Opinion

Gov. MLG’s comms. director belittles local TV news reporter for asking basic questions

5 Comments / New Mexico, News, Opinion, Politics / By

On Friday, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s office released their new county-by-county “Red to Green” COVID-19 plan, which has been noted is a major flip-flop in policy on her part. Her staff, which has already adopted a general tone of hostility toward all New Mexicans, is now blatantly condescending local news stations, including the liberal KOB 4.

KOB 4 News sent questions to the Governor’s office asking about the new strategy since they were not allowed to ask questions during the announcement Zoom meeting, as reporters usually are allowed to do. (Not the Piñon Post, however, since we have not been granted such access despite multiple correspondences). 

KOB Reporter Grace Reader asked simple questions to Gov. Lujan Grisham’s communications director Tripp Stelnicki, was met with pompous and condescending responses. Some responses questioned the reporter’s intelligence, some blasted county officials, and some answers so short that they didn’t adequately provide responses.

Reader asked Stelnicki, “Will county leaders be notified when they’re good to move to the next color via the state? Or do they need to be checking the DOH webpage every other Wednesday?” 

Stelnicki responded with: 

The map updates every other Wednesday. If county officials care about the spread of COVID in their communities, they are already checking this map regularly to identify the risks to their constituents so they can protect their communities they represent. County leaders are well-compensated and qualified professionals who are more than capable of reading the public health order and communicating within their own communities.

In another question, Reader asked, “For business owners who are going to be monitoring these developments closely to see what they can and can’t be doing, where do they need to be looking? Does the state have any concern that this county-by-county approach will confuse businesses and patrons about what they’re allowed to be doing?” 

Stelnicki returned with a more long-winded response full of snark, but this time taking a jab at the reporter, appearing to question her ability to read attachments from the Governor’s news release: 

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. Many other states operate precisely this way. Many communities and legislators, particularly Republican legislators, have been demanding exactly this county-by-county framework for months, please make the time to ask them whether they are glad to see it now and hold them accountable to their prior statements on the matter. These questions assume that this method of enacting and publicizing the restrictions is somehow comprehensively different than what has been the case for the last 9 months. It is not. Businesses and anyone else who wants to monitor these developments can look to the exact same places they’ve been looking. The levels will be clearly demarcated on the state’s websites. We are creating web widgets they can use on their own websites. 

Reader then asked, “We noticed that for the first time, close quarters businesses are being asked to open at 25 percent capacity or 10 people, whichever is smaller. Can you tell us what forced the 10 people cap to be added to the capacity requirement? Additionally, did you all consider lifting the 75 person requirement on essential retail businesses (I know a lot of people have been upset about the lines at large box stores)?” 

As usual, Stelnicki responded by claiming the hours-long lines New Mexicans have been standing in to get basic goods and food are a “minor inconvenience.” 

His response in-full: 

A line is a minor inconvenience, for which the state is sympathetic. The state is also sympathetic to the overworked nurses and doctors in the state’s hospitals and the thousands of families who are suffering and grieving right now The state will continue to prioritize saving lives and protecting New Mexicans while providing for as much safe economic day-to-day activity as possible.

The Piñon Post reported on the long lines last week 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.” Coincidentally, Stelnicki now appears to be punishing the television station (a station that has bent over backward to placate the Lujan Grisham Administration at every turn: see below) with his latest tantrum, throwing not only the reporter under the bus, but also county officials, New Mexicans, and Republicans in general for pointing out the Governor’s massive flip-flop on policy. 

.@GovMLG’s allies in the mainstream media are working overtime to deliver the Governor’s scare tactics to the people of New Mexico. Objective journalism? Not.

The entire Q&A from KOB 4 can be found here on their report. 

New Mexicans responded to the Governor’s office’s latest snark-fest on Twitter. 

State Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences), wrote, “Just wow! Her SILENCE towards his condescending tone IS AGREEMENT. Apparently we are not ‘all in this together’”

Matt García Síerra wrote, “Hey NM media, kudos for keeping @GovMLG staffers honest. Their petty responses indicate you’re making them do their jobs. You know, the jobs they’re still cashing in on, while New Mexicans are unemployed.” 

It should be noted that Stelnicki and his counterparts in the Governor’s office have full funding and do not face budget cutbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, the Governor’s staffers make around $100,000 each annually. 

Grace Reader herself even took to Twitter, sharing the Q&A article and writing, “As a reporter, it’s my job to ask questions, especially when your livelihood and health is at stake. Today we asked about the next phase of the public health order, here’s how the state responded to those questions” 

The condescending responses by Stelnicki are just the latest from him toward anyone daring to offer substantive questions or points he disagrees with. In April, Stelnicki wrote on Twitter that Republicans are a “death cult.” The Governor’s office did not apologize or respond. However, Stelnicki went silent for months, with Lujan Grisham’s press secretary Nora Sackett speaking publicly for the office in the interim.

Sackett is also known for being hostile to the press, such as in September when Española Mayor Javier Sanchez rebuked the Governor for chiding Españolans on mask-wearing despite only observing the alleged non-compliance from the back seat of her chauffeured car.

Sackett said, “Every media outlet that covered the mayor of Española’s self-righteous op ed will now also cover his flagrant hypocrisy and violation of the public health order, right?”

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, Sackett claimed, “New Mexico Republicans want you and your loved ones to get COVID-19 and potentially die” because the Party called out the Governor’s unreasonable 5-person household limit for gatherings. 

It should also be noted that every time the Piñon Post has reached out to Nora Sackett or Tripp Stelnicki for comment, we have never heard a word back, and instead have had to use the Information of Public Records Act (IPRA) any time we have had a question regarding the Lujan Grisham Administration. On average, this process takes two weeks to produce information, and it is mostly not adequate due to redactions.

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Happy Thanksgiving from the Piñon Post

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New Mexicans face an uphill battle in our state right now, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic and the liberal state government’s disastrous response. These failed policies by those at the top have forced our people to stand outside in the cold for hours to purchase groceries and caused many to live in fear of the state government’s wrath if we dare defy the countless orders given from on high.

However, I know New Mexico. I know our people are tough and don’t take kindly to being pushed around and diminished. We work hard to put food on our tables and keep roofs over our heads, and our very existence in this state is at stake right now.

But if I know anything about New Mexico, it’s that we never give up. We keep on fighting for a brighter future for our state, and every time we get pushed down, we get right back up, dust ourselves off, and stay in the fight.

Despite a governor who has disrespected us and attempted to rip away our Constitutional rights, a Legislature plagued with radical leftists and many weak Republican defectors who side with Democrats on key issues, elections riddled with massive fraud, and well-funded far-left extremists who try and scare us into compliance with their radical agenda, we keep on fighting. Despite how bad it may get, we know we have God on our side, and we are indeed on the right side of history.

We keep on moving forward and getting back on our feet. Now is the time to assess the work we must do to preserve our freedoms and protect our state from radicalism, as everything hangs in the balance. We must educate, organize, and launch our resistance to tyranny, and we can do it — if we work together.

We want our children, elders, law enforcers, teachers, first responders, truckers, ranchers, farmers, oil workers, and everyone in-between to have a future that is as bright as our state. We are blessed with the most spectacular treasures, from White Sands, the Organ Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, the Gila, and the Sacramento Mountains in southern New Mexico, to Shiprock, the Carson National Forest, Ghost Ranch, the Rio Grande Gorge, and so many other things of beauty. We are blessed to live here and to experience all that God has blessed us with.

This Thanksgiving, let us reflect on these gifts, and most importantly, thank God for the gift of family. Even though we may not all be able to gather around the same table this Thanksgiving, each and every one of you are members of the family, and we wish you all a wonderful holiday. 

We want the best possible opportunities for our loved ones, and as we look toward the future, we must always put the wellbeing of those we love at the forefront of what we do. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day rhetoric of the battle for our state, but today, let us give thanks for what we still have and all the dreams and goals we wish to achieve. We can do anything if we work together, and I am proud to be in the fight alongside each and every one of you to help save our state.

On behalf of me, all the contributors, and the readers of the Piñon Post, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving as we continue to work to deliver the truth to New Mexicans and inform our state about the issues that impact us every day. Thank you for the opportunity to continue working for you, and our movement is growing stronger each day. God bless you all as you gather in fellowship with your friends and family today. And may God bless the Great State of New Mexico.

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MLG and Dems try to come out as heroes with last-ditch special session after they decimated state

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Last week, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called for the state Legislature to convene for a special session for what she claimed is for COVID-19 pandemic relief. A later press release from the Governor’s office lists multiple items she wants to be passed during the special session, including $194 million in direct unemployment assistance, $100 million in grants to small businesses, $15 million in emergency housing assistance, $5 million for “emergency food bank services,” a “$5 million for direct economic assistance to low-income residents, in the form of a one-time $750 disbursement per household, who did not receive an “economic impact payment” from the federal government,” and funding for the implementation of these initiatives.

Now, no one is against pandemic relief for hurting New Mexicans, but the $300 million Gov. Lujan Grisham claims will come from federal CARES Act money appears to be too little too late. Why is this money just now used to help suffering New Mexicans? And where did the other $1 billion appropriated by the federal government go? 

Due to the Governor’s multiple and sporadic shutdowns, which have decimated communities and closed countless New Mexico businesses, not to mention infringing on constitutional rights, it’s no wonder New Mexicans desperately need relief. If businesses were allowed to safely open (while following CDC guidelines as applicable), there would be no need for more relief to hurting businesses because they could remain open. There would be no need for unemployment assistance since employers’ places of businesses would not be shuttered, and there would be no need for housing assistance because people would be able to keep their jobs and pay their rent with their paychecks from their employers (who are allowed to remain open).

The problems the Governor is trying to fix with a special session could have all been negated if she did not twice force the closure of our state, resulting in New Mexico being the most restrictive state in the union. The federal government did its part in providing pandemic relief through the CARES Act, but the states were responsible for disseminating funding to those most affected. 

President Trump revolutionized the production of ventilators, personal protective equipment, vaccines, and other supplies necessary to fight the virus and provided each state with the tools required to combat the deadly COVID-19. Despite packing it full of pork, Congress passed the CARES Act — helping hurting Americans get through the pandemic with relief checks and other funds.

Like other states that are now doing well, both in health and economic strength, Gov. Lujan Grisham should have used the tools provided her by the White House and Congress to shepherd New Mexico through the pandemic. 

However, during her time as governor, Lujan Grisham has scolded New Mexicans, targeted those not following her strict health orders with fines, and locked down businesses time and time again. During the Legislature’s first special session, she vetoed $318 million in federal dollars meant to help Native American tribes and local governments while keeping funding in the budget for her pie-in-the-sky $320 million socialist free daycare program. 

Instead of trusting the people of New Mexico with the responsibility of utilizing all the help available and working as a community to stop the virus, she forced people into complete and total lockdown, resulting in people standing in lines for hours to buy groceries, families separated during the holidays, and countless businesses either fleeing to other states or closing for good, leaving economic devastation. 

The Governor’s failure to govern during this pandemic shows her ineptitude as a leader, with a desire to accomplish her partisan games with a special session rather than trust the people of New Mexico to work as a community to stop COVID-19. But now, if a Republican member of the New Mexico House or Senate dares question Lujan Grisham’s late-in-the-game COVID-19 package, Radical Democrats led by Speaker Brian Egolf and the rabidly left-wing legislators will brand dissenters as opposing helping New Mexicans with relief before the Holidays.

Unfortunately, it’s the Democrats–led by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham–who have deprived New Mexicans of security and freedom ahead of the Holidays because they have sat on $300 million in federal relief while New Mexicans stood in bread lines, lost their jobs, lost loved ones due to the virus or suicide due to the lockdowns, and have been separated due to cruel restrictions. 

Shame on the Governor for putting politics above people during this pandemic, and shame on her supporters who have wilfully and ignorantly given up their rights to a power-hungry tyrant, hell-bent on forging her own political career instead of helping the people of the Great State of New Mexico. 

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Haaland being vetted for Biden’s fictitious cabinet because of Dems’ obsession with ‘making history’

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Recently, there have been feeble cries from the farthest left corners of the Democrat Party and celebrities past their primes begging Joe Biden — who has not won the presidency — to appoint Deb Haaland, an unaccomplished failure, to be his Interior Secretary in his fictitious presidential cabinet. 

Their reasoning for appointing Haaland to such a position is not because she is qualified or because she knows anything about the Interior Department. It is merely because she is a Native American woman — full stop. 

A video featuring waning Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo is begging Biden to nominate Haaland to the position, claiming “she has the qualifications for the job,” citing that she is the “vice-chair of the House Natural Resources Committee.” Although, the ceremonious title means absolutely nothing — as Nancy Pelosi has foolheartedly and gratuitously given such “positions,” if you can even call them that, to a slew of freshman representatives who were elected in 2018. 

But in reality, Haaland has no qualifications to speak of. Not a single piece of legislation she has sponsored in her short two-year tenure in the House has become law, and she has a record of straight-up lying to the American people. Not to mention the fact that despite her multiple attempts at passing the bar to become a lawyer, she has failed. 

During a candidate debate in October, Haaland misled on multiple issues. She claimed she worked in “a bipartisan way” while in Congress, despite voting with socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 95% of the time, she called a leftist Black Lives Matter/Antifa mob committing arson and vandalism in Lafayette Square near the White House “peaceful,” she claimed she did not support Antifa, despite calling them “peaceful protestors,” saying she has never “missed a vote,” despite missing several, and falsely claiming President Trump called COVID-19 a “Democrat hoax,” which liberal fact-checkers have even admitted is incorrect. 

Aside from her failed record in Congress and desperate attempts to woo members of the socialist AOC “squad,” she has proven no qualifications for the job she currently holds, much less that of a cabinet position in a presidential administration.

However, the Democrats’ rabid penchant to “make history” may be their downfall — especially with radical socialists like Haaland as their go-to pawns to “make history,” despite having any knowledge of the subject matter. But “making history” was the only reason someone like Haaland even got to Congress in the first place, running on a platform of being “fierce” (whatever that means) and being a Native American woman, which she has repeatedly touted as her qualification to hold public office.

While running for Congress in 2018, she said, “Let’s be honest, there is a reason there has never been a Native American woman elected to Congress or to a Governorship in over 240 years. Our electoral system was not designed to elect women like me.” That should say it all about the level of pandering she is willing to go to be elected. 

But being of a minority group does not and should not be a test for any candidate up for any office of public trust — qualifications should, and Haaland doesn’t hold a single redeeming qualification other than being a partisan Democrat loyalist, who will say just about anything to hold onto power. Qualifications make someone qualified for a position, and Haaland has none.

That hasn’t stopped Democrats from floating her name for Interior Secretary, though. Fifty of the farthest left Democrats in the House have sent a letter to Joe Biden begging him to pick her to run the Department of Interior along with a group of fringe organizations also lobbying the 78-year-old former vice president to tap Haaland for the post. According to Politico, Haaland is being vetted for the spot — and Lord knows what his team will find in her closet (other than her multiple DUIs failed leadership as former Democrat Party of New Mexico chair). 

Thankfully, recount efforts are happening in key battleground states across the country, including New Mexico, and Democrat fraud is being exposed, which will prove that Joe Biden is not the United States’ president-elect.

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New Mexico Democrats elected a porn star to the NM House and liberals are celebrating

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On Wednesday, the left-wing Santa Fe Reporter wrote a fluff piece about a disgraced Northern New Mexico state House of Representatives candidate, Roger Montoya, who was elected last week to that position. 

Montoya admitted to acting in multiple pornographic films under the stage names of “Joe Savage” and “Eric Martinez,” and claimed he did these graphic adult movies because he was a “struggling college student” in Los Angeles. Despite the revelation, uncovered exclusively by the Piñon Post, the Velarde Democrat refused to bow out of the race, and high-ranking Democrats, such as Speaker of the House Brian Egolf and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich encouraged him to hide his shady porn past. 

Now, the New Mexico House of Representatives will have a porn star running around the Roundhouse making laws and marking a permanent stain on the reputation of the once-hallowed chamber. 

In the Reporter’s ode to the porn star, author Julie Ann Grimm claimed that letting the public know about Montoya’s degenerate past was a “political maneuver” and a “smear” by a “right-wing blog.” However, all of Piñon Post’s reports on the revelations–that the liberal media failed to find–were done in an objective, straightforward way, without the slightest hint of political rhetoric lumped in. 

Also during the campaign, the Piñon Post found out that Montoya lied on his Albuquerque Journal questionnaire and used his 501(c)(3) charity donor list to fundraise for his political campaign–a grave and illegal offense, which one of his former donors even reported in multiple complaints with the state Attorney General’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service. 

Despite providing voters this critical information on a major party candidate running for the legislative position, the left-wing media appears enamored with the thought of Montoya making laws in the Legislature. So enamored that Grimm even claimed the self-admitted pornography acting by Montoya was just a “rumor.” 

Unfortunately for the long history and reputation of the New Mexico House of Representatives, it appears that anything goes now. Since the Democrats have “made history” by electing the first porn star to the chamber, what’s next? That question no one yet has an answer to, but Democrats and their liberal sycophants in the media are sitting at the ready to churn out whatever propaganda is necessary to prop up their chosen candidates–no matter how damning their pasts.

Get ready: next cycle, who knows what kind of riff-raff Democrats will come up with as suitable candidates for elected office. God help our state.

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Democrats just deny the existence of fraud, and *poof* it’s gone (in their minds)

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For this entire election cycle, left-wingers have been hard at work denying the existence of voter fraud, although the indisputable facts point to the stark antithesis of that sentiment. Especially in New Mexico, fraud is not just common — it’s engrained into an electoral system so battered with corruption and graft that elections have been stolen for generations.

Everything from changing municipal elections to “ranked-choice voting” formats to “democracy dollars,” ballot harvesting, “finding” mysterious ballots, and everything in-between, there are massive gaping holes in our elections process. No matter how many times left-wing puppets demand that fraud is a non-existent conspiracy theory propagated by the left-wing, facts prove otherwise.

Anomalies that could never have occurred by chance popped up in 2018’s 2nd Congressional District race, where an actual audit was done finding that there were very clear signs of fraud. 

The morning after the election, ballots were found that pushed Democrat Xochitl Torres Small into a tight win in counties where Small lost handily, such as in heavily-Republican Eddy County, only receiving 30% of the vote. But Torres Small’s absentee number was a much higher figure, 54.7%–close to double. 

According to the report conducted after the election, “These anomalies are not simply organic. Reviewing the historical returns in the CD2 district, over the last five election cycles, the same degrees of variation between absentee votes and EV/ED votes do not exist in CD2 in any cycle to the degree found in the 2018 race.” 

Other major anomalies occurred, but the most malevolent of them is the 25% of absentee voters who requested ballots in Doña Ana County and never returned them — a number that rarely reaches 5%. According to the report:

“it is probably the strongest purely statistical red flag present in this whole election  — of the possibility that someone was submitting absentee ballot applications for Democrats. There is also a significantly high number of duplicate applications — where one voter supposedly submitted more than one absentee ballot application or submitted an absentee application after the absentee ballot had been received, or the voter had voted in person. In many of these cases the signature on the duplicate applications do not match each other.”

Just this year, Lyon Seeds and Dyon Herrera were convicted of felony voter fraud in a municipal race, using absentee ballots to fraudulently forge names to help Seeds’ husband, Robert, win an election in Rio Arriba County. 

Before the 2020 election, a former election fraudster came forth to the New York Post to reveal how he had helped countless Democrat campaigns fraud their way to victory, sharing his methods, which included paying off homeless people to vote for certain candidates, harvest mail-in ballots from senior citizens, steal ballots, and other such tactics. 

Jut this past election, a U.S. Postal Service worker in Buffalo, New York was charged with delaying or destroying mail as he tried to cross into Canada with hundreds of absentee ballots for the upcoming election. 

Vote counting machines in Michigan “glitched,” resulting in 6,000 votes being given to Democrats, where the voters cast their ballots for Republicans. Forty-seven counties in Michigan used this software, according to reports. 

In New Mexico, a tight district attorney’s race in Sandoval County is yet to be called after an extreme delay in counting provisional ballots, which could mean the election, where Republican, Joshua Joe Jimenez, leads by 91 votes. 

But those on the Left, such as Andrea Serrano, executive director of “Organizers in the Land of Enchantment,” or “OLÉ,” a George Soros-funded group that has lobbied hard against democratic elections, with their support of publicly funded elections with what they call “Democracy Dollars,” claims voter fraud is a “false narrative,” “not a real thing,” and “misinformation.” The evidence proves voter fraud is real.

OLÉ, which claims to be a social justice organization, does not regard the statistics, which even liberal NBC News reports, that absentee ballots and all-mail-in voting is a racist process that discriminates against ethnic minorities. 

According to research from Daniel A. Smith of the University of Flordia:

Hispanic and Black voters were more than twice as likely to have their ballot rejected as white voters in Florida’s 2018 general election. In May, he co-published a review of Georgia’s 2018 midterm election datathat found a similar pattern of rejection for voters of color.

When it comes to mail voting, names and addresses can suggest race and create opportunities for implicit bias or added scrutiny. In Georgia, Democratic officials said that election officials can access a voter’s race when they’re checking for a signature match. The state party successfully sued to require multiple poll workers to sign off on a signature mismatch, which they hope will reduce bias.

“Smith’s research — which is ongoing — has found that people of color, younger voters and those who have never voted by mail are significantly more likely to have their ballots rejected, and that the inconsistent rejection rates within states suggest institutional issues are to blame, not voter error,” says Smith’s research. 

In 2017, Democrat Judge (now Justice) David K. Thomson implemented undemocratic “ranked-choice voting” in Santa Fe municipal elections, which was a proposal championed by Teresa Leger Fernandez, a left-wing lawyer who is now the Democrat Congresswoman-elect in the Third District. The “ranked-choice” process resulted in far-left Democrat Mayor Alan Webber’s subsequent election.

As reported this election cycle by the Piñon Post, one of the Democrat Party of New Mexico’s caucus chairs, Pamelya Herndon, said on a private fundraising call for U.S. Senate candidate Ben Ray Luján and congressional candidate Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, that the Democrat Party is actively organizing members to visit elderly family members and drop off their ballots at polling locations. She said that the law allows people to deliver “at least one absentee ballot to a polling location” from a person who is not themselves.

She said, “Go by and talk to your senior citizens. See if those ballots have been put in the mail, and if not, pick it up and take it to a polling location… you can take at least one absentee ballot for a member of your family to a polling location. We want every ballot counted, Congressman [Ben Ray Luján] because we want to see that you and Xochitl Torres Small and everybody on that ballot for the Democratic Party gets elected.”

A recent report shows that currently, New Mexico has 1,681 dead people on its voter rolls, 1,519 individuals registered to vote are 100 years of age or older (implausible), and 3,168 voters have been flagged for duplicate concerns. However, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver refuses to clean out the voter rolls. 

Fraud is rampant in New Mexico. If OLÉ’s Andrea Serrano and other left-wingers can’t see it, they’re blind to reality. 

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Dear New Mexico: Vote Republican to give power back to We The People

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Today is November 3rd, Election Day, and polls will open at 7:00 a.m. for New Mexicans in all 33 counties to cast their votes. In particular, this election is important because other than being a presidential year, with incumbent Republican President Donald J. Trump running for re-election, it is also a Census year. That means that the legislators New Mexicans elect today will oversee the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts.

If Democrats get a supermajority in the Legislature, Republicans will have a 100% chance of losing House and Senate seats, and possibly even having New Mexico’s more conservative Second Congressional District redrawn to tilt Democrat. 

Suppose Republicans are elected to flip state House and Senate seats. In that case, it will be a bulwark against Democrats’ partisan gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts, and that will help keep elections competitive and fair in the Land of Enchantment.

If Republicans can grab a majority, or even close to a majority in either chamber of the Legislature, that will be a stone wall standing against Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Speaker Brian Egolf, and other far-left Democrats in the state Legislature looking to ban guns, legalize abortion up-to-birth and infanticide, make New Mexico a sanctuary state, legalize recreational pot, kill our Oil and Gas jobs, and raise taxes on working families and small businesses.

These proposals can be stopped by voting for Republican candidates. You can find your Republican legislative candidates here.  

As New Mexicans have also seen, the New Mexico Supreme Court has become highly politicized with a far-left wing bent. Activist judges who have been appointed to the Court, such as Justice David K. Thomson appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, was the district judge who implemented undemocratic “ranked-choice voting” in Santa Fe municipal elections, which was a proposal championed by Teresa Leger Fernandez, a left-wing lawyer who is now the Democrat nominee for Congress in the Third District. 

Electing Republican candidates to the state Supreme Court will bring balance back to the court and help take out these unelected partisan judges, such as Justice Thomson and Justice C. Shannon Bacon, two appointments by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. 

You can see the Republican candidates for Supreme Court by clicking here. 

New Mexicans also are up against the decision on whether to vote for or against two constitutional amendments, both of which would give unchecked power to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The first would give Lujan Grisham and all governors coming after her the opportunity to appoint members of the Public Regulation Commission, the regulator of all utilities in New Mexico. There is vast bipartisan opposition to the Governor’s attempted power grab with Constitutional Amendment 1, and if it does go through, Lujan Grisham will have that much more unchecked power. 

Constitutional Amendment 2 would give more power to the legislature to dictate new term limits for any state, county, or district office, other than statewide, in New Mexico, essentially giving the Legislature power to elongate or shorten terms of any office, making it unfair to voters who elected people for a term of X years, and now the will of the people will be changed by legislative fiat simply because they feel like it.

For Congress, if voters want to put balance back into Congress and take away Nancy Pelosi’s radical leadership as Speaker of the House, it is a no-brainer for New Mexicans to vote for Michelle Garcia Holmes (CD-1), Yvette Herrell (CD-2), and Alexis Martinez-Johnson (CD-3). As for the U.S. Senate, if New Mexicans want to send a do-nothing failure of a congressman who has not even been able to pass a single bill into law, they have the choice of giving Rep. Ben Ray Luján a promotion. If New Mexicans want someone who has been committed to them throughout his career and is not a career politician, the choice is clear in selecting Republican Mark Ronchetti for U.S. Senate. 

Most importantly, President Donald J. Trump goes up against former Vice President Joe Biden for president, and Trump has visited New Mexico on four separate occasions for rallies in 2016 and this election cycle, whereas Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton before him failed to step foot in New Mexico while running for President. President Donald Trump has proven he cares about us and our issues. 

Trump has passed critical funding to help New Mexico during COVID-19, although Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham squandered it. He helped keep our state safe by employing Operation Legend to find and arrest violent criminals who have killed New Mexicans. Trump has built hundreds of miles of border wall right here in New Mexico, helping secure our state and country from violent criminal aliens. He has stood up for our shared values of faith, family, and freedom, working hard to strengthen Religious Freedom, protect innocent human life, be that in the womb or at the end of one’s life, and elevate the voices of patriotic Americans from all walks of life.

Trump is the only president in recent history not to get America into costly foreign wars, he decimated ISIS, cut prescription drug prices, protected gay and lesbian individuals from the persecution of Radical Islamic Terrorists, defunded millions from Planned Parenthood and other abortion mills, brought manufacturing back to America, and put New Mexico on the map as somewhere he wants to succeed and grow. 

Today, New Mexicans have two clear choices: radical Democrats who will destroy the very fabric of our nation brick by brick, or Republicans who will respect New Mexicans and put power back into the hands of the people, not unelected bureaucrats. New Mexico has been failing for a very long time under Democrat leadership, and it is high time New Mexicans say “enough is enough.” This election, vote Republican like it’s the last thing you do — it may just be if Democrats are elected today. 

I love New Mexico, and I know you do too. Please vote Republican to save our state that we all love so much. I predict a massive red (Republican) wave. 

Election sites open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. If you are in line before 7:00 p.m., you are allowed to vote even if you have to wait in line past 7:00 p.m. The Republican Party of New Mexico is offering free rides to the polls. Please call them at 505-298-2662 to set up your ride. 

Watch this before you vote:

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NM Supreme Court refuses to hear case about absentee ballot processing violations

4 Comments / New Mexico, News, Opinion, Politics / By

On Monday, the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) and four county clerks filed a lawsuit with the New Mexico Supreme Court after it was revealed that Republican poll challengers were denied access to observe absentee ballot processing.

The Party’s press release on the violations reads as follows: 

Under Senate Bill 4, which was passed during the June Special Session, County Clerks are required to verify that each and every received mailed ballot has the correct voter identification – a voter’s signature and the last four digits of their social security number. 

More than a quarter of a million absentee ballots have already been returned by New Mexico voters, providing County Clerks with a near-impossible task of reviewing each ballot.

One of the rights guaranteed by law to poll challengers is the ability to act as a check and balance to a County Clerk’s determination of whether to accept or reject a ballot. Multiple counties have denied Republican poll challengers the right to perform their duties, taking absentee ballots behind closed doors and out of sight of the very people who elect them.

“To have the Republican Party declare that duly elected County Clerks are purposefully deceiving the public is a worrying tactic ahead of a highly-charged election that has already seen far too many instances of intimidation and misinformation,” said Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Alex Curtas, who was involved in the dissemination of election news during the 2018 midterm elections, where irregularities were found.

The Party and two county clerks also filed another suit in the First Judicial District Court over absentee ballot drop-off box violations, where irregularities have already been observed. The RPNM asked for an “injunction to make sure these counties and all others comply with state law regarding the drop box security measures.

But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected the Party’s suit regarding absentee ballot counting and poll challengers, without an explanation from the Court on why it rejected RPNM’s request. 

The Republican Party of New Mexico claimed the move not to take up the case was politically motivated, writing in a press release that the Court’s decision “is not only a slap in the face to the minority party but suggests that the Court has turned a blind eye to justice and the integrity of the voting process. For the sake of New Mexico voters, it’s flabbergasting that Justices wouldn’t want to examine ballot-processing infractions with so much at stake on November 3.” 

“We need transparency in our elections and the law to be followed. County workers in the shadows, out of sight, handling absentee ballots is not legal, open or transparent. It’s shameful the Court didn’t see these violations as something to address,” the release continued. 

“We’re thankful the New Mexico Supreme Court quickly denied this petition today so the state’s election administrators can get back to focusing on the vital work of running the 2020 General Election,” the Secretary of State’s Office said in a statement, adding, “Voters in New Mexico should have confidence that their vote will count no matter if they are voting in person or by mail ballot.”

According to the Secretary of State’s data as of October 27, 265,739 absentee ballots had already been mailed back to county clerks across the state, 166,655 being from Democrats, 56,747 from Republicans, and the rest from minor parties and voters who decline to state a party affiliation.

The Democrat Party of New Mexico has already begun its ballot harvesting initiatives, according to Pameyla Herndon, a caucus chair for the party, who urged supporters during a closed fundraising call to harvest votes from senior citizens to favor Democrat candidates.

As of October 27, Republicans outnumber Democrats with in-person early voting, while Democrats outnumber Republicans dramatically with absentee. During the 2018 race in New Mexico’s Second Congressional District, thousands of irregularities were found in Doña Ana County, where Republican Yvette Herrell won the race on Election Day. However, once absentee ballots were “counted” later, the race was swung in Democrat Xochitl Torres Small’s favor. An audit revealed multiple signs of election fraud.

Just this year, two individuals have been convicted of voter fraud using absentee ballots, following New Mexico’s long track record of fraudulent election activity, which can be read more about here.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, even more absentee ballots are being cast for the November 2020 election, and the more absentee ballots without oversight from poll challengers are ripe for fraud.

NM Supreme Court refuses to hear case about absentee ballot processing violations Read More »

State senator who defended anti-Police rioters now begging for Police protection after getting hate mail

10 Comments / New Mexico, News, Opinion, Politics / By

Over the weekend, state Sen. Jacob Candelaria (D-Albuquerque), known for his far-left extremism, took to Twitter to bully citizens peacefully protesting Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public health orders in Santa Fe, as well as others on a variety of issues. 

He branded the peaceful group of folks as “rioters,” and claimed the event was a “super spreader,” despite his participation in a Black Lives Matter/Antifa “protest” in June, where he live-streamed himself without a mask and not following the CDC’s health guidelines of staying six feet apart. This was also in violation of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s health orders at the time barring large gatherings, and recommending masks/social distancing. By his own definition, he also participated in a “super spreader” event. 

The protest devolved into a lawless mob of violence, where small businesses in Downtown Albuquerque suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. At the time, Candelaria offered free legal services to the rioters. Months later, business owners are still trying to reconcile Candelaria’s damage cause by potential clients. 

Candelaria has targeted Law Enforcers on multiple occasions, including supporting a proposal to “demilitarize” the Police and bullying local sheriffs who declined to enforce Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s strict lockdown policies during the coronavirus pandemic. 

He claimed Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales, “is part of the problem” and that he “refuses to embrace basic reforms and embraces #MAGA.” 

During the weekend, he also targeted a constituent and pro-life priest with sexually suggestive GIFs and bullied a Republican state representative who is running for the New Mexico Senate. The priest, who tweeted his support for the dignity of human life and no sex outside of marriage, got this reply from Candelaria: “I LOVE BEING GAY. That’s a fact,” along with a GIF of a man taking off his shirt.

Later on Sunday, Candelaria got hate mail from a clearly unhinged individual who left voicemails including homophobic slurs and the line “we’re going to get you out one way or another, motherf***er.” Candelaria responded on Twitter, claiming the Police were not responding fast enough and saying he was going to “flee” Albuquerque with his husband for his own safety. 

He tagged Gov. Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller on multiple melodramatic Twitter threads, pleading with them for “a public call for some sort of protection until this investigation can be done and completed.” He demanded protection due to him being a state legislator and claimed he had no response from city or state police, other than officers coming to his house. According to one report by the Albuquerque Journal, “he grew frustrated when officers suggested the voice messages were not necessarily a threat.” He claimed the Governor’s office said there was no “budget” to protect him.

He wrote, “I understand you are busy with the transition @GovMLG, but I believe when credible threats of violence are made against any member of #nmleg, it should not take hours and dozens of calls to get anyone to take the threat seriously.” 

After months of railing against Law Enforcers, including the Bernalillo County Sheriff, the state senator’s calls for special protection from the very entities he has targeted have fallen flat in what appears to be a ploy to gain attention ahead of the November 3 election. Candelaria now claims he will use guns to protect himself, even though he has been a staunch anti-gun advocate. 

State senator who defended anti-Police rioters now begging for Police protection after getting hate mail Read More »

New Mexico’s sobering restaurant statistics for September

Leave a Comment / Opinion / By

So much has changed for all of us in the last six months.  It is time to take a look at the raw numbers of the restaurant industry.

To be sure, restaurants are taking the virus seriously. They are cleaning, sanitizing, social distancing, following the CSP’s, and wearing masks. The safety of restaurant employees and customers has been and always will be our top priority in restaurants. 

Unfortunately, the economics are not in our favor. According to the New Mexico Economic Development Department’s quarterly summary, the accommodation and food service industries have lost $574 million since January.  This is a 31% decrease from 2019.

The leisure and hospitality industries continue to report the most massive employment losses in the State, with a drop of 25,200 jobs—a 24 percent decrease from last year. It’s heartbreaking. Our employees are like our family. Layoffs may be the hardest thing we have had to do throughout this disaster.  These layoffs don’t just affect our workers.  They include their families that rely on their income for support.

A national survey of restaurant owners shows that we stand to lose one-third of our restaurants by the end of the year. That’s 1,155 New Mexico Restaurants. It’s heartbreaking to see life-long restaurateurs like Edna and Rudy Ortega of Ortega’s in Albuquerque walk away from their business of 30 years through no fault of their own. This virus takes no prisoners.  There are far too many stories like the Ortega’s even to begin to share them here.

Despite meeting many of the (ever moving) gating criteria, NM continues to have some of the most economically restrictive policies during this pandemic. New Mexico is surrounded by states with indoor dining capacities, much more generous than NM. 

At this time, NM only has a COVID policy with an intermittent economic policy.   As a small business, you can’t succeed and grow, much less survive, without an economic plan.   We need to know what is going to happen next, and it has to happen fast. Financial assistance and safeguards need to be a part of our State’s plan if our industry will ever be able to “come back.”

We are not in tune with the rest of the country. Before moving our indoor dining capacity to 25%, only two other states were closed. New Jersey and California have a much more robust economy to begin with and a better chance for recovery. As it stands now, only one other State is at a 25% capacity for indoor dining.  If you look at the remaining 48 states, ALL are open to at least 50% capacity, with half of those being open at full capacity. 

According to a recent survey of New Mexico restaurants, 54% reported sales being down from 20 to 70%. 16% of restaurants noted sales down over 70%.

Most restaurants reported that they could only accommodate 30% of the previous year’s customers due to social distancing and restrictions.

In a recent survey done by the New Mexico Restaurant Association, one-third of restaurants only have three months until they will have to close permanently, and another 30 percent would have to close permanently in six months.  

Where does that leave us? Winter is coming. Survival on 25% capacity is near impossible.  Increased costs as a result of the pandemic have hit all of us hard.   We have asked, through channels, that the Governor open restaurants at 50%.  We are doing our part by offering that with this increase, restaurants will close at 10:00 pm and we will support that all restaurants will need to get the NM Safe Certified Training as a prerequisite to open at 50%.

What can YOU do?

Follow the CSPs.  Wear your mask.  Contact the Governor to let her know you and your family are ready and willing to get back to our dining rooms.

Support the restaurants in your area NOW at this reduced capacity so that they can survive long enough to have hope that our state leaders will increase capacity to 50% sooner rather than later. 

Carol Wight is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Restaurant Association.

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