Columnists

I am doing a couple of interviews this week to provide a Republican perspective on New Mexico politics in 2024. That might seem amusing to some of you who perceive New Mexico as a Democratic state. But as I gathered my thoughts ahead of these interviews, I realized that for the last 50 years until […]

New Mexico’s primary election is a few weeks away, on June 4. As attentive voters know, in New Mexico the primary election is at least as important as the general. Depending on your district, you might have a little work to do researching your choices, and it’s time to get started.  As usual, many counties […]

In history we find things that make us feel uncomfortable, said Jon Ghahate, a Laguna and Zuni pueblo educator. “Sometimes it’s very challenging. For New Mexico it’s embedded in everything we do.” Ghahate spoke on a panel about Don Juan de Oñate, the Colonizer of New Mexico. In 1598, Oñate led soldiers and settlers up […]

So it’s been a pretty exciting week in Washington. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s legislative package for the most part passed on a bipartisan vote, with the exception of the border security piece. The Senate rejected the impeachment articles against the Secretary of Homeland Security. The howler monkey caucus wailed and gnashed their teeth […]

In the U. S. there is something called the polling industrial complex. It’s a description of how polling has changed over 50 years. It has grown and become more complex and less understandable. Researchers define polling as the ability of organizations outside of government to gather, interpret, and publish information about voter views on issues […]

Wesley Billingsley will soon be able to say, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” He will tackle one of the most stubborn problems in state government. Billingsley is the first director of the new Infrastructure Planning and Development Division (IPDD). While that sounds boring and bureaucratic, the IPDD’s proud parent, the state […]

There’s nothing like a road trip to make you appreciate another mode of transportation – trains. They keep motorists company along many a New Mexico highway. Before we left the federal Department of Transportation unveiled a new railroad rule, so I was paying more attention to trains. On April 2 DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration began […]

Most of us have never heard of independent medical examinations. We might need to know a little more about them.  An independent medical examination (IME) is an exam performed when there is litigation related to a sick or injured person’s medical condition that requires more than the opinion of the treating physician. A doctor is […]

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, trying to simultaneously do the right thing, not trigger former President/current GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, and keep Congressional howler monkey Marjorie Taylor Greene from formally moving to remove him as Speaker (a “motion to vacate”), announced on April 15 his intent to split the Senate foreign aid package […]

Two New Mexico political groups are using opposite tactics to reach a common goal—elect Democrats. While the West Side Democrats in Albuquerque focuses on personal activism, Blue CD2 New Mexico uses data and remote messaging techniques to reach new voters. Both groups say their specific methods are helping win elections. The West Side group is […]