Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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In a year of national political turmoil and upheaval, it proved to be a status quo election in New Mexico. The only real changes came as a result of redistricting, most notably in the 2nd Congressional District. The victory by Gabe Vasquez flips a seat that has been (mostly) Republican ever since the state gained a third district following the 1980 census. Vasquez won by a little more than 1,000 votes. If Democrats can hold the seat, and much of that may depend on a challenge to the new district maps now pending in the state...
During an interview for a podcast before the election, I referred to the elusive youth vote as “fool’s gold.” Young voters are too busy raising their families and starting their careers, I said. They aren’t as invested in the community. Their growing numbers make leaders in both parties dream about the possibilities, but that always ends in disappointment. Elections are a time when our assumptions and preconceptions get put to the test. And this year, mine were wrong. According to data from the Center for Information and Res...
If Yvette Herrell wins re-election, will that disprove the lawsuit filed by the Republican Party now pending in the state Supreme Court alleging gerrymandering? Earlier this month, the Supreme Court moved to take control of the case from the district court in Clovis. They plan to begin hearing arguments in January. The new district boundaries are in effect for the current election. In their lawsuit, Republicans argue that those boundaries give Democrats an unfair advantage. “These congressional maps were ramrodded through t...
New Mexico voters have proven eager in past elections to change our antiquated state constitution every time they get the opportunity. There have been 10 proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot in the last four elections, and nine of them have passed. Voters chose to dramatically remake the Public Regulation Commission in 2020, create a new ethics commission in 2018 and reform our bail system in 2016. The only proposal not to pass was in 2014 and would have required school board elections to be held separately from o...
I was disappointed to learn that filmmakers plan to resume production on “Rust,” and urge state regulators to keep a much closer eye on that set this time. I can’t imagine why anybody would want to see the film now, other than for morbid curiosity. Every time there is a scene where an actor pretends to get shot, viewers will know that a real person was shot and killed during filming. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot by the film’s star and producer, Alec Baldwin, who believed he was firing a prop gun loaded with bl...
During the next few weeks, voters will get their first chance to weigh in on the recent rulings by our new Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority. The unelected and unaccountable justices are not likely to notice or care. They will be too busy reshaping our nation’s laws to fit their religious and political preferences. After ending 50 years of women’s reproductive rights, neutering the Environmental Protection Agency, overturning local gun laws and forcing states to fund religious schools in last year’s sessi...
Every two years, those running for office tell us this will be the most important election of our lives, and I always roll my eyes and mumble, maybe for you. This year’s election, which starts with early voting on Tuesday, is pretty darned important, and not for who will win control of the House, Senate and other elected positions. This year’s election is important simply for the sake of elections themselves. In 1896, losing Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan started a tradition that would serve our nat...
The 14th Amendment, passed in 1868, was one of three changes made to the Constitution during the Reconstruction Era designed to ensure that Southern states didn’t slip back into their old ways. The most controversial section these days is probably the provision granting citizenship to anyone born in the country. But it was a more obscure section that was highlighted in a New Mexico courtroom earlier this month. In an attempt to keep former Confederate officers and political leaders from regaining power, the amendment p...
The state Supreme Court has come out against proposed reform to the bail system, setting up a potential clash with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham if she is re-elected in November. During a public safety press conference in January, prior to this year’s legislative session, Lujan Grisham called for changes to make it more likely that those accused of serious crimes would be held in jail prior to their trials. “This legislation asks our court to look seriously at individuals with violent histories before releasing them, sen...
My parents started a college fund for me when I was still in my mother’s womb. When I was a little kid, anytime I got money in a birthday or Christmas card, some would go into the college fund. When I graduated from high school, I still didn’t know what I wanted to be. But I had no doubt as to how I would spend the next four years. My dad was like so many others of that era who served in World War II then went to college on the GI Bill. The prevailing thinking at that time was, the best way to get off the farm or out of the...
The abandoned seed barn off West Amador Avenue in Las Cruces has stood for decades as a giant monument to lost industry. The city has had big plans in the past to breathe new life into the old structure. In 2015 it was going to be part of Gin Plaza, described in the ill-fated Amador Pròximo project as an “homage to the neighborhood’s agricultural and industrial history and an invitation to millennials who crave an eclectic vibe in which to explore, live, work and recreate.” Amador Pròximo was just another in a long line of...
Democrats in the state Legislature went to a lot of trouble to gerrymander the 2nd Congressional District, and now their colleagues in Washington, D.C., are squandering it. After rejecting all of the proposed maps of an independent redistricting commission, Democrats passed a map offered by Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces that breaks up the Republican stronghold in southeast New Mexico that had always dominated past elections in the 2nd Congressional District. Republicans have won all but two elections since the state...
Our nation’s efforts to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian prison demonstrate how conflicted we are on the enforcement of cannabis laws. It was announced recently that the United States has agreed to release Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, better known as “the merchant of death,” in exchange for Griner and retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian prison since 2020, serving a 16-year sentence on trumped-up espionage charges. Russia has rejected that offer, demanding that we add Vadim...
“Will you still need me; will you still feed me; when I’m 64?” I was 8 years old when the Beatles released that song in 1967, and it seemed quite probable to me then that I would need help feeding myself by the time I hit 64. If I hit 64. The average life expectancy for men at that time was 66.8 years, and I had good reason to believe I would come in under the average. My dad had a massive heart attack when he was just 50 years old. It probably would have killed him had it happened 10 years earlier. Doctors at the Unive...
State Rep. Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences, who finished second in a five-person race for governor in the Republican primary election in June, has agreed to pay a $500 civil penalty to settle a bitter dispute with the State Ethics Commission, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The dispute stems from a complaint filed by Dow’s Democratic opponent in the 2020 election, and highlights the challenges faced by both our unpaid legislators and our relatively new Ethics Commission to police a system where conflicts of i...
I doubt if there is any law on the books that is more flagrantly and routinely violated every year by otherwise law-abiding residents of our state than city restrictions on fireworks. Under the “Safe and Sane” fireworks law, the only things that can legally be set off in my city of Las Cruces are ground and hand-held sparkling and smoking devices, cylindrical fountains, flitter sparklers, illuminating torches, smoke devices and wheels. That leaves out bottle rockets, cherry bombs, black cats … pretty much anything that bangs...
Otero County Commissioner Gerald Matherly smells something fishy with the results of the recent primary election. Matherly didn’t come right out and accuse the winners of cheating, but said he knew of at least one case where “ghost” ballots were returned from an address where the homeowner had died. “I don’t even know if it’s one ballot, 10 ballots or 20 ballots,” he said. He also shares the concerns of fellow commissioners Couy Griffin and Vickie Marquardt that the Dominion voting machines used by the county to tabulate the...
The old system of cash bonds that was in place before voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2016 reforming the bail system was not equal justice under the law. It included a schedule that set the amount of bond for each offense. Those who could pay the bond stayed out of jail; those who couldn’t pay the bond went to jail. Let’s say a big company held a party where folks had too much to drink and then drove off. On the way home, the company president, manager and janitor all get arrested for the same offense. The pre...
I understand criticism of the Biden administration for not acting sooner to address the baby formula shortage before it became a crisis. That’s justified. What I don’t understand is the criticism he’s received for fixing the problem. Political commentators from both parties have claimed it is “shameful” to be receiving assistance from other countries. No, it isn’t. It’s wonderful, and it’s bringing immediate relief to desperate mothers throughout the nation. The only reason to think it would be shameful is pride, which is a q...
House Bill 51, sponsored in 2019 by Rep. Joanne Ferrary of Las Cruces, was the most consequential bill not to pass the New Mexico Legislature in the past two decades. It would have removed a law then still on the books from 1969 that made it a fourth-degree felony for doctors to perform an abortion; and a second-degree felony if the mother died as a result of the procedure. After passing on a 40-29 vote in the House, the bill was defeated 24-18 in the Senate. Eight Democrats, including some of the Senate’s most senior and h...
As things stand now, there may not be any presidential debates in 2024. And I’m not sure that would be a huge loss. The Republican National Committee has announced it will no longer participate in debates managed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has been in charge since 1988. RNC officials say they will find “newer, better debate platforms,” but anything they propose will have to be agreed to by the Democrats. With so much division and distrust between the parties, I won’t be surprised if the election cycle p...
The recent federal court ruling to relieve the state from judicial oversight of its mental health system stemming from the Jackson lawsuit of 1987 is a huge victory for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, state officials and taxpayers. The governor estimates the case has cost the state $80 million during the last three decades. The federal class action lawsuit was filed against the state by parents of those with developmental disabilities who were being held at state-run institutions in Fort Stanton and Los Lunas. The court found...
One of the questions in a recent news quiz for the Saturday morning show from the farmers market on KTAL-LP FM community radio was, “Can you name any of the five Republican candidates running for governor?” Not only was the contestant stumped, but so was just about everyone else who was there. Greg Zanetti, Ethel Maharg, Mark Ronchetti, Rebecca Dow and Jay Block are engaged in a spirited battle for the opportunity to take on incumbent Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham this November. Campaign filings show the five have spent a combi...
The top priority for our state’s leaders, not just this year but for the next several years, must be to diversify our economy and break free from our complete dependence on oil and gas revenue. It was with that goal in mind that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called legislators back into a special session last year after the regular session had failed to produce legislation legalizing the sale and production of marijuana. The state’s nascent cannabis industry took its first steps April 1 as doors opened to customers for the fir...
The state of New Mexico has two different sets of rules when it comes to funding capital outlay projects for new construction or repair of basic infrastructure. All funding for education projects is governed by the Public School Capital Outlay Act of 1975. It requires that all school districts go through the same evaluation process, which uses a set of adequacy standards to identify and address the most critical needs first. The state Supreme Court has made it clear to the Legislature that it has a constitutional...
