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Previous attempts to pass Voter ID legislation were discussed in earlier Bullets. It is not a pretty picture of the Democrat Party's actions when I put it all together. My conclusion is:

(1) Democrat leaders do not want Voter ID
(2) Democrat leaders do not want to be identified with that position under any circumstances
(3) Democrat leaders will do anything they can to stop passage of a Voter ID law
(4) Democrat leaders (perhaps even judges) will use any excuse to prevent Voter ID

The Democrat Party's brain trust must know something we don't know.

ID for Voting from Buffett's Bullets

Buffett's Bullet No. 78 Dated 2001

I served on the Voters & Elections Committee in the Legislature for over 14 years. In 1995, I thought we needed to require an ID when people vote because so many people move from their precinct where they are registered to vote. That year, I had the Legislative Council write a bill to require an ID for voting. Sometimes bills I sponsor get killed just because my name is on them. So, I asked a freshman legislator, Rep. Doliver from Las Cruces, to carry the bill. He thought it was a good idea so he said he would.

Speaker Raymond Sanchez sent Doliver's ID bill to three committees, the first being Voters & Elections. It was heard for a few minutes and then all Democrats on the committee voted to table it. It was dead. I thought this would happen.

Two weeks later, Rep. Sandoval, the chairman of Voters & Elections Committee, had a bill in front of the committee that had the mission to "fix the early voting laws." I realized that I could amend his bill to fix early voting and require an ID for people voting early. But I knew that the Democrats on the committee would not pass the amendment in committee (no press) so I waited until Rep. Sandoval put the bill on in the full House two days later. I then would put on an amendment to require an ID for everyone who voted early-in-person at a voting place (not absentee voting). This bill of Sandoval's, that no one cared about, was just a small clean-up bill for early voting. Raymond was not even in the Speaker's chair.

When it was announced that Rep. Buffett had an amendment, Speaker Sanchez came out of his office onto the floor and motioned to Rep. Cisco McSorley, who was sitting in the Speaker's chair, to call on him next for debate after I got through putting on the ID amendment (Raymond almost never did this). So Raymond debated me. After he asked me about four questions, he turned around and announced to the members he was for the amendment! He did not want the Democrats to look like they were against ID for voters in the press. The bill went on to the Senate and was passed; the Governor later signed it.

I had outfoxed the Speaker, for once.

However, last year Rep. Sandoval had another voting "clean-up" bill of 66 pages. In that bill, he took out my 1995 amendment. No one realized he had done this. Republicans later learned they were not able to ask for an ID in early voting.

This time, we were outfoxed.

This year, I tried again. I joined with Rep. Joe Thompson and sponsored House Bill 14 which would require an ID for voting.

On Tuesday, January 30, 2001, at 8:30 a.m., in the Voters & Elections Committee, Rep. Thompson explained our bill. He pointed out that nine other states (Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) have this requirement. All our bill would do is require the voter to have one piece of government ID. It could be a driver's license, medical card, Social Security card, hunting license, library card or a citizen could even sign a statement certifying their identity as to whom they said they were.

Chairman Sandoval then asked who in the audience favored the bill; one lady said she did. Next the Chair asked who was against it. A woman from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the ACLU was against HB14 because "poor voters would be forced to go out and buy an ID so it would be like a poll tax on them".

Odis Echols, a former Senate Democrat and now a high-paid lobbyist, said he was representing the Bernalillo County Clerk and was against it for them because it would require more poll clerks at the voting place. Denise Lamb from the Secretary of State's office said they were against it because "the form was not correct" but she did not elaborate nor offer to work with the sponsor to correct it. And another woman identifying herself as president of the County Clerks' Association said her group opposed the bill as well. Why?

Finally, Chairman Sandoval recognized committee member, Democrat Max Coll, who made a motion to table the bill.

We then had a vote. There was no discussion or debate by the committee members on the bill. All Democrats on the committee voted to table the bill; all Republicans voted not to. History was repeating itself - first in '95 and now in 2001.

Democrats voting to table:

Ed Sandoval, Chairman; Max Coll, Chair of Appropriations; Danice Picraux, Democratic Majority Leader; Mary Helen Garcia, Voters & Elections Chair; Kandy Cordova, former Valencia County Clerk; Roger Madalena, Chair of Energy & Natural Resources; J. Paul Taylor

The bill was tabled. In reality, it is dead! Dead. The meeting lasted 12 minutes.

Notice that not one "do-gooder" group, i.e., Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Chamber of Commerce, or church groups came to ask for honest elections.

How come?

Do they realize that the Democrats have controlled the Secretary of State's office for almost 70 years?

Just a week after the Voter ID bill was tabled by Democrats in Voters & Elections Committee, we heard another interesting bill. A bill sponsored by Rep. Rob Burpo, HB256, "Relating to Elections; Providing for Cancellation of Voter Registration of non-citizens" was presented to the Voters & Elections Committee on February 6. He was asked to do this by a constituent who is an employee of INS. Burpo's bill would take registered voters' names off the voters' lists who are not U.S. citizens, i.e. and had been deported.

A person from the Bernalillo County Clerk's office spoke against the bill, as did the Santa Fe County Clerk! As before, no reasons were offered.

We talked about it over 30 minutes. Republican Joe Mohorovic made a motion for a "do pass". Democrat Roger Magdalena made a motion to table. (A tabling motion comes first). All Democrats voted to table; all 5 Republicans voted no tabling. Democrats on the committee are: Ed Sandoval, Chair-Bernalillo; Mary Helen Garcia, Vice Chairman (absent)-Las Cruces; Max Coll-Santa Fe; Kandy Cordova-Valencia; Ben Lujan, Speaker of the House-Santa Fe; James R. Magdalena-Jemez; Danice Picraux-Bernalillo; J. Paul Taylor-Las Cruces….Simply stated, this bill said, "Let's enforce the Law".

Buffett's Bullet No. 79-April 17, 2001

On Thursday, February 22, 2001, I presented to the Voters and Elections Committee House Bill 514 which would not allow large cities or Bernalillo County to have mail-in elections.

I had six Republicans as sponsors and two Democrats as co-sponsors, Rep. Kiki Saavedra (Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee) and Rep. James Taylor, (the Democratic Whip.) Both of these Representatives from the South Valley of Albuquerque have been against City-County consolidation.

I testified that HB514 would do away with mail-in elections in cities with a population of 50,000 or more i.e., Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe and class A counties, which currently is only Bernalillo County. At present, all cities can use mail-in elections to vote for issues like bonds, major construction and government reform issues. For example, if the bill had passed, in Albuquerque the construction of a new baseball stadium and the consolidation of the city and Bernalillo county government would have to be voted on in a regular election with voting machines.

I said without this bill these elections were wide open to fraud with a mail-in ballot because the county's voter registration rolls are not regularly updated. Ballots go to every apartment, sorority, fraternity and senior citizen apartment in the city. "People come and go from these addresses all the time and the county clerk doesn't keep track of that.

"Those ballots could fall into anyone's hands and there would be no accounting for them." Added to that, when mail-in ballots are returned to the county clerk, the signatures are not checked against the signatures on the registration certificates. These ballot signatures are only checked if someone challenges them.

I also had a list of 721 residents in Albuquerque where six or more people were registered from the same address - some addresses have as many as 14 names registered at the same address.

Chairman Sandoval then asked if there was anyone for or against the bill. The Bernalillo County Clerk, a Democrat, testified she was against the bill, along with the county clerk from Colfax County, (that's Raton, where all the union miners are). Colfax County has a total population of 12,295 so the bill would not affect them. But, when the union speaks, good Democrats jump.

Also, sitting in the audience at the hearing was the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce''s two top leaders. They were waiting to testify on another bill right after I finished my bill. They did not say anything -- for or against HB514.

We had a nice discussion for about 25 minutes between the Democrats and Republicans on the committee -- each asking me questions. Committee Democrats insisted they needed proof of fraud before we should reform the mail-in elections.

I replied that as long as nine years ago, I had complained to the Attorney General in writing twice about an election problem and I am still waiting for an answer! I also had a problem with a Secretary of State who had different sets of standards for different people -- but I had been told that it would not happen again so nothing was done.

I said, "Should we wait for proven fraud before we take action? Should we lock the barn door after the horse is stolen? We should do it before the horse gets out."

A Democrat than made a motion to table. We voted. The bill was tabled 8 to 6, with all Democrats voting to table and all Republicans not to table. The bill was dead.

That was the third bill concerning elections that I was a prime sponsor or co-sponsor on that the Democrats tabled in Voters and Elections -- in two weeks!

(1) a bill requiring an ID to vote, and
(2) a bill that would have taken non-citizens off the voting rolls

The following Democrats on the House Voters and Elections committee had tabled all three on a party line vote: Ed Sandoval, Chair-Bernalillo; Mary Helen Garcia-Las Cruces; Max Coll-Santa Fe; Kandy Cordova-Valencia; Ben Lujan-Santa Fe; James R. Magdalena-Jemez; Danice Picraux-Bernalillo; and J. Paul Taylor-Las Cruces.

I'm reminded of what my old Swedish grandfather would say; "You can never have a good, honest government until you have honest elections."

Common Cause, League of Women Voters, any church group, or other do-gooder groups did not support any of the Republican bills dealing with voting. Not one!! This was not reported in the media.

In the Bullet 78 I told how in the Voters & Elections Committee, the Democrats had killed a bill requiring ID verification for voting. I think enough people wrote and called Danice Picraux, the House Democratic leader and a member of Voters that she introduced a bill -- HB827 to have signatures electronically checked at the time of voting. I think she did this so she would not be criticized for helping to kill the ID bill. She introduced HB827 on the last day that a bill could be introduced. Picraux HB827 got to the floor of the house on March 11, 2001, the last Sunday of the session. Republican Rep. Thompson tried to include an amendment to require an ID card for voting provided the voting location did not have a machine to identify the signatures (kind of an emergency back up.) Democrat leader Picraux spoke against the amendment. Democrat Rep. Regensberg also spoke against the amendment. Republican leader Hobbs called for the questions (a vote). It failed.

Then, Minority Whip Roberts spoke in favor of government ID verification of voters. Rep. Sandoval, Chairman of Voters, moved to table. All Democrats voted to table. Rep. Thompson's amendment was dead 35 to 27. Then, the house voted on HB827 and it died 44 to 22.

Only two Republicans voted for Rep. Picraux's bill. Twenty-six voted against it because there was no picture ID verification for a back up procedure in case the electronic signature system did not work. It is interesting of the top three Democrat Leaders, two, Speaker Ben Lujan and Whip James Taylor both voted to kill Democrat Majority Leader, Danice Picraux's bill. The press missed this or they failed to think it was important. I think this bill was introduced only to mislead the public into thinking that the Democrats were in favor of ID verification to vote.

P.S. In Bullet 79: on the front page of a recent Saturday Albuquerque Journal, there was a very interesting story about Elodea Gloria Candelaria who had just gotten a pardon from (Ex-) President Bill Clinton. It said, "Candelaria, (59), an Albuquerque community activist and former state Democratic Party Worker, was among the people Clinton pardoned during his final days when he pardoned Marc Rich and 500 others."

Candelaria had served two different sentences after having "pleaded" guilty to reduce her sentences for two crimes in two different courts. One sentence was in Federal Court for giving false information in registering to vote and one was in State Court for embezzling over $2,500 from the Community Dental Clinic in the San Jose neighborhood in Albuquerque, which is a taxpayers' funded group. She had been sentenced in two different courts to serve 36 months probation on each count. The article said the pardon was not processed through the Justice Department. Former U.S. Attorney, John Kelly, said he could not recall whether the Candelaria pardon came from his office.

The question is who in New Mexico knew Bill Clinton well enough to request and get this pardon...

(1) Was she important enough to get it on her own?
(2) Was it some big Democratic politician in Washington?
(3) Was it some big Democratic politician in Santa Fe?

________________End of quotes from Bullet No.79__________________

In Bullet 79 I forgot to add that Candelaria, before she was indicted for these two crimes, was elected Democrat Woman of the Year the year before, by the Democrat Party according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Now some more information that makes the Voter ID picture clearer:

In January of 2003, as he began his first year, at about the time the legislature started, Governor Bill Richardson was reported to have said he did not want a Voter ID bill from the legislature. He did not see any need for Voter ID.

It might just be a coincidence but there are some new Democrat leaning groups that are now having voter registration drives that are financed by the Governor's Political Action Committees. The Albuquerque Tribune on August 22 reported that over 3,000 questionable registration forms had been discovered by the Bernalillo County Clerk. It was also reported in the Albuquerque Journal that a 13-year old and two 15-year olds had been registered.

One group that has been doing voter registration for a long time is ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.) ACORN is a nationwide group that pays workers to sign up new voters, and they get bonuses for getting over 24 registrations per day. Many of these workers, who are registering voters, are only interested in being paid. I wonder if any of these people care if they adhere to the law. More voters more pay. This works best where there are a lot of people, not in small towns where everyone knows everyone. They appear to be registering many transient voters in New Mexico.

Fifty years ago when I first registered to vote, a notary public had to witness your signature and your identification. Today, anyone can register any individual so 13 and 15 year olds are being registered.

On Monday, August 31, 2004, Democrat District Court Judge Robert L. Thompson of Albuquerque, after a hearing where both political parties were present, signed a temporary restraining order that requires New Mexicans who have registered since July 1, 2003 to show identification before voting. But that day the Democrats applied for a stay of order so another hearing on the following Thursday was scheduled.

The following Thursday and Friday a hearing was held and our Democrat Judge decided to change his mind (FLIP FLOP) AND THE FOLLOWING Wednesday he announced for the first time and gave detailed reasons why he then rejected the Republican request to require first time voters to present ID. The Democrat Judge Thompson did not think 60 days before the election was enough time for the public, county clerks and the voting officials to adjust to this change of requiring ID for voting.

There are now 18 to 26 states that require ID to vote and 16 states that even get signatures verified at the polling place. Besides requiring no ID, New Mexico is one of the 19 states that do not verify signatures when voting.

On Friday, September 10, 2004, a State District Judge Republican Charles C. Carrier, in Roswell ordered the Chavez County Clerk to require ID from newly registered voters.

On Tuesday morning, September 14, 2004 the Albuquerque Journal reported that Democrat Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Democrat Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron were going to the Democrat Supreme Court to order Chavez County to conform with the ID procedure that the rest of the state is doing. This will start complete Democrat control of voting for another 70 years, 1934-2004.

The big question is still: Why don't the big Democrat leaders want to have ID for voting?

In the Albuquerque Journal on September 9, 2004 there was an editorial written by John Dendahl suggesting that Bill Richardson call a one day special session of the legislature to pass a bill that would require all people voting in person to show ID. I agree with John and I also think a bill like this is the only way to return honesty and trust to our elections which are now a disaster.

The little question is: Why don't the do-gooder groups, i.e. Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, churches, ACI, and the University Women push the governor for a special session and get ID for voting?

I encourage you to call, e-mail, or fax the Governor today and tell him you want a special one day session called to pass a Voter ID bill requiring all people voting in person to show an ID in all future elections.

Phone: (505) 476-2200
E-Mail: www.gov.state.nm.us (click on the link, Email Governor Richardson)
Fax: (505) 476-2226

Sincerely,

George D. Buffett
Republican National Committeeman

Paid for by George D. Buffett Committee

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