Their view: Women leading state's charge for liberty

PAUL GESSING is president of New Mexico's Rio Grande Foundation, which promotes limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility. He finds it noteworthy "that it is women who are leading the charge for liberty here in New Mexico."

Here's a snippet from a recent posting on the RGF website:

It has been well-documented that we have the nation's first Latina Governor, a conservative, but even in the Legislature, women are showing a strong resolve to vote for freedom.

I logged on to our "Freedom Index" vote tracking site and noticed that the top five legislators in terms of pro freedom votes are ALL women.

Reps. Yvette Herrell, R-Alamogordo, Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, Anna Crook, R-Clovis, Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, and Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, currently hold the first five slots in the analysis of the voting patterns of New Mexico's legislators when it comes to pro/anti liberty issues.

As if having such a strong contingent of pro-liberty women in the Legislature were not enough, I have always been struck by the large number of women who lead business and industry groups around New Mexico. Here is a (partial), by no means exhaustive, list of women who lead pro-freedom, pro-business organizations in New Mexico (if I'm missing anyone, email me at [email protected])

• Terri Cole, Albuquerque Chamber;
• Beverlee McClure, Association of Commerce and Industry;
• Carol Wight, New Mexico Restaurant Association;
• Minda McGonagle, National Federation of Independent Businesses New Mexico;
• Karin Foster, Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico;
• Carla Sonntag, New Mexico Business Coalition
• Marita Noon, Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy
• Lynne Anderson, NAIOP