County Pre-Primary Convention and more on “The Blame Game”

Bernalillo County Pre-Primary Convention Tomorrow

The Democratic Party of Bernalillo is holding it Pre-Primary Convention tomorrow at Cibola High School. It is open to all registered democrats. The location is 1510 Ellison Drive NW Albuquerque and the start time is 10:00 am. The Cibola High School is near the Cottonwood Mall on the West side of the city. People should show up to support their candidate.

The Republican Blame Game

The Republicans just won’t give up. They want to start a fight between The Secretary of State and our Party Chairman, all they want is someone to blame for the February 5 caucus so people won’t want to vote in the June Primary Election. I wrote Chairman Colon an email this morning telling him that I would be more than happy to post a response on my blog. I am looking forward to his reply. It will be nice for once to read his reply without having to also read the comments made by a republican blogger.

Keeping Score for Our Children and a Rose by Any Other Name is Still Called “Recession”

Keeping score for our children

The Children Defense Fund each year puts out a score card for how well our U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives are doing when it comes to our children and the issues that effect their health and welfare.

Children Defense Fund Score Card for New Mexico

US Senate:

Senator Jeff Bingaman.......90%....B+
Senator Pete Domenici......10%.....F-

US House of Representatives:

Congressman Steve Pearce................20%.....F-
Congressmen Tom Udall.................100%....A+
Congresswoman Heather Wilson......60%.....F+

Now take a look at your children or grandchildren and ask yourself who you would want to replace Senator Pete Domenici. Two of our U.S. Representatives need to go to remedial summer school for training on how best to defend our children. We will be kind and let Senator Domenici have the summer off due to illness.

Presidential Candidates:

Senator Obama..........100%...........A+
Senator Clinton..........100%...........A+
Senator McCain...........10%............F-

I guess we now know who cares the most about our children in our State and Federal Government now don’t we. Looks like Senator McCain needs to join our U.S. Representatives in remedial summer school. The Children Defense Fund Website: http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2006 Checkout the report for your self.

President George W. Bush says “Economy in slowdown not recession.”

With statements like that I have to wonder just how much was he drinking during his college years. Come off it will you already, housing starts are dropping, gas prices are already above $3 a gallon and rising, unemployment is going up, and consumer confidents is in the toilet. President Bush can call it anything he likes but a rose by any other name is still a recession. When the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sees the need to lower the prime rate again even if inflation could go up then you call it a recession. When President Bush himself sees fit to give rebate checks to middle class Americans you call it a recession. Check out the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Website: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/global_economy/usecon_charts.html if you want to see just how bad the indicators are at present.

The five most common fights and how to avoid them during an election cycle

The five fights that politician hate to have with their female supporters and friends during an election cycle.

Let’s face it women make up the majority of political supporters in Bernalillo County. Fights between women and men are not uncommon and not always unavoidable. Political men love to watch fights on TV, at games or anywhere for that matter but they hate to be in a fight with their female friends and supporters. The one best way to drive a politician away from you is to say those words that they hate to hear: “We need to talk.” Guys know that there is just no way to win when they are told those words.

The five basic fights you don’t want to have with a male friend who is in the political world.

You work too much. We never just have time for fun anymore.

If you are trying to get a male friend to spend more time with you ladies try telling them that you miss having them around and would love to plan on having lunch with them sometime very soon. This always works with the political type because they love to talk about themselves, eat good food and find out what you know about others. Politicians love to make the voting public happy and will go out of their way to spend time with someone who is supporting them. You might also want to invite them to political activities where they can be seen and still spend time with their friend and supporter.

The “Other friends” fight

Politicians always have tons of friends but never as much as right before an election. You should never give them a hard time for spending time talking with other people during an election year. Just the opposite should be happening encourage them to talk to as many people as they can get to in an event or party. Work with them to get more people to listen to them when they are talking. If you stay by their side and they really want to be friends with you then they will find the time to slip a word in on the sidelines.

The wife hates the political supporter fight

Political wives hate female political supporters because their husbands spend a great deal of time with them during an election cycle. You have to hand it to the wives of politicians because they have to put up with a lot of invasion into their private lives in order to get their husbands elected. Female political supporters should always try to be kind to the wives of their politicians. They must try to understand that these women are giving up their personal time with their husband and it is not always easy to see them working publicly with other women. Don’t ever give a politician’s wife a reason to question what type of a relationship you are having with her husband in the end the supporter will always loss. Unless a man is single the only relationship a political supporter should ever be having with a politician is friendship and supporter.

The election eve fight

Politicians spend months trying to get elected during an election cycle. They speak non-stop for months and by the time they get to that final night all they want to do is spend some private time with their closest friends and their families. You may very well feel like they no longer want to spend time with you but you should give them a few weeks to rest and then they will welcome you back with open arms into their lives that is if they are not the political jerk type who hate people all year round and only want you for your vote and the votes you can get for them. Those are the type that disappears for years the minute you cast your vote and only show up 12 months before their next reelection cycle. Most politicians understand that they owe their supporters and will support issues that the people who helped get them elected to their office support. It is always best to stay away from the political jerk type because they will always end up hurting your feeling in the end. These types will tell you whatever you want to hear until they are elected. Unfortunately new female supporters can not always tell who the political jerks are until after they are elected for the first time.

The finale fight

Sometimes no matter how hard you try a politician will just not support the same issues as you would want them to support. They don’t want a public break-up and will go out of their way to avoid shouts, insults, crying and random appliance tossing. Even thought the friendship may not have worked out entirely the way either of you had pictured, the politician doesn’t want it to end badly. Why? Because there’s the big picture to deal with where the two of you will mostly likely still be seeing each other at political events and parties in the future. Politicians love to be adored but hate to fight in public with their supporters and if someone makes a public scene than everyone will remember it in the future. It is always best to part on friendly terms even if you hate the political jerk. Who knows with any luck at all maybe you can support someone in the future to run against that special political jerk.

The Problems with New Mexico's Voter Rolls and Earth to attack Moon

The problem with voter rolls in New Mexico

Yesterday is not the first time we have heard about problems with voter rolls here in New Mexico. A few years ago the Secretary of State’s office sent out voter cards. Not everyone received them and the people who did receive them complained that the information printed on them was incorrect. The local news made hay about the fact that there were still names on the rolls for deceased individuals. Now the local news is making more about a no bid contract with the company that designed the computer system that the county clerk’s office is using to tract voters. If there is a voter in New Mexico that does not know that our voter rolls have problems than I want to know what cave he or she has been living in for the last few years.

The Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse-Oliver is working to do an audit of the voting process in our county this election year. The information gained by the audit could be very valuable in finding and fixing the problems that have plagued our voting system over the years. If this audit turns up problems that can be fixed then maybe the results can also be used in other counties in the state.

The information taking from site workers during the last Democratic Caucus should also be used to direct county clerks and the Secretary of State’s office in the right direction to find the problems and fix them before the June and November elections this year. Somehow I have a hard time thinking that the Secretary of State, who is a member of our party, would intentionally do anything to cause problems with an election run by the Democratic Party. With a system that has hundred of thousands of voter names as well as contact information and is changing on a daily bases some error is unavoidable but it should never reach the levels that it did in the February 5 election. An error rate of near 11% is just too high for a state of our size.

I spoke with a friend the other day and the problem he encountered was one that the county clerk’s office here in Bernalillo County has already found a fix for with their elections. Our party had people give their names only when looking up caucus sites but if like my friend you have a common name that could and in his case did send him to the wrong caucus site. The system that the county clerk has also requires your address so that you are directed to the voting site nearest to where you live. Simply fix to a difficult problem.

The type of violent action that all Americans can get behind.

Earth to attack the moon, not really our scientists are planning on crashing two spacecrafts into the polar cap of the moon so they can try and detect hidden water.

“The Earth-on-moon violence may raise eyebrows, but NASA's history shows that such missions can yield extremely useful scientific observations.”

This is the one type of attack that I can approve of whole heartily because it will yield useful scientific data without taking any human life. It is also a very economical way of getting the needed data something that would be good for NASA’s ever tighten budget.

The Local News is at it again—I don’t care why anymore—let’s not play the blame game shall we.

We in the Democratic Party are looking to see where improvements can be made to ensure that voters have the easiest time possible at the polls in the future. We want to make sure that everyone who thinks they are a registered democrat can vote as a democrat. We also want voters to be directed to the correct polling sites the first time. If a voter was told at their caucus site on February 5 that they either were not a registered democrat or that they were not on the list for where they live then they should get a voter registration form from their local County Clerk’s Office. The process to change your voter information is simply and should take no time at all. The Democratic Party also has made sure that there are lots of trained people in our party who can help people to change their voter information. Please feel free to contact either The Democratic Party of Bernalillo County or The Democratic Party of New Mexico for help in updating you voter information. I am sure that they will be only too happy to help voting democrats.

Secretary of State Mary Herrera is doing her job by removing people from the voter rolls if their address is not correct. The state laws say that you must live at the address you put on your registration form in order to vote in this state. It is not Mary Herrera's fault if a voter moved and did not change the address on their voter registration, if a voter got married and did not change the name on their voter registration or if a voter forgot which party they registered for in the first place. We do not want dead people's names on the voter rolls because it upsets the families of the decease. It is a very difficult job to keep voter rolls current and up-to-date. No one should be pointing a blaming finger at anyone else when it comes to keeping voter information up-to-date. We should all work together to make sure that voters have the easiest possible time on the day of an election. If the information on a voter is not up-to-date or is incorrect it is a simply matter to fix it. So let’s help them fix it shall we.

They are only children, not small adults!

What ever happen to giving the new kids on the block some leeway, I have seen over the years that I have worked in the field of education less tolerance for allowing children and young people to learn by making mistakes. It is like we want everybody to be born with all the knowledge and skills they will ever need to achieve their goals in life. I hear myself telling students over and over that if they were born with the knowledge then they would not need to be in college in the first place. If the children at Jefferson Middle School are having a hard time expressing themselves in writing why not help them. The Albuquerque Journal wants these children to be small adults not children. I don’t know about the rest of the world but I started learning how to write in middle school. I still feel that I have a great deal to learn when it comes to the field of writing.

I think it would be a great idea if the writers at the Journal paid that middle school a visit and volunteered to help them write some great articles on their views of how to make school a better learning environment when it comes to the skills of writing articles for newspapers and journals. The process would help them to see why they need to know how to write and what better people to help them then people who write for a living. Our public schools should be partnering with skilled people from the business world in order to produce the best possible results for our children. It is only too easy to criticize and put children down but it is a whole different animal to help them achieve and learn the skills they will need in life. If teaching was an easy job then everyone would be doing it. After all what does the Albuquerque Journal want future employees and customers or to drive more people away from ever wanting to read a newspaper or for that matter any other type of written material. I get the feeling that right about now those children and their families are problem not too thrilled with that newspaper.

No budget pork for the Hard Working Poor

More News from the New Mexico State Central Committee Meeting

One of the other speakers for the meeting was The DNC Chairperson-at-Large and AFT-NM President Christine Trujillo. She gave a short history of how the Unions have developed in New Mexico. She also spoke about all of the hard work that educational employee’s union members have finished for New Mexico State Senators who then turned around and gave them a 2% raise when inflation is looking more like 4.5% this year. It just goes to show that no good deed ever goes unpunished when it comes to the working poor in this state.

These same Senators are being courted by well paid lobbyist funded by College and University Presidents who make over two hundred thousand dollar salaries a year. Somehow I don’t get the feeling that they care much about employees earning less than $25,000. People who have small worries like how to feed their children and put gas in their cars in order to get to work everyday.

My own College President sent out an email last week with this extra little bit of good news for employees earning under $25,000 a year.

“On another topic, the state legislative session ended last week and the General Appropriation Act was approved at all levels with a 2 percent salary increase for higher education faculty and staff.

The General Appropriation Act also assumes a 2 percent “tuition credit,” which expects higher education institutions to make up for reductions in state funding by increasing tuition by 2 percent. In an Albuquerque Journal story today, it was suggested that colleges and universities would likely raise tuition by an average of 7 percent to cover costs that the state won’t be funding during a tight budget year.

As we stay focused on student success, I remain committed to keeping our tuition rates low and access for students high. I will continue to focus our efforts on limiting a potential tuition increase to no more than the state’s 2 percent assumption.”

So tell me again how a 130 million dollar budget surplus is a tight budget year? The Colleges and Universities lobbyists managed to get support for statewide $140 million General Obligations Bond that will build more buildings at a time of decreasing enrollment but somehow they forgot to speak well of the people who work everyday in those bright shiny new buildings. Somehow I don’t get the feeling that the College and University President funded lobbyists will knock down the doors to speak to ex-state senators after next June. Public Servants should never forget the hard working poor that put them into office in the first place. Our frying pans are empty; no pork for the hard working poor, but those same empty frying pans will make good weapons. We may not be able to afford $100 plate dinners but we do have hands and feet to get out the vote to replace those State Sanators.

Brian Colon, Our Democratic Party Chairman!

“The rumors of my demise are premature,” was the first words spoken by Democratic State Party Chairman Brian Colon. The Republican controlled news media has been made to eat their words. The Democratic State Central Committee met today and brought word from all around the State of New Mexico that voting democrats support our party chairman. Democratic Party Chairman Brain Colon was received with standing applauds as he greeted members of the State Central Committee, the public and elected officials of the Democratic Party. He thanked the party leaders, the voting public and his devoted wife for their strong support during what can only be describe as brutal attacks over the last few weeks since the Democratic Caucus by the local news media in an attempt to cut of the head of the Democratic Party here in New Mexico. The news media would have us believe that his days as party chairman were numbered but democrats knew better. We don’t like other groups trying to pick our party leadership. We are ready for change, we are strong and this will be our year. New Mexico is looking at having two Democratic Senators, three Democratic Congressmen (Maybe only two. Come on down South you guys can do it for the party) and one very well known Democratic Governor. New Mexico could become a truly blue state in the next year and all it will take is getting the democratic vote out.

Was it too much of a good thing?

We should have bigger problems in New Mexico then too many democratic voters all trying to vote at the same time. Our party was not totally ready for record turnout at the Democratic Caucus held this last February 5 but come June 3 and November 4 Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse-Oliver will be more than ready for record turn out in our county. Both the Governor and the Lt. Governor will also work hard to see that the rest of the state is ready for record turn out. Both Governor Bill Richardson and Lt. Governor Diane Denish are looking into what caused the problems that occurred on February 5. Governor Richardson and Party Chairman Colon will be holding an open forum on April 25 to hear from the voters on what happened and to hear the public’s input on ways to make the process work better. Our party leadership is listing and they care greatly what the voting public has to say to them. No one views voter opinions as more important than the Democratic Party Leadership here in New Mexico. Never has there been a better time for voters to express their views to our Democratic Party leadership.

Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Monthly Meeting in Review

Yesterday evening was a lively Democratic Party of Bernalillo County meeting.

The meeting started out with welcoming remarks from the County Chairwoman Ana Canales. The only flag that we had for the pledge of Allegiance was a lapel pin but it worked in a pinch.

County Clerk Maggie Toulouse-Oliver a very bright and intelligent young woman came to remind people that the county clerk’s office is looking for people of all ages to work the polling sites in November. Ms. Toulouse-Oliver has been a welcome addition to the county clerk’s office and has shown that she knows her job well. She was left with a large job on her hands but I think that she will truly shine in the position of county clerk. We needed someone with her level of talents to make sure that our county elections are open and honest. I have a feeling that she will have her job cut out for her come this November. If the turnout for the democrat caucus was any indicator the state could break all records with the turnout in this year’s November election.

The State Central Committee will be meeting on February 23, 2008 the start time will be 11:00 am at Smith-Brasher hall located at 717 University. The committee will review the events of the last month and decided how to move forward. The Committee will be considering resolutions made during the ward clusters meetings of February 7, 2008.

The Justice and the Judges

The shining star of the evening was State Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels. His incredible ability to describe in accurate and precise details the workings of the New Mexico court system without boring the life out of the crowd is a wonder to behold. He along with Judge Jonathan B. Sutin from the New Mexico Court of Appeals and many, many judges from the Bernalillo County District Court and the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court made the evening one not to be forgotten anytime in the near future. As I have said in the past we are lucky to have a very talented group of judges here in New Mexico. The State Supreme Court is very good at dealing with any individual or individuals who do not live up to the high standards of our state legal system.

The meeting was moved into room 2405 and it was standing room only for the evening’s event. The turnout was a good one for the judges. It was too bad that we could not have used the larger meeting room but the crowd did not appear to mind the crowded space.

DPBC Monthly Meeting this evening

Last minute reminder

Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Monthly Meeting

"The "Third-Thursday" meeting for February is scheduled for February 21st, with One State Supreme Court Justice and other lower court judges informing us of the retention process. Find out the difference between a retention election held and a regular judge election. They will also review the various courts and what they each are responsible for." The meeting is held at the UNM Law Library on the UNM main campus in room 2401. The address of the Law Library is: 1117 Stanford NE, Albuquerque NM. The meeting starts at 6:00 pm and all democrats are welcome to attend.

A Great U.S. Senator—for the last 25 years

Every great once in a while a U.S. Senator comes along with all of the right ideas. He is not the type to try and make himself the center of attention but works hard to put forth strong and sold party core morals. He is a man that stands strong on the issues that got him elected in the first place. For the Democrats he is someone who voted against the war from the very first. Someone who believes strongly that torture is something that the US should not take part in because of federal and international laws. He is someone that has the rule of law as one of his basic values. He is not a loud person but he has a strong voice in the U.S. Senate. He is someone that I and others respect greatly because he has earned our respect with everything he has done for his party and his constituents over the many years of his public service. To find out more about this New Mexico U.S. Senator and his stand on issues checkout his website: http://bingaman.senate.gov/index.cfm

Congressional District 1

Darren White—not our man for Congressional District 1

Darren White is the Republican running for Congress in Congressional District 1. As a Sheriff he has done a good job in Bernalillo County. I have voted for him for that position in the past. I totally disagree with his stand on national issues. A good number of moderate Democrats understand that Mr. White is good at being a Sheriff but I don’t think they understand that his stand on issues like the War in Iraq and the environment are far for moderate and tend toward the far right. He has no stand on education as far as I can tell. I think he should have views on the important issue of public education since he has a son. On his website there is no way to contact him to ask questions. A good public servant should always be open to public comment and to speaking to the people he represents. I also saw no pictures of his family. I get the feeling that most people would like to know what kind of husband and father our candidates are before we vote for them. White has admitted to the mistake of putting his job before his family in the past.

Martin Heinrich the right man for Congressional District 1

Now contrast that to Martin Heinrich. His website has statements on top important democratic issues. If he does not have a statement on an issue he has his contact information so you can email or call him so you can find out what his views are on a subject. Like White, Heinrich is an open and totally honest individual. He has pictures of his family on his website. You can see that he is a loving husband and a completely devoted father to his children. Martin has been an active member of our community for many years. As a husband and caring father he has strong stands on the same issues that affect his constituency. He spent time on our city council dealing with issues that affect us everyday. He has shown quality leadership and an ability to work with both parties in the past.

The question is do we, as democrats, want someone who is ready to serve all of his constituency from day one in an open and caring manner or are we willing to vote for the unknown person that has a history of working for the news media and blindly supporting President George W. Bush policies on national issues? Mr. White is a man who has spent most of his life working in law enforcement and I get the feeling that working with honest people would be a new experience for him. I just can not see why any democrat would vote for Mr. White when they have the choice of voting for a genuine democrat like Martin Heinrich for Congressional District 1. To find out more about Martin Heinrich and his stand on issues checkout his website at: http://www.martinheinrich.com/about/story

Time for real change in our state government

Basic Family Budget Calculator

Albuquerque, NM

1Parent 1Child

Monthly housing-----------$ 699
Monthly food--------------$ 265
Monthly child care---------$ 479
Monthly transportation----$ 272
Monthly health care-------$ 204
Monthly other necessitie---$ 260
Monthly taxes -------------$ 174
Monthly total ------------$ 2,353
Annual total-------------$ 28,236

Percentage of all people in state living below family budget line*-35%
Number of all people in state living below family budget line*-119,000

Note: Data from the Economic Policy Institute. Website: http://www.epi.org/budgetcalc.cfm

35% of all people living in New Mexico are living below this budget line. I know of a number who are working in the field of education that makes a few thousand less then $25,000 a year to support their families. This year they get a 2% raise and nothing more. The health care plan was not passed during the 30 day session this year. This is not what you would call being rich by anyone’s standards. What is it going to take to get lawmakers in our state to value education and the people who work in that field? It would appear that they care more about their pork rather than education and the people who work in the field of education. Maybe it is time to replace a few state senators.

A simple solution to the provisional ballot problem

Will wonders never cease? Just when you get to the point that you think some people never say anything that you can agree with they surprise you with a good idea; Sanderoff and Monahan have come up with an idea of how to deal with the provisional ballot problem. Why not have a computer at every polling place for the election this November where the staff could look up the right voting place for voters. The computer could be linked to a printer and the staff could print out a correct and official ballot for individuals that go to the wrong polling place. The purchase of computers and the development of a program would be costly at a time when the budget is tight but it would be offset by less cost when counting ballots. It would also make counting faster and give quicker election results. I think it is an idea well worth looking into and maybe acting upon in the near future.

Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Monthly Meeting

Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Monthly Meeting

"The "Third-Thursday" meeting for February is scheduled for February 21st, with One State Supreme Court Justice and other lower court judges informing us of the retention process. Find out the difference between a retention election held and a regular judge election. They will also review the various courts and what they each are responsible for." The meeting is held at the UNM Law Library on the UNM main campus in room 2401. The address of the Law Library is: 1117 Stanford NE, Albuquerque NM. The meeting starts at 6:00 pm and all democrats are welcome to attend.

Learn more about voting for your state courts—Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court

This is the Courthouse building that has been in the news the most over the last year. But there is more to it then just the building. The New Mexico State Legislature consolidated the functions of the Albuquerque Municipal Court, Bernalillo County Magistrate Court, and Small Claims Court into a single court operation in 1980. It is the only court of its kind in New Mexico.

The Metro Court handles petty misdemeanor and misdemeanor crimes that carry a maximum jail term of 364 days and fines of up to $1,000. The Metro Court also has a Civil Division like the District Court but it can only deal with cases in which the amount in dispute does not exceed $10,000. The judges at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court also conduct felony first appearances.

When it comes to DWI/Drug cases the court handles the first three offences unless other issues increase the time or value of the crime. If a case is appealed it then goes to District court for review to determine if any legal errors were made by the Metro Court Judge. In addition to DWI/Drug court the Metro court also has Mental Health Court, Homeless Court, Co-Occurring Disorders Court and the Urban Native American Drug Court.

The Metropolitan Court has 19 judges: 16 are in the Criminal Division and three are in the Civil Division. The Metropolitan court is called a court of limited jurisdiction but Metropolitan Court judges are attorneys who have practiced law for at least three years before they are appointed to the bench by the Governor. Metropolitan Court Judges also have to apply to a bipartisan commission for selection as do District Court Judges. All Metropolitan judges must run in a partisan election after being appointed to the bench by the Governor for the first term after which Metropolitan Court Judges run in retention elections.

If you would like to learn more about the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court then visit their website at: http://www.metrocourt.state.nm.us/xnet/index.jsp

Note: What is meant by limited jurisdiction—jurisdiction is the rights and powers given to a judge to hear a case in their courtroom by the state or federal government. As in our Metropolitan Court, limits can be placed on a court as to what amount of time or money in a case a judge has jurisdiction over in his/her courtroom. A judge can not hear a case unless it falls into their jurisdiction.

Superdelegates or Superbust

Superdelegates, super advantage or super disaster

New Mexico has 12 Superdelegates. Six are pledged to Senator Hillary Clinton and one is pledged to Senator Obama. Five are presently uncommitted. One of the uncommitted delegates has not been named as of yet. For the committed delegates the break down is: Lt. Governor Diane Denish, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, American Federation of Teachers-New Mexico President Christine Trujillo, and State Democratic Vice President Annadelle Sanchez are all pledged to Senator Clinton. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Fred Harris is pledged to Senator Obama. Delegates that are not yet pledged are Senator Jeff Bingaman, Congressman Tom Udall, Governor Bill Richardson, State Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon and one as yet unnamed delegate.

The problem with Superdelegates is that they can vote anyway they like and they do not have to base their decision on how the voters feel about our candidates.

We, voters and members of the Democratic Party, want to think that our vote counts!

We all want the popular vote to decide who our candidate will be for the presidential election in November. No one wants party leaders to decide who our presidential candidate will be this year. It is not that we don’t support and respect our party leaders. The voting public simply wants to be the ones to make the decision of who our candidate will be in November. Talking with friends, I know that this issue makes people very angry. It also makes them angry to think that once the first vote is cast at the Democratic National Convention that delegates are free to pick between the two candidates based on their own decision. The voters in the Democratic Party already feel that their rights were taken away in the 2000 election for president. Voters feel that the mess our country is presently in could have been avoided if the results had been based upon the popular vote and not the Electoral College. The system of electing a candidate is outdated and does not represent current abilities to communicate the voter’s beliefs and desires when it comes to choosing a candidate. The Democratic National Party should look at doing away with the system of delegates all together and basing the decision on total popular vote.

I know that this system would favors larger states with greater numbers of voters. This could be cancelled out by requiring candidates to spend a minimum amount of time in each state. Each candidate should spend time in each and every state in the union meeting and talking with the voting public. The primaries and caucuses should all be held on one day such as Super Tuesday. The National Party should care more about how people feel when it comes to their vote. The concept is one voter, one vote. No person should have more power over the process to choose a presidential candidate than a single voter. Has our national party leadership forgotten the ideal of a government for the people and by the people? I would hope that the Superdelegates in our state will pledge to vote in the same way as the popular vote giving the chose of presidential candidate for our party back to the democratic voting public where the Constitution of the United State planned it to be in the first place.

College Shootings

President Bush fails to show presidential leadership on college campus shootings.

What must happen before the federal laws are changed?

It would appear that every six months or so another mentally ill person stops taking their medication, goes on a killing spree and then kills innocent victims. Our Colleges and Universities are open to the public. The laws are designed to protect violently mentally ill people’s privacy and their rights over that of future victims. We have sex offenders, murders and violent students sitting next to our college age children who have never been exposed to these types of people in their lives. From the time our children are born until they get out of high school we try everything we know to protect them from predators but then in college we throw them into an area where these types of predator hunt for their next victim. Our children are totally unprepared for this type of environment and they are getting killed. All you have to do is go onto your local sex offender website and type in the address of you local college to see where a large number of these predators live in you own town or city. Why are we not demanding that these people are monitored to make sure that they take their medicine and see a professional so that they do not harm our college age children? Why do we allow them to purchase guns and knives? Why are there not requirements about where and how they may attend public colleges and universities? How many more of our best and brightest must die before the federal government takes steps to stop the killing?

I work in a local college and I can tell you that it is not a safe place to send your children. Three years ago I was followed home and stalked by a mentally ill student. No one could image the fear or helplessness that I felt. There are no laws to prevent this type of behavior. I am by far not the only college employee that has ever had to deal with this problem. The college that I work at could do nothing to help because of the laws protecting mentally ill student’s privacy. It is true we need presidential leadership when it comes to these problems. Something that President Bush is completely unable to achieve. It is not a matter of gun control for healthy individuals. I am a legal gun owner and support the right to own guns but we must keep weapons out of the hands of mentally ill individuals. I personally think the violently mentally ill should have less control over their own treatment and medication than normal healthy individuals. The government is violating their human rights by allowing them to put themselves into the position where they stop taking medication and end up in prison for live because they kill people or worse kill themselves as well. How can lawmakers in their right minds think that violently mentally ill individuals should have control over their own treatment?

Who are our candidates and more about the courts

Who are our candidates:

A list of the candidates who filed Tuesday for Congress by district and State wide for the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals: My picks are in blue just like my party. Since I am in the 1st Congressional District, I will only share my picks for that Congressional race. The truth is that I know too many of the candidates in the third congressional district and since I don’t have to I don’t want to pick between them.

U.S. Senate:

Democrat: Tom Udall
Republican: Steve Pearce, Heather Wilson

1st Congressional District:

Democrat: Michelle Lujan Grisham, Martin T. Heinrich, Robert Pidcock, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Jessica Lynn Wolfe
Republican: Joseph J. Carraro, Darren White

2nd Congressional District:

Democrat: Albert D. Kissling, Bill McCamley, Frank McKinnon, Harry Teague
Republican: Aubrey Dunn Jr., C. Earl Greer, Terry T. Marquardt, Monty Newman, Edward R. Tinsley, Greg Sowards

3rd Congressional District:

Democrat: Jon Adams, Ben Ray Lujan, Rudy Martin, Harry B. Montoya, Benny J. Shendo Jr., Don Wiviott
Republican: Daniel K. East, Marco E. Gonzales

Retention:

State Supreme Court: Charles Daniels and for Retention Patricio M. Serna

Court of Appeals: Retention Ira Robinson and Jonathan B. Sutin

Note to Republican Bloggers:

Give it a break already will you. Our party has moved on and we are looking forward to the November election. The Caucus is over finished and the results are official. Senator Hillary Clinton won the state with 73,105 votes and Senator Obama came in a close second with 71,396 votes. Brian Colon is our State Party Chair and we are not going to let the Republican Party dictate to us who leads our Party now or anytime in the future. So, give it a rest already unless you truly want to be trashed in November.

Learn more about voting for your state courts—New Mexico Court of Appeals

In November Ira Robinson is running for retention on the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Judge Robinson was first elected to serve on the New Mexico Court of Appeals in November of 2000.
How does the New Mexico Court of Appeals work?

The Court of Appeals is the intermediate court between the State Supreme Court and the State District Courts. There is one Court of Appeals for the whole state of New Mexico just like there is one Supreme Court for the whole state. The court has ten judges. The law of the state maintains that the Judges act in panels of three on all appellate opinions, and agreement of two judges is required for an opinion. The court reviews all appeals excepts for criminal cases involving sentences of death or life imprisonment, appeals from the Public Regulation Commission, and cases involving habeas corpus. The court handles about 900 cases per year. The court has two offices one in Santa Fe and one in Albuquerque. The judges are divided up 6 in Santa Fe and 4 in Albuquerque.

To find out more about the New Mexico Court of Appeals check out this website: http://coa.nmcourts.com/index.html

Late note, what is habeas corpus? It is Latin for “you have the body.” It requires law enforcement to produce the individual being held for a public trial where you have the right to representation of a lawyer and to question why you are being held and what law or laws you have violated. It is a fundamental legal right for all Americans.

Share the love and How to vote for the right candidates.

Share the Love

President Bush signed into law the tax bill that will give 130 million Americans a rebate check later this year.

The New Mexico State Legislature will end its 30 day session today at noon.

Senator Obama is in the lead with the most states and the most voted for delegates.

Senator Clinton has the most super delegates.

Learn more about voting for your state courts

Yesterday, I talked about the State Supreme Court and gave a website where you could learn more about the members of that court if you were interested. Today I would like to talk about the Second District Court here in Albuquerque. I have one or two friends on that court. They are gifted and talented people. There is a Judicial Nominating Commission that was created in 1988 when New Mexico voters amended the State Constitution and adopted sections 35, 36, and 37 to Article VI. The commission screens applicants for vacancies within thirty days of an actual judicial vacancy. The Commission’s mission is to recommend to the Governor names of candidates qualified for the judicial office. The commission is made up of a group of bypartisan individuals. Than the Governor appoints a candidate to the bench from the list of candidates sent to him from the commission, once appointed, a judge must run in the next partisan election and, thereafter, be subject to retention or rejection on a nonpartisan ballot. Because the retention or rejection elections are nonpartisan that part of the ballot is separate from the rest of the ballot and voters must vote for each judge individually even if they vote straight ticket for the rest of the party. If you are interested in learning more about the Second District Court here in Albuquerque check out this website: http://www.nmcourts.com/seconddistrictcourt/

New Mexico U.S. Senate election

Tuesday was the filing deadline for candidates to run for U.S. Senate. On our side of the ballot we only have one individual. Congressman Tom Udall is giving up his U.S. House seat to run for the Senate. We have the best candidate for that position. Every democrat in the state should get out and vote for Tom Udall for Senate. His website is: http://www.udallforusall.com/

Justice Daniels and Domestic Violence Bill

Supreme Court Justice Charlie Daniels faces no opponent for November.

Something’s are just too clear from the start. Governor Richardson appointed Justice Daniels to replace the late Pamela Minzer on the court. I meet Supreme Court Justice Daniels at the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County’s Christmas Party last year. He impressed me as just the right person for the position. I am glad that he will be running unopposed in the fall election. Supreme Court Justice Daniels will not have to run for reelection until 2010. We are all lucky to have him on our state supreme court. It is with pleasure that I note that all five Supreme Court Justices are democrats.

The current New Mexico State Supreme Court includes: Edward L. Chavez, Chief Justice, Patricio M. Serna, Petra Jimenez Maes, Richard C. Bosson and Charles W. Daniels. Should you like to learn more about the State Supreme Court the website is: http://nmsupremecourt.nmcourts.gov/bios/index.html.

Domestic Violence Bill Headed to Governor’s Desk

At this point in time people who mistreat dogs get more jail time than men who beat women in this state. Shows were this state's priorities are placed. Also shows how much some men in this state respect women. In New Mexico you have to kill or put your stalking victim in the hospital before the police will put someone in jail. Our state’s first lady Barbara Richardson has made this one of her few outspoken causes this year. We, New Mexican women, should truly appreciate Mrs. Richardson’s efforts on this issue. In the past any women who has been outspoken about this issue was treated rather poorly by the men of this state. Clearly this bill is long overdue in New Mexico. My only fear now is that these men will kill their victims rather then give them the change to report a third offense. I also fear that women will be more reluctant to press charges when they have been beaten. Nevertheless it is a step in the right direction for the women in New Mexico; there can never be a perfect answer when it comes to someone who is incapable of treating women with the respect they deserve. I just have to wonder why someone has to be seriously harmed or killed before the law will step in and put a stop to this kind of treatment by men of women. I also wonder who has to become a victim before lawmakers in the state capital will find the time to create more laws to address this problem in New Mexico. Because of the way state laws are written on this subject, local lawmakers in the cities and towns can not make harsher laws that could address this problem. I know that I have asked my State Senator Cisco McSorley to step in and write more laws to deal with this problem but I fear it fell on deaf ears. Maybe it is time to replace a few lawmakers in order to prove the point that this is a problem that women in the State of New Mexico care a great deal about fixing.

Party moves on and Poor need not apply

Time to move our Party forward to the November election

In our newsletter this month Jim Buhaug, DPBC First Vice-Chair and Postmaster pointed out all of the bad things that were happen in the sixties so as to tell us that what happen on February 5, 2008 here in New Mexico was not that great of a disaster in the scheme of things. We will live that day down in our party history and we will move on and win the general election because no one in our party wants Senator John McCain to be president. He has anger management problems that could cause our country irreparable damage in the future if he was elected president. He could careless if we spent the next hundred years at war or so he has said. He does not care for the young men and women who are giving their lives everyday on foreign soil if he did then he would want them home. Senator John McCain could make George W. Bush’s administration look like a walk in the park in comparison over the long run if he is elected. At least with President Bush most of what he has done was because of a lack of skill not full blown intent to cause harm. If we want a more hopefully and brighter future for our country, we must put our differences behind us and work together to retake the oval office. Our country can not survive another republican president. Most assuredly we don’t want someone like Senator John McCain in the people’s White House.

We have a lot of good young people in control of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and they need our support to make our party one of the strongest in the country. Our state is split between the two main parties and most likely will remain that way for years to come but we have to work to get our people out to vote in November. We need to send a clear message that the time for change has come and we will settle for nothing less.

Party Fund Raising

“The chief job of a party chairman is to raise money.” Spoken like a true outdated white republican male. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth please don’t apply to be state party chairman. Never mind that you can get people to care about the direction our party is headed. Never mind that you are good at getting out the vote. Never mind that you have a brain in your head. Never mind you are willing to talk with party members that have not seen a party chairman in years. Never mind that you can plan for the party’s future with young people. Why on earth would we want a state party chair that is good at his job when we could have a spoiled rich kid who has nothing better to do with his time than raise money? Funny, I thought I was a member of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. You know, the party that John F. Kennedy spoke about when he said this:

“If by a ‘liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties—someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal.’”

If I had wanted to be in a party that held the idea that only rich white men could be state party chair, I would have become a Republican like the rest of my family after all I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I must admit that I am happier being a poor democratic substitute teacher. I know that my rich republican brothers would be much happier if I were married to a member of my own social class and spent my time throwing parties to raise money for the Republican Party but we can’t please everyone all the time now can we? I think we are doing just fine with Brian Colon as our state party chairman. I hope that our party members will feel the need to give to the state party without us having a member of their social class for the chairman after all I, a poor unmarried substitute teacher, found the money to give for the Democratic Caucus.

The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority

On the Sunday news program Eye on New Mexico, Michael Cadigan said that the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority will welcome public comment of issues facing the board. The board has control over local water projects in the City of Albuquerque and the County of Bernalillo. He said at present that the general voting public does not attend meetings. The board is made up of these members: Deanna A. Archuleta, Chair; Isaac Benton, Vice-Chair; Tim Cummins; Michael J. Cadigan; Albuquerque City Mayor Martin Chavez; Trudy Jones; Teresa Cordova; and Pablo R. Rael, “Ex-Officio.” Michael Cadigan pointed out in his interview that Mayor Chavez had not been attending meetings of the board. The website for the board is: http://www.abcwua.org/index.html. With water being a major issue here in the City of Albuquerque and the Southwest, I think it would be a good idea for voters to start attending these meetings and expressing their concerns about issues like the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project. The project made the news locally because of fungus found in bottled water given out free to the public. The board plans to pipe this water into Albuquerque homes starting this fall. Michael Cadigan said that the problem was in the bottling of the water and not in the process of how the water is treated. The Board has sent samples of the water to a lab for testing. Mayor Chavez is asking the state to prevent the water from being used until it is clear that the fungus was not a problem with the processing of the river water. Meetings for the board are open to the public and notice of these meetings must be provided to the public.

Board 2008 Schedule of Meetings January 17, 2008; February 27, 2008; March 19, 2008; April 16, 2008; May 21, 2008; June 18, 2008; August 20, 2008; September 17, 2008; October 15, 2008; November 19, 2008; December 17, 2008

Time and place: 5:00 pm in the Vincent E.Griego Chambers, basement of One Civic Plaza Government Center.

While I would be very interested in attending one of these meetings I already have a meeting at 6:00 pm on the third Thursday of each month and I don’t get out of my day job until 5:30 pm so unless the board decides to change the time and date of the meetings in the future; I just can not make the meetings. Maybe Michael Cadigan would like to contact the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County in the future to be a speaker about this issue. I get the feeling that it might be one that voters would find interesting.

Economic stimulus check, Obama wins and Ana Canales Speaks out

Spend your economic stimulus check from the US government

The US House and US Senate have pasted a $170 billion economic stimulus bill which will now go to President Bush to sign into law. Both Congressman Tom Udall and Senator Jeff Bingaman voted for the bill. The bill will provide $300 checks to individuals earning over $3,000, $600 for married couples and give them another $300 per dependent child. The best thing individuals and families could do with this money is to go out and spend it. It does not help the economy to hold on to the money.

Obama wins all three states

Barack Obama won in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington this weekend.

Bernalillo County Chairwoman Ana Canales Speaks out on caucus

The chairwoman for the Bernalillo County Democratic Party and one of the New Mexico caucus chiefs Ana Canales spent many hours working hard to organize and support a caucus that she did not favor in the first place. Ana was rewarded for all of her hard work with angry e-mails and telephone calls from voters venting about the result of the February 5 election. Now Ana just wants to move back to the June Primary. I can't say that I blame her for the feelings. I hope all of our party leaders in the state look carefully at what the problems were during this caucus before any final decisions are made about when the party should vote for President. We should for now let Ana know that we support her and appreciate all of the hard work and long hours she put into this years caucus. New Mexico Democratic State Chairman Colon was not the only one to have to face angry voters the day after the caucus. Still the angry e-mails and telephone calls were not unreasonable considering some of the problems that voters faced during the caucus.

What it would take to run a better democratic caucus

The party leaders like Chairman Colon must admit to the mistakes for underestimating voter turnout and too few ballots, too few caucus sites, no early voting sites and no clear set of rules for voting. Now the leaders of our party must take the feedback they received from angry voters and find ways to improve on the process or they must decide to move our election back to the June primary date so the state can run the election. The election will cost the party large amounts of money if we wish to keep it on February 5. Training for caucus site workers should start earlier and require testing of volunteers. Site Judges should be picked carefully and be trained as well as tested in all of the laws and requirements for state and party voting. Caucus site coordinators should be given a clear set of duties and responsibilities. A clear and concise set of voting rule and requirements for party elections should be developed and posted on the state website so that voters would understand their rights and duties before the election. Materials should be supplied to each caucus site's coordinator and everything but the ballots should be received before the day of the voting. Someone with experience should be consulted when deciding on how many ballots to order and how many sites to open. Early voting sites should be a statewide requirement. These are just a few of the details that must be worked out if the party still wants to run its own election. It is not unreasonable to think that someone should be paid a full time salary to run the party caucus. As Chairwoman Canales correctly pointed out it is a lot of responsibilities and work to place on the shoulders of a volunteer.

State Democratic Party Chair Brian Colon and City drinking water

Lt. Governor Diane Denish backs State Party Chair Brian Colon

Lt. Governor Diane Denish said that she does not favor asking State Democratic Party Chair Brian Colon to resign. Chairman Colon has made it clear that the buck stops at his desk. He has admitted to mistakes and will take steps in the future to prevent them for every happen again. Lt. Governor Denish feels that the State Democratic Party Chair position should be a full time paid position so that more time could be spent on making the party run more smoothly.

I think that the idea of a full time paid position is a very good idea and that New Mexico Democrats should support the idea. It is clear to me and many others after last Tuesday, February 5 and Thursday, February 7 that Brian Colon has inherited a political party that needs to develop a transparent system and a set of manuals with simple but exact instructions that would govern how party elections are run and how to train volunteers that work these elections. The party may even want to invest in paying people to be judges for each of the caucus sites. This state may have been part of the Wild West in the past but if we are to become a leading state in the future than we need rules and standards that show a high degree of ethical behavior on our part in our party's elections. Our own Governor Bill Richardson went through something very similar when he was running the DOE during the Clinton Administration. I don't feel that the Democrats of New Mexico should be scapegoating Chairman Colon for problems that have been an inherent part of the fabric of our party for far too many years. It is now up to the people who are running our state party to develop a system that out shines all of the other states. I can think of no better person to lead that effort than State Democratic Party Chair Colon.

Mayor Martin Chavez moves to ensure clean water to the City of Albuquerque

The Albuquerque Environmental Health Department issued an order last Thursday prohibiting the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Authority from serving treated river water inside the city. This will stop them from serving water to the Albuquerque public by bottle but it would take a state order to stop them from putting the water into our pipes. The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Authority said that it has not plans to start pumping river water to residents of Albuquerque until next fall. Let's all hope that they clear up the problems long before the treated river water reaches our homes. I am sure that no one in the City of Albuquerque wants water that might make our children ill being pumped into our homes, schools, and work places. I must admit to being more than a little disturbed by the reaction of the people who are working on the water project. It should be clear to them that the highest propriety should be the health and safety of the residents of the City of Albuquerque. I hope that the people running the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Authority make it crystal clear to all the individuals working on this project that the highest propriety is the health and safety of Albuquerque residents who will be drinking this water. I am pleased to see that the Mayor stepped in to see that the health and safety of the residents of Albuquerque came first when dealing with any problems that may have arisen from changing over to river water as our source of water for the City of Albuquerque. We need someone in that office that will strongly protect the interest and safety of the residents of Albuquerque first and foremost.

Ward Cluster Meeting

First on the Agenda the Caucus and the State Party Chair

At the start of the meeting people talked about the caucus and the problems we had this year. We also talked about how the party feels about the state party chair.

We all agreed that more training should be done for volunteers working the caucus sites. We all agreed that there were problems with this year's caucus that needed to be addressed. We also all agreed that the volunteers did a great job given the circumstances.

When we started talking about the state chair everyone was either upset or angry at him for the fact that it was clear he dropped the ball in a major way this year when it came to the party caucus. He did man up and take the blame for the problems we had during the caucus. Someone suggested that he might be asked to resign by the party. The reaction was strong that we did not want him to be removed because of his mistake. All of us have been new to a job at one time or another and have made mistakes. We know that if he decides to stay that he will never make this years mistake every again. He has done a good job up till now of getting people to care about our party. He has listen to and encouraged people like me to help the party and not just one or two candidates. He is young and has brought that trait to the job. He is honest and caring and it shows in the way he deals with party members. He has a family and has strong roots in our community which gives him every reason to do a better job in the future. I personally hope that Governor Richardson gives him a hard time and then asks him to stay on as our party chair. We need young people to lead our party into the future and we must give them a chance to grow into the positions if our party is to survive. I think that we would loss a lot of the younger people that have stepped up in the last year if he is asked to resign. I hope that the Governor is not influenced by a Republican owned media to remove our state chair for his position because it would be a great disservice to our state party and only help the Republican Party in the future.

Second on the Agenda was Voting for Delegates to the State Convention

Yesterday evening I attended my ward meeting just like I have done for the last year. I am new to being active in my local party activities and did not expect to be elected a delegate to the state convention. In the past I have always worked for outside groups or an individual candidate. I did however decide to run for a position this year just to get my name out. I did turn down requests from individual candidates to work for them this year in favor of helping out my local party. The major difference with this months ward meeting was the number of people who attended the meeting. The room was packed with a large number of new people. People I have never seen showed up for the meetings and somehow I get the feeling that they won't be showing up again for another meeting until another candidate gets the bright idea that he or she can freely and legally stack the votes for delegates to the state convention. The bad thing about this type of behavior is that it engenders anger and hard feelings from people who are active in the party and who have worked hard all year round to support their wards.

New people like these do not stay around and support the group in the future so in the long run this type of behavior by candidates is only harmful to party membership. After all why take the time to attend meetings all year round, work hard to increase membership in the party, and then be blown out of the water by a candidate at the last minute when you run to be a delegate to your own state convention. These new people are one issue voters and don't have a lot of knowledge on other issues that will be voted on during the state convention. They don't take part in party building activities during the year so the party does not grow because of their presents at the state convention. The party did their regular active members a disservice by not having rules in place to prevent this type of behavior from a candidate.

Even though I ran and lost in the election for a position for party delegate, I personally can not be angry because I am new to being active in this group so I did not expect to get elected as a delegate and in the past with other groups I have been just as guilty of the same tactic that was pulled at last evening's meeting. I also knew the candidate that was going to be pulling that political tactic. I got an email from his campaign warning me that his group would be doing this in the ward meetings. One note, because I did not think I deserved to be elected a delegate this year I did not take part in this one even though I could have if I had wanted to do so. I did wonder why the county party did not have a few simple rules for voting in place that would have prevented that tactic from being used successfully during one of our meetings. You would think that a group such as ours would be more political shrewd when it comes to political tactics. I get the feeling that maybe the voting rules for the state party convention delegates should be reviewed in the next county party meeting to prevent stacking of delegates for the state convention by candidate's campaigns. While the behavior is legal, I have to wonder how ethical it was for any candidate to come up with a plan like this one. Winning at all cost can not be good for our local party. I would hope that candidates in the future would not practice this behavior. Maybe the state party chair should look into how delegates to the state convention are elected at the local level.

Democrat Party of Bernalillo County Cluster Meetings

DPBC Ward & Precinct Cluster Meetings with election of delegates to the County and State Pre-Primary Conventions.

Today, Thursday, February 7 at 6:30 pm, Bernalillo County Ward Elections are happening across the county.

Here's how the process works. You show up to your Ward Election location at 6:30 pm and you'll be directed to the group of Democrats from your Ward. Then, your Democratic Party Ward Chair will ask for people who want to run to be State Pre-Primary Delegates. Finally, you vote for State Pre-Primary Delegates.

To check for your location go to: DPBC

The time for change is now

Why do Republicans always have to play the blame game? The Republican Party and their home owned news stations plus their home owned reporters love to point out any problems our party has during an election. All you have to do is turn on a local news station or open the local paper to see what a field day they are having with this caucus. New Mexico had one of the largest turnouts in history on Tuesday, February 5, 2008. Voting went from a projected 30,000 to 40,000 up to 140,000 plus. We ran out of ballots no surprise in that was there. We worked our fingers to the bone to make sure that everyone got to cast a vote. Yes, there were long lines at the caucus sites. Democrats are sick to death of the way Republicans have been destroying our dreams over the previous seven years. We will turn out in force to see that things do change and do get better for the middle class and low income families.

New Mexico Democratic State Party Chair Brian Colon should have handled some issues differently. The party should have had early caucus sites which would have warned of higher voter turnout and given some people a chance to vote at a time when the flow of voters was not as great. We should have had the caucus sites open earlier in the day. We also needed to recruit younger people to help work the caucus sites in peak voting times. I like most Democrats don’t like the idea that any voters were turned away for any reason from a caucus site. As I have said before, the Democratic Party is not in the business to keep people from voting.

The Governor was right in expressing his concern about the way the election was handled. We needed to be more prepared for the larger turnout of voters. Having just said that we needed more voting opportunity, it should also be pointed out that the Democratic Party should always have the problem of running out of ballots and long lines to vote in a party caucus because of high voter turnout. It was after all a good result when we had such a record setting turnout year. The voters that stood in long lines for hours should be proud of their actions. These Democrat voters showed just how much they care about the voting process and the issues facing our country. The Republicans should learn now to fear just how unhappy the Democrats truly are with the way they have been running our country into the ground for the previous seven years. We will see them again in November and they can count on big changes in our state and our country.

As Hillary R. Clinton said in her last email, “This is our time, this is our place, and this is our chance.” And it is our time, our place and our chance to make history no matter which candidate we choose for president because both have huge support in the Democratic Party to make the needed changes that will move our country in a new and better direction for all Americans.

Just one last note, while we Democrats retain the right to complain at our own party chair for not foreseeing the higher voter turnout. The Republican Party should be very careful just what they say about him. If they feel the overpowering need to criticize someone then they should look to the oval office. I am sure that there is plenty to criticize in their own party.

New Mexicans voted

New Mexicans voted and proved that our dream of a freely elected nation shall never die.

Yesterday New Mexican's turned out in what I am sure will be record numbers to vote for the candidate of their choice. I was working from noon until 9:30 at one of the caucus sites here in Bernalillo County. We had 1,000 ballots to start the evening with but ran out around 5:00 pm. We received more ballots from the party headquarters after about 20 minutes of not having ballots. The crowd for the most part understood when it came to waiting on ballots. My caucus site processed over 1,600 ballots when the voting was over and done with for the evening. The site I was working at usually does not process over 1,000 ballots in a normal election year. I saw a great number of young people turn out to vote in this year's election. I am sure from the results that I saw on television this morning that they were voting for Senator Obama.

Yes, because I worked the site I will not tell anyone what I saw while I was counting the votes. I think that voting should be a private matter. I must admit to being amazed at camera crews from local news stations who tried very hard to come into the site uninvited and take film of the process. All of the local stations were told that voting was a private matter and they should contact State Party Chair Brian Colon if they wanted to film one of the caucus sites. It would have been a lot less amazing if it had only been one camera crew but when the second one showed up and tried to tell me it was ok for them to be there I knew at that point we were going to have to be more firm with them in order to protect the voter's privacy. I guest reporting a story is more important to them then voter's rights.

I personally think that all of the volunteers that worked the caucus sites should receive a big thank you for all of their hard work during the last few days. No one expected the turn out to be as large as it was and all of the volunteers went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that everyone who showed up to a caucus site got to cast their vote for the candidate of their choice. None of the volunteers were paid for their service and some of them had to take time off from work just to be there in the first place.

I would love to see more young people volunteer with the voting process in the future because I think that with their youth that they could process the votes much quicker. I think it would also give them a chance to become more involved in the process of electing the leaders of their community and their nation. I can only hope that getting younger people out to vote this year will be the start of them coming out to vote in future years.

Senator Hillary Clinton's visit to Albuquerque

Senator Hillary Clinton in Albuquerque

I got the email for Senator Clinton's Campaign early Saturday that told me that she would be at the Highland High School for 8:00 pm until 10:00 p.m. At 6:00 p.m. the local news cast was reporting that there were already 100 people at the high school. I arrived around 6:30 pm and found parking. It was nice that we did not have to have tickets for the event. It showed that all democrats were welcome to the event. The line to get into the school was out to the side walk by the time I arrived. The people were friendly in line we talked because we had to wait for about an hour to get into the hall. The local politicians were getting signatures to get onto the ballot. Martin Heinrich's people were there as were Michelle Grisham's people. It is nice that Democrats can get together and just fall into talking about politics in this manner. Most people treat politics like religion. They behave like both subjects are forbidden areas to be talked about in public. Is it any wonder why both areas are losing supporters over the past few years?

After I got into the hall I found a place on the floor where I had every hope to see Senator Clinton from and waited for her to show. Senator Clinton arrived around 8:45 pm. Her plane had experienced mechanical problems and was delayed. When she started her speech one of the people who had been waiting fainted, Senator Clinton and her daughter both showed concern for the individual. They ask for the medics and passed water to the person. After the person was taking away for treatment, Senator Clinton apologized for the long wait and explained why she had been late to the event. The crowd was very supportive and understanding. There is always someone in the crowd that dose not understand that it will be a packed place and you will not have room to move around in during the event. People who have problems with this either physical or emotional should think twice before going to this type of event. I know everyone would want to see the candidate in person but some people are just not meant to attend such crowded events. These types of people can show signs of strange or angry behavior for no reason at all. At any rate the medics were able to take care of the person who fainted and no one in the crowd upset anyone that was having an emotional responce to the crowd.

Senator Clinton stated her speech

Senator Clinton talked about Health Care for all. She asked if the US House and US Senate were taking advantage of socialized medicine. She also talked about the profits that oil companies are reporting now and how unfair it is that the general public can not afford gas while the oil companies are reporting record profits. She promised to change that if elected to the oval office. She spoke about education and how hard it has become for parents to send their children to college. She pointed out the programs that she had used to get through law school and how those programs needed support and help to be able to provide education to future generations. She spoke about the environment and how she would bring people from all the developed countries together to work on a plan to help stop global warming. She spoke about using renewable energy sources and how our state could help provide that type of energy for the country. I must admit that I could not disagree with any plans she had for our country. If elected I think that she would make a good president. Let's also hope that she has learned a thing or two from her husband over the years.

Senator Obama visit to Albuquerque, New Mexico

Senator Obama came to Albuquerque on Friday. His event opened at 10:30 and started at 1:15 during the day. I am a working mother and could not take the time off to see him. I wish that he had been able to hold his event so that working women could have been able to see him. I hear that he is doing well in the polls. I guest that he saw the people he wanted to see during his visit to Albuquerque. All I know for sure is that I could not be one of them.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

The other evening I went over to my friend’s, Bruce's, place. Someone at work had given me a funny political button. Bruce collects political buttons so I wanted to give him the button. While I was there he wanted me to watch a program on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Bruce is one of my friends who is on the far left side of liberal. If you are on the far left side of liberal you should never miss a chance to watch Keith Olbermann. There are not words to describe his news cast. It is must see TV for any true liberal. I must say that I found it very funny.

Senator Clinton in Albuquerque this evening

I plan on going to see Senator Hillary Clinton this evening. She will be speaking at the Highland High School here in Albuquerque. I find it very helpful to hear the candidates in person. I can better understand where their passions for the issues are placed. Senator Clinton must understand how hard it is for working woman to take time during the work week to go see political candidates. I am glad that I will get this opportunity to see her in person. I wish that I could have had the same opportunity to see Senator Obama.