The End is Near, The End is Near!

Yes, the end of calendar year 2012 is near and like the Mayan calendar most New Mexicans will live to see the beginning of 2013. I guess this is as good a time as any to look back over the top political stories of the year and what impact they will have for the future.

The Top story would have to be the passing of New Mexico Speaker of the House Ben Luján. Speaker Luján had a profound effect on this state. He was a strong fighter for the people of New Mexico. He was a very gentle soft spoken man. I remember holding hands with him during one political event. We were speaking about our children and how proud we were to be  their parents. Life gives you many things but family is the best of all. Speaker Luján was proud of his family and especially his son U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján. He was also very active until the end in helping other people take care of their families.

Number two would have to be the retirement of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. Senator Bingaman has worked hard for our state. His values have been to help our children and our environment over his long career. He has faced many different combinations of political influence during his career in the senate. Perhaps the most difficult has been in the last few years where senators no longer work together for the benefit of the American people. Senator Bingaman has always been a strong supporter for the “Rule of Law.”

Number three would be the reelection of  President Obama. With the reelection of a democratic president women do not have to fear republicans rolling back the rights of women in this country. President Obama is not going to put corporations before people in Washington. The Fiscal Cliff is all about him fighting to protect Middle Class Americans from the greed of the very rich. It is a pity that the House of Representatives has to be controlled by republicans who are unwilling to see sensible reason when it comes to the budget.

Number four would be  the issue of gun control and the safety of our children in this state’s schools. With the killings of twenty children on the East Coast we are now forced to look at our own schools both K-12 and college level. New Mexico schools were built to be open with many points of entry. Our colleges are completely open to entry at any point. Security for these institutions are at best a joke.

The local community college allows entry to anyone including convicted killers, the mentally ill, sex offenders and common thieves. Ankle bracelet devices are a common sight in the classrooms. Our children could be sitting along side the next mass murder in any of their college classes. There is no plan in the event of a mass shooting on these campuses. Security is unarmed and untrained. They have limited access to most of the buildings. Employees and students don’t even know what to do in case of a fire. Top School Administration is too busy putting funding into their own paychecks to bother with funding for school security. The boards have no control over spending when it comes to Administration.

Number five would be the republicans total lack of ability at job creation in this state. Governor Martinez has not just failed at private job creation but has managed to drive away jobs with her short sighted views on the movie industry and the space industry. Mayor Berry is no better will his lack of control of his police force, which only drives away potential businesses. No business owner is going to want to relocate to a city where they see heavily armed police pouring out of large buildings during the middle of the day on the local news even if it is only to arrest a copper thief. Mayor Berry needs to get his act together and hire a real police chief before something major happens in the City of Albuquerque.
 
These are the top five news events of the year and how they will affect 2013. The next year, and yes there will be a next year, will be most interesting for our state. The governor and the mayor of Albuquerque are both facing reelection in the next two years, so will we keep them or will we replace them? Only the voting public knows for sure.

School Board Elections Candidates on February 5, 2013

Albuquerque Public School Board Seats:

District 3 Candidates

Leah E Persons
Lorenzo L. Garcia
Candido Arturo Archuleta Jr.

District 6

Donald R. Duran
Angela L Gonzales Carver
Kyle V. Lee
Teil Plont
Paula Maes
David L. Robbins

District 7

Larry A Langley
David Eugene Peercy
Bill G. Tallman

Issues that are of concern to parents include school safety, Administration salaries, and Parent to school communication

Central New Mexico Community College Board Seats:

District 1

Dan Serrano
Marjorie T. Germain
Pauline J. Garcia
Ramona J. Martinez

District 2
Ernest W. Sturdenvant
Carolyne DeVore-Parks
Robert P. Matteucci Jr.

Issues that are of concern to students and parents include school safety, Administration salaries, and Women’s issues such a culture of sexual harassment of management to employees.

 

A special thanks to Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver for her open government stand when it comes to releasing the names of candidates. This list is unofficial but should become official within the next few days.

Mayor R.J. Berry Not a Successful Business Man for Albuqureque

R.J. Berry promised to run the City of Albuquerque like a business. He has but the problem is that Berry is not a successful business man. He lacks the skills and abilities of former Mayor Chavez. Berry has failed to promote Albuquerque as a product worth investing in for businesses. As a result we are ninety fourth out of a hundred of the largest metropolitan cities when it comes to recovery from the Great Recession.

Mayor Berry lacks the vision to get behind large city improvements that would attract employers and tourist to our city. He has no skills in promotion nor does his staff. Berry has not reached out to the environmentalist in this city to help him promote a partnership between them and the city that would aide in the development of attractions along the river. Mayor Chavez built the channel in the nature center that not only attracted tourist but protected the silvery minnow. Berry has totally ignored that project over the last few years.

Look at Tingly Beach as an example, Mayor Chavez redeveloped that areas for fishing and recreation. He cleaned up a very dirty place and turned it into a show place. Yet, Berry has done nothing to expand that development. Where is the public and private partnership that would develop that area further? Why not upgrade the rest of that tract of land and build restaurants along a nice pond where people could sit out on a deck and watch the water and the local bird life. During the day you could rent little boats.

Lights and landscaping could be placed around the ponds to make the place more inviting to tourist. An entrance could be built to allow people to enter the Zoo. People could be encouraged to eat at the restaurants maybe do a little shopping, play some golf and then take the little train to either the Zoo or the Bio-park. That train could be expanded to make a trip to the Hispanic Cultural Center. Local hotels could be encouraged to provide van trips, which would take tourist to the area for activities.

One has to ask Mayor Berry, where is his vision for our city? Where is the push to expand and build upon the projects that Mayor Chavez so successfully started for this city? Why is he such a failure at working with community groups when it comes to the development or redevelopment of areas in our city? Why is he not working with state senators to improve parts of our city? .

No More New Jails and No More New Judges

In the past two years judges across the state have cut themselves off from the voting public. They have built walls and cameras between the voters and themselves. They think themselves about the normal voting public. They have no desire to spend even one minute with the voters in this city or for that matter this state.

Now that we are faced with another sixty day session in Santa Fe, they will be asking for more of our tax dollars. Well, we have limited resources this year. The money should go toward early childhood education and rehabilitation for people with drug problems and mental problems. If we solve these problems than we will not need more judges or more jail cells.

Judges already live in rich chambers with lots of staff to take care of their every need. They get paid far more that most New Mexicans. Maybe some of their pay could go toward staff that could work in rehabilitation centers. If people learn to control their anger issues and their drug problems than their families and friends would not have to asks an indifferent uncaring judge for an order of protection.

Perhaps if people got mental health care and drug rehabilitation than fewer jail cells would be needed. Rather than housing people they could get the real help that has been lacking so sorely over the years in our state. Harder laws and richer unconnected judges are the last thing we need in this state.

Our police force has only caused people to fear the law when it comes to reaching out for help. Than uncaring insensitive judges blame the victims of these type of crimes. Judges that have no training in how to prevent a drug addicted mentally ill individual from going off their medications and killing someone they know. These judges think that they are not there to prevent crime. If so than they should not be in the courtroom at all. The money for their rich salaries could be better spent on preventing the crimes in the first place.