Free Republic

Democratic Party leaders are calling for Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D., Nev.) to resign over sexual harassment allegations, but he is refusing to do so—and even making counter accusations. Kihuen told ABC News that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), as well as Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.), knew about the allegations last year and did nothing. "I do find it interesting that the DCCC, Leader Pelosi and Chairman Ben Ray Lujan—they knew about these allegations last year," Kihuen said. "They looked into them. They didn't find anything, and they continued investing millions of dollars...

A year ago, the United Way Worldwide was pressured to shut down a charity raffle in Otero County, New Mexico. The reason: guns.The United Way succumbed to pressure from the national media, such as the LA times. New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, a political non-profit formed in 2013, pushed the Global United Way Worldwide to stop the charity raffle. From alamogordonews.com: New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence Co-President Miranda Viscoli sent a letter to United Way Worldwide alerting the organization about the firearm raffle that led to the suspension of the raffle. “Basically putting 104 firearms back into...

One week after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, President George W. Bush consulted with his team of crisis advisers and inundated the Gulf Coast with cheap, illegal alien labor. Bush’s August decision to lift the Davis-Bacon wage law made it very easy for contractors to hire cheap labor. Mike Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), quickly suspended sanctions on the employers who did hire illegal aliens. The result was another flood – this time not of water, but of illegal aliens, 30,000 of which came to the Gulf Coast to take cleanup and blue-collar...

The House Ethics Committee said Monday it is reviewing charges lodged against two high-profile Democratic lawmakers and a senior Democratic aide. The lawmakers facing an ethics review are Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and the longest-serving sitting House member, and Rep. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The staffer is Michael E. Collins, chief of staff to Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).Statements released Monday by the Ethics Committee did not detail the allegations against the three men, which were forwarded to the committee by the independent Office of Congressional...

A rising star in the Democratic Party who has garnered national attention for tackling poverty in New Mexico is fighting for his political future amid decade-old allegations he sexually harassed women. Democratic state Sen. Michael Padilla is facing calls to drop his bid for New Mexico lieutenant governor after The Associated Press began asking elected officials about the cases. SNIP At least two female political leaders have pulled endorsements.

David Alcon, who is running for an open congressional seat in New Mexico, was arrested this past Friday on a felony stalking charge after a woman accused him of sending her frightening and lewd text messages and showing up at her home. Alcon was previously convicted of stalking his ex-girlfriend in 2007 and was described as “infatuated” and “clearly obsessed” by the judge in the case. The corruption trial of Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, has ended in a mistrial, and one is tempted to wonder if any of the jurors were swayed by the Menendez character witnesses such as...

A Farmington [New Mexico] man was sentenced to six months in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty to claiming to be a combat veteran who earned medals and ribbons, including a Purple Heart and being a felon in possession of firearms. Anthony Gambino, 45, was sentenced Thursday in Albuquerque federal court and will have three years of supervised release after completing his prison term, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.He was indicted on May 25, 2016, with charges of making false representations about receiving military medals and decorations along with being a felon in possession of...

So we have a candidate for a position in Washington D.C. accused of stalking and harassing young women. You’re probably thinking we’re off on yet another story about Roy Moore, right? Not this time. The latest politician to earn such a reputation is from considerably further out west. In New Mexico, David Alcon is running for Congress, hoping to represent the Second District. His campaign hit a bit of a snag recently, however, when he was arrested for stalking a woman and engaging in threatening, sexually aggressive behavior. Oh, and just in case you were wondering… he’s a Democrat. (Free...

Popescu has been charged with five different counts of embezzlement, 13 different counts of fraud and one count of forgery. The charges range from $100 to $20,000. According to arrest records online, he was arrested in Jonesboro, Georgia Wednesday and then extradited to the Dona Ana County Detention Center.

Democrats have been falling all over themselves to attack Republicans in the wake of the accusations that broke against Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore. Media has been covering it non-stop. It’s understandably a story. Moore was accused of inappropriate conduct with a 14-year-old some 39 years ago, when he was 32. He also was accused of trying to date three other women aged 16, 17 and 18 at around the same time. No one wants a Senator who may act inappropriately with a 14-year-old if the story is true. But will Democrats and media turn the same attention to...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A U.S. court has sided with a New Mexico ranching family in a decades-long battle over access to water on national forest land, providing more certainty that state law allows for the protection of water rights dating back more than a century. The case of the Goss family has been closely watched by thousands of ranchers who hold grazing permits across the West. Attorneys and others say the outcome could have ripple effects on ranchers and rural communities that have often complained about federal land managers trampling property rights. The Goss family claimed the federal government violated...

The gunman accused of the worst mass murder in Texas history escaped from a mental health hospital during his stint in the Air Force, according to a 2012 police report. Police took Devin Kelley into custody on June 7, 2012 at a bus terminal in downtown El Paso, Texas, where he had planned to flee by bus after breaking out of Peak Behavioral Health Services, just over 10 miles away in New Mexico, according to NBC Houston affiliate KPRC. Kelley, who was 21 at the time of the escape, had been sent to the facility after he was accused of...

Devin P. Kelley, the gunman who killed 26 people in a Texas church, reportedly escaped from a mental health facility in 2012. According to Channel 2 Houston, Kelley was institutionalized while he was in the U.S. Air Force after being charged with assaulting his wife and baby stepson. A 2012 police report shows that he escaped from the psychiatric hospital after making death threats against his superiors in the Air Force and trying to smuggle weapons onto the base where he was stationed. Kelley escaped from Peak Behavioral Health Services, a facility in New Mexico, and was caught by police...

Camille LeNoir thought she’d landed a dream job last year, an entryway into the competitive world of coaching college basketball.She was a former player herself, having starred at the University of Southern California. The WNBA’s Washington Mystics made her a second-round draft pick and she played the game professionally overseas. But since her playing days ended, LeNoir had focused on working with young players. She was excited when her former college coach offered her an assistant position on his staff at New Mexico State University. She accepted the job, but two days before she was to board a plane for...

SANTA FE, N.M. — A proposed overhaul of New Mexico’s state science standards for public schools came under intense criticism Monday at a packed public hearing in the state capital for omitting or deleting references to global warming, evolution and the age of the Earth. Comments at the hearing overwhelmingly sided against state revisions to a set of standards developed by a consortium of states and the National Academy of Sciences. Of the 55 initial speakers, none backed the standards. Public school teachers, state university faculty, Democratic Party officials and the science chairman for a school catering to local Native...

U.S. Air Force officials have suspended a decorated officer and revoked his recommendation for promotion to brigadier general because he would not sign an unofficial document affirming a retiring subordinate's same-sex marriage. Col. Leland B.H. Bohannon, Air Force Inspection Agency commander at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., signed all the requisite documents for a senior noncommissioned service member's May retirement ceremony except for one: a letter of "spousal appreciation" for the gay serviceman's partner. Bohannon's Christian convictions about marriage put him at odds with the request to sign the unofficial, optional letter, and he sought counsel from his...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with a lower court that ordered a New Mexico city to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the lawn outside City Hall. Civil liberties advocates behind the case called the decision involving the city of Bloomfield a victory for the separation of church and state. ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson said it sends a “strong message that the government should not be in the business of picking and choosing which sets of religious beliefs enjoy special favor in the community.” However, David Cortman, a senior counsel and vice president of...

Sam Krop’s characterization of catastrophic wildfire on public and privately owned forest lands (guest viewpoint, Oct. 4) doesn’t match the reality of what Oregon experienced this summer. But I can see why Cascadia Wildlands and other special interest groups oppose solutions such as the Resilient Federal Forests Act. These bills untie the hands of our federal land managers, and provide them with more tools and resources to restore the health of our public forests, before and after a fire. Has “hands-off” forest management reduced the size and severity of forest fires? Are we choking on less wildfire smoke every summer?...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An armed robbery suspect opened fire at a Northeast Albuquerque gas station, striking a customer in the neck and an employee in the legs, Friday morning, according to a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department. The victims were in stable condition Friday afternoon. Officer Simon Drobik said the incident started around 8:30 a.m. when a man robbed the Circle K on Wyoming near Claremont NE at gunpoint and then fled from the store. “At that time the assistant manager went out to take a picture of the vehicle the individual was fleeing in,” Drobik said. “That individual...

A school bake sale organized by an on-campus activist group charged students based on their ethnicity, sparking critique and backlash at the University of New Mexico. Turning Point USA — which is not yet recognized as an official student organization — on Thursday doled out desserts in what they called “An Affirmative Action Bake Sale,” with prices for products varying based on the customer’s race.