Political News

By KRISTINE COBLENTZ
Founder First Born Program

As the founder and former Program Manager of the First Born Program of Los Alamos County, I feel compelled to respond to negative print and radio ads attacking home visiting programs. Recent ads depicting government monitors and mandatory home visits are pure distortion and demonstrate either a frightening ignorance of (or a deliberate choice to ignore) the proven benefits of early childhood development programs.

Across our state, home visitation is supported by Republicans and Democrats alike because it works. The science is clear that Read More

By JOANN JOHNSON

Political Action Committees (PACS) are running amok. I have been a political activist since the early 1980s. I have never seen campaigning so out of control as it is now. Political parties such as the Democrat and Republican Party have financial limits on spending. Not so – PACS.

PACS are free to advertise for candidates without the candidate’s authorization. Most of the time the candidate isn’t even aware of what the PAC has planned.

I do not have a suggestion for fixing this problem. For every law, there is someone who will find a loophole to get around the law.

I can only Read More

By KHALIL SPENCER

I wish to express my outrage with paleontologist Ralph Chapman for his assault on the integrity of cesspools. 

By insinuating that cesspools have any connection with the 43^rd District Slandertisements we have been receiving in Los Alamos, readers of his letter might come to the conclusion that cesspools promote dishonesty and are intrinsically evil. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Cesspools perform a useful function in that they provide a place, albeit primitive, to dispose of human waste. By associating them with politics, they have unfortunately Read More

RALPH E. CHAPMAN

I have some thoughts about the upcoming election I wanted to share with my neighbors here in Los Alamos.

Specifically, I will talk about the race for New Mexico House District 43 between Stephanie Garcia Richard and Geoff Rodgers. I won’t tell you who to vote for, or even who I will vote for, because, as an old New Englander, I really don’t think it is any of your business.

However, I do have thoughts I would like to share.

I know both candidates. I have spoken multiple times with both candidates. I like both candidates. I respect both candidates. I truly believe both want to Read More

By FRAN BERTING

Several former members of the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) fear that the rewritten Charter Chapter V will result in Council imposing hidden taxes and wildly increased utility rates, transferring Utility revenues to the County general fund, overturning BPU membership for political reasons, and unilateral control of BPU operations.

The current Chapter was passed in 1968 to ensure that these things could not happen, and indeed they have not, as trumpeted by those opposing the rewritten Chapter. However, a careful reading of the new Chapter shows that, although Read More

By EDWARD BIRNBAUM
CRC-2 Member

As a member of the most recent Utilities Charter Review Committee (CRC-2), I would like to correct some of the statements made by letter writers in opposition to passing the revised Article V Charter amendment that appears as Question 2 on the November ballot.

First, our Committee was NOT charged with determining whether or not DPU was run well, and nothing in the proposed revisions mandates any changes in how DPU operates. We were only asked by Council to address three major issues of concern:

• that current Article V gives the Board the authority to run DPU, but it

By KRISTIN HENDERSON, Vice Chair

I am voting FOR Amendment 2 on the upcoming ballot about our Utilities Board. 

Contrary to the opponent’s dire depictions, it does not give unchecked power to Council, or radically change the government structure established in the 1960s. It does, however, put in some failsafes and backstops that I think most of us would actually assume are in place now.

Our local government has two parts. One is the Department of Public Utilities, which provides water, sewer, gas and electric. It is managed by a Utility Manager, policy decisions Read More

By CHRIS ORTEGA

As a retired Los Alamos County Utilities Manager, 10-year member of the Board of Public Utilities (Board), and a utilities customer, I urge voters to vote Against Ballot Question #2 – Utilities. I am  concerned about the potential negative effects the proposed re-write of Article V of the Los Alamos County Charter will have on Utilities customers. 

Unless a voter digs deeply into the background he/she may not realize that Article V, which was ratified in 1968 and has effectively guided Utilities operations since, will Read More