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Roswell Daily Record
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Ellis, who are competing for the position of district attorContinued from Page A1 ney in the 5th Judicial District, shared differing views on the current relationship between the DA’s office and law enforcement. “The relationship between the law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office has improved dramatically since I’ve been district attorney. It’s not perfect, but it’s better,” Hicks said. “One of the things we’ve worked on (together) is the offender watch program ... We partnered with all the sheriff’s in the county and we created this database. It’s the first district-wide sex offender notification database in the nation.” Describing the relationship as practically non-existent, Ellis said, “One of the things we can do to improve the relationship ... is to remove the law enforcement officers as prosecutors. ... They are being asked to go into a courtroom and act as an attorney, something they have not been trained well for. ... They even had a court case against the DA’s office because the DA was having them prosecute misdemeanors. The law enforcement officers lost the case but the DA lost the respect of law enforcement.” The longest question in the history of the forum was asked of Reps. Dennis Kintigh and Bob Wooley. Due to a House redistricting plan, Wooley and Kintigh, who currently represents District 57, were lumped into District 66, currently represented by Wooley. The question asked the representatives their stance on a recent legislative effort to change rules regulating how much corporate income tax the state collects from businesses operating in multiple states. Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed this proposed change. Both representatives indicated they were opposed to the measure. “The legislative Finance Committee and the Tax and Revenue Committee have both come forward and said the data does not support the contentions of those who support it. ... We are a state that is unfriendly to businesses in so many ways. Let’s (not) make it harder. Let’s be reasonable about our taxation, be reasonable about our regulation and let’s be reasonable about our litigation,” Kintigh said. “It puts our cur-
Ezzell
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tax system. She said the state particularly needs to reform areas of double taxation. Some years ago, Ezzell carried a bill, which she worked on with Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, to combat this issue. The bill did effectively pass the Legislature. “A wholesale company was paying taxes on products that they were getting from another state and then having to turn around and pay taxes on it again. There seems to be a double standard there. The penalties that were assessed with this were unbelievable.” A member of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and a local 4H leader, among other involvement in agricultural organizations, Ezzell said, “I try to promote the agricultural industry every chance I get. If you eat you’re involved in agriculture.” She listed water use as a rising problem affecting this industry. Given the drought cattle numbers have hugely declined statewide. At her own
Cartel
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rior secretary, Alejandro Poire, said Monday that all those incidents resulted from the fight between the Zetas gang and the Sinaloa Cartel, which have emerged in the last year as the two main forces in Mexican drug-traf ficking and other organized crime.
Some victims in earlier body dumps have turned out to be bakers, brick layers, even students — anyone who could be snatched off the streets
Romney
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governor welcomes an election-season conversation with Obama about jobs. Romney’s campaign has argued that he helped spur tens of thousands of jobs in the public and private sectors and pointed to a net job loss during Obama’s presidency, most of which occurred during the first few months of his administration. Obama has touted the creation of 4.2 million new jobs over the last 26 months as his policies took hold. Both candidates are seeking to pivot to voters’ No. 1 issue, the economy, and away from the social issues that domi-
in mass killings that one captured gang member said were designed to “cause terror.” Poire would not respond directly when asked by The Associated Press if innocents have increasingly become targets. “We don’t have proper identification of the dead,” he said. “We have to leave that to the investigation.” The 43 men and six women found Sunday were dumped at the entrance to the town of San Juan about 105 miles southwest of McAllen, Texas. nated after the president announced his support for gay marriage last week. Romney and Obama alike contend that in a nation where unemployment is hovering around 8 percent, voters will choose a president based on economic arguments. Obama is trying to persuade voters to stick with him as he heralds an economic rebound, as sluggish as it is. Romney counters that only he — with his deep background in business — knows how to jumpstart the nation’s job market. Obama’s TV ad was scheduled to run in five battleground states — Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado — and was part of a larger $25 million, month-long campaign.
NOBLE FINANCE
rent businesses in New Mexico at an unfair advantage. There’s many corporations that are out of state that do business here that don’t pay near the taxes that our current businesses in our state do,” Wooley said. “We need to work to change our tax structure, not only for that reason but to help our current businesses in our state also.” Robert Corn, a retired magistrate judge, and Mike Kakuska, assistant superintendent for the Roswell Independent School District, who are running for the only contested County Commission seat, District 4, addressed a reoccurring county problem, the maintenance of its roads, and whether it should take on more roads. “We have to take a look at budget restraints ... Absolutely we need to maintain roads, there’s no questions about that. Adding roads at this time, I haven’t seen any reason to necessarily do that. The amount of monies it has to taken to repair roads has escalated, especially with the price of oil and so we need to look at ... chip seal and other ways to get that work done on our roads,” Kakuska said. “The road department is the second largest item in the county budget ... We have lots of commercial traffic out in the county ... I think we need to put more money into those roads that are handling the traffic by heavy equipment and heavy trucks,” Corn said. “There’s a lot of different avenues and we just need to take those revenues and try to do the best we can.” Other candidates present included City Clerk Dave Kunko and Bureau of Elections Chief Stephanie De Los Santos Amaro, who are seeking the position of county clerk; Judges Lisa Riley and Les Williams, who are running for the position of 5th Judicial District Court judge, Division 9; and Fire Chief Chad Hamill and Roswell farmer Cliff Pirtle, both seeking the state Senate District 32 seat currently represented by Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. The forum will be rebroadcast for Cable One customers on Channel 75 on May 21, May 28 and June 2 at 6 p.m.
AP Photo
Andy Schmidt and his 10-month-old daughter Nora attend a rally supporting Civil Unions at the state Capitol in Denver on Monday.
DENVER (AP) — A last-ditch effort by Colorado’s governor to give gay couples in the state rights similar to married couples failed Monday after Republicans rejected the proposal during a special legislative session. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper had said the special session was needed to address a “fundamental question of fairness and civil rights.”
The bill’s demise was expected by Democrats, who have begun using the issue as a rallying cry to topple Republicans in the November elections. Republicans assigned the bill to the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which voted 5-4 along party lines to kill the measure.
j.bergman@rdrnews.com
ranch, where Ezzell and her husband raise beef cattle, the number of cows has decreased from 380 to 50. “We cannot use our water for speculation. It’s the livelihood of our area. It’s not just for farmers and ranchers. It’s for our municipalities and it is for businesses also,” she said.
As for education, Ezzell is in favor of banning social promotion. She said the key to student success depends on parental involvement. “Small schools are the schools that are succeeding right now mainly because our parents get involved in these smaller schools. ... Take the time. They’re your children. They’re not the government’s kids,” she said. Indicating the need to revamp the state’s entire educational system, Ezzell said, “In 2006, I believe, New Mexico ranked number one in the nation as far as the amount of money per capita that we put towards our students and we ranked 49th in what we turned out. I’m tired of those statistics.” Ezzell and her husband Calder have two children; Robert and Kathleen. j.bergman@rdrnews.com
JPMorgan Continued from Page A1
almost any other bank after the 2008 financial crisis, which brought him more praise than at any other time in his career. Shareholders rarely lash out against Dimon. Vikram Pandit of Citigroup and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America are not so fortunate: Shareholders at those banks take the slightest opportunity to call for them to step down. Dimon’s reputation has been severely damaged now. But shareholders still appear to believe he should be given the chance to prove himself again. “He’s earned enough market respect to have the opportunity to correct this,” said Benjamin Wallace of investment firm Grimes & Co., a longtime shareholder that sold its JPMorgan shares six months ago. “I don’t think anyone else can do a better job than him, and we would not be calling for his ouster,” Wallace said. Dimon said on Sunday that the bank had “made a terrible, egregious mistake” and that there was “almost no excuse for it.” Yet there have been no signs of a shareholder insurrection against Dimon, and no member of the board of directors has spoken out against him since he disclosed the loss. He still holds a reputation as the man who restored Bank One to a profit a decade ago when few thought it was possible and who kept JPMorgan Chase profitable through the financial crisis by managing its risk. And while $2 billion was a stunning figure, as the investor reaction demonstrates, JPMorgan is more than big enough to absorb the loss. The bank made $19 billion last year alone. “Banking is a people business, and people are going to make mistakes,” said Steve Shafer, chief investment officer of the hedge fund Covenant Global Investors in Oklahoma City, which bought JPMorgan shares on Friday. “If anything, this just reveals how difficult it is, with some of the smartest hedgers on the face of the earth, to interpret what the markets are going to do,” he added.
“My family is the same as every one of yours,” said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, the Democrats’ leader in the House and a gay lawmaker who co-sponsored the civil unions bill, moments before it was defeated. Though the ending came as no surprise, the lead-up was emotional. Two Democratic lawmakers choked up before their votes. In the audience, Marq Shafer, 31, put his hand on his partner Cody Shafer’s shoulder and nervously rubbed Cody Shafer’s wedding ring.
Casa
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idents.”
After remodelling is completed, Barber plans to hold an open house. He said he has been working with Chaves County to expand their parking area and provide
an open path to the county building in order to facilitate resident voting. Activities director Julia Matta said they will hold their second annual dog show where family and staff will bring canine candidates. “We will roll out the red carpet. It will be a whole lot of fun,” she said.
Dimon has said the bank lost the money in a strategy to hedge against financial risk, as banks often do, not because it was trading for its own profit. Some lawmakers have cast doubt on that portrayal. JPMorgan’s disclosure has led lawmakers and critics of the banking industry to call for stricter regulation of Wall Street. On Monday, President Barack Obama said JPMorgan’s loss in high-risk trading shows the need for the Wall Street rules that Congress passed two years ago. JPMorgan “is of the best managed banks,” Obama said during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” a daytime talk show. “You could have a bank that isn’t as strong, isn’t as profitable, making those same bets and we might have had to step in. Which his exactly why Wall Street reform is so important.” Four days after Dimon announced the trading blunder, the executive responsible for trading strategy at JPMorgan, one of the highest-ranking women on Wall Street, became the first casualty. The bank said that Ina Drew, 55, the chief investment officer for the bank and a 30-year veteran of the company, would retire and be replaced by Matt Zames, an executive in JPMorgan’s investment bank. Dimon said Drew’s “vast contributions to our company should not be overshadowed by these events.” He stressed that the company remains “very strong.” “We maintain our fortress balance sheet and capital strength to withstand setbacks like this, and we will learn from our mistakes and remain diligently focused on our clients, who count on us every day,” Dimon said. James Rickards, author of “Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis” and a partner in JAC Capital Advisors, a New York hedge fund, has called for him to resign as CEO. JPMorgan has access to funding from the Federal Reserve at an interest rate of almost zero and lends it out to people and businesses at a higher rate, he pointed out. “The money that his bank put at risk comes at the cost of everyday Americans who are getting zero income on their savings accounts, and Dimon should take the ultimate responsibility,” Rickards said.
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