Columnists

Former Gov. Susana Martinez once described her first legislative session, in 2011, as “hand-to-hand combat.”  A former DA, Martinez had no experience with the Legislature, and went in swinging. She used campaign rhetoric, radio ads and robo calls to browbeat them and even sent a staff member to videotape them as they debated. She said […]

Healthcare companies should never have profit as their primary mission, don’t you think? There’s a genuine conflict between the profit motive and what healthcare is supposed to accomplish: providing a service that heals people’s illnesses or helps them stay healthy. For a healthcare institution to be successful, profit has to be tempered with giving priority […]

I’ve been thinking more these days about Vice President Kamala Harris, her role as vice president and the ever-present is-she-ready question.  Being second in line is something I know a little about but on a smaller scale. For eight years, I served as lieutenant governor to Gov. Bill Richardson. Another similarity we share is being […]

The most overused word in the recent primary was “bold.” Candidates were claiming they had bold solutions for New Mexico’s myriad problems and failings.  Then we got the Kids Count report, reminding us that New Mexico is again 50 out of 50 in children’s wellbeing. The bare statistics in that report show that New Mexico […]

When I was covering the Legislature and watching our elected officials at work, I would sometimes say a silent prayer: “Help me know when it’s time to step aside and do it before I make a fool of myself.” Legislative sessions are grueling. While some lawmakers give in to age-related health issues or exhaustion, some […]

A Washington Post election feature this week identified the emergence of a new group of voters that may decide the 2024 election. More prevalent in swing states, their common thread is this: they are skeptical/patently disappointed/furious that out of more than 300 million people, the best two people we have to stand for the office […]

As Ruidoso area residents return to their homes — or what’s left of their homes — we’ll be watching FEMA. For the past two years, since the disastrous Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon Fire, we’ve heard more about what FEMA hasn’t done than what it has done.  This year the agency began changing its New Mexico […]

It was glamour and glitz again as Virgin Galactic sent its last space tourists into the heavens this month. Now the company will fade away for two years to build the next generation ship – not here but in Mesa, Arizona.  What’s next for Spaceport America? Maybe it’s time to go back to Plan A. […]

It’s hard to know who the biggest loser in the Hunter Biden trial might be. Hunter Biden, of course, who was convicted on three felony counts on June 11 by a jury of his Delaware peers, lost the legal case.  Donald Trump lost something bigger; his complaints about two-tiered justice were stopped cold.  During the […]

At 7 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time on June 27, more than four months before Election Day, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will spend 90 minutes on CNN airing rehearsed talking points in front of a moderator in two-minute soundbites in a studio empty but for the production crew and campaign staff. Happily, I will be […]