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.
Senate Rules Committee chair Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, will oppose Harrison Schmitt‘s nomination to head the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department because Schmitt refused to go through a background check. Lopez says when she met with Schmitt three days ago he told her he would not allow the check that all cabinet nominees and high-level appointed officials go through.
Lopez will hold a Senate Rules Committee hearing on Schmitt’s refusal to undergo a background check on Monday.
“This will not be a hearing of Mr. Schmitt’s qualifications for service, nor to receive public input related to his appointment,” Lopez said in a statement.
Lopez said that she “sympathize[d] with Mr. Schmitt’s and all conferees’ discomfort when it comes to the background check process.”
“However, the New Mexico State Senate is constitutionally charged with confirming top state government officials because of the tremendous influence and authority and power provided to those individuals in their official government capacity,” Lopez said in her statement. “The forty or so individuals we confirm to these top positions are responsible for expenditures in the billions of dollars, investing the state’s multi-billion dollar pension funds, and promulgating regulations that impact citizens across the entire state of New Mexico.”
Lopez said that the background checks had been in place since 2007 and the check includes “a search for any prior criminal convictions and of the Federal Civil Court Records; verification of appointees’ assertions related to financial circumstances or improprieties such as bankruptcies, tax liens, and outstanding loans; and a review of disclosure statements related to potential conflicts of interest and ownership in business entities.”
Schmitt previously made headlines with his claim that all environmentalists are communists while on a radio show hosted by conspiracy-theorist Alex Jones. Schmitt has also said he does not believe that humans are causing global warming.
