Free Republic

Susana Martinez claimed she and her companions, including a disabled sister, were only having pizza and drinking cokes. The audio tapes between Martinez and police were released Friday and siezed upon by her critics at ProgressNow New Mexico. ... A statement from her office said Martinez was hosting her annual staff holiday party at the downtown hotel's ballroom Saturday night. Some 200 people attended; there was a live band and dancing. After the party, Martinez and staff helped clean up and retired to a staffer's hotel room to eat pizza, the statement said. ... Fox News has confirmed with Santa...

Governor Susana Martinez says she regrets the way she handled a late-night phone call to Santa Fe police following a noise complaint involving a party for the governor's staff held at a posh Santa Fe hotel. Recordings of the phone call obtained by KRQE News 13 reveal a conversation between emergency dispatchers and the governor, as she tries to convince police that there's no need for them to respond to the complaint early Sunday morning. On several occasions, Martinez pressures the dispatcher and hotel staff to reveal the identity of who made the complaint. The dispatcher and hotel staff refuse....

New Mexico has a wealth of energy resources. And now it has a comprehensive plan to help guide development of those riches to grow the state’s economy. Last week at the 2015 Southeastern New Mexico Mayor’s Energy Summit in Carlsbad, Gov. Susana Martinez laid out a broad “all of the above” energy policy. “There is no reason we shouldn’t be an energy leader,” she later told attendees at the eighth annual Domenici Public Policy Conference in Las Cruces. Her plan embraces a wide range of energy sources, ranging from oil and gas to solar, wind and up-and-coming technologies, such as...

From the Conservative Tribune: “Right now American conservatives are arguing over the idea that the US should provide at least a minimum safety net for citizens who fall on economic hard times and need assistance to get back on their feet. One thing conservatives are not arguing about, however, is the idea that too many freeloaders consider such assistance an entitlement and abuse it for as long as they can. The use of food stamps is a case in point. More and more families use food stamps as their primary means of receiving not only groceries but also questionable items...

A Republican strategist with ties to Gov. Susana Martinez has been selected as Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign manager. Danny Diaz, who has worked on and off for Martinez’s political operation for the past five-plus years, was tapped for the new job this week in a surprise move, according to The Washington Post. The Washington, D.C.-based Diaz has worked as a press consultant and adviser for Martinez. He played an active role in the governor’s 2014 re-election campaign and spent time in New Mexico helping with her inaugural events. Despite Martinez’s insistence she is not interested in national office, might the...

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill to abolish civil asset forfeiture Friday. She signed just before the noon deadline that would have pocket vetoed the legislation. “As an attorney and career prosecutor, I understand how important it is that we ensure safeguards are in place to protect our constitutional rights,” Martinez said in a letter announcing her decision. “On balance, the changes made by this legislation improve the transparency and accountability of the forfeiture process and provide further protections to innocent property owners.” Civil asset forfeiture is a practice where police can seize your property and keep it...

..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...

A question I often am asked is: "Who would you bet on to win the presidency?" Personally, I don't bet on politics, but here's my current take on the 2016 presidential race—with, of course, the caveat that we don't know which campaigns will turn out the best in terms of organization, strategy, tactics, or execution, much less which candidates will step on land mines along the way. The Democratic nomination appears fairly straightforward. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now the prohibitive favorite. If her early stumbles during her book tour, or remarks like the one she made about...

More than two dozen states have joined the Texas lawsuit opposing President Obama’s executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, but more eye-opening is the list of Republican governors whose names still do not appear on the suit. The seven Republicans who have thus far elected not to join the suit aimed at reining in Obama are Chris Christie of New Jersey, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Larry Hogan of Maryland, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Matthew Mead of Wyoming, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Bruce Rauner of Illinois. Five of those seven states – Maryland, Iowa, New Mexico, Massachusetts and...

In a new poll of likely Republican primary voters nationwide by Zogby Analytics, 2012 GOP nominee Romney leads the pack with 14%, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (12%), Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (10%), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (8%), former Arkansas Governor and now Fox News Host Mike Huckabee (7%), Florida Senator Marco Rubio (7%), Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (5%), Rep. and former Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan (4%), Texas Governor Rick Perry (4%), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (3%), Texas Senator Ted Cruz (3%), South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (2%), former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (1%), and both...

Republicans are outnumbered by Democrats in New Mexico voter registration 47 percent to 31 percent, while independents, or voters who decline to state (DTS) a party affiliation, represent 19 percent.

In which New Mexico Democrats' white, male gubernatorial nominee pronounces his Hispanic, female opponent -- whom he's trailing in the polls -- to be insufficiently 'Latino' in her heart, or something (via the Weekly Standard):

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

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...

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....

New Mexico Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alan Webber told a group of political supporters that state voters need to send pro-life Gov. Susana Martinez back to “wherever she really came from.” The Weekly Standard reports: “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.” alanwebberMartinez, during the 2010 election campaign, gave an interview...

Challengers see themselves in the Texas senator, even in races where their odds of an upset are considered steeper than Cruz’s surprise victory over a GOP establishment figure two years ago. He’s made endorsements in the Oklahoma and Nebraska Senate races, plus the Nebraska gubernatorial race, and sent almost $26,000 to federal candidates through his leadership PAC. “Ted Cruz would be extremely helpful as an endorser and a fundraiser,” said C. Edmund Wright, a consultant to longshot South Carolina Senate hopeful Lee Bright, in an email. “Rand Paul and Mike Lee would be great also.” But, he said, “the reason...

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...