Lovejoy was the first woman to make it through a Navajo presidential primary, going up against President Joe Shirley in the last presidential general election. In the general election this year, she’ll face off against current Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly, who came in second in the primary. With 106 out of 110 precincts reporting,  Lovejoy had garnered 16,449 votes, while Shelley took 7,504. Both are from New Mexico.

The Navajo Nation is the largest American Indian tribe in the United States, with approximately 300,000 people and 26,000 square miles straddling Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

At the Window Rock Sports Center as the election results came in,  Lovejoy said that election officials “should just declare her president and save the people some money, Navajo Times reporter Marley Shebala reported.

And you likely won’t ever know.

Information about who can legally carry a concealed weapon in the state, including names, is confidential under state law (29-19-6, Subsection B).

It’s a fact that surprised Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, this week. A gun-rights advocate, Munoz pushed for a state law passed during this year ‘s legislative session that allows individuals with concealed-carry permits to take weapons into restaurants with beer-and-wine licenses.

“I would support opening up names,” Munoz told The Independent on Monday. “I wouldn’t support towns or addresses. I mean there may be 10 George Munoz’s in the state of New Mexico. It’d be then up to you to find them. But I don’t see anything wrong with giving out names.”

Reza went on a killing spree July 12 at Albuquerque’s Emcore Corporation that left two women dead and four others injured before he turned a semi-automatic 45-caliber handgun on himself.

Whether or not Reza had a concealed-carry license has not come up as an issue in the aftermath of last week’s shooting. It’s still unclear how Reza came to possess the gun. It’s also unclear whether Reza had applied for or received a concealed-carry license.

New Mexico is an open-carry state, meaning it doesn’t require a permit for a person purchasing a gun he intends to carry in the open.

The day after the rampage The Independent was told by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s Special Investigations Division, which maintains the list of concealed-carry licenses issued by the state, that all information, including the names of individuals permitted to carry concealed weapons, is confidential.

While the public can’t know the names of people carrying concealed weapons,  it can know how many people have received the right to carry concealed weapons. There are 17,298 valid licenses in New Mexico currently. Of that number, 2,552 of them were issued this year, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s Special Investigations Division.

Nevada, Colorado, California release concealed carry info; other states keep it private

While New Mexico’s decision to make information on concealed-carry applications confidential appears in line with many surrounding states, it is by no means universal.

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that names of people who have concealed-carry permits are public, saying that the Washoe County (Reno) sheriff couldn’t withhold the name of a permittee or “and any post-permit records of investigation, suspension, or revocation.” In the ruling Nevada’s top court said that some information contained in the records made public by its ruling could be redacted.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, there is no prohibition against making public certain information related to concealed-carry permits.

“Some sheriffs have decided to put the information out and others have not,” said Chet Ubowski of Colorado Bureau of Investigation. “The application says there is potential for the application to become public.”

And in California it appears the disclosure of such information is up to local law enforcement agencies that issue the permits. The application form used by the Sacramento  County Sheriff’s Office has this line, which must be signed by the applicant:

I understand that I am obligated to be complete and truthful in providing information on this application. I understand that all of the information disclosed by me in this application may be subject to public disclosure.

Most surrounding states, like Arizona and Texas, however, treat the identity and personal information submitted on an concealed-carry permit or license application as confidential, a review by The Independent has found. In many cases an exemption is made for law enforcement agencies conducting investigations.

Meanwhile Indiana, which once considered such information public, made it confidential this year with a law that took effect July 1, said Lt. Jerry Berkey of the Indiana State Police.

The move followed the publication last year of the state’s database of gun permit holders by two of that state’s newspapers.

Should New Mexico release names?

Some wonder if New Mexico has gone too far in making even names of those holding concealed-carry licenses confidential.

“Obviously it’s a very emotional issue and it’s caused a lot of intense debate,” Sarah Welsh of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government said. “Typically holders of permits don’t want their names published. There are concerns about stalking victims who worry about their abusers finding out where they live if their names are published with counties.”

But “someone needs to be able to check up on the list,” she said of the state’s decision to make all information related to concealed-carry permits confidential.

At least two Western states – California and Nevada – the Supreme Courts in each state have ruled that the privacy issue is not compelling enough reason to withhold the names, Welsh said.

New Mexico and the process for receiving a concealed-carry license

People applying for a New Mexico concealed-carry license must jump through several hoops, including a background check, before they earn the right, according to state law.

An application requires an applicant to list his or her current address, date of birth, place of birth, social security number, height, weight, gender, hair color, eye color and driver’s license number or other state-issued identification number, according to state law.

The applicant also must submit two full sets of fingerprints, a certified copy of a certificate of completion for a department-approved firearms training course, a birth certificate or proof of United States citizenship and proof that they reside in New Mexico.

The state then must make a “reasonable effort to determine if an applicant is qualified to receive a concealed handgun license,” including an appropriate check of available records, the law says. New Mexico also must “forward the applicant’s fingerprints to the federal bureau of investigation for a national criminal background check,” according to the statute.

South Carolina, Utah and Oklahoma are viewed as the most likely to pass similar legislation when their legislatures convene in 2011, according to the paper.

The Post reports that:

Lawmakers in Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah, which have already taken steps against illegal immigration, say that Arizona-style measures have a realistic chance of passing when their legislatures reconvene in 2011.

Those states already have passed strict measures to combat illegal immigration, and an Arizona-style law would have momentum. If that happens, we could have more showdowns between the federal government and states, along with more pressure for Congress to address the issue.

The study showed that New Mexico saw only 14 cents in returns for every dollar it spent on film production tax credits.

According to a state review of SIC data, there were 52 film tax credits worth $46 million in 2008 and 78 credits worth $76 million in 2009, The Independent reported in March.

The value of the state’s film tax credit program, particularly in terms of its economic benefits, is a hotly debated topic in New Mexico and has been for years.

A competing report issued in January 2009 by the New Mexico Film Office found a much more positive economic impact than the report cited by Hiltzik. Conducted by Ernst & Young, the study concluded that the program had earned $0.94 in additional tax revenue for each $1.00 paid out in incentives based on the 2007 value of present and future year tax receipts and the 2007 value of state film production tax credits.

But Hiltzik counts himself among the skeptical when talk turns to reports such as the one performed by Ernst & Young.

“The rationale for this welfare program is to keep productions from fleeing to other states, taking … jobs with them,” Hiltzik reported. “But you could go blind looking for an independent study, as opposed to studies funded by the state film commissions handing out the dough, showing that such programs produce more in overall benefits than they cost.”

SIC members have raised separate concerns about the value of New Mexico’s no-interest loans for film productions, The Independent reported in March. New Mexico has given Hollywood $273 million in no-interest loans for 26 films since 2003, including $15 million for the Denzel Washington film Book of Eli, The Independent reported.

New Mexico legislators have called for Gov. Bill Richardson to curtail state subsidies for Hollywood productions.

It was reported in March that the Motion Picture Association of America was considering Richardson as the organization’s new director, a position with a salary exceeding $1 million a year.

Although there are several high-profile women candidates running for office this year, “the incoming GOP class in Congress will be virtually bereft of women; only 7 of 105 candidates at various stages of the NRCC’s Young Guns program are women. That’s a lower percentage of women than they already represent in the GOP Conference,” according to the National Journal.

Many of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s writings from her tenure during President Bill Clinton’s terms in office have been gathered by his presidential library. You can see them here. Politico tackles what the documents say about Kagan (essentially: she is a political animal, if a careful one).

And “Sen. Tom Coburn Vows No Creampuff questions for Elena Kagan,” reports Politics Daily.

“The End of Men,” is a fascinating piece in the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Preview: “Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences.”

And “It’s Not The End of Men,” a rebuttal to that piece by Ann Friedman in The American Prospect: “It’s disappointing that, despite a history of sharp observations about gender and 5,000 words to work with, Rosin makes the same oversight as all of the other hand-wringing articles about the state of the American male. She thinks the problem is men; really, it’s traditional gender stereotypes.”

Swastika branded into arm of young Navajo against his will. Photo from a KRQE Channel 13 newscast.

In April, three Farmington men used a heated coat hanger to brand a swastika into the arm of a mentally challenged Navajo man. The community was shocked, but the branding was part of a recent spate of violence against Navajos that began in 2006, just a few years after the New Mexico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights returned to the city to assess how things have changed since another violent incident 30 years ago.

Farmington has struggled with racial violence

In the mid-1970s, an economic boycott and weekly protests by Navajos brought attention to the city after three young Anglos were sent to reform school rather than jail after torturing and killing three Navajo men.

In 1975, the Commission on Civil Rights produced The Farmington Report: A Conflict of Cultures, which described a city ill-equipped to handle a “crisis in race in relations” and detailed the discrimination faced by Navajos. In its 2005 follow-up, The Farmington Report: Civil Rights for Native Americans 30 Years Later, the commission noted continued discrimination in the city but also said significant progress had been made.

But then, in 2006, two brutal incidents in Farmington led the Navajo Nation to create an official human rights commission. First, a young Navajo, Clint John was killed, shot four times by a police officer in Farmington. The police officer was cleared of wrongdoing in the case, but many thought the officer had used excessive force. A few days later, three white youths beat and robbed a middle-aged Navajo man. They were convicted under New Mexico’s 2003 hate crimes law after admitting they intentionally targeted a Navajo.

Now, there is the branding of the 22 year old man—who has the mental capacity of a 12-year old—with a swastika; the three perpetrators also shaved a swastika into his hair and wrote racial epithets on his body. The victim said he felt treated like an animal. Authorities haven’t released all of the evidence found at the crime scene, but they told The Navajo Times that they found memorabilia and items associated with white supremacists.

Authorities have indicated they will charge the three perpetrators under New Mexico’s hate crimes statute, which allows for stronger sentencing when a jury finds that a criminal act was motivated by bias. In this case, while two of the perpetrators are white, defense attorneys have pointed out that the third is American Indian—part Navajo and part Sioux. One of the white perpetrators told authorities that the victim wanted to be branded with the swastika because it’s a tribal symbol, which the victim disputes.

Duane “Chili” Yazzie, Chairman of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, believes the act is a hate crime regardless of the ethnicity of one of the perpetrators.

“Whether or not he’s a young native person is beside the point,” Yazzie said in an interview with The Independent. “He participated and therefore he’s a perpetrator of a hate crime.”

Yazzie swiftly dismissed the idea that the victim would want to be branded with a swastika.

“The idea that it isn’t a Nazi symbol, but more of a Navajo symbol, is an excuse to minimize that it’s a Nazi symbol,” Yazzie continued.  “It doesn’t explain away what they did. They had no thought that it was a Navajo symbol when they branded the young man.”

Ongoing violence against Navajos has multiple sources

Farmington is one of a series of “border towns” that bridge the intersection of the Navajo Nation with non-native communities. Located in San Juan County, in northwestern New Mexico, the town is home to about 43,000 people, roughly 70 percent of them white, according to Census figures. Almost 17 percent are American Indian, higher than the statewide average of 10 percent.

The town is an economic hub that is heavily reliant on both the oil and gas industry and members of the surrounding Navajo community who come into town to shop and do business. An expansion of the oil and gas industry over a period of recent decades has led to an influx of people, Yazzie said.

“These relative newcomers seem to be one source of insensitivity that’s been targeting our people,” he said.

According to Yazzie, mass protests and a boycott by Navajos after the 1970s incident led community leaders to take notice and improve the environment for Navajos in Farmington.

“Our action back then had a strong impact,” he said. “The education of the community was substantial and it led to the people refraining from that kind of activity for many years. We’d hear of people being cheated over counters and disrespected, but not this violent type of activity until 2006.”

But according to Navajo educator Dr. Larry Emerson, who lives near  Shiprock, a Navajo town not far from Farmington, the violence Farmington has deeper roots.

“Certain Farmington white youth seem to carry on a violent tradition of venting their unresolved rage, loss, and anger on disadvantaged Diné,”  Emerson wrote in an e-mail to The Independent.

Both Yazzie and Emerson made a point of acknowledging that many of white  society in Farmington strives for change in the racial pattern of the  area that has led to violence against Navajos.

“There are white folks in Farmington who appreciate and value cultural and racial diversity and tolerance, too,” Emerson said. “They bother to understand Diné history, culture, identity and politics. Many whites work for such values, but I don’t know if they are in the majority. I  suspect not.”

Yazzie said the solution is ongoing education, which is why the commission is actively working to develop partnerships with surrounding border towns and major cities in New Mexico and Arizona, with the goal of expanding coordination and cooperation in educating young people and newcomers.

But in addition to public programs, Yazzie said, in order to rid society of hate crimes families have to do internal education as well.

“I think the city of Farmington and the business community is doing all it can to prevent this kind of incident—there’s a focus on education for the public,” he said. “They need to continue doing what they are doing. But also, every person who has an understanding of these issues should set an example, both in public and when with their families.”

Turner gave his opinion in response to The Independent Forum question of the week about who were the Primary 2010 winners and losers:

The losers are New Mexicans who we now expect will be ruled by the Thug Club if Martinez wins.  Losers are reasonable conservative Republicans rather than being ruled by patronistic redneck Repubs and Dems.  Loser is the two party system.  Losers are Republicans who thought they were voting in an open election rather than a system rigged by the Republican GROUP. … Also you gotta read the expose on the inside workings of the Republican Party and their puppetmasters known as the GROUP.  I can’t name names.  You just have to read it.  They are New Mexico’s Tamany Hall and they are real.  Most Republicans it would appear were DUPED BY THE GROUP.  …

It’s possible that Turner’s opinion is influenced somewhat by the fact that his son didn’t win the primary. At the same time, his missive shows an explicit analysis about the distinctions between the candidates, as well as the party leadership who he refers to as “New Mexico’s Tamany Hall.” This last point is bolstered by the fact that the head of the state Republican Party weighed in toward the end of the campaign with denouncements of campaign ads of one of the losing candidates.

The company did not disclose financial records to the PRC Insurance Division supporting figures in its rate hike application, The Independent reported.

The AG’s office demanded such records during rate hike settlement talks.

But they “are not public records,” according to AG spokesman Phillip Sisneros. And that prevents him from confirming whether or not all of the records the AG demanded of the company were actually disclosed before a 21.3 percent rate hike settlement was signed, Sisneros said.

“(U)nfortunately, I can not confirm which ones were received,” Sisneros told The Independent.

The company should have submitted supporting financial documents to the Insurance Division, according to Allan Schwartz, an independent health insurance rates expert hired by the AG to review Blue Cross Blue Shield NM records.

The Division does not require insurers to provide any proof of claimed losses and other figures in rate filings, company officials responded.

But the AG specifically requested financial records, testimony filed in the case docket file shows.

“BCBSNM produced to the Attorney General all of the documents he asked for in his discovery,” Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman Becky Kenny told The Independent via email.

But Schwartz testified March 2 and April 9 that the insurer had not disclosed requested financial documents, and The Independent’s review of the PRC case docket revealed no certificates of service for Blue Cross Blue Shield disclosures after April 9.

“Blue Cross legally would have been required to serve discovery (documents) on all parties in the settlement,” PRC Commissioner Jason Marks told The Independent. “From what I can gather, the decision to settle was not based on additional data coming in. Nobody told me they changed their minds after they saw additional data.”

Kenny has not responded to requests for clarification. Asked to confirm Kenny’s claim, Sisneros initially told The Independent only, “Yes, we did receive docs in discovery.”

But Sisneros refused to state whether or not all requested documents were received, or to specify which documents were received.

The Insurance Division has approved Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico rate hikes every year since 2004, without requiring supporting documentation of the expense and loss figures, The Independent reported last month.

New Mexico’s state land commissioner oversees a vast amount of public land—about 13 million acres—with a constitutional mandate to manage the land in a way to benefit public education in the state.  In creating the office, the state constitution gives almost sole authority over state trust land to the land commissioner, although the methods which the office can use to develop state land to bring in revenue are limited by the constitution.

Historically, the land has been leased for grazing or oil and gas production. In recent decades, the office has entered into controversial leases for planning and development work on land it owns in urban areas. In addition to leasing the land to raise revenue, state trust lands are valued by sportsmen and environmentalists alike for their contribution to recreation and conservation efforts.

Now, the office is up for grabs, due to term limits that prevent current commissioner, Pat Lyons, from running again. There are five hopefuls up for election in the June 1 primary, three Democrats and Two Republicans.

The Democratic slate includes former land commissioner Ray Powell, who held the office from 1993 to 2002; Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya; and Sandy Jones, who currently holds a seat on the Public Regulation Commission.

The two Republicans vying for the seat are Bob Cornelius, a long-time Republican party activist, and Matt Rush, a farmer and rancher from Roosevelt County.

Among the video clips are discussions of the at times controversial land swaps engaged in by the land office with private parties; wolf reintroductions on public lands; and the role of public participation in the decisions made by the land office about how land should be used.

The candidates also addressed environmental regulations called by some the “pit rules,” which govern the lining of oil and gas pits in order to protect groundwater. The land commissioner sits on the Oil Conservation Commission, which may be asked to review the rules due to complaints by the oil and gas industry.

Registered New Mexico will be able to vote in the primary elections of their respective parties next Tuesday, June 1, which will determine in part which of these candidates will face off in the general election next fall.

In the release mentioning the new policy, Berry made multiple references to saying this would not be racial profiling. After enacting a new, controversial immigration law, Arizona is facing financial consequences because of what critics say is racial profiling.

Alfredo Campos, the acting field office director for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention and Removal Operations in El Paso, said in a statement, “This is not a good day for criminal aliens who before today may have not been identified by ICE at the Metropolitan Detention Center.”

“As far as these new procedures are concerned, a person going about their day to day business has no reason to fear that they will be questioned about their legal status,” Berry said. “Further, victims and witnesses will not have their immigration status checked when they call for help or to report a crime.”

Immigration was a part of Berry’s platform as a mayoral candidate last year.

At the time, Reverend Daniel Erdman, outreach coordinator of the New Mexico Conference of Churches, told The Independent that he didn’t think the “sanctuary status” label for Albuquerque was accurate.

“I’m not even sure what that means, but Albuquerque isn’t that. People are deported from here every day,” Erdman told The Independent last September.