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Pearce’s conservation bill: What’s not to like?

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By Jim Scarantino The Doña Ana County Wilderness Coalition deserves congratulations for Rep. Steve Pearce’s proposed legislation to protect more than 300,000 acres of federal land in Doña Ana County. By kick-starting the debate on how to preserve the landscape surrounding a booming Las Cruces, the wilderness coalition succeeded in prompting a conservative Republican congressman to introduce the first major land conservation legislation for southern New Mexico in nearly 30 years. Moreover, his legislation originated among constituencies acting out of stereotype in joining the call to permanently protect the rugged beauty of the area. I am the former chairman of the Coalition for New Mexico Wilderness. I was also a board member and executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. Continue Reading

American hostages guv sought to free are rescued

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Three Americans who Gov. Bill Richardson was working to free were among 15 hostages rescued today by the Colombian government from a leftist rebel group. The operation by Colombian military spies led to the guerrillas giving up Americans Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell, former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 11 others without a single injury, the Associated Press reported. After being asked by the families of the three American defense contractors to intervene, Richardson travelled to Colombia in March to meet with President Álvaro Uribe and to Venezuela in April to meet with that country’s president, Hugo Chávez. Chávez has influence with the rebels who held the hostages. Richardson said recently that he saw “some positive movement” and was optimistic about the situation, according to a separate Associated Press article. Continue Reading

N.M. GOP needs to let in the sunshine

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Shortly after the 2006 primary election, the Republican Party of New Mexico’s central committee entered a closed-door meeting with J.R. Damron as its gubernatorial candidate and emerged with John Dendahl as its candidate. Damron’s withdrawal from the race, which allowed the party to place Dendahl on the ballot, was a surprise move that didn’t help the party at all: Dendahl was steamrolled by the Bill Richardson re-election train later that year. But the switcheroo did earn the GOP some criticism. What happened in that private meeting? Was Damron pressured to drop out? Continue Reading

State GOP director out; more changes coming

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Adam Feldman is out as executive director of the Republican Party of New Mexico after less than a year on the job. Feldman left the job last week but remains “heavily involved in the field with our Republican candidates in New Mexico,” said Scott Darnell, the party’s communications director and now the interim executive director. “He’s an expert at turning out the vote and at running campaigns, so he’ll be an incredibly important part of the statewide Republican effort this year,” Darnell said of Feldman. “His talents are geared toward that work, and as we enter into the crux of this campaign season… the (party’s) staff is simply undergoing some realignment.” Darnell didn’t say whether Feldman quit or was fired. Feldman could not be reached for comment. Continue Reading

Randomness and the rule of law

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By Carter Bundy There’s nothing that defines America’s greatness more than the rule of law. It may be the single most incredible accomplishment of our republic. Without it, our other freedoms like speech are rendered meaningless. Assaults on the rule of law don’t always come in the form or partisan politics or high-profile leaders, as in the Domenici-Wilson-Iglesias case. Sometimes, attacks on the rule of law come disguised as sympathetic plaintiffs who have suffered unimaginable tragedy. Continue Reading

ACORN is doing good work in New Mexico

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This guest column is in response to recent controversies in Doña Ana County that you can read about by clicking here, here and here. By Dana Gallegos On Monday, ACORN registered its 40,000th voter in New Mexico this year, making this already the largest drive in state history and bringing to 92,000 the total of New Mexicans ACORN has registered since 2000. However, ACORN doesn’t just register new voters. We make sure they get the encouragement and support they need to cast a ballot, many for the first time. In fact, a study of the voters we registered in New Mexico in 2004 showed that 65 percent of the people that ACORN helped get on the voter rolls voted on Election Day. Continue Reading

Senator’s staffer blames wilderness group for gridlock

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The chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici hoped the retiring Republican senator could travel to Las Cruces during his last months in office to celebrate a compromise that led to the protection of hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Doña Ana County. That isn’t going to happen, Steve Bell said in an interview, and he blames the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance for that. “I really thought we could have this done by now and have this happy celebration,” Bell said. “That isn’t going to happen.” Bell was responding to comments Las Cruces City Councilor Nathan Small, an employee of the Wilderness Alliance, made at a recent news conference. Small pointed out that Domenici helped secure the creation of a wilderness area in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque more than three decades ago, and he said Las Cruces deserves the same. Continue Reading

Guv may help Clinton with debt, suggests her for VP

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Is Gov. Bill Richardson, who was called “Judas” earlier this year for endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, trying to make amends? Richardson caught attention this weekend by telling ABC News on Sunday following an event in Chicago that he may help raise money to retire Clinton’s presidential campaign debt by holding a fundraiser for her in New Mexico later this year. “We’ve been asked to help. So in principle we are going to help,” Richardson told ABC. “I think the party needs to come together.” Richardson also caught attention on Saturday in Florida, where he told WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach that, if Obama doesn’t pick him to be his running mate, he believes Clinton “would make a strong running mate for Obama.” Richardson, who was appointed by Clinton’s husband to two high positions in his administration in the 1990s, was called Judas by Clinton backer James Carville shortly after he endorsed Obama earlier this year. Continue Reading

Hybrid giveaway is part of effort to defeat Pearce

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This posting originally stated that the Las Cruces event would be held Wednesday, but the group changed the day to Thursday, so the posting has been updated. A group that is working to elect Democrat Tom Udall to the U.S. Senate this year is using rising gas prices and a hybrid-vehicle giveaway to gain attention. As part of its “Wrong 4 New Mexico” campaign — in reference to Udall’s opponent, Republican Steve Pearce — Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is unveiling its giveaway of a Toyota Prius today in Santa Fe. The car is decorated in an anti-Pearce theme. The group — and its car — will be in Las Cruces on Thursday to promote the giveaway. Continue Reading

The left-wing bias of the mainstream media

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By Dan Foley I was going through some of my favorite web sites just the other day and I came across an article the Heritage Foundation had up about Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. It claimed Dodd had been exposed by Bank of America personnel. They showed copies of a letter written by their company that wound up, word for word, as the exact bill he is carrying to bail out the banking industry. Now I am sure you are saying to yourself, why is this worth writing about since all politicians are on the take? The fact is the only ones who have such allegations made against them in the mainstream media are the conservatives. Continue Reading

Obama airs new ad in N.M. and other states

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s newest TV ad began airing in New Mexico and 17 other states on Monday. Here’s the 30-second spot: The ad, titled “Dignity,” talks about Obama’s past, stating that he “worked his way through college and Harvard Law” and “turned down big money offers and helped lift neighborhoods stung by job loss.” Continue Reading

Most voters in poll pick Luján to win CD3 race

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The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said Democrat Ben R. Luján will win the 3rd Congressional District race. Of 232 voters, 151, or 65 percent, picked Luján, while 59, or 25 percent, said Republican Dan East will win; 19, or 8 percent, said independent Carol Miller will win; and three, or 1 percent, said independent Ron Simmons will win. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

Udall says he can win in Pearce’s 2nd District

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Despite the 2nd Congressional District’s slant toward Republican candidates, Democratic Senate hopeful Tom Udall plans to win the southern region that his GOP opponent, Steve Pearce, has represented in the House since 2003. Udall has a chance at winning here, but the 2nd District is one Pearce could also win, said New Mexico State University government professor Jose Z. Garcia. Polls have repeatedly shown Udall with a double-digit lead over Pearce statewide, but Garcia said the 2nd District will be hotly contested because of its conservative nature and familiarity with Pearce. The key to victory in the 2nd District will likely be Doña Ana County, Garcia said. Though the east side has historically been more important, a population shift has changed the dynamics in the district. Continue Reading

A Border Patrol bordering on wrong

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Defining moments are not always of our choosing. Often they appear suddenly, like last week. Because I live in Las Cruces, traveling every direction but south means I have to go through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint where I am asked my citizenship. I have gone through these checkpoints thousands of times over four decades and every time been carefully questioned as to my nationality despite the fact that, at the actual U.S. border 60 miles away, millions of illegal people have streamed across relatively unmolested because of the political policies of our leaders. Last week I was headed to Alamogordo. Continue Reading

Many N.M. politicos praise overturning of D.C. gun ban

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Many New Mexico politicians lined up today to praise the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to affirm the right of Americans to have guns in their homes for self-defense. Failing to comment on the first time in history that the high court has declared an individual right to possess a gun, however, was New Mexico’s gun-toting Gov. Bill Richardson. The high court made the ruling by striking down a Washington, D.C. ban on handguns in homes and requirements that other firearms be equipped with trigger locks or disassembled. You can read more from the Associated Press. New Mexico’s two U.S. Senate candidates praised the decision. Continue Reading