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 environmental group Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) came out with their annual legislative scorecard today. You can read the full report on their website (pdf).
The scorecard uses particular votes on issues “that illustrate the key debates and fierce disagreement over conservation policy in the state” to score the lawmakers.
The report uses a Dickensian device, saying, “It was the best of times…” with “23 great pro-conservation bills” approved and “the worst of times…” with some “shocking” results in the House which CVNM writes, “defeated almost every effort of special interests and the Senate to jeopardize the health and safety of New Mexicans and the quality of our environment.”
There were 16 legislators who received perfect scores from CVNM, ten in the House and six in the Senate. All were Democrats.
Clinton Harden, Jr of Clovis led the way for Republicans in the Senate with a 27 percent rating in 2009. Jeannette Wallace of Los Alamos led the Republicans in the House with a 63 percent rating.
Gov. Bill Richardson was lauded by the group, with the report saying Richardson “continued to build his strong conservation legacy.” He does, however, get dinged for his support of the controversial SunCal TIDD. CVNM says that signing the legislation, which failed in the House, would have “threaten[ed] to undermine his legacy on this issue.”
The scorecard says that 2009 “marked a new low for conservation” in the New Mexico Senate. CVNM cited the fact that an “unprecedented number of the most extreme anti-conservation bills passed the Senate – many without proper notice, public testimony, a fiscal analysis or even a hearing by the appropriate committee.”
All in all, the report seems to say — ‘You win some, you lose some.’
