New Mexico Political Journal
Volume I, No. 1
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Thursday, January 1, 2004
Roswell Circulation: 3,116
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In this issue:
NMPJ: A source you can trust----Thank you for your support
What NOT to waste time on: Beware the Mischief Makers
Election Reform Commission: Total Sham
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New Mexico Political Journal
If you are receiving this today it means you are among the hundreds
of readers of Let's Talk Sense... who responded to the announcement
that we would be putting together a new publication that covers
New Mexico electoral politics, campaigns, elections and political
party activity.
Most New Mexico newspapers say they do the best they can to provide
coverage of state politics, but they openly admit they are up against
a number of challenges. First, there is limited interest in the
kind of political news that activists really want. Second, there
is the problem of extremely limited space. Precious column inches
of actual news must be grossly overmatched by enormous advertising
space. Whole stories have to be cut severely, if run at all. A paper
with 100,000 readers may be fully aware that only three or four
thousand of their readers really want to read overtly political
stories. The paper is torn between going ahead and providing that
news anyway, their actual duty--and raison d'etre of journalism
after all--and satisfying the need to provide both the soft news
the overwhelming majority of readers want as well as the several
pounds of advertising newsprint required to pay the bills.
The result is little newsprint concerning actual political news,
and most of it rehashed and inaccurate. There simply isn't time,
staff, or incentive to do more. No one blames them for this, least
of all us, it is just the way things are. In New Mexico, with our
small population, and very limited competition in the media, it
is simply far worse than in most states.
Political news in New Mexico is very, very often (many times several
days in a row) merely the reproduction of the exact copy of a Bill
Richardson Press Release. The Albuquerque newspapers are far and
away the most egregious in this toadying approach in which fear
of reprisal has trumped any adherence to journalistic integrity.
And the number of former reporters who are now part of the Richardson
Administration--in double figures now--merely underscores this sad
fact. Newspapers and their reporters have been openly threatened
and scorned by either Richardson himself, or one of his "made
men." An enemies list has been established during the first
year and reporters know who is on it. They are denied "access"
or invitations to events. We thank the few reporters with the integrity
to have withstood the pressure. But for all the reasons enunciated
thus far, they need our help.
We aim to fill the gaps that are out there, and in a responsible,
fair and balanced way. Regarding electronic media, the commercial
TV and radio news outlets do a reasonable job and, to this point,
seem to try to be balanced. With the exceptions of Ron Stevens in
Roswell and Michael Swickard in Las Cruces, there are no "talk
radio" format shows in the state.
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Beware the Mischief Makers
This brings us to another---related---problem in New Mexico journalism:
those who have rushed into the yawning vacuum, the mischief makers.
(In reality that is a very mild description.) Their motivations
vary, but the reality is--especially for Republicans, moderate-conservatives
and conservatives--they are up to no good. They are up to far worse
than mere mischief. Their agenda is to promote the liberal Democrats,
or generally Left Wing ideology, under the guise of being an "observer."
They continuously undergird and cheerlead the status quo in New
Mexico. Today that means the Richardson Administration's continuation
of liberal, Democrat statist hegemony in the Land of Enchantment.
These mischief makers are easy to spot.
A chronic complaint we hear, several times a week, is about a column
that runs in about a half dozen rural newspapers. This particular
column's author claims to have a vantage point somewhere "inside"
the state capitol. In reality the author is a retired staffer and
organizer for the National Education Association, and he rarely
has anything factual in his column--whether about education, state
politics, or the national scene, all of which he purports to cover.
Rather, his goal is promoting Democrats, purely and simply. He uses
the familiar technique (for columnists of this stripe) of throwing
in an occasional "criticism" of a Democrat, but such criticisms
are very carefully chosen so as to leave the appearance of "balance"
while doing no harm to the cause the author supports. The word we
hear most from those who actually are inside the capitol is that
this columnist's take is "clueless." One state representative
recently told us, "I have never seen this guy in the capitol.
If he is there it must be in an isolated stall in one of the restrooms."
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Another, much more recent series of complaints we have been receiving
involves a Johnny-come-lately "blogger" from Albuquerque.
(A blogger is someone who has set up his or her own web site and
updates it frequently with news or commentary.) The web site in
question claims its author is "a veteran political analyst"
and also alleges that its operator is a "consultant" and
a "political journalist." Investigation however, including
newspaper searches, historical records, and internet searches, reveal
nothing at all to substantiate any of these claims. Instead, the
claims are shown to be merely self-promotion. The author is aided
and abetted by the cultivation of personal relationships with media
types, lobbyists and politicians of the same liberal philosophy.
They dutifully cite him as being the terms listed above. Strange.
Interestingly, both the columnist and the blogger cite each other
as sources for their "stories" almost every day.
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The problem with both these "journalists" is that when
they purport to write about New Mexico politics they provide no
accurate historical perspective (the columnist does sometimes make
references to prior events, but his facts are almost always completely
wrong), offer no scientific, empirical, cultural, demographic, or
social analysis of any kind, and certainly nothing psephological.
Instead, what they consist of is gossip. They are blotches of copy
wrapped around what "someone" has "told them."
(Oftentimes of course in situations like this, that "someone"
is the author himself or herself.) Of course, gossip is, always
has been, and one supposes, always will be, entertaining. You may
ask: "What's the problem then?" The problem is that people
who are truly interested in New Mexico Politics need facts.
Gossip comes from, is provided to, and is forwarded on by, people
who are pushing an agenda. And in the case of this one columnist
and this particular blogger, that agenda is to hurt Republicans,
moderate-conservatives and conservatives. Much, if not most, of
what comes out of these particular sources is outright falsehood,
deliberate lies about Bush-Cheney, Republican candidates, moderate-conservatives,
conservative ideas and those who support them. As Ann Coulter would
say, "Slander."
Beware. As always, contact us and we will give you a guide of those
who are working for the Democrat Party on the side, or for Leftist
causes.
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Election Reform Commission: Total Sham
It started out as a seemingly sincere effort by Governor Richardson
to provide a forum for reforming elections in New Mexico. Shortly
after yet another election return/vote count debacle in September
on the Constitutional Amendment 2 (Raid of the Permanent Fund) referendum,
the governor called a press conference. In it he expressed a desire
to appoint a commission to reform elections in New Mexico. The Albuquerque
Journal on October 1 reported that Richardson's goal was to "Protect
the integrity of the elections and the rights of individual voters."
(Kate Nash, Journal Capitol Bureau)
Later in another news conference he named two people, John Daniel
Rod Adair, who he thought would be two people who would be good
candidates to serve on such a commission.
Toward the end of October he in fact did appoint a commission. It
consisted of 4 Republicans, an independent, a Green, a Libertarian
and 19 Democrats.
Something, however, happened on the way to the forum. The commission
got hijacked early on. It ended up talking pretty much endlessly
about voting machines, software, and compatibility. Several commission
members grew suspicious, telling us the commission seemed to be
guided in the direction of creating a product that isn't needed
so that a contract might be awarded for it. Millions of dollars
are at stake and this is an issue that needs further exploration.
Keep an eye on it. We will too.
Suffice it to say that nothing was done about actual election reform.
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Senator Rod Adair can be heard every Friday from 9:15 to 11:00
on KINF Radio (AM 1020) in Roswell as he appears alongside Roswell
Says radio show host Ron Stevens. Rod and Ron take calls from all
over Southeastern New Mexico, discussing philosophical differences
between liberals and conservatives as well as talking with listeners
about national, state and local issues of the day.
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Realizing this, at the end of the final meeting Senator Rod Adair,
R-Roswell, made a motion that the commission endorse Voter ID as
the most meaningful reform the state could undertake to establish
integrity in the New Mexico electoral system. Echoing previous comments
by other Republican members, Adair said "this would also go
a long way to inspire at least a measure of confidence among voters
that a fair election might be taking place." Senator Dianna
Duran, R-Tularosa, seconded the motion.
This motion was greeted with notable annoyance, if not anger, on
the part of the Commission Chairwoman, Secretary of State Rebecca
Vigil-Giron. She stated it was a bad idea and immediately recognized
a liberal Democrat commission member. He quickly restated exactly
what Ms. Vigil-Giron had said, and then moved the previous question
(to end debate). As those who are familiar with parliamentary procedure
know, one cannot debate an issue, then move to end debate. Such
a motion can only be made by someone who does not choose to debate
at all. However, these kinds of commissions are more like show trials
than actual serious proceedings. Debate was cut off. The vote was
taken and the motion failed 14-5. Adair, Duran, Senator Diane Snyder,
R-Albuquerque, the Green Party member and the Libertarian Party
representative all voted in favor of the motion. 12 Democrats, 1
Republican and 1 Independent voted against it.
"Ann Coulter" Moment:
Earlier in the proceedings, Senator Duran had talked about corruption
in vote counting and election procedures in New Mexico. Following
her comments, the "independent member" made a point of
asking what on earth she was talking about. He said he had lived
in the state several years, was retired from the Air Force, and
had never heard of any problems at all. In his view, Senator Duran
and others like her seemed "paranoid."
When the meeting ended, Senator Adair was shaking hands with commission
members and exchanging "seasons greetings" when the "independent"
member approached him. He told Adair he had not appreciated his
comments or his motion. Adair told him he found it odd that the
man had never heard of any irregularities in New Mexico and asked
how long he had lived here. The man replied, "I'll have you
know I have lived here since 1964 and I don't need any lectures
from you about New Mexico elections." Adair replied, "Well
it appears you haven't read the papers over the past 39 years."
The man turned red and said, "You're just what they say you
are." Adair asked, "Who on earth are 'they' and what do
they say I am." The man just repeated, "You're just what
they say you are, you're just as bad as they say you are."
Adair said he felt like Ann Coulter. You just have no idea what
kind of utterance is going to spew forth from a liberal, especially
if they run completely out of ideas, which is often. Because it
is comical, albeit unintentionally so, the most frequent conservative
response is involuntary laughter, we just can't help ourselves.
In fact that is the healthiest attitude and approach to maintain.
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New Mexico Political Journal is an e-mail newsletter about politics
in New Mexico, especially devoted to campaigns, elections, their
strategies and tactics and the targeted electorate. Rod Adair, Editor
and Publisher.
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(c) Copyright, 2004. All Rights Reserved by New Mexico Demographic
Research.
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