Op-ed - New Mexico Jewish Journal

Op-ed

An Easy Year for New Mexico Voters: While Half the Ballot Is Uncontested, the Choices that Will Still Matter

By Merilee Dannemann New Mexico voters in many districts will find that voting this November is a little simpler than they expected. Legislators are making one decision easy for about half of New Mexico voters. In our House of Representatives, there are currently 42 Democrats and 26 Republicans. Slightly more

Op-ed

Gregg Hull doesn’t trust New Mexico elections

For Rio Rancho’s municipal election in 2024, voter turnout was 7.08%. That is, at least in part, due to its former mayor, Gregg Hull, who is now the Republican nominee for governor of New Mexico.

Op-ed

Pass the rest of the health care worker compacts this year

Senate Bill 1 passed to bring NM into the interstate licensure compact for doctors. Unfortunately, 8 other compacts failed to pass for psychologists, counselors, EMTs, PAs, speech therapists & audiologists, physical & occupational therapists, & dentists. They should be passed in a special session.

Op-ed

The quiet influence of legislative committee chairs

By Merilee Dannemann Some years ago, New Mexico’s Senate Judiciary Committee had the nickname Fernando’s Hideaway. The nickname came from a song called “Hernando’s Hideaway,” published in 1954, from a Broadway musical comedy called “The Pajama Game.” The song, with an enticing tango rhythm, is still a

Op-ed

"Write On NM!" with Letter-to- Editor List by State.

Michael Baron, Ph.D. with Letter-to-Editor List by State No one can forget the image of Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodges having his head crushed on January 6, 2021, one of 140 officers injured that day, subsequent to which over 1,500 who stormed the Capitol were convicted

Op-ed

Affordable Care Act benefits must be preserved

by Merilee Dannemann “Pre-existing condition.” Remember that term? Fifteen years ago, you heard it all the time on the news. It was the issue that scared the daylights out of millions of Americans who couldn’t get health insurance, or whose insurance was impossibly expensive. A pre-existing condition

Opinion

Some personal thoughts on broader effects of the U.S. election

by Diane Joy Schmidt November 16, 2024 What resonates across the United States of America and Europe now, bringing a rightward swing and authoritarian governments to the ascendancy, is immigration. As used against the Other, a technique Jews are unfortunately very familiar with, the issue of immigration was employed very