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Gerardo Hernandez, a spy for Communist Cuba and the man responsible for the murder of four humanitarian workers (three of whom were American citizens) over international waters, was freed from prison last year by the Obama administration, due in part to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This was revealed at a February 6, 2015, celebration of Hernandez’s release, along with two of his fellow Cuban agents (collectively known as the “Cuban 5.. At the beginning of the event, an IPS official thanked all who who took part in the 17-year campaign and singled out a number of organizations that...

..Tamara Kay, a professor in the sociology department at the University of New Mexico, criticized right-to-work laws as "kindergarten math."Much of the focus on fights over right-to-work laws has been on Rust Belt states like Michigan, Indiana, and now Wisconsin, as its governor and likely presidential candidate Scott Walker signed a right-to-work bill Monday. But there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising...

The largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years entered its fourth week as workers at 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of national production capacity were walking picket lines as of 12 a.m. CST on Sunday, according to union officials. A total of 6,550 members of the United Steelworkers union at 15 plants, including the 12 refineries, are involved in the work stoppage that began on Feb. 1 when talks for a new three-year contract between the USW and lead oil company negotiator Shell Oil Co stopped.... After the latest breakdown between the two sides, Steelworkers leaders targeted Shell, which is...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Union workers were on strike for a second day on Monday at nine U.S. refineries and chemical plants as they sought a new national contract with oil companies covering laborers at 63 plants. The walkouts were the first in support of a nationwide pact since 1980 and targeted plants with a combined 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity. One of the plants, Tesoro Corp's (TSO.N) 166,000-barrel-per-day Martinez, California, refinery, was being shut because it was in the midst of planned maintenance work. The other refineries appeared set to continue running normally as operators initiated contingency plans, calling...

Edgar Martinez, a seven-time all-star, should be in the baseball Hall of Fame, but support for his candidacy has been waning over the past three seasons. “I’m not surprised that my percentage went down,” Martinez said a year ago. “We just have to wait and see for the future.” The biggest knock on his enshrinement is that he played as the team’s designated hitter and thus had little to no impact on the defensive part of the game. However, he still deserves to be in. For starters, the American League has required a designated hitter ever since the 1973 season,...

Gov. Susana Martinez’s 15-point re-election win over Democratic Attorney General King was the largest margin of victory ever for a Republican governor candidate in New Mexico, one political expert said Wednesday. The resounding win for the nation’s first female Hispanic governor, who has been touted in some quarters as part of a national GOP ticket down the road, was driven by a good showing in Bernalillo County and her unusually strong performance in northern New Mexico’s Democratic strongholds. Traditionally, Democrats who win statewide races rely on winning Democratic-heavy counties in north-central New Mexico by margins so wide that Republican gains...

A former aide to Gov. Susana Martinez (R., N.M.) who was involved in the hacking of emails from the Martinez campaign and was implicated in the subsequent FBI investigation is now being used as a source for anti-Martinez articles in New Mexico. The Santa Fe New Mexican last week published allegations made by former Martinez campaign aide Anissa Galassini-Ford that the governor’s office improperly used government databases against political opponents. The article on Ford’s claims was the paper’s cover story last Thursday and was featured on its website for much of the day.The author of the story, Steve Terrell, notes...

Greenacres police said they arrested a man accused of slashing a teen in the face and then running him over in a car because he thought the teen harassed his pregnant wife.

Gov. Susana Martinez led Attorney General Gary King by 9 percentage points in the first Journal Poll on the New Mexico governor’s race, hitting the coveted 50 percent mark before the fall campaign. “It’s a comfortable lead, especially when you take into consideration the tremendous financial advantage the governor has,” said Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc., which conducted the poll. The Republican governor, who is seeking re-election to a second four-year term, led the two-term Democratic attorney general in most regions of the state, including the Albuquerque area, the poll found. Overall, 50 percent of New Mexico...

The political strategist for the re-election campaign of New Mexico’s Gov. Susana Martinez (R) reportedly confronted on Saturday a group of pro-life demonstrators in Albuquerque by lashing out, “You are all pieces of [expletive]!” Several members of the pro-life organization Protest ABQ identified the individual rebuking them with vulgar language as Jay McCleskey, chief political strategist for Martinez, who is seeking a second term as New Mexico’s governor. Writing at Operation Rescue, pro-life activist Tara Shaver, who is pregnant herself, wrote, “The pro-life community has been asking Gov. Martinez what she is willing to do to stop pre-born child killing...

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — On Saturday, June 21, Protest ABQ held a public awareness campaign in a local neighborhood when a man, identified by group members as Jay McCleskey, Gov. Susana Martinez’s Re-Election Campaign Manager and Chief Campaign Strategist, confronted the pro-life activists stating, “You are all pieces of S***!” “The pro-life community has been asking Gov. Martinez what she is willing to do to STOP pre-born child killing in New Mexico. We have been completely ignored until today,” stated a pregnant and astonished Tara Shaver who was present with her husband and children. Several members of our group identified Mr....

Jamie Estrada, 41, of Los Lunas, N.M., pleaded guilty Monday to the unlawful interception of electronic communications and false statement charges arising out of the unlawful interception of wire communications intended for others, including New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and members of her staff. Estrada briefly served as campaign manager in 2009, as Martinez was beginning her bid for governor. The Republican won election in 2010 and took office in January 2011. “Each and every one of us has a right and an expectation of privacy in our electronic communications, including our emails, and those who violate the law by...

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alan Webber of New Mexico says of his likely political opponent, Republican governor Susana Martinez, that "We need to send her back to wherever she really came from." Watch here"So I’m asking you for your help, we need to make Susana Martinez a one-term governor. We need to send her back to wherever she really came from," says Webber in a video obtained by The Weekly Standard. "I suspect it’s Texas. And that would be good for Texas and that would be good for New Mexico." Martinez, who is up for reelection this year, is a Hispanic...

One of the Obama administration’s favorite themes is the idea that Republicans have been waging a “war on women.” Though Democrats may overestimate the appeal of this canard, the notion that troglodyte conservatives seek to send American women back to the 19th century has become a form of conventional wisdom, especially in the liberal mainstream media. But though that war is a piece of fakery rooted in the confusion between political liberalism and gender equality, there is little doubt about the reality of another war on women: the one that is being waged by left-wing ideologues against any female Republican...

I’ve always thought there must be a special place in this world for women who call other women bitches. And now I’ve found it. It’s the New Mexico Governor’s Office. And I’ve always wondered if there is any place on the planet where people call other people “retard.” There is. It’s on the communications staff of the New Mexico Department of Human Services, which serves developmentally delayed clients. We know this thanks to a Mother Jones magazine story that included leaked email exchanges and sound bites from debate preparation sessions while Susana Martinez was running for governor in 2010. There...

From a necktie to heartburn medication, from personal cellphone bills to new tires, Gov. Susana Martinez’s chief of staff used his government-issued credit card to make thousands of dollars in personal purchases in violation of state policy and procedures. Keith Gardner has reimbursed the state nearly $5,000 since August 2012 for more than 40 card purchases at Walmart, Best Buy, Target and more. And after a Journal inquiry, he has paid $241 in interest required under state policy and procedures when an employee uses a government credit card for personal purchases. Using a state government credit card for any purpose...

A scathing profile of Gov. Susana Martinez published in the politically liberal magazine Mother Jones – featuring 4-year-old recordings of Martinez and her campaign staff cursing about her 2010 election opponent and criticizing public school teachers as overpaid because they have summers off – touched off more political skirmishing in New Mexico on Wednesday. Martinez attacked the 5,000-word article as a “desperate” liberal media assault and asked campaign supporters in an email for financial help to fend off political attacks in her re-election bid. Several Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to oppose her in November used the article to blast...

Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration wants to stop allowing union dues to be withdrawn automatically from state employee paychecks, money that she says is turned around for political attacks. One union leader called that a “declaration of war” against unions and said changing the longstanding practice is simply not going to happen.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez would make a “great” 2016 Republican presidential ticket, longtime Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told reporters Wednesday. The endorsement of Martinez as a vice presidential nominee with Christie came after Martinez joined the New Jersey governor this week to help him campaign into the homestretch of his successful gubernatorial re-election bid. “Let’s face it: Susana Martinez has a lot of qualities that would help a lot of people to understand that the Republican Party is a broad base party,” Hatch said.