Susana Martinez: First Controversy Resolved
by John Weckerle
Newly sworn-in New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez is widely described as the State’s first female Governor and the nation’s first Hispanic female governor. But is she either?
A review of literature raises a potentially different perspective: the role of New Mexico Governor was held by Soledad Chávez Chacón for two weeks in 1924. Ms. Chávez Chacón, New Mexico’s Secretary of State, served as Governor for two weeks while then-Governor James Hinkle attended the Democratic Convention.
For our party, we’re calling this one for Governor Martinez. While Ms. Chávez Chacón occupied the office of the Governor and technically acted as such in the absence of Mr. Hinkle, she was there in an acting capacity, and the elected Governor returned and resumed his duties. One might as well say that Alexander Haig was President of the United States because he was briefly in that role when an attempt was made on the life of President Ronald Reagan (while Mr. Haig was subjected to a great deal of ridicule at the time, his statements to that effect were more or less correct given that the two people between him and the Presidency had not resigned their positions as required to become Acting President).
That having been said, we congratulate Ms. Martinez on gaining the distinction of being New Mexico’s first female Governor and the first Hispanic female governor in the history of the United States.
Tea Party, Or Not Tea Party: That Is The Question
by John Weckerle
The East Mountain Tea Party has a web site and an anonymous internet spokesperson – a shadowy figure known as “teapartynm.” It holds rallies and meetings, and stages protests. It writes letters to elected officials, and conducts candidate forums. It lobbies. It has ties to a local religious organization that repudiates Islam (see our previous article, East Mountain Tea Party Officials and Islam) and believes that the United States should declare war on Russia and China. But does the East Mountain Tea Party actually exist?
Our research tends to suggest that it does not, at least in any official sense. We took some time to search the State of New Mexico corporations database, the database of nonprofit organizations at Guidestar.org, and the IRS database of tax-exempt organizations for the East Mountain Tea Party – and found no reference to the group. We find this puzzling, as the organization seems to fit nicely into the “527” category and actively solicits donations on its web site. This raises some questions as to whether the receipt of the donations is being accomplished in compliance with State and Federal tax laws. This an issue that has haunted several organizations in our area, including the Edgewood and Moriarty Chambers of Commerce, and those providing donations to the East Mountain Tea Party should consider this along with other factors in making decisions regarding donations.
Press Release: Capulin Snow Play Area New Winter Hours
Editor’s note: We’ve received the following press release from Karen Takai at the USFWS Sandia Ranger District.
SANDIA RANGER DISTRICT
CAPULIN SNOW PLAY AREA NEW WINTER HOURS
Tijeras, NM, January 3, 2011
Starting January 3, 2011
Capulin Snow Play Area will be open for Friday, Saturday and Sundays Only
Hours of operation 9:30am to 3:30pm
Use of the area when closed will result in a fine ( see below)
Inclement weather or lack of snow may result in temporary closure
Please note: Sliding, sledding and tubing are PROHIBITED at Tree Springs, 10K and “Pit” areas
The Capulin Snow Play area is located approximately 8 miles up the Sandia Crest National Scenic Byway (Highway 536). A new Order # prohibits the use of the area when it is closed. Any violation of this prohibition is a punishable as a misdemeanor by a fine of not more than $5,000.00 for individuals and $10,000 for organizations or by imprisonment for not more than 6 months or both.
Hazardous Conditions At Edgewood Post Office
by John Weckerle 
Today’s photos were taken yesterday at the Edgewood post office, four days after the storm that hit last week. At the time the photos were taken, the sidewalk along the north side of the building had not been cleared of snow, and part of the parking lot remained a sheet of ice. We understand that the past weekend was a holiday weekend, that the Edgewood Post Office has been without a postmaster since July, and that the Post Office is looking to save money where it can. However, this has been a problem at the Edgewood Post Office for years, and it’s about time for it to be resolved. The USPS has an obligation to protect its patrons from harm while they are on its property, and the conditions just feet from the door are hazardous. A word to the wise, USPS: sooner or later somebody is going to take a fall, and even a minor injury may cost you more than a whole season’s snow removal services.
An Unusual Occurrence…
by John Weckerle
As we drove east along 1-40 returning from Albuquerque at about 8:40 this morning, we were treated to an unusual sight: a balloon drifting along north of the highway. We first noticed it from the Tijeras area, and checked periodically as we proceeded. We found ourselves getting closer and closer, and sure enough – the balloon arrived at New Mexico Central headquarters exactly as we did, flying along the ridge just a couple of hundred yards away and continuing east to points unknown. Balloon overflights are a rare occurrence in our neck of the woods, so we figured we might as well share the spectacle with our readers.
Pull It Together, Bernco.
by John Weckerle
Last Thursday brought us some snow and the current sub-Arctic temperatures we’re experiencing. Today brought us a sight that was not, unfortunately, entirely a surprise – formerly packed snow that had turned to ice sheeting substantial parts of Mountain Valley Road, especially in the northbound lane, three days after the storm. There was no evidence that the road had ever been sanded. Mountain Valley Road is the only direct route from Route 66/NM 333 between Tijeras and Edgewood, and leaving it icy, holiday weekend or not, represents a danger to those who travel it. Some of the other roads for which the County is responsible were in similarly bad condition. We’d like to remind Bernalillo County’s road folks that the County’s eastern Boundary is not NM 14 or NM 337. Neither is waiting for nature to take its course a valid road maintenance strategy.
Happy New Year
by John Weckerle
We wish all our readers a happy, healthy, prosperous, and joy-filled year, all 365 days of it. Happy New Year!
In Memoriam
by John Weckerle
Tonight, I and the folks here mourn the passing of our family member and long-time friend, Steve Wansky, who died today in Columbus, Ohio. Steve was 64.
Steve was a kind and giving man who served in the military before moving on to become a teacher and football coach, a career that held him until his retirement. We’ll miss his warmth, his good nature, his sense of humor, and his ever-present friendliness. Our hearts go out to our sister-in-law Rena, who has been with him for many years and has had a good man taken from her suddenly and before his time.
Steve served his country and its young people for many years. We miss him already, and the world has lost a good, good man.
East Mountain Tea Party Officials and Islam
Editor’s note: We consider it important to state at the outset of this article that it is in no way our intent to denigrate or disrespect anyone’s religious beliefs, in this article or elsewhere; in fact, it was the issue of religious intolerance that sent us down the path that led us to this piece. We’ve provided links to full articles where appropriate to provide our readers with the full context of the quotes; we have saved the key references in both PDF and PNG screen grab formats, so if any of the links in this story should become inoperative in the future, please let us know and we’ll do what we can to repair them.
Update 1/4/11: Our original article on the East Mountain Tea Party’s apparent anti-Islamic bias can be found here.
by John Weckerle
East Mountain Tea Party Co-Founder Therese Cooper (image via You Tube)
As many of our readers may remember, we took issue some time back with what we considered to be anti-Islam positions officially expressed on the East Mountain Tea Party (EMTP) web site (our articles on the subject, along with others, are now collected under the category “Tea Party-gate.”). The EMTP post informed readers that key members of the EMTP (Therese Cooper, Char Tierney, Silvana Lupetti, and Felicia Wilson), including at least two of its co-founders, had submitted a letter to Congressman Martin Heinrich’s demanding that he state his position with respect to a Muslim community center proposed for downtown New York. We objected to the anonymously-posted EMTP article, and received a surprisingly vitriolic response indicating a clear anti-Muslim bias. We had a little fun trying to track down the identity of the anonymous poster, who in our view is the EMTP’s official internet spokesperson – and after a while, partially lost interest in that aspect, but we continued to research the issue of religious discrimination, because we were frankly dumbfounded by the strong anti-Islamic sentiment that came across in “teapartynm’s” response.
Message From Wildlife West Founder
by Roger Alink, Executive Director, Wildlife West Nature Park
Wildlife West Nature Park is private 501-c-3 not for profit organization that has numerous restrictions placed upon it by IRS. No involvement in political activity or having the effect of supporting any candidate or groups of candidates is allowed. The park has been perceived to be affiliated with the TEA party primarily because of the large signs around the community advertising the TEA party meetings at Wildlife West Nature Park. Numerous calls concerning this issue were made with great concern that the park was supporting the TEA party. Even though we just rented the facility to the TEA party, sometimes perceptions are a bigger problem than reality. I feel it is unfair for this issue to get misunderstood by many on both sides of the political spectrum and both sides have threatened to withhold support for the park. The park depends on the whole community for support and we are grateful for the outpouring of support we have received throughout the past year. Wildlife West Nature Park is non-partisan and only wants to serve our wildlife and education mission as well as the entire community without any perception of representing political issues. Therefore the decision is to no longer rent our facility to any group representing any political issues and/or candidates or groups of candidates. Let’s put this behind us and work for a peaceful and healthy park in 2011.
Stand Up For Local Charities
by John Weckerle
As our readers might imagine, it is with a great deal of interest that we have observed the developing story of the East Mountain Tea Party’s (EMTP’s) latest brouhaha, this time involving the Moriarty Lions Club and Wildlife West Nature Park. Both organizations recently discontinued the practice of leasing space to the EMTP. As reported by some, reasons given were public perception issues, threatened loss of donations, and potential concerns with respect to the groups’ status as charitable organizations in the context of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) policies. The latter is the official position given by both organizations.
In reality, we can see where there is likely a combination of these three factors at work. Let’s face it: the Tea Party in general, and the EMTP in particular, can be rather pugilistic in their approach to activism, and this has gained them a reputation for divisiveness and combativeness. Some of the positions they have taken have elicited concerns, including some expressed here, regarding bigotry. Both on the national and local front, the movement has indulged in a great deal of name-calling and denigration, excoriating those with whom they do not agree and insinuating that those with opposing viewpoints are somehow less American than those on the “right” side of the fence. Somehow, those affiliated with the Tea Party have taken the position that they are the (self-appointed) heirs to the Founding Fathers, the Sons of Liberty, and so on in terms of patriotism and American values. One need only read through some of the articles on the EMTP’s web site or read last week’s letter from Sylvia Bokor to the Mountain View Telegraph (or the much nastier diatribe on her blog) to get a feel for the tone of the “dialogue.” There are a substantial number of Americans who likely find this kind of invective extremely offensive, and probably a great deal more who are simply tired of hearing it. In short, while the EMTP and other similar organizations are very enthusiastic about their cause, they have expressed that enthusiasm in such a manner as to turn off a large number of people, some of whom are likely donors to the organizations in question.
Better Late Than Never
by John Weckerle
Well, with Christmas now behind us, Kwanzaa under way, and New Year’s barreling down upon us, we figured a few lights might be in order…
Christmas lights at New Mexico Central headquarters.
Holiday Spirits And The Spirit Of Innovation
by John Weckerle
Today brought the denizens of New Mexico Central headquarters a visit from several close friends for a small gathering of after-the-holiday relaxation. Quite a number of calories gave their lives for the cause, and several of us put our heads together and invented the new holiday drink craze for the second decade of the twenty-first century, which starts next Sunday.1
Lemon Franjoma (serves about six)
3 shots vodka (we used the Kirkland brand from Costco. We have been told this is made in a former Grey Goose distillery.)
1 shot creme de cacao
2 shots Bailey’s Irish Cream
6 slices of lemon dipped in sugar
Mix the first three ingredients in a shaker or similar vessel and pour into shot glasses. Begin by sucking a lemon slice, and then consume the contents of the shot glass.
We also viewed a short Christmas video produced by our good friend Jevon Campisi (who was unfortunately unable to join us), which is worth a look.
1There are some who will insist that the second decade of the twenty-first century started on the first of January this year. There are also some who will assert that the “millenium” and the twenty-first century began on January 1, 2000. Both positions are demonstrably incorrect; the correct dates are January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2001, respectively. There are those who will hem and haw and state the there are two ways of looking at the concept. We acknowledge this, and also acknowledge that one of them is dead wrong.
Of course, there are other cultures using other calendars which share neither the same “New Year’s Day” nor the same number for the year, which makes the entire preceding argument seem moot and just a tad silly. We acknowledge this. We’re still right, though.
Another Holiday Greeting
by John Weckerle
We’d like to take a moment and wish all of our readers who are celebrating Kwanzaa this year a very happy, joyous, and peaceful holiday!
And So This Is Christmas
by John Weckerle
Senior Consumer Affairs Consultant Wilson digs deep to get the answers.
The denizens of New Mexico Central headquarters are, finally, settling into a quiet and comfortable Christmas Eve – so far, at least, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed – with dinner nearly ready and presents wrapped and under the tree. The last of the lighting we’ll do for this year got finished this afternoon. As situations would have it, we’ll likely be the only ones seeing it this year – but we’ll enjoy it, and we’ll see about posting a picture if we don’t doze off too early.
Senior Consumer Affairs Correspondent Wilson has launched a “barker” investigation: What really lies at the bottom of the frozen dairy industry?
The time leading up to the holidays has been a bit of a challenge here; there have been some aggressive viruses, trips to the emergency room and thence to the hospital in general, and an important present that got lost – but, for the most part, all of this has been sorted out.
The most difficult part, though, is that we have a close family member who is unexpectedly fighting for his life. There has been a great degree of pessimism, but I do not share it, and thus far I have been right at every critical turn. Nobody is right all the time, but I’ve called it correctly each time so far and I am not giving up now. Any kind thoughts and prayers would, of course, be appreciated.
All that having been said, we wish all our readers who observe the holiday a happy, joyous, and loving Christmas!