New Mexico

Dem senator wants fed dollars spent on costly bullet train, PED expansion

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Legislators hurriedly passed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic cash for leftist pet projects during the second special session, such as $10 million to build electric vehicle charging stations and $15 million to the Department of Finance and Administration for “energy-efficient affordable housing.” 

But for one Democrat senator, all that spending wasn’t enough to fulfill his wish list of priorities he thinks New Mexico needs. 

State Sen. Bill Soules (D-Doña Ana) wants even more investments in social programs, including an expansion of the Public Education Department, which has already been under fire for its overreach in local school boards.

Soules wrote that he wants to “[e]xpand our Public Education Department (and thinking) from K-12 to include the nurturing of future students in the developmental phase of infancy and early childhood. Fully fund prenatal and infant care and services and all early childhood programs for 100 percent of infants.” 

He wants to also “[f]und county-based capacity-building centers committed to identifying gaps in the vital services in rural and urban areas. Invest in the community schools model to make every school fully resourced for our most vulnerable students.” It is unclear what exactly he means by “county-based capacity-building centers” for “vulnerable” students, but he doesn’t give a price tag.

But possibly one of the most costly investments Soules imagines be done with federal dollars includes, funding “a bullet train to move consumers from Santa Fe to Las Cruces, plus Mexico and Colorado.” 

A bullet train is one of the most expensive investments imaginable. According to Forbes, for Amtrak to create a high-speed rail train in its Northeast Corridor route, it would cost $500 million per mile. Forbes writes, “High-speed rail is the ‘fetch’ of transportation ideas.”

More conservative estimates of $154 million per mile for a bullet train, would mean a price tag of over $34 billion just for a bullet train from Albuquerque to Las Cruces (about 222 miles).

While many leftist legislators propose costly new initiatives for New Mexico, many working families in the state are still struggling to get back on their feet following brutal pandemic lockdowns from scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The Governor’s lockdown resulted in at least 40% of small businesses closing and New Mexico remains one of the states still with a high unemployment rate. 

Elon Musk likely just solved the broadband issue in New Mexico

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For years, politicians like Sen. Ben Ray Luján, scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and others have complained about a lack of access to broadband in New Mexico, citing Tribal communities specifically in the Navajo Nation who lack this access.

Despite claiming to have passed millions of dollars in federal cash to provide such a service to these hard-to-reach rural areas, not many improvements have been made years and months after supposed funding went to broadband access.

But one man, who many on the far-left hate, Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, may just have solved the broadband issue that politicians have been bickering over for years as a talking point to court voters in these areas where broadband access is scarce. 

According to a new report from iTech Post, “SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket delivering a new batch of Starlink satellites into space. The launch was held at the Vandenberg Space Force Station in California, bringing a stack of 52 Starlink satellites.” 

SpaceX’s mission is to offer internet access to practically everyone in the world, CNET reports. 

The company has few rivals, including OneWeb, which has far fewer satellites than SpaceX. SpaceX had 1,791 satellites in September 2021 versus OneWeb’s 648 satellites. Musk’s company is expected to only grow and with that growth create more global access to the internet. 

When asked if SpaceX Starlink will work on the Navajo Nation, Musk replied, “Absolutely.” 

Following this news that gives new hope for internet access in places like the Navajo Nation, state Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) wrote on Twitter, “This is excellent news for the Navajo Nation and New Mexico. SpaceX Starlink Satellite Launch: Elon Musk Promises Internet Coverage Even in Navajo Nation.” 

She added, “Elon Musk will also launch satellite phone services to improve coverage.” 

Others applauded the news as well, with conservative activist Elisa Martines writing, “@elonmusk doing more for Native Americans than freeloading Senator Karen,” referring to a spat between Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Musk, where the billionaire called the far-left politician “Senator Karen” after she wanted Musk to pay billions more in taxes.

The move by Musk comes after the New Mexico Legislature created a gaping loophole in state law that allowed Musk to open a Tesla showroom inside of New Mexico — just not in the state. He opened the Tesla location near the Nambe Falls travel center on Tribal land. According to one report:

In 2019, Tesla tried to push a new law in the state with the help of some favorable legislators, but the local car dealer associations flexed their political muscle and it was dropped.

But Tesla has now found a loophole.

The automaker managed to open its first store and service center inside an old casino north of Santa Fe, and they did it by partnering with the first nation of Nambé Pueblo and opening the location on their tribal land.

As NM families struggled, MLG had swanky taxpayer-funded dinner party

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While New Mexicans suffered one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates, record-high inflation, and soaring gas prices Michelle Lujan Grisham traveled to Scotland for a “climate change” summit called “COP26,” which focused on funding climate change extremism through cooperation between global stakeholders.

At the Scotland event, scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced radical job-killing proposals she aims to ram through the 2022 Legislative Session that will not only cripple New Mexico’s energy economy but will harm the poor in significant ways. Many of her cabinet secretaries and staff joined her.

At the time, the Governor’s spokeswoman Nora Sackett bragged about how the taxpayers would not be funding the trip, claiming a climate change dark money group would be footing the bill instead.

However, once Lujan Grisham arrived back in New Mexico, Inspection of Public Records Act requests revealed that in early November, right after she got back from the vacation-style “climate” excursion, the taxpayers footed the bill for a swanky seven-person dinner party at the Governor’s Mansion. 

According to the documents obtained in the IPRA, the taxpayers paid Abobo Catering $1,057.27 for the party, totaling over $150 for each person’s expensive meal.

The menu included “[s]ous vide and butter-basted beef tenderloin with roasted vegetable Napoleon and rosemary red wine demiglace.” Dessert included a “chocolate pear tartlet with hazelnut crisp.” According to the memo, the bar, bar supplies, and “dinner wine” were provided by the “client,” i.e. possibly the taxpayers in another form. 

There is no mention of this gathering on Lujan Grisham’s public schedule. 

Western States Director for the pro-energy group Power The Future wrote regarding the Governor’s lavish taxpayer-funded meal, “As if her junket to Scotland wasn’t enough, the Governor decided the taxpayers also need to foot the bill for an extravagant dinner. For Michelle Lujan Grisham to spend days demonizing our energy industry in Europe only to turn around and use the funds it generates for a lavish dinner tells you all you need to know about her hypocrisy.” 

Throughout the pandemic, Lujan Grisham has broken her lockdown orders to buy lavish jewelry and she spent thousands in taxpayer dollars on $200/lb Wagyu beef steaks, fine wine, and liquor. This all came as New Mexicans were forced to stand in bread lines during the holidays due to her strict 75-person capacity limit in grocery stores.

After her taxpayer-funded Wagy and fine wine spending, she gave what some characterize as an apology, saying, “When people are struggling, should it be fair that residents (of the governor’s mansion) literally have a locked-up grocery store closet … that has libations and catering stuff and food?” 

“I don’t want New Mexicans to feel like I don’t take seriously their hardship,” she added at the time. It does not appear she is taking their hardship seriously now, as at least 40% of small businesses in the state have been closed and New Mexicans still struggle to survive, especially as winter is coming and the cost of staying warm has risen exponentially. 

The Piñon Post reached out to the Governor’s office for comment but has not yet received a response. If a statement is provided, this story will be updated.

MLG mandates boosters for healthcare workers — Newsom follows suit

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Despite health care workers laboring throughout the pandemic without either a COVID-19 shot or a “booster,” scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has mandated not only the original inoculation but a booster for health care workers. 

In early December, Lujan Grisham’s regime claimed, “[a]lthough experts caution that much remains unknown about the new variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week amplified its recommendation on COVID-19 booster shots, saying all vaccinated adults ‘should’ receive one either six months after completing a Pfizer or Moderna series and two months after a Johnson & Johnson shot.”

“The amended state public health order, issued Thursday by Acting Health Secretary David R. Scrase, M.D., will require those categories of workers to receive a booster shot,” the directive instructed.

Now the far-left state of California is following suit, mandating booster jabs for all healthcare workers. 

“​​CA will require healthcare workers to get their booster. As the Omicron variant continues to spread — we’re stepping up efforts to get more people boosted and keep Californians safe,” claimed embattled California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Twitter. 

“With Omicron on the rise, we’re taking immediate actions to protect Californians and ensure our hospitals are prepared. More to come in our official announcement tomorrow,” he said.

It appears Newsom is taking his directives from Lujan Grisham, who is the chair of the Democrat Governors Association, despite her alleged sexual assaults on multiple men — similar behavior to what led to the fall of Democrat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

During the pandemic, Lujan Grisham has shuttered small businesses, targeted health care workers with mandates, killed at least 40% of small businesses in New Mexico and was caught repeatedly skirting her COVID-19 guidelines.

MLG’s spokesman who called GOP a ‘death cult’ quits over mental health

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Scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s key spokesman, who has remained at the center of many of the Governor’s crises, Tripp Stelnicki, is jumping ship from the administration ahead of the 2022 election.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Stelnicki “told the governor in his resignation letter he was stepping down to prioritize his mental health.” 

“A position of trust like this is too important – to you, the people who serve you and the people you serve – to be occupied by someone who cannot give 110%,” Stelnicki wrote in the letter. 

Stelnicki is well known for his condescension of New Mexicans and rudeness to members of the press, including a KOB 4 reporter who asked him basic questions about the Governor’s “red to green” plan to lift harsh restrictions. He wrote: 

Did you read the attachment to the news release yesterday and find it confusing? Please let us know if we can help you understand it. Three colors is not confusing. Checking a website— or asking your county to check a website—once every two weeks is not difficult. 

During the interview with KOB, he claimed long, cold bread lines outside of grocery stores over the 2020 holidays due to Lujan Grisham’s restrictions were a “minor inconvenience.” 

The Piñon Post reported on the long lines prior to the interview with KOB after the Governor’s office told KOB 4 that the lines were just “Republican talking points.” The office also claimed, “The state is not forcing anyone to stand in a crowded line, as you suggest.” 

Stelnicki is also well-known for calling the Republican Party a “death cult” that wants more New Mexicans dead of the virus. 

“You don’t have to ask the death cult their opinion or publish their quotes. False equivalence now is actually life or death. There is no ‘both sides’ to this. There is one group preaching accelerated illness & death because they ‘love’ ‘business’ & if you can’t see through that?” he wrote. 

After Stelnicki’s announcement, Lujan Grisham claimed she was “lucky” to have him. “His intelligence and strategic thinking have helped in countless tough moments, and he has played a key role in our collective, ongoing push to better serve New Mexicans through good, proactive government,” she wrote. 

Stelnicki’s departure is just the latest in a long line of other administration officials jumping ship, including cabinet secretaries, senior advisors, regulatory personnel, among others.

State-funded totalitarianism: Jabs required for events at The Pit

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The University of New Mexico (UNM) has recently announced not only a mask mandate indoors at The Pit stadium, but a COVID shot mandate, throwing a wrench in the UNM games happening at the stadium.

The mandate requires either a negative COVID-19 test or a shot. 

“The university has a responsibility to our student athletes, coaches, staff and the thousands of passionate Lobo fans, to do what we can to protect the health and safety of those competing, coaching, working, watching, and cheering the game,” athletics director Eddie Nuñez said in the news release.

“We ask for your understanding and patience as the new requirements are implemented,” he added. “… Please help us keep our student-athletes and everyone in our community safe.”

The next big event at The Pit is on Tuesday where the Lobo men’s basketball team is hosting Norfolk State at 7 p.m. It is unclear if a jab will be required for that game. After Christmas, The Lobos’ next game is Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. in the Mountain West Conference opener against Colorado State.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, “UNM has an annual athletics budget of roughly $31 million to $32 million, of which 25%-30% a year comes via institutional support from such sources as university subsidies, student fees and state appropriations,” meaning taxpayers are funding the jab mandate, which many New Mexicans claim is unconstitutional.

Open gov’t watchdog group blasts Dems’ partisan closed-door special session

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In a Sunday letter to the editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican, Melanie J. Majors, the executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG), decried Democrats’ closed-door special session for redistricting, which largely kept the public out of the process. 

She wrote, “The New Mexico Legislature’s actions during this past special session show it does not share this value. For months this summer, the Legislature-mandated Citizen Redistricting Committee held public meetings and gathered public comment to create fair, equitable maps outlining congressional, state Senate and state representative districts. It seems much of the committee’s work has been done in vain.” 

Majors blasted Democrats’ “partisan enclaves” that eliminated the public’s participation, while many meetings were announced minutes before they started, giving the regular citizen little to no way to participate.

“FOG believes the public’s business should be conducted in full public view, the actions of the public bodies should be taken openly and all deliberations be made open to the public, yet the Legislature has conducted meetings about redistricting behind closed doors, in partisan enclaves, eliminating any public access to the proceedings — access that is an essential element of a properly functioning democracy,” she wrote.

“Voters in New Mexico deserve better. They want to see transparency in the redistricting process and the new districts. A fair process begins with genuine openness and transparency. The public hearings held across the state were an important blueprint for lawmakers. We request all negotiations and deliberations regarding redistricting be conducted in an open and transparent manner that is accessible to the public.” 

During the special session, late-night deliberations were common with caucuses in between meetings, and only after angry pleas from New Mexicans were they reluctantly allowed to testify in committee hearings, especially if they were in attendance via Zoom. 

FOG’s apparent anger over the process shows that Democrats’ closed-door special session was not only decried by many in the public but even by open government watchdogs.  

Leger Fernandez deploys frantic fundraising asks after Dem gerrymandering

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After Democrats in the New Mexico Legislature used extreme gerrymandering to completely redraw New Mexico’s legislative seats, Public Education Commission, and three congressional district boundaries, far-left Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-03) is sounding the alarm on changes to her seat, which is now skewed from a solid Democrat district to a purple competitive district. 

The newly weakened Democrat district comes as New Mexico Democrats, desperate to cling to more power, gerrymandered New Mexico’s Second District, currently represented by Republican Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, to skew to the left, now sitting at a D+4 district.

However, the cost of “flipping” the seat statistically to the left costs both of Democrats’ once-safe seats to be more competitive for Republicans. Leger Fernandez’s seat flipped from a D+14 seat to a D+5 and New Mexico’s First District, represented by Democrat Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, from a D+18 to a D+11.

The maps now show extreme gerrymandering in their shapes, with the Third District snaking down from northwest New Mexico to southeast New Mexico, pairing communities like Lovington, Hobbs, ad Roswell with places like Española, Las Vegas, and the Navajo Nation.

The First District now creeps down to Roswell from Albuquerque, while its South Valley has been plunged into the Second District, while huge chunks of Valencia County have been pushed into the First District.

In a panicky-sounding fundraising email sent by Leger Fernandez’s team, they write, “New Mexico’s new maps might be the difference between Democrats holding the House — or losing it to the GOP. Since Republicans only need to flip 5 seats to take control of the House, DEFENDING NM-03 and WINNING NM-02 will be critical to Democrats’ chances of holding the majority.” 

“But we need to step it up. Our district is already on the NRCC’s target list, so we can bet they’re going to pour cash into this race to defeat Teresa. We can’t afford to sit back and relax any longer. We can’t assume that our campaign will have the upper hand going into Election Day, the email continued.

She also posted on social media with similar messaging asking for funds now that her district is competitive.

It came after Leger Fernandez’s own brother, Martín Leger, testified against the new map drawn by partisan Democrats because it makes the first-term congresswoman susceptible to a Republican kicking her out of Congress. 

The new districts, which were designed by a George Soros-funded dark money group, the Center for Civic Policy (CCP), and signed by scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, could be challenged in court for the extreme gerrymandering occurring, although a suit has not yet been announced.

Egolf ‘retaliates’ against Hispanics, dissolves Land Grant committee

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According to the New Mexico House Republicans, in a fit of vindictive rage following the Second Special Session regarding gerrymandered legislative, congressional, and Public Education Commission maps, Speaker Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) has “retaliated” against Hispanic voices by doing away with the interim Land Grant and Cultural Affairs Committee.

Chaired by Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque), the Committee deals with many Hispanic issues, specifically cultural issues, in the state.

The House Republicans wrote in a press release:

The 2nd Special Session, focused on redistricting, wrapped up today. Throughout this entire special session the progressive majority made every effort to dilute Hispanic voices in the legislature through the redistricting process with Republicans, Democrats, and Independent lawmakers calling out the process that sidelined and even reduced Hispanic voters voices in New Mexico. Near the end of the marathon special session, long-time Albuquerque South Valley Democrat Rep. Miguel Garcia voiced his concerns about the lack of respect for New Mexico’s Hispanic communities this session and ultimately resigned as chair of the House Local Government, Land Grant and Cultural Affairs Committee. In an overreaction to Rep. Garcia standing up for minority voting strength, the Speaker of the House Brian Egolf dissolved the Local Government, Land Grant and Cultural Affairs Committee, the single most important committee for addressing cultural issues primarily affecting New Mexico’s Hispanic communities.

“It is a travesty that we are seeing play out exactly what so many Hispanic lawmakers, from both sides of the aisle, echoed in the Roundhouse this week- if you are a Hispanic and do not conform to so-called progressivism, you are not the right type of Hispanic and are no longer useful,” said House Republican Whip Rod Montoya (Farmington). 

“Once again, we are witnessing the diminishing returns progressive democrats are finding in Hispanic voting groups. Not only does the Speaker not have the authority to dissolve a standing committee without going through the Legislature, for him to eliminate a committee whose jurisdiction is to protect ancestral lands and Hispanic voices [reveal] to every New Mexican how each of us is a political pawn for the progressive Democrats who control this state,” Montoya added.

Egolf has long been a ruthless ruler of the House, bending and breaking House rules to ram through extremist legislation, limiting debate on amendments and bills, and upending a 24-hour open meetings rule to pass Democrat dream legislation with little to no public input. 

During the Special Session, Democrats passed the most extreme redistricting maps imaginable, splitting Hispanic communities and placating the far-left George Soros-funded group, the Center for Civic Policy (CCP) with the most partisan gerrymandered plans imaginable. Also during the special session, Democrats passed a mammoth billion-dollar spending bill that would spend tens of millions of dollars on eco-Marxist initiatives, such as $3.5 million for plugging drilling wells and $10 million for electric vehicle charging stations.

The public was largely kept out of the process, with a ban on carrying firearms at the Roundhouse, forced masking, and a jab requirement for all who enter (except legislators).

MLG signs gerrymandered Dem congressional map into law

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On Friday morning, scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Democrats’ gerrymandered dream congressional map into law, creating three Democrat-leaning congressional districts — a move to take out Republican Congresswoman Yvette Herrell of the Second District. 

The embattled Governor wrote, “This morning I have signed New Mexico’s new Congressional map into law, as approved by the state Legislature. This map is a nearly 90 percent reflection of the People’s Map produced by an independent Citizens Redistricting Committee. New Mexico is a vast & diverse state, with both rural & urban communities & interests that span the spectrum politically & economically. We must honor the ideals of democracy by doing everything we can to ensure a level playing field & reflecting what is unique about New Mexico.”

The map is not the“People’s Map.” It is a map drawn and funded by the left-wing George Soros-funded group the Center for Civic Polic.

As we previously reported:

The new map skews all three districts to favor Democrats, albeit only slightly in the Third and Second Districts. District 3 represented by Democrat Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez is weakened from a D+14 to a D+5, District 2 represented by Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell is flipped from an R+14 to a D+4, and District 1 represented by Democrat Rep. Melanie Stansbury is weakened from a D+18 to a D+11.

Democrats achieved this partisan advantage by extreme gerrymandering, including chopping up communities of interest to meet its partisan agenda. The Third District snakes all the way from the northwest corner of the state down to the southeast corner of the state, including northern Hobbs, Roswell, and Lovington with places like Española and Santa Fe. 

The Second District includes Albuquerque’s South Valley and many of its Republican-leaning areas have been segregated out of the district. The First District snakes down to Roswell while eating up Lincoln and Torrance Counties. 

Although the Democrats may, however, have shot themselves in the foot with the passage of this partisan map, especially with 2022 expected to be a Republican blowout year and their now more vulnerable incumbent Democrats having to fend off Republican opponents who very well could flip the Third District and hold onto the Second District.

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