Higher Education Administration Lobbies to Make Cuts to Classrooms First

As Cabinet Secretary of Higher Education Viola E. Florez put it, “Clearly, New Mexico colleges and universities are willing to step up to the plate once again and do everything possible to assist with the immediate budget challenges we face this year. The only request made by the Cabinet secretary and the college and university presidents was to have the flexibility to make the cuts within their own institutional budgets if this occurred.” In other words don’t cut huge over priced administrative salaries but give them the freedom to cut from the lower paid workers that work directly with the students and the classrooms first.

The president of CNM has clearly stated that if cuts to salaries are made that she will make them to low income workers and that she does not care how that affects them directly. She like other college presidents will not allow cuts to top administration because that would affect their own salaries and standard of living. Never mind that people earning over two hundred thousand dollars a year can more easily afford salaries cuts.

The top administration of higher education in this state has made it clear that our children are the lowest on their list of priorities. Why protect the classrooms if it would mean that their pay would have to be decreased to something less than the top 5% in the nation. We all know that there are far too many vice presidents for our colleges and universities and that their salaries do not come close to matching the salaries of other business leaders in this state. The cost of living in this state makes college and universities presidents and their vice presidents very rich people who will harm anyone to protect their own standard of living even if that includes the state's future workforce.

Any smart business executive understands that if you cut too deeply into the frontline workforce then you destroy the company’s ability to product future profits. Top educational administration in this state have taken on the views of Wall Street executives where their own profit is put before the well being of the educational system for which they work in this state. How far is the voting public willing to allow this to go before demands are made to stop the harm done to the educational system and the children of this state who are its future workforce?

Front line workers are already facing paying in another .5% of their low income to their retirement fund which will only harm the state’s economy since that money would be spent by the workers earning above $20,000 but below $25,000 for daily needs. Yet nothing was done to protect those lower middle class workers from further harm in this round of budget cuts to colleges and universities.

Note to readers: This issue has nothing to do with the court system so since it is such an important issue that will be decided within the next few weeks it should be comment on before the New Year.

Christmas Holiday and Politics

With the Christmas holiday season and the end of the year upon us we should all be looking forward to the next two years. In 2012 President Obama will be running once more and many democrats in the house and the senate will also be running for reelection.

Now is the time to define what we expect from our party leadership as Mr. Gonzales runs to be reelected to lead our party into those elections. We want it made clear that education should be about our children and not top educational administration. We would even take help from the republicans if we could just put an end to outrages salaries of these people while local colleges cut programs and support services to the students. When colleges and universities demand higher tuitions all the while making deals with coaches that they know they cannot afford. Paying school presidents outrages salaries while cutting the pay of the people who work directly with the students to ensure their success.

Now the ERB wants to raise the amount paid by people making less then $25,000 a year but more then $20,000 a year. These employees are forced to pay into a plan that may or may not pay them back when it comes time for them to retire. These are the working poor who struggle daily to keep a roof over the heads of their families, food on their tables and a car running to get their own children to school and home. Where is the Christmas spirit from the people running this board. The board was forced by an outraged set of teachers to hear from them on the issue of increasing their retirement age by 10 years. Most employees who have worked for 10 years would be back to square one if that retirement age was increased by 10 years but all the board cares about is paying their own legal fees for the mismanagement of employees retirement funds. Clearly State Senator Tim Keller is right when he says that reform is badly needed when it comes to that board and how it handles retirement investments.

Mr. Gonzales should be reminded that it is not all about making people vote for the wrong candidates but instead holding government accountable for protecting the voting public and its employees that provide valuable services. Our party will only take power if the voting public strongly believes in its goals, its missions and the candidates who represent those goals/missions.

Our party should be about leading our state into a position where people have a quality education, better pay along with job security. We need to produce jobs for all New Mexicans rather then producing jobs that will advance just one party or a small elite group of people who are well connected. The time has come to define what values matter most to all New Mexicans and not just a few fringe groups.

We need to support a strong court system to provide justice to all in order to protect honest hard working families. We need support services for the courts that work so that offenders do not repeat their past mistakes and harm innocent people. We need a District Attorney’s office which does not need to delay cases because of lack of funding. Bake sales are not the answer to the financial shortcomings for the courts and their related government jobs that form the whole state justice systems. Neither is raising court fees so that only the financially well off criminals can afford to bond out of jail.

We need to protect the environment from large corporations who could care less about the health of our children and the quality of our water. We need strict laws that protect our environment but that present a fair and straight forward method for companies to follow allowing them to make sound business decisions based on firm predictable laws that clearly spell out the consequences of violating those laws.

All of these goals will take money and tax dollars but in order to achieve this jobs from all sectors will be required that result in employees being able to pay taxes. It will need higher wage earners to pay their fair percentage share of taxes on their whole gross pay so as to benefit the community they live and work in while providing services to their families and their neighbors.

Personal Note: This is my last posting for the year because tomorrow I start an internship that will not allow me to speak out publicly on politics. I will finish the first part of it by the end of the year and be able to post at the start of the New Year. So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my readers.

A Rose by Any Other Name

Second District Court Judge Alan Malott is most likely not even interested in what anyone wants to call themselves in this county but it is the duty of a officer of the court system to place limits on how one individual can twist a system designed to help people to provoke specific individuals in this state. The local press does have the right to refuse to print offense language and pictures within its pages. In this case freedom of speech comes into conflict with freedom of the press both of which are major constitutional issues.

If the individual in questions wants to start their own newspaper, create a website or just stand out on the corner in a public place and scream such language there is little to stop them but because they are trying to force their poor language on to a company run by another individual they cross the line of free enterprise and the freedom of the press. No court should be allowed to force a newspaper in this country to print something that would offend their readers. Not that many people read those dead tree newspapers in this state any longer.

As for denying the name change request if it is linked to the ability to publish the name change request then there is a clear and present problem with the law because Bernalillo County has a very limited number of newspapers due to the decline in publishing companies. The local newspaper should not be the factor that determines where or not a name is acceptable. It is clear in the language of the law that if one county does not have a newspaper then the nearest one could be used so why not also a website. Clearly the law in this case has not been corrected as to reflex the current issues of limited sources of hard copy publishing. In a larger city with more papers there should be at least one that would be willing to publish offense material such as this individual’s desired name. Perhaps the state legislature should consider changing the law to say either a newspaper or a website that reaches individuals within the county.

This Tree is Bare!

Believe it Only When I See It

Over the holiday weekend my brother, who is a devoted republican, asked me if I believed that our new governor would reduce the salaries of educational administration in order to balance the budget without cutting support staff or teachers. I told him that I would believe it when and if I see it.

I am sure that the lobbyists have already been whispering in her ear about how we are not needed to help what one lobbyist called the “little brown children.” I found myself pointing a finger in his fat drunk face as I told him off for that remark. He may not use those exact words but the result lobbyists desire are just the same no matter what the language they might use to convince our elected representatives that our children in all their many colors don’t deserve the best education that we can afford in this state.

Cutting from the classroom like some legislatures along with the ERB board will only make us 50th in the country when it comes to education. Giving School Presidents big shiny costly toys and then explaining them away as needed is not the type of reports that we need to hear from the local press. No one should be getting new trucks or large new buildings at a time when we cannot afford to pay the salaries of current teachers and support staff who work in those glass castles. More vice presidents and administrators getting $100,000 salaries and calling it reorganizing is nothing more then lies sugar coated as reform. Rather then cutting programs offered to students maybe cuts should go through the top educational administration level in all of our school systems.

I had cancer and had to take eight months off without pay as I was treated so why should a president of our largest university be treated any different? It is not that I don’t feel for him as a person. I just think that family medical leave should be paid for all or for no one at all because that is only the fair way to provide that type of benefit.

Maybe educational administration in this state should take the Bill Gates pledge and start giving money back to the needy in this state. They can start by firing all their high paid lobbyists and doing the job themselves to start with so that I don’t get the chance in the future to point my finger in anyone else’s face. Must admit that it felt good.

Why Changes to ERB are so Upsetting to Educators and Educational Staff

It was pointed out in the Albuquerque Journal today that not everyone has a retirement fund like the one educators and educational staff have in this state. This is true but what they forgot to say was that this is in return for a lower pay while working in the field. We all know that people working in the field of education take a pay cut from the very beginning and don’t earn the same salary or wages for their degrees that some would in the industry they are trained in.

I for one would be making a lot more money working as an accountant but instead I help train new accountants because our state very much needs honest hardworking people in that field of study. So why dose State Senator John A. Smith and State Senator Tim Jennings so much care for these changes in educational retirement funding? Maybe because they have no vested interest in providing our state with well educated employees and they have no vested interest in the public education system in this state. Perhaps they want our state to be 50th in the nation when it comes to education.

They won’t tell voters that this decision which they so whole heartily support is encouraging the most experienced instructors in our educational system to retire now so as not to loss out on their retirement benefits. After all would you want to be forced to retire at a later age knowing that you will not live long enough to collect any of the money you were forced to put into a retire fund? Educational employees don’t get to say no when it come to paying into their retirement fund even if it forces them to not be able to pay daily bills. How many New Mexicans earning far more each year decide not to have a retirement fund simply because they feel they cannot afford it?

Tell an educational employee who is a single mother making $22,000 a year that she will have to pay more into her retirement fund when she is having problems keeping a working car and putting food on the table for her own child. Tell her that some rich old white fat man in Santa Fe thinks that she is earning too much when she is already facing cuts to her pay from the budget and now even though there is not a current threat to the fund she will be forced to pay more to a retirement fund which is spending the money on outrages uncontrolled lawyer feeds for people who are being investigated for wrong doing. For double dippers who have already retired and are still allowed to work while not paying into the fund. For school presidents who make hundred of thousands of dollars each year just to tell their employees that they might not have a job in the near future.

How many educational employees who are too young to retire will be forced to move back into the industry to make ends met taking those jobs from less educated, less experience individuals while failing to properly educate our children for the future? Clearly fat old white men in Santa Fe don’t care about our state or our children but only about who buys their drinks at the country club and the local bars. Maybe the time is coming soon to replace those individuals in Santa Fe with people who care about our children and our states working poor.

Balderas Victory Party at the Albuquerque Country Club

Democratic State Auditor Hector Balderas has come a long way from his poor beginnings in Wagon Mount, New Mexico to a victory party at the Albuquerque Country Club last evening which starts his second term in that state position. Unlike some Balderas has not forgotten the people who first got him to his position. He does not care about party connections or who has given him the most money. His job is to investigate corruption within our state government. His job is to stop financial waste of taxpayer’s dollars. Yet over the past four years when every other department was raking in huge sums of money his division was carefully overlooked when it came to funding.

The new governor could go a long way toward keeping her promise of honest open government and cleaning out Santa Fe by financing the state auditor’s office so they could afford to investigate more and work toward developing cases that would clean out government waste and corruption.

One of the first things that our new female governor will need is an honest accounting of exactly where the money in our state is going and where the waste is so that “the fat” can be cut before Santa Fe with all of its overpaid power drunken lobbyists are once more allowed to spin the heads of state representatives at the experience of our children’s future.

Already government leaders in Santa Fe are talking about cutting into teacher’s pay and retirement funding without even looking at the top heavy educational administration which has been a justifiable target of our hard working state auditor for the last four years.

How can the governor and state representatives possibly cut government waste when one of the very organizations designed to investigate such waste is so poorly funded? It would appear that the main weakness in this state is funding enforcement agencies that could prevent waste and corruption at the state government level. Stricter rules should govern the amount of influence lobbyists are able to have over state representatives in Santa Fe. Our state halls of government should not be echo chambers for what overpaid lobbyists whisper into elected official’s ears. If these problems are not dealt with by our new governor then the results can only be more waste of taxpayer’s dollars and even more corruption at a time when the voter public can least afford it.

New Mexico Democratic Congressmen to Honor Veterans Today

Thursday, November 11, 2010 – Veterans Day

Congressman Ben Ray Luján will be visiting local veterans in Angel Fire to celebrate Veterans Day and to speak about their service and the importance of honoring our veterans.

What: Angel Fire Veterans’ Day Celebration
Where: Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial State Park, 35 Country Club Rd., Angel Fire, NM
When: November 11, 11:00am-12:00pm

Congressman Martin Heinrich will give remarks at the Veterans Day ceremonies at New Mexico Veterans Park.

When: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Where: New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, 1100 Louisiana NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110

Then Congressman Martin Heinrich will give remarks honoring our nation’s veterans at the Sandoval County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

When: 1 to 2 p.m.
Where: Sandoval County Courthouse, 711 South Camino Del Pueblo, Bernalillo, NM 87004

Is Civilized Culture a Liberal Domain only?

We all know that the finer things in life make for a more refined culture to live in which in turn makes it a safer place to live so the question is do liberals own those values or is it something that can be owned by both parties. One has to wonder that when our first female governor takes office will things change for our state.

Will Susana reach out to the more refined corporate individuals in this state in order to develop an active cultural community? Will she see the need for the arts in our communities and in our schools? Most women have more respect for the more refined activities in life and less so for major sports.

The arts such as music and theater are well known to smooth some of the rough edges off of a society and make them more caring for other individuals. I have to admit that one of the things I liked most about Mayor Marty Chavez was his respect for the arts in this city. He worked hard to bring that experience to all levels of society in our fair city. He knew the value of teaching a respect for the arts to our children. He worked hard to promote the arts by providing free events to our families and our children.

Our current mayor has done nothing to encourage the arts over the past few months. He has failed to think outside of the box when it comes to ways to encourage the arts in our city. He does not promote cultural events or encourage large businesses to spent time or money on these projects. Why not develop a corporate/school partnership that would support and promote the arts in our high schools.

We saw large corporations spend millions of dollars to attempt to buy the races here in New Mexico so why not spend some of that kind of money to provide up-to-day and state-of-the-arts performing arts centers for our schools, our city and our county. This would be a great place for corporations to place their name on cultural centers for the performing arts. This would be a great way for corporations to give back to the communities and the people who buy their products.

Why is our current mayor so ill refined and so rough around the edges? What will Susana bring to that mix? Are the Arts truly a liberal domain only in this state?

It’s the Economy Stupid

I have to admit to being dumbfounded by all that I hear from the local media when it comes to their trying to figure out why some democratic candidates in this state won election this year while others lost badly when they started out so strong. You hear that it is the wave of anger from conservative parts of the Republican Party. Yet when we look at election results we see candidates on both sides who pulled votes from the other party. They blame it on Governor Richardson because his administration made the words pay-to-play a house hold word yet he was never convicted of any wrong doing during his time in office. Governor Richardson was also out of the state for most of the past two years while the lieutenant governor ran state government.

So if not those reasons then why would one elected official win while another loss this year. Voters are not so simple when it comes to how they vote. An elected official who fails to understand that fact will almost always loss. Voters look for people who represent their major issues. Someone who can show support for the middle class and the working poor especially when times are hard. They want someone who is willing to take responsibility for past votes and stands on issues. Someone who can voice the reasons in a intelligent understandable manner for why they voted for an issue or why they stood against any issue without becoming angry for being ask their reasoning. Voters want to feel that an elected official is listening to them and not defending the people or problems that they are trying to convey.

Candidates need to find ways to explain to the voters what they can and cannot do for them without making them feel like their issues don’t matter. The last thing voters want to hear is that democratic officials who failed to get elected this year learned nothing from their defeat and that they do not yet understand what issues and abilities they should work on in the future.

The Democratic Party has a lot of good people who care about the voters and want to make the economy better for all New Mexicans no matter what their sex, age, or race. The voters will be carefully watching all elected officials over the next two years to see how they put into practice their campaign promises. I hope that no matter which party they represent that they will work for the good of all New Mexicans in this state.

One reframe I head lately from a tutor who was told by their college president that a 5% cut was coming this year is; “Oh Susana don’t you cry for me, just help me keep my job so I can continue to support the students.” It will be interesting to see the effect of those president’s lobbying on their own behalf while justifying why they want to cut student support. If those presidents want to see bonds pass in the future then they should aim those moneys at supporting students and not at enlarging their current administration yet again .

Election Results

This is a blood bath tonight as everything goes red in this state

Unofficial Results:

Governor:

DIANE D. DENISH and 26.0%
BRIAN S. COLON

SUSANA MARTINEZ and 73.5
JOHN A. SANCHEZ

Early numbers not looking good but still lots to come tonight.

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan will return to Washington for us. :-) Very happy for him and his family.

Congressman Martin Heinrich will return to Washington for us. :-) Thrilled and very happy for him and his family.

Election Day--It is the voting public’s turn to decide!

The people I support this year are:

Congressman Martin Heinrich

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan

We could not ask for better representatives in Washington.

State Auditor Hector Balderas

State Attorney General Gary King

These men keep our state honest and protect our families from crime.

State Representative Al Park

State Representative Sheryl Williams Stapleton

State Representative Benjamin H. Rodefer

Cornelia Lange

These individuals have shown that they will put our families first in the state legislature.

Judges:

State Court of Appeals Rob Robles

Probate Judge Willow Misty Parks

And the Metro Judges running for retention. Check out the link for who to vote for this year. http://www.nmjpec.org/court

We have some good judges so let’s keep them.
State Constitutional changes:

Not. 2 or 5 the rest are good

http://www.sos.state.nm.us/pdf/NMVotersGuide.pdf

Governor’s Race: Skip it! No Democrat Worth Voting For in that Race!

A Female New Mexican’s Political Point Of View blog removed from Party links

Well it did not take long for the Leaders of the Democratic Party of New Mexico to remove my blog from their listen of bloggers. I must now believe that if you do not agree with them then you are faced with censorship by the State Democratic Party. Thanks Mr. Gonzales! I will remember this in the future. It looks like they do not respect our constitution in this state when it comes to freedom of speech. That is ok since I have no respect for them any longer.

Then again they keep telling the voting public that they are winning when in fact the polls have Denish/Colon 10% behind the republican candidate because they do not want to hear what voters in this state are saying. All they care about are the rich people who have donated to their campaign.

I can now see why there are so many independents in this state. Sad that my own party is so out of touch with the voting public in this state. Funny but their tactics will not work this election year. Got to say that I have never been very good at lying to the voting public for anyone. Dear god what kind of people have taken over control of our state party?

Change? That Benefits the Voting Public

It never ceases to amaze me that politicians don’t understand that what the voting public wants is not just change but ‘”Change” on Main Street that makes their lives better off. Over the past two years my life like most other voters in this state has only become that much more difficult. The already rich overpaid president of my college moved more money from front-line worker’s wages such as myself into her own paycheck. This is not life getting better; not when I have to fear something breaking or needing to see a doctor because of the reduction in my income. What I don’t want to hear is Denish/Colon will stand up for their rich friends against single mothers just because they think those people will give them more money and help them win a political race. How does that help those of us struggling everyday to make ends met?

What I see in ads where Denish promises to stand up for families just has not happened over the past two years where she has spent more time in the governor's chair then Bill Richardson. We know that her promises are empty and untrue, and that she will never fulfill them if she takes office. What we do know is that she will fight for more money for education which will just get funneled into top administration’s salaries while we watch our jobs go away and where students continue to fail because of a lack of support. Just yesterday I hear that our two year college wants to reduce its summer terms to eight weeks so that they can save more money by cutting front-line workers wages to add yet more money to the administration. Because of behaviors like this more teachers are retiring or going out to work in the public industry. How does this make our higher educational system better? How can this possible benefit our struggling students?

Change should be for the good where students and frontline workers in the field of education benefit from that change. I want to see my income returned to the level it was just two short years ago. I want to see where my students needs come before those of top educational administration. I want to see a return of jobs in this state that will put people back to work so that they do not fear having to look for a job after they finish school. I want to see “Change” that improves the lives of New Mexicans who need it the most. What voters are looking for is people who want change that will improve the lives of themselves and their families. Why is that so hard to understand? The voting public wants “Change that improve the lives of the voting public on Main Street and not the rich.”

Debate: Congressman Heinrich verse Mr. Barela

Jon Barela needs to take ownership of the failures of the federal republican representatives of the past which he openly supported. He is not one to speak about adult behavior. Congressman Martin Heinrich has fought hard over the past two years to bring federal dollars to New Mexico and without his support our local economy would be in far worse shape at this point. He has listened and actively worked to keep the voting public in the loop when it comes to the issues he voted for in Washington with programs like “a congressman on your corner.”

Congressman Heinrich works hard to fix the problems that veterans faced because of a past republican representative that would not support our troops once they got home. I for one would not want to see our veterans benefits cut because of a man who does not care about them.

As for our air force base Congressman Martin Heinrich has worked hard to bring new missions and more green missions to our base that will ensure that we keep Kirtland Airforce base active, open and thriving in the future. Barela would only take us back to the past which would ensure that the next round of base cuts would surely close Kirtland base.

As for heathcare, Barela would again take us back to the problems of the past where insurance corporations make huge profits and large numbers of New Mexican don’t have insurance for their families. Congressman Heinrich wants to protect families and he wants to put people not HMO’s in charge of their healthcare. Mr. Barela would throw New Mexicans on the train track without health insurance just to pander to large healthcare corporations.

Congressman Martin Heinrich will close his campaign with positive commercials. Barela like most republicans will attack Congressman Martin Heinrich to the very last. Mr. Barela only fears that he has nothing to say that will make the voters want to vote for him. It is true that Barela is a lobbyist and he needs to honestly admit that and accept the fact that the voting public does not want a corporate lobbyist pretending to represent us while he makes backroom deals with large corporations.

Congressman Martin Heinrich is working hard in Washington to secure out borders and to give immigrates that are honest a fair chance at becoming Americans. Barela would put larger and more weapons in the hands of border patrol and make it open season on immigrate families. Barela would also give a guest worker program that would take jobs from unemployed New Mexicans.

The choice in this race is clear Congressman Martin Heinrich needs to be sent back to Washington D.C in order to protect the interest of New Mexican families. We need a congressman in our corner and not a corporate lobbyist.

Where Am I Going And Why Am I in This Hand Basket!?

This is the questions asked by the voting public as we watch the hate filled commercials being broadcast every minute of every day for the next week. Voters are sick of all the out and out lies being told. For example how many people know that TARP was signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush? This is true but not to be heard on commercials aired by out-of-control corporations that are trying their very best to buy their way back into power in our federal government. Thanks to a decision made by our Conservative U.S. Supreme Court that treats corporations as if they were real people with all of the same constitutional rights of a human being.

I can’t honestly say that the democratic candidate running for governor in this state is any better since she is close friends with educational administration. She has run her own share of hate filled bigoted commercials that misrepresent the stand of her opponent. She had stood by over the past eight years, watched and yes even encouraged her personal friends to drain cash from the classrooms to put in their own over inflated salaries. She is married to a lobbyist who has profited from deals made while she was in office. Husbands and wives of political leaders should not be allowed to lobby while their spouse is in office. If they want to work then they should spend their time working to support not-for-profit groups since it is clear that a conflict of interest can easily occur.

Any registered Corporate Lobbyists should be restricted from running for at least 10 years after they stop lobbying before being allowed to run for a federal position so that they cannot influence our national policies that directly affect the voting public in this country. The funding for commercials should be made public so that we know who is giving financial assistance for any issue so as to understand their reasoning for that support. You have to wonder when a corporation pays big dollars what the benefit will be for them since they don’t tend to do much out of the kindness of their hearts when it comes to national policies.

I am absolutely sure that the voting public will be only too glad when this election cycle is over and done with in this state. Win, lose or draw the only people sad to see it over with is the people selling all of those perverse commercial ads. Let all hope and pray that whoever is elected will do everything they can to keep the voting public out of that hand basket.

20K Spent on K-12 Educational Administration

Parents are looking at having their children in larger classrooms and teachers are looking at pink slips but Diane Denish’s good friend Winston Brooks is taking his vacation in Tampa Florida on the taxpayer's dime. Just one more example of a system where their values are all wrong.

Top heavy educational administration in this state has a “me” first attitude which will only get worst if Diane Denish is elected governor. Word is that tutoring will go away at the two year colleges if she is elected governor so that she can ensure a raise for her dear friend Kathy Winograd at the end of 2011.

Debate: Denish verses Martinez

Angry debate may only turn off more liberal voters. When Denish and Martinez spend more time attacking each other rather then telling the voters what they want to do for our state then they turn off voters. Name calling should be below the dignity of a candidate running for our highest state office.

My mother once said that if you have nothing good to say about someone then say nothing at all. I can’t and won’t support Denish for governor so I will say nothing since I have nothing good to say about her.

Martinez is a republican but she does have some ideas that clearly come from her values as a lawyer when it comes to justice for our college students. I like her idea about forcing educational administration to cut from their ranks to support our college classrooms. Clearly the money must be used to support students and not overpaid administration. As I have said before educational administration cannot be a pathway to getting rich in this state.

Our only hope at this point should be that liberal voters turn out for our federal candidates and simply skip over voting in the governor’s race. We need people like Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan in Washington D.C. fighting for our children and New Mexico’s voting public.

Congressman Martin Heinrich-Ethics and Energy

Understanding Constitutional Amendments that are on the Ballot

If you are interested in educating yourself on constitutional amendments on the ballot here is a link that give each issue and both the pros and the cons of each issue.

http://www.sos.state.nm.us/pdf/NMVotersGuide.pdf

With the current sentiment of kick the jerks out I can not see supporting the second proposed Constitutional Amendments.

As for amendment three to the state constitution the wording could be clearer. I understand the need to do away with titles such as idiots and insane voters. Still I would not support mentally disabled persons, who could be far to easily convinced to vote when they have no ability to understand issue, being allowed to vote. I do think that judges should be able to determine if a felony offense rises to the level of doing away with a persons right to vote since some youthful mistakes can last a long time. This one issue harms mothers who made mistakes before they settled down and start a family. It also punishes them for being in a relationship with men that take advantage of them when it comes to drug related crimes. A one size fits all solution is more harmful then helpful in this instance. So while I would like to see the language on this amendment more clear the original idea behind it is not wrong.

As for amendment five I oppose it completely we already have a problem with the Appearance of impropriety in this state when it comes to political people getting jobs in this state so to lower the bar is just an unacceptable idea in the first place.

Debate: Martin Heinrich verse Jon Barela

Let’s address the elephant in the blog room first, I don’t like corporate lobbyists or anyone married to corporate lobbyists! Lobbyists spend all of their time supporting large corporations at the expense of small business owners and the voting public in this state. Intel may bring lots of jobs to New Mexico which we do value but they also pay large dollars to lobby the state and national legislatures both in Santa Fe and in Washington DC to acquire valuable water rights in this state. I find it hard to believe in the coming years someone who worked hard in Santa Fe for this corporation would have the voting public’s best interest at heart when it comes to the issue of water rights in our state. When we talk about ethics one of the major issues that always arises is the appearance of impropriety, and I can think of no better example of that then a lobbyist running for a publicly held office.

Now as for healthcare, I just spent the entire day yesterday in line with my 15 year old child just to get free dental care. I was one of 1,000 New Mexicans who cannot afford dental care for their families. My child got 5 filings and I got a far overdue cleaning which just might save my gums and teeth. Jon Barela may not support national healthcare reform but he is not faced with taking off from work all day just to stand in line with 1,000 other New Mexican families who cannot afford healthcare for their children and themselves in this congressional district. Congressman Martin Heinrich is right that the current reform is far from perfect but what we started out with two years ago is not worth going back to just to watch large HMOs reap huge profits while the New Mexico workforce goes without healthcare for themselves and their families.

As for energy and the environment both candidates had good points. We need to support our national labs when it comes to developing new technologies that will support the growth of a sound diverse energy policy in this country. We need to invest in promoting the development of many different types of energy so as not to be far too dependent on any one source of energy. The military needs sound systems so that if something did happen that they would not loss power and be unable to support the voting public. Our economy in this city depends on our Airforce base, Sandia National Labs and the revenues they deliver to our local economy. We know that both candidates will support that system.

Education is an issue, I believe neither candidate fully understands this issue to the point that I would like in a U.S. Congressman. Throwing money at the issue is clearly not the answer since it does go to all of the wrong people while our children, our teachers and our state’s workforce pay the price for a failed system. Mr. Barela is dead wrong about just handing control of that money back to the educational administration at a local level. To hand back control of money to local educational administrators would be like giving money to a drug addict and asking them to go pay the rent. We need statewide and national reforms that puts teacher and not educational administration back in control of their classrooms and how they teach our children.

Yes, I believe that teacher should be held accountable as should parents, and society in general for the education of our future workforce. I think educational administrators should know that their paychecks should come last not first when we are faced with a tight budget. Suing the state when we have a losing coach who earns $750,000 a year while programs fail from lack of funding is just one example of a failed values system in this state’s educational administration. I am at this point not so sure that firing all educational administration in this state and starting over again with administrators who put our children’s education first and hold teachers accountable for individual children’s educational progress would be such a bad decision. If administrators cannot get their act together and put our children‘s needs before their own like most well-trained teachers who sacrifice a high paid industry paycheck just to educate our children every day of their lives do then what are we paying administrators for in the first place? Working in the educational system as a administrator should not be a pathway to getting rich at the expense of our children and their future or for that matter state taxpayers.

I am supporting Congressman Martin Heinrich for congressional district one because the other candidate is just far to unsuited for the job and would not do a better job if elected. We need someone in Washington who will work for the best interest of our children, the voting public and not a corporation that he spent time lobbying for in the private sector. We don’t need a congressman who would suck up to yet another large corporate interest just to land a new highly paid lobbying position in the future at the expense of New Mexican families.

Debate: Congressman Ben Lujan verses Tom Mullins

In a very civil debate held last evening by the local public broadcasting station candidates for the northern congressional district debated the major issues facing both our country and our state. Topics covered were: No child left behind, taxes, the environment, and healthcare.

When it came to “No Child Left Behind” both candidates agree that the current system of teaching to the test had resulted in total failure. Congressman Lujan pointed out that teaching to the test had caused damaged to our educational system nationally. Mullins who had work with a private school also pointed out that when tried by a privately run school that it was an unworkable test. Congressman Lujan was quick to stand up for affordable public education for all of our children and would not back down on the issue. Mullins supported private schools that would only end up increasing the amount of Educational administration and therefore his policy would take money from the classroom which could only harm middle class children and their hope to better this country in the future.

Taxes was a problem revisited by three questions on the issue. Mullins is supporting an old idea first studied by the Bush Administration. The system would create a flat tax for all. As Congressman Lujan pointed out a number of times that this approach would raise taxes for the middle class by from as mush as 23% to close to 50% while reducing taxes for the very rich which Mullins was quick to defend. Mullins was very supportive of that upper class group and would be a protector of the very rich by supporting pure capitalism at the cost of raising the middle class taxes.

When it comes to the environment the issue of energy came up. Mullins is a denier of changes caused by pollution and a strong supporter of the oil companies. He would reduce or do away with laws that protect the environment which would result in harm to our children’s health. He would support laws that would allow large foreign oil companies to pollute our ground water in this state. Congressman Lujan is approaching this issue with common senses. He wants to use our national labs to promote new technologies that could allow us to use many different types of national energy resources safely in this state and around the country. Congressman Lujan’s approach has increased the number of jobs at our national labs which is good for the state economy. Congressman Lujan is working to make New Mexico a new center of clean green energy. Mullins was right when he pointed out that our state’s economy is based on the permanent fund which is provide by revenues supplied by the oil companies. Until our state finds a new source of revenues any harm to the oil companies will result in loss revenues that support things like education, law enforcement, and health care in this state. Clearly our next governor needs to work out a way to tax new energy sources so that our state does not go bankrupt.

Last was healthcare reform. Mullins would roll back healthcare reform taking away any hope that the middle class would have in being able to afford healthcare insurance for their families. We all know that the current bill is by no means perfect and does need changes but a step back to the past that would allow large profits for the healthcare companies would only be harmful at this point in time. Congressman Lujan is working hard to make sure that his district is protected in the process of reform. He made sure to stand up for rural areas by getting funding for technologies for those small hospitals and healthcare centers.

All in all I would say that Congressman Lujan clearly showed that he is a skilled congressman for our state and a strong defender of the voting public. So while there were no single got you moment in last evening’s debate Congressman Lujan was the winner by a strong measure of common sense approaches to issue facing our state and our nation.

Diversity in New Mexico’s Politics

I am a handicapped single mother and I have experienced hate because of my handicap as of late. Just last term a former supervisor of mine called me lazy because I cannot spend long periods of time on my feet. The past supervisor was also displaying stalking behaviors which made me very fearful for my safety at work. I am not able to get up and down many times during the workday without it resulting in great amounts of pain because of my hip replacement and a bad back that resulted from my limping for the past 20 years. I was told by doctors at the young age of 29 that I had bone cancer. I am now faced with dealing with a school that throws up every form of paperwork that they can find to refuse accommodations. It has not been easy for me lately when it comes to work since a new manager took my desk away and has told me to work with what I got which is less then other employees at my college.

I am taking a law class this term that deals with the issue of diversity and ethics. The law is based on what we call professional responsibility which states that even if you do have biases that you have a duty to never show those biases while dealing with the general public at work. Work being the court system. Our top state candidates are lawyers so I would think that they understand these ethics and professional responsibilities.

You don’t spend much time thinking about your own biases until you take a class like this one. I was raised back East in West Virginia by Irish American parents. They taught me to hate the English as a people because of what we call the troubles in Ireland. Because of that I know to guard against that bias. Growing up in the Old South I also know to guard against the bias of how we treat African Americans. What I did not think to guard against is a bias pickup in the many years I have lived in New Mexico. Like most New Mexicans I over many years have learned not to trust people from other states like Texas. Ok, mostly Texas although Arizona is coming in as a close second nowadays. Politically Texas is considered a very conservative state but even I know that there are some democrats in Texas. Bias Alert!

When I first meet Brian Colon the candidate running for lieutenant governor one of the things I most loved about him was his ability to accept people from other states like myself. I was told by him that he grew up in Belen so I naturally assumed that he was born in New Mexico. Never did I think for one minute that he was born in New York. Being at Brian’s home during social events over the years I saw people of all races, national origins, social backgrounds, economic backgrounds, disabilities, and even sexual originations. Brian often spoke about including people from all 33 counties in the state in our political party which I found to be a wonderful idea of fair and balanced justice for all democrats in this state. I had the idea that diversity and ethics were core values of his.

To my great disappointment I have lately seen a man who only wants to win this race at all cost. He refused to help me when I ask him to help standup against my work because of my disability. He attacked Susana Martinez for being born in Texas. My only question is where is the man who welcomes people of diversity into his home over the last few years. Why is he turning his back on the values that he has displayed over the years I have known him? What kind of person calls their opponent a hateful name in ads because of the state where they were born. Where is all of this anger and hate speech coming from? Can this all result for the hateful influence of Diane Denish and their close personal friend Katy Winograd? It does make me sad to see all of this hate coming from our candidates for state offices. How can we begin to trust these candidates in the future? Where has my friend gone who loved ethics and diversity?

Stop Whining! State Candidates Start Listening and Caring!

Until democratic candidates in this state stop talking at the voters and start listening to what they are saying then they will loss the November election. Until state democratic candidates stop siding with the top paid individuals in this state and start caring about issues faced by low paid and middle class voters then they will loss. We need someone who will truly fight for our issues in this state.

Saying I am listening to you but not wanting to hear what is being said or telling us that they are your friends is a fast way to loss an election in this state. Telling someone that your issue is not important and that you are trying to win an election is also a fast way to loss an election.

State democratic candidates are coming off as callous, uncaring and insensitive to voters core issues. Liberals and progressives will stop attacking when their voices are being heard and their issues are cared about in this state. If we want someone in office that does not care about our issues then we will let a bloody republican win the race in November. After all why vote for the lesser evil when we can let the greater evil win this election.

The problem is some of the republican candidates are listen and caring more then our own candidates. So maybe it is time to let them win and in four years we can lead a revolt with real progressive candidates that do care about our issues. Candidates that are willing to stand up to the rich powerful overpaid in this state and do what is right for the voting public.

So maybe it is time for voters to stop “whining” and let our silences speak volumes about the way we honestly feel about this election year with all of its hateful attack ads.

Retired Second District Court Judges to Hear Probation Violation Cases

Former Bernalillo County Sheriff Candidate and Public Communications Officer for the District Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque Pat Davis thinks it is an “awesome idea.” Retired Judges Woody Smith, Diane Dal Santo and Michael Martinez will be hearing probation violation cases so as to speed up the process. The end result will be faster justice for all parties concerned and fewer inmates clogging up the county jail system.

The State Supreme Court lead by Chief Justice Charles Daniels working with both the county and some very gifted Second District Court judges have come up with a cost effective method to deal with a number of related problems in Bernalillo County which by the way is one of the largest court districts in the state. The county will be picking up the price tag for these part-time retired judges since they have more money then the state due to careful financial planning and a more stable revenue tax base.

Credit for this plan should be shared by all three entities for their ability to effectively work together to come up with innovative solutions to resolve issues facing our cash strapped county court system and our over populated county jail system.

The Second District Court system was just forced to layoff 11 employees to increase the number of workers in the clerk’s office in order to alleviate massively unacceptability long lines to file legal documents. The issue of how best to deal with dwindling financial resources for the court system have weighted heavily on the minds of the court’s administrative staff and judges as they work to continue to met their constitutional duties and responsibilities to the public in Bernalillo County.

Now if only the city government could learn to work as effectively with the state government when it comes to the DNA labs. But then again what are we to expect from a republican lead city government. You have to wonder if the State Supreme Court members could work their magic on that problem as well? Probability not within their jurisdiction.

The Green Tea Party

We need to stir the hearts and souls of our party to revolt in the say way that the Republican Party is doing right now. We need to create a “Green Tea Party Movement” within our own party. A party that cares more about people then money. Candidates that are great rather then middle of the road can’t be told from a republican when you speak to them about major issues. Candidates who have public service at the heart of their soul and refuse to win by being bought out by rich overpaid administrators, lobbyists or corporations.

Our party needs more candidates that care about the common man and woman in this state and that is only too willing to put them before their own personal gains. Candidates that value green jobs so that we can put New Mexicans back to work and rise the tax base in this state while protecting the environment for our child and our grandchildren. Candidates who will fight to put every cent in the classrooms and not just hand it over to their high paid good friends in the educational administrations around the state.

Green tea as pointed out by one of my close friends is suppose to be healthy for people but it does not have to taste good for those candidates who would put their own personal goals before the voting public.

We need elected officials who do not waste tax payer’s dollars on issue and corporations that simply don’t need the money. Corporations who will simply ship their tax dollars out of state in a time of difficult economic environment. We need elected officials who understand how to create jobs in this state; and candidates who will value small business owners who put their heart and soul into building their businesses that put people back to work in our state.

The Green Tea Party should be made up of voters with true blue hearts who know and respect the core values of the Democratic Party. We don’t want members of any hate group or people who would attack women or children because of their legal status. We also want candidates who will value our troops overseas and who will respect the individuals who work hard everyday at our national labs to create future technologies that will keep us from future wars. We need federal programs that will put people back to work rebuilding our country infrastructure so that our country can rebuild out of the ashes of the current republican caused economic recession.

The Green Tea Party should back candidates in the federal government who demand reform on a national level when it comes to immigration reform. Candidates who demand healthcare for all Americans at a affordable price tag. Candidates who fight to balance the budget on the shoulders of the riches Americans and not the poorest ones. It is truly Un-American to fight tax increases for the rich while making poor women and child paid the price for rich Americans tax relief.

The time for a democratic grassroots revolt has come and if we fail to see the need for it then we fail to protect the weakest members of our society and that truly makes us an uncivilized society as so many of our state level candidates are at present.

The Grace of Charity and the Benefit of Birth Rights

I always love it when rich and powerful new money individuals talk about sacrifice from the middle class and low income individuals. New money people are those who started their life as poor children of families with disabilities or dirt poor single parents who had no education or no hope of a better life. These children were taught to hate people of lower social classes above anyone else and were taught to turn their backs on family and friends to achieve higher levels of social class by means of money. They have no problem taking money from dirt poor families if it will make them more richer and more powerful. It is a win at all cost mentality.

Rich children and some middle class children on the other hand are taught from birth to lend a helping hand to individuals of all social classes. As privileged Americans they are taught to close the divide between the haves and the have not. It is their social and moral duty to sacrifice their own well being for that of lower social classes.

Now this comes through when people enter political life because children of old money still feel that need to sacrifice their own personal goals to help people in need. This is truly exampled by people like U.S. Senator Tom Udall who was raised in a well off family who taught public service above personal goals. The same can be said of Congressman Martin Heinrich who feels the need to stand up for this state no matter which side the issue falls on politically. These men have the values of public service at heart above all else. They put the needs of the have not’s before the needs of the haves. They understand that to be well off means to be asked to sacrifice for their country.

On the other side of that spectrum are the new money rich people like CNM President Kathy Winograd and her good friends Diane Denish and Brian Colon. These individuals started life in low to middle class families. Kathy Winograd grew up in a one bedroom apartment in the same city where my family owned large amounts of land. My family were powerful people who taught public service to their children and grandchildren. Kathy’s family taught gains in power at all cost no matter who it harmed. Kathy’s father was a man who would cross a picket line and take the job of a union worker even if it meant harm to the regular works in those mines. Denish was the child of a man who handout small bottles of Jack Daniels to voters so that they would vote for him. She was accused by her own family of convincing her father to hand over his money to her and to give little to none to the rest of the family. Colon stayed in New Mexico when his disabled family moved across country for their health because his family knew they would only have been a drag on him in the long run to his rise to political power.

In this country at this point in time we need individuals who are willing to sacrifice and to ask the haves to sacrifice in order to close the divide between the haves and the have not. We need people who are willing to stand up to new money haves and to demand sacrifice so that the have not individuals can have a chance at the American dream. We need political leaders who care about how to raise the have not individuals to higher levels of income and success. Sacrifice is something that must start at the top money earners in this state which means increases in taxes for them and lower top salaries to achieve those goals.

Judges in the Bernalillo County Second District Court understand these core democratic values. They have freely and willingly handed over money from their own paychecks to keep lay offs to a minimum. They chose to layoff higher wages earners in order to provide service to the public by increasing the number of clerks in the clerks office. For these brave male and female judges it is all about fair and balanced justice for all no matter the income level.

Blame the Teachers and Their Union

Nationally elected officials, state candidates and public celebrities are beginning to blame the teachers for the poor job done in educating the state’s children. What they don’t begin to address is the greedy educational administration who have drained our classrooms of every thin dime. How can we begin to afford hundred thousand dollar salaries when teachers don’t have materials and textbooks to teach the classes? Teachers are also facing increased classroom sizes which have been proven to reduce the quality of education.

How are teachers to get large numbers of children interested when they have no textbooks, too many state enforced unfunded bubble exams, no chemicals and little time per student to teach their classes? Who is to blame when administration sends two sets of textbooks to some schools while sending none to others? Why are educational administrators dragging their feet in transferring those materials to schools that need them?

Parents need to understand that their job is to ensure that their children are studying not just doing their homework at home and that the children understand that it is their responsibility to care about their own education. Parents should write emails to teachers requesting to know where their children’s textbooks are so that teachers can use those letters to demand the material they need to teach the classes.

Teachers need support and assistances to better their skills in the classrooms but funding for those issues have been cut so as to protect highly paid administrators overpriced salaries.

If state legislators want to cut the educational budget why not start at the top rather then cutting funding for our students? The answer is what Lt. Governor Diane Denish has said. “The educational administrators are my friends.” That along with lobbyist which by the way are paid for by our tax educational dollars are why teachers don’t have the needed supplies to provide a quality education to our children in this state.

If anyone needs to sacrifice in this state it should be the only too well paid educational administration and the overpaid lobbyists that they hire to protect their salaries. Lump sum payments to schools systems is a failed method which only encourages administrators to give themselves outrages pay raises just ask CNM President Kathy Winograd.

11 Second District Court Employees Laid Off Friday

“Justice delayed is justice denied.” Judges and court administration have been meeting often lately to attempt to find the best most economic ways to continue to serve the public with the small amount of funding they are receiving for the state this year.

Lines in the clerk’s office have been long as of late. Friday I saw lines that were at least two hours long while people waited to file paperwork. Positions in the clerks office have not been filled in an attempt to save money but with the pay being so low it has not be of a great help in resolving the problem of lowered funding from the state.

Positions that were cut Friday were in other areas of the courthouse but the information or effects it might have on the process were not released to the public today. Court employees are working as hard as they can to provide the correct service to the public but more money is needed for more employees.

At present the clerk’s office is 26% down in employees who would provide service to the public and lawyers. The people in those lines are often upset or angry to begin with and being forced to wait for two hours has had the predictable consequence of angry outburst by those in line.

State Legislators must look at ways this January to provide more funding to the legal system in this city to prevent future harm to those working in the clerk’s office and to ensure fair and balanced justice to the voting public in the Bernalillo County.

Money, Money, Money

This next week President Obama and Vice President Biden will both be coming to New Mexico to raise funds for Democratic candidates. Too bad they cannot give the candidate the morals or values that would help them win the election in November.

My daughter call those candidates money sucking leeches. They take your money which you have little of and then support rich high paid individuals who can pay lobbyist and make large donations to their campaigns. For these candidates it is all about winning at all cost. Why should they care about a handicapped single mother who is being persecuted by top paid educational administration. How could one handicapped single mother matter to these people? They would rather see that person in a wheelchair rather then to standup for that person’s civil rights.

This is the 20th year of the ADA laws so you would think that a lawyer who is running for the top job in our state government would be only too happy to support that federal law but clearly friendships, cronyism, comes before federal laws when it comes to those individuals in this state.

If these people are elected we will watch as those educational administrators with the help of a new governor and lieutenant governor suck, like a swarm of leeches, the classrooms dry of the few dollars that are left. K-12 teachers already don’t have the textbooks or the supplies they need to even teach their classes. Schools are falling down piece by piece but these candidates will never support money going any place but the salaries of top educational administrators. They will turn a blind eye and a deft ear to the cries of parents, children, teachers, and teacher support staff in this state.

It is a pity that our president and our vice president do not understand who they are supporting this next week. Perhaps it is time that the democrats started their own green tea party movement which supports budget cuts from the top down rather then the bottom up.

Judicial Performance Evaluation

So if you don’t know much about the judges in the local court systems how do you decided who to support and who to vote no on in the next election?

The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission just published it review of judges in New Mexico who are running this November in retention races. The results are on this link: http://www.nmjpec.org/court Three judges received do not retain for poor knowledge and skills from local attorneys.

Ethics Vs. Elections When is it wrong to put a policial career before voters

The question of the day is when is it more important to stand up for the party platform and what you know to be the right thing to do, and will that harm a candidate’s chance of getting elected.

I must admit that I liked what State Representative Al Parks had to say about the issue. He said that getting elected was not worth giving up his morals. I simply would never vote for anyone that told me that standing up for what was right would just have to wait until they were elected.

The Denish/Colon team has lost sight of this or maybe it was never a part of their value system in the first place because they have made some very bad calls on serious issues that face this state. Today I decided to ask some of the other candidates and elected officials what their option was when it came to this very fundamental question of ethics. Don’t think for one minute that I will not hold them to their statements in the future.

I also approached Congressman Martin Heinrich on this issue at the party picnic and gave him an out off camera if he wanted it when it come to immigration. I was very pleased to find that our congressman stood strong on his values and was willing to take on this very difficult issue during an election year at the federal level even though he knew that he might loss votes because of his stand. His values for human life and dignity came before his political career. Pity that we cannot say the same about Denish/Colon.







Non Candidate State Senator Tim Keller

Can’t Afford to Voter for Denish/Colon

The president of CNM Kathy Winograd wants the Union to give her the right to cut our pay without any form of bargain in the future. She has already taking away my right to substitute teach this last term even after I have substitute taught the same classes for the past ten year. This cut my paycheck by $3,000 a year.

Today I had to tell my teenage daughter that we could not afford to pay the phone bill for the next two weeks. So I would ask Denish/Colon to give me a call but I don’t have a home phone or a work phone right now since they also took my office desk and my phone away at work to save money and to give my desk to an administrator even thought I am handicapped. Now I have to walk around on a cane because they don’t want me to have a desk.

I asked Denish and Colon both for help but the answer was no because they are friends with Kathy Winograd and they sided with her. How is this fighting for the people who need help? I can’t afford to be friends with Denish or Colon right now since Winograd cut my pay.

The only thing I can do is speak out against people who support Educational Administration when it harms low income families like mine.

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

If there is one issue that needs to be addressed this election year it is jobs. New Mexicans are sick of seeing jobs going away in this state. We need the security of a paycheck that can cover the cost of living. Nothing inspires voters more then the fear of not being able to pay their bills and provide for their families. The basic law of survival is beginning to take control over all other needs and wants this election year.

We have watched as public companies have laid people off and cut back income from the ones they keep. Government jobs are doing the same cutting from the bottom up as administration adds more jobs and higher pay to their ranks. Million dollar sweetheart deals are obscene at a time like this but are still being publicized because the administration simply does not care about our children or for that matter their lower income employees.

Government bureaucrats don’t begin to support the voters. They feel entitled to privileges when it comes to spending taxpayers dollars on themselves while protecting people who fail to serve the public interest. No one is being held accountable for a job done poorly in this state. Voters are showing their anger in inappropriate behaviors when bureaucrats face the public for wrong doing because of their lack of support in private. Also their complete out-of-touch lack of willingness to work with the very people that they are representing.

The bureaucrats want to blame their failures on the people lower down the income ladder. What is far more troubling is that they have spent their money buying friends with influence in both parties that will sided with them against frontline workers over the next four years. Candidates simply don’t want to hear any negative details about their good friends who support them with the money taking from low income workers salaries.

Immigration and driver licenses are big issues not because we fear immigrates or want to treat them badly but because they are taking jobs at a time when native born voters cannot find employment. Illegal immigrates have come to expect rights, goods and yes government services that they are not entitled to in the first place, and they are showing no ability to work hard or even be grateful for the benefits received at a time when we do not have enough to go around. Their lack of humility will in the end cost them dearly in this state.

The only ways out of this position is to find ways to bring jobs to this state and generate new jobs through small business development. Government candidates must begin to understand that voters will not support a candidate that will side with bureaucrats. They must be forced to take off the blinders and see what is happening on the frontlines if change for the better is to begin to happen in this state. There can be no new way forward if the candidates are blindly supportive of close personal friends who are the bureaucrats in this state.

It’s the Economy Stupid!

Our economy is making life for New Mexican’s very difficult. We just can’t afford more tax increases at this point in time. My workplace the states largest community college has seen record enrollment because people are out of work yet little to nothing is being said about job creation.

The current candidates are only too friendly with the wrong people who don’t care about working voters who face pay cuts to support their bad habits of large salaries and lavish new buildings with large offices for the government bureaucrats.

I foresee this problem becoming even worse as one of these individuals takes office. They will be forced to cut the budget in the coming months. These women will cut from the bottom up and make sure to protect their bureaucrat friends in the process. It is only too clear that they don’t care about hard working middle class and working poor voters or their families for that matter. The commercials that proclaim they will fight for families and their children are nothing more then lies.

Parents and students will be the ones to pay the near term price for these future budget cuts as more skilled workers are forced out of the educational workplace just in order to make a living. The ultimate price will be paid by every resident of New Mexico as we fail to product a skilled workforce in this state.

Our current crop of local candidates have a lack of skills and foresight to deliver success to this state when it comes to the economy. They are far to in bed with government bureaucrats who are their close personal friends. New Mexico and New Mexican voters will be the ones to pay the price during the next four years. At this point I can see no reason to help put any of these candidates into our state government. Let their bureaucrat friends get them elected.

The only bright spot is on the federal level where we have congressmen in the north and central parts of our state who do care about working families. These men are carrying the lions share of providing funding for education that should be covered by a state budget that works and promotes new job development. One where if budget cuts are needed they are carried out by cutting from the top down. One where waste is the first thing to go and over staffing of bureaucrats are the first to be cut.

Finally Someone Standing Up for Parents and Constituents

We should all be very supportive and proud of public representatives like County Commissioner Art De La Cruz. Clearly Art De La Cruz understands that parents and children should come before a overpaid non-responsive educational administration.

When will people like APS Board Member and President Martin Esquival start listening to parents and children in this city. Martin Esquival is in my district and will not return phone calls. His board which he leads is sickening to parents for its lack of accountability to parents and children. This man needs to be replaced. I am ashamed that he represents me on the school board.

We should not vote for or support anyone that puts this board member or his educational administration before our children’s needs. I have had people tell me that Esquival will have people from his own party run against him in the next election. I look forward to replacing him as soon as possible.

As for Art De La Cruz, we need more representatives just like him in public office. There can be no room for representatives who will not take care of our children and put their needs first.

Diane Denish Visits People's Republic of Nob Hill

Free Political Event

No Fool Like an Old Fool

You know I was feeling very sorry for Judge Bob Schwartz. I just started a new medication myself that maybe makes me react a little more emotionally then I would like so at my age I can completely understand dealing with new medications.

But now I don’t have even one ounce of pity for that man. The word dirty old man come to mind. Also foolish, stupid, childish, immature, irresponsible and silly old man come to mind. Why on earth is it that men around my age think with the little head instead of the bigger? Any girl that age is only looking for power and money when they date older men.

I have not problem with the Supreme Court giving him sixty days off for his bad behavior. I don’t think a sexual harassment class will do even one bit of good. The men around him are slapping him on the back and giving him smiles of admiration at this point. A little public humiliation is called for in this matter. I think he should go in front of a group of women, none under the age of forty five, and he should have to make a public apologies for being an old fool.

There is more than enough single women in this city around his own age that he does not need to date a girl young enough to be his daughter. The problem with most men Judge Schwartz's age is that they are superficial. These men want the perfect body image and don’t give a crap about a real relationship with a mature woman. My mother use to say that men my age that are single are that way for a reason. In other words they are damaged goods.

OMG! A Free Political Event

Don’t tell me that someone finally listened... Better late than never I guess. If you want to fight the good fight for low income people like teachers and parent the first step is to get to know them by showing up at community events where they can vent their anger. Yes, at you… These people are not VIPs and they don’t have hundreds of dollars to hand out like candy to politicians at invitation only events.

They spend most of the few dollars they had this month on back to school supplies. They work 40 plus hours a week just to put food on the table and a roof over their children’s head. Administration takes every opportunity to cut their pay while hiring yet another a new vice-president.

The second step is to listen, really honestly listen to what they are saying and then reach out to help them on issue that get killed through normal channels. They already know that administration does not care about what works for them or their students. They have been dealing with a failed overpaid administration most of their adult life. When .39 cents out of every dollar spent on education in this state goes to paid overpriced administration what else can you expect. Our system should be about the students and what is good for them. Not a new shiny building too far away to help them or to provide services. Not yet another level of administration who never even speak to a student during the day.

Hearing and listening are two entirely different activates. Politicians should learn the difference between the two activities. Just a few short weeks ago I had someone tell me that he was listening but the truth was that although he heard what I said, he was far from listening to what I was telling him. Still he did manage to help out a little.

We need people running our state government who listen and act on the issues that hold this state back everyday. We need someone that will support people from the ground up and not from the top down.

Candidate for Sell just $100 to be called a Friend

Growing up in a republican family I learned at an early age one thing . You cannot buy friendship or love for that matter. Money can get you a lot of things in life but when the going gets tough the bought get going elsewhere. The people who stand by elected official during the difficult times are the ones that don’t spend hundreds of dollars in support of candidates.

Now like all individuals I have learned the cold hard facts that politicians in both parties sell themselves to the highest bidder in this state. They need the money in order to run for office. I have to say that nothing disgusted me more because the people who are willing to pay high dollar to be called friends and supporters of local politicians expect big favors in return that will only harm the working poor in this state.

Our system needs reform or we can give up any hope of ever electing honest hardworking public servants who care more about ethics then where their next donation is coming from. The current crop of politicians are only too willing to sell out people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from to individuals who have no souls.

I limit my donations to any candidate and look for ones that show respect to low income voters and the working poor. I can’t say that I have not been fooled once or twice by people who claimed to care about the disadvantaged in this state but at some point you do have to give someone a chance to prove you wrong.

We need to demand that candidates start showing up for community events for free and stop demanding outrages sums of money just to be called a supporter or a friend of any candidate in our party. Candidates need to show that they care about the working poor and show their support by standing up to rich individuals. People who earn more then $200,000 a year and are control freaks when it comes to their employees in this state. Those individuals should be called out in public by our elected official so that they know that money exchanges at private parties cannot and will not effect the way our candidates cast their votes or run our government in the future.

I have no hope of this happening when it comes to the current list of people running for public offices in our state this fall. These individuals have already shown who has paid for their friendship and support over the next four years in our state. I cannot bring myself to campaign for or support any candidate who puts money before ethics in this state during this summer of our discontent.

Top Down Style Government Does Not Work

Take it thought channels. Do what I say and don’t ask questions. This is my order so just follow it. I don’t want to hear your point of view because it does not fit in with my plans. If you are not a VIP then your observations don’t count with me. Don’t ever try to think above your pay grade. Tell me your view that I don’t agree with, and I will only show you anger then I will show you the door. You want my attention pay me for it.

On the other hand are those people who always have a question in mind. Why! How! What will work best for all concerned. Governor Richardson is a man who listens and works with people from all levels of society. He does not even begin to care where ideas come from or how rich the person is who gives him a suggestion. Now don’t count on him to enact anything before everyone has their say on the issue and done expect him to force anyone into a box that does not fit or work for that matter because that is not who he is or how he works.

Good government is one where a leader leads but does not force people to follow them. It is one where a leader listens to everyone and works with everyone to get solutions that work. It is where government leaders go out of their way to listen and take into account all views even those that don’t fit into their neat little boxes of pat answers.

At present I don’t see that in either of our candidates for governor. I see anger and resentment with views that don’t fit neatly into their points of view. I see attack after attack for anyone who don’t agree with them . I see no areas for common ground when it comes to how government works.

One of these women is going to end up governor in the near future. They will run into great difficulty during their one short term in that office unless they come to an enlightenment in office. My way or the highway does not encourage buy in from the people who do the work in this state. Change is not something that is forced on individuals from the top down but something that must be worked out over a period of time.

Governor Richardson has done a lot of good things for this state especially in the field of education because of his style of governing. He took a state eight years ago that needed a lot of work and has had some successes over the years. Not everything he has tried has worked but that does not mean there have been no achievements.

If Governor Richardson is remembered as anything it will be the governor in this state who made government for the people, by the people and with the people at all levels. He will be remembered as a tough negotiator who listened, worked with people and had some successes during his terms in office.

There is a lot more that needs to get done in this state in the future and our current leaders have a lot to learn if they hope to leave the people of this state with any successes that have buy in over the next four years.

Top Down Debate-No reason to vote in November

I always vote in elections because I want to support my party and the people who represent us. This year I have no reason to vote for any of the current candidates on the Democratic ticket.

Can’t begin to afford their high priced get togethers. As one person put it yesterday evening I hope all that money buys them some votes because it does nothing for either a liberal or a progressive voter in this state.

Liberal and progressive voters have a real hard time with the issue of chain of command as any administrator can attest to in this state, but that never stopped Governor Bill Richardson from stepping outside of the chain of command to listen to our concerns and to voice our issues at the very top of our state government.

At present we have no representatives who are willing to put aside the money and just talk to voters. You had to have a special invitation from the educational administration just to attend last evenings debate. They did not even begin to address issues that matter to liberals or progressives in this state.

At this point in time I honestly see no difference between the two candidates. I get the feeling neither one cares where or not I turn out to vote in November. Candidates need to remember that that support thing that I am so good at is a two way street and that it will not come with a price tag. Especially one which cannot be afforded by most of the voting public in this state.

Visit to the Courtroom of Judge Robert (Bob) M. Schwartz

With all of the press around how Judge Schwartz handles his courtroom as of late, I thought today would be a perfect opportunity to drop by and checkout how the judge is dealing with matters.

He appeared well capable of handling himself in the courtroom. His demeanor was sane but a little harsh at times. A few of the attorneys were pushing the edge a little bit but when is that anything new?

Judge Schwartz had a good understanding of the cases and had a busy courtroom. He was able to enumerate to a defendant all of the rights he was giving up in a plea deal with the district attorney’s office before he sentenced the young man to a long probation for drug charges.

Gone was the more relaxed atmosphere of his courtroom that he had earlier in the year replaced by a matter-of-fact no nonsense business attitude. The judge was clearly moving through his caseload on a faster bases since one or two of the attorneys ended up outside the courtroom when they should have been ready for the next case in line.

The new healthier, balanced, Judge Robert M. Schwartz will fit right in with all of the other criminal court judges who don’t have the time for being polite or any niceties in the courtroom and could careless about most of the stories they hear from defendants with long criminal histories.

Like so many other criminal courtrooms Judge Schwartz’s courtroom has falling into the same state of daily life which is nothing more then a boring routine of one case after another with criminals who have long histories of drug and alcohol abuse that leads defendants into a life of crime with little hope of redemption.

The social and criminal problems that come along with drug and alcohol abuse clearly will not be solved in a courtroom but can only be fixed with a solid economical plan that gets these defendants treatment long before they end up as hopeless hardened adult criminals who can only be locked away in overcrowded jails to protect the general public.

The likelihood of that happening anytime in the near future is slime to none since most legislators in Santa Fe are only looking at short-term measures that look hard on crime, and don’t provide long-term benefits that would reduce the jailhouse population of low income minority individuals who frequently abuse drugs and alcohol as a way of self medicating untreated physical, emotional, and mental problems.

Judge Robert (Bob) Schwartz and the Judicial Standard Commission

Earlier this year Judge Bob Schwartz took a leave due to medical problems. He was concerned with a new medication he was taking and how it was affecting his ability to be a judge. He reported himself to the judicial standard commission because he was unwilling to continue with his job because he did not want to settle for less then appropriate abilities and decision making capacity in his courtroom.

The first thing that the general public should be concerned with is how will this affect the behavior of future judges and their willingness to self report when a medical condition is affecting their ability to do their job correctly.

We want our judges to have the type of ethics that would encourage them to self report without fear of losing their jobs or having to face disciplinary measures for them being human. We have all faced medical problems in the past at work that have affected our ability to perform our jobs at the desired level so why should judges be any different?

None of our Second District Court Judges are young men or women because we the public demand experience in the law from our judges. With age comes basic medical problems. Inexperience could and would do far more harm to the voting public then a older judge with high ethical standards, years of experience in the law and yes the medical problems that come with age.

I hope that the Supreme Court with their hearing aides and other medical problems that come with age will take into account the fact that Judge Schwartz had the ethical standards to self report himself when a problem with his health arose that could affect his ability to provide fair and balanced judgments in his courtroom.We should all be asking the Judicial Standard Commission how this is an issue that would require disciple and not praise for doing the right thing?

Do Principles Matter When It Comes to Public Education for K-12 or Higher Education?

Yesterday the Board of Finance voted to cut our state budget across the board by 3.2%. The only person to vote no was Diane Denish when it came to education, in either K-12 or higher education. I must admit to being very disappointed by James B. Lewis since educators supported him.

The two year colleges and four year universities in this state will decide how to cut their own budgets after this cut in state funding. State Legislators say that colleges and universities are over funded but the public is not holding them accountable for how they spend that money. Too many college and university presidents feel free to spend huge amounts of our taxpayer’s dollars on sports and administrative salaries while cutting the salaries of the lowest paid individuals who work directly with students.

The Legislature refuses to do anything to put a stop to this behavior and because of that more low income individuals and students will be harmed because of this cut. The problem appears to be that those high paid administrative professionals have paid off our elected officials and they don’t give a crap about those of us who can’t afford the ticket price for admission to their high dollar parties. It does not help when college administration finds ways to cut our annual pay without even having to tell the voting public about it. So must for being valued by anyone in a position of power in this state.

Maybe it is time to start thinking about staying home from the polls if this is the treatment we get from the people we elect to office. Or better yet maybe we should start being more selective about who we vote for in the future since the only one that appears to support us on a consistence bases on that committee is Diane Denish. At times even I get sick and tired of hearing one thing during a campaign year and then seeing quite another behavior by our elected representatives for the next four years. Candidates count on the voting public having short attention spans when it comes to what they vote on while in office if the voting public has any questions about that just look at Susana Martinez’s record on Education.

Hispanic and Innocent Until Proven Guilty In Albuquerque?

Note to Chief Public Safety Officer Darren White not everyone arrested in this country is guilty of a crime. If as Darren White asserted they were then we would not need a court system to try people in the first place. What ever happened to the idea that people in this country are innocent until proven guilty of a crime?

150 people accused of a serious crime in this city have been identify as illegal immigrants so even if any of these people are innocent of the crime they have been accused of they are still going to be deported with the help of the Berry Administration.

Why would anyone want a Chief Public Safety Officer who sees everyone as criminals in this state? Clearly the man has no respect for our constitution. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty. Why not only fingerprint and check the legal statue of those individuals who are found guilty of a crime after a trial and a verdict. After all what does a accused individuals legal status have to do with where or not they are guilty of a crime in our city?

Clearly we need statewide uniform laws for dealing with when you can send fingerprints to the federal government to check for legal status that will protect individuals from people like White and Mayor Berry in this state unless we want to become another Arizona, republican controlled city by republican controlled city.

One does have to wonder if more Hispanics are not being arrested in our city over the past two months just in order to check their legal status. 150 plus individual who are Hispanic have been arrested in our city just over the past two months so how many whites have been arrested in the same time period? What are the exact numbers and what are these people being arrested for in the first place? Bet we don’t get the answers to these questions from the Berry Administration or Chief Public Safety Officer Darren White any time soon. Maybe some of those highly skilled investigated reporters who get paid to report the news should start finding out the answers to these questions.