2008 election: Get in the game

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By Bill McCamley “Politics is the only game for adults.” – Robert Heinlein On Sunday, the 2008 Summer Olympics ended. On Monday, the real race for the presidency began with the first party convention of the election. The sporting world and the realm of politics share many similarities. But in politics the determination of the future of a community, state, nation or world is made, while in a sporting event no such importance exists. So why do more people seem to care passionately about the outcomes of games than the results of elections? Continue Reading

Lt. Gov. Denish blogs from Democratic convention

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By Diane Denish DENVER — During breakfast today with the New Mexico delegation, I noticed the chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute and a well-known political analyst, Donna Brazile, having breakfast with the Virginia delegation. I had met Donna when I was Democratic state chair in 2000 and she was running the Gore campaign.I re-introduced myself and asked if she would join the New Mexico breakfast to share her thoughts about the convention and Sen. Obama. She graciously accepted and gave us a very inspiring speech about Sen. Obama, the new hope he brings with his message of change and collaboration, and his opportunity considering the party election cycle. After breakfast, I walked a few blocks to the Electing Women event. Electing Women is a group of Colorado women who have inspired tremendous financial support for Democratic women running for the U.S. Senate, governor and, yes, president. Continue Reading

New Mexico’s title insurance industry needs reform

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By Fred Nathan It is highly unusual for an industry to ask to be regulated, but that is exactly what happened in March 1985 when the New Mexico Legislature passed a bill regulating title insurance at the behest of the industry. The story of how this law came about actually began two months earlier on Jan. 7, 1985, when President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Trade Commission filed price-fixing charges against six major title insurance companies. The FTC alleged that the price fixing had occurred in 13 states, including New Mexico, and sought to prevent the industry from engaging in such practices in the future. An industry spokesman responded at the time not by denying the charges but by stating, “We believe that our activities are exempt from (federal) antitrust laws because (we) are regulated by the states.” Indeed, since the 1945 passage of the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act, Congress has exempted insurance companies from federal antitrust laws and given the states the authority to regulate the entire insurance industry. Continue Reading

Fixing global energy crisis requires gigantic steps

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By Bill McCamley “The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke Change. It is an easy thing to talk about. Our society holds the concept up high. Words like audacity, courage and vision are used to bestow praise. Yet change is a hard thing for most to accept when actually presented. Continue Reading

Auditor wants you to report fraud, waste and abuse

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By Hector Balderas As New Mexico’s state auditor, I am responsible for the regulatory oversight of $60 billion in governmental assets. I’m the watchdog for New Mexico’s taxpayer dollars and aggressively investigate fraud, waste and abuse. I join New Mexicans around the state who expect transparency and accountability in government and demand their tax dollars be spent properly in their communities. Unfortunately, government agencies or workers may not always live up to those expectations. In order to restore public confidence, citizens must be given an opportunity to report fraud and shed light on possible corruption. Continue Reading

The truth about my votes

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By Leonard Lee Rawson I would like to thank Heath Haussamen for allowing me to respond to the latest posting by the representatives from New Mexico Youth Organized. I am a supporter of free speech and the right to disagree with elected officials, and am glad to learn that the two men in charge of the New Mexico Youth have long ties to this state. The main reason I could not support Senate Bill 800 is because it was unconstitutional. The failure to “cooperate” with the secretary of state violated an individual’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination (attorney general’s analysis). Unlike this independent-expenditure, third-party group, I have taken an oath to uphold both the N.M. and U.S. Constitutions. Continue Reading

This is the presidency, not American Idol

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By Dan Foley I write this knowing it will provoke a response from my fellow columnists. I’m happy to help get those creative juices flowing because God knows there’s nothing worse for a liberal than to have nothing to complain about. (Considering liberals, maybe I shouldn’t even use the term “God.”) As we’ve seen lately, if there’s nothing to complain about liberals will make something up, even if it ends up exposing their own hypocrisy on issues. I say this because I have to take a few minutes to talk about Barack Obama and the liberal response to the surge and the current success we are having in Iraq. As we move closer to the November election, I’m amazed by the nerve of Barack and his left-wing supporters and their already revisionist perspective on the war on terror, as well as their continued opposition to protecting Americans and our economy. Continue Reading

Setting the record straight

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By Keegan King and Eli Il Yong Lee Over the past week, media outlets have reported Sen. Lee Rawson’s dissatisfaction over mail pieces we sent and radio commercials we ran about the senator’s record. The claims made by Sen. Rawson about the issues we support, the kind of organization we are and the intent of our work merit correction. We wish to set the record straight. Like the vast majority of New Mexicans, we are deeply troubled by the rash of public-corruption scandals popping up at every level of government. Common-sense reforms like contribution limits for political campaigns are long overdue. Continue Reading

Work with the private sector to improve health care

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By Dan Foley As the citizens of the great State of New Mexico prepare themselves for yet another special session, I thought maybe we should actually talk a little about the health care “crisis” facing our state. Over the last few years we’ve heard a lot of talk about the number of uninsured in this state, and there’s been considerable debate about that number. Advocates of universal care repeatedly state that there are 400,000 uninsured New Mexicans. What they don’t tell you is that roughly half, or 200,000 of those, are currently eligible for some state or federal program but have chosen not to sign up for them. I’m sure there will be a few folks who will tell you that’s because people don’t know about the programs. But if you have driven around our state, you know from billboards, radio and TV ads in every region that probably isn’t true either. Continue Reading

The government is you, and you are it, so get involved

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“In a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘holds office;’ every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” — John F. Kennedy “We the People of the United States… do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” — Preamble, U.S. Constitution By Bill McCamley Last week, I went to the bank to cash my economic stimulus check. The lady at the counter said, “It’s nice to finally have the government do something good for once, isn’t it?” That phrase, “the government” got me thinking about our society, and what government in a democracy should mean, what it does mean to many people, and why there is a difference. When the United States separated from England, the reason for this action was abundantly clear: They wanted more of a voice in their governance. Most of the people in the 13 colonies were proud to be English. Continue Reading

Just give us our money

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By Dan Foley We are about to head into a special session and the list of things we are going to cover seems to be growing every single day. Health-care reform, tax cuts, tax rebates and highway funding are already on the list, and who knows what else may become a priority by the time we make it to Santa Fe? The big question whether we really need to do this. In fact it’s the million-dollar question everyone is asking, and if you have the answer, then please share it with me as soon as possible. I have to tell you I think some good could come out of this if we go to Santa Fe with the intent of actually accomplishing something, and if all sides understand that there needs to be a realistic set of expectations and goals. Continue Reading

Remembering Dr. Jim Kadlecek

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By Bill McCamley On Sunday evening, Jim Kadlecek passed away. Many on this site knew of him, as he was a regular contributor as a columnist. I had the good fortune of knowing Dr. Kadlecek both as a co-worker and a friend. Jim will be sorely missed by many in New Mexico for many reasons. As a columnist and novelist, Jim had the ability through writing to bring to life commonsense policy solutions that many lacked the courage to articulate. Continue Reading

Cruces hearing will tackle mental illness, drug abuse

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By Sen. Dede Feldman Ask any office holder or candidate about some of the most heartbreaking concerns he or she hears about from voters, relatives and constituents and one topic will rise to the top: New Mexico’s alarming rate of mental illness and drug abuse. It seems like almost every family is affected. According to a gap analysis that detailed the lack of services for people with mental and substance-abuse problems six years ago, one in five New Mexicans has a diagnosable mental illness or substance-abuse disorder. The National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that the national rate is one in four. According to military data, there was a 46-percent increase in the number of post traumatic stress disorder cases from 2006 to 2007. Continue Reading

How could four justices oppose the 2nd Amendment?

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By Dan Foley I was reading with much enjoyment the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution with regard to the Second Amendment. But then my blood ran cold when it suddenly dawned on me that the case was only decided by a 5-4 margin. My mind quickly moved from enjoyment to complete and total fear — fear that we actually have four justices who for some reason can find a way to limit my ownership of guns despite the clear language of the Bill of Rights. It was also a wake-up call when I read comments from such a fine constitutional scholar as Justice John Paul Stevens. He wrote, “In my view, there is simply no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas.” What? Continue Reading

Setting the record straight: wilderness truths

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By Nathan P. Small Jim Scarantino’s recent column — “Pearce’s conservation bill: What’s not to like?” — is the latest in a series of one-sided portrayals of the historic effort to protect the nationally recognized, treasured public lands in Doña Ana County. Given Mr. Scarantino’s prolific previous writings from Albuquerque mocking the wolf recovery program, undermining the efforts to protect the Otero Mesa and continuing assertions that local wilderness advocates are eco-terrorists by proxy, his latest article attempting to hurt local conservation efforts is not surprising, but it does deserve a swift repudiation and the truth. Scarantino is quick to give himself a pat on the back for being the genesis of the anti-public lands legislation, H.R. 6300, while in the same breath bragging about his former support of wilderness. In this bizarre swing, he is once again attempting to gloss over the truth and confuse the facts regarding wilderness designation in Doña Ana County. We believe it is our obligation to set the record straight. Continue Reading