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NM’s all-Dem U.S. House delegation votes against protecting women’s sports

27 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved on a 219-203 vote, H.R. 734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which will ensure the protection of Title IX, which passed over 50 years ago to protect women. 

The bill’s passage would assert “that it is a violation of Title IX to allow individuals of the male sex to participate in programs or activities that are designated for women or girls. (Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs or activities, including in public elementary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities),” according to the Republican Party of New Mexico.

“Under the bill, sex is based on an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth. H.R. 734 does not prohibit male individuals from training or practicing with programs or activities for women or girls as long as such training or practice does not deprive any female of corresponding opportunities or benefits,” wrote the group.

All three of New Mexico’s U.S. congressional representatives voted “NAY” on the resolution.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat from New Mexico’s First Congressional District, claimed the bill to protect women was a “hateful right-wing campaign” against “trans” kids.

“I oppose H.R. 734 because I want our transgender kids to feel accepted, safe, and included. I want them to live,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, the Democrat who represents New Mexico’s Third Congressional District. She claimed instead of protecting women’s and girls’ sports, Congress should focus on gun control. 

In another post, Leger Fernandez claimed the bill was about “legislating trans people out of existence.”

Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico’s Second Congressional District was noticeably silent over the issue, although he voted against the measure.

NM’s all-Dem congressional reps. vote against lower energy prices

Organizers seek to overturn extreme laws via NM’s referendum process

8 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Organizers from across New Mexico through the group Better Together New Mexico seek to overturn extreme bills passed during the 2023 Legislative Session via ballot referendums. 

The group wrote on a sign-up form, “Did you know the legislature just took away many of your rights during this 2023 legislative session?” 

“Soon you will have NO RIGHT to secure elections because of HB 4 & SB 180. If HB 7, SB 13, SB 397 become law, parents will have NO RIGHT to be aware that their child is having an abortion or gender transitioning at school,” wrote the group.

“And because of HB 7, it’s now illegal for counties, cities, and even teachers to opt out of abortion and transitioning school clinics. These bills are just a few of the damaging bills that passed this year. You may hear about other bills to fight in the days to come. Are you frustrated by the government’s rule over your life? Now’s your chance to stop it!” 

The group noted, “We are gathering signatures for referendums to stop those bills before they become law and get them on the ballot in 2024 for the people to decide! 

Many of the extreme bills passed the legislature with virtually no Republican support, which fundamentally change the rights of parents and open up New Mecico’s elections to interference through corrosive election policies, such as an opt-in automatic absentee ballot list, among other measures. 

However, Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office is trying to stop Better Together New Mexico from setting up the referendum.

The SOS office’s spokesman, Alex Curtas, told the Santa Fe New Mexican, “None of the requests submitted by Better Together New Mexico or affiliated individuals [have] met the strict legal requirements for referendum petitions, and it would be completely irresponsible for the Secretary of State to approve a referendum petition for circulation and signature by voters of this state if it is not in the format required by law and most importantly, if it is constitutionally exempt from being challenged by referendum petition.” 

He added, “To date, following the 2023 Legislative Session, the Secretary of State has not received a single petition that meets even the basic technical requirements as to form under [New Mexico] law.”

Larry Sonntag of Better Together New Mexico told the New Mexican, “She’s not doing her job of approving the format for the referendums to go forward.” He said she is putting up “unnecessary roadblocks,” claiming, “She’s kicked back some of them based on a hyphen or a comma. That type of red tape, governmental obstruction to what’s allowed in the Constitution is not acceptable.”

To find Better Together New Mexico’s sign-up form to collect signatures in your area of the state, click here.

Biden gets alarming revelation as RFK, Jr. enters 2024 race

Leave a Comment / National / By

On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. officially announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2024, seeking the Democrat nomination. This comes as Joe Biden has not yet made a formal announcement of his candidacy for the 2024 election.

However, Biden got some surprising news, as a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found 14 percent of Democrat voters already are ready to ditch Biden for Kennedy.

The outlet reported, “In the survey taken Saturday through Tuesday, only 67% of Biden’s 2020 supporters said they would support him for the Democratic nomination over his current challengers. Kennedy stands at 14%, and self-help author Marianne Williamson, a quixotic candidate for the nomination last time, is at 5%. Another 13% are undecided.”

“The poll was taken by landline and cellphone of 600 Biden voters, identified from national and state polls from 2020 to 2022. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.” 

That’s a lot of Biden voters who have jumped ship early in the 2024 race, while the Biden administration has taken a sharp left turn away from moderate stances that he leaned in on while campaigning for the presidency in 2020.

“Kennedy drew the support of 33% of Biden voters who disapprove of the job he is doing as president and 35% of those who say his policies in the White House have been ‘too liberal.’ The challenger’s appeal was strongest among self-identified conservatives, younger voters and those who don’t have a college degree,” further reported USA TODAY. 

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Sr., who was assassinated while campaigning for the presidency in 1968. He is also the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who also lost his life to an assassination in 1963. 

The current Democrat candidate for president has leaned in on his uncle’s commonsense Democrat policies, with signs at his announcement rally reading, “I’m a Kennedy Democrat.” 

Lujan Grisham tied for least popular governor in America

25 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

According to a new Morning Consult poll, Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham remains one of America’s least popular governors, with 51 percent of respondents saying they approve of her, while 43 percent disapprove. 

She is the least popular governor in the country, tied with Democrat Jay Inslee of Washington state, with the same number of approvals and disapprovals.

Other unpopular governors include Greg Abbott of Texas (R), Tony Evers of Wisconsin (D), J.B. Pritzker of Illinois (D), and Tate Reeves of Mississippi (R). 

Lujan Grisham is up only three percentage points from the last Morning Consult governor poll taken before the 2022 midterm elections, which showed her at 48 percent approval, with 45 percent disapproving of her. 

She squeaked by in the 2022 election, garnering 52 percent of the vote to Republican Mark Ronchetti’s 45.6 percent. 

Screenshot of poll via Morning Consult: https://morningconsult.com/2023/04/19/joe-manchin-jon-tester-approval-rating/

Following the 2023 Legislative Session, both Democrats and Republicans were angered by the governor, with Democrats claiming she did not act enough on “climate change policies,” while Republicans remained furious over her many bad bills passed, including H.B. 7 to ban pro-life laws and H.B. 4 to rewrite New Mexico’s election code. 

Lujan Grisham is now termed-out as governor, and far-left Democrat U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich has reportedly made moves toward a gubernatorial run in 2026.

Morning Consult’s surveys were conducted “Jan. 1-March 31, 2023, among representative samples of registered voters in each state, with unweighted margins of error of +/-1 to 5 percentage points.”

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Haaland bursts into tears during tense congressional hearing

24 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

During a U.S. House Natural Resources Committee hearing Wednesday, Joe Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a former congresswoman from New Mexico, burst into tears while talking about “climate change.”

She said, “All of this is because climate change is the crisis of our lifetime!” claiming weather events were responsible for changes in temperature. “We can’t continue to be a one-industry country, referring to oil, gas, and coal.

WATCH:

Also during the hearing, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN), chair of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, rebuked Haaland about the administration’s decision to ban new mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Stauber claimed Haaland had “no idea” what she was doing when her department issued the “ill-informed decision,” which he said, “has left the U.S. more dependent on China.”

Ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) came to Haaland’s defense, claiming Republicans were “berating” her during the tense hearing.

Politico reported the hearing to be “tense.”

Following the dissemination of the clip showing Haaland crying, the New Mexico-based Rio Grande Foundation think tank wrote, “Climate change is the official religion of the left. But they would rather abandon nuclear power than actually solve the problem.” 

In many previous congressional hearings where Haaland has testified, she has failed to answer basic questions that pertain to her role as Interior secretary. 

Haaland humiliated again during congressional hearing

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Swalwell called out to his face over ‘sexual relationship’ with Chinese spy

2 Comments / National, Politics / By

Far-left Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was confronted Wednesday during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over his reported sexual relationship with a Chinese spy, Fang Fang.

After Swalwell’s attacks upon the GOP during the hearing, Greene said, “That was quite entertaining from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy. And everyone knows it!” 

Democrats immediately tried to get Greene’s words stricken from the record and demanded she stops speaking.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) shouted at the chairman, “I move to take her words down.” 

When pressed, he said he wanted “everything that the gentle lady from Georgia has said” to be stricken, including “accusations of an affair with a Chinese spy.”

“Those are engaging in personalities, and … those words should be taken down, and the gentle lady should not be able to speak anymore in this hearing,” he said. 

When asked if Greene would retract her statement, she said, “No, I will not.”

“The chair rules that those words that were spoken are not going to be stricken from the record,” said Chairman Mark Greene (R-TN).

The reason Swalwell was removed from the Intelligence Committee was that he had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy, according to Greene.

“The woman at the center of the operation, a Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christine Fang, targeted up-and-coming local politicians in the Bay Area and across the country who had the potential to make it big on the national stage,” wrote Axios in a 2020 report.

During an interview on The View, Swalwell claimed, “First and foremost, and you don’t have to take my word for it, take the FBI’s word for it…when they told me who she …I did everything that I hoped everyone would do, which was to cooperate and help the FBI, and she was removed,” although he did not deny the sexual relationship with Fang Fang, even if he claims he didn’t know she was a spy. 

WATCH the heated hearing:

Vasquez trails other vulnerable Democrats in fundraising numbers

9 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

According to Rep. Gabe Vasquez’s (NM-CD-2) recently filed Federal Election Commission (FEC) report, the first-term vulnerable Democrat is massively trailing other vulnerable Democrats in fundraising numbers and cash-on-hand balances.

According to Roll Call, “Of the 31 Democrats in seats that will be in play next year according to Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, the average incumbent raised $420,000 during the quarter and had $400,000 on hand on March 31.”

But Vasquez only raised $365,385.45 for the fundraising quarter, leaving him with a mere $303,273.52 cash on hand. Less than half of that was from New Mexico donors.

Last month, Vasquez was cited as one of the most vulnerable House Democrats with little money in the bank. 

“Among those who are most vulnerable is Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), who won his seat by only 0.6 percentage points in 2022 and whose race has been deemed a tossup by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Despite strong fundraising numbers resulting in a total of more than $3.6 million raised, Vasquez is starting off the 2024 campaign cycle with only $22,776 cash on hand,” reported the Washington Examiner. 

A majority of Vasquez’s lackluster campaign haul included $5,000 from U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s leadership PAC, Turquoise PAC, $5,000 from the Sen. Martin Heinrich-aligned Lobo PAC, $2,000 from the pro-mask, pro-lockdown NEA PAC, $1,000 from the League of Conservation Voters PAC, $1,000 from the anti-free speech End Citizens United PAC, and $1,000 from leftist Congressman Joe Neguse’s (D-CO) congressional campaign, among others.

The news also comes just one week following former Second Congressional District Congresswoman Yvette Herrell’s announcement in Las Cruces alongside U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that she is running to reclaim the District.

“It’s embarrassing Gabe Vasquez is coming up short on fundraising. Clearly, New Mexicans have taken notice of the way Vasquez has fallen in line with the extremist wing of the Democrat party during his first four months in Congress, and Republicans look forward to taking back this seat in 2024,” wrote National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokeswoman Delanie Bomar.

Dems panic over Herrell CD2 bid while national Republicans send endorsements

Rep. John Block on ‘Tipping Point New Mexico’ podcast with Paul Gessing

2 Comments / New Mexico, Politics / By

On Friday, the Rio Grande Foundation (RGF) released its Tipping Point New Mexico podcast featuring state Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo), who is also the founder and editor of the Piñon Post.

Block recently ranked the highest among all other legislators on the 2023 Freedom Index.

RGF’s President Paul Gessing asked Block about the 2023 Legislative Session and other topics in the “wide-ranging” discussion.

Watch the entire interview here:

State treasurer’s ethics in question amid campaign finance cover-up scandal

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According to a report by the Rio Grande Sun, an ethics case filed against State Treasurer Laura Montoya, a Democrat, is going forward. The complaint, made by Montoya’s predecessor, former State Treasurer Tim Eichenberg, also a Democrat, alleges Montoya failed to properly report $10,000 in campaign contributions, falsely claiming the money came from two LLCs.

“Eichenberg alleged Montoya violated New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act when she accepted two $5,000 checks from LLCs registered with the names Sheriff’s Posse Road 1 and 2 but falsely reported the money came from Adelante Sandoval, a Bernalillo-based PAC, according to State Ethics Commission records made public Friday,” the report detailed.

The LLCs are named Sheriff’s Posse Road 1, LLC, and Sheriff’s Posse Road 2, LLC, managed by Oklahoma resident Gary Plante. Adelante Sandoval, the PAC, was founded by Chris Daul, a New Jersey trial attorney, and New Mexico transplant.

Records show the $10,000 was donated to Montoya following a luncheon with Monoya’s campaign treasurer, Donald “Donnie” Leonard, Plante, Plante’s son, Michael, and others. Following the luncheon, Leonard testified that he and Plante went to the bank to withdraw two cashier’s checks for $5,000 each from the LLCs. 

The Sun further reports:

Mr. Plante testified that Mr. Leonard provided Adelante Sandoval’s name to the woman issuing the checks and that Leonard “delivered the checks to Adelante Sandoval,” whose two owners, including Plante, were “private people”  who wished to act as a conduit for the $10,000 contribution, the filings show.

“Mr. Leonard testified that he did not recall delivering the check…Plante denied making contributions to Adelante Sandoval with the intent to mask the true source of the contributions to [Montoya},” Boyd wrote. 

Daul, who manages the Adelante Sandoval Pac, told Boyd he “did not recall when or how I received the two hecks…the two checks may have been handed to me, but I cannot be certain.”

After reviewing evidence in the case, Boyd found it “likely [Montoya] provided Mr. Daul with the earmarking instruction” regarding the LLCs.

Ethics Commission General Counsel Walker Boyd later found “probable cause” for the case to move forward. Boyd found that the $10,000 cash infusion “came at a critical time in the primary election cycle” and “Without the $10,000 contribution, [Montoya] would have raised less money than her opponent.”

Montoya also consulted with Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver via text message to see how to report the contributions, according to commission filings. 

The case is set to be heard by Ethics Commission Hearing Officer Hon. Alan Torgerson (ret.), a former federal magistrate judge. Montoya could face fines of $1,000 for each campaign reporting violation and forfeiture of the two $5,000 checks.

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Barbara Vigil is out as Lujan Grisham’s CYFD secretary

10 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Thursday, it was announced that Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s New Mexico Children, Youth, and Family Department Secretary Barbara Vigil is stepping down from the role after fewer than two years.

“My time at CYFD has been the culmination of a career working in both the judicial and the executive branches of government, always with a particular focus on the well-being of New Mexico’s children and families,” Vigil, a former New Mexico Supreme Court justice, said in a statement.

“Collaborating with child welfare professionals, we built a foundation for lasting change and positive outcomes for our children and families. It’s been my honor to serve these families. I am grateful to the thousands of dedicated professionals – foster families, service providers, and CYFD staff and believe deeply in their capacity to achieve transformational change.” 

CYFD, which has been failing for years, did not get meaningful reform during the 2023 Legislative Session, despite many Republican and Democrat proposals to fix issues at the ailing department.

CYFD has suffered a 39% turnover rate for youth care specialists for the 2022 budget year, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Lujan Grisham said she is conducting a nationwide search to fill Vigil’s position, saying the candidate “must have experience in successfully pioneering major systemic reforms.” The governor’s chief operating officer Teresa Casados will serve as interim secretary.

Although Vigil is leaving the role of secretary, she will remain on the governor-sanctioned Policy Advisory Council to make “recommendations” to the administration. 

Following Vigil’s announcement, House Republican Leader Ryan Lane of Aztec wrote, “While New Mexicans are frustrated that more meaningful reforms did not take place under Justice Vigil’s leadership of CYFD, we will continue to hold accountable the next CYFD leader. House Republicans remain resolute that the children and families within CYFD need better support and more accountability, and we will continue to lead on presenting reforms that benefit the families and not the broken system.”

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