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.
An new ad, called “Convicted,” by Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez is getting plaudits from national conservatives and boos from Democratic groups.
“Convicted” is a rebuttal to another ad, funded by teachers’ groups, in which special education teacher Freda Trujillo told the camera “teachers stand with Diane Denish because she’s on our side.”
In the new ad, Martinez suggests that Trujillo endorsed Denish because Martinez convicted Trujillo’s husband of kidnapping. “The ad looks different now, doesn’t it?,” Martinez says. “I don’t know what they’ll do next, but don’t be fooled.”
But Trujillo says Martinez did a good job convicting the man who is actually her ex. “My ex-husband was convicted of battery of his ex-girlfriend in the 3rd Judicial District. He is in prison, where he deserves to be,” Trujillo told the Albuquerque Journal.
“Ms. Trujillo’s ex husband and this painful chapter have nothing to do with education or Susana Martinez’s plans to cut public school funding,” Democratic Party of New Mexico chairman Javier Gonzales said in a statement released late Friday. “Martinez is trying to bully and embarrass Ms. Trujillo into not speaking up about her concerns and that is simply wrong.”
Jim Geraghty, a columnist for the conservative National Review, praised the ad on his blog as “perhaps the best ad of this cycle.” Although he was confused in describing the ad as put out by the Denish campaign instead of the teachers’ group, when he wrote, “With one unbelievable unforced error, the Denish campaign just nuked their own credibility.”
“Freda is on record saying Martinez did her job as a prosecutor and helped put a criminal in jail. That is a completely different issue than whether she will be a Governor who supports public education. Her well-publicized support for vouchers is the issue that is being smoke-screened by this chilling attack on a special education teacher and it raises the fear of an enemies list being created of anyone who dares to disagree with Martinez,” said Patrick Sanchez, Las Cruces teacher and NEA-Las Cruces President.
In July, Martinez stepped into her own controversy for people featured in one of her ads. A pro-death penalty ad by Martinez featured police officers included Bob Martinez, the former executive director of the State Adult Parole Board. The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell wrote at the time of the ad that Democrats knocked Martinez’s inclusion because he “was fired in 2004 as by current Gov. Bill Richardson for failing to notify victims of a parole hearing for sex-offender priest.”
It seems that campaigns and outside groups airing ads need to do a more-thorough background check on those they choose to feature in the ads.
