Latest Stories

Getting tough when the going gets tough

By |

© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” – Joseph P. Kennedy We, as a nation and individually, are in for tough times. There are two types of people in America: those who have survived tough times and know what to do and those who have not. Some of us geezers have lived through tough times and know how to make the best of bad situations, while most young people have only experienced easy times. Even when times are easy, some people back into a light pole, get fired from a job or someone they love leaves them. These are momentarily personal setbacks. Continue Reading

Pundits figure out that 2nd District race is hot

By |

National pundits have begun to realize what many living in southern New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District have known for months: The race to replace Steve Pearce in Congress is hot. Cook Political Report today changed its ranking of the race from “lean Republican” to “toss up.” The report mentions a recently released internal poll from Democratic candidate Harry Teague that has him leading Republican Ed Tinsley by 5 percentage points. Though the poll is a month old and was conducted before Tinsley started advertising on television, it’s the only polling on the race that has been released publicly. “While this district’s conservatism should provide Tinsley a boost, insiders say he has run a less than perfect campaign. At an August forum, Tinsley went off message when he said that Teague wanted to ‘cut (troops) throats’ by cutting off funding for the war,” Cook Political Report stated in a posting about today’s rankings change. Continue Reading

Pearce, Udall, Wilson staying mum on bailout vote

By |

At least three members of the House who voted against the bailout bill on Monday confirmed today that they have switched sides and will support a reworked bill the House will vote on tomorrow, but that still leaves supporters several votes short of passage. Meanwhile, New Mexico’s three U.S. representatives — Steve Pearce, Tom Udall and Heather Wilson — have still not announced whether they plan to vote for or against the new bill. While Wilson voted for Monday’s bill, Pearce and Udall voted with the majority against it. Spokesmen for both men said this afternoon that they still have no update on whether their bosses have decided how they’ll vote on Friday. Wilson’s spokesman has not responded to a request for comment. Continue Reading

Actors to push Obama, voter registration at NMSU

By |

Actress Eva Longoria and actor Adam Rodriguez will stop at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Sunday to promote the candidacy of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and urge college students to register to vote ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Longoria, of “Desperate Housewives” fame, and Rodriguez, who stars in “CSI: Miami,” will appear at a rally on the outdoor stage located east of Corbett Center at 11:15 a.m., according to a news release. Click here to view the event’s invitation. According to the news release, “Longoria and Rodriguez will speak to college students at NMSU about why voting in this election is an important privilege. This year, more than ever, New Mexicans have responded to the call to action, to change the state and change the country. Continue Reading

If Washington can’t focus on policy now, when can it?

By |

Many Washington politicos have spent the last two weeks putting politics above solving the nation’s financial crisis. In doing so, they have provided the quintessential example of why Americans are so fed up with Washington. Many House members who voted against the bailout on Monday — Democrats and Republicans — are in close election contests and appear to have opposed the bill largely because they fear losing their seats if they vote for something the majority of Americans oppose. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn’t let pass the opportunity to bash Republicans before the vote. Some Republicans apparently decided to act like middle-school students and voted against the bill not because they opposed it, but because their feelings were hurt by Pelosi’s inappropriate and overly partisan speech. Continue Reading

Miller will be allowed to participate in debate

By |

KOAT-TV and the Albuquerque Journal have apparently decided to let independent 3rd Congressional District candidate Carol Miller participate in their televised Oct. 19 debate. Miller wrote in an e-mail to supporters today that, after the news organizations came under fire for announcing that they would exclude her from the debate with Democrat Ben Ray Luján and Republican Dan East, they changed their minds and decided to let her participate. “I want to thank you for taking the time to stand up for democracy. Your voice was heard!” Miller wrote to her supporters. Continue Reading

Guns become the focus of the 2nd District race

By |

This article has been updated. Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley turned the focus of the race to guns last week when he unveiled an ad accusing Democratic opponent Harry Teague of not being supportive of the Second Amendment — and using an eight-year-old quote from Teague to back up the attack. Here’s the 30-second spot, which is airing around the district: “Southern New Mexico values the Second Amendment, unlike Harry Teague. He says he’s not a gun fan, and it’d be fine with him to turn his guns in to the government,” Tinsley says in the ad. “But that’s no surprise, because Harry Teague has liberal views.” The ad cites a Teague quote included in a Feb. Continue Reading

Mental health parity to be included in bailout bill

By |

When the U.S. Senate votes this evening on a $700 billion bailout plan aimed at boosting the struggling economy, it will also consider mental health parity legislation that Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and others have pushed for years. Domenici’s office announced today that the mental health parity legislation had been added to the bailout bill that will be voted on tonight. It “was a decision made by the leadership, in consultation with other senators,” Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said, adding that, “Domenici supports the Senate package to be voted on today.” Gallegos said the adding of the mental health legislation doesn’t mean a lot of extras are being slipped into the financial bailout bill. He said the legislation that will be voted on tonight includes the economic bailout proposal, a range of tax relief proposals and the mental health parity legislation. Domenici introduced the first bill to require insurance companies to provide parity between mental health and other medical benefits in 1996. Continue Reading

Catch-700 Billion

By |

By Carter Bundy Most of us who follow politics, lobby, campaign or even just talk back to political TV ads would love to have a vote in Congress or in Santa Fe on any number of issues. On rare occasion, though, there’s an incredibly difficult vote that no one wants to cast. The bailout bill is one of them. There seem to be very few economists or financial analysts of any political persuasion who don’t think some kind of temporary rescue is necessary to avoid crippling our credit markets. You almost never see this kind of unanimity among economists and policy analysts, much less among leading political figures in both major parties. Continue Reading

Senate to vote on bailout; pressure remains on House

By |

The offices of U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce and Tom Udall continued to be inundated on Tuesday with phone calls and e-mails from people wanting to weigh in on the proposed $700 billion bailout, with most speaking against the bill the House rejected on Monday. But it appears that the Senate, not the House, will make the next attempt to pass a bailout package to try to provide aid to the struggling economy. In a surprise move, Senate leaders announced late Tuesday that they’ll vote today on a bailout plan that also includes a number of tax breaks the House rejected last week. Before that move was announced Tuesday, leaders in both parties were trying to make minor changes to the bailout proposal in an attempt to win about a dozen additional votes in the House to ensure passage. Continue Reading

Bingaman would have voted for bailout bill

By |

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman said today that he would have voted for the proposed $700 billion bailout proposal the House rejected on Monday. “I believe there is a need to recapitalize our banking system in order to head off failure by more financial institutions, and that was what this package was intended to do,” Bingaman, D-N.M., said today in an interview with radio reporters. Bingaman said the bill included an important provision requiring “that taxpayers be allowed to share in the profit or the improved economic condition of these companies down the road” since taxpayers would be investing the money up front to help the companies out of financial hardship. He called that and other provisions in the bill presented to the House on Monday “substantial improvements” over the original proposal, and said “it would have been a prudent thing for us to go ahead with it.” Bingaman said it’s important that Congress keep working toward a bill that can pass. The Senate doesn’t plan to vote on a bill until after the House approves it. Continue Reading

U.S. attorney scandal heats up again

By |

Report details why Iglesias was fired; AG appoints prosecutor to consider criminal charges The 392-page report released Monday about the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys — including New Mexico’s David Iglesias — contains a number of interesting tidbits but not new revelations that significantly change what we already knew: that the reasons Bush administration staffers gave Congress last year for firing Iglesias were hogwash. Perhaps more significant than the report, however, was the news that Attorney General Michael Mukasey has appointed a federal prosecutor to determine whether the situation should lead to criminal charges against former AG Alberto Gonzales and others. You can read the full report by clicking here. The section about Iglesias’ firing starts on page 149. Read about some of the details revealed in the report from the New Mexico Independent and Albuquerque Journal. Continue Reading

Tinsley campaign downplays GOP affiliation

By |

The campaign of Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley is gaining some national attention because of a video that shows his wife saying the campaign is downplaying Tinsley’s party affiliation. Here’s the video: “When the primary was over, all our signs had Republican on them, and we had to have everything totally redone without the Republican — all our stickers, everything,” Tinsley’s wife Meredith says in the video. The video was first posted by The Politico. “Keep in mind that the district is the most Republican district in New Mexico, and hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress since 1980. It gave President Bush 58 percent of the vote in 2004,” the Web site’s article states. Continue Reading