New Mexico

‘Unprepared!’: MLG scolds her own party in angry vaccine signing message

20 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed into law one of the most controversial measures from last week’s special legislative session — a bill giving the New Mexico Department of Health unilateral authority over the state’s vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.

The measure, Senate Bill 3, was the final bill awaiting the governor’s signature from the special session she supposedly called to address federal budget cuts to pork, although none of the supposed funding lost under President Donald  Trump’s administration was addressed. 

Unlike the other four bills she signed last week, the governor held off on signing this one, ultimately approving it on Wednesday with a scathing message attacking both Republicans and members of her own party.

Because SB 3 failed to achieve a two-thirds majority vote in the House, it will not take effect until December 31, rather than immediately as Democrats had intended. The bill allows the Department of Health to determine which vaccines are required for children independently of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — effectively centralizing vaccine authority in Santa Fe.

The measure was pitched as a response to what the governor’s administration described as “confusion” surrounding shifting CDC guidance on the latest COVID-19 boosters earlier this fall. But opponents warned it would strip away federal guardrails, politicize vaccine policy, and expand government power over parental and medical decisions.

In her signing message, Lujan Grisham lashed out at House Republicans for unanimously opposing the bill, accusing them of “placing the lives of thousands of New Mexicans at risk as we head into peak season for respiratory illnesses such as RSV, the flu, and COVID-19.” She also took the unusual step of publicly rebuking her own Democratic allies for not “defending the urgent need” for the legislation during floor debate.

“I am disappointed with the lack of procedural advocacy by my own party,” she wrote. “They appeared unprepared to defend the urgent need for SB 3.”

Critics say the governor’s rhetoric ignores deeper concerns about government overreach and parental rights. Republican lawmakers argued during the session that SB 3 was unnecessary and dangerous, particularly as trust in public health institutions continues to erode following years of pandemic mandates. They said the governor is attempting to consolidate health power under the state after years of mismanagement and inconsistent COVID-19 policies that devastated schools, families, and small businesses.

Activists across the state immediately reacted to the signing. Sarah Smith, a vocal critic of the measure, posted online shortly after the announcement:

“😳💉💉BREAKING — AS EXPECTED, GOVERNOR LUJAN GRISHAM HAS SIGNED THE NEW VACCINE BILL INTO LAW. This means that vaccines are now mandated for babies and little kids who are in daycare or early childhood programs,” she wrote, warning that religious and medical exemptions “are still allowed, for now.”

Smith added that the law aligns New Mexico’s policy with the American Academy of Pediatrics, a group that has backed removing religious exemptions and expanding COVID-19 mandates for children. “We must stay vigilant,” she urged supporters, linking to an informational page on how to file exemptions and urging New Mexicans to organize for the 2025 session, when more vaccine-related proposals could surface.

Republicans say SB 3 represents another step in the governor’s long pattern of pushing top-down mandates without public input. After years of shuttered schools, forced masking, and business restrictions, they argue, New Mexico parents have had enough. 

‘Unprepared!’: MLG scolds her own party in angry vaccine signing message Read More »

Dems invite disbarred professor, activists to lecture about doctors, hospitals

7 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

New Mexico lawmakers clashed Tuesday over two controversial presentations at the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, one claiming malpractice reforms have little effect on the state’s doctor shortage and another portraying private investment in healthcare as a threat. Both drew sharp rebukes from Republican legislators who said the data presented was misleading, outdated, and rooted more in ideology than fact.

Northwestern University law professor Bernard Black, who identified himself as an “equal-opportunity annoyer,” quickly lived up to the title when he told lawmakers that New Mexico is “gradually accumulating more physicians per capita” and that caps on malpractice damages have “minimal impact” on the physician supply. His claims immediately drew bipartisan criticism. Sen. Nicole Tobiassen (R-Albuquerque) said his statistics were “so far off the charts” it was hard to take them seriously. 

“Your data sets are so old that many of us in this room were probably using half a can of Aqua Net a day,” she said, noting that Black admitted at times he didn’t know what was happening in New Mexico. Fighting back tears, she told him, “I’ve had to fly my husband out of this state to save his life. You have no clue how many New Mexicans can’t get to a hospital, how many delay care for months or years because they can’t get to a doctor. I’m offended on behalf of every New Mexican that is suffering or dying.”

Even Democratic Sen. Martin Hickey, a retired physician, said the data “failed the smell test,” arguing that New Mexico is “the only state to lose doctors” while Black’s dataset relied heavily on voluntary surveys from the American Medical Association that capture only a small portion of physicians. Hickey said he was “stunned” by the conclusions and emphasized that “if you try to get an appointment, you can’t — and it’s only getting worse.”

Republicans stressed that the crisis worsened after the 2021 and 2023 changes to the state’s Medical Malpractice Act, when Democrat lawmakers raised the cap on hospital damages from $600,000 to $5.5 million, an amount set to rise again in 2026. Small clinics were initially held to the same high cap until it was partially rolled back two years later. 

Providers say the new system sent insurance premiums skyrocketing and drove doctors out of practice. The New Mexico Medical Society and allied groups have reported a loss of 248 physicians in the last five years, and nearly 40 percent of the state’s remaining doctors are 60 or older and expected to retire by 2030.

After the hearing, three Republican senators issued a joint statement denouncing what they called “blatant bias” in the committee’s witness selection. “Progressive Democrats such as Liz Thomson would rather shield trial attorneys with lies and misinformation than truly represent the needs of everyday New Mexicans who are begging for commonsense solutions to improve their access to quality healthcare,” they said. 

The senators also criticized Thomson for inviting “a disbarred lawyer and controversial professor such as Bernard Black,” saying it proved their point about partisanship on the committee.

The criticism did little to change the tone of the meeting. Later, the committee heard another presentation—this time from Olivia Kosloff of the American Economic Liberties Project, a left-leaning advocacy group known for opposing private investment in nearly every sector of the economy. Kosloff claimed private equity ownership of hospitals and nursing homes “extracts value rather than creates it,” citing unverified statistics from activist sources like the Private Equity Stakeholder Project that portrayed New Mexico as having the highest proportion of healthcare facilities “owned” by private equity. She alleged that such ownership leads to worse patient outcomes and higher mortality, despite admitting that many studies were limited and unable to establish causation.

Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) challenged the claims as “ideological, not empirical,” noting that the data ignored how most hospitals acquired by private investors were already in financial distress before acquisition. “Rural hospitals across the country have survived because investors provide capital for payroll, technology, and debt restructuring — not because of Washington grants,” Block said. “Private equity isn’t the enemy of healthcare; it’s often the last lifeline.” 

He cited independent analyses, including a 2022 Health Affairs study showing that private-equity-backed hospitals were less likely to close than comparable independents, and reports from PitchBook and Kaufman Hall indicating that such ownership accounts for less than five percent of hospitals nationwide with outcomes comparable or better than other for-profits.

When Block tried to explain these points, Chair Thomson attempted to cut him off before his allotted time expired, prompting him to call a point of order to have the clock reset. He went on to warn that proposed restrictions, such as bans on the corporate practice of medicine and expanded oversight of hospital acquisitions, would only “kill access to capital for rural and community hospitals that desperately need investment.” He added, “Demonizing investment may score political points, but it won’t save a single rural emergency room.”

Republicans say both presentations reflect a troubling pattern in the committee, where ideological narratives are given precedence over firsthand testimony from practicing doctors and local providers. As the state’s healthcare crisis deepens, they argue that Democrats are deflecting blame from their own policy failures — ballooning malpractice caps, red tape, and hostility toward private enterprise — that have made New Mexico one of the hardest places in the country to practice medicine. 

With the next legislative session looming, lawmakers are expected to revisit malpractice reform and broader healthcare access, and Republicans say it’s long past time the debate be grounded in reality rather than political theater.

Dems invite disbarred professor, activists to lecture about doctors, hospitals Read More »

No more free ride: Trump axes millions in subsidized NM renewables

26 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

President Donald Trump’s Department of Energy has halted more than $135 million in so-called “clean energy” projects across New Mexico—part of a larger $7.5 billion rollback of wasteful spending in 21 mostly Democrat-run states.

The decision scrapped 10 projects in New Mexico alone, ranging from carbon-capture schemes to taxpayer-backed solar and hydrogen startups—initiatives critics say could never survive without massive federal subsidies. Trump’s DOE said the move was about cutting political handouts and protecting taxpayers from funding experimental technologies that deliver little real energy value.

Democrats immediately fumed over the cuts. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich called the move “unhinged and unlawful,” while Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez complained that utilities might raise rates to meet contract obligations. “They can’t just say, ‘Sorry,’” she told KOB 4, warning that ratepayers could be left footing the bill for projects that were never economically viable in the first place. But the leftists messed around and apparently found out that the golden goose for wasteful projects was finally going away.

Among the projects canceled was a $6.6 million grant to the Navajo Transitional Energy Company for a carbon-capture experiment at the Four Corners Power Plant—a $13 million taxpayer-subsidized venture designed to “test” CO₂ reduction technology. The only reason such a project exists is because Democrats and some Republicans in the state Legislature passed teh “Energy Transition Act,” the state’s form of the Green New Deal, which is set to shutter the coal-burning power plant by 2031. 

Also gone are millions in funding for Kit Carson Electric Co-op’s $29 million battery-storage system in northern New Mexico and PNM’s $72 million “virtual power plant” project.

The state’s taxpayer-funded universities and green tech firms were hit as well. New Mexico Tech lost roughly $56 million in projects tied to the Biden-era “Fossil Energy Carbon Management” program, including a carbon-storage hub, methane-emission projects, and direct-air-capture research. Albuquerque-based Pajarito Powder saw two heavily subsidized hydrogen-catalyst projects, totaling nearly $19 million in federal funding, scrapped.

Critics of the so-called clean-energy sector say these programs represent the very definition of corporate welfare—propped up by taxpayer dollars yet incapable of competing with affordable and reliable fossil fuels. Despite decades of government handouts, renewable projects continue to rely on subsidies, mandates, and inflated rate structures to stay afloat.

By contrast, Trump’s move reflects his administration’s return to energy realism. Supporters argue that ending politically driven renewable subsidies protects consumers from higher electric bills and keeps America’s energy grid reliable. “These projects aren’t about energy—they’re about ideology,” one energy analyst said. “When government picks winners and losers, taxpayers always lose.”

Even PNM, New Mexico’s largest utility, acknowledged the federal cuts wouldn’t stop its core operations. “PNM will continue to focus on providing safe and reliable power to the communities we serve,” company spokesperson Eric Chavez told KOB 4.

In the end, Trump’s decision underscores a fundamental economic truth: a healthy energy market doesn’t need handouts. While Democrats decry the move as political, millions of Americans see it as a long-overdue correction—ending the costly experiment of “green” projects that burn through tax dollars while delivering little more than higher prices and empty promises.

No more free ride: Trump axes millions in subsidized NM renewables Read More »

Woke UNM prof. says it’s ‘dangerous’ to teach there are only two genders

17 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

An associate professor at the University of New Mexico says she fears being compelled to “lie” to her students by teaching that only two genders exist.

Georgiann Davis, an associate professor of sociology at UNM, expressed her concerns in a Thursday op-ed for the Los Angeles Times titled “I’m an intersex professor. Am I supposed to lie by teaching ‘only male and female’?”

In the essay, Davis referenced a viral video showing a Texas A&M student challenging professor Melissa McCoul about classroom discussions on “gender and sexuality.” The student questioned whether teaching about concepts such as the “gender unicorn” — a visual tool used to explain differences between gender identity and sexuality — was legal, saying, “According to our president, there’s only two genders. And this also very much goes against… a lot of people’s religious beliefs.”

Texas A&M later dismissed McCoul, citing inconsistencies between her course content and its official description. Then–university president Mark A. Welsh III stated that senior college leaders had approved “plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent with the course’s published description,” prompting their immediate removal from administrative roles.

Davis wrote that incidents like these have left her afraid of the professional fallout from teaching what she considers accurate science. “As someone who also teaches in the Southwest, I find myself scared — scared of what consequences might follow if I teach well and honestly,” she said.

She blamed rising political hostility for creating a hostile environment for educators. “Especially now, as misinformation about bodies spreads, with President [Donald] Trump and others insisting people are exclusively male or female — a narrow, politically charged ‘gender ideology’ of their own invention,” Davis wrote.

Born with “a vagina but no ovaries, uterus or fallopian tubes,” and with “XY chromosomes and internal, undescended testes,” Davis identifies as intersex. She said that teaching otherwise would mean denying her own biological reality. “Should I lie to my students?” she asked in the column. “Should I deny that intersex people exist as a biological reality? Should I pretend, as the Texas A&M student wishes and Trump supports, that sex is a simple binary that perfectly aligns with gender and a simplistic view of sexuality?”

Davis, author of Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis and Five Star White Trash, emphasized that intersex people are “a biological fact” and that political rhetoric claiming there are only two genders is “scientifically wrong.” She cited estimates from the Cleveland Clinic that about 1 in 100 Americans are intersex, with roughly 2% of people worldwide displaying intersex traits.

“This is why I’m scared to do my job,” Davis concluded. “Should I stand before my students and lie to them about biological reality? That would be the only way to comply with an order to acknowledge only males and females; informed and honest teachers cannot go along with that fiction.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Davis reiterated that teaching there are only two sexes would be dishonest. “Sex isn’t as simple as male or female, which any honest biologist, endocrinologist, gynecologist, [or] geneticist will tell you,” she said. “And I refuse to lie to my students about the existence of intersex people because of some political ideological war. I prefer facts. I was born with a vagina and internal testes. That’s not an ideology. That’s reality.”

Woke UNM prof. says it’s ‘dangerous’ to teach there are only two genders Read More »

MLG rages over vaccine bill delay after Dems ram through special session bills

30 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

The “emergency” special session called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ended this week with all five Democrat-sponsored bills passed, some on party-line votes. However, the real headline was the deep partisan divide and the governor’s furious reaction to Republicans for opposing her vaccine legislation.

The two-day session, which cost taxpayers an estimated $250,000, was ostensibly meant to offset federal funding cuts. But much of the time was consumed by heated exchanges over decorum and the content of the Democrats’ agenda, which Republicans said was drafted in secret and offered little room for participation.

House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena) told reporters, “We were shut down in committee. We weren’t brought to the table. We didn’t know the bills that were coming. We got them Sunday night, and then they changed while we were in caucus on Wednesday morning.”

Tensions exploded Thursday when Rep. Rod Montoya (R-Farmington) confronted House Speaker Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) over a September 10 Facebook post in which Martínez had referred to President Donald Trump as a “dirty sewer rat” and members of his administration as “fascist clowns.” From the House floor, Montoya said, “I’m bringing this up not to embarrass; that is not the point. The point is, politics, as we know recently and very obviously worldwide in America, has become dangerous.”

Montoya’s comments came after weeks of frustration over Democratic rhetoric, including Rep. Eleanor Chávez (D-Albuquerque) comparing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to the Ku Klux Klan — a statement widely condemned by Republicans as inflammatory and disrespectful toward law enforcement.

Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) also addressed the escalating hostility, saying during an 11-minute speech, “A few weeks ago, a member of this body compared an ICE detention facility … to a concentration camp. Just last week, a member … compared ICE agents to the KKK. And certain individuals, including, unfortunately, the chair, are comparing people who support the president to fascists. … It’s detestable. It’s incomprehensible,” Block urged the House to “tone down the rhetoric” and “not dehumanize our fellow representatives and their beliefs.”

Despite the discord, Democrats passed all five bills: House Bill 1, appropriating $162 million in spending; House Bill 2, expanding subsidized insurance coverage; Senate Bill 1, broadening rural-health grants; Senate Bill 2, restoring Metro Court jurisdiction in competency cases; and Senate Bill 3, a controversial rewrite of the state’s vaccine-policy framework.

Senate Bill 3 removes the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) from New Mexico’s vaccination process, allowing the Department of Health (DOH) to instead base requirements on the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups. It also mandates vaccinations for all licensed childcare and early childhood programs. The bill failed to obtain a two-thirds emergency clause, meaning it will not take effect until December 31.

In a statement issued from her office, Gov. Lujan Grisham lashed out at Republicans for the delay, claiming they “voted on a straight party line to restrict access to COVID-19 vaccines for children in New Mexico for 90 days.” She continued:

“There is no good reason for Republicans to make New Mexicans wait 90 days for vaccines they need to protect their health. I’m deeply disappointed in Republicans for voting to restrict vaccines.”

Her office asserted that the legislation “forces DOH to wait 90 days before they can buy COVID-19 vaccines for children through the Vaccine Purchasing Program.”

Republicans rejected the governor’s characterization, noting that the bill’s delay was procedural — the result of Democrats failing to reach a two-thirds supermajority. They also emphasized that existing law already permits exemptions for religious or medical reasons and that no vaccines are being “restricted.”

Outside the rhetoric, the session’s policy outcomes were largely predictable: millions in new spending, an expanded subsidy system that reaches high-income households, and yet another attempt to centralize authority in the executive branch.

As Montoya warned, “Politics has become dangerous.” The governor’s own combative tone after the session underscored his point — proving that New Mexico’s special session may have ended, but its divisions are only growing deeper.

MLG rages over vaccine bill delay after Dems ram through special session bills Read More »

Leftists sit in makeshift cage outside of Roundhouse to protest ICE

21 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Pro-illegal immigrant activists staged a small demonstration outside the New Mexico Roundhouse on Wednesday, upset that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democrat leaders didn’t include their pet proposal—a ban on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities—on the agenda for the special session.

For weeks, the far-left groups have clamored for the state to shut down ICE operations in New Mexico, even though the three detention centers in Otero, Torrance, and Cibola counties provide jobs, serve a critical law enforcement purpose, and support national immigration security. Their disappointment turned to theatrics on Wednesday as fewer than two dozen protesters built a makeshift “cage” and staged mock performances reading detainee complaints.

One protester, Fernanda Banda, whined that waiting until January for debate was “not good enough.” She added, “If the governor doesn’t want to put us on the agenda, we’ll bring detention to her.” Banda and others acted out scenes of victimhood, attempting to dramatize conditions at the Torrance County Detention Center.

Andres Esquivel, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Dream Team, struck a familiar note, claiming, “As people are getting picked up on the streets by ICE, they’re being thrown into cages, they’re being separated from their families.” In reality, those held in ICE custody are there because they have violated U.S. immigration law—not because agents are roaming around looking for random people to lock up.

Democrats themselves admitted the session was supposed to be “scaled back.” Gov. Lujan Grisham’s spokesman Michael Coleman previously stated that while she hopes to pass “the strongest bill possible” banning ICE detention centers, she left it out after legislative leaders pushed to narrow the session’s scope. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) even conceded the measure doesn’t have a clear path forward in the Senate, saying bluntly, “I don’t know yet. That’s why we need the time to get it right.”

Still, the activists threw their tantrum. Jovanny Hernandez, another protester, declared, “New Mexico has an opportunity to end our complicity in the private prison carceral system for the detention of [illegal] immigrants.” Translation: they want New Mexico to stop enforcing immigration law altogether and turn the state into a sanctuary free-for-all.

Republicans, meanwhile, have taken a far more realistic approach. Back in August, GOP legislators toured the Otero County Processing Center and reported that conditions were fine. They praised the facility for providing jobs and supporting border enforcement. Contrary to the protesters’ doom-and-gloom narrative, these facilities help keep dangerous criminal aliens off the streets while bolstering the local economy. They are also state-of-the-art, beautiful, clean facilities.

The demonstration fizzled out by the afternoon, but not before activists once again revealed their true priorities: undermining federal immigration enforcement and indulging in political theater. With so many pressing crises facing New Mexico—crime, a doctor shortage, and an unraveling child welfare system—Democrat leaders were right to sideline this fringe issue.

The fact remains: ICE detention centers are lawful, necessary, and beneficial to New Mexico communities. The handful of protesters playing jailhouse in front of the Roundhouse may have made for good photo-ops, but their antics don’t change reality. Just like the Palestine protesters who regularly disrupt events across the country with shrill, uninformed theatrics, these anti-ICE activists showed once again that they care more about radical symbolism than about solutions.

Leftists sit in makeshift cage outside of Roundhouse to protest ICE Read More »

NRCC ad torches Vasquez, Dems as they shut down the government

20 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On day one of the Democrats’ government shutdown, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) wasted no time targeting New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-Las Cruces) for what they called a reckless and hypocritical decision to shut down the federal government. All members of New Mexico’s all-Democrat congressional delegation joined Vasquez in shuttering the government over political gamesmanship.

The NRCC is launching a paid advertising campaign on Monday highlighting Vasquez’s and other Democrats’ vote to close the government over their attempt to give free health care to criminal aliens, which the NRCC says jeopardized paychecks for servicemembers, Border Patrol, and law enforcement, while halting disaster relief and cutting off vital support for veterans, farmers, and small businesses.

The attack comes with an added sting: Vasquez himself previously criticized Republicans for allegedly threatening a shutdown. In a since-deleted post on X, dated September 29, 2023, Vasquez wrote: “Tomorrow at midnight, the government will shut down. Far-right Republicans would rather hold the government hostage than see our military personnel get paid for their work. We need less nonsense and more common sense.”

The NRCC says Vasquez’s actions this year show that his rhetoric was hollow. “Out-of-touch Democrat Gabe Vasquez is grinding America to a halt. Vasquez’s shutdown puts critical programs that New Mexicans rely on at risk, just so he can prioritize open borders and handouts for illegal immigrants. Voters won’t forgive this betrayal,” said NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson.

The committee’s new ad drives the point home. Opening with the blunt line “Democrats shut it down,” the ad shows a news anchor clip acknowledging Democrats’ role in the standoff, before ticking through the consequences of Vasquez’s vote: military troops, police, and Border Patrol losing paychecks; veterans, farmers, and small businesses losing critical funding; and disaster relief efforts being cut off. The spot accuses Democrats of “grinding America to a halt in order to give illegal immigrants free health care,” urging voters to tell Democrats to “stop the shutdown.”

The line of attack is particularly pointed in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, where military families, veterans, and Border Patrol agents make up a large share of the population. With Holloman Air Force Base and a significant stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border within the district, critics argue Vasquez has put his constituents at direct risk by siding with Democrat leadership in Washington.

Republicans also point to the contradiction between Vasquez’s fiery criticism of “far-right Republicans” two years ago and his own role in forcing a shutdown today. 

The NRCC’s offensive signals how seriously Republicans view Vasquez as a vulnerable incumbent. His narrow 2022 victory flipped the seat blue, but the district remains competitive. With control of the House on the line in 2026, Republicans are betting that framing Vasquez as a politician who talks about “common sense” while voting for shutdown chaos could resonate with voters already weary of dysfunction in Washington.

For Vasquez, the challenge will be explaining why a government shutdown he once condemned as “nonsense” is suddenly acceptable when carried out by his own party.

NRCC ad torches Vasquez, Dems as they shut down the government Read More »

Special session ignores malpractice crisis—GOP warns patients will pay price

23 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Two days before lawmakers gather for a special session on Medicaid, Republican senators in New Mexico are urging their colleagues to confront what they say is an even more urgent crisis: the state’s broken medical malpractice system.

At a forum on Monday in Bernalillo, the Senate GOP’s five-member “Medical Malpractice Legislative Task Force” heard from doctors, patients, and state officials about the crushing burden malpractice costs have placed on New Mexico’s health care system. The message was clear: without reform, doctors will continue fleeing the state, leaving patients without critical care.

“It’s time we change things in New Mexico,” said Sen. Craig Brandt (R-Rio Rancho). “It’s time we make it where our doctors can stay here, so that when we get sick, or our family gets sick, or loved ones get sick, they can be treated here and not have to be flown to another state to survive.”

Republicans blasted Democratic leaders and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for refusing to put malpractice reform on the agenda during the upcoming session. Brandt laid the blame squarely on the influence of trial attorneys—powerful allies of Democratic leadership who profit from the current system. “Trial lawyers are the reason reform is blocked,” Brandt charged, echoing a frustration long shared by physicians and patients.

Health Department Secretary Gina DeBlassie acknowledged the depth of the problem. She testified that New Mexico’s rate of malpractice claims per physician is now two to three times higher than that of neighboring states, including Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Utah. She admitted the state has become an increasingly risky place to practice medicine.

That assessment was echoed by Kaye Green, CEO of a rural Roosevelt County hospital, who pointed to the lack of caps on payouts and attorney fees. Without limits, she said, New Mexico remains wide open for jackpot lawsuits — known as “jackpot justice” – that drive up insurance premiums and push doctors out. Trial attorneys run the show at the Legislature, with the most powerful committee chairs some of their most ardent supporters, if not trial attorneys themselves.

The statistics are grim. According to the National Physicians Institute, 248 doctors have left New Mexico in the past five years. The American Urological Association recently ranked New Mexico third-lowest in the nation for urologists per capita, with only 60 practicing in the state.

Sen. Jay Block (R-Rio Rancho) illustrated the human toll. He recounted his father’s battle with prostate cancer, noting that Albuquerque, a city of 560,000, has only 15 practicing urologists. Meanwhile, Durango, Colorado—with a fraction of Albuquerque’s population—has eight. “We’re talking months before people can get treatment for prostate cancer,” Block warned, describing the situation as a growing crisis.

The forum underscored what Republicans describe as a dangerous political choice: Democrats siding with trial lawyers instead of patients. Without reform to rein in runaway lawsuits and insurance costs, GOP senators argue, New Mexico will remain a hostile place for doctors, and ordinary families will continue to pay the price.

Special session ignores malpractice crisis—GOP warns patients will pay price Read More »

Urgent crises ignored as MLG pushes vaccine mandates, attacks on Trump

21 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

As New Mexico’s Oct. 1 special legislative session looms, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democrat leadership are under fire for prioritizing a political agenda over pressing crises facing the state—namely, a crippling doctor shortage, an unraveling child welfare system, and rampant crime.

Rather than confronting the root causes behind the exodus of medical providers, such as ballooning medical malpractice insurance premiums and restrictive licensure laws, the governor appears intent on advancing vaccine mandates and targeting President Donald Trump in the session. Critics say that priority inversion amounts to political theater at the expense of real, urgent needs.

Vaccine mandates, not malpractice reform

The surprise inclusion of vaccination policy in the special session agenda has drawn sharp criticism. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth told Source NM that the bill would allow the New Mexico Department of Health to “set their own standards,” decoupling state policy from shifting federal rules. “The federal standards are being thrown all over the place,” Wirth said. “As we go into COVID season and flu season, we’ve got to make sure vaccines are available based on the recommendations of our health folks, not tied to the federal standards.” 

The governor’s office confirmed vaccines are “on the call,” though the exact language has not yet been released. The agenda item is meant to attack the Trump administration’s move to empower parents to choose vaccinations for their children under the leadership of the U.S. Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Under Lujan Grisham’s rule during COVID-19, she locked down the state—killing an innumerable amount of jobs—and also pushed the strictest vaccine mandates in the entire country, if not the world. 

Meanwhile, neither advanced malpractice reform nor interstate medical compacts are slated for consideration. Think New Mexico and other advocacy groups have long argued that interstate licensure compacts (which would allow doctors licensed in other states to practice in New Mexico more easily) are among the most straightforward levers to ease the doctor shortage. Yet, powerful trial attorney interests have consistently opposed those compacts because they would limit their ability to sue entities participating in the compacts. 

To make matters worse, New Mexico’s medical malpractice environment is a key driver behind the state’s vanishing provider base. Premiums have soared due to a combination of aggressive litigation incentives and caps that increased liability exposure. Hospitals—especially public and rural ones—face ballooning insurance bills that threaten to outstrip their ability to pay. Yet, the special session package does not include serious reforms, such as capping attorney fees, reforming damage awards, or restructuring the patient compensation fund. 

CYFD chaos and crime get short shrift

New Mexico’s Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) remains in crisis. The agency is beset by chronic staffing shortages, legal backlogs, and tragic system failures. Yet the special session agenda, as currently known, offers no targeted intervention. It also has no current secretary, as the previous CYFD chief, Teresa Casados, abruptly “retired.” 

Similarly, violent crime continues to plague New Mexico’s streets. Earlier this year, Gov. Lujan Grisham touted a “crime and behavioral health” package she signed into law. Nevertheless, many critics argue that those laws constitute incremental steps rather than comprehensive reform, and that punitive policing strategies alone haven’t stemmed the tide of violence.

While Lujan Grisham initially floated addressing crime in this session, Republicans urged the inclusion of juvenile justice and public safety measures. However, Democratic leadership has resisted expanding the agenda—the result is no immediate legislative strategy to turbocharge criminal justice reform.

Meaningless Trump-bashing over meaningful action

Observers say this special session may mark a turning point in public confidence in state leadership. Instead of tackling arguably the most glaring failures—physician departures, child welfare breakdown, and spiraling crime—the governor seems more intent on attacking Trump and anchoring vaccine policy in state law.

Some Democratic staffers and allied groups have urged inclusion of medical compacts, warning that missing the federal funding window for rural hospitals would be costly. The risk is that, by prioritizing politically charged measures, the administration will lose its chance to address structural ailments that have burdened New Mexicans for years.

Urgent crises ignored as MLG pushes vaccine mandates, attacks on Trump Read More »

NM Dem doubles down on violent rhetoric: ‘ICE is acting like the KKK’

27 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

During Wednesday’s meeting of the Legislative Courts, Corrections, and Justice Committee (CCJ), state Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo), founder and editor of the Piñon Post, condemned Democrats’ increasingly radical rhetoric, warning it is fueling violence against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. His comments came the same day a gunman in Dallas opened fire at an ICE facility with bullets inscribed “anti-ICE,” killing two migrants.

Block’s remarks followed CCJ Chairman Sen. Joseph Cervantes’ (D-Las Cruces) shocking comparison of ICE agents to the Ku Klux Klan. On Tuesday, Cervantes claimed: “When children are being put on planes and people are being taken in the night and people are raiding mobile home parks and they are doing it with masks and, you know, something we haven’t seen since the KKK days, right?”

By Wednesday, Cervantes attempted to soften his words, insisting he meant only to equate the act of ICE agents wearing masks with the Klan. Yet his clarification still drew outrage, since agents are forced to conceal their identities precisely because of leftist harassment, doxxing, and threats targeting them and their families.

Block pushed back forcefully. “We need to protect the people who are protecting us — the ICE agents who are doing their jobs — and I also think it is the prerogative of the chair, the vice-chair, and every member of this committee to tone down the rhetoric because it’s resulting… in people being hurt, people being doxxed, people being killed, harassed, and yes, assassinated.”

He added pointedly, “Maybe don’t correlate ICE agents to the KKK. Maybe don’t talk about these people who go every single day, put the badge on every single day to protect our country, maybe don’t talk about them as enemies.”

Block underscored the absurdity of the comparison: “The KKK was the first domestic terror organization in this country, targeting Black people, lynching people. I don’t see ICE agents doing that. They’re not. They’re doing their job to protect this country. And people who came to this country illegally did not do it correctly. They are being processed humanely and swiftly back to their home destinations.”

He concluded with a direct challenge to the committee: “It is the prerogative of this committee to stop the political rhetoric, to stop with the performative outrage. It starts right here, right now.”

Despite the call for civility, Democrats escalated the rhetoric. Rep. Eleanor Chávez (D-Albuquerque) dismissed the appeal outright: “Try to tone that down? I don’t think so.” She went further, declaring, “I’m gonna call it what it is. It’s fascism, and ICE is acting like the KKK. And we’ve got to stop our local police, our state police, we’ve got to stop those state employees who are collaborating with ICE. We’ve got to stop them.”

Following Chavez’s inflammatory comments, state Sen. Crystal Brantley (R-Elephant Butte) wrote via X, “NM Democrat just hours after a left wing psychopath attacks ICE office in TX, killing 3 detainees. Gasoline on fire.”

Chávez is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and visited the University of New Mexico student “encampment” supporting “Palestine.”

The phrase “ICE = KKK” was tagged on the New Mexico Republican Party headquarters this March when it was firebombed by a radicalized leftist, Jamison Wagner, who is charged with the politically motivated arson. 

The exchange revealed a stark partisan divide: while Democrats equated federal law enforcement officers with America’s most notorious hate group, Republicans insisted that reckless rhetoric has real-world consequences — including violence against those tasked with enforcing the nation’s laws.

NM Dem doubles down on violent rhetoric: ‘ICE is acting like the KKK’ Read More »

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 242
Scroll to Top