OPINION: Talk of the Town

Avoiding scrutiny is not leadership

Transparency is not optional in public service — especially when the safety of Rio Rancho families may be at stake.

Under the leadership of Sandoval County Commission Chair Mike Meek, land leases and purchases for Project Ranger/Castillon Corp. — a proposed hypersonic missile manufacturing facility just 3 miles west of Rio Rancho — were pushed through on a consent calendar. While technically legal, using a consent agenda for a project of this magnitude effectively silenced public scrutiny and avoided meaningful debate.

That is not leadership. That is avoidance.

Residents deserved a full public discussion. They deserved detailed answers about safety, environmental impact, emergency preparedness and long-term consequences. Instead, public comment was denied on a matter with serious public safety implications.

If a leader is willing to sidestep open debate on something this consequential, what does that say about how future decisions will be handled?

Even more concerning, Meek now seeks to become mayor of Rio Rancho. Leadership at the municipal level demands transparency, accountability and respect for citizens’ voices. It requires inviting scrutiny — not limiting it.

The people of Rio Rancho deserve a mayor who will openly engage the public on critical issues, not move them quietly through procedural shortcuts.

Public trust, once lost, is difficult to restore. Rio Rancho cannot afford leadership that jeopardizes that trust.

Esther Lovato

Rio Rancho

Fight for better health care must continue

Concerning the state's health care crisis: It was good to see that the New Mexico Legislature finally delivered, albeit not entirely, by passing House Bill 99, which set liability limits on punitive awards for medical malpractice lawsuits. The stranglehold of the trial lawyer coalition was overcome by the voice of the people statewide who supported this legislation and made their voices heard. Even the trial-lawyer lawmakers know when it's time to back off if they want to survive the next election.

Conversely, it's disappointing that most of the health care worker compact bills were killed in the Senate. It would have been great to get them passed at the same time as the malpractice bill. Also regrettable is the governor opting out of calling a special session to get the compacts passed, along with other key initiatives that benefit the state. In addition to compacts for physicians and social workers, which were approved by both the House and Senate, the House passed all the remaining health care worker compacts unanimously by votes ranging from 64-0 to 68-0, and the electorate firmly supports of all the compacts. The governor could have carried the momentum forward in a special session.

There are 64 organizations that have endorsed New Mexico joining all the health care compacts, ranging from the chambers of commerce to the teacher, machinist and aerospace unions. Holding off this huge swell of support says a lot about the trial lawyers remaining political clout in the Senate.

We must continue the fight. Thanks to the Journal, and organizations like Think New Mexico, The New Mexico Business Coalition, the Rio Grande Foundation and others for helping us understand the issues and reach our legislators.

Dave Coulie

Albuquerque

Malpractice changes finally coming to NM

Congratulations are due to many people and organizations who supported House Bill 99, which will make changes to medical malpractice lawsuits, during the 2026 Legislature.

The American Association of University Women in New Mexico would like to call out three. The first, Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, worked most of the interim studying medical malpractice policy in other regional states. She crafted a bill with input from victims, physicians and trial lawyers. Then she rounded up 48 bipartisan cosponsors. When there was pushback in the first House committee, she quickly organized a compromise. Then she sat through hours and hours of debates and unfriendly amendments. HB 99 passed the House 66-3, then the Senate 40-2 and it should soon be signed into law by the governor.

The second hero in this story is the Journal, whose investigative research brought sunshine to the dark money of the group New Mexico Safety Over Profit, a registered lobbying entity. NMSOP refused to list their donors and the New Mexico State Ethics Commission followed by suing for disclosure of donors, which the Journal then printed for all to see.

Another important player is Think New Mexico, our own nonpartisan think tank, in Santa Fe, whose research supported and directed the new legislation. Think New Mexico wrote editorials, testified in committee hearings and kept the pressure on the Legislature throughout the entire session by rallying supporters.

AAUW-NM thanks all three for their outstanding contributions to improving future medical care for all New Mexicans.

Nina Thayer

American Association of University Women in New Mexico

Albuquerque’s ad hoc enforcement fails everyone

Albuquerque must invest in better code enforcement. Local zoning enforcement should be proactive and systematic: to protect health, safety, neighborhood quality and build community pride. Too often in Albuquerque, we ignore obvious problems as forgotten neighborhoods and retail strips crumble in place.

Year after year, residents watch front yards turn into zero-scaped parking lots for weeds, cars, trailers, construction equipment, dying trees and debris. Small apartment dumpsters sit on sidewalks. Residents don’t know the law. Unsafe housing and clearly neglected properties sit untouched, dragging down nearby home values. People believe decline is acceptable. The city knows where these problems are, but city leaders and bureaucrats hesitate for fear older and low-income owners and tenants can’t afford to fix violations.

Current enforcement is ad hoc and complaint driven. Low-income owners and tenants are cited for minor violations they can’t afford to fix, with no meaningful help attached. Chronic neglect gets a pass; poverty gets punished. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t good planning.

This approach hurts everyone. It discourages reinvestment, accelerates neighborhood decline and quietly displaces residents when problems finally become crises. Meanwhile, people who follow the rules pay the price through frustration, lost value and declining quality of life.

Enforcement should be a quality-driving planning tool, not a weapon. Real enforcement would target long-term neglect and dangerous conditions first, pair citations with repair grants and technical help, and give people a real path to compliance. Success should be measured in homes repaired and neighborhoods stabilized — not 311 calls and tickets written.

Selective enforcement breeds neglect. Smart enforcement builds cities people choose to live in.

John Hooker

Albuquerque

West Side residents deserve a better post office

Last Saturday I went to the post office off Paradise Road on the West Side to mail a parcel to my daughter in California. The parking lot was fairly full. When I got inside there were 16 people in front of me and only one female employee behind the counter. After a few minutes I noticed she left. Another employee finally returned to help customers after a 10-minute wait. People ahead of me were leaving in anger and disappointment from the long wait. 

Finally, after more than an hour in line — and my back killing me from the spinal stenosis I have — I was waited on by an employee. When I left, I noticed only one person behind the counter and four empty stations and people waiting out the door. 

The manager of this post office should be fired. How can you not have more employees on a Saturday helping customers? 

Michael Pacheco

Albuquerque