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.
Debate over a bill that would allow New Mexicans to renew their drivers licenses online caused a testy debate in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon after Sen. Rod Adair proposed an amendment that would bar those in the United States illegally from receiving drivers licenses. Adair spoke about the possibility that online renewal might allow illegal aliens and terrorists to get state ID, and that was enough for tensions to boil over on what was an otherwise unremarkable bill.
At one point, Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque stood up to say “This is blatant racism.”
Griego reminded the body that “The second largest terrorist attack in this country occurred in Oklahoma City and was by a white male,” referring to the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the attack and was executed in 2001.
From there, the debate over the amendment, which sponsor Phil Griego, D-San Jose, said was “not germane” to the bill.
Senator Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, said that Adair is “notorious” for bringing such amendments to bills “to get us on record on the blogs.”
The amendment ultimately failed on a 15-25 vote, with Sen. Harden siding with the Democrats. Harden said it was not because he disagreed with the amendment, but instead because he did not believe that it was on the right bill.
After the amendment was defeated, the final vote on the bill was a bit of an anticlimax; the bill passed easily, 39-2 with just Senators William Payne, R-Albuquerque, and Adair voting in the negative.
Update:
In the debate of the next bill, the Hispanic Education Act, Eric Griego apologized if anyone thought he was calling them racist. Griego said that he was speaking of how the amendment was characterized.
