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The arrest of an Albuquerque political consultant on child pornography charges stemmed from a search warrant served on his home in November by FBI agents looking for evidence in the investigation of the alleged theft of Gov. Susana Martinez’s campaign emails. The home of Jason Loera, 44, in the 6200 block of St. Joseph’s Court NW, initially was searched on the morning of Nov. 20, 2012, by agents looking to seize Loera’s computers so they could be searched for information about hundreds of emails to Susana2010.com that federal prosecutors allege were illegally intercepted. FBI computer experts began examining CDs seized...

How low will they go? Please indulge a lengthy post, as many of you have asked me about the recent news of my email theft and I thought I would take time on my flight back to New Mexico to provide you a thorough update. Last week, an individual I fired from my campaign was indicted in federal court for illegally intercepting my political and personal emails for almost a year that were then released to the media by leftwing political groups last year. The man is also charged with lying to the FBI about the scheme. A few days...

Gov. Susana Martinez has been crying foul ever since political opponents started trotting out emails sent to an old campaign account. The governor has long contended the emails — ranging from topics such as the controversial Downs at Albuquerque racino deal to an underwear purchase order — were illegally hijacked. Her political adversaries have said they were sure they had been legally obtained. Federal prosecutors weighed in Thursday, releasing an indictment accusing a former Martinez campaign manager with illegally intercepting the emails that ended up in the hands of a union-backed political activist, a lawyer who would become the state...

SANTA FE – First Gentleman Chuck Franco, who turned in his sheriff’s badge when his wife was elected governor of New Mexico, has gone back to work. Franco, former Doña County undersheriff and husband of Gov. Susana Martinez, started a new job last week as a security officer at the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Santa Fe, a spokesman for Martinez confirmed. He is working roughly 20 to 25 hours a week for a private security company that is under contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to provide courthouse security. In addition to the Governor’s Mansion in Santa Fe, Martinez and...

SANTA FE – Fresh off her prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention, Gov. Susana Martinez is riding high among New Mexico voters. Sixty-nine percent said they approve of the Republican governor’s performance 20 months into her first term, a new Journal Poll found. Just 17 percent of voters polled Sept. 3-6 said they disapprove of her job performance, while 14 percent were undecided. Martinez, elected in 2010 with 53 percent of the vote, has pursued an apparently popular agenda, campaigning against driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, pushing for tougher school standards, opposing new taxes and trimming the size of...

New Mexico's Governor Susana Martinez delivered a WOW of a speech at the RNC. Republican women are awesome, and Martinez showed just how awesome. Republican women ROCK! Begin Transcript: "Thank you and good evening. On behalf of the great state of New Mexico, let me express my gratitude for being invited to speak tonight. Growing up, I never imagined a girl from a border town could one day become a governor. But this is America Y, en America todo es posible. My parents taught me to never give up and to always believe that my future could be whatever I...

 

No wonder Republicans can't even get 40 percent of Latino votes in a presidential election. When Mitt Romney made his first big push to appeal to Latinos earlier this week in Texas, he hammered the "Obama economy" for being "particularly hard on Hispanic businesses and Hispanic Americans." He pointed out the grim statistics -- an unemployment rate for Latinos of 11 percent and a poverty rate of 30 percent. And he stressed that the Obama regime's economic policies are hostile to the small businesses and entrepreneurs that traditionally provide many of the jobs in the Hispanic community. Everything Romney said...

SANTA FE – A private plane carrying Gov. Susana Martinez and her husband, Chuck Franco, landed at Santa Fe Municipal Airport without its landing gear down Wednesday night, but there were no injuries, the governor’s spokesman said. Matt Chandler, district attorney for the 9th Judicial District, also was on board, but was not injured, said spokesman Scott Darnell. The emergency landing took place at about 10 p.m. The governor was returning from a campaign event in Tucumcari for Republican state Senate candidate Angie Spears. The Spears campaign paid for the flight, Darnell said. Gov. Susana Martinez told reporters this morning...

(AP) Ever since taking office last year as the nation's first Hispanic female governor, New Mexico's Susana Martinez found her family tree scrutinized over whether her grandfather was an illegal immigrant. Documents obtained by AP, however, show that he was lawfully admitted to the U.S. as a permanent resident in 1918 and became a citizen in 1942, something not even Martinez knew and a discovery that removes a potential trouble spot for someone talked about as an attractive Republican vice presidential prospect for Mitt Romney. Martinez was surprised at the news, ... The first-term governor insists she's not interested in...

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is the ultimate immigrant success story: Two generations after her Mexican grandparents arrived in the U.S., she became the nation's first Latina governor. And with an overall approval rating of 66 percent of New Mexicans after more than a year in office, she is arguably the most popular Republican governor in the country. But that popularity doesn't always translate among Hispanics, a group that in New Mexico makes up nearly half of the population. One issue that makes many of the state's Latino voters seethe is their governor's stance on driver's licenses and illegal immigrants....

A majority of New Mexico Democrats have a favorable opinion of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, and President Barack Obama would easily defeat either of the current top two Republican candidates in a New Mexico contest, according to a new Rasmussen poll.~~snip~~Fifty-four percent of New Mexico Democrats have a favorable opinion of the governor, while 94 percent of Republicans view her favorably. Sixty-six percent of all likely New Mexico voters viewed the governor favorably. Seventy percent of New Mexico men and 66 percent of the state’s women approve of Martinez, according to the Rasmussen poll. Fifty-eight percent of New Mexico Hispanics...

It's been a long-running joke (though seldom enforced) among LGBT folks, particularly gay men who work in the creative-service spaces: If you discriminate against the gay community, we will refuse to cater/plan/decorate your weddings, design and make your dresses, or make you look pretty for your next big event. Now, it seems, one gay hair stylist hasn't just made that joke, he's lived up to his word. Antonio Darden (left) styled Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico (right) on three separate occasions. Martinez is a Republican who got Sarah Palin's endorsement in 2010, and though she may believe that the...

New Mexico Republican Governor Susana Martinez apparently has “no intentions” of accepting presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s invitation to be his vice president running mate if he wins the nomination. Mr. Romney mentioned the New Mexico governor as a possible running mate during an interview on Fox News Friday, but Governor Martinez says she will not be accepting offers from any of the candidates to be their possible running mates. “I have no intentions of doing anything different other than being governor,” said the New Mexico governor in an interview with ABC News 7 on Friday. Mr. Romney also mentioned New...

The push to ban driver's licenses for illegal immigrants appears to be gaining some momentum with the legislature's 30 day session starting in just two weeks. Governor Susana Martinez is picking up some support for her crusade against the licenses, but she appears to be losing a vote too. Some Democrats are moving into the "undecided" category. Sen. Steve Fischmann, a Dona Ana County Democrat, is switching to the governor's side, saying he will vote with her because that is what the vast majority of people in hid district want.

A survey from a right-leaning polling company says Gov. Susana Martinez’s approval rating is “sky high” as she finishes her first year in office. Some 65 percent of those surveyed by Public Opinion Strategies said they approve of the job Martinez is doing, while 29 percent said they disapprove. The survey of 500 registered voters was conducted Dec. 12 and 13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points. Read the polling memo here.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has acknowledged her paternal grandparents came to the U.S. illegally, amid national attention and protests over her ongoing efforts to bar illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. "I know they arrived without documents, especially my father's father," the Republican said Wednesday in an interview in Spanish with KLUZ-TV, the Albuquerque Univision affiliate. Martinez has long acknowledged her Mexican heritage. But when asked previously about reports that her grandfather was an illegal immigrant, her office has said Martinez was unsure of his status since he abandoned the family when her father was young. Her comments Wednesday...

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has acknowledged her paternal grandparents came to the U.S. illegally, amid national attention and protests over her ongoing efforts to bar illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. "I know they arrived without documents, especially my father's father," the Republican said Wednesday in an interview in Spanish with KLUZ-TV, the Albuquerque Univision affiliate.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez slammed fellow Gov. Rick Perry over immigration on the Laura Ingraham show today, albeit with only partial facts at her disposal: Ingraham: “I asked you about Rick Perry’s approach to immigration. Is his approach, including that DREAM Act, something that we should be pursuing nationally and is it something that you support?” Martinez: “No, I don’t. It is not comprehensive reform to put people who are here illegally, who violated the law, and put them in front of the line for those folks who have been waiting and doing all the right things to come...

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - A New Mexico judge on Wednesday blocked a move by the state's Republican governor to make it harder for illegal immigrants to keep driver's licenses in the state. Governor Susana Martinez's administration last month ordered the state to reverify the physical residency of foreign nationals who hold New Mexico driver's licenses in order to get or keep their licenses.But District Court Judge Sarah Singleton in Santa Fe issued a temporary restraining order blocking the program, arguing in a brief ruling that "irreparable injury" would occur from "constitutional deprivations to the applicants