Politics

Group sues City of ABQ over $250K Planned Parenthood donation

13 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Friday, it was revealed that the Rio Grande Foundation, in partnership with the Liberty Justice Center, is suing the City of Albuquerque over its $250,000 donation to the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

The Albuquerque City Council in August 2022 voted 5-4 to fund the abortion giant, claiming it was giving Planned Parenthood the money for supposedly necessary abortion procedures, including abortions.

“New Mexico’s constitution prevents politicians from using taxpayer funds like their own personal piggy banks,” says Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center. “Albuquerque’s grant to Planned Parenthood is pure politics, and the state constitution prevents that kind of abuse of taxpayer dollars.”  

“Taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize Planned Parenthood or any other private group,” said Gessing, who is president of the free-market Rio Grande Foundation. “The anti-donation clause of New Mexico’s constitution is a bulwark for taxpayers against politically motivated earmarks just like this one.”  

73% of Americans, including pro-choice individuals, women, and millennials, oppose mandated taxpayer funding of abortions, according to a recent Marist/Knights of Columbus poll.

In a previous op-ed from New Mexico Sun, City Councilor Renee Grout wrote, “This is not a simple disagreement on a political issue. For many people, abortion is sanctioned murder. It is wasteful and wrong to give $250,000 of taxpayer money to a business that makes $1.3 billion every year advocating for and performing this procedure.”

Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, the sponsor of the $250,000 blank check to Planned Parenthood, was annoyed that the Council was revisiting the vote, saying, “Now is not the time to roll back something that we literally passed two months ago.”

Group sues City of ABQ over $250K Planned Parenthood donation Read More »

NM state Reps. Stefani Lord, John Block sponsor bill mandating pedophile castration

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On Thursday, New Mexico state Reps. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) and John Block (R-Alamogordo) dropped a bill, H.B. 128, which will mandate the chemical castration of pedophilic sex offenders as a condition of parole.

The bill notes, “A person required to undergo chemical castration treatment shall begin the treatment not less than one month prior to the person’s release from custody of the corrections department and shall continue receiving treatment until the court determines the treatment is no longer necessary. The treatment shall be administered by the department of health.”

Furthermore, the offender must eat the cost of the chemical castration in addition to any court costs. 

Another section of the proposed bill reads, “In addition to any condition of parole under Subsection A of this section, as a condition of parole, a person released on parole under this section shall authorize the department of health to share with the parole board all medical records relating to the person’s chemical castration treatment. A person may elect to stop receiving the treatment at any time and may not be forced to receive the treatment; provided that the refusal shall constitute a violation of the person’s parole and the person shall be immediately remanded to the custody of the corrections department for the remainder of the sentence from which the person was paroled.” 

If the offender claims indigency, the pedophile would need to appear before a court and prove they are “not capable of paying the fees or costs within the reasonably foreseeable future.”

The legislation will be heard in House Health and Human Services Committee and then House Judiciary Committee. No date has yet been set on the bill. 

Editor’s note: Rep. Block is the founder and editor of the Piñon Post, New Mexico’s leading conservative online news publication.

NM state Reps. Stefani Lord, John Block sponsor bill mandating pedophile castration Read More »

Anti-gun bills referred to legislative committees

7 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On the second day of the 2023 Legislative Session, progressive legislation was referred to House committees for consideration. Some of the proposals include sweeping gun bans to assault New Mexicans’ constitutional rights. Here are some of the bills that will be going through committees soon.

H.B. 9 by state Rep. Pamelya Herndon (D-Bernalillo), will force New Mexicans to lock up their firearms in “a gun safe or a device that prevents a firearm from being discharged or from being used to expel a projectile by the action of an explosion or a device other than a gun safe that locks a firearm and is designed to prevent children and unauthorized users from firing a firearm, which device may be installed on a firearm, be incorporated into the design of the firearm or prevent access to the firearm.”

If the gun owner does not lock up any and all firearms and their gun somehow was used in an offense by a minor causing “great bodily harm” or death, the parent of that child could be made a felon if the victim of the crime is killed or permanently disabled. 

H.B. 9 has been referred to House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee (HCPAC) and then House Judiciary Committee. No committee times have yet been posted for HCPAC, but hearings are expected within the week.

H.B. 50, sponsored by Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo), will ban magazines over nine rounds, making all owners of such firearms felons. The bill has been referred to House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, House Judiciary Committee (HJC), and the House Appropriations and Finance Committee (HAFC). No dates have yet been set on HCPAC for a hearing.

H.B. 72, also by Roybal Caballero, would make it a felony to possess a bump stock, binary trigger, or anything else that “increased the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm.” The bill has been referred to Judiciary and HAFC. No dates have yet been set for a hearing yet.

H.B. 100, by Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe), would mandate a 14-day waiting period before someone could purchase a gun from a Federal Firearms License (FFL).

H.B. 101, also by Romero, aims to ban magazines, but for those that are ten and under, while also banning so-called “assault weapons.” The legislation has not yet been referred to a committee.

S.B. 44, by Majority Senate Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), would ban firearms at polling places. That bill has been referred to the Senate Rules Committee and then the Senate Judiciary Committee. No dates have yet been set for a hearing as of publication.

Keep track of bills scheduled for the committees by visiting the NMLegis.gov website’s “What’s Happening” page.

Anti-gun bills referred to legislative committees Read More »

Opening day: MLG goes leftward, Dems boot moderate from powerful chair post

20 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Tuesday, the New Mexico Legislature met for the first session of the 56th Legislature, which is meeting for 60 days this year. 17 new members were sworn in, and Democrats elected Rep. Javier Martínez (D-Bernalillo) as the next state House speaker, succeeding former Speaker Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe). 

Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also gave her annual “State of the State” address, where she made clear her priority to ram through $10 million in funding for a new Las Cruces abortion facility and codify abortion up to birth into law.

She also announced she wants socialized “universal health care” in New Mexico, taxpayer-funded paid family leave, expanded “free” college programs, as well as millions more to fund the state’s already failing schools that rank behind all other states and the District of Columbia. She also called for a new state department, the “New Mexico Health Care Authority” to help enact her universal healthcare dreams, as well as universal gun bans in the state.

But the most surprising takeaway from the meeting of the 56th Legislature on opening day was the removal of more moderate Rep. Patricia Lundstrom (D-Gallup) from the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Speaker Martinez put progressive Rep. Nathan Small in the spot instead, garnering confusion about the leadership mixup.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Lundstrom said following the news, “This is unbelievable.” She told the Albuquerque Journal, “I’m incredibly disappointed, and I’m absolutely shocked.” She said Martínez “said I don’t meet his vision.”

“The speaker has the responsibility and the prerogative to organize the House committees as he feels best meets the current needs of New Mexico,” House Democratic spokeswoman Camille Ward told the Journal. “With new leadership on both sides of the aisle and on many of our committees in this session, Speaker Martínez is beginning a new chapter to move New Mexico forward.”

Another member making a large move is Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos), who was moved from the chairwoman of House Taxation and Revenue to the powerful House Judiciary Committee, succeeding Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Bernalillo), who was recently elected Democrat House floor leader.

Initiatives Democrats seek to pass during the legislature include many of Lujan Grisham’s proposals, as well as “modernizing” the state legislature from a “citizen legislature” to a “professional legislature” where members of the House and Senate are paid, while they each are granted funds for district offices in their respective areas of the state. 

Opening day: MLG goes leftward, Dems boot moderate from powerful chair post Read More »

Report: Suspect arrested in connection with shootings targeting Dem politicians

15 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Monday, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) revealed that Solomon Peña, a former GOP candidate for state House of Representatives District 14 was arrested at his Albuquerque home. He is charged with conspiracy to pay four men to shoot at Democrat lawmakers’ homes.

As we previously reported, the politicians who were apparently targeted included outgoing Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, Commissioner Adriann Barboa, and two legislators. Sen. Linda Lopez and newly appointed Sen. Antonio “Moe” Maestas were apparently targeted, although gunshots were heard near Maestas’ office, not his home.


Later, Democrat New Mexico House Majority Leader Javier Martínez (D-Bernalillo) reported he found gun holes and bullet remnants at his Albuquerque home. 

APD Chief Harold Medina told the Albuquerque Journal, “Peña, an unsuccessful legislative candidate in the 2022 election, is accused of conspiring with, and paying four other men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators.”

Police officers executing the arrest said outside of Pena’s home, “Solomon Peña please come out with your hands up, we have the place surrounded.”

The suspect prevously served seven years in prison for involvement in a “slash and grab” robbery “scheme,” the Journal noted. 

Immediately following the revelation of Peña’s arrest, House Republican Leader Ryan Lane (R-Aztec) wrote in a statement, “We appreciate law enforcement’s diligence in pursuing this investigation and we are still learning of this development just as the rest of New Mexico is. New Mexico House Republicans condemn violence in any form and are grateful no one was injured. This is yet another example of a convicted felon unlawfully gaining access to firearms, which they are barred from owning or possessing, and using the weapon in a manner that causes public harm.”

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Lujan Grisham surprises with support for ‘School Choice Week’

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Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made a surprise proclamation honoring School Choice Week, which commemorates school choice and the betterment of educational opportunities for students. 

Lujan Grisham declared January 22-28, 2023 as School Choice Week in the state, writing in the proclamation that “educational variety not only helps to diversify our economy, but also enhances the vibrancy of our community.”

She recognized that New Mexico has “many high-quality teaching professionals in all types of school settings who are committed to educating our children.”

Now, as the 2023 Legislative Session rolls around on Tuesday, she will have the opportunity to push for and sign legislation that will enshrine school choice in New Mexico.

State Sen. Craig Brandt (R-Sandoval) is sponsoring a school choice bill enacting “Education Freedom Accounts, which can be used to pay for private school tuition, tutoring services, textbooks, and instructional materials, nationally standardized assessments, and other educational charges” approved by the Public Education Department.

“It outlines the application process and procedures for parents and education service providers, as well as the rules and responsibilities of the parents and students,” and “creates an Education Freedom Review Commission to assist the department in determining what expenditures are qualifying educational expenses,” according to Brandt.

A similar bill being sponsored by state Rep.-elect John Block (R-Otero), will enable open enrollment for students to attend other schools in their district or outside of their district if their zoned educational resources are failing. Block believes no child should have to be stuck in a failing school just because of where they live in New Mexico.

Enacting school choice, which is a non-partisan issue, has shown to be an incredible step forward in creating quality education in other states. If New Mexico enacts such changes, it could lift the state from being 51st in education and propel it on the path to educational betterment.

Editor’s note: Block is the founder and editor of the Piñon Post, New Mexico’s #1 conservative online news publication.

Lujan Grisham surprises with support for ‘School Choice Week’ Read More »

Pro-abortion legislators insist they will ‘codify’ abortion up to birth into NM law

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Far-left pro-abortion legislators are chomping at the bit to ram through even more pro-abortion legislation, although New Mexico has effectively already legalized abortion up to birth and infanticide with no protections whatsoever for women, babies, or medical professionals.

Despite the extremist anti-life agenda seeping through New Mexico via repeals of health protections for pregnant women and killing the terminally ill via cocktails of lethal unproven drugs, the far-left Democrats want even more of the life-ending policies.

Rep. Linda Serrato (D-Santa Fe) and Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) are planning on “codifying” abortion up to birth and infanticide into state law after Democrats in 2021 stripped protections, effectively legalizing just that. 

The Democrats claim that women should have unadulterated access to killing children in the womb “without a fear of retribution or shame or jail,” according to Serrato.

The bill, which is not listed as pre-filed on the New Mexico Legislature website, is reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican to mimic Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive order that decreed “abortion is an essential part of reproductive health care and must remain legal, safe and accessible.” Abortion is neither health care, since it ends a life instead of protecting one, and is not reproductive since it stops the reproductive process.

Lujan Grisham also is attempting to pass $10 million in funding to open a new abortion facility in Las Cruces to end the lives of the babies of Texas women traveling to the Land of Enchantment seeking the death-inducing procedure.

The New Mexican claims the radical anti-life bill “is likely to pass and end up on Lujan Grisham’s desk for her signature” due to the heavily Democrat makeup of the Legislature. Despite the political makeup, many Democrats in New Mexico are pro-life, with recent polls by the Albuquerque Journal and others showing New Mexicans of all political affiliations overwhelmingly support limits on abortion. 

Pro-life legislators are also sponsoring life-affirming bills that will protect life in the womb.

Pro-abortion legislators insist they will ‘codify’ abortion up to birth into NM law Read More »

Dems drop two new radical anti-gun bills ahead of 2023 Legislature

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On Thursday and Friday, Democrats dropped more anti-gun bills to assault New Mexicans’ Second Amendment rights. 

On Thursday, far-left legislators state Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo) and state Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) dropped H.B. 72, which makes it illegal to “knowingly possess

or transfer a semiautomatic firearm converter,” making the sale of any kind of modification device to enhance usability a fourth-degree felon.

H.B. 72 requests $1.5 million from the state to enforce the extreme anti-gun bill.

Another bill, H.B. 101 by far-left state Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe), bans large-capacity magazines “regardless of whether the device is attached to a firearm.” It forces anyone owning such magazines to “remove the large-capacity magazine from the state,” “sell the large-capacity magazine to a licensed firearms dealer,” or “surrender the large-capacity magazine to a law enforcement agency for destruction.” It includes no grandfather clause and would take effect July 1, 2023, if passed. Any violator of the proposed law would be a fourth-degree felon.

Furthermore, anyone who owns any semi-automatic firearm, which Romero dubs an “assault” weapon, would be forced to either “remove the assault weapon from the state,” “render the assault weapon permanently inoperable,” or “surrender the assault weapon to the appropriate law enforcement agency for destruction.” Like the previous section of the bill, anyone not in compliance will become a fourth-degree felon.

These new anti-gun bills are just the beginning for anti-gun Democrats’ gun-grabbing agenda, which is sure to only increase, with the four already filed bills dropping before the 2023 Legislative Session starting on January 17. It is unclear if more will drop over the weekend or after the legislature goes into session.

All of the bills already proposed have either been stricken down in other states or are ripe for litigation due to their flagrant violation of the Second and Fourth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as violations against the New Mexico state Constitution. 

Dems drop second anti-gun bill of the 2023 Legislative Session

Dems drop two new radical anti-gun bills ahead of 2023 Legislature Read More »

Leger Fernandez defends vote against bill requiring care for abortion survivors

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On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, that would require medical care for babies born alive after a failed abortion attempt. All three of New Mexico’s U.S. House representatives, Reps. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01), Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02), and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-03) voted against the commonsense bill.

Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) voted for the bill, while Rep. Vicente Gonzales (D-TX) voted “present.”

Leger Fernandez released a video defending her “no” vote after the bill’s passage, saying, “I am wearing white today as the color of resistance here in Congress by us women who are saying ‘no’ to the extreme Republicans’ bills that they have brought forth that would criminalize — that would criminalize a woman’s decisions that they would make about their own bodies. And in this case, about a baby that may be born and does not have a baby.” 

She erroneously claimed, “They would wrench that baby from their parents and force them to take ‘em to a hospital and spend their last minutes, their last hours hooked up to a machine rather than in the arms of the mother who loved that child.” 

Leger Fernandez added, “And that’s why I voted no today on the Parental Interference Act, which they are calling something else, but it is not.” 

Instead of telling the truth about the bill, which is regarding aborted children, Democrats for years have been claiming are not actually human but “clumps of cells.” By Fernandez’s own admission, they are indeed “babies,” and it is strange she now claims the mother who is aborting the child now “loves” them. 

Also, there are many abortion survivors who did live through botched abortions and are perfectly healthy, functioning members of society. In many cases, these babies born alive are very much viable babies who can live successfully outside of the womb. The bill would have merely given these babies a chance at life.

However, Leger Fernandez and other democrats are calling the bill “interference.” She is a supporter of abortion up to and after birth, with endorsements from the likes of the pro-abortion groups EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL.

Leger Fernandez defends vote against bill requiring care for abortion survivors Read More »

Dems drop second anti-gun bill of the 2023 Legislative Session

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On Wednesday, Democrats dropped their latest anti-gun bill they will introduce this upcoming 2023 Legislative Session.

Far-left state Rep. Pamelya Herndon (D-Bernalillo) is sponsoring a bill, H.B. 9, which will force New Mexicans to lock up their firearms in “a gun safe or a device that prevents a firearm from being discharged or from being used to expel a projectile by the action of an explosion or a device other than a gun safe that locks a firearm and is designed to prevent children and unauthorized users from firing a firearm, which device may be installed on a firearm, be incorporated into the design of the firearm or prevent access to the firearm.”

If the gun owner does not lock up any and all firearms and their gun somehow was used in an offense by a minor causing “great bodily harm” or death, the parent of that child could be made a felon if the victim of the crime is killed or permanently disabled. 

As noted by even some Democrats in the chamber during a July 2022 preview of the bill, it would be the first crime proposal to base a defendant’s sentence not on their own actions but that of someone else (a minor) who got ahold of a firearm. 

The bill does not, however, include provisions protecting the gun owner if the firearm was stolen, nor does it account for the de-facto tax it burdens the owner with being forced to find a new locking device to place it at all times. The bill is also blatantly unconstitutional.

Previous versions of this bill sponsored during the last two legislative sessions by state Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Bernalillo) have died.

The first anti-gun bill dropped by Democrats is one by state Rep. Patricia Roybal-Caballero (D-Bernalillo), H.B. 50, which bans all citizens who own firearm magazines greater than ten rounds and makes any offender a felon. 

The 2023 Legislative Session begins January 17, 2023. Read more about Herndon’s bill here.

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