Hector Balderas
Hector Hugo Balderas Jr. is an American lawyer and former prosecutor, the Attorney General of New Mexico since 2015. In 2006, Balderas became the youngest statewide Hispanic elected official in the nation when he won his first race for State Auditor at the age of 33. Before that Balderas served as a State Representative in the New Mexico Legislature from 2004 to 2006. Balderas serves as the elected treasurer of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. In an article published November 17, 2014, Balderas was identified as one of seven Democratic state executive officials who could gain national prominence by leading the party to a national comeback. Steve Terrell at the Santa Fe New Mexican wrote on May 16, 2015 that Balderas, who won his attorney-general race, was the only Hispanic on the statewide Democratic ticket in 2014, he was the top vote-getter of all statewide candidates that year, pulling 1,565 more votes than Governor Susana Martinez. Balderas was raised in New Mexico, a village in Mora County, New Mexico.
He was raised by his single mother in Wagon Mound. Balderas attended Wagon Mound High School and participated in TRIO Upward Bound, a federally funded college prep program. While attending the University of New Mexico School of Law, Balderas served as the Council Chair of the Graduate and Professional Student Association. From 2002 to 2003 Balderas served as an Assistant District Attorney for Bernalillo County. Between 2003 and 2006 he was a special prosecutor for domestic violence cases in the 4th Judicial District of New Mexico. Balderas ran for a seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2004, defeating the Democratic incumbent in the primary election and a Republican in the general election. In his first term as a State Representative from District 68, Balderas passed sweeping legislation to strengthen penalties for sexual predators, worked to strengthen drug laws against methamphetamine and date rape drugs, established investment incentives for clean energy and funded virtual education for rural public schools.
Balderas sponsored "truthful interrogations" legislation which gained national recognition as one of the most significant reforms to the criminal justice system. Balderas was nationally recognized alongside then-State Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for passing legislation that requires police to record their in-house interrogations with suspected killers. In recognition of his legislative accomplishments, Balderas was named Rookie-Leader-of-the-Year by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce for his work on energy development and Outstanding Rookie by the League of Conservation Voters. During his first legislative term, he was chosen by the Democratic Party of New Mexico to replace Jeff Armijo on the ballot for State Auditor and with a shorter period to campaign, won the election with nearly 55% of the vote, he was re-elected in 2010 and earned the second-highest number of votes of any of New Mexico's Democratic statewide candidates. Balderas was a candidate for the US Senate seat in 2012 held by retiring Democrat Jeff Bingaman.
He lost the Democratic primary to Martin Heinrich. Treasurer Board Member, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. NALEO is a national nonpartisan organization with a network of more than 6,000 governmental and business leaders who conduct civic projects and technical assistance for the Latino community. There are 24 members on the board of directors. Recipient of the 2011 Conservation Voters New Mexico Sunshine Award. Balderas was recognized for his steadfast work as State Auditor in rooting out fraud and corruption, shining sunlight on the operations of state government. According to CVNM, his hard work has resulted in millions of dollars of savings and the enforcement of key safeguards that protect New Mexico's natural resources. Recipient of the 2010 recipient John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, which honors young Americans who are changing their community through a commitment to public service, he is the first New Mexican to receive the annual award. The award is presented annually to exceptional young Americans under the age of 40 whose contributions in elective office, community service or advocacy demonstrate the impact and value of public service in the spirit of John F. Kennedy.
Recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine in 2007 as one of the nation's 100 most influential Hispanics. Balderas joined 2007 honorees including Eastman Kodak Company CEO and Chairman Antonio M. Perez, former U. S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Hillary Clinton for President Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle. New Mexico State Bar Association 2006 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. In 2010, Hector Balderas was awarded the Liberty and Justice Award by the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association for his contributions to empowerment for Hispanics in education and the legal profession. Balderas and his wife Denise have Hector III, Arianna and Mariola. Balderas is a special needs advocate and frequent participant in the New Mexico Special Olympics annual torch run, he has two siblings and is a practicing Catholic. Project Vote Smart - Hector H. Balderas profile
New Mexico State Auditor
The State Auditor of New Mexico is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch responsible for authorizing and supervising audits of state agencies and state and local entities. The State Auditor is able to serve up to two consecutive terms; the office is held by Brian Colón. State Auditor of New Mexico
Government of New Mexico
The government of New Mexico is the governmental structure of the state of New Mexico as established by the Constitution of New Mexico. The executive is composed of the Governor, several other statewide elected officials and the Governor's cabinet; the New Mexico Legislature consists of the House of Representatives and Senate. The judiciary is composed of lower courts. There is local government, consisting of counties and special districts; the state elected officials are: The New Mexico Governor's Cabinet includes: Office of African American Affairs Department of Aging and Long-Term Services Department of Agriculture Department of Children and Families Department of Corrections Department of Cultural Affairs Department of Economic Development Department of Energy and Natural Resources Office of the State Engineer Department of Environment Department of Finance and Administration Department of General Services Department of Health Department of Higher Education Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department of Human Services Department of Indian Affairs Department of Information Technology Office of State Personnel Department of Public Education Department of Public Safety Department of Regulation and Licensing Department of Taxation and Revenue Department of Tourism Department of Transportation Department of Veteran Services Department of Worker's Compensation Department of Workforce Solutions The New Mexico Legislature is a bicameral body made up of the 70-member New Mexico House of Representatives and the 42-member New Mexico Senate.
The New Mexico Constitution limits the regular session to sixty calendar days, every other year it is thirty days. The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate, while the Speaker of the House is elected from that body in a closed door majority member caucus. Both have wide latitude in choosing committee membership in their respective houses and have a large impact on lawmaking in the state; the New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court. It is an appellate court, only having original jurisdiction in a limited number of actions; the court's five justices are chosen by statewide election, or appointed by the Governor if to fill a seat that has become vacant mid-term. The New Mexico Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court; the court has general appellate jurisdiction over certain state agencies. Ten judges preside, sitting in panels of three; the New Mexico district courts are courts of general jurisdiction. They hear cases involving: tort, real property rights, estate. There are thirteen judicial districts.
The New Mexico magistrate courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They hear cases involving: tort, landlord/tenant rights. There are fifty-four magistrate courts; the New Mexico probate courts do not hold jury trials. There is one for each of New Mexico's thirty-three counties; the New Mexico municipal courts do not hold jury trials. They hear cases involving: petty misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, traffic violations and other municipal ordinance violations; the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court is a court of limited jurisdiction of Bernalillo County. It hears cases involving: tort, landlord/tenant rights. Local government in New Mexico consists of municipalities. There are thirty-three counties, of which Bernalillo County, containing the state's largest city Albuquerque, is the most populous. Counties are governed by an elected five-member county commission, assessor and treasurer. A municipality may call itself a village, town, or city, there is no distinction in law and no correlation to any particular form.
Municipal elections are non-partisan. In addition, limited local authority can be vested in special districts and landowners' associations. NewMexico.gov
Attorney General of New Mexico
The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is overseen by the Attorney General of New Mexico, an elected executive officer of the state. The AG serves as head of the New Mexico Department of Justice and is required to be a licensed attorney. In New Mexico the AG is fifth in succession to the office of governor, after the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, President pro tempore of the New Mexico Senate, the Speaker of New Mexico House of Representatives; the AG functions as the state's chief legal officer, legal counsel to state government, consumer advocate, guardian of the public interest. The AG represents the state before any courts or agencies when the public interest requires or when requested by the Governor and prosecutes and defends all causes in the New Mexico Supreme Court, New Mexico Court of Appeals, or any other court or tribunal in which the state is a party or is interested; the AG prosecutes and defends all actions and proceedings involving any state employee in his/her official capacity.
The AG may represent residential or small business consumers before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. Upon request, the AG will provide written legal opinions to the legislature, any state official, or any district attorney on any subject pending before one of these officials. In matters involving the state Election Code the AG provides legal assistance to the Secretary of State of New Mexico; the AG drafts contracts and other instruments as required for use by the state. At the governor's direction, the AG may attend and assist in the trial of any indictment or information in any county of the state; when a District Attorney fails or refuses to act, the AG may act on behalf of a county in any criminal or civil case. In matters of the impeachment of a state legislator or employee, the AG initiates conflict of interest enforcement actions; the AG prosecutes removal proceedings against district attorneys. The AG establishes and maintains a register of all documents filed by charitable organizations and makes it available for public inspection.
New Mexico Attorney General official website New Mexico Attorney General articles at Legal Newsline Legal Journal New Mexico Attorney General articles at ABA Journal News and Commentary at FindLaw New Mexico Statutes at Law. Justia.com U. S. Supreme Court Opinions - "Cases with title containing: State of New Mexico" at FindLaw State Bar of New Mexico New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas profile at National Association of Attorneys General Press releases at New Mexico Attorney General
Head of state
A head of state is the public persona who represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state. Depending on the country's form of government and separation of powers, the head of state may be a ceremonial figurehead or concurrently the head of government. In a parliamentary system the head of state is the de jure leader of the nation, there is a separate de facto leader with the title of prime minister. In contrast, a semi-presidential system has both heads of state and government as the leaders de facto of the nation. In countries with parliamentary systems, the head of state is a ceremonial figurehead who does not guide day-to-day government activities or is not empowered to exercise any kind of political authority. In countries where the head of state is the head of government, the head of state serves as both a public figurehead and the highest-ranking political leader who oversees the executive branch. Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, said that the head of state should embody l'esprit de la nation.
Some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of "models". An independent nation state has a head of state, determines the extent of its head's executive powers of government or formal representational functions. In protocolary terms, the head of a sovereign, independent state is identified as the person who, according to that state's constitution, is the reigning monarch, in the case of a monarchy, or the president, in the case of a republic. Among the different state constitutions that establish different political systems, four major types of heads of state can be distinguished: The parliamentary system, with three subset models; the non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or limited executive powers, has a ceremonial and symbolic role. The Parliamentary-Presidential model, or South African Method, where Parliament chooses the President, who acts as both Head of State and Head of Government; some argue this is unfair, becouse citizens dont get a direct say in their executive leadership.
However, this method makes it impossible for a dictator to come to power. The semi-presidential system, in which the head of state shares key executive powers with a head of government or cabinet. In a federal constituent or a dependent territory, the same role is fulfilled by the holder of an office corresponding to that of a head of state. For example, in each Canadian province the role is fulfilled by the Lieutenant Governor, whereas in most British Overseas Territories the powers and duties are performed by the Governor; the same applies to Indian states, etc.. Hong Kong's constitutional document, the Basic Law, for example, specifies the Chief Executive as the head of the special administrative region, in addition to their role as the head of government; these non-sovereign-state heads have limited or no role in diplomatic affairs, depending on the status and the norms and practices of the territories concerned. In parliamentary systems the head of state may be the nominal chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state, possessing limited executive power.
In reality, following a process of constitutional evolution, powers are only exercised by direction of a cabinet, presided over by a head of government, answerable to the legislature. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature, it gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. The executive branch is thus said to be responsible to the legislature, with the head of government and cabinet in turn accepting constitutional responsibility for offering constitutional advice to the head of state. In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, the legitimacy of the unelected head of state derives from the tacit approval of the people via the elected representatives. Accordingly, at the time of the Glorious Revolution, the English parliament acted of its own authority to name a new king and queen. In monarchies with a written constitution, the position of monarch is a creature of the constitution and could quite properly be abolished through a democratic procedure of constitutional amendment, although there are significant procedural hurdles imposed on such a procedure.
In republics with a parliamentary system the head of state is titled president and the principal functions of such presidents are ceremonial and symbolic, as opposed to the presidents in a presidential or semi-presidential system. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system; the older the cons
New Mexico Territory
The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of New Mexico, making it the longest-lived organized incorporated territory of the United States, lasting 62 years. In 1846, during the Mexican–American War, the U. S. provisional government of New Mexico was established. Territorial boundaries were somewhat ambiguous. After the Mexican Republic formally ceded the region to the United States in 1848, this temporary wartime/military government persisted until September 9, 1850. Earlier in the year 1850, a bid for New Mexico statehood was underway under a proposed state constitution prohibiting slavery; the request was approved at the same time. The proposed state boundaries were to extend as far east as the 100th meridian West and as far north as the Arkansas River, thus encompassing the present-day Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and parts of present-day Kansas, Colorado and Arizona, as well as most of present-day New Mexico.
Texas raised great opposition to this plan, as it claimed much of the same territory, although it did not control these lands. In addition, slaveholders worried about not being able to expand slavery to the west of their current slave states; the Compromise of 1850 put an end to the push for immediate New Mexico statehood. Approved by the United States Congress in September 1850, the legislation provided for the establishment of New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory, it firmly established the disputed western boundary of Texas. The status of slavery during the territorial period provoked considerable debate; the granting of statehood was up to a Congress divided on the slavery issue. Some maintained that the territory could not restrict slavery, as under the earlier Missouri Compromise, while others insisted that older Mexican Republic legal traditions of the territory, which abolished black, but not Indian, slavery in 1834, took precedence and should be continued. Regardless of its official status, slavery was rare in antebellum New Mexico.
Black slaves never numbered more than about a dozen. As one of the final attempts at compromise to avoid the Civil War, in December 1860, a U. S. House of Representatives committee proposed to admit New Mexico as a slave state immediately. Although the measure was approved by the committee on December 29, 1860, Southern representatives did not take up this offer, as many of them had left Congress due to imminent declarations of secession by their states. On February 24, 1863, during the Civil War, Congress passed the "Arizona Organic Act", which split off the western portion of the 12-year-old New Mexico Territory as the new Arizona Territory, abolished slavery in the new Territory; as in New Mexico, slavery was extremely limited, due to earlier Mexican traditions and patterns of settlement. The northwestern corner of New Mexico Territory was included in Arizona Territory until it was added to the southernmost part of the newly admitted State of Nevada in 1864. Arizona Territory was organized as the State of Arizona.
The Purchase treaty defines the new border as "up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47' north latitude crosses the same 31°47′0″N 106°31′41.5″W. The new border included a few miles of the Colorado River at the western end; the boundaries of the New Mexico Territory at the time of establishment contained most of the present-day State of New Mexico, more than half of the present-day State of Arizona, portions of the present-day states of Colorado and Nevada. Although this area was smaller than what had been included in the failed statehood proposal of early 1850, the boundary disputes with Texas had been dispelled by the Compromise of 1850; the Gadsden Purchase was acquired by the United States from Mexico in 1853/1854, arranged by the then-American ambassador to Mexico, James Gadsden. This added today's southern strip of Arizona and a smaller area in today's southwestern New Mexico to the New Mexico Territory, bringing its land area to the maximum size achieved in its history as an organized territory.
The land of 29,640 square miles provided a more constructed route for a future southern transcontinental railroad line for the future Southern Pacific Railroad, constructed in 1881/1883. The Colorado Territory was established by the "Colorado Organic Act" on February 28, 1861, with the same boundaries that would constitute the State of Colorado; this Act removed the Colorado lands from the New Mexico Territory. T
Michelle Lujan Grisham
Michelle Lynn Lujan Grisham is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 32nd Governor of New Mexico. She represented New Mexico's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018. On November 6, 2018, she became the first Democratic woman elected as governor of New Mexico, as well as the first Democratic Latina elected state chief executive in the history of the United States. Lujan Grisham served as Secretary of Health of New Mexico and Bernalillo County Commissioner, she was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in the 2012 election, defeating Janice Arnold-Jones. In 2016, Lujan Grisham was selected as the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Lujan Grisham won the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Mexico in the 2018 election and defeated Republican Steve Pearce, on November 6, 2018. Lujan was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, grew up in Santa Fe, her father, Llewellyn "Buddy" Lujan, practiced dentistry into his 80s until he died in March 2011.
Her mother, was a homemaker. Michelle's sister Kimberly was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of two and died at 21. Lujan Grisham states, she hails from a prominent family in New Mexico. Her uncle is Manuel Lujan Jr. who served in the House of Representatives from New Mexico as a Republican, as Secretary of the Interior during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, he was the named petitioner in the landmark U. S. Supreme Court case Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, her grandfather, Eugene Lujan, was Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. Her cousin, Ben Ray Luján, represents New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in the House of Representatives, while his father, Ben Luján, was Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Lujan graduated from St. Michael's High School, she received a BS from the University of New Mexico in 1981, where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. The following year she married Gregory Alan Grisham. In 1987, Lujan Grisham earned a JD from the UNM School of Law.
Lujan Grisham served as Director of New Mexico's Agency on Aging under Governors Bruce King, Gary Johnson and Bill Richardson. Richardson elevated the position to the state cabinet. In 2004, he named Lujan Grisham as New Mexico Secretary of Health. Lujan Grisham was elected to the Bernalillo County Commission, serving from 2010 through 2012. 2008 She resigned as Secretary of Health in order to run for the United States House of Representatives in the 2008 elections, losing in the Democratic primary to Martin Heinrich, who won with 44% of the vote. New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron ranked second with 25% and Michelle Lujan-Grisham ranked third with 24%. 2012Lujan Grisham sought the Democratic nomination for the House again in 2012 after Martin Heinrich decided to run for the United States Senate. She won the nomination, defeating Eric Griego, she faced Janice Arnold-Jones, a former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, in the November general election. Lujan Grisham defeated Arnold-Jones, 59%–41%.
2014Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Mike Frese in the 2014 elections, 59% to 41%. 2016In 2016, Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Richard Priem, receiving 179,380 votes to Priem's 96,061. Lujan Grisham was sworn into a two-year term on January 3, 2013. In 2016 she was one of nine members of Congress who took a trip to Baku, found to have been secretly funded by the government of Azerbaijan, had to turn over gifts the country gave her to the House Clerk after an ethics investigation. Both the Office of Congressional Ethics and House Ethics Committee found lawmakers and aides had no way of knowing the trip was being funded improperly. Lujan Grisham resigned her House seat as of December 31, 2018 to assume the governorship of New Mexico the following day. Committee on Agriculture United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology and Research, Ranking Member Committee on the Budget Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Chairwoman Congressional Native American Caucus Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues On December 13, 2016, one week after Tom Udall announced he would not run for Governor of New Mexico, Lujan Grisham became the first person to announce her candidacy to succeed Susana Martinez, prohibited from running because of term limits.
On June 5, 2018, she won the Democratic primary to become the party's nominee. On November 6, 2018 she was elected Governor of New Mexico in a race against Republican U. S. Representative Steve Pearce, she won with 56.9% of the votes, while Pearce received 43.1%. She was sworn in on January 1, 2019. Lujan Grisham supports access to safe, legal abortions, she voted against an act that would have allowed states to deny Medicaid to any institution that offers abortions for non-related healthcare services. Lujan Grisham has pledged to fight discrimination based on race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, she was one of the main advocates for the recognition that same-sex partners are able to make healthcare decisions for each other, New Mexico became the first state to add that provision in state law. Lujan Grisham has been an advocate for elder rights and women's rights, she has been rated at 100% by the Alliance for Retired Americans due to her opposition to the privatization of Medicare or Social Security.
She voted for and helped pass the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016, which chan
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New Mexico statewide elected officials