Editorials

By David K. Thomson, Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court

Assessing how state court judges perform on the job is difficult, particularly for New Mexico voters in today's divisive political environment. But information from the state's Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) can assist New Mexicans in deciding whether to vote "yes" or "no" to retain judges and justices on the general election ballot.

JPEC was established to specifically help voters carry out their role in ensuring competent, professional judges in New Mexico. The commission's evaluations also provide feedback to judges for improving their performance. The end result is a judicial system that better serves New Mexicans.

By Mike Bibb and photo by Mike Bibb

Former President Donald Trump has at least one recognizable political difference between himself and Vice President Kamala Harris — a restaurant in Mexico insists "food so good, Trump wants to build a wall around us."

Haven't seen, heard or read of other eating establishments in Mexico, the United States, or anywhere else making similar claims.

Somehow, without mentioning Trump's Wall the boast wouldn't work.

By Emily Gossett, FFA Western Region Vice President 2023-2024

Reflecting on my tenure as a National FFA Officer, I realize many pivotal moments are bookended with two simple words: "hello" and "goodbye." As we come and go, we use these words without thinking twice, yet they hold more significance than I once thought.

In FFA, service and connection are pillars of our mission, and each "hello" invites new opportunities, relationships, special moments and exciting potential to help, serve and grow. My experience as a National FFA Officer started with a simple "hello" from my fellow officers, one that in that moment signified inclusion, budding friendships and the start of our unique journey together. As we traveled the country, our "hellos" opened the doors to meaningful conversations with students from different backgrounds from my own, yet all connected by the throughline of agriculture. We made connections that transcended barriers and allowed us to learn from each other through thought-provoking conversations about everything from agricultural technology to aviation to animal sciences.

Unearthing a Buried History: The Untold Story of the Free Apache (Nde)

By Ruben Leyva

What are the implications for Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. whose history has been omitted from our textbooks? Does their lack of representation among Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) tribes lead to political marginalization? Are they at an economic disadvantage, unable to access land and compete for funding due to their lack of official recognition? My research aims to address these inquiries. As a member of a non-federally recognized tribe, our narrative, like many others, is often misunderstood from a historical and cultural perspective.

By Paul J. Gessing

"It's not what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just isn't so." - attributed to Mark Twain

The rich don't pay their fair share of taxes. This has been said or written by politicians from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, Sen. Martin Heinrich, to Rep. Melanie Stansbury and many others. "Soak the rich" forms the basis of "progressive" economic thinking in the United States.

What constitutes "fair" in the world of taxation is an open question, but many of these politicians make the unfounded claim that the rich pay taxes at a lower rate than do low- and moderate-income taxpayers.

That is simply not the case. For starters, I'd encourage anyone who DOES believe the rich pay lower taxes than the poor to check out the latest "tax burden" distribution chart from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

By Denise Torres and Lee Hunt

American political scientist Larry J. Sabato said, "Every election is determined by the people who show up."

Showing up – and voting – are particularly important for judicial retention races. Under state law, once a New Mexico Supreme Court Justice, Court of Appeals Judge, District Judge or Metropolitan Court Judge has won a partisan election, they go into our judicial retention system. When their term expires, a judge stands for retention. They do not face another candidate, but instead are either retained or not retained by voters. Each judge must receive 57 percent voter approval to remain on the bench.

The concept behind this system is that judges will improve their performance on the bench as they gain experience, and that voters should be able to assess their performance in deciding whether to retain them.

The real reason Senator Siah Correa Hemphill announced she is resigning her seat (which she has NOT yet resigned months later) is because she was found out about her illegal use of tens of thousands of dollars of campaign funds for personal use in extreme violation of the state Campaign Reporting Act forbidding it.

The chronology:

On April 22nd Senator Siah Correa Hemphill apparently used personal funds to quietly reimburse her campaign for $11,000 of improper expenses she had made. (See the attached snapshot of her campaign expenditures report.) And that is just the tip of the iceberg of her wrongful spending.

Two weeks later on May 2nd, she suddenly announced she was withdrawing her candidacy to be on the 2024 ballot "to explore new career opportunities" instead. The truth is that she knew she would be in deep legal trouble if she tried to remain a senator when the reimbursement became public, which it did on May 13th. But nobody cared by then since she had quit.

Always Just Blaming Others Gets Nothing Done and Leaves New Mexicans Hurting

Nella Domenici, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate

An influential Senator has meaningful, professional relationships with members who belong to the other party in the Senate. An effective Senator also has good working relationships with members in the House of Representatives. These relationships enable a really good Senator to get things done, cut deals, call in favors, persuade, horse trade—all skills needed to take care of you—the constituents. Martin Heinrich can do none of these things, but he habitually blames others for his own ineffectiveness and failures.

This week he was blaming the expiration of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) on the Speaker of the House. A couple of weeks ago, he was blaming Republicans for other bills' failure to pass and a few months ago he was blaming others—never taking responsibility himself.