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When the cost of gas goes up, there are big signs along the roadway announcing the hike. The signs in the grocery store aren’t as big, but increases in the cost of food are clearly marked for all to see.
When the cost of health care goes up, as it just did … again, it’s not as obvious. New Mexico’s Second Congressional District is one of the 12 most competitive Democratic districts in the nation, according to the Cook Political Report.
They list 21 districts as a toss-up heading into November’s midterm election. Those are the districts that are most likely to determine which party has control of the US House. Democrats clearly have the advantage going into the election, with Republicans needing to defend 16 of those seats as opposed to just five in districts now held by Democrats. Pete Domenici won six statewide elections running as a Republican in New Mexico. You can’t do that without making a whole lot of friends on the other side of the aisle.
Which is why I liked the Domenici Public Policy Conference at NMSU so much. It was the last vestige from a time when Tip O’Neill and Bob Michel would debate policy on the House floor, then come to an agreement later that night at the tavern. The recent Supreme Court ruling removing the last campaign finance restrictions still in place following the Citizens United decision of 2010 is a good thing. At least it will bring a modicum of honesty to the process.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court lifted restrictions that had prevented Political Action Committees from coordinating with campaigns. In the past, that restriction worked in favor of the candidates. The PACs would do all of the dirty work, running attack ads that were loosely based on the truth. If any of those ads ever crossed the line, the candidate could claim absolute innocence. It would have been against the law if they had coordinated on that ad. At the same time that Todd Blanche was being confirmed as U.S. attorney general, his Justice Department was working to thwart the only active criminal investigation in the country seeking to bring a small measure of belated justice to the women who were victimized years ago by Jeffrey Epstein and his rich and powerful associates.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a lawsuit last week against Blanche and the Justice Department demanding that they release records related to the state’s prior investigation of activities at Zoro Ranch, a sprawling compound outside of Santa Fe that was owned by Epstein at the time of his alleged crimes. The Democratic Party is old, weak and broke. The Democratic National Committee is $2.2 million in debt heading into the midterm elections.
At a time when the sitting president has monetized the Oval Office to rake in some $2.4 billion during his first year in office and is praised by other Republican leaders for the transparency of his corruption; at a time when masked federal law enforcement agents in unmarked vehicles are killing people on the streets; and, at a time when we just started another foolish Mideast war without an exit strategy; a vigorous and energized opposition is essential. New Mexico Democrats, get ready to be courted.
It was announced last week that New Mexico will be the fourth state in the nation to vote in the 2028 Democratic primary election for president. South Carolina will go first, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginis. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to learn the alphabet if not for the song, but even today if I need to conjure it up for some reason, I do so melodically. As an aside, I’ve always felt bad for the letters “l” “m” “n” “o” and “p.” They get smooshed together there in the middle, instead of the individual respect granted to all the other letters.
Nothing sticks in my head like a catchy tune. Unfortunately, that includes advertising jingles. I fear there will come a time in my life when I won’t be able to remember my own name; but, because of opera singers on a bus, I will know who I should call if I have a structured settlement and I need cash now. And, I will still know that phone number, long after having forgotten my own. After two years of single-party rule in Washington, D.C., most voters understand the importance of this year’s election at the national level. But for voters in Dona Ana County, the local elections are just as important.
County government is a mess. Last month, the state Department of Finance and Administration informed county officials they could no longer be trusted to handle state funds. And so, whenever the county receives capital outlay money or special appropriations from the state, those funds will now go through a fiscal agent to ensure they are used properly. I wish I could celebrate this. We’re on the bottom of so many national rankings that coming in 11th should be cause for hearty congratulations and vigorous backslapping all around,
But the recent ranking by the finance app WalletHub of Las Cruces as the 11th best-run city in the nation has me scratching my head in bewilderment. The city always does it up right for the Fourth of July.
Well, almost always. There was that one time in 2014 when they had Don McLean playing an acoustic, solo set at The Field of Dreams,right after they had put in new turf, so everybody had to watch from the stands. But, for the most part, you can rely on the same thing every year, the Electric Light Parade on July 3, then the concert on July 4, followed by the fireworks show. Unable to resolve their long-standing differences, leaders of the County Sheriff’s Department and County Commission both called for a full audit last year, certain it would find that the other side was in the wrong. It did.
There were no winners in the report released last week by the State Auditor’s Office. It took the office 14 months to complete the report and 355 pages to compile it all, because there was a lot on both sides in need of correction. I heard an old phrase for the first time in decades recently when a fellow volunteer at the community radio station said she was bothered by how casually young people use profanity these days, especially “in mixed company.”
I was probably five or six years old when my grandfather first explained that concept to me and my cousin Johnny. We were tagging along behind him as he tended a small field next to the house when grandpa did something that caused him to blurt out the word “shirt” without the “r.” Another Memorial Day with our nation at war.
There have thus far been 15 US service members killed and 530 wounded in our war with Iran. It’s estimated that about 3,400 Iranians have been killed by US and Israeli airstrikes. There were two emergency drills conducted at the start of each new school year during my childhood, the fire drill and the duck-and-cover drill.
For the fire drill, we were instructed to calmly and quietly line up behind the teacher and then walk at a leisurely pace down the hallway, around the corner and then down another hallway before reaching the door, all while flames were lapping at our pants legs. |
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