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Mayoral elections take place today Incumbent Berry faces two challengers for office by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com @ArdeeTheJourno
Nine months and eight days of campaigning has led to this. Albuquerque residents will vote for a new mayor today, as polls opened for the city’s general elections at 7 a.m. The three candidates include incumbent Richard Berry and challengers Pete Dinelli and Paul Heh. City Clerk Amy Bailey said the city has been preparing for election day for about a year now. She said her office has been “actively planning and getting resources into place” since campaign season kicked off in January. Setting up polling locations has run smoothly, Bailey said. “We began setting up late last week, as we can only begin to set up the equipment in the locations five days prior to the election,” she said. “The sites themselves have been scouted and secured for several months.” Bailey said Albuquerque’s voter registration numbers have increased steadily since the previous
city elections, although she is not sure by how much. She said that this year, she expects a larger voter turnout than in the 2009 mayoral elections. “Our voter registration numbers have increased, the 2012 election cycle got many new voters interested in the process and our early voting numbers more than doubled those of 2009,” she said. And Bailey said a runoff election “is entirely possible, but the voters will make that decision at the voting locations.” Albuquerque election procedures require a runoff if a candidate does not win a majority of the votes. This means that either Berry, Dinelli or Heh must garner more than 50 percent of votes to secure the mayoral seat and avoid a runoff. In the past 30 years, no mayor has won with more than 50 percent of total votes during the first round of elections. This year may mark a change from that trend. According to an Albuquerque Journal poll conducted last month, Berry polled at 63 percent. Dinelli placed second at 18 percent, and Heh trailed at 2 percent. The city has already scheduled a runoff for Nov. 19.
October 8, 2013
Arsenii Morin / Daily Lobo Voting machines await the city’s general election at Montezuma Elementary School. Albuquerque residents will be able to cast their vote for mayor today starting at 7 a.m. Bailey said she encourages students to cast their ballots today. “All voters are important,” she said. “Although the councilor for District 6, where the majority of the campus is located, is not up for election in this cycle, I believe local government has a huge impact on everyone that lives here.” Although students will not be able to vote in the Student Union Building for the general election
this year, they can still vote at the Isotopes Park and at the Highland Senior Center, which Bailey said are the closest polling locations to UNM. Registered voters have to bring a photo ID to the locations, and a UNM ID would work perfectly, Bailey said. Polls will be open until 7 p.m. tonight.
Lower tuition might attract job starters from abroad
academic requirements should be determined by the New Mexico Higher Education Department, the report recommended. Nathan said Think New Mexico began to focus on the population of international students at public universities when they discovered immigrants are more likely to create businesses than American citizens. “The research is very clear that the two biggest demographic groups for entrepreneurs are people in STEM fields and immigrants,” he said. “Immigrants are about two times more likely than native-born people to start businesses.”
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Lawyer questions Group: Expand in-state tuition UNM solar efforts by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com @ArdeeTheJourno
A city lawman accuses UNM of being “anti-solar energy.” Jason Marks, an Albuquerque attorney who has served with the state’s Public Regulation Commission, said the University is a member of the New Mexico Industrial Energy Consumers (NMIEC), a lobbying group in Santa Fe. Marks said the group has been pushing in the state Legislature and at the PRC against legislation that would require solar energy sources to be part of the state’s total electricity consumption. “The organization lobbies at the Legislature to keep electric rights as low as possible,” he said. “A large part of their advocacy has been in opposition of the state’s renewable energy requirement. NMIEC has, since 2007, been fighting to repeal the solar targets in the renewable energy rules.” In March 2007, the state Legislature signed a law requiring the state to derive at least 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, such as solar and wind energy, by 2011. The law also requires that the amount increase to 15 percent by 2015, and to 20 percent by 2020.
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Marks said UNM’s membership in the group hurts solar energy developments in the state. “UNM, through the lobbying organization that lobbies at the PRC, aims to get rid of their solar targets,” he said. “If they’re successful, utilities will not be required to deploy any particular amount of solar energy … To me, that just seems wrongly headed to a couple of directions.” The main reason NMIEC and UNM have been trying to counter the law is that the development of solar energy would cost them a lot, Marks said. “Basically they’re just interested in the lowest initial cost. They don’t want to invest one penny on renewable energy. They want to keep utility rates as low as possible … I believe, and I think most members of the UNM community would join me, in saying that making reasonable investments in solar energy is a good idea for the long term.” Although he said the University has been trying to develop renewable energy on campus, Marks said UNM should not be supporting NMIEC’s efforts. “I think UNM does some good things in terms of energy efficiency on campus,” he said. “But
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By Chloe Henson
news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5
In an attempt to battle unemployment in New Mexico, a nonpartisan organization has proposed providing a more affordable education for international students. Local tax-exempt organization Think New Mexico printed a report titled “Addressing New Mexico’s Job Crisis” that encourages the state government to provide in-state tuition for international students at public universities, including UNM. According to the report, Think New Mexico was established in 1999 and aims to “improve the quality of life for all New Mexicans.” In their report, authors Fred Nathan, the executive director of Think New Mexico, and Kristina G. Fisher recommend that New Mexico establish a scholarship program exclusively for international undergraduate students who are “committed to earning STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and business degrees at New Mexico’s public universities.” The individual schools should determine which students to accept, and
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“Immigrants are about two times more likely than native-born people to start businesses.” ~Fred Nathan Executive director, Think New Mexico According to the report, in 2010 620 businesses started nationwide each month for every 100,000 immigrants, while 280 businesses started for every 100,000 nonimmigrants. About 1 percent of undergraduate students at UNM come from abroad, Nathan said. He said Think
New Mexico wants to increase the number of international students attending UNM. “We’re really trying to dog-tail our efforts with (UNM) President (Robert) Frank’s efforts to expand the number of international students,” he said. “There are so many benefits to existing domestic students from increasing the number of international students at UNM.” Nathan said domestic students benefit from exposure to international students because they develop cross-cultural fluency and acquire an “international flavor.” According to the report, Think New Mexico aims to increase the undergraduate international student population at the state’s public universities to 5 percent. The report estimated the cost of this goal would be about $12.5 million. Nathan said Think New Mexico recommended paying for this by reforming certain tax laws in New Mexico. “The way we propose to get that money is by closing seven of the 338 tax credit exemptions and deductions in New Mexico,” he said. “And these are ones that don’t really have a good public policy reason for them.” The report extensively cited Andy Lim, who was an international student at UNM and is now the co-founder and chief executive of Lavu, a software company based in Albuquerque.
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