{"id":1067,"date":"2007-01-08T06:53:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-08T12:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/10-questions-locals-need-to-deal-with-in-2007\/"},"modified":"2007-01-08T06:53:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-08T12:53:00","slug":"10-questions-locals-need-to-deal-with-in-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/10-questions-locals-need-to-deal-with-in-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"10 questions locals need to deal with in 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Dr. James \u201cJim\u201d Kadlecek<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it\u2019s important.\u201d – Eugene McCarthy<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen has offered the opportunity to write a monthly political column for this site, which in this writer\u2019s opinion is the best source for local political news. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

To start with, here\u2019s a series of questions that local citizens and policy makers in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> need to deal with in 2007. As James Thurber said, \u201cIt is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 How will Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> and Memorial<\/st1:placename> Medical<\/st1:placename> Center<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> care for the medically uninsured (40 percent of the population) when the \u201cExtended Care\u201d funding from the hospital sale runs out this year?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will we get a full accounting of the costs, revenues and expenses of the county\u2019s extensive utility system?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Similarly, will we get an updated accounting of the city\u2019s recent expansions of its utility systems and an independent analysis of the equity of its rate structure?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will the regents of New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> continue to have lengthy closed meetings in which their \u201cbusiness\u201d is kept secret from the public?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will the downtown development promoters finally recognize that the key to creating activity in the downtown is to first develop and improve housing in that area?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will members of the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education finally understand that their role is to make policy and leave the management decisions to the superintendent?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will the voters approve the \u201cspaceport\u201d tax that would be applied toward the development of the space industry in our area?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will the long-discussed Indian casino project in Anthony be approved by the federal government and by Gov. Bill Richardson?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will the Interstate 10 dairies near Mesquite<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> face the reality that their bypass location near growing residential areas is no longer a good place for their use, which causes significant air and water pollution?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2022 Will the city, county and university take steps to close the huge eyesore gravel mining operation next to the Farm and Ranch<\/st1:placename> Museum<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> and force the owners to perform reclamation?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

These questions will be the subjects of future commentaries. And, as 2007 rolls on, there may well be other topics of interest to discuss related to candidacies for political office, the actions and antics of the state Legislature and our local officials. This column will do its best to stir up good old democratic debate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kadlecek has lived in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> since 1996, served in the Colorado Legislature, and holds a doctorate in public administration. He\u2019s the author of a recently released book, \u201cCapitol Rape,\u201d published by Barbed Wire Publishers of Las Cruces, and is a monthly columnist for Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

Think you should be a regular columnist for Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics? E-mail heath@haussamen.com<\/a> and explain why.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. James \u201cJim\u201d Kadlecek \u201cBeing in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it\u2019s important.\u201d – Eugene McCarthy Heath Haussamen has offered the opportunity to write a monthly political column for this site, which in this writer\u2019s opinion is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kadlecek-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}