$335,310 Per Job: The Cost of the Obama Stimulus in New Mexico

The billions have been spent. The data has been released. How efficiently did President Obama’s controversial stimulus package create or retain jobs in New Mexico? Based on the government’s own data, the Obama stimulus required $335,310 on average for each of the jobs it claims to have created or retained in New Mexico. report is here

Video collection for district 34

Interviews with Republican candidates Ron Griggs and Dion Kidd-Johnson. Dist.34-Contested Primary


Ellen Wedum - Democrat Candidate NM Senate Dist 34-Uncontested Primary  

Full coverage (55 minutes) of the candidate forum for NM Senate, District 34, sponsored by the Republican Party of Otero County.

Republicans have chance to control New Mexico House

Alamogordo Daily News SANTA FE Republicans last controlled the New Mexico House of Representatives when Dwight Eisenhower was president and Rocky Marciano was the heavyweight boxing champion. It was 1953 when they held a 28-27 majority. Republicans think 2013 could be their year to take back the House. Democrats are in control, but the margin is close. They number 36 compared to 33 Republicans and one independent. The June 5 primary elections will be a first step in reshaping the House of Representatives. These primary races could be pivotal as to which party runs the House for the next two years. analysis here

Susana Martinez: What New Mexico's Governor Can Teach the GOP

Why the country’s first Latina governor might be Mitt’s best veep pick.

From The Daily Beast
 Unless you happen to live near vast stretches of sand, sagebrush, and adobe, chances are you have no idea who Susana Martinez is. That’s a pity, because she may be the boldest, savviest vice presidential pick Mitt Romney could make. Consider Romney’s vulnerabilities. He trails Barack Obama by as many as 56 percentage points among Latinos.

Women prefer the president by roughly 20 points. Conservatives still distrust him, and populists in both parties suspect that he’s a vulture capitalist who likes to fire people. New Mexico’s Martinez, the first Latina governor in U.S. history, would solve each of these problems, or help as much as any running mate conceivably could.

Within minutes of meeting me in Santa Fe one morning last month, she is speaking fluent Spanish, reminiscing about the .357 magnum she acquired at age 18, and describing her family’s mom-and-pop security business back in El Paso. A scout from Boston would have been very pleased.
(snip)
Even though some initiatives have fallen short, she has managed to cut spending by roughly $150 million without raising taxes, scale back the state workforce by more than 5 percent, ease environmental regulations, preserve tax breaks designed to attract large corporations, eliminate redundant taxes on small businesses, and increase local control over public schools by opting out of No Child Left Behind.

“She’s been well-received in the state, but she has not come out a commanding winner in her battles with the Democratic legislature,” says Christine Sierra, a politics professor at the University of New Mexico. “So the jury is still out.”
Read much more here.

NM governor's grandfather not an illegal immigrant, became a US citizen in 1942

Excerpt from AP story here The questions arose after the former prosecutor advocated early last year the repeal of a 2003 law that allowed foreign nationals without Social Security numbers, including illegal immigrants, to get driver's licenses.

News accounts about a 1930 census initially fueled the idea that Martinez's paternal grandparents had illegally entered the country. The census used an "AL" to designate that her grandparents were "aliens."

That designation wasn't an indication of whether they lawfully entered the U.S. It only meant they were not citizens and hadn't filed papers declaring their intent to become one, according to historians and immigration experts.

Critics who opposed Martinez's proposal seized on the reports, arguing that her family offered an example of illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. for a better life and that her proposal was denying others the same chance.

When the questions arose, she couldn't turn to her parents. Her father has Alzheimer's disease and her mother died in 2006. The grandfather died in 1976.

So she initially accepted media accounts and acknowledged that it appeared her grandparents had come to the U.S. without immigration documents. Meanwhile, her proposal died in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

To try to deal with lingering questions, her political organization last fall found documents that indicated her grandfather, Adolfo R. Martinez, had crossed the border several times in the early 1900s.

The immigration documents showed her paternal grandparents followed common practices in crossing what was essentially an open border at the time. The documents weren't clear that he had been lawfully admitted for permanent residency.

The AP obtained a "certificate of naturalization," dated April 6, 1942, from the National Archives Southwest Region center in Fort Worth, Texas. When shown the document, Martinez said she was unaware that her grandfather had become a citizen.

Martinez said the citizenship information appears to resolve the immigration questions about her grandfather, but wasn't relevant to her political future or her continuing efforts to stop driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

"I don't see its importance because of this," the governor said. "I've always known that my father's father and grandfather and grandmother were from Mexico. I've never denied it. I've always said it."

"Let's just say they did come here illegally. I don't see how I am responsible for that," she said. "I am an American citizen. I am a lawyer. I think it's important to always understand that we are a nation of laws."

The grandfather's "certificate of arrival" lists March 16, 1918, as the official date he was lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residency. He arrived in El Paso, Texas, by traveling on the "El Paso Electric Railway," according to the document.

His "petition for naturalization" contains personal and family information, including the date and place of his marriage and that he had a scar on his right "first finger."

In El Paso, he worked as a taxi driver. The governor said he was estranged from his family of five children, who were born in the city. His wife died in 1934 at age 31, and the children were raised by the wife's mother _ Martinez's maternal great-grandmother.

Historians say immigration between the U.S. and Mexico was largely free of restrictions in the early 20th century. Mexicans could easily declare at checkpoints whether their stay was temporary or whether they intended to become permanent U.S. residents.

The grandfather and his wife paid a "head tax" in July 1918, which was required of immigrants. He obtained a border-crossing card in 1921, making travel easier during World War I, said Marian Smith, a historian at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

He was 48 when he became a citizen in 1942. It's unclear why the grandfather waited for more than two decades before becoming a citizen.

Smith said many longtime immigrant residents decided to complete the naturalization process after a 1940 law that required the fingerprinting and registration of non-citizens living in the U.S. Another possibility was his marriage in 1941 to a U.S. citizen.

Martinez faces heat for helping in GOP senate race

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez is drawing heat from a few Republicans for throwing her might and her political action committee’s money in a contested GOP primary for a state senate seat in eastern New Mexico.

 The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that Martinez is supporting Angie Spears over two other Republicans in a race for the state Senate in a rural, heavily Republican district around Clovis.

Spears’ two opponents say they do not appreciate Martinez taking a side in a campaign where no Democrats are running.

Trucking company owner Mark Myers, of Clovis, a candidate, said the governor should be pouring her energy into races where Democrats could be defeated. “I’m not associated with the circles of power. My only interest is in the people here,” the 44-year-old Myers said of Senate District 7, which includes Curry, Quay and Union counties.

Pat Woods, 62, a farmer and rancher from Broadview, is the third Republican candidate. “I’m disappointed that the governor got into the race,” he said.

Woods and Myers said they did not understand why Martinez elected to take sides in a primary.

Jay McCleskey, of the governor’s political committee, offered this explanation: “Governor Martinez endorsed Angie Spears when she was the only candidate in the race.”

McCleskey added that “in key races, Governor Martinez will support candidates that are committed to pursuing a reform agenda to move New Mexico forward, regardless of party affiliation and regardless of how loudly status-quo political bosses and lobbyists whine about it.”

Republican Clint Harden, the incumbent senator in District 7, announced on Feb. 18 that he would not seek re-election.

Spears had entered the race even before Harden decided to retire from politics. She received Martinez’s endorsement two days after Harden stepped aside.

Martinez’s Susana PAC has since donated $5,000 to Spears’ campaign. That was nearly a fifth of the $26,080 that Spears listed in contributions when she filed her first campaign statement this month.

In all, Spears raised a bit more money than Woods and Myers combined during the period. Much of the money Spears received came from other Republican politicians.

Spears, 38, who is clinical director of a counseling center for children, said she was happy to have the endorsements and financial help of politicians.

Still, Spears said she was taking nothing for granted, knowing that voters make the decision on who goes to the Senate.

“I’m out door-knocking in all three counties,” she said.

NM Supreme Court orders a racial redistricting plan

Excerpts:

"The court issued a 4-1 split decision that was a victory for Democrats and the Legislature, which had challenged a redistricting plan ordered last month by retired state District Judge James Hall."
"The justices directed Hall to look at changing a Clovis-area district to ensure that Hispanic voters have a strong enough majority to have a good chance of electing the candidate of their choice." Scroll down the page at this link, for the article

In a separate plea: On August 31, 2011, Native American leaders urged lawmakers to maintain the Indian-majority districts. Currently there are six state house and three state senate where Native Americans account for at least 65 percent of the population.