Candidate Endorsement for Governor of New Mexico 2018

After much soul searching, thought, and careful study of the candidate’s positons on difference policies, I have made my decision of who to endorse for governor. I am not saying that the other candidates are bad but one has to come above all the other for the state primary. I find that I must pick the best candidate for the office of Governor. Our state needs a great governor. 

I choose Jeff Apodaca!

1. I love his stand on education and his desire to protect the children of this state.
2. I love his stand on investment in our state’s economy.
3. I love his stand on protecting the environment through the usage of Green Energy.  

I find myself agreeing with his views on many issues. I can see that he is sincere about his positions on issues. I find that his wife Jackie will support him and work hard to promote his issues with the public. I love that he is accessible to the voters and has open free public events across the state. This is not a man bought out by corporations. He is not a pay-for-view candidate. 

He will make this state a great governor. He is an honest hardworking man of his word. He has the brains and the abilities to make New Mexico successful going forward. It is not normally my practice to endorse early. But in this case I feel the I can no lone listen to the requests of the other candidates. Some times after going through all the material and talking to all the candidates you just know what the right decision is for a race.

The Democratic Party Pre-Primary Election

So it was announced by the New Mexico Supreme Court that the lawsuit against Joe Cervantes campaign for governor was dismissed on a legal technicality. The actual evidences of fraud was never reviewed. Now this is very disappointing and serious because it harms not just the other candidates but also the voters of New Mexico. No one should ever be able to question the results of our state elections either in the primary or in the general elections. 

The law states that the Secretary of State’s office will review all signatures collected by candidates in the event that they do not get the required votes at the Democratic Party State Convention to be placed on the primary ballot. The Secretary of State’s office has not been given the money or the manpower to do their job in this election season. The governor is enjoying creating division in the Democratic Party by pitting one candidate and their supporters against another. 

    

We should be very disturbed by what is going on in the democratic primary. A system was created to provide for a fair and balanced method of getting candidates onto the statewide ticket. This type of problem where the system fails to follow the stated laws and policies undermines our election process and calls into question any candidate elected to public office. 

I understand why the candidates would feel angry and unfairly treated by this process. I understand why the voters would feel cheated by the failure of the system to process the results in an honest and fair manner. 

I am calling on the Secretary of State’s office to carry out the review and do their job before the ballots are printed! We need to know that the candidates that are on the ballot are entitled to be there in the first place. We need to know that politics are not corrupting our election system in favor of anyone candidate.  The voters in this state deserve a fair and honest election process!

Do We Care About New Mexican Children?

This morning a friend of mine who is an attorney in New York City that defends children post this on his twitter account.

All that Andrew ask of his friends is to take a stand and support fixing this major issue that damages our society from the earliest stages of child development. He asks that we speak out on this issue in our states with our political leaders.

Here are a few facts about New Mexico: 

Now, I know this topic is not new or sexy. I know that people are demanding action and not compassion when it comes to child offenders. The mayor in the largest city in the state has the opinion that it should be lock them up but never give them a hand up. Just yesterday two young people in our city were reported to have put twelve bullets into a homeless man last month. The pictures they showed on the evening news were of two very scary young men. 

Those young men did not get to that level of violence and hate overnight or without the help of our political leaders and our communities. State Senator John A Smith, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee in Santa Fe, has time and again fought hard to spend as little money as possible on programs to help support our children in this state. He has helped to drive our state to the bottom in ever sector dealing with child development and child welfare. People call him “Doctor No.”  Our lead candidate for the governor’s race is a good friend of his that wants nothing more then the same for our state. That candidate will not take bold actions for our children. The same children that will one day either grow up to be happy healthy citizens or drug addicted ones that will kill homeless people for fun. 

People will criticize me for calling out anyone candidate on such an issue. They will say that I am trying to help the republican candidate. But this candidate is not the only candidate in the primary. We need to demand accountability from all of our candidates on this issue. We need to demand that our elected officials take a strong bold stand to help protect our children. We don’t want to see another child murdered by their parents or one that is so disturbed that they turn to killing themselves therefore ending up on the evening news. 

Our children need protection. It can only start with funding programs like; Children, Youth, and families department, after school programs, pre-school programs, early childhood programs, community centered programs for parents, social workers, nurses, and support staff in schools and in after school programs. 

These types of programs are not high profile sexy like arresting all of the criminals and dropping crime rates overnight but they produce long-term results that do reduce all types of crime. In the long run they are cheaper then more jails and more prisons for a school to prison pipeline that we currently run in this state. The current system only benefits people that are highly paid like police officers, large drug companies, and private prisons. 

The real question is do our children matter to New Mexicans or are they a product to be sold to the highest bidder?