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.
Republican Susana Martinez leads Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish by 10 points in New Mexico’s governor’s race according to the latest Albuquerque Journal poll. Martinez’s increased lead appears to come from her ability to woo many previously undecided voters…
If one were to read a newly released survey of state-by-state spending on corrections, you’d get the mistaken impression that New Mexico is throwing more money at prisons these days.
The report, completed by the Vera Institute of Justice…
This time around Democrat Diane Denish claimed the eye-popping contributions and raised the most out-of-state money. But two six-figure contributions and nearly $600,000 in out-of-state money wasn’t enough to power Denish past Republican Susana Martinez in dollars raised during the waning days of the 2010 New Mexico governor’s race, campaign finance reports filed Thursday show.
Incumbent Democrat Mary Herrera raised $41,000 in the three weeks between Oct. 5 and Tuesday, confirming that GOP challenger Dianna Duran retains a fundraising edge as the Secretary of State’s race enters the last days of the 2010 election.…
Republican secretary of state candidate Dianna Duran reported raising $77,000 in contributions for the three-week period ending Tuesday, according to a campaign finance report filed Thursday.
The contributions came in the waning weeks of the 2010 election season as…
The private prison industry, including a couple of familiar names in New Mexico, had a hand in shaping Arizona’s controversial illegal immigration law, which stands to benefit them financially, NPR reports today.
As NPR reported, “the law could send…
Erin Armstrong, the young woman who lobbied state lawmakers tirelessly for New Mexico’s medical marijuana law (which bears her name), today told Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican that Susana Martinez’s desire to repeal the law represents an…
New Mexico’s tax system ranks 33rd in friendliness to business, according to an annual ranking of states.
But while New Mexico’s overall ranking slipped 10 spots from last year’s 23rd best, the state’s income tax system still is better…
National Health, Aetna, John Alden, and Principal all have told the state’s Division of Insurance that they will no longer write individual or small group plans in New Mexico, according to a Public Regulation Commission spokesman.
Some companies discontinuing…
After learning that four of the state’s major health insurers plan to limit the number of insurance policies they write for children with preexisting conditions, New Mexico decided to open its public high-risk insurance pool to kids. Lovelace, Presbyterian, United and Blue Cross and Blue Shield all notified the state that they intend to limit how often they will take applications for health coverage for children with preexisting conditions to once or twice a year in open enrollment periods.
The District Attorney’s office of Republican Susana Martinez bought supplies and equipment from a business owned by one of her employees at the same time the office also did business with that employee’s niece, Heath Haussamen at nmpolitics.net reported…
A prominent Republican on Friday accused Democrat Diane Denish of misquoting facts to score political points.
Hal Stratton‘s denunciation of Denish came a day after the Democratic nominee for governor accused her Republican opponent, Susana Martinez, of being too cozy with out-of-state businesses and corporations.
To make her point during Thursday night’s final gubernatorial debate, Denish used an e-mail the former state attorney general and Bush administration official had sent to encourage a potential contributor to attend a fundraiser for Martinez.
The fundraiser wasn’t hosted by payday lenders as Denish made it sound, Stratton said. Denish also misquoted the e-mail he sent, substituting the phrase “predatory lending” for “consumer lending,” he said.
“You don’t see predatory lending in there, do you?” he said.
Here’s an excerpt of the e-mail Stratton sent:
As you know we have a governor’s race on here in New Mexico. The Democrat, Diane Denish, is out to end consumer lending. The Republican, Susana Martinez, we are assured is not for ending or further limiting consumer lending. Fortunately, Susana is ahead and is going to win.”
“The facts speak for themselves,” Stratton told The Independent on Friday.
The Denish campaign on Friday, however, defended the Democratic lieutenant governor’s decision to trade out “consumer lending” for “predatory lending” because “the lobbyists who are there have represented the payday industry. They can call it what they want to call it. At the end of the day they are talking payday loans.”
Stratton’s use of the phrase “consumer lending” in the e-mail is a bit misleading. Stratton acknowledged to the Independent on Friday that the phrase “consumer lending” in the e-mail refers to “payday and installment loans.”
Consumer lending usually is a phrase employed as a catch-all for many types of loans that are not to businesses, including, say, a home equity loan. Neither Denish nor her campaign has talked of ending consumer lending. Rather, she has taken aim at lenders who engage in predatory lending that critics often associate with the payday and installment loan industries.
Stratton defended payday and installment loan lenders, saying those types of loans are not in and of themselves predatory by nature. How they are administered determines whether they fall into that category, he said.
“Predatory refers to how you make the loan, not which loan it is, not the nature of the loan, not whether it’s a small loan or a big loan,” Stratton said.
The rise of predatory lending as an issue in the gubernatorial race comes as consumer advocates say the 2007 law New Mexico passed to curtail predatory lending hasn’t lived up to its potential.
The 2007 law was supposed to limit payday lenders but critics such as Denish have accused payday lenders of exploiting loopholes to charge exorbitant fees. Attorney General Gary King sued two payday lenders in June 2009 for charging “extremely high rates, in some cases, more than 1,000 percent.”
One of King’s lawsuits says that a New Mexico man borrowed $100, which was due to be repaid with 26 bi-weekly installments of $40.16 each, plus a final installment of $55.34. In other words, the man had to pay $100 and $999 in interest, the AG’s office said.
When asked whether the interest rates involved in King’s cases qualified as predatory lending, Stratton said he didn’t know. Stratton responded similarly when asked if there were loans generally that met the threshold of predatory lending.
“I’m not qualified to respond to that,” he said.
Martinez has not made predatory lending a marquee issue in the gubernatorial campaign like Denish has, but in a statement last month she said that she supported “strong consumer protections” such as caps on interest rates.
“Further, we must ensure that terms for each and every loan are fully disclosed to the consumer and I support strengthening penalties for companies that take advantage of consumers,” Martinez was quoted as saying in that statement.
The Martinez campaign did not respond to questions from the Independent about Thursday’s gubernatorial debate or about Wednesday’s fundraiser.
The one-hour fundraiser at the Albuquerque Country Club scheduled for midday Wednesday attracted 75 to 80 people from all walks of life, Stratton said.
“I think we did pretty well,” he said. “We must have had 11 Democrat lobbyists there with their clients who were non financial,” Stratton told The Independent.
Thursday’s night final debate between Republican Susana Martinez and Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish felt like a review of the past three-and-a-half months, wrapped up in a tidy, one-hour debate. Except, that is, for the moment when Denish shocked Martinez, and the audience, by reading from an e-mailed invitation to a reception for Martinez—an e-mail that assured Martinez would not end or further limit what it called “consumer lending.”
The anchors on KOB-TV took the chance to chasten the two gubernatorial candidates Thursday night in the final face-to-face debate between Republican Susana Martinez and Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.
Anchors Tom Joles and Nicole Brady started the hour-long debate…
Republican front-runner Susana Martinez and Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish meet face-to-face for the final time for a debate on KOB-TV tonight at 7 p.m. Conventional wisdom says it’s Martinez’s race to lose. Will there be any last-minute blunders?
A federal appellate court ruled Wednesday afternoon that the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy should remain in force, at least temporarily, overturning a lower court judge’s injunction of the controversial policy, news services reported Wednesday afternoon.
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The New Mexico Department of Transportation has been directed to use up to $1.1 million to repair the Lobato Trestle along the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway, Gov. Bill Richardson announced.
Richardson’s office said a fire this summer…
The U.S. Justice Department is challenging a judge’s recent injunction of the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The paper reports the federal government is asking a federal appeals court to overturn Judge…
The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB) has sued Aldus Equity, the state’s former investment adviser, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
The agency filed two suits this week against Aldus and other defendants in the Santa Fe state…
So far, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has outspent its Democratic counterpart, pumping $1.25 million into the contest compared to $900,000 from the Democratic Governors Association(DGA), state and federal records show. That edge has helped propel front-runner Republican Susana Martinez toward what increasingly looks like victory on Nov. 2. Martinez has led Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in every independent poll for months and the gap appears to be widening.
