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.
State lawmakers should have judged Neri Holguin on her professional qualifications, not her past political work, Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday, after the Senate rejected his nominee to the state Environmental Improvement Board by a vote of 17 to 25. “I think there were some personal issues. She is a very dedicated environmentalist,” Richardson said during a midday news conference in his fourth-floor Capitol office.
“My opinion is that they should have judged her on her professional qualifications,” the Governor said.
Holguin’s nomination got caught in the crosshairs of an internal fight over control of the Democratic Party and controversy over state environmental regulations.
Holguin managed the 2008 political campaigns of Sens. Tim Keller and Eric Griego. The duo knocked off then-Democratic Sens. Shannon Robinson and James Taylor a the June primary election that was considered a victory for progressive voters. In November of that year Tim Eichenberg defeated Republican Diane H. Snyder.
The political upheaval split Democratic lawmakers into rival fractions. And incumbent lawmakers from both political parties charged that several nonprofits had improperly influenced the legislative elections.
The losing lawmakers sued the nonprofits, a complaint later dismissed by state courts. Meanwhile, the state filed a lawsuit to force the nonprofits to disclose the origin of the money that had paid for what they said were educational mailers critical of the state lawmakers who later lost. A federal judge shot down the state’s lawsuit last year, and the state has appealed.
Holguin in an e-mail expressed surprise and disappointment at Tuesday’s vote.
“Since July, I’ve served on the Environmental Improvement Board in a thoughtful and principled manner,” she said in the e-mail. “I have a long track record of working on conservation in New Mexico. I will continue to advocate for the responsible stewardship of our natural resources and the public health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans.”
A tally sheet of the Senate vote shows that 10 Democrats joined 15 Republicans to reject Holguin’s nomination.
They were Linda Lopez, David Ulibarri, John Arthur Smith, John Sapien, Bernadette Sanchez, John Pinto, Mary Kay Papen, George Munoz, Howie Morales and Richard Martinez.
Bernadette Sanchez, in particular, spoke out in opposition to Holguin’s nomination on the Senate floor.
Sanchez’s constituents in 2008 received educational mailers sent out by the nonprofits before that year’s primary election. Sanchez did not face an opponent.
All 15 Republicans voted against Holguin’s nomination too.
It’s hard to discern what led to that, but also in play in Holguin’s nomination is an ongoing battle over state environmental regulations.
An organization has requested that the Environmental Improvement Board roll back New Mexico’s emissions to 25 percent below their 1990 levels by 2020 — far below anything being considered at the federal level and something critics say would devastate the state’s economy.
