Latest Stories

Rep. Cote announces re-election bid

By |

State Rep. Nathan “Nate” Cote, D-Las Cruces, has announced that he will seek re-election this year. The District 53 representative cited his success as a freshman legislator and the opportunity to serve the people of his district as the prime factors in his decision to seek re-election. “I have worked very hard here in the district and in Santa Fe to get things done,” Cote said in a news release. “It’s gratifying to see the results in people’s daily lives.” In his first session in 2007, Cote successfully sponsored legislation that eliminated the requirement that active-duty military members pay state income tax, in addition to legislation that provided a tax exemption for locomotive diesel fuel as an incentive for Union Pacific to move its railway depot from El Paso to Santa Teresa. The second will result in 300 new jobs in southern New Mexico and long-term industrial investment in the state, Cote said. Continue Reading

Wiviott survives petition challenge from Adams

By |

Don Wiviott has survived a legal challenge to the signatures he gathered to run for Congress. A district court judge on Friday tossed out a challenge filed by fellow Third Congressional District Democratic candidate Jon Adams. Adams challenged more than half of Wiviott’s signatures, and his allegations would have put Wiviott below the 959 signatures needed to run, but a judge found that Adams failed to specify specific reasons for challenging the signatures. “I’m not surprised by today’s outcome,” Wiviott said in a Friday news release. “I have been a champion of ballot access for candidates so that voters have a choice at the polls.” Adams could appeal the ruling. Continue Reading

Greer wins straw poll in Alamogordo

By |

C. Earl Greer, one of six Republicans vying for the right to replace Steve Pearce in Congress, won a straw poll that followed a forum last week in Alamogordo. Of 53 votes cast, Greer received 23, or 43 percent. Aubrey Dunn received eight votes, Terry Marquardt and Ed Tinsley each received seven, Monty Newman received four and Greg Sowards received three. One attendee left comments but didn’t vote. Continue Reading

Education and health appropriations are priorities

By |

By David Abbey A recent opinion piece by two Senate committee chairs, published on this Web site on March 3, was headlined, “Education, health care took back seat in state budget.” The writers raised concerns about underfunding Medicaid, failing to pass a new public school funding formula bill and not scheduling hearings on key health and school measures. In fact, the Legislative Finance Committee (which includes six of the 10 members on the Senate Finance Committee) had a hearing on universal health care on Oct. 4, and most of the Dec. 4 budget hearing for the Human Services Department was devoted to universal health care. On Dec. Continue Reading

Voters in poll say Dems shouldn’t continue caucus

By |

The vast majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said New Mexico Democrats should not continue to hold a party-run presidential caucus every four years. Of 166 voters, 122, or 73 percent, said the party should not hold a caucus, while 44, or 27 percent, said it should. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

McKinnon says he’s not just the ‘anti-nuke candidate’

By |

This is the ninth in an occasional series of articles based on conversations with the Second Congressional District candidates. Articles on each candidate who agrees to an interview will run before the parties’ preprimary nominating conventions on March 15. Frank McKinnon says he’s not just the “anti-nuke candidate” in the race to replace Steve Pearce in Congress, but he talks about combating the spread of the nuclear industry in New Mexico and changing the nation’s energy policy more than any other issues. “If I don’t succeed at doing that then the rest of this stuff’s not going to matter a whole lot,” McKinnon said of many other issues that he said are also important. McKinnon, in an interview, said he first entered the race to bring attention to the spread of the nuclear industry in New Mexico. Continue Reading

How early is too early?

By |

© 2008 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. There was an interesting article last week in the online Wall Street Journal, “What makes Finnish kids so smart?” The Finns excel in the Program for International Assessment competitions that test 15 year olds. People can come up with many reasons for their success. One thing Finns do caught my eye. They do not send their students to school until they are seven years old. They have day care, but not formal school, before that. Continue Reading

PRC chairman qualifies for public financing

By |

Public Regulation Commission Chairman Jason Marks is the first candidate to qualify for public financing this year. Marks, a Democrat from Albuquerque, filed notice of more than 400 $5 contributions with the Secretary of State’s Office last week, according to a news release from his campaign. That allows him to receive public financing under the voluntary system. “Public financing of elections is the best way yet devised to remove the undue influence money on has our democratic system,” Marks said in the release. “Right now, qualifying for public financing means that our PRC re-election campaign can continue to focus on the concerns of voters and not the dash for cash.” We’ll see how the system works this year. Continue Reading

Wiviott ups the ante in congressional race

By |

Third Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott, who had already given $325,000 to jumpstart his campaign, has pitched in another $250,000, giving him a huge amount of money and triggering a federal rule that triples contribution limits for all candidates in the race. It doesn’t make him the frontrunner in the race – that position is held by Ben Ray Luján – but it does indicate that Wiviott’s campaign believes he has a serious shot at being Northern New Mexico’s next congressman if he can improve his name recognition and craft a positive image among voters. Wiviott spokeswoman Caroline Buerkle confirmed the new contribution Wednesday evening. “The support Don has received these last few months has only emboldened his belief that New Mexico voters want change,” she said. “As the only outsider in the race, Don intends to make sure change is on the ballot by mounting a primary campaign that has all the resources it will need.” Candidates can give up to $350,000 without triggering the so-called Millionaires’ Amendment. Continue Reading

First quarter recap

By |

By Carter Bundy This January 3rd, Virginia Tech’s football team was favored against Kansas in the Orange Bowl. The Hokies folded, though, proving that picking winners before the game ends is not the same as playing the game. The even bigger story that night was the record number of Iowans who skipped the Hokie implosion to kick off this year’s presidential primary season. With Hillary Clinton dominating Super Tuesday II, the primary game is far from over. There seems to be a widespread, and very understandable, feeling that the superdelegates shouldn’t overturn the will of the voters. Continue Reading

Guv criticized for vetoing veterans museum bill

By |

Gov. Bill Richardson drew criticism today when he vetoed a bill that would have created a state veterans museum in Doña Ana County. In vetoing Senate Bill 349, Richardson said he will convene a task force to “fully consider the most appropriate location for a state veterans museum.” “I strongly support building a museum to honor New Mexico’s veterans and rich military history,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the bill to do it, because it discounts the input of our veterans statewide by designating a specific county as the location for the museum.” The two lawmakers who most actively pushed the bill – Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, and Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces – have said Richardson promised to sign the bill. In addition, two of his cabinet secretaries testified in support of the bill during the session. So the veto prompted harsh criticism from Rawson, who sponsored SB349. Continue Reading

Spread of vote-buying rumors on Internet is shameful

By |

For days, rumors have been spreading across the Internet about an alleged vote-buying scheme at the recent Bernalillo County GOP convention. I’ve been asked repeatedly why I haven’t written about the allegations. The answer: I haven’t found a story worth writing about. Until now. The rumors – and, at least at this point, that’s all they are – that the campaigns of Heather Wilson and Darren White paid people to attend the convention and vote for their delegates, and that doing so is a felony violation of the state election code, have gained traction to the point that they are appearing on national liberal blogs and have become the subject of a news release sent out today by the Democratic Party of New Mexico. Continue Reading

Sunland voters elect judge charged with voter fraud

By |

A Sunland Park municipal judge candidate who is charged with voter fraud won election on Tuesday, the Las Cruces Sun-News is reporting. With final results in, the newspaper is reporting, Horacio Favela defeated Maria Laura Estrada by 180 votes. It’s not clear at this point whether he will be allowed to be sworn in later this week or if the Judicial Standards Commission will ask the state Supreme Court to delay that action until the resolution of his criminal case. If you don’t know what this posting is about, click here. Continue Reading

NMSU settled discrimination lawsuit for $165K

By |

New Mexico State University agreed last year to pay $165,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that head football coach Hal Mumme discriminated against four former players because they were Muslim. Because of a clause that kept the agreement confidential for six months, the settlement amount wasn’t reported when NMSU settled the lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on behalf of the former players, in June 2007. The documents are now public. Under the agreement, NMSU agreed to pay Mu’Ammar Ali, Anthony Thompson, Vincent Thompson and Jacob Wallace a combined $165,000. In exchange, the former football players agreed to forever release Mumme and the state from further liability. Continue Reading

Judicial hopeful charged with voter fraud might win

By |

A Sunland Park judicial candidate facing a fourth-degree felony charge of voter fraud might actually be on his way to being elected. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll take office. Though all votes haven’t yet been counted, if Horacio Favela prevails, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Judicial Standards Commission asks the state Supreme Court to act. With early, absentee and mail-in totals reported, Favela has 291 votes to Maria Laura Estrada’s 154 votes, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. Final results from two polling places, City Hall and Riverside Elementary, weren’t available. Continue Reading