Great New Mexico photographs

Albuquerque GLBT community celebrates with pride

Thousands of folks lined up on Route 66 to watch the 2011 Albuquerque Pride Parade. After breakfast at Mannies Cafe we grabbed a few pics to share the scene with you in this slideshow. And, before you start sending us nasty e-mails, we included pics of the protesters and bible thumpers because they were there and part of the story. The homophobes also were monitored by police and promptly dismissed by most everyone in the crowd for their bigotry and hate mongering.

Now it's off to NM Expo where organizers have set up a foam party, dance tent, and poetry slam at the main street festival.

GLBT legal issues spotlighted in Pride Week radio ads

Three new Gay Pride Week radio ads, sponsored by gay-friendly law firm Rugge, Rosales & Associates, are putting the focus on legal issues still faced by non-traditional families in New Mexico.

The firm said it hopes the ads raise awareness in the community about couples who are not recognized legally by the state.

“Both Traditional and Same-Sex Families should take steps to ensure that they and their loved ones are protected in the event of illness, death or separation, David Ray Rosales a managing partner at Rugge, Rosales & Associates said.

In one commercial two lesbian mothers discuss their young son and ponder what would happen to them in the event of event of an illness, death or a break-up.

Mother 1: He’s growing up too fast. I just wonder who would take care of him if something ever happened to us.
Mother 2: Since we can’t get married in New Mexico, I don’t know what my rights would be since I’m not legally a stepparent.
Mother 1: And you’re not legally my spouse. What would happen to you if I ended up in the hospital in an emergency situation or if I passed away? What about Jimmy? What about the house, or the business we’ve built? Would you get any benefits?

While New Mexico law prohibits gay marriage and same sex civil unions, Rugge suggests people protect their rights with solid legal planning.

Listen to all three ads:

Celebration

Bedtime Story

Do You Know

This year’s Albuquerque Gay Pride & Festival begins on Saturday with a parade and later an expo at the New Mexico Expo Center.

Photos @2009 Peter St. Cyr

ACLU sues Albuquerque to force redistricting

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is demanding that the City of Albuquerque reverse its decision to postpone redistricting until after the upcoming city council elections in October 2011.

Yesterday the group filed this lawsuit in state district court.

Data from the 2010 census shows that Albuquerque’s West Side experienced significant population growth, while other areas of the city remained stagnant or shrunk in population. The ACLU said it believes the Albuquerque City Council will dilute the voting power of residents on the West Side.

“At the heart of our democracy is the principle of ‘one person, one vote’,” ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson said. “When one city council district is grossly underrepresented, other areas of the city speak with a louder voice when it comes to making decisions about political leadership, bond proposals, and other important issues that affect us all. Failing to redistrict waters down the vote of citizens living in high-growth areas.”

The City of Albuquerque is divided into nine separate districts, each holding one seat on the city council. By law the boundaries of these districts must be drawn in such a way that each district is roughly equal in population. According to the latest census data, District 1 and District 5—both on the West Side—have 90,170 and 83,165 residents respectively. The remaining seven districts all have constituencies ranging in the low to mid-50,000 range.

For the past three decades following the release of new census data, the City of Albuquerque has moved swiftly to redistrict before the next city council election, ensuring that all areas of the city remained equally represented. This year, with full knowledge of the current major imbalance, the city chose to postpone redistricting until after the October 2011 city council election.

“The entire purpose of census data is to make sure that our government accurately represents who we are and the communities we live in,” ACLU-NM Cooperating Attorney David Urias said. “By ignoring the latest census data, the Albuquerque City Council devalues the votes of almost two-fifths of the city’s population.”

The ACLU claims its lawsuit represents more than 170,000 people living on the city's "underrepresented" West Side, the ACLU of New Mexico asks the court to prohibit the City Council of the City of Albuquerque from holding elections until they have completed redistricting as required under the Constitution.

Cities are constitutionally required to reapportion voting districts every 10 years following the release of federal census data to ensure equal representation among voters.

State to investigate contamination at mine

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Ground Water Quality Bureau received a Stage 1 Abatement Plan proposal from New Mexico Copper Corporation to investigate surface and ground water contamination at the Copper Flat Mine. The facility is located approximately 5 miles northeast of Hillsboro on NM Highway 152.

Water quality monitoring of monitoring wells and an open pit pool at the facility showed concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), sulfate, chloride, manganese, and uranium in exceedence of New Mexico ground water standards during past investigations. The depth to ground water at the site ranges from 0 to 50 feet. In a letter to New Mexico Copper Corporation, NMED required that an Abatement Plan proposal be submitted within 60 days of notification.

The Stage 1 Abatement Plan submitted by the company proposes collecting soil, surface water and ground water samples and installing additional ground water monitoring wells to define the extent of soil and ground water pollution.

New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission regulations require responsible parties to remediate surface and ground water pollution. After the investigation is completed, a Stage 2 Abatement Plan proposal will be submitted to NMED. A public notice of the Stage 2 Abatement Plan proposal will be issued by New Mexico Copper Corporation within 30 days of submitting the proposal to NMED.

The public will have an opportunity to comment on the Stage 2 Abatement Plan proposal and request a hearing or meeting. NMED will seek written comments from the public within 60 days of determining that the cleanup proposal is administratively complete.

2010 Hispanic voter trends and stats

An analysis of new Census Bureau voting data from November 2010 shows that Hispanic turnout conformed to the pattern of recent midterm elections.

Before the 2010 election some commentators argued that the failure to address immigration would increase Hispanic turnout, others argued it would cause them to stay home. The new data shows that neither of these predictions were correct. The analysis is available at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Among the findings:

• Prior to the 2010 election, the Center for Immigration Studies projected that Hispanics would comprise 6.8 percent of the national electorate in congressional elections. The new Census Bureau data match this projection, with Hispanics comprising 6.9 percent of the vote.
• The projection was correct because it was based on the assumption that Hispanic turnout would follow past patterns and that they would be neither especially animated nor especially disengaged in 2010.
• The 31.2 percent of Hispanic citizens who voted in 2010 is very similar to the 32.2 percent who voted in the 2006 mid-term election and the 31.2 percent who voted in the 2002 mid-term election. All of these values fall within the margin of error of +/- 1.7 percentage points and indicate that 2010 was not unusual.
• In addition to the 6.9 percent of voters who identified as Hispanic in the 2010 election, 77.5 percent of voters identified as non-Hispanic white, 11.5 percent as non-Hispanic black, and 2.4 percent as non- Hispanic Asian.
• Hispanics are a much smaller share of voters than they are of the general population. In November 2010, Hispanics were 16.3 percent of the total U.S. population, 14.1 percent of the adult population, 10.1 percent of the adult citizen population, and 6.9 percent of those who voted.
• The size of the Hispanic vote varied significantly by state. In 2010, Hispanics were less than 5 percent of the vote in 39 states plus the District of Columbia, and more than 10 percent of the vote in only five states (New Mexico, California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida).
• Polling of Hispanics indicates that immigration is not one of their top issues. Like other voters, education, jobs, healthcare, and the federal deficit all rank above immigration in importance.
• This does not mean immigration is unimportant to Hispanics. It does mean it was not an issue that was important enough in 2010 to have a discernable impact on their overall turnout.
• Only 27 percent of Hispanic voters in the 2010 election were immigrants themselves (naturalized U.S. citizens) and just 14.9 percent lived in the same household as a non-citizen. The lack of direct personal experience with immigration may explain why the issue does not rank higher in importance to Hispanic voters.
• CNN's national exit polls showed that in 2010, 60 percent of Hispanics voted for Democrats and 38 percent voted for Republicans. This compares to 69 percent and 30 percent in the last mid-term election in 2006. If the failure to address immigration played a role in Hispanic voting, it seems to have helped Republicans.
• However, the increase in the Republican share of the Hispanic vote in 2010 is almost certainly related to general voter dissatisfaction with the economy and the Democrats, and it parallels gains that Republicans made among many demographic groups.

Methods and Data

The data for this analysis come from the public use file of the Voting and Registration Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) collected by Census Bureau, which contains about 100,000 adults. The Voting and Registration supplement is conducted in November every other year after Election Day. The public-use file of this data was recently released. Among other questions, the survey asks individuals if they are registered and if they voted. The Hispanic and race questions are separate. Hispanics are individuals in the CPS who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino, which means that they or their ancestors came from a country that derives its language and culture from Spain.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

Gary Johnson announces 2012 bid in New Hampshire

[Campaign picture from Johnson's Twitter account]

'I’m running for President of the United States. And I don’t do so lightly.'

This morning, former Republican New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, standing on an outdoor platform in New Hampshire, told supporters he's running for president in 2012 because, "America needs someone who will say 'NO' to the insane spending and stop the madness that has become Washington It is time we put one of our own in the White House."

Johnson says America is in a mess, but it can be fixed.

"I'm a fix it man," Johnson said in a news release. "Before I was governor of New Mexico, I started a one-man fix-it business that I grew into an American dream with more than a thousand employees. My formula for success was simple. I showed up on time, did what I said what I’d do, and knew what I was doing."

Johnson blames a long list of problems that need attention, including record unemployment, devalued currency, banking scandals, the mortgage crisis, drug crisis, economic crisis, and loss of industrial might on past presidents and members of congress.

Touting his record in New Mexico, Johnson said he help eliminate the state's budget deficit and cut the rate of state government growth in half while reducing the state workforce by over 10%, without laying off a single qualified state worker.

Dubbed 'Governor Veto" during his two terms as the chief executive in New Mexico from 1993-2002, Johnson said today, "America needs a ‘President Veto’ right now – someone who will say ‘no’ to insane spending and stop the madness that has become Washington. That’s why I am here today to announce that I’m running for President of the United States. And I don’t do so lightly."

Optimistic about his chances, Johnson said, "I’m ready for a different America. I’m ready for the day when a person can build a good life on a decent income, and we can take our government at its word – when people have more to smile about. I’m ready for peace and prosperity and some American dreaming. I’m ready for America to be AMERICA again."

Since 2009, Johnson has been touring the country, making speeches as honorary Chairman of a non-profit political advocacy group. The status of that group is unknown, but unlike Gov. Susanna Martinez' new political action committee, his IRS 501(c)(4), which raised $205,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010, can not spend money directly on campaigns, but only promote issues.

Gov. Gary Johnson's documents reveal puzzling trail

Updated: 6pm

Just days before former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is expected to formally announce his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, we’ve found a complex web of non-profit registrations, and only one quarterly financial report, for his 16-month-old Our America Initiative.

Johnson, who chairs the political advocacy group announced he was forming it in December 2009, but it was not registered as a Non-Profit Corporation in California until March the next year. The only financial disclosure we could find for the IRS exempt 501(c)(4) is this 4th Quarter (2010) filing in Utah.

Attorney Maureen Otis, from Stafford, Texas filed the financial report with the Utah Department of Commerce's Consumer Protection Division as required this February for the group's Treasurer Chet Goodwin, who lists his office in Salt Lake City. No financial reports were located at the California Secretary of State's office for the entire period.

The PAC reported raising a little more than $205,000 in three months from October 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. At the end of the quarter less than $2,500 cash was on hand. That’s the amount left after deducting $170,000 in overhead expenses. The report indicated $37,000 was spent on fundraising commissions and $606 for other expenses.

Our America Initiative donors do not have to be revealed and were not.

The PAC. is being managed by Ronald Nielson's NSON Opinion Strategy, a research and management group for political entities. NSON is also based in Salt Lake City. Nielsen was sued by the IRS two months ago for tax liabilities un-related to the Our America Initiative.

Two of Our America's officers, who are listed on IRS Form 1024 (embedded below) are from Albuquerque, including President Kelly Ward and Secretary Harold Field. The officers are not compensated for their roles on Johnson's board, expect the group does pay Goodwin for his accounting work.

It remains unclear if donations, which were reported in the single financial report included all donations received for the preceding 12 months. We wanted to know if the total was lumped into one quarter or if the PAC. did not start receiving donations until October 2010.

When we contacted Gov. Johnson, he directed us to Nielson saying, “check with Ron. He’s a real honest guy,” but Nielson declined to return phone calls or respond to emails. Multiple calls and emails to Goodwin and Otis were not answered.

The group will have to file another quarterly report in Utah later this month, and once Johnson launches his presidential campaign on Monday in New Hampshire he will be required to file financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.

We checked the FEC site this morning, and the Friends of Gary Johnson, a non-party/non qualified group registered in Ruckersville, Virginia reported $0 in donations.

You can read the group’s by-laws in the Unified Registration Statement, which is embedded here.

Unified Registration Statement filed in Utah
Our America Initiative

IRS 1024 form found online at the California Attorney General's Office
Our America Initiative 1024 Application

Heinrich hopeful ahead of budget deadline

As the U.S. House of Representatives try to strike a short-term budget deal to prevent a government shutdown the magic number being discussed in the nation's capitol today isn’t billions or trillions, but just two.

In just two days the continuing resolution that is funding the government expires unless the two parties come to an agreement by mid-night this Friday.

After launching his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign in Albuquerque on Saturday, Rep. Martin Heinrich is back in Washington monitoring behind-the-scene negotiations.

On Tuesday, the congressman called us and said he’s hopeful something will be hammered out before the deadline.

“This is one of those situations where the American people expect us to act like adults and sit down and find some middle ground,” Heinrich said. “We have to be willing to support some level of compromise and that's true of both sides."

Heinrich said the Republican leadership faces a huge challenge, because their entire freshman class wants to send a message about government spending and the federal deficit by shutting down the government.

"I just don't think we can afford to be shuttering the doors at the VA and all the jobs that would go on hold during that period. I think we all need to step up and come to some sort of agreement and find some middle ground,” Heinrich said.

Reaching a compromise could be difficult for Heinrich and other Democrats who believe Republican priorities are focused on cutting the wrong things.

“The problem is that everyone agrees that there needs to be cuts within the federal budget," Heinrich said. "But, you can't expect to balance the entire federal budget on the backs on teachers and firefighters. So, we need to meet where we can in terms of overall numbers, and then figure what are priorities are within those limits.”

Heinrich said he will not agree to maintaining tax breaks for corporation that outsource jobs overseas and protect tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. He said that undercuts the people who provide really basic services.

He also expressed concerned over House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s 2012 Pathway to Prosperity plan.

“It really ends medicare as we know it. It gets rid of the current medicare program and replaces it with a voucher program,” Heinrich said. “I can tell you in the many, many town hall meetings, visits to senior citizens over the years, that's a proposal I've never heard come out of the mouth's of any seniors. That's a proposal that's going to meet with a lot of resistance from the American people.”

Heinrich isn't worried about an imminent financial market collapse like former Gov. Gary Johnson, who told us last month last month in Taos, that unless the government cuts spending by $1.6 trillion and fixes government entitlement programs the global economy could fail.

“What we have to look at is how far we can cut spending and still maintain economic growth,” Heinrich said. “The most powerful thing we can do right now, not only to reduce the deficit, but more importantly, to keep recovering from this recession, is to make sure that the economy continues to grow throughout 2011 and 2012. So we have a very fine line we have to walk of bringing down spending and making sure we live within our means, but also not pulling the rug out of this recovering economy.”

Heinrich’s priorities

The second-term congressman said there are wasteful programs he can live without, but insists he is willing to make compromises. Still, he expresses concern some of the cuts Republicans are proposing "are a threat to the countries national security."

In February, Heinrich and members of the House Strategic Forces Subcommittee sent this letter to Chairman Ryan expressing their concern over the potentially dire consequences that the Committee's planned 2011 budget allocation would have on the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

He’s concerned a “one-size” budget would jeopardize the state’s national laboratories.

“One of the things we've really been fighting for is the NNSA. At a time when we're asking NNSA to step up and make sure we implement the new START treat and make sure our nuclear deterrent is safe, secure and reliable,” Heinrich said. “We can't have a 17 percent cut at Los Alamos and an 11 percent cut at Sandia National Labs. And, those are numbers that Rep. (Steve) Pearce, and other Republicans, actually voted for. Their not responsible in today's national security climate, and hopefully will make sure that we have some progress in the midst of all this.”

While, Heinrich is in favor of reducing government spending he worries that cuts to the national labs could hit the state’s economy hard.

"Impeding the work being done at our national labs won't grow our economy and certainly won't create jobs."

Earlier this year Heinrich tried to save Pell Grant Scholarships from the chopping block. Those are the the single largest source of federal grant aid for post-secondary education and Heinrich knows many unemployed New Mexicans are headed back to school, including veterans returning from the Middle East, to prepare for new jobs.




The former city councilor also told us cutting National Public Radio funding is “highly partisan legislation.”

“It has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with politics. Instead of focusing on creating jobs or reducing the deficit,” Heinrich said. “The House Republicans have wasted time trying to de-fund one of the most widely-used and independent journalistic institutions in America.”

Federal workers, who will be locked out if a budget settlement isn’t reached by the deadline also face wage increase freezes.

The budget outline unveiled Tuesday by House Republicans seeks to freeze federal salary schedules through 2015, reduces the federal workforce by 10 percent and requires employees to pay more toward their retirement benefits.

Slideshow with Audio: Noon time labor rally in Albuquerque

Updated

"Ain't no power like the power of the people, and the power of the people don't stop" chanted union labor supporters, who attended a lunch-time rally in Albuquerque.

Monday's rally coincided with the commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Rally leaders said they wanted to honor King’s commitment to help workers earn collective bargaining rights.

Dan Rivera, a retired AFL-CIO pipefitter, and former New Mexico Federation of Labor director, told us he's concerned that unions are being disrespected.

"We're being attacked. We're being spit in the face. We're being disrespected, and it's the people who have to come out and stop it," Rivera said. "It's disgraceful what they've done to organized labor."

He said he's prepared to stand up and fight it.

Listen to my full interview with Rivera on AudioBoo by clicking the blue arrow below.



Rivera says their rally is not just about union workers.

"It’s about the people and about human rights," Rivera said.

Carrying signs, people at the rally gathered at the corner of Central and San Mateo and listened to speeches by Rep. Eleanor Chavez, Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales, and defense attorney Sam Bregman, a candidate for party chair.

Updated: April 4, 2011 at 3:40pm


State Representative Elenaor Chavez, who has represented health workers in the past, and currently represents teachers, agrees with Rivera.

"Workers in New Mexico have a right to jobs with justice, a living wage, benefits and a pension," Chavez said.

Listen to my complete audio interview with her here. I found it interesting to hear what workers did back in the 1980's while Hal Stratton was the state's Attorney General. They created a W.A.R unit, or Workers Against Repression. Interesting history and a good interview.

Sam Bregman says new Gov. Susana Martinez is balancing the state's budget on the backs of union workers. Here's my complete audio interview with Sam. Trust us, you'll want to hear what he says about the lack of a labor board in Albuquerque, more than a year after Mayor Richard Berry was sworn into office. Bregman calls it an assault on the right's of workers and collective bargaining.

April 4th marked the 43rd anniversary of King's death.