Political Pandering At Its Best

Republican State Representative Monica Youngblood will again be sponsoring legislation to reinstate the death penalty in New Mexico in the upcoming 2017 New Mexico legislative session. Proposing to reinstate the death penalty is political pandering and grandstanding at its best when she knows it has little or no chance of passing. But hey, she got her front page headline in the Albuquerque Journal that wants the death penalty reinstated. Someone needs to tell Representative Youngblood she already won re-election and please tell her that we are suppose to be a civilized society and that the death penalty is nothing more than an “eye for an eye” approach to criminal justice and it does not deter crime. The trend nationally is that states are abolishing the death penalty with many people on death row being released for crimes they did not commit because of scientific evidence. No mention of how Representative Youngblood is going to pay for the millions it is going to cost reinstating the death penalty and putting people behind bars for longer periods. No mention if she is going to increase the budgets of the Judiciary, DA offices, Public Defenders Office and the prison system to get the job done. But then again, Representative Youngblood you got your front page story.

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About

Pete Dinelli was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is of Italian and Hispanic descent. He is a 1970 graduate of Del Norte High School, a 1974 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a 1977 graduate of St. Mary's School of Law, San Antonio, Texas. Pete has a 40 year history of community involvement and service as an elected and appointed official and as a practicing attorney in Albuquerque. Pete and his wife Betty Case Dinelli have been married since 1984 and they have two adult sons, Mark, who is an attorney and George, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Pete has been a licensed New Mexico attorney since 1978. Pete has over 27 years of municipal and state government service. Pete’s service to Albuquerque has been extensive. He has been an elected Albuquerque City Councilor, serving as Vice President. He has served as a Worker’s Compensation Judge with Statewide jurisdiction. Pete has been a prosecutor for 15 years and has served as a Bernalillo County Chief Deputy District Attorney, as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney and as a Deputy City Attorney. For eight years, Pete was employed with the City of Albuquerque both as a Deputy City Attorney and Chief Public Safety Officer overseeing the city departments of police, fire, 911 emergency call center and the emergency operations center. While with the City of Albuquerque Legal Department, Pete served as Director of the Safe City Strike Force and Interim Director of the 911 Emergency Operations Center. Pete’s community involvement includes being a past President of the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, past President of the Our Lady of Fatima School Board, and Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation.