Redistricting

The American system of representative democracy rests primarily on the concept of equal representation in legislative bodies. The Constitution requires a census of the population every ten years and then states reapportion representation and draw new district lines based on this census.  Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.  Our New Mexico Constitution, passed in 1912, leaves the drawing of district maps to the legislature.

N.M. has very few standards guiding the drawing of these maps.  Only Texas and Nevada have looser standards. The process of redistricting ends up being totally partisan because the legislature is a political body, manipulation during the map...

“The Trump campaign today [Jan. 11] filed to withdraw their lawsuit against my Office attempting to invalidate New Mexico’s secure and lawful 2020 General Election and withdrew their overly burdensome public records requests motivated by an outlandish conspiracy theory involving Dominion Voting Systems.

As no new facts have come to light since they filed this lawsuit and records requests, except the anti-democratic horror show that played out as the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday [Jan. 6], this withdrawal suggests that the Trump campaign knew from the very beginning that their lawsuit was baseless and that it was simply a political show.

Let me be clear: New Mexican election...

The Albuquerque Journal puts out a weekly insert on Mondays titled Business Outlook. This Dec. 28 edition was almost entirely about possible cannabis legalization at the upcoming N.M. legislative session. Marijuana legalization in some form seems a sure thing.  But we need to pay particular attention to how this sensitive issue is addressed by our legislature.

“Legalize Today for a brighter tomorrow” is the title of five full pages of advertising by Ultra Health who label themselves New Mexico’s #1 Cannabis Company in the 28 December Business Outlook.  The articles included, while mildly informative, are almost entirely about proper marketing of the product and how much tax the...

New Mexico’s film industry is uniquely poised for rapid growth, and can serve as the spark plug to re-ignite our COVID-battered economy.  The sad truth is that even before COVID, our state ranked at or near the bottom of the nation in areas from education to child poverty.  We need to not just recover, but to leap to a 21st century economy that can boost employment in communities that have been here for generations, as well as stimulate the migration of talented creatives from New York, California, and beyond.

Unlike other sectors which are in structural decline or have limited prospects for growth, the film industry is poised to double in size as soon as COVID abates, then to...