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Real News For Real New Mexicans.
The Chile Wire with Abe Baldonado. Hey, y'all. We're back with this week's Chile Wire and with me is a guest who is a candidate for House District 27 for this year's election cycle. Jahnelle Garcia is with me in the studio today. Jahnelle, welcome to the Chile Wire.
Jahnelle Garcia:Thank you so much for having me.
Abe Baldonado:Of course. And thank you for taking some time to stop by The Chile Wire studio to chat about your campaign and share a little bit about who you are and how you got involved. And just before I I turn it over to you to share a little bit more about yourself, the hardest question you're gonna get today right now is just red or green?
Jahnelle Garcia:I do Christmas.
Abe Baldonado:Okay.
Jahnelle Garcia:Alright. On almost every single thing.
Abe Baldonado:Perfect. Well, we love to hear that. Janelle, please share with our viewers and the folks listening in just a little bit about yourself and how you got here to run for office.
Jahnelle Garcia:Well, I'm a nurse practitioner. I am a small business owner. I'm a mother. And education was really my tool to success. Mhmm.
Jahnelle Garcia:I think back and realized, like in middle school, I never thought about becoming anything great. Right? I didn't know I had that option. And so as I was looking around at at our state, I have been very frustrated with a lot of the policies that got us here. And I never planned on being a politician.
Jahnelle Garcia:I'm not a career politician. But I felt like someone had to stand up and fight for the future of our children and fight for our communities and fight for District 27. And I am a fighter. And I thought since I was little, I've always stood up for people that didn't have a voice for themselves. And I decided to stand up and fight for our families and our children.
Abe Baldonado:That's amazing. We need more fighters. So thank you for doing that. And a big thank you for taking that leap. We know it's not an easy one to just jump up and run for office.
Abe Baldonado:It's it's a very big commitment, and it takes a lot of prayer, a lot of thought before doing that. But to put yourself out there is always like a big risk, especially when you're a business owner and, you know, you're you're working all day and still to find time to run for office. So thank you for doing that. We need more public servants like you. Janelle, you mentioned education.
Abe Baldonado:And, you know, as a form I'm a former educator. Oh, yes. I also sat on a charter school board. Wow. And so what you just said, I think resonates with a lot of New Mexicans, a lot of us who grew up in our public schools.
Abe Baldonado:You know, oftentimes we felt like I didn't know what I could accomplish. And and sometimes it takes a really good educator, and I think we all remember that one educator that changed our lives and, you know, maybe put us on the pathway that we ended up following. Sometimes maybe we didn't follow that pathway, but we did something else kinda cool. So I I think that just resonates with a lot of New Mexicans is that, you know, my experience was, hey, I didn't believe that I could actually do something and then I did. And now I'm here.
Abe Baldonado:And now I'm dealing with the consequences of bad policy. If you're a business owner, we've had many folks come on the podcast that have talked about how hard it is to do business in New Mexico. And as a nurse practitioner, I'm sure one thing that you've experienced now, and we we had conversations before we hopped here in the studio, but medical malpractice.
Jahnelle Garcia:Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:And it's something that, you know, we hear a lot about our doctors, but we don't hear a lot about our nurse practitioners. So I'd love to hear from your perspective how that has impacted you.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right. So I really feel like nurse practitioners have stepped up big time in this state as we're we've lost multiple healthcare providers, right? It's not just doctors. But nurse practitioners have really stepped up and taken that place of a primary care provider and stepped into the roles of multiple specialties when we didn't have doctors. And I feel like we really need to include the nurse practitioners in that conversation, the nurses in that conversation, the PAs in that conversation.
Jahnelle Garcia:Not just the doctors. We need to bring doctors back, but we also need to bring health care workers back.
Abe Baldonado:And the liability is also there for those practitioners as well. And for nurses, there is a liability that maybe isn't talked about as much as that we hear for primary care doctors, or specialty doctors. But the folks that help them in the emergency rooms and in our hospitals are also at risk for being held liable for, you know, anything that could potentially go wrong.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yeah. Absolutely. It was a really big deal. I am so appreciative to everybody that worked hard on getting that h b 99 passed. I'm very grateful to the legislators and policy, you know, that they signed off on that to to make that happen.
Jahnelle Garcia:But it's just my, you know, my viewpoint is that there's so much more to be done, and it's not as simple as just the malpractice, although I'm very grateful for that step forward.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Jahnelle Garcia:In order to bring health care providers, doctors back to our state, you have to change so much more than that. Educated people and professionals don't want to come to a state that has, you know, the public safety, the crime, the education. I mean, there's so much more to this circle that's multifaceted to bring people back and doctors and professionals back to the state. And I think that's important to recognize that although we took a great step forward, there's so much more to go.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. Yeah. You know, one thing that has been a constant here that we've talked about, and it frustrates us because New Mexico is beautiful. I find it amazing. My family has been here for generations.
Abe Baldonado:I've stayed here when I had opportunities to leave, and I'm glad I didn't leave. Unfortunately, that's not the reality for a lot of our families that Mhmm. You know, their kids are leaving to chase better opportunities in other states or maybe not coming back because they realized, hey, there there's not a benefit for me right now. Crime is absolutely horrible. You know, drug addiction is a big thing in our state.
Abe Baldonado:Most recently, a ranking came out that Mhmm. We're one of the most heavily abused drug addicted states, especially amongst teenagers, I think, which is very shocking. Our education rankings are always at the bottom and so, you know, we've created this cycle of being first in everything bad and last in everything good. And those of us here know that that's not entirely true because there there are great aspects to it, but we do have bad policies. We do have bad leadership that has continuously failed us and, know, we we have the people here to make those changes.
Abe Baldonado:We just have to elect the right people now to to do so. And I'm glad you brought up that, you know, it's not just this one problem. It it like, if our education system is tanking, individuals aren't gonna wanna bring their kids here to go into failing schools. Right. So we need to build an accountability into our public school system.
Abe Baldonado:We need to ensure that our kids, regardless of zip code, background, race, that you are given access to high quality education regardless of what your economic circumstances are. And so I'm very glad you brought that up because it is far more complex than I think people realize is that, yeah, the bill made great strides, but it's not the entire fix because now we have other things to do. It's great that we get folks like you who are saying, hey. Yeah. That was a good first step, but we need leaders who are gonna to jump on other issues.
Abe Baldonado:And so with your district, Marion Matthews, who's the current incumbent, she's facing a primary right now. But as we've seen, we've hear folks that have kind of protected her because she took the right vote which we should expect that, yeah, you should vote against paid family medical leave because it would be the highest tax increase on New Mexicans ever. And also, yeah, you should have supported house bill 99, the medical malpractice, given your district and given Albuquerque in general where a lot of our health care systems are and our health professionals are because of our population. But people forget about the bad vote she's taken and those are far more and far greater. And so as we talk about this election cycle, there are consequences to this.
Abe Baldonado:And so we really need folks to pay attention to, hey, yes, she voted on these two things that, yeah, should have been those are the right things to do. So we shouldn't applaud for her doing the right thing. That's what she was elected to do. Let's talk about all the other issues where she has voted, you know, with the far left progressive movement. And I think that's something that kind of blinds people is that it's like, oh, no.
Abe Baldonado:But she she voted on house bill 99. She voted on Mhmm. Paid family medical leave. So okay. So you're gonna protect her for two bills that, you know Right.
Abe Baldonado:Needed to be signed. Needed to be signed. They need like, it was the right thing to do. So just curious. You've traveled your district.
Abe Baldonado:You've been talking to your constituents.
Jahnelle Garcia:Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:What's keeping them up at night? What what are their big priorities that you're hearing from the ground?
Jahnelle Garcia:I have a lot of small businesses in my district. I have a lot of families. I have a lot of hardworking New Mexicans and people are struggling. Yeah. People are really struggling right now.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Jahnelle Garcia:And it just saddens my heart. I have over 200 employees and looking at my district, seeing these hard working, struggling people that should not be because with small amounts of policy change and people that care about these issues, we could change that for these these families and these communities. You know, the high cost of housing
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm.
Jahnelle Garcia:Bankrupting people. Yeah. Affordability. Absolutely. The the high gas, the groceries, and then for small businesses.
Jahnelle Garcia:I think that people don't realize that in order to grow an economy, you have to support these small businesses. You can't bankrupt them. And I feel like these policies are taking anyone that has a little bit and cutting it from them and taking it to put it into other things that are paying for for things that all new mugs can shouldn't be paying for. And that is what is most frustrating to me is in order to change this whole thing. Like I said, it's a circle.
Jahnelle Garcia:You can't just take one part and change one part without really looking at the circle and what you're changing. And you have to support small businesses. You have to grow the economy. You have to create a a place that is sustainable for growth for the young people. This goes in it's a whole model.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right? You have the education. Mhmm. Then you have the opportunity. Then you have the workforce.
Jahnelle Garcia:You have to create the opportunities for people to thrive and that comes by supporting small businesses and our communities. And we're not doing that with our policies. We're bankrupting people. We're taking every single penny they have to use for something that they shouldn't have to pay for. And that's what I wanna fight for.
Jahnelle Garcia:I wanna put money back in the communities and the families.
Abe Baldonado:That is truly amazing. And that is so spot on that, you know, unfortunately, we have folks in Santa Fe who have never signed a paycheck or maybe don't employ people. Mhmm. And they're making decisions with a lot of what they call free money. Right?
Abe Baldonado:They're they're signing checks that they're not cashing, but that are being delivered by, you know, our industries, our small businesses. And our gross receipts tax is very, very bad on our business owners. Or if you're an entrepreneur and you wanna start a business, it is going to be very hard because the state is gonna take you for as much money as possible that you're gonna owe them. And so to even just, you know and that's I I love that you mentioned that. I think a lot of folks think like, oh, business owners, they're rich.
Abe Baldonado:Like, no, they're struggling to even break even oftentimes and then you have a state government that wants to tax them even more. And then you have policies like paid family medical leave that not only is gonna burden the the business owner, but you're also gonna hurt their employees because now you're gonna have to deduct money from them and it's like, hey, yeah. The the state's putting in these policies that are requiring me now to pay more as a business owner and I'm also losing production because now I have to, you know, if you haven't, you know and I think our business owners, especially our small business owners are very compassionate with their employees because you have to be. You can't have a successful business without understanding your employees and their needs and also accommodating their needs. If something comes up, if there's a family emergency, most small business owners are pretty flexible to work with that individual to, you know, hey, yeah, I need you here.
Abe Baldonado:However, I I I also understand that you have an emergency and we can work around that. Unfortunately, that Santa Fe doesn't see it that way. They say, hey, business owners are bad. They're they're not helping their staff when stuff comes up. And it's like, well, you're also trying to put a mandate in that isn't really focused on real family emergencies.
Abe Baldonado:It's saying, well, my cousin's friend who I know really well got really sick, so I need to take twelve weeks off. And it's like, but do you? Like, I understand. And so how do we keep that to immediate family only and where can we make it reasonable and where can we do it without taxing the individuals because this is the big conversation. I'm like, no.
Abe Baldonado:You're paying for it. Like Mhmm. You're paying for it. They're gonna deduct the money out of your paycheck for you to take those twelve weeks off. So it's not free time off.
Abe Baldonado:It's not you know, you're gonna see the difference on your paycheck and you're gonna realize, oh, wow. The state's taking money for me. And again, we're just filling the state coffers for them to Right. Miss spend money with no accountability. We see it now with the universal childcare where it's already over budget and we're not even halfway through, which is Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:Which is wild. And so I'm glad you brought up that point that, yeah, you know, we have folks that are not defending small businesses and small businesses are the backbone of our economy, whether it's your your restaurants, your manufacturing, whatever it may be. We have folks that we've made it very tough on and post COVID and actually during COVID, we we told those business owners, now you know what? We're gonna we're gonna end your business and a lot of them never recovered and a lot of them had to shut down and that's something that I think we need to remember this year that we had eight years of an administration that really hurt businesses and there were co conspirators in our legislature that helped aid that.
Jahnelle Garcia:Mhmm. I totally agree. I really don't understand why when you're trying to solve a problem in Santa Fe, Like, my job is to serve my community. My job is to represent the person, the working families, the communities. My job is to go and represent them.
Jahnelle Garcia:Why are these people in Santa Fe not sitting down with the people who are experiencing issues to try to come up with a solution? How can you even understand the problem or come up with a solution without sitting down with the people who are involved? Why not make a coalition of small business owners and sit down and come up with with a solution here here their, you know, recommendations or what they need from community and from policies. I I really am unclear why we're not involving the people that we're representing.
Abe Baldonado:Well, because the peep the experts will will check them. They will say no. That that's not how this works. Like, that is not. And unfortunately, I think we've seen in Santa Fe people want yes people.
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm. And I don't think small business owners and the experts in whatever issue it is that we're looking at, they won't appreciate it being told no. And, you know, we see it even from this governor who has lost seven public education secretaries. I worked for probably four or five of those Right. During my time at PED.
Abe Baldonado:And a lot of it was they moved out because they told the governor no or they disagreed with the governor and she didn't like that. So what happens? They resign and they move on or she fires them and, you know, here we go. We have another change and we lack consistency in, you know, carrying out our our duties or their duties, you know, to run whether it's education, economic development Mhmm. You just start seeing those transitions and it hurts because it hurts the people who rely on, okay, what's the direction?
Abe Baldonado:Like Mhmm. Do we have buy in here? And you know, when you're pushing back against people who are the experts telling you, hey, no, we can't do this or hey, this isn't a good idea, and then they get mad. I mean, that that's really what we're seeing in Santa Fe is that and I think we also see egos from some of these people who are like, I know everything. You don't know everything.
Abe Baldonado:Although, you're a nurse practitioner. I'm not. I know more than you. And unfortunately, that's just I think what we see in Santa Fe. And it's just it's it's it should worry everybody.
Abe Baldonado:And New Mexicans really need to start paying attention to, hey, what are your elected leaders doing? Are you assuming they're doing the right thing or do you know that they're doing the right thing or the wrong thing? And how can we hold them accountable and start calling out their voting record, stuff that they're saying? I mean, we've had legislators this past session say something is unconstitutional but still vote for it. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Which is crazy to me. I'm like, you're acknowledging that it's unconstitutional. Now you're not doing your duty to uphold the constitution of New Mexico and The United States Of America and you're still voting for a piece of legislation that you go on the record saying is unconstitutional, but yet you still vote for it. And that to me is problematic, and that's hypocrisy that, you know, we as voters need to call out, and we need folks like you to run and say, hey. We're we're tired of this.
Jahnelle Garcia:Like,
Abe Baldonado:no. And so it it's great to hear your why. Like, because every time someone like you jumps into a race like this, it's usually they crossed a line with you and you're like, hey, you know what? I can't stay silent anymore. And if not me, who?
Jahnelle Garcia:Right. Exactly. And I this to me, I I turned 47 this year. I've lived in New Mexico my whole life. I feel like this election is one of the most important times in the history of New Mexico right now.
Abe Baldonado:I
Jahnelle Garcia:agree. We have an opportunity to say no more. Yeah. We are not gonna take it anymore. No more.
Jahnelle Garcia:But in order to do that, we have to stand up and vote and make our voices heard. We have to go out and vote. It's the only way we're gonna change the state. And if people are really tired of the way that our state is and our district is right now, we have to go out there and vote. Yeah.
Jahnelle Garcia:I mean, I just, you know, I think, you know, I'm on the Republican ballot and as I've been talking to people, they feel so defeated. I'm never gonna win. I mean, I hear over and over, I've changed my voter registration to Democrat because at least I wanna be part of the decision. I've heard people say I'm changing it to independent because at least I get to choose and be part of that decision. I've been left out.
Jahnelle Garcia:I my voice hasn't been heard. And now is the time and this year is the time to go out and change it. If we want change, go out, vote, and change it, and let's flip the state. Period.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Because I'll I'll tell you, I I truly believe that this is a consequential year Mhmm. For our state moving forward. And we're either gonna continue down the path that we're already on. Right.
Abe Baldonado:And we exacerbate poverty. We Mhmm. Continue to promote government reliance on our people rather than uplifting them and giving them jobs and opportunities and making New Mexico a hub for industries to wanna come here, set up their business here, creating the education pipeline of students prepared for day one work, you know, in career. We we have those opportunities. However, we have to look at the leaders that are running right now and realizing that this can go very bad for New Mexico instead of and, you know, I hear people and it's unfortunate because they're like, well, how much worse can it get?
Abe Baldonado:You know? We're already dead last. And I'm like, well, no. That's that's why we should say, hey. No.
Abe Baldonado:We shouldn't continue this trend. We should say, you know what? Maybe we need to switch things up. Maybe we need a change in leadership and see if New Mexico can progress because, essentially, we've lived under one party rule in New Mexico for years. I mean, years since statehood, you know, Democrats have primarily controlled New Mexico.
Abe Baldonado:And where is it going, folks? And that's just the honest conversation that we need to have. Mhmm. And, you know, your common sense Democrats, your conservative Democrats, that party has left you. Like, that party is gone.
Abe Baldonado:And so how do you take it back now? And how do you get involved to say, hey, you know what? This is enough because this is not New Mexico. A lot of these policies that are being influenced from other states like California. And it's interesting because the folks that hate California policies are moving here and then voting for people to implement, you know, California policies.
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm. And it's like, And then once it gets super expensive here and terrible, they're gonna move and go somewhere else and they're gonna try to go to Texas and change Texas now. And that's so unfortunate. And so and again, these I'm so glad that you're calling to action. People need to vote.
Abe Baldonado:Yes. And I think similar to when we started this conversation that, you know, that part where it's like, I didn't know I can do this. I think people feel that way in voter fatigue is that I don't feel like my vote matters as well. And so they either stay at home, they don't get involved, or they just vote for the status quo. And it's like, no, your voice is far more powerful.
Abe Baldonado:Like if you unite and you recruit five people in your sphere to get out and go vote and pay attention to the issues, pay attention to what your elected officials and candidates are saying, you can make a big change and you know Yeah. Believe what they tell you. Like, you know, if they tell you who they are, believe that. Don't believe all the, you know, gaslighting and sugarcoating stuff that they do. Like when they start showing you through their track record and what they're saying, what they're doing, believe that.
Abe Baldonado:And if it doesn't align with your values, yeah, go out and vote. Change it. Vote for someone who actually aligns with your values and cares about your state.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right. I'm really talking about medical malpractice. I'm really blown away. I don't feel like I was educated before the issue really came up that medical malpractice was the issue of doctors leaving. Mhmm.
Jahnelle Garcia:What really blew me away is that the people in Santa Fe allowed trial lawyers for money to take over the state.
Abe Baldonado:Oh, it is.
Jahnelle Garcia:How can you be that unethical to allow doctors to leave for trial lawyers to make money.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Well, the problem is that trial lawyers are elected into our legislature. Like, they are Mhmm. A dime a dozen in our legislature. And then we have programs like Emerge New Mexico recruiting candidates to go run on progressive policies and funded by trial attorneys and then to get their law degrees and now they're trial attorneys and they're elected and they're promoting policies that really just blow up the wallets of trial lawyers to make money on a vulnerable population in New Mexico.
Abe Baldonado:And you know, this whole like patients over profit like that narrative, like, come on. Like, we need to call that out. At the end of the day Mhmm. Trial lawyers taking 40% of your look. We need to protect patients.
Abe Baldonado:No doubt about it. You're you're a nurse practitioner. You you took an oath to to protect patients and serve patients. Do things happen every now and then? Absolutely.
Abe Baldonado:And there needs to be an opportunity there to you know, I don't ever think that in a procedure or something gone wrong that you ever truly rectify it regardless of how much money you give. It's still something that's always gonna live with that person. However, I believe, you know, this narrative that child attorneys are saying that doctors and our medical professionals are intentionally hurting people, that is dangerous rhetoric because I don't believe that to be true. Every doctor, every medical professional that I've talked to you like yourself, you know, it's like, no, we care about patients. We live like the only way we thrive in our business model is caring for our patients.
Abe Baldonado:Right. So yeah, hurting them isn't going to help me. And now, are there those few bad actors? Like in anything, yes, there are bad actors. Is it as common as that the trial attorneys are trying to make it?
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely not. But what they see is, hey, let's make a ton of money here. We'll sue the medical professionals. We'll go after punitive damages. So we'll even go after their homes, their assets, their own personal money, and then we'll also ruin their business.
Abe Baldonado:But then we're also gonna go after the insurance companies on top of that and it's just creating fostering this environment of just a very hostile environment between trial attorneys and our medical professionals. And the medical the trial attorneys are running away with their pockets filled and those patients aren't even getting all the money that they were entitled to because the lawyers then like, hey, here's what you owe me. Mhmm. You know? And so it's like, come on.
Abe Baldonado:Like, folks, wake up. Like like Right. The this is a group of people trying to exploit you Right. For their own self gain.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yeah. I do not know one medical professional that has ever said, oh, I'm gonna go intentionally harm a patient. Yeah. Right? If you intentionally harm a patient, there absolutely should be severe consequences.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right? You do harm, you know, there should be consequences to that. There should be repercussions for that. I totally agree with that. I do have an issue with, you know, the tort and emotional distress.
Jahnelle Garcia:Mhmm. There's no subjectivity versus objectivity. There's there's not that in an emotional distress claim. We can leave this conversation right now and you can say I emotionally distressed you. How do I ever prove I didn't?
Abe Baldonado:Right.
Jahnelle Garcia:You know what I'm saying? And that's that those type of tort claims are where I'm seeing the issue and I would like to move towards like removing some of those issues as well because it's just not realistic. You actually do harm, consequences. Absolutely severe. And clear and convincing.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yes.
Abe Baldonado:It has to be clear and convincing.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yes. The level of evidence that they're holding, you know, consequences to should absolutely be able to be seen and proved without, you know
Abe Baldonado:And even the occurrence definition, you know, that's something that really has to be looked at because I don't think a lot of people realize that trial attorneys sue everybody that is in that room. You know? So if there's three or four doctors, they're going after every single one of them. If there's three nurses, they're going after them.
Jahnelle Garcia:No. It's anyone on the chart ever. You signed a little note on the chart that you checked a patient, O2 sat, you know, ninety three percent and now you're involved in the lawsuit. You had nothing to do with that. It's just to get money.
Jahnelle Garcia:I mean, that's not realistic. You walked into a patient's room, you did no harm, you weren't a part of the situation that that the lawsuit is even about, but you were just a part of that care. This patient could have been in the hospital for three months and now you're on a lawsuit. Yeah. That's not right.
Abe Baldonado:And they're going after your personal assets. Right. Which is scary.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yes. That is not right at all. Yeah. Why would anyone wanna get into the medical medical field?
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Yeah. You're telling every New Mexico kid who wants to be a doctor or a medical professional Mhmm. That when you get that degree, go move somewhere else and do business somewhere else where it's a a better environment for you.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right. And my daughter actually is graduating from CSU this December. So proud of her. She was
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Jahnelle Garcia:Congratulations. In a chemistry journal. She pretty big accomplishment and, you know, she was graduating with a four point o. That's exciting. And she's gonna be applying to medical school.
Jahnelle Garcia:This summer, she's studying for MCATs. And she had always planned on coming back to New Mexico and applying to medical school. And we had a conversation and she's just like, mom, I there's just no opportunity. Like, I don't even know how I'm gonna get a job to pay my rent Yeah. To be able to go to medical school.
Jahnelle Garcia:I just there's not the opportunity. And so now she's talking about applying other places and go to going to medical school other places and it devastates me. You know, I wanted my daughter to come back here and raise a family here and raise her her grandchildren hopefully at one time, you know, here and now, you know, she's talking about not doing that and that's that's very sad to me. And I don't want other families to experience that. I want our children to stay here, thrive here, be successful here.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. I mean, the the opportunities that exist Mhmm. And I'm very opportunistic. I I really believe that we can make that change. I believe there are people like you that are running for office that are seeking to make that same change.
Abe Baldonado:I think there's voters out there who wanna see that same change. It's just like, y'all, we gotta do it.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yes.
Abe Baldonado:We gotta do this.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yes. You
Abe Baldonado:gotta get involved. You have to go vote. You know, even if your preferred candidate right now in the primary doesn't win Mhmm. You have to go vote for the person who then now, hey, I I liked what this person said. Right.
Abe Baldonado:But I'm hearing what Holland's saying, okay. Well, go vote against her. Don't stay home
Jahnelle Garcia:Right.
Abe Baldonado:Because your preferred candidate that you wanted against her maybe lost. Okay. Well, what's this in the individual who won now? Okay. How can I support this individual?
Abe Baldonado:Like, I need to go out and vote because what Holland is saying is very scary or Braigman is saying is very scary. I don't agree with him. Okay. Well, then don't stay home. Get up and go vote.
Abe Baldonado:But vote. Right. Because that is the only way you're gonna see the difference because if you don't go vote and you stay at home, we get the status quo over and over again.
Jahnelle Garcia:I would just absolutely love and be so inspired to see Could you imagine if we had a 100% of voters show up and Could you imagine?
Abe Baldonado:That that would that would be a turning point for New Mexico. But we I would be shocked because right now, we don't even get 50%.
Jahnelle Garcia:I know. Like That is what I'm encouraging though. Yeah. I believe we can do it. I think so too.
Jahnelle Garcia:Big aspirations, big dreams, but I think that if we stand up, we can take our state back. I believe so too. Come on. Let's go for a 100% of people. Show up and vote.
Abe Baldonado:And you know what? If you get a 100% voter turnout, even if it doesn't go your way Yes. That means that every vote mattered Yes. And you know, regardless, you showed up and your voice was heard. But with a 100% voter turnout Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:I think we start seeing our elected officials realizing, I'm gonna be held accountable. Yeah. And that is the difference maker right there. When elected official I I really believe that a lot of our elected officials, especially on the Democratic side because they've been in power for so long and they've been in control of the legislature so long, accountability. They don't think that they need to be held accountable because no one's paying attention to what they're doing.
Abe Baldonado:And it's like, hey, I keep getting voted in. And I think once you start getting more people involved and saying, hey, you know what? Mhmm. Now I'm questioning what you're doing.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right.
Abe Baldonado:Oh, now I'm being held accountable. And like I've always told people, elected officials work for you. You can fire them. Every two years, every four years, you can fire them. And we need to be able to exercise that privilege that we have to be able to do that.
Jahnelle Garcia:Well, we are adults and we are responsible for our children. And I We as adults need to go and stand up for our children and make a decision this year that fights for them because they don't have that voice yet.
Abe Baldonado:They don't. And after what I saw yesterday about the ACLU in New Mexico and two Democratic lawmakers saying, oh no, how dare we take drug exposed babies from their parents. What do you mean? You are jeopardizing that child's life by letting them stay in custody of those parents who clearly already did not have the best interest of the child leading up to birth. And now you're saying, you cannot take them away.
Abe Baldonado:No. You should. You if you're a failing parent like that and your baby is exposed to fentanyl or any other drugs, clearly, you're not in a state of responsibility to care for that child. And what is the alternative? I would rather see us protecting a baby's life or a child's life by removing them from that situation.
Abe Baldonado:And hopefully later on, yes, we could work with the parent to maybe get rehabilitation and, you know, become sober and eventually reconnect that parent with the child. But for the the sake of the child, we really need to protect these children. And again, it's all about protecting kids. It's about protecting future generations from harm and setting them up for opportunities that, you know, hey, I'm just tired of hearing the negative news that another baby dies and, you know, because they were told that they had to stay with the parents who were addicted or, you know, abuse, you know, like that that should be something that we should all say, hey. We had enough of this.
Abe Baldonado:This is not who our state is, like, given our culture and our traditions. We are family oriented and we care about family. Like, this is not a family first Right. Issue that's happening right now. We're not seeing Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:The our elected officials are putting families first with a lot of these policies. And clearly that these two democratic lawmakers aren't clearly looking out for the children. They're looking out for their, you know, friends at the ACLU or whatever organizations pump up dollars to their campaigns.
Jahnelle Garcia:Well, love to have a conversation with them personally because I worked in the pediatric ICU and I saw lots of babies that were drug addicted and you can't argue with personal stories. And I'm just gonna tell a brief story is that I did have a baby who was born drug addicted and we, you know, open heart surgery, the whole process, finally after several months, went home with the family, came back and died. So, I mean, you can't argue with that. You can't argue with that story. You can't argue with facts and I agree with you.
Jahnelle Garcia:You have to protect the children. You have to protect these babies.
Abe Baldonado:And they need to hear it from folks like you who have seen this before for them. This isn't stuff I'm making up. Yes. I'm reading what's coming out, but I'm also doing my research. Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:But now we have actually a medical professional like you who's sitting here like, no. I've I've been at the forefront of this. I've seen this. Like, is a danger by letting these children back with these parents who are drug addicted and the child passes away. So I understand that, you know, you're the argument that the ACLU New Mexico made was, well, you're setting up this child for a life of trauma.
Abe Baldonado:I'm like, you're also risking their life by putting them back with that parent which there it's likely that they may pass away and they may die. So that child's not even gonna have a life.
Jahnelle Garcia:Yeah. I just believe that it comes down to accountability
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm.
Jahnelle Garcia:And planning. You have to ensure that child's safety. Yeah. Obviously, reunification is the plan. That's ideal.
Abe Baldonado:Right? Ideal. We can make that happen
Jahnelle Garcia:Absolutely. Great. You have to have planning and accountability and systems in place that actually work Yeah. And will ensure that safety.
Abe Baldonado:And again, this is also Mhmm. We need to reform our CYFD office. I know that is something that severely that is something that with accountability, yes, we need to fix that system as well because it's been proven that system hasn't protected the children much more either.
Jahnelle Garcia:Right.
Abe Baldonado:So, okay. Now we really need to address that. And we have great legislators that have been trying to work on that. Senator, Crystal Brantley Yes. Has been at the forefront of that.
Abe Baldonado:Representative Rebecca Dow, leader Gail Armstrong, you know, they've all been having these conversation. Unfortunately, it's falling on deaf ears. Mhmm. But those folks are really truly working hard to bring awareness and accountability to these issues.
Jahnelle Garcia:Well, it starts with leadership. It absolutely starts with leadership. And my vision for my company trickles down on every single person. My accountability, my values, those trickle down and come back up. Right?
Jahnelle Garcia:And with CYFD, I do believe that that starts with that leadership. You have to get the right person leading that agency that is gonna put people under them. I have directors under me. Those directors have goals and you know KPIs that they have to put in place and report back to me to ensure that things are are are running with patient safety, you know, issues, ethical issues, and that's what needs to happen with the leadership is you put the right person and then you create the system underneath that holds that same accountability to each separate level. Mhmm.
Jahnelle Garcia:I mean, I just yeah. It hasn't been done and it needs to be. Our children deserve that.
Abe Baldonado:They absolutely do. Well, Janelle, we're excited for you. Thank you. I know we're at the final stretch now ahead of the June second primary, so I'm sure you're eagerly looking forward to that and getting through and moving into the general. Where can folks go to learn more about you, your campaign?
Abe Baldonado:Are there any opportunities that you're gonna be participating in in your community where maybe they can come out and meet you?
Jahnelle Garcia:Yes. I am going to be holding my sign on different mornings through morning traffic. Honk if you see me and recognize me. I would love to earn your vote. You can go to janellefornm.com.
Jahnelle Garcia:It's for. And I'm I mean, honestly, you can call me personally. My cell phone number is (505) 239-9146. I'd love to have a conversation. If you believe in what I stand for, I would love to earn your vote and I would love your family and friends to pass that along to them as well.
Jahnelle Garcia:And let's stand up, vote and fight for our children and fight for our future and fight for our state and communities this year.
Abe Baldonado:Amen to that. Janelle, I don't think we could finish off on a We better appreciate your time for coming on the Chile Wire.
Jahnelle Garcia:Thank
Abe Baldonado:you. We wish you all the best. May God bless you, your family as y'all head to that final stretch now in the primary, and we look forward to talking to you going into the general election cycle.
Jahnelle Garcia:Thank you so much.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Of course. Well, y'all, that wraps up this week's Chile Wire. Stay tuned for our next episode. We'll see you next time.