PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 05, 2008

for full story, please read this:

http://www.prlog.org/10077917-two-negative-new-mexico-legislators-who-killed-nutrition-council-bills-are-retired-by-voters.html

Many Consumer Protection oriented readers know that for the past 5 years, I have been trying to pass legislation to establish a New Mexico Nutrition Council, to advise citizens, schools, and concerned victims of additive poisoning, as well as challenge the FDA when it needs to be challenged.



The closest these bills ever came to passing was in 2005. Carried by Navajo Rep. Irvin Harrison, the House Bill passed the House resoundingly, and then hit the Senate Committee on Corporations chaired by Albuquerque Senator Shannon Robinson. Republicans on that committee had already left in a “hissy” fit earlier over some minor miff, and there wasn’t a quorum, so the Democrats there formed a subcommittee and passed it.



Committee Chair Robinson, himself a pathetic junk food addict at that time, who was continually strung out on the sugar-candy-cokes-and-god-knows-what-else-he-had eaten highs and lows, the next day did a “floor poll” of the Republicans on his committee, including Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, and convinced them to vote against it. Even though this action was entirely outside of Senate Rules, this killed the bill.





I will never forget speaking with two physicians, (Grant La Farge and Kenneth Stoller) plus Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino to the Senate Public Affairs Committee in 2007 on Jerry’s bill to ban aspartame in New Mexico, and there in the first chair was James Taylor eating a ham sandwich and ostentatiously and contemptuously guzzling his Diet Coke, as if to “dis” those testifying as bringing Internet junk science to the Public Affairs Committee. Visiting his office, as I once did, I saw cases and cases of Diet Cokes in stacks almost to the ceiling, ordered, I presume, because they were free to the legislators. I had to pause and profoundly question what the hell I was doing, trying to convince legislators to look out for New Mexico children, diabetics, Native Americans, the overweight, etc., when in fact, the legislators had terrible addictions to aspartame themselves, so much that they couldn’t be expected to vote intelligently or display any discerning judgment necessary to protect the health of any New Mexican, let alone their own health. I hope Taylor’s neurological demise from the aspartame will not be too ghastly in his later years; he won’t be around the legislature for us to watch any of it.



Taylor had been heavily and repeatedly endorsed by Governor Bill Richardson, as had Transportation Committee Chair, Dan Silva. Silva was beaten by Eleanor Chavez, 53.78% to 46.22%. In the larger context, it seemed voters were happy to ignore Pete Domenici’s very late endorsement of Heather Wilson, the Republican whose Congressional career is now over. They ignored Richardson on Taylor and Silva, and in Santa Fe County, they ignored District Attorney Henry Valdez’s endorsement for his Deputy A.J. Salazar when they elected Angela “Spence” Pacheco for D.A. This is a sign of health independence on the part of the voters. And in fairness to Richardson, most of his slate of incumbents was re-elected.



As to the Nutrition Council, the mortal damage done to this concept was achieved by some dastardly actions of Shannon Robinson and Dan Foley, and the gaping omissions by James Taylor and a few other Senators continuing as members, whom I choose not to name here. The most curious and hypocritical of them is Senator Dr. Steve Komadina of Corrales, who as an Obstetrician will tell his patients to never ever consumer aspartame, but when it comes to a bill to that effect for all New Mexicans, that would go against his so-called Libertarian principles. What a baffling contradiction!





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