Mainstream media hasn't been covering it much, but it could come down to this locally if we aren't careful. New Mexico political officials who plan to raise fees, taxes and increase…

We're sure many of you have voted by now, but we also know that things come up and many have not. You can find early voting locations HERE. Tomorrow will be the last day for in-person voting and locations will be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Here's some new information that just came out from OpenTheBooks.com. This scorecard has ratings for Congressional transparency.  Above, you will see the scores for Representatives Michelle Lujan Grisham and Ben Lujan who both received an "F", and Representative Steve Pearce who received a "B".

NMBC was pleased to see that the scorecard from OpenTheBooks is non-partisan and uses objective standards to determine scores, much like we do. Here is a link to the full scorecard. For those skeptics out there, it is noteworthy that Representative Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House, received the worst grade of any Congressman with an "F" with 22%.

How about the Constitutional Amendment questions on the ballot? Given the unquestionable problems with ethics, corruption and abuse of public office that exists in New Mexico, the need for increased investigation and accountability is unarguable. As one of only a handful of states without an Ethics Commission, we should follow the best practices of other states and avoid the pitfalls too. But here’s the thing voters should ask, “Is this something that should be in the state constitution?” NMBC’s position on this issue is that our state legislators should pass appropriate laws to adjudicate and fund an Ethics Commission, which does not require a constitutional amendment.

The amount of money being spent and the increasing pace of 'attack ads' in the race for U.S. Congress to fill the seat that Steve Pearce is vacating is staggering!

Some of the ads paid for by Xochitl Torres Small (or others who want her elected) paint Yvette Herrell as unethical for failing to disclose state contracts paid to a business (operated by family members) while she was a state lawmaker.

The truth? Yvette Herrell asked the Secretary of State about the state contracts years ago. In 2013 Herrell asked the Secretary of State’s office if she needed to change or amend a disclosure form because two properties owned by Herrell Properties, a company operated by other family members, had existing state leases. The response from the Secretary of State’s office was “NO,” because Herrell does not receive any lease payments and she was not a party to the leases with the state.