Congressman Pearce

New polling shows 90% of New Mexicans support for smart methane requirements

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As New Mexicans gather this morning to show their strong support for clean air and methane standards, Congressman Steve Pearce revealed his true colors again last night in Washington. His vote to strip funding for the implementation of federal methane requirements on the oil and gas industry wouldn’t just dirty New Mexico’s air, new polling shows it is also dramatically out of step with the will of 9 out of 10 New Mexicans. New polling data released just yesterday shows that the way you yourself probably feel about public lands is actually the way most folks feel about it. Overall the poll shows strong support for public lands in the west, that voters reject candidates who favor extraction over conservation, and common sense issues like the Methane Rule have broad support from either side of the aisle. It appears that Pearce didn’t get a chance to see the poll yesterday though before taking a vote to cut funding for enforcement of the Methane Rule. 89 percent of ALL New Mexicans support the rule, so it’s baffling that Pearce would vote against something with such clear interest to his constituents.

On the border: Protests, civil disobedience, and unending hope for separated families

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It’s been 10 days since the first big action took place in Tornillo Texas, where a small land port of entry has become of the burning hot focal points of the massive uprising against the inhumane separation of families detained by ICE, CBP, and Border Patrol. ProgressNow New Mexico has been down in Tornillo four times to bear witness to various actions from general protests, to visits from our state’s two Senators, to today’s acts of civil disobedience that shut down the port for over two hours. We’ve tried to cover as much live from Facebook as we could, taken pictures, and talked with folks who’ve worked to organize these events. While the Trump administration has continued to push its narrative of “zero tolerance” when it comes to immigration from south of the border, people from all walks of life have shown up and with increasing escalation, attempted to keep people’s focus on what matters: That children of all ages, and genders, are being housed in tents in 100+ degree weather with no actual plan of reuniting them with their families. We’ve learned that Trump only signed the Executive Order that supposedly ended family separation AFTER being turned down by at least two private corporations to build more additions onto the facility at Tornillo AND made it so that indefinite family detention is still a concept they’re willing to pursue.

Elections 2018

For Dems, Lt. Governor race is still a toss-up, but GOP and Libs are locked in

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ProgressNow New Mexico will be looking at some top-level races more in-depth over the next few weeks to bring our perspective to the key races we’re expecting to see in New Mexico this year. New Mexico is in the national spotlight as one of the “most likely to flip” states in terms of our governor’s race. Our series will focus on the offices that New Mexicans can vote for statewide. This is the third piece in our series. The position of Lt. Governor can seem pretty inglorious compared to other statewide positions with specific duties as Secretary of State or Attorney General.

Elections 2018

Alan Webber Announces Running for Santa Fe Mayor in his Interview with Richard Eeds

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With Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales’ surprise announcement this month that he will not seek a second term, the March 2018 election to lead the capitol city is underway. 

Five candidates had already announced within days of Gonzales’ announcement.  According to the Santa Fe New Mexican: 
[School Board Member Kate] Noble joins three city councilors — Peter Ives, Joseph Maestas and Ron Trujillo — and school crossing guard Harvey Van Sickle, who is on the board of the nonprofit group Keep Santa Fe Beautiful, in the race for mayor, which could get more crowded. Today, former Fast Company magazine CEO and 2014 gubernatorial candidate Alan Webber became number six. 

He announced on Richard Eeds Santa Fe radio show. Listen below. 

Source: Alan Webber Announces Running for Mayor in his Interview with Richard Eeds

New Mexico Legislature

Finance Agency: State revenues up; Gov’s furlough, closing threats just politics

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At the close of the legislative session, Gov. Martinez made statewide news announcing huge gaps in state revenue that required her to close state parks and museums and furlough state workers if the legislature did not pass her preferred version of the state budget. That threat appears to be based on a lie a new report from the state’a leading finance agency. 

The state is on track to end the year at least $71 million ahead of projections, according to the report and other financial data. From the Santa Fe New Mexican: 
A revenue forecast for the state of New Mexico released Friday indicates that Gov. Susana Martinez is wrong about the need for employee furloughs or a hiring freeze to balance spending for the remaining two months of the fiscal year, according to a top university economist. The budget tracking report from the Legislative Finance Committee indicates “revenues continue to appear on track or exceed expectations from the December forecast.” It projects that the state general fund will close out the 2017 fiscal year at $54 million, or 1 percent, above expectations… An economics professor, asked by The New Mexican to review the revenue tracking report, said Martinez’s talk of furloughs isn’t supported by the revenue forecast.

budget

Gov. Martinez vetoed the legislature’s entire budget in spiteful budget battle

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After facing criticism for leaving more than 200 bills unsigned on her desk while leaving the state to speak at a conference of Tennessee workers, Martinez surprised nearly everyone by coming back to the state to announce hundreds-of-millions of dollars in vetoes, including vetoes to the entire budgets of every state college and university and the entire budget of the legislature, a branch she admits in her veto message is supposed to be a co-equal branch of government. The vetoed version of the budget includes line-item vetoes of the entire legislative budget.  

At $18.7 million, the budget for the entire branch of government amounts to just 0.03% of the state’s $6 billion budget. Gov. also vetoes legislator memberships, keeps $100,000 in memberships for her out-of-state conferences and travel
Martinez also vetoed memberships and funds for travel for state legislators to attend legislative events but she kept more than $100,000 for her own memberships to governor’s conferences she frequently attends of out state at taxpayer expense, including the National and Western States Governors Associations.  
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IPRA

Gov. Martinez goes on trial in Santa Fe

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The trial of Santa Fe Reporter vs. Governor Susana Martinez (D-101-CV-201302328) is finally underway in Santa Fe District Court. At the core of the issue: did Governor Martinez and her staff retaliate against news outlets not favorable to her by delaying or ignoring their public records requests and requests for comments? The suit alleges that the governor’s office stopped responding to Santa Fe Reporter questions and requests after the paper published excerpts from the governor’s private emails with cabinet officials and campaign members discussing public business. Joey Peters, then a reporter for the SFR, apparently recorded a phone call with Gov. Martinez in which he asked her about the SFR’s problems getting a response.