift earnings to countries with lower tax rates. Continue Reading

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln…

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By Carter Bundy Last week, as always, my blogging arch-nemesis Whitney Cheshire had some great insights: Bill McCamley appears likely to be the Second Congressional District’s Democratic nominee; McCamley is hustling his tail off; the district has a conservative streak; and incumbent Steve Pearce is going to be able to raise oil and gas money. What wasn’t mentioned is that we’re in the fourth year of a war that isn’t going anything like planned (quite the understatement, and awfully generous of me to imply there was a plan). Here’s what we have to show for it: • Thousands of dead, brave American military heroes. • Tens of thousands more physically, mentally and/or emotionally devastated vets. • Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis. Continue Reading

Grover and Cocky Boy: wrong again

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By Carter Bundy Paul Krugman had a great line this week. One of the top “failures” anti-government extremists like Grover Norquist point to is Canada. No, not because they can’t win the Stanley Cup, but because their public health insurance system is slow. A favorite rant is that hip replacements take far longer to get in Canada than in the United States. But Krugman points out that “the large majority of hip replacements in the United States are paid for by, um, Medicare.” It’s our great public insurance system that betters Canada – not our private system. Continue Reading

New Mexico developers’ little secret: greenfield TIF

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By Carter Bundy When you were a kid, did you ever think you’d be reading about tax increment financing (TIF)? I didn’t, and unless your name is Alex P. Keaton, you didn’t either. But it’s an issue worth billions, so it can’t be that dull. It isn’t talked about as much as Alec Baldwin’s parenting skills, but TIF is important, especially in New Mexico. Truth is, it might the best kept secret this side of Vlad Guerrero. Continue Reading

March 4, 1797 – Our real Independence Day

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By Carter Bundy July 4, 1776 is the date on the Declaration of Independence. Great day, and we should all enjoy it with flags, fireworks, parades and more hot dogs than Kobayashi (by the way, an American now owns the hot-dog-eating title in the United States!) But March 4, 1797 is the day we really became a democracy. That day, George Washington did something that virtually no human had done since the days of Athens: voluntarily relinquish power over a nation to his elected successor. It’s been far from perfect – ask a 70-year-old African American from Alabama about his rights in the 1950s. Women didn’t get the vote much earlier. Continue Reading