On August 24, 2016, the dead body of ten-year-old Victoria Martens was found in a west side apartment building.

After responding to a 911 emergency call regarding a domestic dispute, APD police officers discovered the 10-year-old child’s dismembered remains partially wrapped in a burning blanket.

The child’s body had been dismembered and then burned in the apartment bathtub in an apparent attempt to dispose of her body.

Initially, Michelle Martens, Victoria’s mother, was arrested and charged along with her boyfriend Fabian Gonzales and her friend Jessica Kelly for the rape, murder and dismemberment of 10-year-old Victoria.

AN UNRAVELING CASE RESULTS IN A LENIENT PLEA

On June 29, 2018 District Attorney Raul Torrez announced during a press conference that he negotiated a plea agreement where Michelle Martens plead guilty to child abuse of her daughter Victoria Martens.

The plea agreement contained no murder charge.

Torrez also announced several charges against Fabian Gonzales were dismissed.

The plea agreement District Attorney Torrez negotiated was to one count of child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12.

The plea agreement guaranteed a 12 to 15-year prison sentence and dropped the most egregious charges of murder and rape.

With the plea deal, Michelle Martens faces a possible sentence of 12-15 years, and with good time she could be out of jail within 6 to 7 years.

During the press conference, District Attorney Torrez said that much of the initial facts of the case were “simply not true”.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1191031/michelle-martens-pleads-guilty-to-child-abuse-faces-12-to-15-years.html

The initial APD police investigation and reports alleged that it was Jessica Kelley that stabbed 9-year-old Victoria Martens and that Fabian Gonzales strangled her while Michelle Martens watched the murder.

During his press conference, Torrez stated that his office’s investigation found Michelle Martens falsely admitted to committing the crimes when forensic evidence revealed she and her boyfriend Fabian Gonzales were not even in the apartment at the time of the murder and did not participate in the murder.

Cell phone data proved that Michelle Martens and Fabian Gonzales were not home at the time of Victoria’s murder.

During the June 29, 2018 press conference, Torrez made the stunning announcement that DNA and forensic evidence test results revealed a fourth and unidentified individual.

MEDIA POLITICAL DAMAGE CONTROL

There was tremendous public outcry over the leniency shown to Michelle Martens who many feel contributed and who was the most responsible for committing the most heinous crimes against her own child by putting her in harm’s way.

Within a 10-day time span, Raul Torrez held a press conference covered by all local media news organizations, followed by a meeting with the Journal Editors and reporters 6 days later, had three front page Journal stories and was interviewed by Chanel 4 on the “Eye on Albuquerque” Sunday program on the plea agreement he negotiated.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/07/09/da-torrez-political-damage-control-mission-accomplished/

District Attorney Raul Torrez in his various media interviews shared extensive details of the case and prosecution strategy on the pending criminal prosecution against two other defendants, two identified and one yet to be found.

The full story can be read here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1193335/details-emerge-in-search-for-4th-martens-suspect.html

REJECTED JESSICA KELLY PLEA AGREEMENT

On September 14, 2018, Jessica Kelley agreed to plead guilty to multiple charges under a plea agreement that required her to testify at related trials and to offer statements to authorities.

The plea deal was that Jessica Kelly would plead guilty to six felony charges, including child abuse resulting in death

A sentence of up to 49 years could have been imposed under the plea agreement.

There was no charge of murder that was to be plead to by Jessica Kelly.

District Attorney Raúl Torrez told the media that Kelly’s cooperation was “critically important to the state’s investigation” into the well-dressed stranger that Jessica Kelley says killed the 10-year-old girl.

On September 14, 2018 Judge Charles Brown rejected the Jessica Kelly plea agreement, saying he was not presented with enough evidence that Kelley committed the crimes she was admitting to under the plea.

District Judge Brown asked one very simple question of defendant Jessica Kelley during the plea hearing:

“What happened that makes you guilty of recklessly causing or permitting something that resulted in the death of a child?”

In response to the Judges question, Defendant Jessica Kelley testified she “let an unknown male come in, not knowing he was going to kill Victoria Martens”.

Jessica Kelley testified she had no indication the man intended to hurt anyone and thought the man might have been Victoria’s father or a “friend of the family … He did not look like a bad person, he was dressed well and he walked in like he knew the home.”

In rejecting Jessica Kellys plea agreement, Judge Brown said:

“There is no indication [nor evidence] she knew or should have known that the person intended to commit intentional murder. … You’re asking [or suggesting] … Ms. Kelley is somehow a mind reader … . ”

SEARCH FOR 4TH SUSPECT ESSENTIALLY SUSPENDED

Since the June 29, 2018 press conference, APD has been attempting to identify the fourth suspect in the Victoria Martens murder.

On December 10, 2018, District Attorney Raul Torrez announced that the two detectives assigned full time to the Victoria Martens homicide case would no longer work on the case exclusively and would work on unrelated investigations after attempts to identify an elusive fourth suspect stalled.

The DA’s statement read:

“In the absence of Jessica Kelley’s continued cooperation following the District Court’s rejection of her plea agreement, the investigation into the unidentified male has stalled. … Detectives will continue to work any new leads that are developed, but it is our understanding that they will also support other investigations.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1256083/investigation-into-fourth-martens-suspect-has-stalled.html

Fabian Gonzales is also charged with child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence.

The trial of Fabian Gonzales has been delayed indefinitely pending an appeal.

The trial of Jessica Kelly is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, January 8, 2019.

A MOTION FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST DISTRICT ATTORNEY

On January 4, 2019, 4 days before her trial on murder charges is to begin, a hearing was held in the Jessica Kelly case where the District Attorney Raul Torrez dismissed the rape charges against Kelly.

The District Attorney’s Office voluntarily dismissed the rape charges, stating “after detailed forensic analysis by expert pathologists there is not sufficient evidence to connect Jessica Kelley to the charge of criminal sexual penetration.”

A defense Motion to Dismiss all charges against Jessica Kelly, including murder, and for sanctions against the District Attorney was also heard by the court.

The defense motion sought sanctions against District Attorney Raul Torrez for his accusation that there had been “an absence of cooperation from Kelly.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1264630/da-dismisses-rape-charges-against-jessica-kelley.html

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/prosecution-files-to-dismiss-rape-charges-against-jessica-kelley/1687198439

Normally, prosecutors and defense attorneys do whatever they can to keep pretrial publicity to a minimum so as not to influence any potential jury pool.

https://www.koat.com/article/new-documents-filed-in-case-against-jessica-kelley-could-affect-what-lawyers-say-in-public/25598475

Defense attorneys argued that the December 10, 2018 statement by the District Attorney cast Kelley in a bad light for not “cooperating”.

The defense correctly argued the law that as a defendant, Jessica Kelly has the constitutional right to remain silent and does not even have to take the stand to testify during her trial.

District Attorney spokesman testified that Torrez had drafted the statement in response to requests for comment from the Journal about the departure of the detectives who had been working with prosecutors on the case.

Jessica Kelley’s defense counsel argued that the DA’s statement was unnecessary and prejudicial and “yet another example of a pattern of behavior [of media contacts] by the District Attorney’s Office in this case.”

The prosecutors argued that Torrez’s statement referencing Kelley’s was factual and denied that there was any attempt to prejudice the public against Jessica Kelly.

DA TORREZ FOUND TO BE RECKLESS

During the January 4, 2019 hearing District Judge Charles Brown determined District Attorney Raúl Torrez had been “reckless” in his December 10, 2018 statement he made to the media about defendant Jessica Kelley’s absence of cooperation.

District Judge Brown said that Torrez should not have issued the December 10, 2018 statement at all.

Judge Brown admonished Raul Torrez for the statement by stating from the bench in open court:

“I don’t know if it was [intentionally done] to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, or if the goal was to shift the light away from the District Attorney’s Office or to move light to the Albuquerque Police Department … I find it to be woefully inaccurate in its ambiguity. It could be interpreted in many ways – all of them positive to the District Attorney’s office, some to the detriment of others. The District Attorney also has an obligation to protect the due process right of the defendant. … [The District Attorney] … represents the state, which is everyone including the defendant and the defendant’s families … The District Attorney’s obligation is to the system.”

Notwithstanding the harsh words, Judge Charles Brown opted not to sanction Torrez until he determines if the DA’s statement influenced potential jurors during jury selection before penalizing the state by imposing sanctions.

NEW MEXICO CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Raul Torrez is not just another elected official, but is a licensed New Mexico Attorney, the Chief Law Enforcement official for Bernalillo County and a former federal Assistant United States Attorney and he should understand that contacts with the media have clear “rules of engagement” of the Code of Professional Conduct for attorneys.

As a licensed attorney and prosecutor, Torrez is held to strict standards of professional conduct, including being required to swear to and adhere to the Code of Professional Conduct.

The New Mexico Code of Professional Responsibility has a very specific rule that governs attorneys conduct and pretrial publicity:

“Rule 16-306 Trial Publicity

A. Extrajudicial Statements.

A lawyer shall not make any extrajudicial or out-of-forum [out of court] statement in a criminal proceeding that may be tried to a jury that the lawyer know or reasonably should know:

(1) is false; or
(2) creates a clear and present danger of prejudicing the proceeding.

B. Attorney’s Obligations With Respect to Other Persons.

A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to insure compliance with this rule by associated attorneys, employees and members of law enforcement and investigative agencies.”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The drugging, raping, murder, dismemberment and the burning of the body of 9-year-old Victoria Martens will go down as one of the most heinous crimes in Albuquerque history.

Even life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is not enough for crimes committed against this innocent child.

Whoever did kill Victoria Martens in such a brutal manner represents pure evil.

Notwithstanding the brutality of the killing, our criminal justice system and constitution presumes innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and demands due process of law, even for the most heinous of crimes such as the murder of Victoria Martens.

No one can fault District Attorney Raul Torrez for wanting to do what he can to secure a conviction in the case, but it must be done in a court of law and not in the court of public opinion and the media.

It is surprising that it took so long for the defense to raise the issue of pretrial publicity and the District Attorney’s comments and repeated contact with the media.

What is very problematic is that District Attorney Raul Torrez never has had a problem with holding press conferences and being interviewed by reporters sharing details and prosecution strategy in the case that may result in a “clear and present danger of prejudicing the proceeding”.

The extended media interviews that Torrez has done on the case no doubt ingratiated Torrez with the media but Torrez did not help his cause in seeking justice for 10-year-old Victoria Martens.

Another problem posed is that Torrez discussed with the media in his many interview’s conclusions based on the evidence that should be decided by a jury, not the prosecutor in the case.

Judge Charles Brown imposing sanctions against District Attorney Raul Torrez for his accusation that there had been an absence of cooperation from Kelly is the least thing Torrez needs to worry about.

District Court Judge Charles Brown could just as easily refer Raul Torrez to the New Mexico Disciplinary Board for violations of the Code of Professional Conduct relating to pretrial publicity.

Raul Torrez needs to take to heart the words of Judge Brown when he said:

“[DA Torrez] … represents the state, which is everyone including the defendant and the defendant’s families … The District Attorney’s obligation is to the system”.

Judge Brown essentially told District Attorney Raul Torrez his obligation is not just to inform the media that results in generating intense media coverage.

Judge Brown made it clear to Torrez that his ethical obligation is to the entire criminal justice system and not just to the media and his own political image and future.

Another obligation of any prosecutor is to have faith in the jury system and do the best you can to prove your case with the evidence you have and if there is not enough evidence then the investigating agency needs to be held accountable.

For a related blog articles see:

Martens Case Failures May End DA Torrez Political Career

DA Torrez Spreads Blame To APD In Martens Case

On January 1, 2019, the Washington Post published a lengthy editorial essay written by Republican Utah United State Senator Mitt Romney.

Romney was the Republican party’s 2012 nominee for President who lost to President Barack Obama.

Following is the editorial essay with the link at the end followed by reactions and commentary:

“The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December. The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president’s thoughtless claim that America has long been a “sucker” in world affairs all defined his presidency down.

It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.

It is not that all of the president’s policies have been misguided. He was right to align U.S. corporate taxes with those of global competitors, to strip out excessive regulations, to crack down on China’s unfair trade practices, to reform criminal justice and to appoint conservative judges. These are policies mainstream Republicans have promoted for years. But policies and appointments are only a part of a presidency.

To a great degree, a presidency shapes the public character of the nation. A president should unite us and inspire us to follow “our better angels.” A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. As a nation, we have been blessed with presidents who have called on the greatness of the American spirit. With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.

The world is also watching. America has long been looked to for leadership. Our economic and military strength was part of that, of course, but our enduring commitment to principled conduct in foreign relations, and to the rights of all people to freedom and equal justice, was even more esteemed. Trump’s words and actions have caused dismay around the world. In a 2016 Pew Research Center poll, 84 percent of people in Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Sweden believed the American president would “do the right thing in world affairs.” One year later, that number had fallen to 16 percent.

This comes at a very unfortunate time. Several allies in Europe are experiencing political upheaval. Several former Soviet satellite states are rethinking their commitment to democracy. Some Asian nations, such as the Philippines, lean increasingly toward China, which advances to rival our economy and our military. The alternative to U.S. world leadership offered by China and Russia is autocratic, corrupt and brutal.

The world needs American leadership, and it is in America’s interest to provide it. A world led by authoritarian regimes is a world — and an America — with less prosperity, less freedom, less peace.

To reassume our leadership in world politics, we must repair failings in our politics at home. That project begins, of course, with the highest office once again acting to inspire and unite us. It includes political parties promoting policies that strengthen us rather than promote tribalism by exploiting fear and resentment. Our leaders must defend our vital institutions despite their inevitable failings: a free press, the rule of law, strong churches, and responsible corporations and unions.

We must repair our fiscal foundation, setting a course to a balanced budget. We must attract the best talent to America’s service and the best innovators to America’s economy.

America is strongest when our arms are linked with other nations. We want a unified and strong Europe, not a disintegrating union. We want stable relationships with the nations of Asia that strengthen our mutual security and prosperity.

I look forward to working on these priorities with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other senators.

Furthermore, I will act as I would with any president, in or out of my party: I will support policies that I believe are in the best interest of the country and my state, and oppose those that are not. I do not intend to comment on every tweet or fault. But I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.

I remain optimistic about our future. In an innovation age, Americans excel. More importantly, noble instincts live in the hearts of Americans. The people of this great land will eschew the politics of anger and fear if they are summoned to the responsibility by leaders in homes, in churches, in schools, in businesses, in government — who raise our sights and respect the dignity of every child of God — the ideal that is the essence of America.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-president-shapes-the-public-character-of-the-nation-trumps-character-falls-short/2019/01/01/37a3c8c2-0d1a-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html?utm_term=.12201fa02c04

PRESIDENT TRUMP RESPONDS

On January 2, 2019, within hours after Romney’s attack on him for his lack of character and leadership, Trump dismissed the criticism in a characteristic tweet by saying:

“Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mitt-romney-twitter_us_5c2cb4e1e4b0407e9086b334

https://people.com/politics/mitt-romney-donald-trump-presidency-column-response/

Trump’s “Flake” remark was a reference to former Republican United States Senator Jeff Flake who had become a critic of Trump.

Trump’s claim he “won big” claim is laughable and a lie seeing as he lost the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 4 million votes.

Trump actually secured a smaller percentage of the national vote in the 2016 election than Romney did in the 2012 election against Barack Obama.

NOTHING LIKE FAMILY NOT BACKING YOU UP

Ronna McDaniel is Mitt Romney’s niece and she is also chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

McDaniel unloaded on her uncle’s editorial essay as “disappointing and unproductive” in a tweet of her own by saying:

“POTUS is attacked and obstructed by the MSM media and Democrats 24/7. For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realdonaldtrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive.”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mitt Romney’s Washington Post essay was extremely mild compared to what he said about Trump two years ago during the Republican Presidential primary.

During the 2016 Presidential election, after Trump became the decisive Republican primary leader taking seven states in Super Tuesday, Romney in a speech called Trump a “con man” and “a fake” and had this to say about Trump:

“If we Republicans chose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. … Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. … We will only really know if he is the real deal and not a phony if he releases his tax returns and his interview with the New York Times.”

In the speech two years ago, Romney took issue with Trump’s “personal qualities,” including “the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny and the absurd third-grade antics.”

Romney included references to a number of Trump’s headline-making incidents including comments he made about members of the media.

Romney brought up Trump’s vulgar remarks about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, saying Trump “attributed a reporter’s questions to her menstrual cycle.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mitt-romney-donald-trump-is-872472

Romney’s written essay is so watered down so as to be ineffective to the point that Trump and Romney’s own niece were able to dismiss it with two simple, short tweets.

Romney has vacillated in his support of Trump as was made clear when he wanted to be appointed Secretary of State by Trump and met with him over dinner.

Romney said:

“I do not intend to comment on every tweet or fault [of Trump’s] … But I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”

But Romney’s essay now as a United States Senator shows he intends to stand up against Trump during his Senate tenure.

Not at all surprising is that Trump supporters and the Republican party quickly dismissed Romney’s Washington Post essay as a prelude to Romney running for President again and challenge Trump in the 2020 primaries.

Romney has already said he will not be running for President again.

What the essay letter should be taken as is a signal that United States Senator Mitt Romney will not hesitate to do what he feels is right and in the best interests of our country and vote to convict Trump in a Senate trial upon impeachment by the House.

A simple majority in the United States Representatives is all that is required to pass Articles of Impeachment charging Trump with “treason, high crimes and misdemeanors”.

After the midterms, the Democrats have a comfortable majority in the United States House, with a total of 435 house members consisting of 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans and 1 vacancy on a race yet to be called.

A two thirds vote in the United States Senate is required to convict and remove a president after a trial presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Currently there are 100 Senators consisting of 53 Republican Senators, 45 Democratic Senator’s and 2 Independents and 67 Senators must vote to convict to remove.

With 45 US Senate Democrats, 21 Republican Senators will need to vote to convict Trump, which is why so many political pundits say it is unlikely Trump will ever be removed unless the Mueller Russian Investigation clearly shows criminal activity and acts of treason by Trump and his family.

It will be interesting to see how many Republican United Senators will actually put country before party and do the right thing and convict to remove Trump.

The one thing President Trump and Ronna McDaniel will not be able to dismiss with simple tweets is when United State Senator Mitt Romney votes to convict and find Trump guilty of articles of impeachment and remove him from office.

Albuquerque City Councilors Pat Davis and Isaac (Ike) Benton are two politicians who are so much alike as to be almost indistinguishable when it comes to their voting records they could be called Tweedledum Pat Davis and Tweedledee Ike Benton.

Both Benton and Davis are saying they intend to run for re-election to the Albuquerque City Council this year in the October, 2019 municipal election.

IKE BENTON

Issac (Ike) Benton is the District 2 City Councilor and was first elected to the council in 2005.

Benton is a retired architect and avowed urbanist.

Benton’s city council district includes a large area of downtown Central and the North Valley which leans left and is heavily hispanic.

Benton ran unopposed in 2015.

Benton, 67, disclosed to a political blogger he thought about not seeking re-election and said he looked around to see if a younger, qualified person was “waiting in the wings”, but he said he could not find anyone to run.

The “wing” Benton was probably referring to is the pediatric wing of Presbyterian Hospital where he yelled out “Does anyone of you live in my district who wants to be city councilor?”

Truth is, no one is going to disclose to a sitting city counselor they intend to run unless they are absolutely sure the incumbent is not running, and that is just how it works in politics.

PAT DAVIS

City Councilor Pat Davis was elected to the Albuquerque City Council in October 6, 2015 to represent District 6.

District 6 encompasses the International District, Mesa Del Sol, Nob Hill, Southeast Heights, and the University of New Mexico.

Last year, Davis ran for congress in the First Congressional District but withdrew from the race and he polled at 3% and could not raise the money to run a viable campaign.

Davis endorsed another Democrat who he felt was the most “progressive” out of a field of 7 who were all progressive Democrats but only one was to his liking. (See below blog article.)

City Hall insiders are saying that Pat Davis and Mayor Tim Keller are on the outs and that Keller is looking for an opponent to run against Davis.

Still other political observers say Davis is trying to secure a decent job within the new administration of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.

THEIR VOTING RECORDS SAY IT ALL

Both Davis and Benton proclaim to be “progressive democrats”, however their City Council voting records say otherwise.

The past three years Albuquerque has suffered from record breaking high crime rates and the ART bus project without either Benton nor Davis even trying doing much to improve things.

There are at least 8 egregious specific votes Issac Benton’s and Pat Davis’s that reveal the true voting record on the Albuquerque City Council and go against the core Democratic principles:

1. City Councilors Benton and Davis voted repeatedly for and supported the disastrous ART Bus project that has destroyed the character of Route 66. Both refused to advocate to put the ART Bus project on the ballot for public approval. Benton and Davis voted to spend federal grant money that had yet to be appropriated by congress. The ART Bus project has been a total disaster resulting the destruction of the character of Route 66. ART has a negative impact on Central resulting in several businesses going out of business. Many central businesses and Nob Hill businesses, no longer exist because of the ART Bus Project.

2.Both Benton and Davis voted to use $13 million dollars in revenue bonds to pay for the ART Bus project. The revenue bonds were not voted upon by the public. It was reported that the Albuquerque City Council borrowed over $63 million dollars over a two-year period to build pickle ball courts, baseball fields and the ART bus project down central by bypassing the voters. The $65 million dollars was borrowed with the Albuquerque City Councilors voting to use revenue bonds as the financing mechanism to pay for big capital projects.

https://www.abqjournal.com/919263/revenue-bonds-find-favor-in-abq.html

3. The Albuquerque City Council plays a crucial oversight role of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) including controlling its budget. Benton and Davis did nothing when it comes to Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms and has never challenged the previous Administration and the former APD command staff in any meaningful way demanding compliance with the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree reforms. Each time the Federal Court appointed Monitor presented his critical reports of APD to the City Council, Benton and Davis remained silent. Both declined to demand accountability from the Mayor and hold the APD command staff responsible for dragging their feet on the reforms. Both Benton and Davis failed to attend any one of the federal court hearings on the consent decree.

4. Both Benton and Davis voted for the city ordinance amendments requiring equal pay for woman but failed to demand more. The amendments to the equal pay for woman ordinance sounded good and look good on paper but accomplished very little. The truth is that the equal pay for woman ordinance only applies to city contracts and those who do business with the city. The ordinance is voluntary and gives preferential treatment on city contracts to those who voluntarily comply. The equal pay for woman ordinance should apply to all businesses licensed to do business in Albuquerque, it should be mandatory for all businesses and enforced by city planning that issues business licenses and could be made so by the city council.

5. When he served on a task force to overhaul Albuquerque’s public fiancé laws, Pat Davis declined to advocate meaningful changes to our public finance laws making it easier for candidates to qualify for public finance. The only change both Davis and Benton agreed to was increasing the amount of money candidates get and not the process of collecting the donations to qualify and not expanding the time to collect qualifying donations. The lack of changes to the public finance laws favors incumbents like Davis and Benton.

6. Davis advocated for enactment of the Healthy Workforce ordinance by voters which would have mandate the pay of sick leave by employers and was always there for a photo op with those organizations who pushed to get it on the ballot. However, both Benton and Davis never demanded the City Attorney’s office enforce the existing Albuquerque minimum wage ordinance, even when workers were forced to sue their employers. Davis and Benton claim to be in favor of increasing the minimum wage, but they have never demanded the Mayor nor the City Attorney to enforce the current city ordinance enacted by voters with a 2 to 1 margin.

7. On July 2, 2018 Democrat Mayor Tim Keller vetoed the $2.6 million economic development package that would help Topgolf to construct a $39 million entertainment complex at the site of the former Beach Waterpark. Benton and Davis went along with the City Council voting 8-1 to give the incentives after a 9-0 veto override Keller’s veto of a resolution expressing the city councils support. A few weeks later, Both Benton and Davis again voted to override Democrat Mayor Keller’s veto of the funding. Rather than give the new Democrat Mayor the benefit of the doubt, Benton and Davis voted to overturn the veto, but never once voted to overturn a veto of the previous Republican Mayor.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1192145/keller-vetoes-topgolf-economic-development-package.html

8. The most egregious votes by Benton and Davis was that they voted for the final adoption of the ABC-Z comprehensive plan which will have long term impact on our neighborhoods and favors developers. The enactment of the comprehensive plan was a major priority of Republican Mayor Berry and the development community pushed hard for its enactment before Berry left office. The ABC-Z project rewrite was nothing more than making “gentrification” an official city policy and the “gutting” of long-standing sector development plans by the development community to repeal those sector development plans designed to protect neighborhoods and their character. Benton, a retired architect knew better but refused to intervene on behalf of neighborhood interests.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It will be during the first few weeks of March, 2019 that petitions will be made available to collect qualifying signatures to get on the 2019 municipal ballot for city council.

Most assuredly, Benton and Davis will not only get necessary qualifying signatures, but will also secure public financing because they have done it before.

In 2017, Democrat City Councilors Ken Sanchez and Dianne Gibson were reelected to the Albuquerque City despite being staunch ART supporters and having an almost identical voting record to City Councilors Benton and Davis.

What people should be sick of are Democrats acting and talking like Republicans especially after they get elected to positions like Mayor and City Council and arguing that they are being “nonpartisan”.

No doubt both City Councilors Isaac Benton and Pat Davis will say that the City Council is “non-partisan” and they needed to cooperate with Republicans to get things done, even though Democrats now hold a majority of 6-3 on the City Council and even though the Mayor is a Democrat.

However, there is a significant difference between cooperating and working with other elected officials from the opposite party and then being hypocritical and going against your own basic political philosophy of what you believe to be true and then turning around and acting and voting against that what you claim to believe in.

What would be another disappointing election is if Davis and Benton are re elected saying they are Progressives Democrats when in fact they vote like conservative Republicans.

Hope springs eternal that both Benton and Davis will have strong opposition so their constituents can thank them for their service and they can move off the City Council.

No One Should Respect A Hypocrite Like Pat Davis

It’s official, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is our new Governor having been sworn in January 1, 2019.

Since being elected on November 6, 2018, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and her transition team have been very busy assembling a cabinet and staff.

On January 15, 2019, the New Mexico 60-day legislative session begins.

The New Mexico Senate will begin hearings and vote to approve or reject Cabinet Secretary designates.

With the Democrats in control of the Senate, it is more likely than not all of her cabinet appointments will be approved very quickly.

There appear to be no controversial appointments as plagued Lujan Grisham’s predecessor, “She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”.

GOVERNOR CABINET APPOINTMENTS

Governor Lujan Grisham has announced cabinet Secretary designate nominees that are subject to Senate confirmation and all started to work immediately.

They will make $128,000 a year, the standard rate for any state cabinet secretary.

Following is a listing of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s cabinet appointments:

Secretary Of The Department Of Finance And Administration (DFA): Olivia Padilla-Jackson was appointed the new Secretary of DFA which functions as state government’s central budget office. She is a former director of the state Board of Finance. The DFA will be responsible for overseeing the state’ s expenditures at a time of unprecedented revenue levels with a total of $1.1 billion in new money projected for the coming budget year due primarily to surging oil production levels.

Secretary of the Human Services Department: Governor Lujan Grisham appointed Dr. David Scrase Human Services Department (HSD) Secretary. HSD is one of the state’s largest agencies with more than 2,000 employees. The Human Services Department administers the state’s Medicaid program and programs for New Mexicans with mental illness and addiction issues. Secretary designate Scrase is a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and the section chief of geriatrics at the UNM Health Sciences Center.

Secretary of Homeland Security and Emergency Management: Jackie White, a captain in Albuquerque Fire Rescue will head homeland security department. Her 17-year career includes work in special operations, homeland security and fire investigations.

Secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department: Sarah Cottrell Propst has been appointed Secretary and will oversee the State Parks division and regulate oil and natural gas drilling in New Mexico.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1257716/gov-elect-lujan-grisham-makes-three-cabinet-picks.html

Secretary of Cultural Affairs: Debra Garcia y Griego, director of the city of Santa Fe’s Arts Commission, is the new cabinet secretary. Garcia y Griego is a board member of the nonprofit Americans for the Arts and she has an international reputation in the arts community.

Secretary of the Department of Information Technology (IT): Vincent Martinez, who served in the state House from 1993 to 1997, is the new IT Secretary. Former Representative Martinez already works in the department as managing director of cloud and communications.

Secretary of Higher Education: Kate O’Neill, the former CEO of the University of New Mexico’s campus in Taos, has been appointed Secretary of Higher Education. The UNM Taos campus was struggling in rural New Mexico until she was able to turn it around.

Secretary for the Department of Transportation: Mike Sandoval, a 24-year state employee and a division director within the state Department of Transportation is the Secretary designate. Sandoval has overseen the Rail Runner Express commuter train, commercial-vehicle permitting, traffic safety and other programs.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1261649/lujan-grisham-picks-4-new-cabinet-secretaries.html

Secretary of Department of Veterans Services: Judy Griego, a brigadier general retired from the Air Force, has been appointed cabinet secretary. She is the first woman to reach the rank of brigadier general in the New Mexico National Guard and serve one tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Office of African American Affairs: William Scott Carreathers, Director of African American Student Services at the University of New Mexico and former Associate Dean, was appointed to head the department.

Secretary of the Department of Tourism: Jen Schroer, a former president and chief executive of the New Mexico Hospitality Association, was appointed to serve as cabinet secretary for tourism. She worked earlier in the New Mexico Tourism Department. Ms. Schroer is returning to New Mexico in that she was the Executive Director of the Davis Chamber of Commerce located in California.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1261901/lujan-grisham-reveals-3-new-appointees.html

Secretary of Economic Development: Alicia Keyes, Albuquerque’s film liaison director and a former Walt Disney Company executive has been appointed cabinet secretary. Keyes worked in the City of Albuquerque film department where she oversaw the deal to make the city home to NETFLEX’s first United States production hub. Keyes has been given major credit for suggesting to NETFELX to buy the Albuquerque Studios with NETFLEX planning to invest $1 Billion dollars in New Mexico over 10 years. She grew up partly in New Mexico and attended Albuquerque Academy.

General Services Department: Ken Ortiz who worked for Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, will head this department. He said his initial priorities include ensuring the state procurement code gives local businesses a fair chance to win state contracts.

Superintendent of Regulation and Licensing: Marguerite Salazar, who has had a Cabinet-level position under outgoing Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, is the new cabinet superintendent. She has had a similar role in Colorado, where she was the executive director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies.

Department of Workforce Solutions: Former New Mexico House Representative Bill McCamley of Las Cruces Democrat will head the department. McCamley is a former Doña Ana County commissioner, and he ran a nonprofit group that worked on economic development in rural areas. He sought the Democratic nomination for state auditor this year and lost in the primary to newly elected Brian Colon.

Department of Aging and Long-Term Services: Alice Liu McCoy, an attorney for Disability Rights New Mexico, a nonprofit advocacy group, will now be in charge of the department. McCoy sued the state recently for failing to regulate boarding homes that take in former psychiatric patients.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1259307/lujan-grisham-nominates-3-for-cabinet-posts.html

Children Youth and Families Department: Brian Blalock will take over the Children, Youth and Families Department, or CYFD. Blalock has a lengthy background in youth law and will make a move to the agency from being the law and policy director at Tipping Point Community which is an anti-poverty group in the Bay Area.

Department of Public Safety: Mark Shea has been named the new Secretary of the Department of Public Safety. Shea is currently the undersheriff of Valencia County and has been in law enforcement for more than four decades.

Environment Department: James Kenney is the new Secretary of the Environment Department after spending more than 21 years at the Environmental Protection Agency, most recently as senior policy advisor for oil and gas.

Department of Health: Kathy Kunkel will be the new Secretary of the Department of Health. Kunkel spent the last four years as deputy director of the DOH overseeing multiple facets of the agency.

https://www.kob.com/politics-news/governor-names-new-cyfd-leader-among-others/5201394/?cat=500

Probation and Parole: Former State Senator Cisco Mcsorley has been appointed to head the Division which is within the Department of Corrections. Before resigning the State Senate, Mc Sorely had the distinction of being the longest serving member in the legislature having served since 1985, first in the House and then in the Senate.

Taxation and Revenue Department: Stephanie Schardin Clarke, a former Deputy Secretary of Finance and Administration for the state, was appointed to head this department and the agency includes the Motor Vehicle Division. Ms. Clarke also has worked for Santa Fe County and the Legislative Finance Committee.

Indian Affairs Department: Lynn A. Trujillo, Native American coordinator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has been selected Secretary of indian Affairs. She has worked as general counsel at Sandia Pueblo, where she’s also a member.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1271538/lujan-grisham-taps-leaders-for-taxation-indian-affairs.html

Public Education Secretary: Karen Trujillo is the new cabinet Secretary for Public Education. Trujillo has more than two decades of experience in education both in teaching and professional development. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate from New Mexico State University and is currently serving as the university’s interim associate dean for research at the school’s College of Education. NOTE: Lt. Governor Howie Morales was appointed as an “acting secretary” until Trujillo was appointed.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/governor-announces-new-mexicos-top-education-officials/5221232/?cat=500

Department of Corrections: Julie Jones, a former corrections secretary in Florida will oversee New Mexico’s prison system as the Secretary of the Department of Corrections.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1275236/florida-official-to-run-nm-prison-system.html

New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture: The Secretary of Agriculture is Jeff Witt. The Department of Agriculture is responsible for ensuring a safe and secure food supply and a fair marketplace, protecting natural resources and the environment, and promoting markets and trade. The Secretary of Agriculture serves on the governor’s cabinet but reports to the New Mexico State University board and university president.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has yet to appoint a new Director of the Workers’ Compensation Administration.

GOVERNOR’S OFFICE APPOINTMENTS

Governor Lujan Grisham has also made the following appointments who will be working directly out of the Governor’s Office:

John Bingaman, the son of former U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who headed up her transition team, was appointed one of two Chief of Staff who will be “co equal” in authority and report directly to Governor Lujan Grisham.

Bingaman, 39, a private sector investment banker and managing principal of an investment firm, will oversee policy development, the legislative team and legal operations in the Governor’s Office.

Santa Fe County administrator Teresa Casados, 55, was also appointed Chief of Staff and will serve as chief operations officer and oversee the execution of policy and legislation, work with Cabinet secretaries and manage constituent services.

Albuquerque Civil rights attorney Matthew L. Garcia was appointed General Counsel to the Governor.

Dominic Gabello, Lujan Grisham’s gubernatorial campaign manager, was appointed as Senior Adviser for Policy, Strategy and Communications.

Stephanie Kean, an urban planner who worked in Lujan Grisham’s congressional office was appointed Senior Policy Adviser for Education.

Albuquerque attorney Jane Wishner, a founding member of the law firm Peifer, Hanson & Mullins, was appointed executive policy adviser for health and human services. She is also the former Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center.

Mariana Padilla, who worked in Lujan Grisham’s congressional office, was appointed Director of the Children’s Cabinet.

Victor Reyes was appointed the Governor’s Legislative Director. Reyes has worked as a senior staff member for the New Mexico State Senate Democratic caucus.

Matt Ruybal, who handled constituent services in Lujan Grisham’s congressional office, was appointed the Governor’s Director of Constituent Relations.

Tripp Stelnicki, a former Reporter for the Santa Fe New Mexican and covered city and county government, was appointed the Governor’s Director of Communications.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

In characteristic style and with a sense of purpose and urgency, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is hitting the ground running with the appointment of her cabinet designates and executive staff.

What is very impressive is the fact that she has attracted some very high-quality people that will help her press her agenda during her first legislative session in office, which will be critical in moving the state forward.

Governor Lujan Grisham has clearly surrounded herself with people she knows and trusts and who are more than capable of handling their jobs.

Virtually all the appointments reflect a Governor who really knows and understands New Mexico state government and agencies, no doubt because she herself is a former cabinet secretary having worked for Democrat and Republican Governors, not to mention that she is a former Bernalillo County Commissioner and US Congresswoman.

What is noteworthy is the appearance of a seamless, low key approach to the transition and the selection of highly qualified people to serve.

Eight years ago, the previous administration had difficulty in finding qualified people primarily because the Republican Governor had an absolute ignorance of the many functions of state government and services provided, except for prosecuting people and had a hell bent attitude to dismantle or reduce the size of government.

Sincerest best wishes to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, her cabinet and staff as they begin their great adventure together with high hopes and tremendous potential.

New Mexico begins our new adventure full of pride, hope and promise!

“Si Se Puede!”

On January 1, 2019, after 8 years in office, Susana Martinez will no longer be Governor of New Mexico.

On Sunday, December 30, 2018, the Albuquerque Journal ran on its front page the anticipated exit “interview story” of outgoing Republican Governor Susana Martinez summarizing her 8 years in office.

You can read the full article here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1262720/susana-martine-zhistory-hope-amp-headwinds.html

The Sunday edition of the Albuquerque Journal is the highest circulation of the week.

The newspaper headlines read:

“HISTORY, HOPE & HEADWINDS”, “Governor Susana Martinez stressed education reform and a tight fiscal ship. She leaves a complicated legacy”

The front-page article was accompanied by a very flattering color photo of Governor Martinez totally appropriate for the dignity of the office she is leaving.

The problem with the Albuquerque Journal article is it downplayed her failures and totally ignored her scandals.

The Albuquerque Journal did not report nor point out that their own poll showed that Martinez is leaving office with a 46% disapproval rating and a 35% approval rating.

The Albuquerque Journal has proclaimed for decades that it is the “newspaper of record”.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The Albuquerque Journal exit article of Republican Governor Susana Martinez clearly establishes that it has become nothing more than the Republican Party newspaper of record.

The last elected Republican official to receive such front page, color photo treatment was last year when former Republican Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry left office.

Eight years ago, the media basically ignored outgoing Democrat Governor Bill Richardson without exit interviews.

The Albuquerque Journal article glossed over the true legacy that many people believe Governor Martinez is leaving as she returns home to Las Cruces.

Following are the 10 major scandals and failures that the Albuquerque Journal article did not report on or just glossed over that occurred during Governor Susana Martinez’s 8-years in office:

1. “THE DIRTY DOWNS DEAL” AND A FEDERAL GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION

The Journal article did not even mention this controversy for the scandal it was and how it was reported when it happened.

During her first year in office, Martinez herself was alleged to have been involved with a “play to play” controversy involving the award of a $1 Billion-dollar, 25-year, Albuquerque Downs Racetrack contract, dubbed by politicos as “the Dirty Downs deal”.

https://www.abqjournal.com/335335/buster-screwed-us.html

The FBI investigated the contract, which was awarded to the Downs at Albuquerque in December 2011.

FBI agents interviewed people involved with the Martinez campaign and others about the race track lease and about campaign donations and inaugural donations.

Martinez herself also answered FBI questions about the Downs lease deal but she never went public with what she said.

Allegations were made that the Downs at Albuquerque contract was a “pay-to-play deal”.

Allegations of nefarious conduct around the Downs lease involved political insiders, significant campaign contributions to Martinez and attempts to hide political donations and contributions to Governor Martinez or her political action committee from donors connected to the Downs.

Republican operatives former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, who appeared in Martinez election commercials, and former Republican National Committeeman and private attorney Pat Rogers were hired by the successful Downs Race track applicant.

Both White and Rogers are known to have close ties with Jay McClesky, the Governor’s paid political consultant, and no doubt played a role in influencing the award of the contract by the Martinez Administration.

Two of the Downs owners are Louisianans Bill Windham and John Turner are Republican boosters and were substantial contributors to Martinez’s campaign for Governor where Martinez received $70,000 in contributions during her campaign from Windham and Turner.

Governor Susana Martinez’s political adviser, Jay McCleskey, who has never been a state employee but had an office next to Martinez, thrust himself right in the middle of the Dirty Downs Deal controversy and the award of the contract by the State Fair Commission.

McCleskey became upset over a two-week delay on the contract award by the State Fair Commission.

McCleskey became angry when the State Fair Commission did not approve the 25-year racino lease with the Downs at Albuquerque.

For several months, a federal grand jury investigated Jay McCleskey regarding expenditures from Republican Martinez’s campaign, as well as money from her 2011 inauguration committee that went directly to McCleskey.

On March 4, 2016, Mc Clesky’s attorney announced that the federal grand jury would not indict McCleskey by saying “I’ve been informed the investigation has been terminated” and the attorney declined to answer any questions.

https://www.abqjournal.com/735011/mccleskey-lawyer-grand-jury-over-no-charges.html

2. GHOST OF CHRISTMAS “PEEEZAA” PAST

The Journal article did not even mention this controversy for the scandal it was and how it was reported when it happened and how it was the beginning of her downfall.

Governor Susana Martinez will probably be remembered most for what happened on December 13, 2015, at 1:30 am in the morning after at her Governor’s Staff Christmas Party at the El Dorado Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Audio recordings obtained by local media outlets revealed hotel staff calling Santa Fe Police to ask them to kick noisy people off the hotel premises after complaints from other hotel guests.

An upset Governor Martinez went to the hotel front desk at 1:30 am in the morning.

Martinez took the phone from the front desk clerk to talk on the phone with the Santa Fe police dispatcher.

In one recording, Martinez is heard telling a police dispatcher to “call off” any officers who had been dispatched.

A slurring and drunk sounding Martinez can be heard in one recording repeatedly insisting that the police dispatcher tell her who made the noise complaint with the hotel’s front desk.

At one point, the dispatcher tells the governor: “I can’t give you that information, ma’am.”

Martinez responds “Why can you not? … It is public record. Give it to me.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/693309/gov-martinez-to-police-dispatcher-call-off-your-officers.html

Another police recording has Martinez speaking to an officer on the phone, incredulous that cops had been sent to the hotel and she says:

“So we’re sitting in there, I’m the Governor of the State of New Mexico, and we’re in there with my sister, who’s disabled, along with about six other people who are having ‘peeezzaaa’.”

Told by the Santa Fe Police that there were reports of partying guests throwing bottles off the balcony, Martinez denied it and then admitted it by saying:

“I’m sorry. There’s no one on the balcony and there’s no one throwing bottles off the balcony … and whoever was throwing bottles is not there, hasn’t been there for like six hours … ”

Governor Martinez days later apologized for what happened but only after she realized she had to do damage control when the audio recording surfaced of her admonishing Santa Fe Police officers who went to break up her hotel party.

Martinez was revealed as the mean and vindictive person she was known for in private by many people and legislators when she demanded to know who complained and to chastise police for doing their jobs.

The Martinez carefully crafted positive image of caring for and reading to children vanished within days as she made the rounds of the TV stations to apologize for her conduct.

3. GUTTING OF NON-PROFIT MENTAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAMS

One of the cruelest things that Governor Martinez did as Governor was order an “audit” of mental health services by nonprofits in New Mexico which devastated New Mexico’s behavioral health system.

More than 160,000 New Mexicans received behavioral health services in 2014, with most of those services funded by Medicaid, according to the Human Services Department.

In June 2013, under the direction of Governor Martinez, the Human Services Department cut off Medicaid funding to 15 behavioral health nonprofits operating in New Mexico.

The Martinez Administration said that the outside audit showed more than $36 million in overbilling, as well as mismanagement and possible fraud.

The Martinez Human Services Department agency brought in the 5 Arizona providers to take over.

In early 2016, at least 13 of the 15 nonprofits that were shut down were exonerated of fraud by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas.

Even though AG Balderas found no fraud and cleared the nonprofits of fraud the damage had been done to the nonprofits and many just went out of business

Three of the five Arizona providers brought in by Governor Susana Martinez’s administration in 2013 to replace the New Mexico nonprofits pulled up stakes in the state and the mental health system as yet to fully recover.

https://www.abqjournal.com/749923/third-arizona-behavioral-health-provider-to-pull-out-of-state.html

4. A FAILED EDUCATION SYSTEM

On December 28, 2018, it was reported that the 2018 high school class graduation rate is 73%, a 10%-point jump since 2011 when Martinez took office, something she can legitimately take credit for under her leadership.

However, after 8 years of her leadership and despite her efforts, the state lags behind the national average of 84% for graduations rates reported by The National Center for Education Statistics.

Despite the all-time-best rates, New Mexico still lags behind all the other states in the United Stated, except the District of Columbia that had a lower high school graduation rate last year, at 69.2 percent.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/all-time-high-mark-for-nm-graduation-rates-stretches-to-second-straight-year/4801305/

https://www.abqjournal.com/1262414/nm-grade-rate-at-73-percent.html

The Journal published a favorite repeated staged photo opportunity of Governor Susana Martinez reading children’s books to kids ages 6 to 10, with the children wearing “Cat In The Hat” colorful hats that would make anyone go “awe, how cute the children” while Martinez read to them Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham”.

We all now know the real reason why she was doing the reading herself: the kids were not proficient enough to read the children’s books out loud themselves to Republican Governor Martinez.

Throughout her 8 years as Governor, Martinez was at odds with teachers over the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, tests.

Republican Governor Susana Martinez, with her policies and her Secretary of Public Education appointments, especially the appointment of Secretary Hanna Skandera, contributed and resulted in a failing education system.

On Friday, July 20, 2018, Santa Fe District Court Judge Sarah Singleton, after a weeklong trial, ruled that the state of New Mexico is violating the constitutional rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a sufficient education.

The court ruling was a confirmation of what went on for the last 8 years with the state’s at-risk children under the Republican Martinez Administration.

The Judge found that it was clear that many New Mexico students are not receiving the basic education in reading, writing and math they should be receiving in our public-school system.

In her blistering written opinion, Judge Singleton wrote:

“[The evidence presented at trial] proves that the vast majority of New Mexico’s at-risk children finish each school year without the basic literacy and math skills needed to pursue post-secondary education or a career. … Indeed, overall New Mexico children rank at the very bottom in the country for educational achievement. … The at-risk students are still not attaining proficiency at the rate of non-at-risk students … and the programs being lauded by [the Public Education Department] are not changing this picture.”

In New Mexico, 71.6% of the state’s public-school students come from low-income families, and 14.4% are English-language learners.

Further, 14.8 percent of students have disabilities, and 10.6 percent are Native American.

Judge Singleton addressing proficiency rates for Native American students said that in the past 3 years, those students’ reading proficiency was at 17.6% and their math proficiency was at 10.4%.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1200069/questions-surround-ruling-on-nm-education-funding.html

The Court found that New Mexico does not have enough teachers and that New Mexico teachers are among the lowest paid in the country and stated:

“The evidence shows that school districts do not have the funds to pay for all the teachers they need. … [An example is] Gadsden, one of the better performing school districts in the state, has had to eliminate over 53 classroom positions and 15 essential teachers since 2008.”

The Court also faulted the Martinez Administration’s failure to provide access to technology in rural districts.

Judge Singleton ruling addressed the state teacher evaluation system implemented by the Martinez Administration by saying:

“[The teacher evaluation system] may be contributing to the lower quality of teachers in high-need schools. … In general, punitive teacher evaluation systems that penalize teachers for working in high-need schools contribute to problems in this category of schools.”

The Court rejected the Martinez Administration’s arguments that no new funding is needed because at-risk student performances are improving.

During the last 8 years at-risk children finish each school year without the basic literacy and math skills needed to pursue post-secondary education or a career.

5. FAILING NEW MEXICO’S CHILDREN

During a Channel 7 interview, Governor Martinez, with her usual and phony emotional, teary eyed flair, said “I never lost focus on keeping our children first … . “

https://www.koat.com/article/gov-martinez-looks-back-at-8-years-in-office-accomplishments-regrets-whats-next/25659323

The truth is, things for New Mexico’s children have only gotten worse during the last 8 years under Governor Martinez’s leadership.

For the first time in five years, New Mexico has fallen to last among states when it comes to the economic, educational and medical well-being of its children, according to a nonprofit that tracks the status of U.S. kids.

The most troubling in the 2018 Kids Count Data Book is New Mexico’s steep drop in ranking for health care measures which previously was a bright spot for the state.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/education/report-new-mexico-ranks-last-in-child-well-being/article_0f6865fc-d34a-5050-9f74-21680e98a2a5.html

According to the 2018 Kids Count Data Book, 30% of New Mexico’s children were living in poverty in 2016, compared to 19% nationwide that year, the earliest figures available.

In educational measures, the report says 75% of the state’s fourth-graders were not proficient in reading in 2017, compared to 65% nationally, and 80% of eighth-graders were not performing up to par in math in 2017, compared to 67% across the U.S.

6. “ALL CRIME ALL THE TIME” LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS

In 2016 and again in 2017, New Mexico had the country’s highest per capita rate of property crime and the second-highest per capita rate of violent crime.

Legislative session after legislative session, Governor Susana Martinez requested the New Mexico Legislature for changes in New Mexico’s criminal laws, including to reinstate the death penalty.

Martinez repeatedly sought to toughen criminal sentences for a host of offenses without even attempting to address the root causes of crime: poverty, drug abuse intervention, poor education, unemployment and social intervention.

The Governor’s proposals included a bill to toughen penalties for people who commit crimes while on probation or parole and restoring the death penalty for people convicted of murdering children and law enforcement.

Martinez called for a “three-strikes” proposal that would require life sentences for repeat offenders convicted of a third violent felony.

http://www.koat.com/article/gov-martinez-unveils-tough-on-crime-proposals/14829131

It was the murder of children by their parents or custodians, killings of law enforcement officers in the line of duty and rising crime in Albuquerque and the state that had Republican Governor Martinez and conservative Republican state lawmakers calling for New Mexico to reinstate the death penalty.

Martinez falsely argued that the death penalty is the solution to stopping heinous crimes and repeat offenders, contrary to decades of well documented studies.

Governor Martinez embraced what New Mexico State Representative Monica Youngblood had to say about the death penalty when Youngblood said:

“I think [the death penalty] would be a deterrent. I mean, look what’s going on in Albuquerque. … This would be a narrow reinstatement focusing on those who kill law enforcement and children.”

All the proposed changes to New Mexico’s criminal laws by Governor Martinez were never accompanied by any increase in funding for our courts, the District Attorney’s Offices, the Public Defenders offices nor the Corrections Department which are the essential elements of the criminal justice system.

“Lock em up and throw away the key” is the ignorant approach to solving high crime rates.

Reinstating the death penalty has been a “no starter” for years and discredited with many states repealing the death penalty as a penalty that fails to stop violent crime and crimes against law enforcement.

7. CONFLICTS WITH THE LEGISLATURE

For the full 8 years she has been in office, Martinez has been vindictive and mean spirited to legislators.

Governor Susana Martinez will be remembered for her inability to work with the New Mexico legislature and her vindictiveness towards those she disagreed with, even with those in her own party.

Martinez’s reelection victory in 2014 helped Republicans seized control of the New Mexico House of Representatives for the first time in 60 years.

Republicans ended up with a 37-33 advantage in the House but that did not last long.

https://www.abqjournal.com/491495/control-of-70-seat-new-mexico-house-hangs-in-balance.html

Martinez and the Republican house overplayed their hand and proceeded to preside over the House in a vindictive manner against Democrats.

The Republican House approved only Republican legislation and voted down all Democrat sponsored legislation.

In 2016, after losing the House of Representative chamber in 2014, Democrats regained control of the house putting Democrats in control of both the New Mexico House and Senate.

Political consultant Jay McCleskey for her full 8 years in office was Martinez’s number one political advisor and campaign manager who is given credit for grooming her and getting her elected twice.

McClusky is well known in political circles for his “slash and burn” political campaign tactics and negative advertising.

McClusky was referred to as the “shadow governor” by many political observers.

McClusky was so vital to Martinez that he was given an office on the 4th floor of the State Capitol even though he was not a state employee.

The peak of Governor Martinez’s vindictiveness and pettiness was when she made sure that her Political Action Committee headed up by Jay McClusky spent $1 million dollars to defeat long time and respected Democrat Floor Leader of the State Senate Michael Sanchez who she considered a major impediment to her policies.

Martinez refused to help many in her own party with her PAC donations which many Republicans feel contributed to their loss of the Republican controlled House of Representatives in 2016.

8. CONFLICTS WITH THE NEW MEXICO JUDICIARY

Martinez has not gotten along any better with the New Mexico Judiciary.

Many Governor Martinez vetoes were found unconstitutional by the Court’s.

It was a state District Court that ruled the Martinez Administration violated the constitutional rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a sufficient education.

On April 25, 2018, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Governor Martinez did not follow proper constitutional procedures in vetoing 10 different bills that, for the most part, had passed the Legislature with broad bipartisan support.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1163243/nm-supreme-court-invalidates-gov-martinez-vetoes.html

The Supreme Court ruling put end to a yearlong court battle and resulted in the bills in essentially taking effect immediately.

In court, state lawmakers argued the 10 vetoes were not properly carried out because the governor either took too long to act on them or did not provide an explanation with each vetoed bill.

The common consensus amongst many members of the legislature is that Governor Martinez vetoed the legislation in retaliation for them not supporting her policies.

In August, 2018, Martinez got into the Trump act of criticizing a District Judge’s rulings based on the law when a Taos Judge released 5 defendants on bond pending trial for child abuse.

It was not surprising to the legal community that the court released the 5 defendants pending trial in that that there was no “clear and convincing evidence” as required by the law to deny them bail.

Martinez had this to say about the judge’s ruling:

“I strongly disagree with this decision. … Unfortunately, it highlights for the entire nation how extreme the New Mexico Supreme Court has been in dictating pretrial release for all kinds of dangerous criminals.”

What made the Governor Susana Martinez remarks so egregious is that she is a former 16 year elected Las Cruces District Attorney and a license New Mexico Attorney and she knows better.

Vilifying Judges is a popular tactic perfected by President Trump to gin up their conservative base.

What is not appropriate and downright dangerous conduct is for anyone to threaten any judge with physical harm over a ruling they make as was done with the Taos District Court Judge.

Martinez as a New Mexico attorney is an officer of the court, and her total failure to condemn people threatening the courts is a low as you can get even for the likes of a Republican Governor who claims to be “law and order”.

9. FAILURE AT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

On January 1, 2011, Governor Susana Martinez was sworn in as New Mexico Governor.

In 2009, New Mexico’s unemployment rate was above 7% and then went to 8% and beyond at the start of 2010.

For the full 8 years of her two terms as Governor, Martinez watched and did nothing when comes to economic development as New Mexico’s population declined dramatically with a mass exodus of educated young people looking for jobs seeking a future elsewhere.

Since 2010, 62,000 more U.S. citizens moved out of New Mexico than arrived here.

In 2018, New Mexico had 3,509 more people move out than move in which was the lowest net-migration loss since 2012, according to United States census statistics.

The state population has hovered around below 2.1 million since crossing the 2 million mark in 2008, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican.

For a full 8 years, Governor Susana Martinez failed to offer any viable economic development plan other than promoting corporate tax cuts.

Martinez promoted “no new taxes”, reduced taxes and fees wherever she could as her economic development plan to attract new industry to New Mexico, and it was miserable failure.

In February, 2018 New Mexico’s unemployment rate was 5.8%, down, but not by much.

Since 2013, New Mexico has seen more people moving out of the state each year than moving into the state, known as negative net migration.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/new-mexico-lags-behind-neighbors-in-population-growth/

New Mexico competes with metropolitan areas like Denver, Salt Lake City and Phoenix, which are booming with higher-paying jobs.

The figures show Nevada and Idaho grew the fastest during a 12-month period that ended in July, 2018 while New Mexico had a population growth rate of 0.1%.

Robert Rhatigan, associate director of Geospatial and Population Studies at the University of New Mexico had this to say about outgoing migration:

“The migration piece is what separates us from our neighbors. Our neighbors recovered from the recession, and we didn’t. People left for better economic opportunities. As long as neighboring states are offering better-paying jobs, it will be difficult for the numbers to turn around.”

New Mexico has been chipping away at its low-wage reputation with commitments from FACEBOOK, Netflix, Safelite and Union Pacific, but they are making those commitments despite any real efforts by the Martinez Administration.

10. FAILURE TO SUPPORT EMERGING FILM INDUSTRY

The one industry that represents the future of New Mexico and a major hope for expanding New Mexico’s economy is the film industry but Martinez made sure she got in the way.

In 2002, the state film tax incentives were put in place.

In 2011, Governor Susana Martinez placed a $50 million annual cap on the incentives when many advocated a much higher cap or no cap at all.

The state has hit the cap every year since it was put in place by Martinez in 2011 but she refused to increase the cap for 6 years.

In 2017, 74 different projects claimed every cent of the $50 million in incentives.

The film industry expands each year in large part because of tax credits.

According to a 2017 report from the New Mexico Film Office, the state spent the entire $50 million allotted for film tax credits annually in 2014, and the film industry spent an estimated $513.9 million purchasing goods and services from local businesses between 2010 and 2014.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2017/03/31/why-martinez-vetoed-film-credit-bill.html

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2017/03/31/why-martinez-vetoed-film-credit-bill.html

Between 2014 and 2017, the amount of direct, in-state production spending increased from $162 million to $506 million.

New Mexico has received more than $234 million in direct spending into the economy from film projects in this 2017-2018 fiscal year.

In the fiscal year 2017, there was nearly $506 million in direct spending into the New Mexico economy.

https://www.kob.com/politics-news/vote-4-nm-tax-incentives-for-the-film-industry/5128621/

In 2017, Martinez vetoed a bill that would have extended tax credits to smaller film productions in the state.

CONCLUSION

When first elected, Governor Susana Martinez went into office with high hopes, great potential and possibilities and she was a national political rising star.

After 8 years in office, Martinez has very little to show for and will be known for lost opportunities and a star that totally burned out.

Governor Martinez will be remembered most for her Governor Office pizza and beer holiday Christmas party at a Santa Fe, Hotel at taxpayer expense and the “Dirty Downs Deal”.

Martinez will also be remembered for her vindictive and mean-spirited ways and her “my way or the highway” attitude.

Governor Susana Martinez’ true legacy will be that of illiterate New Mexico children, a punitive teacher evaluation system, destruction of a nonprofit mental health care system, absolutely no legislative accomplishments and a state in decline in population.

Governor Susana Martinez’s only claim to fame will be having been elected twice as the first Republican Hispanic female Governor in New Mexico history.

The Martinez legacy is already becoming a mere footnote in New Mexico history with the election of the first Democrat Hispanic female Governor in New Mexico History with Michelle Lujan Grisham succeeding her on January 1, 2019.

For further background and analysis see:

The Rise And Fall Of Governor Susana Martinez And Her 8 Year Legacy Of Failure

The New York Times on December 28, 2018 published an opinion column by Elizabeth Drew.

Ms. Drew is a journalist based in Washington who covered Watergate scandal and President Richard Nixon.

Following is the editorial column in full followed by the link to the column and then further commentary and analysis:

TITLE: The Inevitability of Impeachment

SUBTITLE COMMENT: Even Republicans may be deciding that the president has become too great a burden to their party or too great a danger to the country.

“An impeachment process against President Trump now seems inescapable. Unless the president resigns, the pressure by the public on the Democratic leaders to begin an impeachment process next year will only increase. Too many people think in terms of stasis: How things are is how they will remain. They don’t take into account that opinion moves with events.

Whether or not there’s already enough evidence to impeach Mr. Trump — I think there is — we will learn what the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has found, even if his investigation is cut short. A significant number of Republican candidates didn’t want to run with Mr. Trump in the midterms, and the results of those elections didn’t exactly strengthen his standing within his party. His political status, weak for some time, is now hurtling downhill.

The midterms were followed by new revelations in criminal investigations of once-close advisers as well as new scandals involving Mr. Trump himself. The odor of personal corruption on the president’s part — perhaps affecting his foreign policy — grew stronger. Then the events of the past several days — the president’s precipitous decision to pull American troops out of Syria, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’s abrupt resignation, the swoon in the stock market, the pointless shutdown of parts of the government — instilled a new sense of alarm among many Republicans.

The word “impeachment” has been thrown around with abandon. The frivolous impeachment of President Bill Clinton helped to define it as a form of political revenge. But it is far more important and serious than that: It has a critical role in the functioning of our democracy.

Impeachment was the founders’ method of holding a president accountable between elections. Determined to avoid setting up a king in all but name, they put the decision about whether a president should be allowed to continue to serve in the hands of the representatives of the people who elected him.

The founders understood that overturning the results of a presidential election must be approached with care and that they needed to prevent the use of that power as a partisan exercise or by a faction. So they wrote into the Constitution provisions to make it extremely difficult for Congress to remove a president from office, including that after an impeachment vote in the House, the Senate would hold a trial, with a two-thirds vote needed for conviction.

Lost in all the discussion about possible lawbreaking by Mr. Trump is the fact that impeachment wasn’t intended only for crimes. For example, in 1974 the House Judiciary Committee charged Richard Nixon with, among other things, abusing power by using the I.R.S. against his political enemies. The committee also held the president accountable for misdeeds by his aides and for failing to honor the oath of office’s pledge that a president must “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

The current presidential crisis seems to have only two possible outcomes. If Mr. Trump sees criminal charges coming at him and members of his family, he may feel trapped. This would leave him the choice of resigning or trying to fight congressional removal. But the latter is highly risky.

I don’t share the conventional view that if Mr. Trump is impeached by the House, the Republican-dominated Senate would never muster the necessary 67 votes to convict him. Stasis would decree that would be the case, but the current situation, already shifting, will have been left far behind by the time the senators face that question. Republicans who were once Mr. Trump’s firm allies have already openly criticized some of his recent actions, including his support of Saudi Arabia despite the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and his decision on Syria. They also openly deplored Mr. Mattis’s departure.

It always seemed to me that Mr. Trump’s turbulent presidency was unsustainable and that key Republicans would eventually decide that he had become too great a burden to the party or too great a danger to the country. That time may have arrived. In the end the Republicans will opt for their own political survival. Almost from the outset some Senate Republicans have speculated on how long his presidency would last. Some surely noticed that his base didn’t prevail in the midterms.

But it may well not come to a vote in the Senate. Facing an assortment of unpalatable possibilities, including being indicted after he leaves office, Mr. Trump will be looking for a way out. It’s to be recalled that Mr. Nixon resigned without having been impeached or convicted. The House was clearly going to approve articles of impeachment against him, and he’d been warned by senior Republicans that his support in the Senate had collapsed. Mr. Trump could well exhibit a similar instinct for self-preservation. But like Mr. Nixon, Mr. Trump will want future legal protection.

Mr. Nixon was pardoned by President Gerald Ford, and despite suspicions, no evidence has ever surfaced that the fix was in. While Mr. Trump’s case is more complex than Mr. Nixon’s, the evident dangers of keeping an out-of-control president in office might well impel politicians in both parties, not without controversy, to want to make a deal to get him out of there”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/27/opinion/trump-impeachment-resign-drew.html

THE MUELLER RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Government officials and others familiar with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference have told the media that he is nearing the conclusion of his investigation and is expected to submit a confidential report to the attorney general as early as mid-February, 2019.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/mueller-may-submit-report-attorney-general-soon-mid-february-say-n949961

Mueller has charged 33 people and convicted Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Trump’s former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn and Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen of felony crimes of varying degrees and all three have cooperated with the investigation .

Mueller has not answered the fundamental question of whether Trump or anyone around him conspired with the Russian intelligence operations to help his campaign.

Mueller has not made public any evidence proving such a conspiracy, but he has rebutted in court filings Trumps assertion that neither he nor any of his top aides had met or talked with Russians during the 2016 race.

Further, Mueller in court filings has said that Trump knew about his lawyer’s negotiations over a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Trump has denied repeatedly he was doing business with Moscow yet a “letter of intent to build” and signed by Trump shows he lied.

Mueller’s final report is also expected to answer the question of whether President Trump obstructed justice.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Trump’s impeachment may be inevitable, but not his conviction and removal, at least not yet.

The new Democratic controlled US House of Representative took control on January 4, 2019.

There is no doubt that Trump has been a total disaster for the last two years, going from one crisis to another that he himself has created and showing he is not morally and not emotionally fit to be President.

A simple majority in the United States Representatives is all that is required to pass Articles of Impeachment charging Trump with “treason, high crimes and misdemeanors”.

After the midterms, the Democrats have a comfortable majority in the United States House, with a total of 435 house members consisting of 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans and 1 vacancy on a race yet to be called.

A two thirds vote in the United States Senate is required to convict and remove a president after a trial presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Currently there are 100 Senators consisting of 53 Republican Senators, 45 Democratic Senator’s and 2 Independents and 67 Senators must vote to convict to remove.

With 45 US Senate Democrats, 21 Republican Senators will need to vote to convict Trump, which is why so many political pundits say it is unlikely Trump will ever be removed unless the Mueller Russian Investigation clearly shows criminal activity and acts of treason by Trump and his family.

Democrats could very easily overplay their hand and impeach Trump but he could still get reelected in 2020 if the Republican controlled Senate do not go along and do not convict and remove him.

This country went down that road when the Republican controlled House impeached President Bill Clinton but the Senate could not muster the 67 votes to convict and remove Clinton

One thing that would make it more likely than not that Trump is impeached, tried and convicted is if the final Mueller report does in fact find that Trump and his campaign colluded with Russians to influence the 2016 election and makes findings that Trump engaged in “obstruction of justice”.

News sources are suggesting there will be more indictments announced before the Mueller Report is finalized.

On January 4, 2019, it was announced that federal D.C. Court granted a sixth month extension to the Mueller Russian probe grand jury suggesting the Russia probe is not ending anytime soon.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/04/federal-judge-extends-mueller-grand-jury-by-another-six-months-report.html?__source=sharebar|facebook&par=sharebar

The previous reports that Mueller was wrapping his Russian probe investigation, writing the final report and that the final report would be released mid-February may have been premature.

You do not need a federal grand jury to be in session to write a final report and make recommendations.

The only reason you need an extension is if more subpoenas need to be issued, more evidence needs to be presented to the grand jury and more indictments are forthcoming.

Trump can only pardon for federal offenses, so whatever charges the State of New York, where a state grand jury has been convened, against Trump, his corporations and his sons and daughters cannot be pardoned by him.

If Mueller follows DOJ guidelines, he will not indict a sitting President but he could find obstruction of justice, Trump accepting Russian interference with election and with Mueller recommending impeachment.

The indictments of Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner would only be icing on the cake and hope springs eternal.