Attendees at the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce at noon Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014, heard brief campaign announcements from those running for office. The main speaker was Robin Otten of the New Mexico Prosperity Project, a non-partisan group advocating for candidates from either the Democratic or the Republican parties who are pro-business.

The first candidate to speak was John Zimmerman, a candidate for New Mexico House of Representatives, District 39.

"These are exciting times," Zimmerman said. "The state is growing jobs and I believe we will see a good future in New Mexico. I ask you to support pro-business candidates."

Jordan Venegas represented Gov. Susana Martinez, who would be in town later that day.

He cited Martinez's accomplishments since taking office almost four years ago: reforming education to give students the first-class education they deserve; helping small businesses create jobs; helping the state be less dependent on the federal government; balancing the budget without raising taxes; and cleaning up state government.

Ray Tavison, candidate for Grant County Sheriff, cited his almost 30 years in law enforcement as a reason to vote for him.

Dianne Hamilton, Rep. District 38, is running for the position again. She said she has many passions in her service in the New Mexico Legislature. "I support small and large businesses and, with that, education for a skilled work force. Veterans are important to me. I am still pushing a PTSD bill for a program to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Western New Mexico University is preparing social workers to work with veterans. I thank Western for being a partner in this effort."

Terry Fortenberry, running against Hamilton for the District 38 seat, said he was a former three-term mayor of Silver City. "I became mayor when we had just lost 4,000 jobs in the county within a month. Silver City kept and maintained the same level of services, without laying off anyone. I have the drive, and I will work my tail off for all my constituents."

Raul Villanueva, running to retain his position as Sheriff said: "I have 24 years in law enforcement and the drive to continue to help the community become safer. We need to work with youth and I want to continue to be involved with youth. The department continues to work on unsolved cases. We have a great staff. I will continue my open door policy to hear your ideas."

Chamber President Scott Terry introduced two new members who were attending the luncheon: Thomas Blanchard and his insurance agency, and Amy Flynn with Edward Jones. Terry said the chamber has close to 250 members.

Tony Trujillo, Chamber board member and chairman of the New Mexico Prosperity Project board, served as moderator for the meeting. "I took the long way home from Santa Fe," Trujillo said. "I turned onto NM 152 to come home and drove many miles. There was no sign of closure until I saw one that said the road was closed between Kingston and Hillsboro. I will call the DOT and ask that a sign be put at the intersection with the highway."

He introduced the speaker, Robin Dozier Otten, finance officer of The New Mexico Prosperity Project, also known as NMP2.

Trujillo explained the group was formed out of frustration of having trouble getting people to register and to vote. The other main purpose of the group is voter education.

Otten said she is a graduate of UNM and of UNM Law School. She said she, too, although "enthralled with the beautiful vistas around Silver City, took the long way around to get to the luncheon."

She said she saw a recent graphic in the Albuquerque Journal, which showed the growth of each state. "Frequently New Mexico has a negative number in growth."

"First I want to explain NMP2," Otten said. " The project started out of D.C., with an interest in businesses. They soon realized that what happens in D.C. doesn't get to the local level, so they encouraged states to form P2s. It is now in 48 states. Ours in New Mexico has been around for a number of years. Our website, newmexicoprosperity.org , gives information on important dates, such as Oct. 7, being the deadline to register to vote, as well as the date early voting begins. Nov. 4 is the General Election.

"Everything is done online, including excerpts from different candidates and how they vote," Otten continued. "We also offer sponsorship levels for those who wish to support our efforts. We have workplace posters that feature a football player silhouette and read: 'Representative government is not a spectator sport.'"

She gave a PowerPoint presentation, with one of the first slides showing the state ranking, according to the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER).

"The employee-to-population is the same as in 1976," Otten said. "We are in 50th place in private sector jobs; 48th in job growth; and 48th in payroll to population; in the years between 2007 and 2012. On the negative side, we are third highest in underemployment; second in most federal contract-funded private sector jobs, and first in public sector jobs. New Mexico usually ranks ahead of Mississippi and West Virginia.

"We elect our entire House of Representatives at the state level every two years, and the entire Senate every four years," Otten said. "A number of House members are up for re-election, although there are also many new candidates this time. We have information on the website so you can look at representatives' voting records on business. Yes, the person is important, but you as employers should vote on the person's impact on jobs."

She said the state of New Mexico has had one-party rule in the Legislature for many years. "In the 70s, we had a coalition of parties, but not before that and not now. In several districts, it may change to pro-business candidates. Many of each party will vote pro-business, so it doesn't matter about party affiliation. We have a pro-business governor in Susana Martinez. Tom Udall is pro-business in the U.S. Senate. BiPAC also does voting records on those federal position,who are pro-business. We never endorse particular candidates."

Otten said education of voters is another prong of the Prosperity Project. "It is an important effort to educate and inform employees. I ask you employers to let your employees know the importance of voting. It is interesting that research has shown that employees more often listen to their employers on voting issues than even their spouses."

Lori Ford, Community Access Television of Silver City executive director, asked whether it had a list of campaign contributions to each candidate.

"No, but the site does have links to the Secretary of State's Office, where you can find that information," Otten said.

Chuck Soderstrom with Names & Numbers phone books, asked Otten about trends and issues of importance to voters.

"What I see is people are concerned and have begun to understand that federal dollars may continue to shrink, so people are needing to create private sector jobs," Otten replied. "We can look at other states for how they do it. I am also hearing fewer excuses. It's fabulous that we have cultural diversity. It's not an excuse. Education is where it's at. If you don't have an educated work force, then you are in trouble."

Terry pointed out that the general obligation bonds issues are important, especially Bond C, which would allocate $6 million to Western New Mexico University to complete renovations of classrooms at Light Hall, improve and update the university Museum and plan for updates to Harlan Hall, the science building.

Otten said P2 has not done any research on the bond issues. "Sometimes, we do the constitutional amendments. I want to stress how many hours go into compiling the information on the site. The information is there for you and other people."

Joseph Shepard, WNMU president, said Bond C has no partisan politics. "If it is approved, we get Light Hall, Harlan Hall and the Museum. The majority of the sub-contractors on Light Hall were locals."

Zimmerman asked if there were any information on environmental restrictions that are holding back businesses.

"I was on the regulation commission," Otten said. "Regulations are most restrictive to businesses. When the Utah governor took office, he looked at every state regulation and got rid of 400 of them. I think it is important to get rid of regulations that hurt citizens and businesses."

Joel Schram, AmBank senior vice president, asked if there were anything on the site about water issues.

"For manufacturers, water is an issue," Otten said, "but we don't have specific information."

Susie Salars of The Woman's Club, which hosted and catered the meal for the chamber, said the group works hard to keep the historic building "alive. We also donate to charity, and our favorite is scholarships to Western."

Nick Seibel, Silver City Daily Press publisher, said the newspaper would publish a full text of the constitutional amendments.

Announcements included a Meet and Greet for Gov. Martinez later that afternoon; CATS TV is now recording and broadcasting on Channel 19. Schedules can be viewed at catsilver.org.

Timothy Brown, MainStreet manager, said the Lighted Christmas Parade would take place Nov. 28, preceded by the Tamal Fiesta that day.

Shepard said Homecoming began that evening with a ribbon cutting of the new theater at Light Hall. "This weekend, we have free showings of the movie 'Maleficent' at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. After this weekend, movies will be $2 for adults, $1 for children and non-WNMU students and free to WNMU students. We will show movies up to an R-rating. When we have a matinee, it will be a child-rated movie. The schedules can be seen at movies.wnmu.edu. There's a bonfire tonight (Thursday). Friday night is the concert, Habaneros. Saturday will feature a 10 a.m. parade from the courthouse to the field."

Father Henry Hoffman, Holy Trinity Anglican Church pastor, said the Ministerial Alliance would hold a blessing of animals at Gough Park Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, a kick off for "Teens Matter."

Kevin Cook of Freeport McMoRan Inc. said the company's Community Investment fund application window is open until the deadline Dec. 1. "On Oct. 17, from 2-4 p.m., the Grant County Community Health Council will hold a non-profit training."

Bruce Ashburn of PNM announced two settlements—one for the San Juan Generating Plant, which significantly cuts coal usage, and the second allowing PNM to build more megawatts of solar power."

Terry said the chamber would host a tailgate with seafood and gumbo at the Western football game Saturday afternoon.

The next Chamber luncheon, at 11:45 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, will feature the superintendent of the Gila Cliff Dwellings and a representative from Native Air ambulance services.

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