New Mexico

Someone files ‘Breaking Bad’ character to run for New Mexico congressional seat

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According to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing, the main character from AMX/FX’s hit show Breaking Bad, filmed and set in New Mexico, is running for Congress as a Republican in the state’s Second Congressional District.

A June 16, 2023 filing shows “Walter Hartwell White/ Jesse Bruce Pinkman” had registered a committee for the former to run for the Second District. White’s character, an Albuquerque-based former chemistry teacher from the show, became a meth cook who sold the drug to the cartel to pay for his cancer treatment and ended up becoming a legend in his own right known as “Heisenberg.” Pinkman was White’s partner in crime who worked as his drug dealer in the show.

The filing listed “3828 Piermont Dr” in Albuquerque as the candidate’s address — the filming location of White’s fictitious house on “308 Negro Arroyo Lane” from the television show. The address is not within the Second District, although candidates need not live in the district to run, unlike state legislative candidates who must live in the district they aim to represent.

The committee name, “Gus Associates,” pays homage to the show’s cartel boss Gustavo “Gus” Fring, listing the committee’s filing address as that of the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park in Las Cruces.

Following the fake campaign filing, the FEC wrote in a June 25, 2023 letter to the entity, “It has come to the attention of the Federal Election Commission that you may have failed to include the true, correct, or candidate information under 52 U.S.C. § 30102(e) when you filed FEC Form 2.”

It added, “Furthermore, the Commission requires the filing to be true, correct, and complete. When you filed FEC Form 2, you made the following certification: ‘I certify that I have examined this Statement and to the best of my knowledge and belief it is true, correct and complete.’ The Commission also informed you on that form that: ‘Submission of false, erroneous, or incomplete information may subject the person signing this Statement to the penalties of 52 U.S.C. § 30109.’” 

“It is not known who filed the FEC candidate paperwork for the fictional characters. The FEC said it would crack down on fake candidate filings in 2016 after several fake presidential candidates were listed for the vacant office,” wrote KOAT 7.

Former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell is the sole legitimate Republican candidate in the Second District, while Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez is attempting to run for another term after narrowly beating Herrell in 2022.

Democrats whine about ‘climate change’ because summer is hot

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Summer is hot. That’s just a fact, especially in the desert of New Mexico.

However, far-left Democrats in the U.S. Congress are claiming triple-digit July temperatures are the result of “climate change,” some even going so far as to blame it on Republicans for not passing eco-left laws.

Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Maryland resident, claimed on Twitter, “We are all paying the price of Republican inaction on climate change,” sharing an article from the Washington Post talking about the “extreme heat.”

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-CD-01) wrote, “This summer is a scorcher! Friendly reminder that climate change is real and we are feeling the effects of global warming in REAL TIME. When [Tina Snow] mentioned ‘hot girl summer,’ I don’t think this is what she meant.” 

New Mexicans didn’t buy what Heinrich and Stansbury are selling. 

“This summer is no hotter than many summers past. Educate yourself,” one person wrote to Stansbury. Well-documented scientific figures attest to this argument disproving the Democrat.

One person wrote to Heinrich, “And the mega drought that drove out the cliff dwellers was also caused by the Republicans?” The account added, “It’s all cycles upon cycles. Some last a few years, some last centuries or millennia.” 

“You have been in elected office for 15 years. For 6 of those years you were a member of the party that controlled both houses of congress. Quit pretending that one party is responsible for anything as complex as the earth’s climate.  Have your intern step away from the [T]witter,” another chimed in.

Heinrich and Stansbury fervently back far-left Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocazio-Cortez’s (D-NY) “Green New Deal,” as well as far-left Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s version, the “Energy Transition Act.” 

Lt. Gov. Howie Morales in charge as Lujan Grisham once again leaves state

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Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office announced that she had fled New Mexico for various travels, rounding her trip out by visiting Washington, D.C. 

On Tuesday, she traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, for Joe Biden’s Council of Governors, a role Biden nominated her for. 

She then will go to Michigan for a meeting of female Democrat governors. The executive’s office did not note the specific event, but it likely is an excursion planned by the abortion up-to-birth group EMILY’s List, which has bankrolled Democrat women running for office, including Lujan Grisham.

“On Sunday, the governor will travel to Washington, D.C., where she will meet with federal officials at the White House. On Wednesday morning, she will deliver a keynote address during a White House event on early childhood education and child care,” the governor’s press release continued. 

It noted, “She is expected to return on Wednesday, July 19.” The events that will take place from Sunday to Wednesday were not disclosed. 

The governor is well-known for her out-of-state and out-of-country excursions. In May 2022, while wildfires plagued New Mexico, she fled to Washington, D.C., to get married, with Kamala Harris officiating her nuptials.

She has repeatedly traveled to Washington to attend events and functions put on by Joe Biden’s regime and far-left organizations’ events.

Other notable trips from the governor include a 2019 excursion to a Spanish island, which was not disclosed to the public until open records requests revealed she had fled the state without notice to the citizenry. 

In 2021, she flew to Scotland for a “climate change” excursion while also stopping in Washington to meet with Joe Biden officials and held an anti-coal event with Washington State’s Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee.

She has also made multiple trips to Washington, D.C., to get tests and surgery on her knee, to the ire of New Mexicans, many of whom cannot afford to take trips out-of-state for medical care, much less trips paid for by taxpayers.

For her current trip, as with others before, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will assume the role of governor in Lujan Grisham’s absence.

Report shows how New Mexico’s GDP changed

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A new Axios report compared each state’s gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, showing where they stand from 2012 to 2022.

The report revealed that the “Northeast and Midwest regions saw widespread decreases in their states’ shares of national GDP while Southeastern and Western states saw marked increases.”

According to Bloomberg, “Some 2.2 million people moved to the Southeast in just over two years. That’s roughly the population of Houston.”

The Rio Grande Foundation wrote of the study, “It is hardly a surprise that GDP is moving south and west because PEOPLE are moving south and west.”

“North Dakota’s tremendous growth in its oil and gas sector over the last decade drove dramatic population growth, but that doesn’t seem to be happening in New Mexico (at least so far) with our shrinking share of the national economic pie.”

New Mexico’s GDP decreased approximately ten percent while all of its neighboring states, excluding Oklahoma, increased — Texas increasing around ten percent. 

Amid radical woke agenda, NM House GOP offering parents legal option

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On Monday, the New Mexico House of Representatives Republicans announced at a press conference featuring Rep. Luis Terrazas (R-Bayard) that they are offering parents in the state a parental/guardian consent form that attorneys have extensively reviewed to allow the option to forego the woke agenda being pushed in schools due to recent legislation, including H.B. 7 and S.B. 397.

The House Republicans wrote, “The following form is designed to help parents/guardians explicitly exercise their right to be fully informed prior to their child accessing medical and behavioral health services, or some instructional materials.”

“Parents/guardians are responsible for making educational and health care decisions for their children until they reach the age of majority. A minor child cannot consent to his/her own educational decisions or medical treatment. It is important for parents/guardians to remain engaged and informed with school district staff to ensure their children are receiving the appropriate education and health care. Parent/guardian engagement ensures the highest standard of care.”

The form gives multiple fields for notification, including “any health care services, referral for services, class, lesson, instruction, curriculum, assembly, guest speaker, activity, assignment, library material, online material, club, group, or association concerning transgender ideology, gender affirming care or gender identity,” “abortion,” “contraception and other family planning,” “primary health care,” and “mental or psychiatric care.”

The form concludes, “If I am not given prior notification and the ability to make an informed decision concerning the wellbeing of my child, I withhold consent for the items checked above.” 

In an op-ed by New Mexico House Republican Leader Greg Nibert wrote, “Parents have put up with a lot over the last few years, but take away their right to protect the health and safety of their kids, and it is clear that New Mexicans of all ethnic, social and political persuasions have had enough. The nonstop and aggressive march of progressive social policies in New Mexico has finally struck a nerve.”

“I and other Republicans are moving forward with an effort to advise parents on how to inform schools officials of their demands when it comes to their children’s welfare. Republicans are advocating that every parent of a minor child in New Mexico’s public schools sign and send a letter to their school’s administration requiring that they be notified before any gender ideology information, gender altering services, hormone blockers, psycho-tropic medications or abortion services are provided to their child. The recommended form letter has already been reviewed by lawyers who are ready and willing to engage on this important issue.”

The parental notification form to send to their school administrator can be found by following this link. Instructions on using the form are also available on the website (NMHRCC.org/parentpower).

Democrat mayor applauds NM Supreme Court’s gerrymandering move

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A recent ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court has received praise from Roswell Mayor Timothy Jennings, who believes the decision to allow a challenge to the state’s congressional maps to proceed in a lower court was the right one. In an interview with the Roswell Daily Record, Jennings expressed his approval of the court’s ruling, stating, “They made the right decision.” The litigation, which was initially filed in the Fifth Judicial District Court, was supported by Jennings, a Democrat and former New Mexico Senate Pro Tempore, as well as other petitioners, including the Republican Party of New Mexico.

The court’s ruling was unanimous, with all five justices, comprised of all Democrats, agreeing that the lawsuit should move forward in the lower court. The defendants in the case, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, New Mexico Senate Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, and former New Mexico Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, argued that the state’s Constitution does not permit courts to intervene in claims of political gerrymandering or establish clear standards for doing so. However, the justices determined that the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution does grant courts a role in resolving such disputes.

In their order, the justices instructed the District Court to take all necessary steps to ensure a resolution in the case by October 1, 2023. The order also provides standards for the district court judge to use in assessing whether the reconfigured districts violate the state’s Constitution.

Jennings expressed his lack of surprise at the court’s decision, noting that many people believed that the Democratic justices would rule against the petitioners. He stated, “They all thought that the Supreme Court would automatically go the other way against this group, and they didn’t.”

The lawsuit was initially filed after the Democratic-led Legislature approved a redistricting plan in 2021, which Gov. Lujan Grisham subsequently approved. Critics, including Jennings, argued that the redistricting plan unfairly favored Democrats by cracking conservative communities of interest and preventing them from having a fair chance at electing a Republican. Specifically, they pointed to the 2nd Congressional District, which had traditionally leaned heavily toward Republicans but shifted to a Democratic advantage, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight.

Jennings also expressed concerns about the impact of the new districts on the oil industry, which has a significant presence in southeast New Mexico. He believes the districts were designed to weaken the industry’s political influence. Regarding the division of Chaves County among the three districts, Jennings said, “When they put us in three districts in Chaves County, that was crazy.”

Jennings’ comments praising the high court’s move comes after multiple groups comprising Fair Districts New Mexico also supported the New Mexico Supreme Court’s order. The groups included the left-wing League of Women Voters. 

The New Mexico Supreme Court’s order followed a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Moore vs. Harper, where a suit claiming that state legislatures have extensive authority over state elections, including redistricting, was rejected. Quinn Yeargin, an assistant professor of law, stated that the outcome of the New Mexico case demonstrates that state court challenges related to political maps will continue after the Moore v. Harper decision. He also noted that while it is difficult to determine the justices’ stance on the constitutionality of the maps, their ruling establishes standards for assessing their constitutionality.

Yeargin anticipates that the Republican challengers will have an opportunity to present their case during the trial, and the challenge will likely return to the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Redistricting group praises NM Supreme Court’s ruling in gerrymandering case

Two years after indictment, Stapleton’s corruption trial finally set for 2024

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Two years after the indictment of disgraced former New Mexico House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D-Albuquerque), a trial date was finally set for the 28 federal counts against the former top Democrat.

According to the Associated Press, the court date for the former high-ranking official is January 2, 2024, on charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud, bribery, and tax evasion, among other allegations.

Stapleton’s house was raided in July 2021 after it was revealed she had been allegedly embezzling around $1 million from New Mexico’s taxpayers — specifically New Mexico’s Children through the Albuquerque Public Schools, where she used to work. She was fired from the cushy $ 79,000-per-year gig.

She later resigned from the New Mexico House of Representatives in disgrace.

The Piñon Post’s exclusive report uncovering her ties to other high-profile New Mexico Democrats has revealed Stapleton’s alleged graft has been going on for around 30 years, in tandem with Joseph Johnson, a shady former New Mexico secretary of health who also has previously been hit with bribery and fraud charges.

In 2011, Larry Barker of KRQE 13 News found that Stapleton “pocketed more than $100,000 — money she didn’t earn — from APS over the years while serving in the legislature. But instead of being punished or forced to pay it back, Superintendent Winston Brooks changed the rules for Stapleton.” Brooks dismissed Stapleton’s $167,000 worth of unauthorized leave from APS, saying, “What I did was I changed the employee handbook so that anyone can be a legislator in Santa Fe and be paid for it.” 

In 2018, former Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission executive director Kimberly Greene and former employees Cheryl Yazzie and Charles Countee pleaded guilty to fraud and embezzlement charges by creating phony state vouchers to heist over $67,700 from the Commission. According to Greene, she claims she “was coerced by [then]-House Minority Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, to enter into a no-bid contract with eRead, an outside contractor for ACT/SAT program,” according to the New Mexico Political Report. However, Stapleton claimed, “I was never involved, never spoke to anybody about a no-bid contract.”

In November 2022, it was reported that Stapleton was not in custody as her corruption trial looms. 

EXCLUSIVE: Ex-NM cabinet secretary’s ties to Williams Stapleton expose other top Dems

Redistricting group praises NM Supreme Court’s ruling in gerrymandering case

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This week, the fully Democrat New Mexico Supreme Court dealt Democrats a shocking blow when it denied Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s appeal for the high court to strike a bipartisan lawsuit challenging the state’s extremely partisan congressional district gerrymander. That means the case can now be heard at the state district court level.

In 2021, the Democrats in the New Mexico Legislature rammed through maps that cut communities of interest in halves or thirds while creating snake-like districts that are clear of a partisan gerrymander. 

During the process, the Democrats gerrymandered the Second Congressional District, which swung the seat from favoring Republicans by 14 points to now favoring Democrats by four points, resulting in New Mexico’s only Republican congresswoman, Yvette Herrell, losing to far-left Democrat Gabe Vasquez, in 2022.

The nonprofit group that was heavily involved in the redistricting process, which the Democrat legislature subverted, Fair Districts New Mexico, applauded the state Supreme Court on its move.

“Some people are declaring yesterday’s decision a victory for New Mexico Republicans, who are challenging in court the state’s redrawn congressional map,” said Hannah Burling co-President of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico and Project Leader of Fair Districts for New Mexico. “But no one knows what the final decision on that question will be. Instead, yesterday’s decision is a victory for voters who believe the courts can – and must – protect voters’ constitutional rights by considering cases alleging partisan gerrymandering.”  

Heather Balas, Vice President of the Election Reformers Network, said, “New Mexico’s court rightly joins a growing number of other state supreme courts in holding what the U.S. Supreme Court once recognized and what every voter knows to be true: that extreme partisan gerrymandering is incompatible with democratic principles and causes constitutional harms. Such cases must be at least heard.” 

Mason Graham, Policy Director for Common Cause New Mexico noted that New Mexicans deserve a fair and transparent process for redistricting. “This process was flawed from the outset. When elected officials from either party meet in secret to manipulate maps and protect their political power, voters lose faith in our institutions and in democracy itself. In that way, gerrymandering harms us all. Ensuring the courts retain the power to protect the interests of voters is an essential safeguard.”

“As New Mexicans we are proud that on the day following Independence Day, the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed the balance of power enshrined in our state constitution and respected by the U.S. Constitution. This is not a win for any political party; this is a victory for all New Mexicans.” 

The support for sending the case to the lower court to determine the case and the condemnation from all sides of the extreme partisan gerrymander by the New Mexico Democrats in the majority at the Legislature is a testament to the bipartisan groups and officials, such as Democrat Roswell Mayor Tim Jennings, in supporting fair districts. 

MLG’s 82% EV mandate comes as less than 1% of New Mexicans own EVs

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Far-left Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is continuing her crusade against gas-powered cars in the name of “climate change,” with a recent announcement she wants to mandate 82 percent of all cars being sold in the state be electric vehicles by 2032, with a 43 percent threshold by 2027.

However, in New Mexico, a rural state that requires traveling long distances many times for citizens to go to work and purchase necessary goods, only 0.8 percent of residents own an EV as of May 31, 2023, according to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.

Larry Behrens of the pro-energy group Power The Future said, “This is a move that isn’t going to help rural New Mexicans and going to raise prices on all New Mexicans.”

“The average price for a brand-new EV is about [$61,488]. That’s considerably higher than the average four-door sedan, which runs about [$48,681], according to Kelley Blue Book. Tax credits and gas savings can save you money. However, it’s going to take a few years to make up a potential $20,000 difference,” Bloomberg reported.

EVs are also more expensive to maintain, repair, and insure. Lauren Fix of Car Coach Reports said to GOBankingRates, “Gas-powered vehicles cost less to repair if in a collision.” 

“The average cost of an electric car is 23% or more expensive because the car itself and its parts cost more to repair and replace,” she continued. “Totaling all factors in, an EV will set you back $71,770. A gas-powered car? $58,664. You will never make up the initial expense difference over the lifetime of your more expensive electric vehicle. Put another way, a gas-powered car will cost you $600 more a year to drive. But over an average of six years of owning an EV versus a gas car, the EV will set you back $13,000 more.”

The average range for an EV is also 250-500 miles — a deal-breaker for many New Mexicans who travel long distances. The longest-range EV is the 2023 Lucid Air, which has the capability of up to 516 miles, but it comes with a price tag of $139,650 for the base model, according to Car and Driver.

“Studies have shown that most of the people who buy electric vehicles have an annual income of over $150,000 a year,” Behrens said to KOAT 7.

The outlet’s report noted, “While electric vehicles make up less than 1% of cars, the data did show that about 4% of cars in New Mexico are hybrids.”

NM Supreme Court lets GOP’s gerrymandering case proceed

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On Wednesday, the New Mexico Supreme Court allowed the Republican Party of New Mexico’s (RPNM) challenge to gerrymandered maps drawn in 2021 to proceed, according to multiple reports.

RPNM is suing after Democrats rammed through extreme partisan gerrymandered maps last December that shifted the congressional map extremely in their favor. In the Second Congressional District, represented by GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell, the gerrymandering swung the seat from favoring Republicans by 14 points to now favoring Democrats by four points, according to FiveThirtyEight. That made Democrat Gabe Vasquez narrowly win the seat in the November 8 election.

The lawsuit claims Democrats illegally designed the new map to damage the reelection chances of the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, which now has proven to be an accurate assertion following the November 8 General Election.

The “drafters intentionally ‘cracked’ Republicans in southeastern New Mexico, thereby substantially diluting their votes,” the lawsuit alleges, adding that Democrats intentionally split communities of interest for political gain.

The Democrat-drawn map, which was originally made by the dark money George Soros-funded group the “Center for Civic Policy” (CCP), achieved the partisan gerrymander by plunging the Democrat-dominated South Valley of Albuquerque into the Second District while putting more conservative areas such as Hobbs and Roswell in the First and Third Congressional Districts.

In April, District Judge Fred Van Soelen of Clovis ruled it was too late to hear the case due to the approaching June 7, 2022, primary election. That has sent it to the state Supreme Court, which has taken the case. All five members of New Mexico’s fully Democrat Supreme Court either have been supported by Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who signed the maps into law, or were appointed by the governor. 

Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Roswell’s Democrat Mayor Tim Jennings, State Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice), and a group of Republican voters. 

The Democrats’ attorney, Holly Agajanian, representing Lujan Grisham, argued strangely against democracy while arguing in front of the Court. She said, “Just because something is considered anti-democratic doesn’t mean the court has to step in. And I know that doesn’t feel right based on what everything we think justice is. It feels funny for me to say that. But at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that’s the case. Because in our system of government… These anti-democratic effects we see can only be remedied through the legislature.” 

Attorney for the plaintiffs, Daniel J. Gallegos, argued the maps drawn by the Democrat legislature are a “violation of the state’s equal protection clause,” citing the Legislature throwing out all the maps proposed by the Citizens Redistricting Committee and instead drawing their own hyper-partisan map.

The state Supreme Court ruling read that “that the verified petition for writ of superintending control is GRANTED with respect to Petitioners’ request that this Court provide the district court guidance for resolving a partisan gerrymandering claim” and that “the district court shall take all actions necessary to resolve this matter no later than October 1, 2023.”

In a writ of superintending control, the Court wrote, “a petition for writ of superintending control having been granted by this Court on July 5, 2023, and the Court being sufficiently informed and good cause appearing for the issuance of a writ of superintending control; NOW THEREFORE, you, Hon. Fred Van Soelen, are ordered to proceed in D-506-CV-2022-00041 in accordance with the order issued contemporaneously with this writ.”

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