News

The Rio Rancho City Charter should be amended to require the Rio Rancho Municipal Judge to possess a law degree from a school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), and be a member, in good standing of the New Mexico State Bar. New Mexico does not currently...

By Judy Gordon, DPSC Secretary Republicans promised the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) would pay for itself by stimulating economic growth. They argued that federal tax revenues would rise because of higher wages, increased investment, and higher corporate profits....

By Isaac Chavez, Vice Chair DPSC First the good news, and there’s lots of it! We improved our winning margin by two percentage points compared to President Biden's in the Sandoval County portion of CD1! We flipped five precincts that Trump won, and we improved in...

By Fred Harris, Former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma After the South Carolina primary, as it became increasingly clear that Joe Biden would be the Democratic presidential nominee, he and the country began to realize that his inauguration would produce a "Franklin...

By Judy Gordon, DPSC Secretary Republicans and the media are quick to point the finger at expanded unemploymentbenefits for employers’ current hiring woes. The Albuquerque Journal asserted, “We’re competing with unemployment,” claiming that the $300 weekly...

Our New Mexico legislature made Zoom access available during their 2021 NM Legislative session.  I found this great because the public could so readily be part of the NM House and Senate committee hearings, and full House and Senate votes, and for me specifically on...

The Rio Rancho City Charter should be amended to require the Rio Rancho Municipal Judge to possess a law degree from a school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), and be a member, in good standing of the New Mexico State Bar. New Mexico does not currently...

From the ABQ Journal - May 22, 2021 DURING A recent forum Republican candidate Mark Moores described his ancestors as having “civilized” our ancestors, the Indigenous people who lived here. Ironically, he is running against Melanie Stansbury for the seat vacated by...

From the ABQ Journal - May 26, 2021 THE ALBUQUERQUE Journal endorsement for CD 1 was disappointing. New Mexico needs new voices and fresh thinking to solve the problems facing the state. Melanie Stansbury is a native New Mexican who will pursue what is best for New...

From the Rio Rancho Observer - May 9, 2021https://rrobserver.com/letter-to-the-editor-a-better-way-to-spend-money/ Rio Rancho city officials in preparing the municipal budget for 2021-22 should invest resources in future growth and development, instead of increasing...

The Special Election campaign in Congressional District 1 (CD1) is going full speed toward June 1—regular voting day. Early voting has already begun! Time is running out to get solid, factual information regarding candidates in order to make a positive choice for New...

Black Lives Matter Protesters Were Extraordinarily NonViolent This summer’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were overwhelmingly peaceful. But the Republicans’ blatantly false talking points claim that BLM protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd were...

Published in the May Sandoval Signpost New Mexicans elected large Democratic majorities to the State House and Senate, sending the clear message that all citizens deserve a better, fairer, and brighter future. And the state legislature delivered! We now have the...

From the Albuquerque Journal - April. 27, 2021 AFTER HEARING Sen. Mark Moores’ ad in which he says that Rep. Melanie Stansbury did not help pass legislation for exempting state income tax on Social Security payments in the 2020 legislative session, I knew I had to...

From the Rio Rancho Observer - April 4, 2021 Last week’s Observer provided a valuable service by publishing two opinion pieces and a feature article asking lawmakers of both parties to briefly share their views on the recent legislative session and their hopes for...

From the Rio Rancho Observer - March 9, 2021 https://rrobserver.com/letter-to-the-observer-writer-opposes-brandts-education-stance/?fbclid=IwAR12uv9uRairnOgsbwkfL2InTh28_ESOqWjWr1AcR1XYg5tCesQ3qcOPPds Describing state Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, as a proponent of...

From the Rio Rancho Observer - Feb. 28, 2021 State Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, professes grave concern about the quality of New Mexico’s educational system and can’t wait for schools to open for in-person learning. Yet he recently introduced legislation that...

From the Rio Rancho Observer - Feb. 21, 2021 - https://rrobserver.com/letter-to-the-editor-republicans-failure/ While Republicans claim to espouse old-fashioned traditional values, the failure of Republican senators to convict former president Trump for fomenting the...

By Judy Gordon The Trump-incited insurrection that took place to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote for President-elect Biden was appallingly predictable. Since he began campaigning in 2015, Trump has been a threat to American democracy. He...

Published in the Rio Rancho Observer Jan. 17, 2021 The horrifying scenes of the Jan. 6 attack on our nation’s Capitol are indelibly etched in our psyches. Those powerful images of destruction and terror coming from within our populace will become iconic reminders of...

  By Delbert Schfer Published in the Rio Rancho Observer Jan. 17, 2021 A letter to the editor submitted by Mr. Moulton printed in the Jan. 10 issue of the Rio Rancho Observer painted a bleak political future that he alleges stems from Democratic Party evilness....

Check out this editorial from Rich Lowry that also appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on December 28, 2020. https://coastalcourier.com/opinion/no-joe-were-not-in-a-climate-crisis/ My response? The article by Rich Lowry on Monday December 28, 2020 makes it sound like...

Albuquerque Journal - October 6, 2020 THE PRESS is to impel, steam roll and provoke issues and opinions of the people who have access to the bully pulpit. Currently the press is liken(ed) to a Nerf ball that has for 3½ years been tossed around like one would...

By Pat StoverSeptember 15 I memorized the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence as a grade school student: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that...

By Deb DapsonSeptember 15 I was an attendee at the Changes Rally in Rio Rancho on Saturday, September 12, 2020, and would like to express my rally thoughts. The Black New Mexico Movement organized this rally to begin a discussion concerning Black Lives Matter in the...

By Alexis JimenezSeptember 15, 2020 All lives Matter! I believe this. That’s why I joined my neighbors at what is being called the Black Lives Matter protest here in our city of Rio Rancho. Imagine my shock when I walked up to what was supposed to be a peaceful...

By Judith Gordon / Bernalillo Resident Published: Saturday, September 12th, 2020 at 12:02am Updated: Saturday, September 12th, 2020 at 10:06am In the Albuquerque Journal I am a retired federal senior executive who worked for 20 years for the inspector general of the...

ANN E. KEPLEY BernalilloABQ Journal, September 9, 2020 I AM responding to the Aug. 23 news article “House passes bill to reverse USPS changes.” The mission of the U.S. Postal Service is to provide the nation with reliable, affordable, universal mail service. Our...

William Bumgarner, Albuquerque Journal, Guest Column, August 19 … Most of us don’t want to think about the next pandemic. But we should. Climate change, industrial animal agriculture and deforestation increase our risk for new pandemic diseases, and these problems...

Gary Tripp, Albuquerque Journal, Guest Column, August 19 Amidst a global pandemic and economic catastrophe, we the people are coming to recognize our shared humanity, common values, and mutual interests. Rather than letting demagogues divide us, we are uniting,...

Friday, August 7th, 2020 As Election Day approaches I want to reach out to our independent voters in New Mexico, also known as declined-to-state (DTS) voters. I have been both a DTS voter and a Democrat. My take is that most DTS voters don’t want partisan posturing or...

Monday, August 10th The Observer editorial of Aug. 2, entitled “Injustices Served for RR” highlights the selective memory of the newspaper’s editorial staff and is the latest example of its bias in favor of Republican candidates and elected officials. In the...

Published in the Rio Rancho Observer on August 2, 2020 Governor Lujan Grisham announced that her administration is directing New Mexico public schools to delay the start of in-person classes. This decision is the right move. The governor's primary responsibility is to...

Published in the Albuquerque Journal, July 28 With images of heavily militarized Homeland Security agents on the streets of Portland tear-gassing and grabbing peaceful protesters and trying to incite violence, we may be seeing democracy dissolving before our eyes. We...

Published in the Rio Rancho Observer, July 26 How would you judge a father who withholds life-saving treatment from a child with a serious disease? How would you judge a father who is more concerned with his stock portfolio and golf swing than his child’s suffering...

By GAIL PINKEPANK My family has experienced a tough, tense week. My niece recently returned to work in the office of a professional design firm, after a few weeks of working from home. She has been careful to wear her mask at work, and to try to maintain social...

The Albuquerque Journal recently reported that Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce and his fellow Republicans have joined a lawsuit against the Governor by business owners that challenges the lawful fines the businesses incurred for violating the public health...

ABQ Journal Sunday, April 19, 2020 We can deal with the budget in June when numbers are clearer BY REP. DAYMON ELY - CORRALES DEMOCRAT We are living in unprecedented times. It has been over 100 years since our state has faced a crisis that threatens not only the lives...

I would like to address the OP-ED article by Diane Dimond published (in The Albuquerque Journal) on Saturday March 28, 2020 titled “Take a breath: COVID-19 sickens but rarely kills.” This article apparently is intended to try to make us feel better about the current...

By Mitchell Freedman(The RR Observer published is editorial on March 15) There are misconceptions regarding New Mexico’s "red flag" gun law. The law is designed to reduce gun suicides and gun-based domestic violence, the latter mostly against women. Eighteen States...

DESPITE HOLLOW presidential assurances to the contrary, the coronavirus is likely to proliferate in the United States. The unfortunate condition of our country’s health care system will exacerbate the damage. The coronavirus will not spare any demographic group. This...

The following was published in the Rio Rancho Observer on Sunday, February 23, 2020. The author is Judy Gordon a member of the Sandoval County Precinct 74 Committee. Dear Editor: Kudos to our Democratic governor and New Mexico Legislature for their action to prevent...

For Rio Rancho ObserverPublished February 17, 2020 There are four early state Presidential election contests.  Taken together the first four contests may be representative of a broken system. The first and second contests are biased in a way that knocks too many...