ACLU’s worthy battles are tainted by its leftist slant

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By Whitney Cheshire It’s hard to tell which is worse in New Mexico – the American Civil Liberties Union’s politics, or the ACLU’s politicking. Look – don’t tune me out here. I know it is common knowledge that the ACLU pushes a leftist political agenda and is, rightfully so, criticized for it because of its tax-exempt mantra of “non-partisan” activism. There’s nothing new there. But today, I want to talk about surveillance cameras on Albuquerque’s Civic Plaza and Republican state Sen. Rod Adair. Continue Reading

Arguments against campaign contribution limits

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By Whitney Cheshire So you think capping individual campaign contributions is the answer to our public corruption woes in New Mexico? Let’s talk about labor on this Labor Day week… After campaigning for conservative candidates in a Democrat-dominated state for years, I can’t help but slouch in my chair and mutter something that sounds a bit like “uhhhhg” when I think of that nearly-perfected political machine known as “labor.” As a Republican, it’s disheartening – to say the least – to sit back and watch the labor lobby fork over an excessively obscene amount of money for political candidates every cycle that, 99 times out of 100, goes into the pockets of Democrats. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in particular has been incredibly active in New Mexico politics, contributing close to $1.5 million to Gov. Bill Richardson’s campaigns and political committees since 2002. Here’s the problem: AFSCME, like most labor unions, contributes money to candidates that it raises through member dues. In essence, unions like AFSCME serve as large third-party political committees, where money is raised in one hand, and dolled out in the other. Continue Reading

The likely loss of the Tribune marks a sad day

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By Whitney Cheshire The Albuquerque Tribune looks like it’s gone with the wind: Do we pop open the bubbly or draw the shades and stop the clocks? Yesterday, the Tribune announced that it will be shutting its doors unless an unexpected buyer shows up to purchase the Scripps-owned, afternoon news publication. The Tribune’s circulation has dropped to a tiny 11,000 and rumors of its slipping solvency have been bolstered by visible cutbacks on Web site coverage and the recent exit of longtime managing editor Kate Nelson. Some conservatives would like to throw a party. Seriously. Continue Reading

Why the Dems beat GOP on diversity

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By Whitney Cheshire The ethnic and gender “Diversity Factor” of presidential campaign ’08: Should Republicans even try to defend ourselves, or just admit, “OK, you got us?” I had a good laugh when I read this article about diversity in the presidential campaign. It’s a pretty sad-sack attempt to spin the Republican field of presidential candidates – in all of its male, Anglo, wonder – as being just as diverse as the Democratic field of hopefuls. But I didn’t laugh for long. Why do the Democrats have a white woman, a white man, a Hispanic man and a black man filling out their top four spots in the presidential contest while the Republicans have, well, four white men? Please, please tell me why… The standby response among Republicans appears to be “Well, that’s who wanted to run this year. Continue Reading

Roswell newspaper needs to admit bias against Foley

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By Whitney Cheshire The Roswell Daily Record: Breaking, making or faking the news? Shouldn’t newspaper publishers disclose their political contributions if they cover politics? As some of you may remember, I frequently wrote about the hot and heavy political environment in Chaves County during the 2006 primary election. One of the most interesting aspects of that campaign season was how involved the Record became in the game. There were complaints about the Record unfairly printing some letters to the editor and not others and leaking its endorsement of a local candidate, Mike Kakuska, to a blogger in advance of its printing. Continue Reading

The new top career choice – educator/public official

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By Whitney Cheshire Does twice the salary mean we should expect double the results? There’s a growing trend in New Mexico politics. More and more school administrators and teachers are pulling double duty, working their education jobs by day and serving as politicians by night. This would sound like the makings of Spiderman IV except for the fact that their so-called night jobs are not really night jobs. That, and there’s the whole tight, red spandex suit thing… Continue Reading

The blogosphere is coming of age in New Mexico

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By Whitney Cheshire One of my favorite subjects is the political blogosphere. Could we really be coming of age in New Mexico? Call them blogs, call them on-line newspapers, call them anything you want, but collectively they can be described as increasingly powerful. Take, for example, the Bill Richardson Debate Performance Saga. Every public appearance now seems to be coupled with intense online scrutiny and embarrassing report card-like grading systems. This week’s CNN-YouTube debate didn’t even throw Richardson a question until a full 20 minutes into the program, but oh how the online Quarterbacks weighed in on his so-very-brief performance! Continue Reading

Pearce will win big, but race could be interesting

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By Whitney Cheshire Is Congressman Steve Pearce poised for another ho-hum, boring, 20-point victory in 2008? How about another typical, pound-them-into-the-dirt, two-to-one fundraising operation? Are you yawning yet? That’s easy to do when it comes to this third-term Republican and his sizeable and soundly devastating victory history in New Mexico’s second district. We could go back to talking about Albuquerque city politics if this subject puts you to sleep… or not. Continue Reading