Politics

Letter to the Editor: Vote ‘Yes’ on Charter Ballot Questions

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By Kevin Holsapple
Los Alamos

Amongst the various elective office contests and ballot questions on the slate for November’s election are four local Charter ballot questions deserving of your attention and affirmation.

 
They deal with making improvements to the County Charter provisions dealing with citizen initiatives, referendums, recalls, and future Charter revisions.
 
A group formed by the County Council called the Charter Review Committee (CRC) performed a comprehensive review of the County Charter over the past few years, held a whole bunch of public meetings
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Column: Hope isn’t Enough

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By Allen E. Weh
New Mexico Businessman and former Candidate for Governor

Webster’s definition of hope is “to cherish a desire with expectation of fulfillment,” but hope is not a plan.

Regrettably, this country’s foreign policy has been largely based on hope during the past three plus years, and it shows.

People can desire this, and hope for that, but without good policies these things can never be fulfilled, and the recent violence in the Middle East reinforces this indisputable truth.

The brutal murder of our Ambassador and three other Americans in Libya by radical Islamists, along with the Read More

Letter to the Editor: Charter Amendments Clarify and Unify the Process

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By Kyle Wheeler
Los Alamos

The charter amendments on the ballot group the various processes for initiative, referendum, recall, and future charter amendments into more sensible groupings within the charter, so if you want to start a petition to recall an elected official or start some other petition, and these amendments pass, the process for how you do it will be spelled out more clearly within the charter.

The amendments clarify and unify the process. Even Rob Pelak agreed at a recent League of Women Voters Forum that the way the Charter Review Committee grouped the items makes sense.

His objection Read More

Column: Closing Corporate Tax Loophole is Win for New Mexico Businesses

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Column by State Sen. Peter Wirth
District 25-Santa Fe

Developing a vibrant, diverse private sector economy is critical to getting New Mexicans back to work. 

While our national labs and large, multi-state corporations are important to our economy, 98 percent of New Mexico businesses are small or medium sized with less than 100 employees. 

To create jobs, policy makers must focus on our local businesses and give them the tools they need to grow and compete. 

Key to the success of any small business is a fair tax code that lets it compete with the multi-state competitors down the Read More

Letter to the Editor: Proposed Charter Amendments Appropriately Packaged

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Councilor David Izraelevitz
 
By David Izraelevitz and Mike Wismer
Los Alamos County Councilors

Among the many important decisions facing us as a community this November, is the issue of several proposed amendments to our County Charter.

Much has been written about the process by which these amendments were composed, aside of whether each is a good idea or not.

In a subsequent column we will discuss the merits of each proposed change, but here, let’s talk about the process itself, and specifically logrolling, because we want to correct some erroneous comments in this area.

Logrolling Read More

Letter to the Editor: Vote for Charter Amendments to Improve Local Government

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By Lawry Mann

The four amendments to the Charter seem reasonable to me. For more than two years, they have been discussed in open meetings by the Charter Review Committee and the County Council. 

The Charter Review Committee was selected by the Council to represent a wide cross section of our community. Many meetings were held by the Committee so the public could present and persuade. 

The Charter Committee members themselves had many different viewpoints. The amendments, the product of all those meetings, were presented to the County Council. 

After vetting the proposals Read More

Get Answers to Charter Questions at Farmer’s Market

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Chris Chandler, left, discusses charter amendments with Heather McClenahan at a recent Farmer’s Market. Photo by Greg Kendall/ladailypost.com

LOS ALAMOS CITIZENS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT News:

Members of the Charter Review Committee will be available 9:30-11:30 a.m Thursday at the Farmer’s Market to answer questions about the proposed Charter Amendments that will be on the fall ballot. 

Committee members plan to meet with voters at the Farmer’s Market every Thursday through the Nov. 6 election day. Read More

UNM-LA Student Government Sponsors Forum

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UNM-LA News:
 
The public is invited to attend a candidates forum sponsored by the UNM-LA Student Government Association from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16 in the new Lecture Hall-Building 5.
 
Candidates for Los Alamos County Council will share their philosophies on the K-20 education continuum and strategies for achieving effective education opportunities in Los Alamos.
 
2012-13 Student Government Association members will pose questions and moderate this forum.
 
All UNM-LA students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend
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Voter Registration Closes Today and Absentee Voting Begins

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ELECTION 2012 News:

Voter Registration closes at 5 p.m. today in the Los Alamos County Clerk’s Office.

Residents who would like to make changes to their voter registration or register to vote, may do so in the Office of the County Clerk at 2451 Central Ave., Suite D.

Voter registration forms are also available at the State of New Mexico Motor Vehicle Field Office and at the Los Alamos and White Rock Libraries.

Absentee Voting begins today by mail or early in person in the Office of the County Clerk.

Hours: Monday thru Friday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (open during the noon hour)

Address: 2451 Central Avenue, Read More

Senior Center Forum at Betty Ehart Senior Center Sept. 28 [Audio with Photos]

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Below is an audio recording of the candidate forum held at the Betty Ehart Senior Center Sept 28. All six county council candidates participated. Still photos of the event are included here. Forum topics ranged from a question about the UNM-LA Bond and lowering taxes (28 minutes in), Charter Amendment proposals (42 minutes in), school facilities and whether Los Alamos is over-building (59 minutes in), free bus service in Los Alamos (1 hour 15 minutes in) and discussion about restoring the Los Alamos Canyon Reservoir (1 hour 21 minutes in.) Morrie Pongratz hosted the forum: 

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