I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The race for state House District 13 is taking a nasty turn.
Incumbent House Rep. Dan Silva, D-Albuquerque, sent out a mailer this week featuring a photo of challenger Eleanor Chavez with jail bars superimposed over her face. Emblazoned on the illustration are the words "Convicted … and she wants to represent you." Next to the image the mailer reads, "Eleanor Chavez was arrested in a cafeteria and eventually convicted of criminal trespassing."
Chavez responded quickly with her own mailer, accusing Silva of mailing out a "malicious and misleading negative mailer" because "he doesn’t want to talk about his record."
Chavez’s mailer clarified the arrest and took Silva to task: "What he didn’t say is that Eleanor was arrested for organizing workers to try to get better wages and better working conditions at Holy Cross Hospital in Taos in 2002."
Both Silva and Chavez’s campaign manager, Tomas Garduno, accused the other of going negative first.
"She sent out five negative mailers on me" implying that the oii and gas industry "owns me," Silva said. "So I’m kind of responding. I’ve never done it before, and in 22 years I’ve had a lot of opponents. It has never gotten to this point."
Garduno said "he’s lying to you. We haven’t sent out a single mailer that said his name. We have spoken only about Eleanor. Now that’s going to change."
The Silva-Chavez contest is among several legislative races across New Mexico that pits a more progressive challenger against an incumbent lawmaker.
