Gerald Ortiz Y Pino Incumbent Ortiz Y Pino first assumed office in 2005.

 June 5 GOP primary:

No candidates filed for this district

Response from Gerald P. Ortiz y Pino
Campaign Website – none
Contact Info – cell: 250-1280; email: jortizyp@msn.com; address: 400 12th St. NW, Albuquerque, 87102

2. Yes I do, though negotiating wages will have to be addressed creatively since the Legislature controls the State Budget, not individual Department Secretaries. Nevertheless, I think there is an important role for collective bargaining within the framework of state employment and the State has had an essentially positive experience with unionization of public employees since when it works right it produces improved working conditions, productivity and morale, all of which contribute substantially to the effectiveness of State Government.

3. I think we need a balanced approach, one in which the state (employer) share goes up gradually, the employee share goes up slightly and the Cost of Living increase is tied more directly to the Federal CPI rather than being an automatic increase. I also (reluctantly, but realistically) would support a longer period before full vesting for new hires and possily a delay in the retirement age for new hires. The most important consideration is to keep those funds solvent. We do not need to veer away from out defined benefit philosophy as so many other states have chosen to do.

4 No, I do not think State government in New Mexico is "too big". In fact, I think we are dangerously close to under-serving the public right now with the vacancy rates that have been allowed to go so high in CYFD, Health, Aging, HSD, Public Safety and other crucial "hands-on" departments. I am the suspicious type and wonder if this isn't being done to pave the way for future initiatives to privatize some of those departments. I will resist such efforts.

5. I favor (and have introduced bills in the past to do this) rolling back the upper income tax cuts to the 2003 levels. We have not seen any of the promised job creation such cuts were supposed to produce. Quite the opposite. The Governor's decision to veeto the combined reporting bill this year was tragic. It means locally owned businesses will remain at a competitive disadvantage vis a vis the big box retailers who send their profits through accounting maneuvers to no-tax states. We should try to educate her once again. Yes: we desperately need such a study. But as long as corporate lobbyists sit at the table and exerecise veto authority over any loophole plugging, we won't get any where. I like the idea advanced by some of my colleagues: plug all the holes; do away with all the exemptions; and simply lower the corporate rates for everybody.

6. Since the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, can't we just throw them in prison? We've done away with the death penalty, but Texas may start hanging corporations. The idea of confronting Corporate Crime is appealing. Carrying it out will be tough, since the very idea of the corporation is to be a legal fiction by which responsibility can be evaded. They are like that mercury-villain in the movies who changes shapes when threatened–only to recompose into an even more lethal enemy.

7. The best way to make New Mexico attractive to business is to have a world class educational system that produces the best-motivated, most creative and best prepared workforce imaginable. Over and over business executives say they base site selection not on tax rates but on availability of excellent educational resources…for their employees and for their families. And excellent health care comes next. If we invested our money in our people these ways, we would have businesses beating a path to our door.

8. I was very briefly, a member of AFSCME while an employee of the Human Services Department in the late '80's. The Collective Bargaining agreement had just been signed. I left the department shortly afterward to take a job elsewhere.

9. I am a retired social worker. I fancy myself an advocate for New Mexico's working families and for those in great need, physically, mentally or economically. I believe it is government's job to take care of those groups in the most responsive fashion possible, and to protect the people of the state from exploitation by those who would get rich at our expense.

No candidates filed in this district.

 June 5 GOP primary:

• Jimmie C. Hall Incumbent Hall first assumed office in 2005.

Name (First, MI, Last): – Jimmie C. HallCandidate for: – NM House of Representatives District 28Campaign Website – jimmiehall.comContact Info – 505-294-6178// 13008 Gray Hills Rd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

 June 5 Democratic primary: Donna I. Tillman

 June 5 GOP primary: Jason Carl Harper

Response Dr. Donna I. Tillman
Campaign Website – http://www.donnatillman.com
Contact Info – Donna Tillman, 505-404-1363

2. I am absolutely in favor of collective bargaining for all employees, support the Free Choice Act, and have been a Union member for many years as a CA State employee with the CA Faculty Association.

3. Employees must have a defined benefit retirement plan because the alternative, 401K's are based on the stock market which can and has crashed, taking pensions with them.

4. State Goverment is not too big and must do what is in the best interest of the people. We clearly need to restore teacher, police, and fireman cuts that were made. We must have more effort put into early education especially, reading, math, and science.

5. This is absolutely needed. The highest income groups must pay more in taxes. The Legislature approved SB 9 to close loopholes and the Governor vetoed the bill. "A complete overhaul of tax loopholes and policy is needed especially for the oil and gas industries.

6. Yes, corporate criminal conduct cannot be tolerated. Someone is caught with a few ounces of illegal substances and go to jail for many years, yet the corporate criminals get off scott free.

7. Incentives can be provided to level the playing field. For example the cost difference for Apple to make the I Phone in China is $60 per unit. If NM offered a $60 per unit rebate, we could bring 3000 good paying jobs to New Mexico.

8. Yes, I was very active with the CA Faculty Association as a faculty member at CSU Pomona and I had dues deducted monthly of about $107. This is the way Unions must work in NM to provide a living wage to employees and security in old age.

9. I will always support unions and collective bargaining rights. My father was a union meat cutter at Krey Packing in St. Louis. My family had a car and was buying a house. He died of a heart attack on the job and left my mother with 7 children to support, the youngest born 2 weeks after the funeral. We moved from a middle class lifestyle to that of poverty living in a 3 room shack with no running water or plumbing. We learn what we live and I learned how valuable unions are.

 June 5 Democratic primary:

• Stephen P. Easley
• Patricia A. Lincoln

 June 5 GOP primary:

• Charles Larry Miller
• Gerald L. Chavez

Stephen P. Easley Responses

2. Yes, public employees should have bargaining rights.  I worked for Bill Richardson for 7 years, and one of the best things he did was to restore public employee bargaining rights. Without bargaining rights, it is difficult to impossible for employees to make any progress regarding salaries, benefits, working conditions, grievance procedures, etc

3. I support both ERB and PERA. I am a member of PERA, and my wife is a member of ERB. My wife has been a public school guidance counselor for 31 years, and has been a member of the NEA for most of that time. Unfortunately both pension systems have large, unfunded liabilities, which are bad for the state and bad for the pensioners. It is clear that we will have to take a very careful look at how we make the pension funds more financially stable. We may need to tweak the retirement thresholds for those individuals who are more than 10 years away from eligibility. We most certainly need to raise more revenue. For example, if we passed SB 9 and reversed the Richardson tax cuts for the highest earning New Mexicans, we could perhaps add more than $250M to the state’s general fund to help with ERB and PERA. I would support such a plan in the House.

4. State government is not too big. It is in fact too small and cannot effectively provide the services required by the citizens. The total number of state workers has dropped from a high of about 25,000 in 2007 to about 16,000 today. Yet the same amount of work, and even more, needs to be done by this very diminished workforce. HSD, DOH, DoIT and CYFD could definitely use a larger, more capable workforce. Under Richardson there was a proliferation of very small agencies, often put in place for political reasons. Many of these smaller agencies should be consolidated together, or have their functions rolled into the work plan of larger, related agencies. Surplus workers from small, consolidated agencies could be reassigned to agencies where they could do the most good.

5. I) AS I indicated earlier, I am strongly opposed to the Richardson 2003 tax cuts. I opposed them at the time, and I oppose them still. They are senseless. We need to repeal them.

II) I am strongly in favor of combined reporting, or as it is commonly known, SB9. Sen. Peter Wirth is a friend and neighbor of mine, and his ideas for SB9 are excellent. SB9 was passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate in 2012, yet Gov. Martinez vetoed the bill. There is something wrong with that. Her arguments that passage of SB9 would drive business from NM are ludicrous.

III) Yes. I supported this bill when it came up in the legislature, and I still strongly support it.

6. Yes. Unfortunately these kinds of crimes only receive a slap on the wrist, if they are ever prosecuted at all. See the financial meltdown of 2008. Who has gone to jail for those horrific events? Nobody. Other investigations have dragged on for years with no end in sight. This situation must be remedied.

7. One of the best programs we can support is worker-training initiatives. Finding and training workers is time consuming and expensive. State programs that help incentivize business by helping them with worker training costs virtually always lead to more jobs and economic growth.

8. I have never been a union member because all of the jobs I have had have been primarily management level jobs not subject to membership in a union. However, my wife has been a public school counselor for 31 years, and a member of the NEA for most of that time. I have been endorsed in my race by the NEA and by the American Federation of Teachers.

9. I plan to work hard for the citizens of New Mexico in the House of Representatives, and will do my best to represent the values and issues I have described in this questionnaire.

My wife and I have been married for 37 years. We have two wonderful, married daughters, two terrific sons-in-law, and a spectacular 5 month-old baby granddaughter who we love to death.

You can see my resume online at http://www.stepheneasley.com

 June 5 Democratic primary:

• Richard D. Vigil Incumbent Vigil first assumed office in 1999.
• Tomas E. Salazar

 June 5 GOP primary:

No candidates filed in this district.

Response of Richard D. Vigil

Campaign Website – None

Contact Info – Richard Vigil 505-429-1482

2. Yes I believe public employees should have the righ to join or form a union to bargin collectively over wages, benefits and working conditions. I believe that most supervisors are often times too busy with their own job responsibilities to see every employee's perspective. The unions help employees work together in a safe productive manner.

3. I need to research the pension system and various plans to assist to keeping them solvent and strong.

4. I believe state government may need to make adjustments as the times change. For example, the Governor is not an expert in every field, therefore, not every division should not have a cabinet secretary such as Public Education. The public should have a say in some of these divisions.

5. It is evident that the economy is struggling and money doesn't go as far as it used to. Again, things need to change with the times. I would need to research the 2003 tax code to verify if it is beneficial as well as the legislation requiring combined reporting for state corporate income tax. I do believe that I would support a comprehensive public study of New Mexico tax loopholes and subsidies with the goal to eliminate and/or retarget incentives toward emerging or sustainable industries.

6. Yes I would support a Corporate Crime initiative.

7. I saw a news clip on the film incentives that had one legislator who's view was for the film industry and another legislator who's opinion was agains the film industry. I felt that these new clips make New Mexico look "dirty". I understand that everyone has an opinion and there will never be a happy medium.

8. I have never been a Union member. I am a small business owner and I have been all my life. The opportunity has never been there for me.

 June 5 Democratic primary:

Ray Begaye Incumbent Begaye first assumed office in 1999.

Gary J. Montoya

 June 5 GOP primary:

Sharon E. Clahchischilliage

Response of Ray BegayeCandidate
Website – Not set up yet
Contact Info – 5052153197

2. Yes, and in my state that is going on.

3. Any changes that benefits New Mexico Public Employees pension in a defined retirement plan adopted by the state; and dialogue is necessary.

4 I believe it needs to be re-evaluated to determine if the government has swelled beyond capacity in recent years; or have been reduced. Where I have concern is in the parity of income earned from the government. I would like to see redistribution of the fund to certain public services such as homeland security, education, roads, and health.

5. 1) I support that change; 2) I started the talk through a unique bill that I introduced during a special session; 3)Yes

6. Yes

7. Keep business to business in New Mexico.

8. I am a Democrat and I support the working people, the poor, the disable, and those that do not have a voice in our government.

 June 5 Democratic primary:

• Joanne J. Allen

 June 5 GOP primary:

• William Arnold Wiley
• William R. Rehm Incumbent Rehm first assumed office in 2007.

Dr. JoAnne Allen Response

2.Yes, work is the only thing that adds value to natural resources. Individually, people have less ability to influence working conditions, wages, health insurance, etc. For equality to exist, both sides must have equal power. Unions level the power dynamic with employers.

3. All public employees should be offered the same conditions to their pensions. Adjustments should be made for especially taxing work, like policing, that shorten the working life of individuals. Double dipping should be ended.

4. I believe that adjustments should be made. I believe that some agencies are too small, like the Environment department. I believe that some agencies are too expensive for what they deliver, like private prisons. I believe that adjustments could be made to policing to improve safety. I believe that expenses in the from of lawsuits for preventable events, like police killings, could be reduced by administrative changes and better screening of applicants. Increases should be made in medical care for low income citizens, food for hungry children through the schools and early childhood education.

5. 1) Wealthier citizens should pay more in taxes. 2) I cannot speak to this question without education on the subject. As a small business owner, I don't think this would have made any difference in my business. 3) Absolutely, loopholes that allow businesses that take advantage of our infrastructure without paying into the system should be closed. Particularly business and corporations that leave us an eternal legacy of environmental and health costs should compensate the state for their actions like uranium and coal mining and burning. New Mexico can be the leader in clean energy. We have a National Laboratory here that could be employed to develop the beginnings of the new economy

6. Absolutely, if more of them went to jail, that would increase confidence that justice was available to all and fairness is important.

7. A statewide health insurance program for all citizens would be a huge incentive. This would ensure that workers would be healthy and the ever increasing health expenses would be in check. THis was a tremendous burden in my business, not only the cost, but the eternal shopping for plans to cover my workers.

8. No. My experience has been mainly with progressive news, like Democracy Now, and I greatly appreciate the Union support of the OCCUPY movement.

9. THat I support them 100%. I will fight to my dying day for unions. I know they built America into the great country that it is.

Responses are linked from this page: Election 2012 – NM House and Senate Candidate Survey

We asked all 230 candidates for New Mexico Senate and House Office a list of questions and are posting their responses here.

The launch was yesterday, so keep checking back to see candidate response numbers grow. Deadline for all candidates is June 14th.

Candidates for New Mexico State House and Senate Office were asked to share responses to the following questions. click the DISTRICT links on this page to view their answers. All Surveys are due back by June 14th 2012, we're posting their responses here as they come in.

1. Introduce yourself

2. Do you believe public employees should have the right to join or form a union to bargain collectively over wages, benefits, and working conditions? Explain why or why not.

3. New Mexico Public Employees enjoy two of the best pension systems in the country (ERB and PERA). Many private sector and public workers elsewhere have lost, or were never offered, a defined benefit retirement plan. In order for the funds to remain solvent and strong, we know changes are coming.

What changes to ERB or PERA would you support?

4. Do you believe state government is too big? Specifically, where do you see the need for increased public services? Where do you see opportunities to cut? Or, is it just right?

5. REVENUE:

There is an eternal tug-of-war in Government over revenue generation and the expenditures needed to provide public services.

Please address the following three topics regarding Tax and Revenue:

I) Changes in, or a return to 2003 tax code (State & Federal) requiring the wealthiest in our state to pay a higher tax rate

II) Legislation requiring combined reporting for state corporate income tax

III) Would you support a comprehensive public study of New Mexico tax loopholes and subsidies with a goal to eliminate and/or re-target incentives toward emerging or sustainable industries?

6. Would you support a "Corporate Crime" Initiative, increasing penalties and providing clear notice of prohibited conduct aimed at deterring Corporate Criminal Misconduct?

7. What initiatives would you support attracting business to New Mexico and enticing out-sourced businesses to return?

8. Are you or have you ever been a Union member? Describe your experience with the Labor Movement.

9. What else would you like the over 6,000 CWA New Mexico Union Members to know?

From http://independentsourcepac.org

At the Special Meeting of the New Mexico State Board of Finance presided over by Governor Susana Martinez on Monday, Apr 30, 2012, the latest prong of attack on public employee families and the educational community seemed to be ramping up.

During a presentation by Pension Fund officials that was supposed to be about ways to routinely keep these funds solvent, Martinez fueled the political rhetoric by stating it was “impossible” for the pension fund to remain solvent without “drastic changes.”




The Governor recognized her ‘attack General,’ Finance Board member Robert Aragon, to provide a preview of the Martinez Administration’s 2013 strategy to further vilify public employees, whether they be state workers or teachers.

In a manner reminiscent of the December 20, 2011, State Finance Board meeting during which Martinez and Aragon personally orchestrated the awarding of a rigged contract worth over a Billion dollars for her campaign contributors from Louisiana, Aragon once again took the starring role suggesting at various times, in a rambling diatribe, that the retirement system in New Mexico was ‘immoral’ and ‘unethical.’ 

He also claimed that payments into the system by the employer, the state, were draining money from the classroom, ignoring the arguments of the retirement fund representative that such payments are part of the cost of classroom education. 

Essentially Mr. Aragon and the Governor are suggesting that teachers and other public employees should get used to the idea that their compensation is about to be reduced in the upcoming 2013 legislative budget session.

The discussion was joined by Secretary of Finance Administration Tom Clifford when he hinted at a Martinez Administration proposal to change from a defined benefits plan to a defined contribution plan as he felt the only way the pension boards were addressing solvency was by increasing rates when they should be looking at changing the benefits side of the equation. In other words, reducing benefits and changing the eligible age for those benefits to kick in.

The Governor followed with a question that was as much a statement of intent asking if there was any language in the

New Mexico Constitution expressly prohibiting such a change. Not that adhering to the Constitution has ever been of concern to Martinez when she wants her way.

That another attack on public employee compensation is in the works was further evidenced by the orchestration of this meeting, as other Martinez Board appointees chimed in with their suggestions that state and school employees have been getting significant increases in compensation in the last several years, oh and that public employees have safe jobs and don’t have to worry about losing them. (Are these guys living in a parallel universe, or what?)

At one point Aragon led a line of questioning claiming third grade reading levels were down and that teacher pay increases were part of the problem.

It is clear that Martinez education and finance policy makers are pointing to a more privatized type pension system. 

This coincides with a mind-set leading to more privatization of government services, as evidenced in recent reporting by Independent Source PAC and the Santa Fe Reporter, of Martinez appointees sending millions of New Mexico dollars to out of state.

You can click on the video of the very long meeting here … the discussion on pensions begins at about 50 minutes into the meeting.

Santa Fe
CWA 7076 Members Lunch Meeting

      Join Dept of Health and Environment Dept. members for the latest info on contract negotiations,
grievances, politics and the outlook for PERA pension reform!   

When: Tuesday, May 1st, 11:30-1:30 pm
Where: 1301 Siler Rd, Santa Fe

Santa Fe
FLYER for May Day in Santa Fe

Celebrate the opening of Somos Un Pueblo Unido’s Workers’ Center

      With help from national organizations, local workers committees, and allies around the state, Somos Un Pueblo Unido’s Workers Committee now has the opportunity to open Santa Fe’s first worker center. We hope to create a space that immigrant and non-immigrant low-wage workers can use as a resource to help them organize workers’ committees whose main goal is to better the working conditions for all New Mexico workers.

When: Tuesday, May 1st, 5 pm
Where: Somos Un Pueblo Unido
1804 Espinacitas Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico
For more information: 505-424-7832

Albuquerque
FLYER for May Day in Albuquerque

Live Music, Salt of the Earth, Games Aztec Dancers / Matachines, Fun for Kids, info about your workers' rights. Peaceful March FOR Justice For Workers, family unification and AGAINST the attempts to scapegoat immigrants in New Mexico.

When: Tuesday, May 1st, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Robinson Park, 8th and Central, Guild Theatre, and UNM

Salt of the Earth will be shown at the Guild Theater at 3:30, 5:30, and 7:30PM. Price – $3! The 7:30 showing will end with a panel discussion.

At 5:30PM El Centro will have a march and rally. The route and other details will be published as soon as they are confirmed.

At 4:30PM the Walk to Cure Capitalism will start at UNM and merge/meet up with the events at Robinson Park.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT EL CENTRO DE IGUALDAD Y DERECHOS AT: 505.246.1627 OR AT www.elcentronm.org