Martin Heinrich Public Safety Press Conference

Yesterday I attended a press conference for Martin Heinrich congressional candidate in district 1. The conference featured Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, firefighters from the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 244 and myself. I am borrowing photos from the FBIHOP blog flicker page for this blog post.


First to speak was Fire Captain Ahren Griego who explained why the local IAFF was supporting Martin Heinrich. He spoke about fire fighters who are developing lung and other diseases after years of working in and around fires. The fire fighters sometimes develop the diseases after retirement and many times are in a fight to prove thier ailments are work related. Martin Heinrich has vowed to work on this issue in congress.


I spoke next and I am just going to post my speech as I wrote it. I know I did stray from my prepared remarks in a sentence or two.

I want to tell all of you something’s you probably don’t know and something’s that will shock you. Police officers and deputies across this nation are going to work with out bullet proof vests they need to stay alive. They are going to work without enough ammunition to attend needed firearms training. There are thousands less cops in our schools protecting our children than there were just 7 years ago. This year alone New Mexico received a 67% cut in federal funds to combat drugs including Meth, Cocaine, and Heroin.

What happened 7 years ago that began these cuts? President George W. Bush took office in Washington.

I always thought I could support a Law Enforcement Officer going to represent us in Washington. Who better to work on Public Safety Issues? However, after all the destruction the Bush Administration has done to public safety in America one Sheriff not only stood by him but actually was his New Mexico Campaign Chair in 2004. Worse, not once has Sheriff Darren White tried to get his friend George W. Bush to stop the bleeding of our public safety agencies.

But we New Mexicans can do something about this. We can elect a man who has a proven record of working to combat crime and graffiti in Albuquerque as a city councilor. That man is Martin Heinrich!

I am proud to join the Sheriff's from Valencia and Sandoval County in support of Martin Heinrich because I know he will work hard to ensure that Public Safety officials have the resources and tools they need to protect New Mexico citizens. I hope all the citizens in District one will get out to vote and when they are in that voting booth they will choose Martin Heinrich.

I am very proud to introduce to you the next Congressman from District 1, Martin Heinrich

Next up to speak was Martin Heinrich himself who thanked all of us for our support and spoke about working in congress to address the issues our public safety officials have brought to him. He gave a great speech which was well written and thought out. He then introduced Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois. Congressman Emanuel spoke about the Clinton era COPS programs which put 100,000 cops on the streets. He described how the Bush Administration has tried to end the program year after year and now has the program cut to almost nothing. I was very impressed with Congressman Emanuel and look forward to meeting him again.

The event went well and was well attended by the TV news, Print and those whom I recognized from the blogosphere. I look forward to helping Martin Heinrich as much as I can in his race and I feel he is on the road to victory in November.

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