Resist. Insist. Persist. Enlist.
The McKinley County Democrats will be opening an office in Gallup this week!
If you are interested in helping out with any of the state elections this will be the place to be in Gallup.
For more information contact us today to get some volunteer shifts scheduled!
Ceremonial Parade Walkers meet at the Aztec Theater@ 915 West Aztec Ave. Gallup, NM. Look for Michelle Lujan Grisham banner.
Note: You can wear traditional Native American attire, rodeo attire or uniform.
Gallup Flea Market need 2 volunteers for 8:00 am to 11:00 am Shift and 11:00 am to 2:00 pm Shift. Volunteers will be getting “Commit to Vote Democrat in 2018” cards filled out by Democratic supporters.
For more information contact:
Charmaine Jackson
Navajo Nation Field Organizer
Democratic Party of New Mexico
Phone: (505) 357-7561
Email: charmaine@nmdemocrats.org
As multi-millionaire Steve Pearce calls on New Mexico’s unsalaried State Legislature
to forgo their pensions, he continues to collect a hefty congressional salary, use generous benefits, and will receive his own pension worth over $40k each year after retirement. At the same time, Pearce continues to hide his assets and income from the public by refusing to release his tax returns even as he promised to months ago.
“Multimillionaire Steve Pearce is demanding our citizen legislators give up modest benefits while he continues to rake in his Congressional salary, receive taxpayer-subsidized health care, and rack up a big fat pension? What a hypocrite.” said Marg Elliston, Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “If he really believes what he says, Pearce should lead the way: Release his tax returns like he said he would and give back the millions in salary, benefits, and travel expenses he’s received as a member of Congress to help start paying for the GOP’s $1.9 trillion tax cut.”
As a member of Congress, Pearce has also received benefits like tens of thousands of dollars in travel, and paid his own companies over $17,000 in federal reimbursements.
| Pearce (after seven terms in Congress) | NM Legislator (serving 14 years) |
| $174k salaryHigh quality subsidized health care
Pension worth over over $40k per year |
No salaryNo health care
Pension worth about $15k per year |
More than three years after launching his campaign for President, Donald Trump continues to hide business deals, foreign ties, and conflicts of interest from the voting public by refusing to release his tax returns. Steve Pearce, once again following directly in Trump’s footsteps, seems to think he can get away with the exact same deception in his run for governor.
Just like Trump, Steve Pearce has exploited his public profile to get richer and now he’s got to hide the evidence. Pearce said would release his tax return 68 days ago, but he still hasn’t delivered on his promise to New Mexicans.
“The only reasonable explanation for Pearce’s blatant lies and refusal to release his tax returns is that, like President Trump, there’s something he doesn’t want you to know hidden in there,” said Marg Elliston, Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “Pearce has had 68 days to release the last five years of his returns, like he promised. And like with Trump, until we see Pearce’s returns, we can’t know whether he’s hiding shady foreign investments, corrupt business deals, or conflicts of interest that the public deserves to know about.”
Courtesy of NMPoliticalReport.com
When retired U.S. Navy Captain and astronaut Mark Kelly asked nine high school students how many knew someone who had been shot, all of them raised their hands.
The students were from Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and two schools on tribal land.
He said that’s the first time every student raised a hand; it’s usually closer to 50 percent when he asks that in other states—and closer to zero percent in other developed nations.
Three of the students later said they had been shot at themselves .
Kelly appeared with his wife, former congresswoman Gabby Giffords in Albuquerque on Tuesday. Giffords survived an assassination attempt in Phoenix in 2011 in which six other people were killed. She has since become one of the most high-profile gun violence prevention activists in the country.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and First Lady Liz Kistin Keller also took part in the roundtable discussion with student activists, some of whom were part of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence or March for Our Lives.
The students spoke about their experiences with gun violence. One high school student said he became involved when a friend killed himself with a gun. Another said that he’s known so many people who have been shot at that he’s lost count.
Kelly offered advice to the students on how to advance the cause of gun violence prevention. He encouraged them to vote, when eligible, to make sure their peers vote and to call their legislators and other elected officials.
Giffords herself briefly spoke, saying that we live in “scary times” and urged the students to “make our country a safer place, a better place.”
Keller told students that the real battleground is at the state level, in part because local governments have their hands tied.
But he was optimistic that their generation would be able to move gun violence protection forward.
“Thanks to your generation, I think there’s more hope than there has ever been to reduce gun violence,” he said.
He compared it to the LGBTQ rights movement, which saw a swift move towards gay marriage legalization after years of incremental moves forward.
Kelly agreed and said the group of students who took part themselves “stand out as a pretty compelling group of people” because of their diversity and backgrounds
“As a group of people, you guys can be pretty powerful if you organize as a group and worked on this issue at the state and local level,” he said.
Just down the hall, state legislators held a joint hearing that included presentations on four bills, including one that passed the Legislature last year and would have stopped domestic abusers from keeping their firearms, but was vetoed by Gov. Susana Martinez. .
Julia Mazal and Sophia Lussiez, high school students who also participated in the roundtable discussion, presented a bill in front of the Legislative Health and Human Services and Courts, Corrections and Criminal Justice Committees.
According to the students, the Child Access Prevention Bill would prevent minors from accessing guns.
Mazal told legislators two-thirds of school shootings could not have happened if the shooter did not have access to guns, such as at home. Since the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, nearly 150 young men have turned firearms upon schoolchildren.
One bill that has a chance of passing next year would prevent people who are convicted of domestic violence or stalking from owning a gun. Currently, there is no legal framework in the state for the removing firearms from those convicted of domestic abuse.
State Rep. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, said the bill would save lives.
“The presence of a gun in domestic violence situations makes it five times more likely that the woman will die,” she said. “And it is one of the highest causes of death in domestic violence is the use of a gun.”
Similar legislation passed the Legislature in the 2017 legislative session, but Martinez vetoed the bill. She said in her veto message that judges already had the authority to bar those subject from restraining orders from possessing firearms.
While it has been rare for gun control bills to become law over the past few decades, thanks in large part to lobbying from organizations like the National Rifle Association, some states have passed so-called “red flag” laws to allow authorities to remove firearms from those deemed to be an imminent danger to themselves or others.
State Rep. Daymon Ely, R-Albuquerque, said eight states have passed red flag laws since the Parkland, Florida school shooting in February.
Hannah Shearer, a staff attorney and Second Amendment Litigation Director with the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said it isn’t just for preventing mass shootings, but to prevent suicides.
“New Mexico has a real opportunity to use this law to reduce its high suicide rate,” she said.
New Mexico has the eighth highest rate of suicide in the nation.
State Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, also presented a bill that would close what he calls a loophole on gun sales through the internet by requiring background checks for gun sales arranged online.
“This is about denying convicted felons and people who should not have possession of firearms,” Albuquerque Police Department Deputy Chief Harold Medina told legislators.
Failing to acknowledge that common sense gun laws lead to safer communities and save lives, for 20 years Steve Pearce has worked hand in hand with his major donors in the gun lobby to halt any progress. Only three sitting members of the House have gotten more cash from gun lobbyists.Since his early days as a state legislator, Pearce has worked to block child access prevention laws, undermine concealed carry restrictions, and he even opposed legislation that would keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists and domestic abusers.
“New Mexico has one of the highest rates of death from gun violence in the country, but it seems like Steve Pearce doesn’t care,” said Marg Elliston, Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “There are steps New Mexico must take to protect our communities, but Steve Pearce is more interested in helping the NRA and Donald Trump put more guns on the streets.”
On Thursday, just half an hour after the AP published a story exposing Pearce’s evaluation plans, Pearce tweeted and posted on facebook saying “I enjoyed attending Belen’s 30th Annual New Educator’s luncheon to show my appreciation for teachers, principals, and support staff.”
At the same time, Pearce’s campaign posts clearly indicated that he was spending the day at events hundreds of miles away in San Juan County.
It took four days for Pearce to “clarify” that he’d lied and it was a staffer who’d attended the luncheon.
“Steve Pearce is running for the highest office in New Mexico, but this dishonesty isn’t acceptable from anyone and it’s just the latest sign he is unfit to lead. Pearce never misses an opportunity to insult educators and students; he’s on a destructive crusade for school vouchers and now he’s skipped this teacher’s event and lied about it,” said Marg Elliston, Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “New Mexico educators, students, and families don’t want a governor who lies to them, they want an honest advocate like Michelle Lujan Grisham fighting for them everyday.”
This is just the latest instance of fraud in a decades-long record of Pearce claiming to support students and teachers while slashing funding, failing to support at-risk students, and pushing school vouchers against the will of NM educators, students, and families.
After his false promise to release his tax returns in May, last week Steve Pearce got caught revealing he lied about his plans to change the teacher evaluation system. In the same hour, he tried to get away with faking his attendance at an event in Belen supporting new educators. Pearce just can’t stop lying to New Mexican educators, children, and families.
“Steve Pearce is doing all he can to hide his corruption, extremism, and support for Susana Martinez and Hanna Skandera’s failed education policies,” said Marg Elliston, Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “New Mexico voters are getting a taste of what a Pearce governorship would look like: deception, broken promises, and four more years of Susana Martinez’ failed Republican leadership in New Mexico.”
