Free Republic

While roaming the grounds of the US Capitol yesterday, Kristinn Taylor obtained a list of possible democrat defectors of the now infamous “Healthcare” bill. Kristinn was asked to post this list of wobbly democrats on FreeRepublic in an effort to mobilize our forces and overwhelm these members with phone calls and e-mails asking them to vote NO on the socialization of our healthcare. We also learned that Nancy Pelosi had just scheduled the vote for tomorrow; Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM. For all those who were unable to answer the call to surround the Capitol yesterday, here is...

The slaying of a 64-year-old Catholic nun in her convent over the weekend has stunned and saddened a small Navajo Nation community about 30 miles northwest of Gallup. The FBI is looking for suspects in the death of Sister Marguerite Bartz, a 10-year resident of the community of Navajo, who was killed on church property at St. Berard Mission Church. The FBI would not release details about the manner of death or other aspects of the investigation. They confirmed they are looking for a suspect or suspects who may be armed and dangerous, as well as the vehicle Bartz had...

New Mexicans should brace for tax increases in 2010, Gov. Bill Richardson warned Monday. "It's inevitable," Richardson told a news conference in the state Capitol. "It's very painful." Richardson ruled out tax hikes during a recent special legislative session called to deal with a projected $650 million state deficit for this year. His remarks Monday represented his strongest words to date on the likelihood of increasing taxes during the regular session that begins in January. Reaction to Richardson's remarks were mixed. Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, agreed with Richardson and said tax loopholes should be closely scrutinized. "We should remember that...

Controversial Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio and former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias are involved in a controversy related to an FBI investigation, Talking Points Memo highlights. Arpaio, known as “America’s toughest sheriff” is currently under investigation by the FBI for targeting his political foes in apparent retaliation, according to KHPO, a Phoenix area TV station. Iglesias told KPHO, that he would “seek an indictment” against Arpaio if he were the U.S. Attorney in Arpaio’s area. Then things get even stranger, with Arpaio’s office releasing a statement attacking Iglesias’ reputation. The statement reads in part: *** Rather than dignify...

Gary Johnson Gearing up for 2012? The pro-drug legalization, pro-immigration, small government budget hawk and former governor of New Mexico looks to be preparing for a run. Gary Johnson is preparing to launch his Our America PAC shortly, as soon as he gets all of his legal ducks in a row. He will be hitting the trail hard soon, traveling the country to speak in support of issues and candidates, re-immersing himself in the public policy debate. This December, Governor Johnson will also be releasing a book entitled “Seven Principles Of Good Government,” published by The Heartland Institute (a conservative-libertarian...

Today is Halloween, but Gov. Bill Richardson has been running around as Dr. Doom all week. Richardson is upset the Legislature approved a 7.6 percent cut in funding for most of his agencies as a means to help address a $650 million budget deficit. Day after day this week, in a well-orchestrated public-relations campaign, Richardson and other administration officials warned of dire consequences ... Senior citizens will go hungry, poor children will go without medical care, state parks will be shut, two prisons will be closed and hundreds of criminals will be set loose to prey on you, the administration...

Early Release for 660 Inmates a Possibility A pair of New Mexico prisons would be closed and as many as 660 inmates released before completing their full prison terms if a budget-cutting bill passed last week   by state lawmakers is signed into law, state officials said Wednesday.    -SNIP-    Richardson told reporters Wednesday that he’s concerned   closing the prisons could raise public safety issues and criticized lawmakers for approving state agency cuts during last week’s special session that average 7.6 percent.   -SNIP-    Between 530 and 660 inmates could be released early, about 10 percent of the state’s...

EL PASO, Texas -- Rain and snow fell in parts of the Borderland on Wednesday afternoon as a cold front moved in. Light snow was reported in West, Northeast and far East El Paso about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Snowfall was also spotted in the Franklin Mountains in El Paso and the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces. The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for southern New Mexico and west Texas from 3 to 10 a.m. Thursday. NWS officials said some areas may be just above freezing tonight but low temperatures for Friday will likely affect more areas.

The lovely-looking restaurant and bar The Breslin begins lunch service tomorrow, and co-owner Ken Friedman (The Spotted Pig) is planning on serving alcohol despite objections from the Masjid Ar-Rahman mosque across the street. Earlier this month the mosque’s leaders called a meeting with Friedman at The Ace Hotel, where The Breslin is located, and asked, "Can you move the bar?" Friedman's response makes us want to hurry over to The Breslin right now for a dram of Laphroaig to show our support (and drown out the voices): I laughed. And the guy said, "Oh, you think that’s funny?" And I...

Gary Johnson is preparing to launch his Our America PAC shortly, as soon as he gets all of his legal ducks in a row. He will be hitting the trail hard soon, traveling the country to speak in support of issues and candidates, re-immersing himself in the public policy debate. This December, Governor Johnson will also be releasing a book entitled “Seven Principles Of Good Government,” published by The Heartland Institute (a conservative-libertarian think tank).

Hotel Owner to Workers: No Spanish! By MELANIE DABOVICH, AP TAOS, N.M. (Oct. 26) -- Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him...

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years...

Beheadings and amputations. Iraqi-style brutality, bribery, extortion, kidnapping, and murder. More than 7,200 dead—almost double last year’s tally—in shoot-outs between federales and often better-armed drug cartels. This is modern Mexico ... law enforcement officials on the take from drug lords—is becoming an American problem as well.

I’ve been in New Mexico less than 10 minutes when I realize that no ordinary politician rules the Land of Enchantment. After the young woman working the rental car counter discovers I need wheels to visit her very own governor, she starts talking excitedly and positively about his efforts to pass a school choice bill. One of her co-workers, a Democratic activist, tries to straighten her out, and the conversation soon grows to include other employees, all of whom are surprisingly well-informed due to the governor’s high-profile efforts to pass a statewide voucher program. The Democrat wants to make something...

Clovis, New Mexico, might just be the cornerstone of a clean-energy revolution. It might also be the epicenter of a political battle over how America embraces green energy. Clovis is the site chosen for the Tres Amigas electricity-transmission project, as our colleague Rebecca Smith reports today in The Wall Street Journal. The idea is to build a powerful substation in New Mexico using advanced supercondctors that could physically connect the three otherwise isolated power grids—the Eastern, the Western, and Texas grids. The project, which could take five years to finish, seeks to remedy one of the problems with renewable energy:...

"New Mexico’s oil and gas producers are used to cyclic ups and downs, but operators say the current slump is the worst they’ve seen in decades." .... "Industry representatives also blame adverse environmental regulations, especially new state rules on the management of oil-and-gas pits that took effect in New Mexico last June. “The overzealous and out-of-control regulatory environment makes it very tough to do business in New Mexico,” said Bob Gallagher, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. “I’d say that’s even a bigger concern than price instability.”"

Recent reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may cut back on the number of Border Patrol agents along the southern border have made U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, John McCain and John Kyl of Arizona and several others very nervous. Nervous enough to write DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano a letter, asking for reassurance that no such cuts are being planned. “ we would like you to confirm that the current strength of 17,415 agents will be maintained or increased in fiscal year 2010,” the letter reads. Hopefully the reports of border agent cutbacks...

Corruption allegations are again swirling around Gov. Bill Richardson's administration, after a longtime investment manager for the state admitted giving into pressure to push financial deals that would enrich political heavyweights here. Saul Meyer, a founding partner of the Dallas-based firm Aldus Equity, made the admission in a plea agreement unsealed this week in New York, where Mr. Meyer pleaded guilty to securities fraud for a kickback scheme involving New York state's pension fund. Mr. Meyer said he violated his fiduciary duty in New Mexico "on numerous occasions" by urging investments for two state boards that he knew would prove...

Not only was Republican Richard J. Berry elected mayor of Albuquerque yesterday, but the G.O.P. also took control of the Albuquerque City Council, as the New Mexico Independent reports: GOP challenger Richard Berry surprised even himself Tuesday, knocking off longtime Democratic Mayor Martin Chavez and avoiding a two-man runoff while doing it. Berry, a two-term Republican state legislator, bested Chavez in convincing fashion, collecting nearly 44 percent of votes to Chavez’s 35 percent. Richard Romero received nearly 21 percent of the vote. Only provisional ballots remained to be counted early Wednesday. ... City Councilor Michael Cadigan lost a bid Tuesday...

State Rep. Richard Berry scored an impressive victory Tuesday with an outright win over three-term incumbent Martin Chávez to become Albuquerque's next mayor. "We had a message that resonated with voters in Albuquerque, and we worked hard," said Berry, a general contractor and two-term Republican state representative who campaigned as a "common-sense" business owner with conservative themes. ...Berry maintained a 5 percentage point or better lead over Chávez throughout the night and finished above the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff election next month. Richard Romero, the third candidate in the race, was trailing, with about 21 percent....

Richard “RJ” Berry appears to be winning a plurality of the absentee votes posted to the Bernalillo county Web site moments ago. Berry now has 41.62 percent of the vote compared to 36.03 percent for incumbent mayor Martin Chavez and 22.18 percent for former state Pro Tem Richard Romero.

A business without slumps___ Santa Fe home builders Steve Gibson and Jim Gill, trying to adjust to the slump in the housing market, have turned to constructing something else many people eventually spend a lot of time in — coffins. "We wanted a business we could do at waist level, had few callbacks and was recession-proof," said Gill, 49. Gibson, also 49, said the two haven't thrown in the towel on the their custom home-building businesses, but needed something to supplement the occasional remodeling and repair jobs they get from previous home customers. Gill owns Jim Gill Construction; Gibson owns...

Senate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposed a requirement that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs. Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that current law and the healthcare bill under consideration are too lax and leave the door open to illegal immigrants defrauding the government using false or stolen identities to obtain benefits. Grassley's amendment was beaten back 10-13 on a party-line vote. The bill, authored by committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), would require applicants to verify their names, places of birth and Social Security numbers. In addition, legal immigrants...

General Electric will close its Albuquerque jet engine plant, despite proposals from an employee union and Bernalillo County to keep it open. General Electric heard the proposals last week but still decided to close the plant at south Broadway and Woodward next fall. The move will cut more than 400 jobs.

A state official said New Mexico's budget problems are likely much larger than expected. State Controller Anthony Armijo told legislators Monday that a revenue shortfall in the just-ended 2009 fiscal year may be at least $100 million greater than previously projected.

      The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was meant to provide money for renters to buy homes, but a ring of local residents apparently saw only the money part.   -SNIP-      The tax credit program offers up to $8,000 to eligible first-time homebuyers, who claim the credit by filing a specific IRS form with their federal tax return. The credit is a dollar-fordollar credit on the amount owed by a homebuyer in federal taxes. If a buyer doesn’t owe the IRS any money at the end of the year, the credit amount comes back as cash in...

New information on two couples killed at a Juarez motel. Authorities say three of the people killed were from New Mexico. Police say they are sisters Yolanda and Brenda Torres Fernandez and a man named Jimmy Moreno Macias. The exact town in New Mexico is unknown. Investigators believe the fourth man killed was the intended target.

ACORN Registration Forms Found In Apartment During Drug Bust. “A search of a northeast Albuquerque apartment as part of a drug investigation led to the discovery of about a dozen voter registration forms, police said. The forms were filled out and had dates from late last month, Albuquerque police said. Authorities had not determined the authenticity of the forms. The occupant of the apartment, a Cuban national, was arrested on drug charges. He told authorities he obtained the documents while working for the Association of Communities Organized for Reform Now or ACORN.” (“Albuquerque Police Find Voter Registration Forms At...

Amid a fierce backlash, western Democrats risk being forced to give back some of their recent gains. DENVER -- When the elected officials attending a summit of Mountain state Democrats gathered onstage for a group photo last month, they had to crowd elbow to elbow to make room for everyone. If Project New West, the Democratic research and polling firm that organized the gathering, had taken a similar class picture a few years ago, there would have been a lot more room to spread out. For Democrats, the Mountain West has been one of this decade's towering success stories. After...

Barack Obama’s dear friends at ACORN are busy trying to lie, cheat, and steal their way to victory in November. The latest ACORN Watch entry comes to you from the battleground state of New Mexico, where election officials have notified prosecutors of an estimated 1,100 possibly fraudulent voter registration cards. The Bernalillo County clerk has notified prosecutors that some 1,100 possibly fraudulent voter registration cards have been turned in to her office. Some cards in New Mexico’s most populous county have the same name as a voter who’s already registered, but carry a different birth date or Social Security number;...

SANTA FE, N.M. - Gov. Bill Richardson spent almost $139,000 for dinners and receptions at the governor's mansion last year, entertaining thousands of guests including movie stars George Clooney and Robert Duvall. A discretionary expense account covers the costs of the events. Spending from the fund was up 63 percent from 2007, when the governor campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination and traveled extensively outside of New Mexico. Expenditures totaled $138,925 in 2008, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press in response to a public records request. That is up from $85,197 in 2007 from $109,486 in 2006....

While most members of New Mexico's congressional delegation support a government-run public option for health care coverage, nearly half of the state's registered voters don't want one, a Journal Poll found.Forty-nine percent of the voters surveyed statewide said they opposed a government-run insurance program that would compete with private industry.Forty-two percent said they favored a government-run program, or public option. Nine percent said it would depend or they didn't know. Intensity also was apparent. Respondents who "strongly opposed" a public option outnumbered those who "strongly favored" such a plan by more than 3-to-2. Brian Sanderoff, president of Research and Polling...

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and three codefendants were arraigned in district court Friday on charges of money laundering and embezzlement. Vigil-Giron was not in court, but her attorney Robert Gorence was. He took steps Friday to get the case thrown out of court. The efforts to get the case dismissed are joined by codefendant Armando Gutierrez. Gutierrez is the media consultant who produced television advertisements featuring Vigil-Giron as part of the voter education program. Gutierrez, Vigil-Giron and two others are accused of diverting federal dollars from that program to their own bank accounts...

ELEPHANT BUTTE LAKE, N.M. (KRQE) - One mariner knew a collision with his own boat could not be avoided as a large houseboat with Gov. Bill Richardson aboard and an aide at the helm tried to dock Saturday at an Elephant Butte Lake marina. No one was hurt in the 5:15 p.m. incident that damaged three boats and the marina. However Brian Condit, Richardson's chief of staff, was cited for negligent operation of the houseboat Bloody Mary. Richardson told KRQE News 13 Wednesday that he was napping at the time. "I think it's important that we get the facts out,"...

examiner.com — On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge’s straight shootin’ message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have “reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot.” . . .

As of this week- Stimulus Spending is at: $20,726,309,285.22 At the link on the upper right will be a listing: *American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Report* Updated as of 9/4/2009. New contracts signed this week are for design and construction of 10 land port of entry buildings for customs and border protection. 6 In North Dakota,1 in Vermont, New Mexico and Montana (The one in Vermont isn't even near the border, in Killingly.)

JACKSON HEALTH SYSTEM Facing ever-increasing financial losses, Miami-Dade's struggling Jackson Health System has spent $33 million this year alone on caring for undocumented immigrants. On a quiet street in northwestern Miami, a Jackson nursing home serves 60 undocumented immigrants -- some paralyzed, quite a few on ventilators -- costing Miami-Dade taxpayers about $318 a day per patient. ``There's no way to place them anywhere else,'' says Armand Gonzalez, administrator of the Jackson Memorial Long-Term Care Center. The cost of their care is part of the reason why the county's public hospital system is struggling with growing financial losses that border...

For New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, last Friday was long in coming — the day a federal prosecutor announced that after nearly a year investigating alleged corruption in the awarding of state contracts, he had wrapped up the case without any indictments. The investigation had cast a cloud over Richardson, scuttling a job in the Obama Cabinet and putting in doubt his political future. But even as Richardson and his allies proclaimed his “vindication” and predicted it would catapult him back onto the national stage, the prosecutor handling the case wouldn’t let the matter fade. U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt fired...

For New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, last Friday was long in coming — the day a federal prosecutor announced that after nearly a year investigating alleged corruption in the awarding of state contracts, he had wrapped up the case without any indictments. The investigation had cast a cloud over Richardson, scuttling a job in the Obama Cabinet and putting in doubt his political future. But even as Richardson and his allies proclaimed his “vindication” and predicted it would catapult him back onto the national stage, the prosecutor handling the case wouldn’t let the matter fade. U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt fired...

Mother upset after 8-year-old daughter is left at wrong bus stop LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- What would you do if your child was forced to get off a school bus at the wrong stop? That is the situation one Las Cruces mother had to grapple with Wednesday, when her 8-year-old daughter was let off on a busy street nearly half a mile from her usual stop. Eight-year-old Destiny Maciel got off the bus at Valley and Tashiro, a busy intersection where there is no place to stop and ask for directions. Destiny's mother Amanda said that didn't stop a bus...

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," September 1, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, they're angry about health care, angry about taxes, angry about the exploding size of our government, and they want government to get its nose out of their business! The Tea Party Express rolling on down the highway, 35 cities in 16 days. Final stop will be right here in Washington, D.C. But where are they tonight? Well, Griff Jenkins is with the Tea Party Express in Las Cruces,...

The wailing and gnashing of teeth on both sides of the political aisle over last week's nonindictment of Gov. Bill Richardson and two former aides is to be expected in a state lacking the rich tradition of political corruption prosecutions they have in places like Illinois or New Jersey. Here in the Land of Enchantment, we're not used to the sharp elbows and eye gouging that accompany such matters. From comments coming from both sides, we don't even know the rules of these contests. And trust me, there are rules. Republicans are complaining that the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.,...

Tea Party sets up in Rio Rancho Updated: Tuesday, 01 Sep 2009, 12:34 PM MDT Published : Tuesday, 01 Sep 2009, 12:34 PM MDT Reporter: Kaitlin McCarthy Web Producer: Todd Dukart RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) - Protestors gathered at Haynes Park in Rio Rancho starting Tuesday morning, getting ready for another stop in a national tour of protests against proposed health care reform and government spending. The Tea Party Express tour, organized by a conservative political action committee called the Our Country Deserves Better Committee, is scheduled to wrap up on Sept. 12 in Washington, D.C., where a protest march...

Thousands attend tea party protest in ABQ A vocal crowd of over a thousand people gathered near Montgomery and Louisiana Boulevard in Albuquerque Wednesday to protest the federal government's spending habits. Retired teacher Yvonne Estrada gave up her bowling night to join thousands of other New Mexicans Wednesday who turned out to voice their concerns about the economy and the federal government's spending habits. Estrada says she's worried about where America is headed. She joined a march of several hundred people along a busy Albuquerque street during rush hour. Her sign read, "I am not your ATM." Estrada says she...

<p>All aboard the Tea Party Express for Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico!!</p> <p>Woo hoo!! Thirty-five cities, thirty-five tea parties in sixteen days!!</p> <p>Be sure to check the tour schedule and join us when we get to a city near you: TeaPartyExpress.org!!</p>

This much is still certain: Hundreds of political donors to Bill Richardson have received government jobs, contracts and other favorable treatment during his 6 1/2 years as governor. Some of those campaign contributors have been enriched by millions of dollars. Those facts are unchanged by the Justice Department's decision not to pursue criminal charges against Richardson or his aides in the case of one government contractor that made political donations. Acting U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt said that pressure from the Governor's Office "resulted in the corruption of the procurement process" and that nonprosecution "should not be interpreted as exoneration of...

(English-language translation) HAVANA (AP) — The United States should implement the announced permission for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba, and the island should respond by eliminating exit restrictions on its citizens, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson recommended. This was one among a list of suggestions the American devised during his visit to the island, which ended on Friday. "There is a very good environment, the best I have seen in many years," Richardson stated in relation to a possible approach between the two countries. According to the governor, "humanitarian" steps should be taken to stimulate links between people [involved] in...

Radical environmentalists have occasionally argued that the life of one member of an endangered species is worth more than the life of one member of the human race. Judging by the money it is spending on the Mexican wolf reintroduction program, federal and state governments seem to agree with this extremist viewpoint. $400,000 per Wolf Since the Mexican wolf reintroduction program was launched more than a decade ago, millions of dollars have been spent by the United States, Arizona and New Mexico governments. The goal was to reestablish a target population of 100 wolves in the mountainous areas of southwestern...

SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico's top federal prosecutor confirmed Friday that no charges will be brought against Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson and his former top aides after a probe of an alleged pay-to-play scheme prompted him to withdraw his nomination as U.S. commerce secretary. But U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt said the decision not to bring charges "is not to be interpreted as an exoneration of any party's conduct." In a letter sent to defense attorneys, Fouratt said a yearlong federal investigation "revealed that pressure from the governor's office resulted in the corruption of the procurement process" so that state...

Strange end to the Richardson investigation Once upon a time, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was President Obama's first choice to be commerce secretary. After being nominated in December, he abruptly withdrew a month later when news broke that the there was a federal probe into charges of pay-to-play involving New Mexico officials and companies bidding on state contracts. Richardson said that he did nothing wrong, but thought it appropriate to take his name out of consideration rather than prove a distraction (Obama then went on to pick Republican Sen. Judd Gregg for the post; he accepted then withdrew when...