Race shouldn’t be a factor in hiring of NMSU coach

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Note: No, this isn’t turning into a politics and sports Web site, but Foley and Michael Swickard sure like to write about sports lately. By Dan Foley I was surfing the internet on Sunday and wandered onto a web site called NMPreps.com. If you haven’t checked it out and you’re interested in New Mexico sports, from high school to college, then this is your site. The owner is a young man named Kyle Henderson who seems to spend all his time trying to get New Mexico athletes the coverage they need and deserve in order to play at the next level. What really grabbed my attention was the story on the front page about the New Mexico State football coaching search and the possibility that the Alabama offensive coordinator was interested in the job. Continue Reading

Dems shouldn’t support Jennings for pro tem

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By John V. Wertheim New Mexico’s Democratic state Senate Pro Tem Tim Jennings gave his most open signal yet on Monday that he will collude with the Republican minority to keep power. In an interview with the Albuquerque Journal, Jennings said, “When you look at it, I think I’ve got enough votes to be elected the pro-tem by all the members of the state Senate.” The Senate pro tem’s comments came after a weekend when Senate Democrats met in caucus and voted to oust Jennings from his position. In January there will be 27 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the Senate. If Jennings convinces six other Democrats to join him on his proposed ego trip, he will remain pro tem with the backing of the Republican caucus. Instead of accepting defeat gracefully, Tim Jennings is just too special to play by normal rules. Continue Reading

In defense of Tim Jennings

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By Ellen WedumFormer Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair John Wertheim has criticized this blog on Nov. 26 and elsewhere Democrat Tim Jennings, the current president pro-tem of the New Mexico state Senate, for recording a robocall and radio spot critical of an environmental group’s persuasion phone program in support of newly-elected state senator Steve Fischmann. The phone program, conducted just before the Nov. 4 election, told respondents who said they were undecided that Fischmann’s opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, had used some of his 2003 capital outlay funds to pave a road that was not in his district, implying that his only reason for doing so was to increase the value of his own business. To quote the Las Cruces Sun-News, “The funding went to pave a street that wasn’t in his district but that passes by commercial property he owns.” Rawson served in the Senate from 1987 to 2008. Continue Reading

We need action on housing authority scandal

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By Dan Foley I was looking at a posting the other day that talked about ethics and the need for ethics reform in New Mexico. The article talked about former State Sen. Manny Aragon and the recently defeated Senate Republican Whip Lee Rawson. What I was shocked to see missing was any real discussion about the New Mexico Housing Authority and the people who are involved with it. Let’s recap some of the news. You start out with former State Rep. Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos, who was able to get our very own Board of Finance to approve a few million dollars in bond sales for him to help “people in need” get affordable housing. Continue Reading

Tim Jennings’ double standard on negative campaigns

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By John V. Wertheim The 2008 elections brought many surprises to New Mexico: voters delivering handily for Barack Obama, all federal positions now in Democratic hands for the first time in decades, and even additional seats for Democrats in the state Legislature. As a former Democratic chairman, I felt a mixture of pride at the ascendancy of important progressive policy ideas and awesome responsibility at the shear size of the work ahead of us. Both feelings were welcome, albeit sobering. Seeing a top Democratic leader campaigning on behalf of a particularly partisan Republican was, however, decidedly unwelcome. Democratic Sen. and President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, who raised eyebrows by ardently defending Republican Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson in the final days of a tight election contest against criticism of Rawson’s record, demonstrated an indefensible double standard. Continue Reading

Votes to unionize should be cast in private

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By Dan Foley I was sitting around reading about all the people that President-elect Obama is looking at putting in his cabinet, and I thought we might wait until later to see what we think of them. I then started thinking about the last few elections and all the work of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), together with groups like ACORN and the ACLU, to make sure as many people vote as possible. Clearly they have signaled they advocate allowing everyone to vote, documentation or not, as virtually anonymous participants. In New Mexico, they even went so far as to file a frivolous complaint about voter intimidation and suppression. This made me think about the upcoming “card check” issue — a process they are pushing to force union representation on workers. Continue Reading

Thanks to too much spending, the rainy day is here

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By Dan Foley Now that the election is over and attention can once again focus on our great state of New Mexico, I would like to bring attention to the impending doom facing all of us. After six years of growing government, expanding programs and investing in things like a spaceport, the bill is coming due. We are beginning to hear reports of deficits reaching as high as $1 billion, all this in a state that has a budget of a little over $6 billion. The first question we have to ask is: How did this happen? Of course I already alluded to the “how.” Over these past six years, we successfully did away with the surplus we inherited from Gov. Gary Johnson. Continue Reading

State GOP must embrace change

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By Allen McCulloch On Nov. 4, the Republican Party of New Mexico suffered its worst electoral setback in modern times — quite possibly since statehood. Republicans in our state are on the verge of complete and total irrelevancy, and it’s time for a dramatic change in the leadership and direction of our party. In an editorial on Nov. 7, the Albuquerque Journal expressed concern over the loss of several key Republican legislators in this year’s election — including Sens. Continue Reading

The GOP needs to get back to being conservative

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By Dan Foley Now that the election is over and President-elect Barack Obama is getting his team ready, we should all take a deep breath and do something other than politics for awhile. On the other hand, there are those of us who think about politics 24/7, 365 days a year, and to them I write this article. Let me begin by congratulating President-elect Obama and by pointing out how, after his victory, Republicans have not threatened to leave the country. Nor have they called him names. I am sure they join me in congratulating him and in rolling up our shirtsleeves and standing ready to make America better. Continue Reading

Obama, modern liberals and an assault on free speech

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By Dan Foley In a widely reported campaign event earlier this month, this is what Barack Obama said before a cheering crowd in Elko, Nev.: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” As columnist Michael Barone has observed, Obama and his most radical Left-wing supporters are doing a lot more then getting into people’s faces. Obama supporters did just that in Chicago, after they were told in e-mails to try to suppress social commentator Stanley Kurtz. Kurtz had been researching Obama’s relationship with the unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers. Continue Reading

What about the left’s ‘verbal terrorism?’

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By Dan Foley Obama and his racist supporters have gone too far. Comparing Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin to Democrat Gov. George C. Wallace has to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back! How come Obama and his Far Left thugs continue to accuse Republicans of bringing race into this campaign when the fact is the only people who constantly bring race up are the left-wingers themselves? Why do the media let them get away with the continued hate- mongering and divisive race-baiting that the Obama campaign relishes? Can you imagine if a Republican said any of the things that Congressman John Lewis said? Continue Reading

Pay attention to the Bernalillo County DA race

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By Dan Foley You may be missing one of the most important races in New Mexico this year just because of the simple fact that it takes so much money to get noticed over the noise of the presidential and congressional campaigns. The race I’m talking about is the one for Bernalillo County district attorney. In the last few days, a lot of important news has come to light that bears directly on this race. The current district attorney, Kari Brandenburg, has taken the unusual step of successfully fighting to have sealed a lawsuit that has been filed against her. If that isn’t enough to raise serious doubts, we’ve also seen articles in the local press about an alarmingly low conviction rate. Continue Reading

Maverick? Really?

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By Corey Vas Like millions of Americans I eagerly anticipated and watched last week’s vice presidential debate between Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin. I watched with great enthusiasm as Gov. Palin seemed to hold her own against the much more experienced Sen. Biden. She appeared more prepared and eloquent than I thought she would, and Sen. Biden appeared more human and approachable than I thought he would. I don’t really know if that debate will change much in the November election but I noticed an odd sensation once the debate was over that I could neither escape nor ignore. When the debate ended, I flipped through the channels listening to various pundits, talking heads and spin doctors offer their opinions on what had just transpired. Continue Reading

Dems need to condemn senator’s remarks about race

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By Dan Foley Fernando C. de Baca has resigned his post as chairman of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County. I want to state from the outset that his comments that prompted his departure were absolutely wrong, divisive and in fact historically incorrect. I want to get that point out of the way early in this article because I know those of you who are not particularly my fans will be presuming that I did not disagree with his comments. However, I did and I still do. I also want to say that Fernando C. de Baca has proven by stepping down that he has more integrity, courage and loyalty than any of the Democrats who couldn’t wait to get their pictures and comments in the media. Continue Reading

Why Obama needs Doña Ana County’s south valley

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By Jose Z. Garcia Last week Barack Obama was in Española, hoping to energize Hispanic voters there. A few numbers will make clear why. Rio Arriba County, where Española is located, has an estimated population of about 41,000, out of which nearly 30,000 (72.8 percent) are Hispanic. In 2004, Kerry’s margin of victory in Rio Arriba was 69 percent, 4,604 votes out of a total of 14,902 votes cast. In a tight race for New Mexico, that margin of victory could come in handy. Continue Reading