Politics

Haaland, Luján exploit Coronavirus pandemic to raise campaign cash, blame Trump for crisis

This week, some of New Mexico’s far-left congressional Democrat delegation has been relishing in the suffering brought forth by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, using it as an opportunity to blame President Trump for the crisis while shamelessly fundraising for their 2020 campaigns.

Rep. Deb Haaland (CD-1) sent out an email entitled, “Trump’s inability to lead our country,” which outlined the far-left policies he has not adopted. Her apparent argument is that because President Trump is against the socialist Obama-era “Affordable Care Act” or “Obamacare,” he has “systematically debilitated our country’s ability to respond to public health crises.” 

At the end of Haaland’s email, she includes multiple buttons in amounts from $10 t0 $250+ asking for “express” donations to her campaign so she can reach her arbitrary “March fundraising goal.” 

On Tuesday, Rep. Ben Ray Luján (CD-1), who is pursuing a promotion to the U.S. Senate, sent out a long-winded fundraising email claiming President Trump ignored “dire warning signs about the severity of this outbreak.” The baseless claims come despite the President acting immediately upon news of the virus to restrict travel from China and declare a public health emergency. 

Of course, the pitch came with an ask for campaign cash, justifying it as “doing [one’s] part” in these “difficult times.” The email follows previous solicitations using Coronavirus. One email preyed on seniors, making the false claim that President Trump is trying to rip away their Social Security checks. 

As well as Haaland’s shameless COVID-19 campaign email, she posted a video on her Facebook page asking for money during the crisis, writing in the description of the video, “We as Democrats believe in things like paid sick leave, healthcare for all, and workers’ rights. That fight now more than ever has never been more critical. Join our grassroots movement and pitch in $5 today!”

Ben Ray Luján’s email pitch.
Deb Haaland’s email pitch

Luján’s and Haaland’s emails come amid a tense battle in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats have stalled an emergency funding bill that would help lift American workers and businesses during the pandemic. Pelosi and Democrat leaders have weaponized the funding bill as an “opportunity” to ram through parts of the “Green New Deal,” abortion funding, among other items completely unrelated to COVID-19.

Luján preys on elderly to raise campaign cash — falsely claims Trump is slashing Social Security, Medicare

Amid confusion and fear over the Chinese Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Democrat Rep. Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) is stoking fear into New Mexico’s seniors to raise campaign cash for his U.S. Senate campaign ahead of the November 2020 election.

On Friday, Luján sent out an email claiming President Trump’s budget “SLASHES MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY.” He continues to falsely assert that the budget “slashes Medicare from seniors who’ve spent their entire lives paying into it,” that it “guts Social Security from seniors who are relying on it to make ends meet,” and it “threatens our vulnerable seniors’ health care at a time when they need it most.”

But Trump’s budget will not do any of these things, and even left-wing PolitiFact concedes that it would leave Medicare alone. Also, seniors will not have their Social Security Checks slashed or benefits rescinded. 

The panicky email claims to need 10,000 signatures on the linked survey by midnight to “protect Social Security and Medicare from [Trump’s] heartless budget cuts.” But in order to take the survey—which makes blatantly false accusations—the respondent must donate to Luján’s campaign. 

Luján appears to be blatantly preying on seniors, who may be misled by his dishonest campaign messaging, fear-mongering them into thinking President Trump is ripping away the benefits they paid into when he is not.

Luján’s survey gives no option to simply take the survey without donating.

The email ploy is just the latest in a slew of dishonest email campaigns, one of them using the Chinese Coronavirus to raise funds for his campaign. 

Public banned from ABQ City Council hearing as Davis, Keller use Coronavirus to grab more power

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” — socialist fmr. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel 

New Mexico’s far-left machine has been working for years behind the surface looking for every opportunity to take over the state. Recent legislation proposed by socialist Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis (who said f*** the NRA) will do just that: help radical Mayor Tim Keller grab massive amounts of power and use the Coronavirus to do it.

The legislation masquerading as “civil emergency powers” to combat the Coronavirus would grant Keller the right to cease the sale of firearms, declare curfews, close any and all streets, close liquor stores, close places of “mass assembly” and order private employers to take measures to stop the spread of the threat of a virus.

That is the keyword in this legislation — “threat.” The emergency powers are not in the event of a virus outbreak but in the event of THE THREAT OF AN OUTBREAK, meaning they can be used wherever and whenever.

Other far-left towns, such as Champagne, Illinois have adopted this legislation, which mirrors almost verbatim what Davis has proposed, showing a direct line of communication between Davis’ legislation and other radical left-wing municipalities, most likely connected to a larger “progressive” group feeding them the verbiage. 

After all, Davis is the founder of the leftist misinformation site “New Mexico Political Report,” and was the executive director of its funding source, dark money “nonprofit” ProgressNow NM, which is funded by billionaire George Soros. 

A new series on New Mexico’s far-left “progressive” dark-money groups and their connection to taking over New Mexico is coming soon.

Davis’ legislation directly violates federal law codified at 42 U.S.C. § 5207, which prohibits persons acting under color of federal law, receiving federal funds, or acting at the direction of a federal employee from seizing or authorizing the seizure of lawfully-possessed firearms during a state of emergency.

Even more startling than the blatant power-grab by Davis and Keller is the fact that they are conveniently using socialist Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s order banning people from congregating in groups of more than 100 due to Coronavirus. Davis and Keller are using this to ban people from publicly testifying at the City Council’s March 16th committee hearing, limiting attendance only to “City Councilors, critical Council and Administrative Staff, and credentialed members of the press.” The hearing will happen at 5:00 p.m.

Comments will only be allowed through remote channels, such as email, fax, and an online comment section

If you would like to contact the Albuquerque City Councilors in concern about this legislation, their contact information is below:

City Councilor Lan Sena, Dist. 1

lansena@cabq.gov

City Councilor Isaac Benton, Dist. 2

ibenton@cabq.gov

City Councilor Klarissa J. Peña, Dist. 3

kpena@cabq.gov

City Councilor Brook Bassan, Dist. 4

bbassan@cabq.gov

City Councilor Cynthia Borrego, Dist. 5

cynthiaborrego@cabq.gov

City Councilor Pat Davis, Dist. 6 (DEFINITELY CONTACT HIM)

patdavis@cabq.gov

City Councilor Diane Gibson, Dist. 7

dgibson@cabq.gov

City Councilor Trudy Jones, Dist. 8

trudyjones@cabq.gov

City Councilor Don Harris, Dist. 9

dharris@cabq.gov

Contact mayor Tim Keller here: https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/contact-us/email-the-mayor

Opinions offered by Piñon Post contributors in no way, shape, or form represent the viewpoints of the publication or its editorial staff. Submit an op-ed to the Piñon Post at: news@pinonpost.com.

Ben Ray Luján fundraises off of coronavirus pandemic

On Wednesday, far-left Rep. Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) sent out an email from his campaign entitled “an important email on coronavirus,” which detailed the situation with the pandemic in New Mexico and that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has declared a “public health emergency allowing New Mexico to marshal the resources needed to protect our communities.”

The email appears benign and not overtly political until the bottom of the email, which reads, “[T]he polls show we have a once-in-a-lifetime shot to finally defeat Mitch McConnell and take back the Senate. But we can’t do this without winning New Mexico. Will you be a part of this historic movement?”

Directly following this is a “donate” button leading to a landing page, which explicitly asks for donations of $25-$1,000 to help him win a seat in the Senate.

The email would be acceptable if it was not using a public health emergency to garner donations, and it appears to be something much more appropriate for Luján to have sent through official channels with his “mail.house.gov” account as an update to constituents. But instead of using his authority to inform New Mexico’s citizens, he is using the Coronavirus to fundraise off of a public health emergency.

RPNM pre-primary results: Martinez, Herrell, Garcia Holmes, Montoya to appear first on primary ballot

On Saturday, the Republican Party of New Mexico held its pre-primary convention at the Hotel Albuquerque in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the convention, candidates for federal races made the case for their candidacy with short pitches to the audience. With 20% of the delegates, candidates will advance to the primary ballot in June.

Results trickled in a little after 12 noon, with U.S. Senate candidate and pro-life advocate Elisa Martinez coming out strong with 241 delegates, ex-weatherman Mark Ronchetti receiving 198 Delegates, and shooting range Calibers owner Louie Sanchez with 113 delegates. 2018 nominee for U.S. Senate Mick Rich received 72 delegates, while Las Cruces resident and 2018 nominee for Secretary of State Dr. Gavin Clarkson got 66 delegates. Martinez and Ronchetti will be the only candidates to appear on the ballot, unless the other candidates submit additional signatures to the Secretary of State’s office.

In New Mexico’s First Congressional District, 2018 nominee for lieutenant governor, Michelle Garcia Holmes, received 135 delegates, lawyer Jared Vander Dussen received 64 delegates, and ex-Democrat Brett Kokinadis received 14 delegates. Holmes and Vander Dussen will advance.

In New Mexico’s Second Congressional District race, former New Mexico State Rep. Yvette Herrell annihilated her competition, earning 168 delegates to her closest competition, Claire Chase’s 83 delegates. Another candidate, Chris Mathys received 3 delegates.  Herrell and Chase will advance.

In New Mexico’s Third Congressional District, former Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya led the field with 86 delegates and small business owner Karen Bedonie received 69 delegates. They will both advance.

The primary election will occur on June 2, 2020, where the final nominees will be selected by Republican voters.

Torres Small sends voters mailers promoting herself—AT THE TAXPAYERS’ EXPENSE

On Friday, voters in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District received mailers from none other than Democrat Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, which touted her supposed “accomplishments” in Congress. The worst part about these mailers is that they were sent out at the taxpayers’ expense. 

The mailer touts Torres Small’s work on “veterans issues” and quotes local papers singing her praises. One quote says Torres Small was “instrumental in helping fix a communication problem between local veterans using the new Veterans Administration healthcare programs.” 

But Torres Small does not tout in her mailer — most likely meant to target wing voters — that she supported the far-left crusade to take down President Trump with the impeachment hoax, her refusal to support a bill that would protect babies who survive abortions, her support of a fracking ban that would destroy the state’s main source of income, and her support for rewarding criminal aliens with citizenship. 

Although it is not yet clear if Torres Small broke any legal or ethical rules by sending out the mailer — clearly meant to sway the outcome of her re-election campaign — but taxpayers having to shell out money for Torres Small to promote herself raises serious questions. 

Photographs of mailers courtesy of Roger Baker, candidate for New Mexico State Senate Dist. 36.

Columnist says RPNM lying about bill creating opportunity for voter fraud—he gets fact-checked

Liberal columnist claims GOP lying about election laws bill that would have loosened protections—ends up he’s totally wrong

Last week, liberal columnist Milan Simonich of the Santa Fe New Mexican wrote an opinion piece slamming a comment made by Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce, who said that the New Mexico “ House approved [House Bill] 229, legislation that would eliminate the need for three forms of voter identification for absentee ballots.”

Simonich wrote, “[Pearce] claims the bill would eliminate the requirement that an absentee voter provide their name, address and year of birth. That’s false. HB 229 makes no such change.”

But HB-229 did indeed eliminate the need for three forms of voter identification for absentee ballots. Simonich appears to be trying to refute Pearce’s claims by using Section six of the bill, which references the application for a ballot, not the ballot itself. Page 21, lines 18-21 of the bill explicitly remove the requirement that the voter fill in their name, address, and year of birth, contradicting Simonich’s claim.

Simonich seems to be unaware of how absentee voting works in New Mexico, especially since HB-229 would dramatically change the security behind absentee voting. 

The way the system works currently is that the voter writes to his county clerk asking for an absentee ballot (the ballot application). It does have to include a name, address, and year of birth.

The ballot itself (specifically, the outer envelope of the ballot) has fields for name, address, and year of birth, so if the ballot ends up in someone else’s hands, there’s some attempt to authenticate that the person who filled out the ballot and mailed it back was indeed the voter. 

The absentee ballots are often sent to places other than the voter’s home, such as an out-of-state address, a hotel, or somewhere else, and there is a risk the ballot can get into someone else’s hands.  

HB-229 attempted to remove that voter-ID requirement entirely, creating a new opportunity for the person who got their hands on the ballot to simply fill it in and send it back. A person committing a “crime of opportunity” by finding the ballot by chance would likely not take the time to look up the real voter’s name, address, and year of birth, which is why the need for a second verification is so crucial. 

Another way for voter fraud to happen is by a person getting the ballot and filling it out by accident, with the ballot being issued to one person, but another filling it out. Instances of this occurred in 2018’s CD-2 race. 

Simonich’s failed attempt at fact-checking flopped on its face, and the Santa Fe New Mexican should issue a retraction for the inaccurate commentary piece.

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