Medicaid

Medicaid expansion takes a bite out of medical debt

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As the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress look to scale back Medicaid, many voters and state lawmakers across the country are moving to make it bigger. On Nov. 7, Maine voters approved a ballot measure to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Advocates are looking to follow suit with ballot measures in Utah, Missouri and Idaho in 2018. Virginia may also have another go at expansion after the Legislature thwarted Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s attempt to expand Medicaid.

Santa Fe

Police officer calls out racism in Santa Fe

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A black police officer in Santa Fe called the state capital city “one of the most racist places I’ve ever been.”

Anwar Sanders spoke to the Albuquerque Journal for an article published this Sunday and made the remarks. “People are just so racist,” Sanders said. “It’s like almost sickening. Just because you’re gay-friendly doesn’t mean you’re black-friendly.”

“This is probably one of the most racist places I’ve ever been,” he said. Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales responded to the Albuquerque Journal article on Facebook.

Danny Diaz

Martinez campaign vet takes fire over Jeb campaign

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With the tremendous failure of the Jeb Bush presidential campaign—from frontrunner to dropping out after failing to win a single state—the political press is already digging through the campaign’s carcass. And with that comes blame over campaign leadership, which includes campaign manager Danny Diaz, who was a part of Susana Martinez’s two successful gubernatorial campaigns in New Mexico. The biggest criticism of Bush’s campaign was the inability to deal with the rise of Donald Trump as a significant political force. This led to a host of other problems for Bush, including an inability to connect with voters and an inability to turn the race to topics that would be better for Bush’s strengths. A Washington D.C. lawyer who donated six figures to a Super PAC that supported Bush laid the blame directly at the feet of Diaz.

Congress & Federal Issues

Udall, Dems spar with Cruz over climate change

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U.S. Senator Tom Udall, freshly back from Paris where he participated in a United Nations conference related to climate change, was one of several Democratic Senators in a high profile stand-off against Texas U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz on climate change. Cruz chairs the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, which funds science programs that look at the effects of climate change, including funding for NASA. Cruz also says that the threat of climate change is ginned up by “liberal politicians who want government power over the economy” as he recently said on NPR. In the past, he said, “Climate change is not science, it’s religion.” Udall has a different view of things.

Quick Reads

Richardson says white male voters leaving Democratic Party

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In an interview with NPR this weekend, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson expressed concern that white male voters are abandoning the Democratic Party. Richardson, speaking to the public radio network’s Weekend Edition on Saturday, said he believed there are “a lot of Southerners, Midwesterners that I believe we can bring into the Democratic Party.” Richardson said that wage and economic messages would be appealing to the groups that are increasingly voting Republican. The message would be towards job creation and not necessarily raising the minimum wage. The minimum wage has become a key economic message for Democrats on all levels in recent years.