New Mexico

See how much MLG’s staffers are making after their extravagant raises

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The Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham administration is no stranger to seeing hefty pay raises for staffers, as we have reported for years, such as in 2021 when she gave a $32,000 raise to a special assistant to New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney, who also got a hefty raise. 

But new figures from the governor’s office show extravagance in raises to staffers after her 2022 reelection. 

According to figures from the New Mexico Sunshine Portal, her new chief of staff =, Daniel Schlegel, got a staggering $72,524 pay raise — a 64 percent increase.

Administrative assistant Sheila Nelson got a 50 percent pay increase of $28,462, senior advisor Courtney Kerster got a 30 percent pay bump of $41,100, cabinet director Mariana Padilla was raised 28 percent or $37,850 in pay, and deputy chief of staff ​​Diego Arencon and director of cabinet affairs Caroline Buerkle both got a 19 percent pay increase totaling $28,218.

Many other instances of lavish pay raises happened across the board from legal assistants to senior-level staffers, who made up to a mind-boggling $185,000. 

The governor’s spokeswoman Maddy Hayden claimed, “Merit-based raises are standard practice across virtually every workplace, and the governor recognizes the extremely hard work employees in her office do every day, which routinely includes work on holidays, late into the evening and over weekends, to serve the people of New Mexico,” as reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican. 

“Hayden did not respond when asked why some employees in the Governor’s Office, such as Martin Chavez, a former mayor of Albuquerque who has served as Lujan Grisham’s infrastructure adviser since November, or administrative assistant Shiela Nelson, didn’t get salary increases,” the outlet reported. 

The median income in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office is $131,950.00, with the lowest-salaried person, a constituent services deputy director, receiving $41,600.00 with the next-highest salary being $58,760 for a “special assistant.” The highest-paid positions in the office are tied at $185,000. 

The median household income in New Mexico is $54,020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Albuquerque ranked on a national list — this time for something good

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New Mexico’s largest city is making headlines by being ranked on a national list — but unlike in the past — it’s for something good this time.

Money Magazine ranked Albuquerque as one of its best places to travel in 2023. It is ranked alongside Lisbon, Portugal; Alexandria, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Barcelona, Spain.

The magazine says the average cost of a trip to Albuquerque is $1,889.00. 

“To explore the city, stay in downtown or Old Town, two of Albuquerque’s most historic (and walkable!) neighborhoods. You’ll have easy access to public art, boutiques and day spas, and a hotel will only cost you about $145 a night — 53% cheaper than in nearby Santa Fe,” Money writes.

The article also boasts the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway and Central Avenue, which it writes “is packed with neon signs and quirky restaurants.”

“One last note on Santa Fe: Albuquerque’s neighbor to the north is just an hour and a half train ride away, and the scenery you’ll see from the Rail Runner Express train is worth the trip alone. An adult day pass is just $2.25, so you can hit up the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Meow Wolf and the New Mexican Museum of Art and be back in Albuquerque in time for another gorgeous sunset,” it adds. 

Money also boasts New Mexico’s state question when referencing cuisine choices while also advising visitors to pack “plenty of layers due to the fluctuating desert temperatures. The final recommendation Money has is to “drink lots of extra water — and don’t overdo it on the cocktails” due to the high elevation. 

The good press is a welcome change from the constant headlines broadcasting the Duke City’s horrific crime problem, making it one of the deadliest cities in the country. Many businesses, even big box stores like Walmart, have fled Albuquerque due to an increase in theft and crime-related losses. Despite these, the Money Magazine spread focuses on some of the good aspects of the city and why one should visit.

‘Rust’ armorer the apparent scapegoat in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

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Despite actor Alec Baldwin pulling the trigger and fatally shooting Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021, film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is the one apparently taking the fall, with a court date set for August 9 on involuntary manslaughter charges.

The Santa Fe District Attorney’s office has accused Gutierrez-Reed of “sloppy mishandling of firearms.”

The New York Post reported, “The rookie had been in charge of initially loading the vintage Colt .45 revolver Baldwin ultimately used in the October 2021 disaster. But she then allegedly left the church set where the scene was being filmed and was not present when the life-ending shot was fired. She claimed later to police no one notified her the weapon was being used on the set.”

Live rounds and dummy rounds were found together on the Rust set, which is a violation of safety standards, of which Gutierrez-Reed was reportedly in charge. 

Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers said regarding her charges, “The new special prosecutor team has taken a very diligent and thorough approach … They are seeking the truth and we are also … We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated.”

Despite Baldwin claiming he did not pull the trigger that delivered the fatal shots, FBI investigators previously determined “there was no other way the shot could have been have been fired,” as the Post reports. 

Baldwin was cleared of his charges “without prejudice” last week, with his attorneys Nikas and Alex Spiro saying in a statement, “We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.”

Alec Baldwin gets off scot-free of criminal charges from deadly ‘Rust’ shooting

Don’t mess with our gun rights: Like in NM, CO legislature rejects anti-gun bill

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While Colorado and New Mexico’s legislatures ram through extremist bills regarding abortion up to birth and transgederism, the one commonsense stance they can agree on is not passing bans on high-capacity firearms.

During the 2023 New Mexico Legislative Session, other than one bill regarding firearm storage, every single anti-gun bill died.

The dead gun-grabbing legislation from New Mexico’s legislative session includes S.B. 44 banning citizens from carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a polling place during an election, S.B. 428 targeting firearm retailers and manufacturers with frivolous lawsuits, H.B. 100 banning most firearms over 10-round capacity, and H.B. 101 mandating a 14-day waiting period before firearm purchases.

S.B. 427, which is similar to H.B. 101 banning magazine capacity, died, while S.B. 116, mandating a person must be 21 to purchase a firearm, did not make it across the finish line.

In Colorado, H.B. 1230 was blocked last week, which would have banned high-capacity magazines. 

The bill was blocked Thursday by three Colorado House Democrats and two Republicans in the Colorado House Judiciary Committee. 

According to The Denver Post, “Democratic Rep. Elisabeth Epps, HB23-1230’s primary sponsor, twice attempted to amend the measure before the vote and narrow it to a ban on specific equipment, a nod to the entrenched opposition even among her party colleagues on the committee, but the group narrowly rejected those amendments before nixing the bill in its entirety.”

The Democrat Party “has complete control of state government and a supermajority in the House,” according to the Post. Despite that overwhelming control by leftists, the radical anti-gun bill died.

In New Mexico, Democrats feared even putting their extreme anti-gun bills for a vote in front of the full House of Representatives because they merely didn’t have the numbers to pass their bills to unconstitutionally rip away gun rights.

The lesson to be learned by these Democrat setbacks is that even in states run by far-leftists like Colorado and New Mexico, guns are a part of our states’ fabric and the assault of Constitutional rights to bear arms will not be well-taken, even if Democrats have supermajorities or near-supermajorities.

Edgewood to vote on pro-life sanctuary ordinance Tuesday

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The Town of Edgewood is considering passing an ordinance making the municipality a sanctuary for the unborn. 

The Town Commission already held one preliminary meeting on April 4, 2023, to talk about it. According to reports from that meeting, “While the workshop was scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM, several trolls chose to interrupt the Zoom call – echoing racial slurs, broadcasting porn, and showing male genitalia. These interferences caused the meeting to start over an hour late.”

A planning meeting is scheduled for Sunday night ahead of the vote scheduled for Tuesday.

Mark Lee Dickson, the founder of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, will be in attendance at the Sunday planning meeting held by organizers at 6:00 p.m. 

The group of pro-lifers will meet at Legacy Church’s East Mountain campus located at 379 NM-344 in Edgewood.

The official commission meeting to vote on the ordinance will be held on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. and be streamed via the Town’s Facebook page found here. The address for the Townhall of Edgewood Commission Chambers is 171A, State Rd. 344.

According to the agenda posted on the Town of Edgewood’s website for the Tuesday meeting, the proposed Ordinance 2023-002 would entail “Requiring Abortion Providers in the Town of Edgewood, New Mexico to Comply with Federal Law,” brought forward by Commissioner Sterling Donner of the Fifth District.

Edgewood’s potential move toward sanctuary status comes amid news of the City of Eunice filing a lawsuit against Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state Attorney General Raúl Torrez to uphold its similar ordinance that mandates the state follow the federal Comstock Act, which prohibits the transfer of obscene materials between state lines, effectively outlawing abortion pills.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a lower court must rule on an abortion pill case before the Court would prohibit the sale of the product nationwide. The case is set to be heard in early May. 

To learn more about the Tuesday meeting, the Town of Edgewood’s agenda is posted here on its official website.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

National pro-abortion pundits fear Eunice, NM’s lawsuit ‘may very well work’

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This week, the City of Eunice announced its lawsuit against New Mexico Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democrat state Attorney General Raúl Torrez regarding the city’s ordinance mandating the state follow the federal Comstock Law, which protects from the transport of “abortion pills” or “abortion-related paraphernalia.”

The Eunice lawsuit is necessary after Lujan Grisham signed H.B. 7 from the 2023 Legislative Session, which aims to outlaw local pro-life ordinances. The new court filing seeks to stop the law on grounds it violates federal provisions.

Immediately following the revelation of the eastern New Mexico city’s lawsuit, pro-abortion pundits began freaking out, attacking pro-life attorney Jonathan Mitchell, who is one of the attorneys assisting with the case.

Pro-abortion “journalist and activist” Andrea Grimes took particular exception to Mitchell’s involvement since he was one of the architects of Texas’ successful law that effectively outlawed abortion in the state before Roe v. Wade’s fall in 2022. 

Grimes, in a piece for MSNBC, wrote, “It’s precisely because of New Mexicans’ support for abortion rights that Mitchell has chosen the town of Eunice as the stage for his latest anti-abortion stunt,” referring to the pro-abortion laws in the state that allow abortions up to birth with no protections for women, babies, or medical providers.

The Eunice case comes as another similar one in Texas regarding access to abortion pills was just appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the court is set to act on it Friday. 

In a melodramatic rant, Grimes writes, “But Mitchell and his allies are not gunning for wins. They’re gunning for losses, because losing means getting Comstock’s abortion prohibitions in front of the GOP’s bought-and-paid-for anti-abortion Supreme Court majority — the ultimate goal of America’s right-wing lawyering confederacy.” 

“I use the term confederacy deliberately. Mitchell is engineering a sort of civil war via the court system that flips historic left-versus-right roles on “states’ rights” in the service of implementing a nationwide abortion ban.” 

She concludes, “Mitchell’s strategy allows the GOP to rely on courts to shore up their project of forced pregnancy, and it may very well work…. If he does not succeed in New Mexico, be assured he’ll find another venue in which to challenge the democratic rule of law. If there’s anywhere Jonathan Mitchell wants to be, it’s wherever he can do the most harm.” 

The pro-abortion side of the argument is clearly fearful of the lawsuit’s success, as it is not protected by New Mexico’s pro-abortion state laws but rather federal provisions that preempt any state actions taken. 

New Mexico NPR station quitting Twitter amid Elon Musk spat

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Last week, the government-subsidized left-wing “news” conglomerate NPR quit Twitter after it was labeled “Government-funded Media” by the social media platform. 

“NPR is stepping away from Twitter, and this includes this NPR Politics feed. Please read the thread to find other ways to find our work,” it wrote. 

“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” said NPR CEO John Lansing in a statement to staff.

NPR’s decision to leave Twitter includes its 52 associated feeds on the platform representing its various news desks and shows.

Twitter users were quick to point out how the publicly funded outlet has refused to cover newsworthy stories that would shed an unflattering light on Democrats, such as Hunter Biden’s laptop story, which NPR’s editorial board ignored.

At the time the story broke in 2020, the board wrote, “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”

Now, the Albuquerque-based National Public Radio affiliate KUNM-FM said it would “cease sharing its work on Twitter due to both the label and decreased engagement in recent months,” according to one report.

“I’m very worried about the steps (Twitter) took around NPR and labeling of that. Apparently, there were talks with (Elon) Musk and he sort of said, ‘well, maybe I’ll switch it to this and it’s unclear.’ You can’t go around being branded with the same labels like they use for literally government-funded outlets… even the government-funded media is misleading,” KUNM’s news director Megan Kamerick told the New Mexico Political Report.

“Click-through rates have fallen over the last six months as have stand engagement such as likes, comments and retweets, Kamerick said. KRWG, the NPR/PBS station out of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces plans to remain on Twitter for now,” according to the report.

New Mexico PBS will also be continuing its presence on Twitter but is continuing “to monitor, and our stance/use may change accordingly.”

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Alec Baldwin gets off scot-free of criminal charges from deadly ‘Rust’ shooting

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Alec Baldwin’s attorneys have revealed that criminal involuntary manslaughter charges against the actor stemming from the fatal October 2021 Rust shooting resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins will be dropped.

“We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic incident,” attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.

Set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed still faces charges connected with the shooting, although attorneys are confident those charges will also be dropped. 

“We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated,” her attorneys, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion say. 

“A third person involved in the on-set catastrophe, assistant director David Halls, previously pleaded no contest to a single count of petty misdemeanor negligent use of a deadly weapon. He had handed the gun to Baldwin before it was fired but neglected to make sure the gun didn’t hold live bullets,” according to the New York Post. 

Hutchins’ family’s attorney said it was “clear what happened.”

Baldwin “had the gun, he says he pulled the hammer back, it fired, and she was killed. … The experts will look at it and make any determinations, but we don’t think this was caused by any defect in the weapon.”

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ family, Baldwin rejected, arguing the family was being “misguided.”

Rust has since resumed filming this week at a new location in Montana. Baldwin is both starring in and producing the film. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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