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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

8 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

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.

POLL: Will State Treasurer Laura Montoya be found guilty of campaign finance cover-ups?

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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.”

The ACLU is ‘deeply disappointed’ with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

13 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Following Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s sweeping vetoes of bills passed during the 2023 Legislative Session, some leftists are furious.

In a Tuesday statement from the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU-NM) director of public policy, Nayomi Valdez, the group showed frustration with Lujan Grisham.

S.B. 84, which “strictly limited re-incarceration for technical violations such as missing appointments or failed drug tests while someone is on probation or parole,” was vetoed due to Lujan Grsham claiming it “failed to get the support of district attorneys and other stakeholders.”

Another bill veto ACLU-NM trashed was SB 187 would have nixed drug possession or DWI charges in another jurisdiction when considering sentencing for “habitual offenders.” Lujan Grisham claimed the bill would actually result in “the opposite of the intended effect” by restricting prosecutors from “encourag[ing] defendants to get treatment for their addiction.”

In a strong statement of rebuke, Valdez wrote, “We are deeply disappointed by the governor’s veto of these much-needed reforms to our criminal-legal system.”

“Simply put, this administration has it wrong on crime and safety. Until the executive branch starts making decisions about our criminal-legal system based on the facts and in alignment with our values, New Mexico will continue to trap people in the same vicious cycle of incarceration without making our state any safer,” she concluded.

The ACLU of New Mexico along with other groups, such as the Office of the Public Defender, continually advocated against incarcerating criminals during the past legislative session, with some success. 

Bills that did get signed by Lujan Grisham include one piece of legislation that will let violent offenders life-sentenced as minors the possibility of parole at 15 years, even if they were convicted of murder or rape. 

Joined by Speaker McCarthy, Yvette Herrell announces 2024 run

11 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Monday, former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, who served New Mexico’s Second Congressional District from 2021 to 2023, announced her candidacy for another term in the U.S. House flanked by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California). 

Herrell’s announcement took place at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, where hundreds of supporters packed into the well-attended event.

During the visit, Speaker McCarthy said, “Gabe is pretty much a socialist,” saying he’s “not in the bounds” of the district, referencing the incumbent Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez. Vasquez took the seat from Herrell in 2022 by a little over 1,000 votes.

“We’re going to make tomorrow better than today. If we elect Yvette, I don’t think Joe Biden’s gonna get re-elected too,” he said, concluding, “We have a reason to stand up right now.”

Herrell said, “Let’s make America great, and let’s make New Mexico great for the first time,” adding, “I will never give up.”

“Democrats are counting on us – on YOU – to falter. They want to divide us. They want us to stay home and give up. It’s the only way they can ram through their unpopular, America LAST agenda,” McCarthy wrote in an email promoting Herrell’s candidacy.

Vasquez has recently taken bad votes that go against the values of the Second Congressional District, including voting against a bill that most House members and even Joe Biden signed to block the District of Columbia’s updated criminal code from becoming law, a code that would favor criminals. He also voted against lower energy costs for New Mexicans. 

In a desperate-sounding email following Herrell’s announcement, Vasquez’s campaign wrote, “This is a top-target of the NRCC as well as a DCCC Frontline seat. Gabe needs all the grassroots support he can get to go up against extremist Herrell and her far-right backers like McCarthy and Trump,” although the 45th President has yet to endorse the former congresswoman in her 2024 run. 

Heinrich rails against Lujan Grisham’s vetoes, sparking ‘26 governor run rumors

24 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Saturday, New Mexico’s U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat, took to Twitter to voice his frustrations over Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s multiple vetoes of legislation he wanted to see reach the finish line.

Although Lujan Grisham signed many extreme far-left bills into law, such as H.B. 9 forcing New Mexicans to lock up their guns at nearly all times, H.B. 207 expanding the “Human Rights Act” with woke transgender ideology, and H.B. 7 mandating public bodies facilitate “gender-affirming care” and abortions, that wasn’t good enough for the Democrat senator.

He wrote on Twitter, “New Mexico’s state legislature took bold action to deliver for our state. I am disappointed to see many of those efforts now vetoed.” 

Heinrich bemoaned the governor’s veto of an electric vehicle tax credit that was stripped from the omnibus tax package. He wrote, “Our state legislature passed HB547 to lower taxes for families, veterans, & educators. And it would have made NM a national leader with climate tax incentives – similar to the ones I fought to pass in the IRA. But these reforms were vetoed.” 

“The legislature also passed SB426 to give children and others a legal advocate in the AG’s office, responding to CYFD’s systemic failures that continue to place children in real danger. But this legislation was also vetoed,” he claimed.

The measure referenced would have created a “Civil Rights Division” in the state Attorney General’s Office, which would mostly be used as another tool to hunt down New Mexicans over alleged Civil Rights Act and Human Rights Act abuses. 

Democrat state Sen. Joseph Cervantes chimed in on the Twitter thread, writing to the senator, “Among vetoes Senator- keeping NM judges lowest paid in the nation. With her stated reason she’s unhappy with the judiciary’s work. That’s the way to get better judges or motivate? Pay far less than raises she gave her own staff and far less than private sector? Hello?” 

Heinrich, who has been rumored to want to run for the governorship in 2026, sparked chatter on Twitter of his potential run, with one commenter writing, “Someone is getting ready to run for governor.”

POLITICO’s senior political columnist Jonathan Martin wrote, “Notable swipe at [Gov. Lujan Grisham] ahead of Heinrich’s own potential gov race in ‘26 .”

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