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.
Barack Obama now has a 4-1 lead over John McCain in the presidential endorsements by New Mexico newspapers, as the Taos News came out in favor of the Democratic candidate.
Its endorsement said:
The next president isn’t going to be able to fix everything at once. He may not be able to fix it all. We’d be naïve to think anyone could; the Bush legacy is that bad. But we have a better shot of turning this country around with Obama than John McCain who, despite his heroic background, is just more of the same from the Republicans.
Then, there is the matter of McCain’s vice-presidential pick. We shudder to think whom else he would choose to run the country.
The News also endorsed Tom Udall in the U.S. Senate race, Independent candidate Carol Miller in the 3rd Congressional District race and Green Richard J. Lass for Public Regulation Commissioner in the 3rd District.
In favoring Udall, the News says it likes his voting record in opposing three things: the Iraq war, erosions to constitutional liberties and the Wall Street bailout, adding:
His opponent, Steve Pearce, just can’t seem to get past the party line such as his drill-baby-drill solution for the energy crisis. We want an independent-minded senator who sticks to his convictions.
In its comments on the congressional seat, the News notes that Miller, a long-time Taos County resident, has “far more” experience at the federal level than her opponents, Democrat Ben Ray Lujan and Republican Dan East, adding:
She has twice been a presidential appointee, including serving on the White House Health Care Task Force led by Hillary Clinton. She founded the National Center for Frontier Communities to bring better services to those living in isolated areas.
In the PRC race, the News says the Republicans “must be kicking themselves for not having a candidate, because it will be hard for even Democrat hard-liners to back Jerome Block Jr.,” noting:
This week the secretary of state fined him $11,000 for lying and misusing public campaign funds. He has to return another $10,000.
Richard J. Lass, who is running as an Independent, is clearly the sounder choice. Moreover, Lass is an experienced community organizer. The PRC is responsible for utility rates, insurance, corporations and a slew of other things, and the state’s consumers need a commissioner without reproach to represent its interests.
In addition to the Taos News, New Mexico papers that have endorsed Obama include the Santa Fe New Mexican, Las Cruces Sun-News and, in what surprised many of its readers, the Farmington Daily Times, with the Roswell Daily Record recommending McCain.
