Campaign Issues
Many issues face New Mexico and Dona Ana County.
Dave Tofsted can tackle them and make our community a better place.
SECURE OUR BORDER
New Mexico has the 6th highest rate of drug-overdose deaths in America. Much of these is due to Fentanyl. Fentanyl, which is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, is often mixed with heroin as well as counterfeit opioids. Many overdose deaths are believed to be unintentional; a person might take what they believe to be heroin, not knowing that fentanyl is also present, and suffer an overdose because of the increased potency of fentanyl.
Fentanyl Death Rates on the Rise in New Mexico
Dona Ana County one of only a few counties that actually border Mexico. Leaving our border open to illegal drug smuggling is making our communities more dangerous than ever in our history.
End Human Trafficking in New Mexico
The cartels based in Mexico are not just bringing deadly drugs into America, they are also smuggling human beings being exploited for slave labor and sex trafficking. This is a human tragedy and our government should not be helping organized crime take advantage of an open border..
PROTECT OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
Close the "No Bail" Loophole, Keep Criminals in Jail
When "No Bail" is implemented, there is no penalty for crimes. The problems with our streets are largely due to repeat offenders who are being released onto our streets after just a few hours in jail. Additionally, we are seeing cases where lawyers are arguing that their clients are "Incompetent" to stand trial. And the system is so backlogged that the hearings to determine competency are nine months out, meaning these repeat offenders are released over and over with no penalty for them, and major headaches for the public and especially business owners.
These laws must be amended to keep criminals in jail awaiting trial. What we know is that it is just a few criminals who are causing a majority of the crimes. We also know that many of these cases involve drug users who are perpetrating crimes to fuel their habit.
Fund Mental Health and Drug Rehab Centers
The solution beyond revising bail laws and competency issues is to fund a drug treatment facility that can handle rehab of drug users to bring them down off their addiction. The time they are taken off the streets will be both beneficial to them and to the communities that they are currently victimizing to support their drug habits.
PROTECT INNOCENT LIFE
Adoption, Not Abortion, for Viable Unborns
In New Mexico a woman can obtain an abortion up to the day of birth, even for a fully viable child who could survive outside the womb. This is no longer health care since if this child were outside the mother's body they could live a normal life. In such cases it makes more sense to increase funding for adoption support services, rather than performing an abortion designed to kill the child.
Quite frankly, this is the moderate position, while abortion extremists advocate killing babies completely capable of living healthy lives outside the womb.
Financial and political interests are pushing for public funding of abortion facilities within New Mexico, which encourages abortion tourism from neighboring states that have reasonable restrictions.
Why should citizens of our state be paying for supporting what they consider the brutal deaths of the unborn, something they consider morally reprehensible? This policy leaves no freedom of choice on the moral conscience of many New Mexicans. As a state senator I will oppose all efforts to fund such programs.
FIX OUR SCHOOLS
Reward Our Teachers, Fund Excellence
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Our teachers are on at the front line of equipping the next generation to succeed in this world and in our state. Yet they are being paid around 10% less than teachers in nearby states. Our teachers should not be spending money out of their own pockets for basic classroom needs.
We need to invest in an effective teacher corps and reward our best teachers who are helping real student achievement so that we can raise New Mexico's level of education out from last place in the nation.
The New Mexico State Constitution's Article XXI Section 4 contains the following: "Provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools which shall be open to all the children of the state and free from sectarian control, and said schools shall always be conducted in English."
I highlight this issue of Sectarian Control because it appears as though the state's school systems are being influenced today by groups that are attempting to introduce sectarian doctrines that are unique to a particular belief system and this system is in direct conflict with many other religions. Hence, it is sectarian in nature. I speak of the concept being promulgated that there are more than two genders.
Those who follow the Biblical doctrine understand that the Book of Genesis clearly states that God created humans as males and females, and none other. This belief is in agreement with the teachings of biology. Humans are classified as mammals. Mammals (see Mammal) exhibit "sexual dimorphism". "On average, male mammals are larger than females, with males being at least 10% larger than females in over 45% of investigated species."
Human females and males have bodies that exhibit distinct differences. Any teaching that pretends that males and females are somehow interchangeable is effectively a non-science belief and should not find itself being taught or advocated in public schools. This is a matter of politics and is a sectarian belief that is out of line with nearly 100% of human experience and other religious beliefs.
We need to keep this and other such sectarian beliefs out of the public schools.
Our Gas-Powered Vehicles are being Targeted by Jeff Steinborn and his Fellow Democrats in support of their "Green" New Deal Extremism
Did you know that Senator Jeff Steinborn wants to FORCE YOU to STOP DRIVING YOUR Gas-Fueled Vehicle?
This past February, Senator Steinborn voted in lock-step with nearly every other Democrat legislator in Dona Ana County to pass the [so-called] "Clean Fuel Bill" (2024's NM House Bill 41). According to this bill, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board (the EIB, a board completely controlled by NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham) is tasked with forcing New Mexicans to use 20% LESS gasoline and diesel by 2030. This mandate increases to 30% less by 2040.
To ensure that this requirement is met, this board is authorized to APPLY a Variable Surcharge on EVERY gallon of gasoline and diesel sold in New Mexico until this restricted usage is achieved.
Gas Prices set to skyrocket after MLG signes 30 cent per gallon gas tax bill
New Mexico governor signs clean fuel bill into law
RPNM Condemns governor signing new law expected to raise gas prices by 50 cents
NEXT STEPS
It's important to realize that this scheme is (in essence) a version of Barack Obama and Al Gore's CAP and TRADE systems that were rejected back in 2009 when this plan failed to pass in the US Senate. 15 years later, the Biden Administration, through the Administration of Michelle Lujan Grisham, is trying to enact the same FAILED system.
This time, the goal is to use the moneys collected by the state to make gasoline, and diesel distributors buy CREDITS from suppliers of "Green" technologies. Technologies like Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, Solar Farms, Wind Farms, and Electric Generation infrastructure are needed to produce an all-Green grid suitable for an All-Electric fleet of vehicles.
BOTTOM LINE:
This scheme is designed so that YOU and I, the gas-powered vehicle drivers in this state, (plus anyone else stupid enough to buy gasoline in New Mexico), will be PAYING TO BUILD OUT this GREEN ELECTRIC VEHICLE transition.
PROBLEMS with this SCHEME
1. LIBERTY and LIBERALs: First off, the definition of the word "Liberal" used to mean - "Favoring reform, open to new ideas, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; not bound by traditional thinking; broad-minded. Yet under this scheme ALL NEW MEXICANS who want to drive their vehicle in peace and at reasonable cost are going to be FORCED to PAY for this ELECTRIC TRANSITION whether they want to or not.
Second, in America, I used to think that you got what you paid for. If anyone WANTS to buy an electric vehicle, be my guest. But then these folks should be the ones willing to foot the bill for these charging stations and the electric infrastructure needed to support them.
By FORCING this scheme on gas-powered vehicle drivers they have TAKEN AWAY our choices! This is not LIBERAL.
2. NOT BALANCED: Back in the 1950's when President Dwight D. Eisenhower started the Interstate Highway system, there were already many roads connecting the country. This system also supported the military purpose of being able to rapidly move military equipment across the country. Prior to this system, many rural and nationwide roadways already existed. Examples include Route-66 that connected Chicago to Los Angeles, and Valley Drive that even today connects Las Cruces to Hatch and then to connected roads leading up to Albuquerque.
In comparison, this EXTREME SCHEME will cost New Mexico drivers HUNDREDS of DOLLARS per VEHICLE every year (imagine 100,000 vehicles in Dona Ana County alone times an average refueling of 10 gallons per week times 52 weeks per year times a surcharge of 50 cents per gallon equals $260 per car per year, or $26 million dollars EXTRA flowing to Santa Fe from just our county's drivers to put into the pockets of vested interests beholden to Democrat lawmakers in Santa Fe!
Biden sign order aiming half new vehicles be electric 2030
What this means is we're being forced to send yet more money to Santa Fe, draining our county of more resources and jobs.
3. NOT FAIR: At the same time that this scheme robs Dona Ana county of needed resources, it also puts into the hands of Santa Fe bureaucrats the power to direct our hard earned money to far-left billionaires to finance their lucrative but expensive and irresponsible "Green"-Energy schemes. In most cases these schemes have produced businesses that have rapidly failed once their government subsidies disappeared. Poster child businesses such as Solyndra come to mind, but there have been others as well.
A 1 billion solar plant was obsolete before it ever went online
A particular story from January of 2022 reported that the US Energy Department [under President Biden!] Blew $1.1 Billion on Carbon Capture Projects That Were Mostly Failures... A watchdog report found that the government was eager to throw money at projects that never got off the ground.
The energy department blew $1,1 billion on carbon capture
And if our Federal Government cannot get these projects right, what hope are we to put into New Mexico state's government? Like the SpacePort project that has spent hundreds of millions of New Mexico taxpayer dollars and come to almost nothing, we have a track record in this area that does not portend a good oucome.
4. NOT EVEN GREEN!: At the same we are being inundated with claims that we MUST! transition to Wind and Solar power, these same hustlers are claiming that Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are THE solution to our transportation needs. Yet the facts differ from their ponies and rainbows dreams.
As climate-adaptation advocate Bjorn Lomborg explains in this "Prager University" video [www.prageru.com/video/are-electric-cars-really-green], roughly 25,000 lbs. of CO2 emissions have already been required to build a BEV in the first
place! That's considerably MORE than is required to build a regular gas-powered automobile. Why? Because a BATTERY in a BEV contains over a hundred pounds of Lithium extracted from Lithium mining of around 250 TONS! of ore using diesel-powered tractors and digging equipment.
Thus, an All-Electric car/truck/SUV begins with around 60,000 miles of equivalent driven road usage of a regular gas-powered vehicle even before it drives off the dealer's lot.
AND IT GETS WORSE FROM THERE...
Not only are LITHIUM-based BEV batteries HIGH-COST in energy to produce, they degrade in their range capability by around 2% per year, meaning 25-year-old BEVs will only be half as capable as new vehicles, meaning their resale value is degrading every year. And once degraded (currently) only about half of a car's lithium battery's components can be recycled!
The rest, around 50 pounds per battery, will be a growing environmental hazard for centuries to come!
5. A SAFETY CONCERN AS WELL.
Lithium, the element that is the critical component of the Battery Electric Vehicle is an Alkali metal. Like other Alkali elements Sodium and Potassium, when contained in a salt molecule they are generally safe, but when present in their pure form they become a hazardous material!
From ... https://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1119.pdf ...
- Lithium can affect you when inhaled.
- Contact can severely irritate and burn the skin and eyes.
- Inhaling Lithium can irritate the nose and throat.
- Inhaling Lithium can irritate the lungs. Higher exposures may cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema), a medical emergency.
- Exposure to Lithium can cause loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting.
- Lithium can cause headache, muscle weakness, loss of coordination, confusion,
- Lithium may affect the thyroid gland, kidneys and heart function.
- Lithium is REACTIVE and a DANGEROUS EXPLOSION HAZARD.
- Lithium is CORROSIVE when in contact with MOISTURE or WATER.
Interviewing an RC car enthusiast, once he experienced one of his cars light on fire due to a failure of its Lithium Battery. The burning battery gave off Lithium fumes that were choking him due to irritating his nose, throat, and lungs.
Given such health hazards, and the fact that Lithium Batteries in EVs are installed directly beneath the vehicle's passenger compartment, any collision that ignites a fire in the Lithium battery may cause the battery to light on fire and potentially explode.
It would seem that the American public is being mislead to believe that this technology is as safe as driving regular gas-powered automobiles. For while gas-powered cars are not immune to fires, the gas tank is typically situated behind the driver and passengers, and not directly underneath the driver's seat.
CONCLUSIONS:
It is clear from President Biden's current plans to outlaw the purchase of ANY gas-powered vehicles by the US Government that his eventual plan is to outlaw all gas-powered vehicle sales throughout the US. Here is a recent headline:
Biden administration revs up plans to transition from gas-powered vehicles to EVs https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-unveils-plan-boost-evs-162525322.html
This is no joke. Left-wing sources such as NPR were pushing this idea in 2021...
Giving up gas-powered cars was a fringe idea. It's now on its way to reality https://www.npr.org/2021/11/20/1055718914/giving-up-gas-powered-cars-for-electric-vehicles
Yet now, as of May 2024, with an election coming up, the same sources are beginning to soft-pedal this idea... https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/experts-say-proposed-vehicle-emissions-and-fuel-rules-not-an-epa-ban-on-gas-powered-cars/
"Experts Say Proposed Vehicle Emissions and Fuel Rules Not an EPA ‘Ban’ on Gas-Powered Cars"
Note, however, that while the EPA will not BAN Gas-Powered Cars, at the same time it is not saying that it won't BAN the SALE of NEW Gas-Powered Vehicles.
But the Biden fleet mileage standards have been written so stringently that ONLY high numbers of EV sales can produce the fleet-wide average fuel-efficiencies necessary to meet his new (impossibly high) standards.
Thus, when we say that the "ULTIMATE" GREEN GOAL is to Ban All Gas-Powered Vehicles in the USA, while this goal may not be reached next week, this objective is not
to be taken lightly. They are after your vehicle to force you into an ALL-Electric Vehicle whether you want it or not.
AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?
One might think - what sort of problem would that be? What could possibly go wrong with such a transition?
First off, not ALL of us will be driving EV's. Only the lesser people will be forced to drive EV's. Meanwhile the elites like Biden, and John Kerry, and others will still be flying around in their private jets and driving in 40 gas-powered SUV motorcades.
Second, we simply cannot afford to have a transportation infrastructure based on all-electric tractor-trailers, or electric trains, or electric tractors for farming. Such fantasies are not only unworkable but also dangerous for the existence of mankind itself. Without diesel tractor-trailer rigs the transport of goods across country would come to a grinding halt.
Farmers could not operate electric tractors in a field. As farmers tell me - once you start out into the fields for the day, whether they are muddy or not, you simply cannot stop mid-day once your electric vehicle runs out of charge. When crops are needing to be harvested, hours matter.
Similarly, police, fire, and emergency vehicles cannot be run on electricity when seconds matter. Nor can emergency helicopters operate on electricity.
From a security perspective an all-electric society would also be highly vulnerable to an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) attack. In the event the power grid was attacked and went down, our citizens would be trapped with no means of transportation. All except the favored elite who would still have access to the remaining oil and gas reserves. This, again, would be unfair to the majority of Americans.
Likewise, population in remote areas (of which New Mexico has many) will often be far from charging stations.
Similarly, our infrastructure in our electric grid is simply not built out to be able to support such an extensive transition. And the cost of modifying the grid is a cost that is too expensive for New Mexico or the rest of our nation to afford, and completely unnecessary. It would bankrupt our state.
Our modern society needs to look at realistic and workable solutions, and not green fantasies when running a first-world economy.
Now, it's one thing for President Biden to take our whole nation down this destructive and unnecessary road, but even if (somehow) Biden is stopped from gaining a second term in office, this would do nothing to stop Governor Grisham and her own destructive path, aided and abetted by the likes of Jeff Steinborn, and Angelica Rubio, Nathan Small, William Soules, Carrie Hamblen, Doreen Gallegos, Michaela Cadena, Joanne Ferrary, and dozens of other Democrat House and Senate members.
CAN A COMPROMISE BE FOUND?
While current technologies do not exist, perhaps someday batteries that supply enough power to extend the range of electric vehicles to over 500 miles, and charging times of 5 minutes or less will be developed. That time is not today or anytime in the near future.
As well, perhaps in the future our electric grid will become so robust that power can be supplied to every house that is sufficient to charge these vehicles quickly, and the availability of charging stations will become so common that range anxiety and concerns over power availability will be diminished. Again, that time is not the present or the near future.
In the meantime I intend to introduce a bill that will recind HB 41 so that the public has choices in automotives. Secondly, the Energy Transition Act passed with only Democratic support in 2019 needs to be amended to extend the timeline of its implementation to several additional decades into the future and to include advanced nuclear power options. The current plan eliminates almost all nuclear power options, yet nuclear power is as clean as solar and wind power and is designed to last for many years longer.
The state's Environmental Improvement Board should also be made answerable to the Legislative Branch of the state government where this body has veto powers and where this body is not under the total control of the state executive. Members of the state Public Regulatory Commission should also require