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Real News For Real New Mexicans.
The Chile Wire with A. Baldonado. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The Chile Wire. This week, I have a special guest.
Abe Baldonado:We're changing it up a bit and we're going a little bit unfiltered. By that, I mean, I have Elias Sisneros with Unfiltered with Elias, and we're teaming up today on a podcast and we're kind of flipping this clip. Elias, you probably have seen Elias out on social media. He's getting involved. He's voicing out his thoughts, his concerns, and we both agree.
Abe Baldonado:We want a better future for New Mexico because we've lived here all our lives. Our families are from here and we want to see a better future. Elias, and you have a daughter, you want to see a better future for her. I am honored to have you excited for today's podcast, man.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Of course. So hardest question you're gonna get today because it is the Chile Wire. Red or green?
Elias Sisneros:Red. Alright. I'm a red guy. Thought you
Abe Baldonado:all All the the way. And just like I can't do red and green.
Elias Sisneros:I can't do Christmas, man. Christmas gives me heartburn. Really bad heartburn. So I stick to red.
Abe Baldonado:That that's rare. Elias, you've become a very vocal on social media. You're talking to New Mexicans about things that you're seeing, things that you're hearing and quite frankly, starting to hold elected officials accountable for the words that they say and the actions that they take. You're starting to call them out. And I think this is really refreshing for New Mexico, I think it's about time New Mexicans start pushing back and questioning everything that our elected leaders are doing.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Definitely. You know, I just I get tired of of seeing our politicians. They're they're always seem to be blame or shift blaming. Right?
Elias Sisneros:They're blame you know, they're always blaming Trump, Trump, Trump this, Trump that, but what a lot of New Mexicans don't understand is New Mexico policy. You know? That's that's what affects our day to day. And, you know, and I'm not just saying the Democrat party, but it primarily is the Democrat party in this state.
Abe Baldonado:But Yeah. Since our inception as a state, I mean, they've been the predominantly the the party that has ran New Mexico.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. A lot of people think that I'm a Republican and I'm not a Republican. I'm a conservative. I'm a registered independent. I'm just a common sense guy.
Elias Sisneros:And look, if Republicans were running the state of New Mexico the way it's being ran now, I'd be going after them too. Yeah. It just so happens that Democrats are they're in control of the governor's office, you know, the senate, the house. So, yeah, I go after them.
Abe Baldonado:And they're also the party I I had a conversation the other day offline. They're also the party that talks about representation and Mhmm. You know, what we're seeing is I feel like half of New Mexico doesn't feel like they're represented by this delegation at I both the state and federal level.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. I don't feel represented at all. You know, I have very cons I have some very strong conservative values and those are not being represented at all. Yeah. You know?
Elias Sisneros:You're right. I mean, almost half of the state is conservative, and we don't feel represented. You know? I am not for illegal immigrants getting health care before my neighbor getting health care. You know?
Elias Sisneros:I'm not I'm not for, you know, these regulations that hurt industry and hurt small business. I'm not for any of that. Yeah. You
Abe Baldonado:know? Because they don't only hurt the industry, they hurt the workers who Yeah. Live here.
Elias Sisneros:And I see it firsthand. Right? I've been in construction pretty much half my life, twenty years. And, you know, when we go through the bidding process on on some state jobs, it's not easy. Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:You know, they don't make it easy. And Or sometimes
Abe Baldonado:they make it easy if you have some more vivas.
Elias Sisneros:Exactly. If you have, you know, probably ten or fifteen years ago, I had a boss that told me that someone in the state told him, well, if you give me this on the side, I'll make sure you get the contract. And this is back in the Richardson era.
Abe Baldonado:Right? Pay to play.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Pay to play. And, you know, it's a culture now. It's built into our system.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. It's the Pothron politics. Mhmm.
Elias Sisneros:So I don't agree with a a lot of that stuff and I don't feel represented. And when we saw redistricting in 2021, that really really irked me. And I didn't really I didn't know about it until, I mean, I wasn't into politics until probably 2023. You know, there was a a shift that happened in my life that made me start looking into things. But, you know, like most New Mexicans, I was raised as a democrat.
Elias Sisneros:My whole family is democrats. But I always tell everyone, they're Kennedy era democrats. They still believe the democrat party is That same party. Yeah. They think it's that same party and they don't realize it's not because they don't look into things.
Abe Baldonado:Right. I always joke with people. I'm like, if John F. Kennedy were alive today, he'd probably lean Republican. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Quite frankly.
Elias Sisneros:Know, he was a solid
Abe Baldonado:Catholic but was firm in his beliefs and values and, you know, believed in good fiscal policy, but also civil rights, which Republicans have always done. And that's what Republicans are focusing on now are civil rights and, you know, hey, what is right? You know? And I know the left tries to paint this picture that, you know, the Republicans are hateful, and it's like, no. We're just trying to talk common sense here.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. I feel like we're going Democrats are trying to push us back in time. Right? And put, you know, trying to make decisions based upon race. And that's what scares me a lot.
Elias Sisneros:Right? Mhmm. I see politicians making decisions based on race and gender and that scares me. Right? Because that's just that's one step away from, you know, only Hispanic people can go to this school and only white people can go to this school.
Elias Sisneros:Right. And I mean, we're gonna go back in time to Jim Crow or what?
Abe Baldonado:Like Yeah. No. That that you're exactly right. And it's also dividing people to hate other groups. And even within our own culture, I've seen it now, you know, when I became vocal, and I don't know if you've experienced any of this, but as I started this podcast and started speaking about policy issues.
Abe Baldonado:You know, I'm not even getting into, like, the political culture wars. I'm just talking about policies that are being passed by our government and calling it out for what it is. And when I started doing that, I had I had folks reach out and I I literally had this told to me, I didn't know you were evangelical white supremacist supporting person. And I'm like, first off, I'm Hispanic.
Elias Sisneros:Yep.
Abe Baldonado:Second, I'm a proud Catholic. Yeah. I'm Catholic. And I'm not evangelical. I'm not a white supremacist.
Abe Baldonado:I Mhmm. I don't stand racism. I I just don't. And, you know, we our families, you know, we're also part of, you know, that time where Hispanics were looked down upon, you know. We our our state was one of the last in the nation because our our ancestors spoke Spanish.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. So that's not what I support. I support freedom. I support living in The United States to where I believe we are privileged and we don't realize it. And that's unfortunate.
Abe Baldonado:We don't realize just how privileged we are to live in this nation. And I've told folks, if you travel to other nations, especially third world countries, shoot man, you even go down to Mexico. The type of poverty that they're suffering there is far different than the poverty that we see here.
Elias Sisneros:And it's it's amazing to me. We are incredibly privileged, incredibly privileged. And you know, my family, they don't understand. I've because I've been called a a race traitor and a white supremacist and, you know, a Mhmm. Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:And it it it's funny to me now. It's not really funny, but the truth is associated with being a radical racist now. Yeah. Because I'm not not lying to people. I just tell them what I've read, you know, the policies that I've gone through.
Elias Sisneros:And I've gotten to the point now where I have, you know, I have legislators that reach out and send me bills and they send me things like, hey, you should look into this. And so, I mean, I'm getting the information straight from Santa Fe. So it's not a lie. The and I always try to post things
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:With my on social media with my post so people can see it. But apparently, that's associated with Yeah. Being radical now. Yeah. And I'm far from it.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Well, and I mean, we even see it with Christianity now. Right? That if you're a Christian, you're looked at as evil because one of the things that we're taught from the Bible is seek truth. And that's true through Jesus Christ. And now that's a radical thing to say.
Abe Baldonado:There was a time when our nation came together as Christians, whether you were Catholic, whether you were, you know, evangelical. At the end of the day, we still had the firm belief in Jesus Christ.
Elias Sisneros:Is what's crazy to me. I don't understand. Most of this state is Catholic. Right? Would say a big portion of it.
Elias Sisneros:But yet, they're all pushing these pro choice agendas or they just don't know about them. You know, SB 30 got passed which now we're not recording the abortions We have. That we're doing in this state. Well, I've talked to my family. All of my family is against abortion.
Elias Sisneros:They're Catholic. Right? But they all seem to make an excuse like, well, you know, it's kinda okay, I guess. Yeah. Which we just see people moving the goalpost, right, to align with their party and that's just
Abe Baldonado:Or to not make
Elias Sisneros:mad. Yeah. Right?
Abe Baldonado:It's like, I don't wanna upset you, so I'm gonna move my goalpost a little bit over here just so I don't offend you or I I upset you in any way.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Which is crazy to me because, you know, I voted for Trump, right, but I don't agree with everything he's done. I think that they fumbled, you know, the way that they handled ICE and, you know, sending these guys into cities. And and I get both sides of it right but I think that they could have approached it better.
Abe Baldonado:So You made a good point though. I think too many people look at that if you have this letter next to your name, you agree with every little thing. Yeah. And and that's fair for Democrats. Like, some of my Democrat friends don't agree with the the far left and the progressives.
Abe Baldonado:They just haven't been able to find a way to take their party back. But they don't agree. And same thing like on our side, you know, we have folks that are conservative, but maybe who entirely don't believe in everything that Trump does. But I've always said, you shouldn't always support a person 110%, you know? That's a Melanie Stansberry number, a 110%.
Abe Baldonado:We're allowed to say that now Yeah. Even if it's not factually true. But on the on that note, you just we don't support everything someone does. No. And it's important for us as Americans to push back against certain things and it's okay.
Abe Baldonado:That doesn't make you any less conservative or less liberal, you know. It's just saying, hey, you know what? Like, can we come back to common sense? Can we just say, hey, that approach maybe wasn't good. That tactic wasn't good.
Abe Baldonado:It just optically didn't work out.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. And I think some of these really big content creators, they kinda, you know, people are like, well, you're conservative, so you align with Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes. I'm like, no, I don't. I do not think Nick Fuentes. Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:Not at all. Like, they're far far way away from where I've where I'm sitting, you know. So I think that people like that put the rest of us in a bad light. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:But they're It's just right? Just divisive. It's like people are either benefiting or just enjoying pitting people against each other and and that's never good because we started losing sight that, you know, we're more alike than we are different. And and oftentimes, you know, we agree on something. We say, hey, yeah, we do agree on this.
Abe Baldonado:We just disagree on how to get there. Yeah. Like we believe that every kid should have access to high quality education. Absolutely. Well, how do we get there?
Abe Baldonado:Maybe it might differ. I may tell you that we need more accountability. You might say, well, no, we need less accountability because, you know, teaching is a hard job. Well, I'm a former teacher. I will tell you, no, we need more accountability.
Abe Baldonado:We need more accountability in how funds are being spent. No. Money is not the problem. You know, we can have those arguments all day. Okay.
Abe Baldonado:Well, let's have that conversation and Yeah. Let's talk about solutions. I think the thing that has frustrated me and this goes back to 2020 with with COVID, man, I'll tell you, I turned my TV off for a whole year where I didn't watch news. I disconnected from social media during that election cycle because it was never about policy anymore. It was never about solutions.
Abe Baldonado:It was just either I'm very pro this person or I'm very anti this person. And I'm like, that is not good for our legislative making, our our legislation. That's never good because now we're voting people just based off of a popularity contest and I refuse to treat our elected officials as celebrities. Yeah. I refuse to look at them in a
Elias Sisneros:And that's that's a huge problem. Our our politicians have become celebrities, not servants.
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm.
Elias Sisneros:And that's a huge problem. I mean, we look at our congressional delegation and they're treated like celebrities. Yeah. They are. And, you know, Monty Stonsbury for one, I mean, she is just she is on her social media just creating device I mean, she's just pitting people against each other.
Elias Sisneros:Every single post is Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump and then that's why I I look at I look at all of their posts and I have to call out the hypocrisy on some of them. Yeah. I just can't stand it. But I mean, my platform, I try to stay away from national politics as much as I can and I try to get New Mexicans involved. Right?
Elias Sisneros:Because I wanna inform them about what's happening here because a lot of people think what's happening in Washington DC is gonna affect them when that's pretty much far from the truth. I mean, New Mexico policy is what affects their day to day. Right. And they don't understand that. Right?
Abe Baldonado:Every now and then you have certain things that escalate like gas prices right now because of the Iran situation. That, yeah, has temporarily lifted up gas prices. Yeah. However, if we're gonna complain about gas prices, why you know, if we're gonna make a ruckus out of that, why didn't we complain when they were averaging these high prices under Biden because of bad energy policy? Policy.
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm. You know? So, hey, are we mad about it because we're addressing an issue in The Middle East that which is if it's resolved anytime soon, we can expect those gas numbers to go back down or bad domestic policy that keeps your average price of gas even higher, heating your home even higher.
Elias Sisneros:And these clean fuel credits that we passed, you know Well, that's something no one's talking
Abe Baldonado:about right now, man. Yeah. You're paying more at the pump, but did you know that an additional tax was passed by New Mexico that went into effect just a few weeks ago that is putting more money onto that final price that you're paying at the pump and so that's why it's a lot higher.
Elias Sisneros:And that's a New Mexico policy. Right? And people don't understand that. So I'm like, yeah, you can complain about national stuff all the time but the stuff that's happening in Santa Fe affects your day to day more than anything that's happening in Washington DC.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely.
Elias Sisneros:And, you know, the stuff that's happening with your city councilors or your school board or that stuff is affecting us every single day and most and we see the voter turnouts in New Mexico. They are mean Dismal. Yes. Dismal. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Dismal. I I think that's the only adjective that I can Mhmm. Select. It's just they're dismal.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. And I mean, if I can inform people and it's amazing. I've gotten a lot of followers that are like, I just didn't know any of this stuff. I didn't know any of it. And we
Abe Baldonado:don't expect them to,
Elias Sisneros:right? No.
Abe Baldonado:These are moms and dads working sometimes two jobs to make ends meet. You know, they don't have time to go through and read the legislative summary of what happened during the thirty day session. They rely on things that social media say, news outlets, you
Elias Sisneros:know, our
Abe Baldonado:local media. And sometimes they miss out a lot of big pieces.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Yeah. And and I feel like our media here is swayed, of course, to one side. So I mean, that's why I started pushing things out. Not only that, but I mean, we I had some very big things happen in my family that made me start looking into things.
Elias Sisneros:You know, I had one of my cousins, he was a business owner. He owned Pura Vida tattoos and he was he was actually murdered in his business in 2024. And during that time, that was right around the mayor's race when when the mayor's race was going on and Keller was going around telling people, if you shoot a gun in the city, you have a 95% chance you're gonna be caught. Right? Well, here's my cousin who has a business on 4th And Coal
Abe Baldonado:Right in the middle of downtown.
Elias Sisneros:Like four or five blocks away from the, you know, the police station and the guy never got caught. So that's when I started looking into things because I'm like, there's no way that that that can't be true. Yeah. You know? And turns out it wasn't true.
Elias Sisneros:Right? Yeah. So, you know, I once I looked in that and I found out that was a lie, then I started kinda going down the rabbit hole.
Abe Baldonado:Right? What else is a lie?
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. What else is a lie? And I started going down the rabbit hole and I started look because I had already done that with Trump. Right? I was a I was a Democrat probably up until 2018, 2019 and my older brother, he was a Democrat too and he started saying, no, something's not right anymore.
Elias Sisneros:And when he said it, then I was like, well, maybe I need to look too. Maybe you're right. So I started looking into things and I started finding out that everything that they said about Trump wasn't true. So, you know, I went down the rabbit hole with our local government and I started finding all finding out about all these different policies that have been passed that are just hurting New Mexicans.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. And you know, it's funny because the New Mexico Sentinel put out a cartoon today that I thought was hilarious. I'm not sure if you've seen it.
Elias Sisneros:I have.
Abe Baldonado:But, you know, it talks about our delegation in Washington and, know, they're saying no kings. But yet, a real king was just here. And they were like
Elias Sisneros:Standing ovation.
Abe Baldonado:Cheering him. I'm like, so we have a duly elected president that was elected by the people. Mhmm. The majority of people and you're mad about that. He's elected, but a real king comes and you're okay to cheer with that.
Abe Baldonado:And I I thought it was hilarious and that that's some of the hypocrisy. And and speaking of the issues that are happening here, I I'm not sure if you saw this. Just a couple days ago, the legislative finance committee reported that we have a 32,000 youth who are in school or not working. Like those are the issues that we need to talk about.
Elias Sisneros:I did see that. I was actually working on something with that. That is something that we need to address. Right? And they're only recording kids from 16 Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:And 20
Abe Baldonado:So I mean Imagine 32,000 between 16 and 24 are not in school and they're not working. So where are they at? What are they doing? And Yeah. Clearly, it's costing the state some money.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. You know, they're probably getting in trouble or doing not doing good thing. I mean, I know when I was a 16 year old, I was if I didn't have a job or didn't wasn't going to school, I definitely was up to no good. So, those are definitely issues that we need to be talking about. Our education system needs to
Abe Baldonado:be talked about.
Elias Sisneros:I mean, we're still fiftieth.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. And we're spending
Elias Sisneros:so much money.
Abe Baldonado:Preach it. As a former teacher, I I was just in an event yesterday for Change Makers New Mexico, which I was a part of cohort three, and I really enjoyed it. But the consensus was we need to stop this pulpit as etho mindset that, you know, we're just, hey, we're too poor, we're too brown, our kids just can't do it, the odds are against them. And, you know, a fellow friend of mine who runs a wonderful charter school here in Albuquerque, Albuquerque Collegiate, Her kids are economically primarily economically disadvantaged, and yet they perform higher than pretty much almost all traditional public schools in New Mexico when it comes down to student success. And so, you know, I thought it was very striking when she said, you know, the potential is there.
Abe Baldonado:We just have to believe in our kids and set the high expectations, not low expectations. We need this we need to set the high expectations and that's something that I clearly saw when I went in the classroom and I became very upset by what I saw because I saw a generation of students that were let down by their education experience.
Elias Sisneros:You
Abe Baldonado:know, I inherited a twelfth grade class that was reading at a sixth grade level. How do you make up for that? You you don't. You can't. And you just hope for the best.
Abe Baldonado:And you know what? Some of those students did really well. They they were able to persevere and, you know, did something good. But then I also know of the ones that didn't. They went through a life of crime.
Abe Baldonado:They, you know, got arrested, went to prison, they died, you know, because of bad decisions. And, you know, but that was because of the environment that was created around them that didn't prepare them or maybe didn't believe in them. And believing in the kid is so important because if you have that teacher that believes that you can do it Mhmm. You'll rise to the challenge. You just need to know that you have that support system to say, hey, you can do this.
Abe Baldonado:And I remember that from some of my the reason we're here talking today is because of my favorite history teacher in high school was JM Lucero. Like Yeah. Those teachers always ring out of who made an impact in your life. College, it was doctor Elaine Rodriguez, you know, and unfortunately, these two individuals have passed away and I I'm so disappointed because sometimes I just wanna call them and have a conversation and just pick their brain because they were just so wise and just filled with tons of wisdom and just experience. And but those are the things that make impacts.
Abe Baldonado:And, you know, it it's frustrating. And I think what scares me the most right now is seeing new generations having no understanding in our government, the history of our government No. And just the foundations of their civic duty to get engaged and to be involved and how they do that. And that's why I think we see a lot of low voter turnout. We just have folks and we also have ones I had students tell me themselves that, hey, mister, I just don't feel like my vote would even matter.
Abe Baldonado:And I'm like, it does. Yeah. Believe it or not. Because it takes you and it takes everyone else. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:And you know what? Maybe the person you supported doesn't win. There's a good chance that might happen. But you know what? You live in a a great country that, hey, you know what?
Abe Baldonado:Maybe they'll run again and they'll win next time. But you voiced your idea of what you want to see for your future. Even if they lose, you you still had the opportunity to engage in the process. There's countries out there where you don't even get to do that. Don't even get to fill out a ballot.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:Absolutely. You know, I think our education system, everything has to do with it. Right? I mean, if we if we have educated kids, they're not gonna get into crime. They're not gonna become addicts.
Elias Sisneros:Right?
Abe Baldonado:They'll get out of poverty.
Elias Sisneros:Yep. They'll pull themselves out of poverty. And the fact that we're fiftieth, that's a scary thing. Right? And, you know, with New Mexico schools, we don't see the parents involved enough.
Elias Sisneros:The the How
Abe Baldonado:much of that is government keeping the parents out of Because a lot of the stuff now is, hey, we don't have to report this to your parents. You can come to And so, you've disengaged the family from being involved.
Elias Sisneros:And that's a huge mistake. It is a huge mistake because your kids don't just stop learning when they leave school. You know. You have to be engaged with your kids and, you know, for a lot of these people that only speak Spanish or, you know, English is their second language, we need to get to them too, you know. You know, we're not just educating the kid, we're educating the families and we're teaching them how to educate their children.
Elias Sisneros:So, we have the money. Have the money to do We have the money to do these things. It's just poor management.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. When I worked for the Public Education Department, I worked for Secretary Christopher Roskowski and at that time that was right in the midst of the Yazi Martinez Yeah. Lawsuit. And, you know, he told me, he said, Abe, money doesn't fix anything. It's systems, it's accountability, it's real solutions.
Abe Baldonado:You know, you can give money to someone who's in poverty or maybe someone who has an addiction. If you give them a million dollars
Elias Sisneros:They're just gonna go blow it.
Abe Baldonado:There it is. Yeah. Right? Like, you're not fixing their problem just because you gave them money. And the same thing is true for education.
Abe Baldonado:It's about how do you utilize that money? How do you put it towards something that actually helps get that return on investment and actually moves the needle in student outcomes? And so, you know, we keep hearing, oh, there's just not enough money that we're putting to education. New Mexico is actually putting a whole lot of money, historic numbers behind education and we're actually seeing Worse outcomes? Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Regression. And we're not seeing progression, we're seeing regression. Yeah. And and so clearly, it's not money. It's the system in its entirety.
Abe Baldonado:And oftentimes, if you start going and looking, it's because we have the interest of adults happening instead of the interest of children.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. I agree with you 100%. I mean, we're spending half of our state budget on education.
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm. Almost half. And we're still last. Yep. And we're still last.
Elias Sisneros:You know, these charter schools that are that are in the city of Albuquerque, they are great.
Abe Baldonado:They are
Elias Sisneros:so good. I mean and look, we can't build, you know, you know, a 150 charter schools. I just No.
Abe Baldonado:And and honestly, you you wanna replicate charters that have shown success. Right? Yeah. So let's make it easier for charters that have shown success like an Albuquerque Collegiate or a Cottonwood Classical. These schools, Moss is is also another one.
Abe Baldonado:Make it easy for those schools to replicate because they're they've been proven to work. Their methodology and the pedagogy has worked because we're seeing kids grow in reading, math, and science. So let's expand on that. You know, let's not open just another charter school just because. You know, let's start let's keep with things that are actually working and, you know, let's let's open up school choice.
Abe Baldonado:Let's give families the opportunity to decide where they believe it's best for their kid to go.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. And it would it would show which schools aren't actually working either. Right?
Abe Baldonado:Well, and that's what the traditional public schools fear, right? And that's what the teachers unions fear because they're like, oh no, we got to compete now?
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. That's our Yeah. If you have all these parents putting their kids in one school
Abe Baldonado:and and But competition has proven and you go back to Adam Smith and the The Wealth of Nations, competition increases outcomes. Yeah. It increases innovation. It it makes you wanna be better. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Because you have to compete to survive, you know. It's just like a business. If a business is just there and they don't care about their the people that they're, you know, servicing or whatever product that they're they're selling. If you don't take care of those people or they feel like, hey, I'm not getting what I expect out of this. Well, they're just gonna stop shopping
Elias Sisneros:with you.
Abe Baldonado:And when there's competition, it makes you, oh, they could just easily go over there. I'm not the only place in town. Like, oh, they can go over there and get it.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. You know, my daughter goes to elementary school here in Albuquerque and the school is so overcrowded that they're combining like second and third grade classes and they're just understaffed, you know. And I think a lot of the teachers don't well, I know for a fact, I've spoken with some teachers, they don't feel supported. You know, they don't feel supported and they keep pushing all of this. They keep pushing all these other kind of administrative duties on them so they don't spend a lot of time teaching.
Elias Sisneros:They spend a lot of time filling out paperwork and, you know, that just doesn't work. And obviously, it shows it doesn't work. So we gotta change something up.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. You gotta let the the teachers teach and let them educate students, you know, and nothing beyond that. You know, let's put the resources that are needed. Let's make the investments in in school counselors, school psychiatrists, school psychologists, social workers. Let's invest those dollars there.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Yeah. That would be a great thing to see. Unfortunately, I just think it's gonna take a a huge change in leadership for that to happen.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. What do you think it takes for New Mexicans to get involved to make that change? They progressing there or do you think we still have a lot of work to do to get people engaged?
Elias Sisneros:I think we still have a lot
Abe Baldonado:of work to do. I agree.
Elias Sisneros:I think we have a lot of work to do. But I think informing New Mexicans is the biggest thing. Right? Because most people, they just don't they're busy. Right?
Elias Sisneros:They have lives. They have kids. They have bills. They have lives. So when they sit down, they wanna just shut down.
Elias Sisneros:They wanna watch a TV show. They wanna scroll on their phone. So, they're not paying attention to what's happening in the roundhouse. But that's why social media is so key, man.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. And trusted social media, right? You got to be sure that it's coming from trusted sources Yeah. Rooted in truth and then rooted in like, hey, here are the full details. Not just, you know, some parts.
Abe Baldonado:And that's kind of, I think, the thing that has frustrated me that I've seen even with president Trump is that they cut out a lot of what he says and they just show you a little, you know Little thirty second clip. Yeah. Thirty second clip and I'm like, well, no. I want to know the full context because when you put the full context, it's like that's not what he meant because now I know the full context of what he was talking about. And so it's easy to just take a clip of someone shoot this podcast.
Abe Baldonado:Someone can cut out something that we said just to ten seconds and be like, did you hear what Elias said? Did you hear what Abe said? And it sounds terrible. Okay. But what was the context of the conversation?
Abe Baldonado:What were they talking about?
Elias Sisneros:But we we just have to keep informing them. We gotta get to them. We need more voices in this state. We don't have enough voices. We need more people standing up, telling the truth, right, and informing people.
Abe Baldonado:And if you are conservative, be proud of
Elias Sisneros:it.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. There's nothing wrong with it. I mean, friends of mine that are liberal, they're proud to be liberal. They don't deny it. They don't hide it.
Abe Baldonado:And same, why should we move our goalpost and what we believe? Hey, if I'm a fiscal conservative, well, hey, let me tell you, I don't agree with how much money we're spending. Mhmm. I don't agree with the unsustainable child universal childcare which is not universal, but you know, I don't agree with that because, yeah, it was rolled out way too fast. There isn't a long term plan to make sure that this is sustainable.
Abe Baldonado:I don't disagree that parents are needing some help potentially with needing some services. Absolutely. But okay, let's do it right then because when you write in the fine print that, hey, chances are you're to end up having to pay a co pay for this Mhmm. At some point. Well, then it's not free.
Abe Baldonado:It's not universal because now you just said, hey, you know what? If our our funding goes below this level which more than likely it
Elias Sisneros:is It's going to.
Abe Baldonado:It's going to.
Elias Sisneros:Because that program is already exploding. Right? We're already seeing more people sign up. It's not sustainable and that's why it needs to be for some. Right?
Elias Sisneros:Not for everybody.
Abe Baldonado:A Which family already was. If you were Yeah. Living below the poverty level, you had access to this. Instead, we just said, hey, you know what? Childcare for millionaires.
Abe Baldonado:Like Mhmm. If you make 6 figures, hey, we'll get it for you. And it's a get rich scheme for a lot of people who are going to make a lot of money on this off of tax dollars.
Elias Sisneros:Exactly. And, you know, I guarantee you in a year or two, if this program is still going on, we're gonna see ghost kids. Right? Family, you know
Abe Baldonado:Are you talking about Minnesota fraud? Is that where we're going?
Elias Sisneros:We're gonna see it. It's it's just a matter of time because when you have a governor who just wants to leave a legacy. Right? Mhmm. She's trying to leave, you know
Abe Baldonado:A government dependency legacy, like, we want you dependent on government.
Elias Sisneros:Which is terrible. It pulls people's independence away from that.
Abe Baldonado:And their dignity. Yes. There's a dignity that's stripped away when you're just like, hey, you know what? I'm just gonna coast on the government. I'm not gonna go value my work, my merit, and my purpose.
Abe Baldonado:I think, man, having purpose is everything.
Elias Sisneros:But then you get New Mexicans that become so dependent that they lose their independence. They're scared to leave. Right? They're scared to advance or like, I can't take that job and go to Texas or Arizona because I'm gonna have to pay childcare and that's gonna come out, you know. They're they're Or
Abe Baldonado:I'm not gonna get TANF. I'm not gonna get snap. I'm gonna, you know, it's wild, man. We we saw what if you receive all the benefits that are awarded to you as a New Mexican for SNAP, you know, Medicaid, everything, you're technically about a $70,000 employee if you're receiving all benefits. So what's the incentive now To get off.
Abe Baldonado:To get off. Like, there's not. And chances are, if I'm a high school dropout and I don't have a skill set in anything, there's no way I'm gonna make $70,000 out the gate in a job. I'll be making bare minimum wage Yeah. If I'm lucky.
Abe Baldonado:So yeah, what's the incentive for me? I have food stamps, I got health care, you know, that's paid for by the state and I don't have to worry about a thing. Like, I don't have to go to work. And all I do is I go try to, you know, head Manny Lardizovag on and he he was telling me how people come to him, they fill out an application, they call him and they don't show up for interviews because they just check the box and there's no accountability built in Mhmm. To find out are you interviewing?
Abe Baldonado:Are you doing your part to try to get off of this system? And, you know, that's that's a government issue is that, hey, clearly they don't have the resources or the manpower to vet this. And so it's just like, oh, you tried cool. We'll keep you on it until you get a job. And, you know, they people, you know, man, we have to get to a point where we have to admit and we can't be naive that there is no fraud in our welfare programs.
Abe Baldonado:Like Yeah. There is. Like we just have to admit it. Like
Elias Sisneros:it's massive.
Abe Baldonado:And it's not a bad thing. Yeah. Because we're not we're not saying the people who don't need these programs don't deserve it because there are needy families. There are people who actually rely on this safety net Mhmm. That need it to help uplift them.
Abe Baldonado:But when you just kind of make it that hammock, man, and it just becomes generational, well, yeah, you're leading it to being very unsustainable and we we have to admit that there are those cases. Mhmm. You know, we can argue about how frequent they are and we can try to find out from studies done by legislative bodies of, okay, just about how many of these are legit and how many could potentially be fraud. We need to look into common sense. It's not that you're being hateful because you believe in fiscal responsibility.
Abe Baldonado:You're saying, no, hey, I believe that these dollars should be going to the families that deserve it the most, not people who are abusing the system.
Elias Sisneros:There's nothing wrong with exposing fraud. You would think that politicians would be thankful for for that. Right? Like, hey, we're gonna have more money in our benefiting. Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:Exactly. And and that's what well, you see in other states like California and Minnesota where people are benefiting from this. Right? Yeah. Because these people that are committing these frauds then donate to campaigns.
Elias Sisneros:And I mean, that is corruption. Corruption. And we we have enough corruption in the state of New Mexico.
Abe Baldonado:I mean Or you have a southern poverty law center. Yeah. You know, that tells you they're anti racist, you know, anti fascist, five zero one c three nonprofit trying to fight against that and then you find out, wait, you're actually supporting the KKK? You're actually giving money to white supremacy groups? Wait.
Abe Baldonado:I thought you were against that. Yeah. I thought I thought you said Trump was giving money though, but there's no proof but there's proof that you gave money to these, so this is interesting.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Well, the state auditor just released that 100 page investigation with Mora County. And I a big one, man. That letter that he wrote in front of that investigation, I'm like
Abe Baldonado:So many of my friends that are from Mora are like, come on, guys. Yeah. They're just so disappointed like, what are we doing? Like Yeah. Why?
Elias Sisneros:The county attorney is looking for a a law firm and then she secretly bills the county 17 times while she's working for that law firm. I mean, the sheriff gets a $6,000 emergency contract to plow snow. I mean, there was so many cases that I'm like, come on guys, this is terrible. And then, you know, you have the governor giving out sole source contracts. Giving out an $800,000 security consulting contract or to to some company.
Elias Sisneros:I'm like, how do you know you're you're giving this sole source contract out and you don't think there's a New Mexico security firm that could do this? Right. You know? Come on. Mean, there's $49,000,000 in sole source contracts that she's giving out and I'm like, you don't think there's a New Mexico company that would want to bid for this contract?
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. You know? Movivas though. There's something there, especially as a lame duck like, hey, you're looking for your next thing. Okay.
Abe Baldonado:So are you doing favors for folks to kind of tee up your next move, whether it's a board position or whatever it may be. But yeah, man, it is it is wild. And even, you know, with the fire, the Hermits Picasso cannon fire, the misappropriation of a lot of those funds, you know, families like my own and friends that I know have not seen a single penny from their property being burnt down generations of acreage just
Elias Sisneros:Gone.
Abe Baldonado:Burnt. Gone. Their livelihood, gone. You know, a lot of these folks, you know, log these forests. They sold wood.
Abe Baldonado:They, you know, lived off the land, hunted fish, you know, the landscape has changed so much. And a lot of these folks haven't seen a dollar, but there's a handful of people that have gotten some very hunky checks, you know, driving some nice Hummers in Las Vegas, New Mexico and it's like interesting.
Elias Sisneros:Which is terrible. Right? Because we got $4,000,000,000 to give to the people down there. Right? And the people that were in control of the money just held on tight and only gave it out the way that they saw fit.
Elias Sisneros:So we got people that put in claims that are still waiting, still waiting four years later. And that should piss people off.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely.
Elias Sisneros:That should piss people off.
Abe Baldonado:I'm fearful that that is potential to happen under a Holland or even a Breitman governorship. And, you know, and I'll transition now to the gubernatorial race because that's kind of the big thing right now. You've been Yeah. Pretty active in that. We have Race to the Roundhouse coming up next week on May 8 at Legacy Church, hoping a lot of folks can get out there.
Abe Baldonado:We'll attach a flyer to this podcast as well so folks can learn more about it. But this is a consequential year for this gubernatorial election.
Elias Sisneros:I I definitely think so. You know, whoever gets elected is gonna oversee redistricting. Right? We're gonna and that's gonna be a huge it's gonna be a huge thing for New Mexico because if we elect Holland or or or Sam, they're just How gonna
Abe Baldonado:worse does it get though? Well I Like, the districts are already like beyond belief.
Elias Sisneros:I think they could get worse.
Abe Baldonado:I guess it could. I was just like, it's already pretty bad. But
Elias Sisneros:I mean, you know, and and with Race to the Roundhouse, I invited everybody. I invited Deb Holland. I invited Sam Bregman. I invited Duke and Doug and and whom I miss? Greg.
Abe Baldonado:Greg Hole.
Elias Sisneros:I invited all of them and the only people that would show up are the three Republicans. Right?
Abe Baldonado:Wow. That tells you something, New Mexico. Like, the fact that you hear Bregman saying, I want Deb to debate me. I want Deb to debate me. Well, here's a debate chance for both of you all Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:To get on stage with a potentially someone that you may run against and you're running away from it.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. And like with Bregman, I'm like, what do you have to lose? You're 26 points behind.
Abe Baldonado:Well, the idea is, and I know this is the strategy of his campaign, he wants to bring Republicans over. You want to bring independents, so why wouldn't you show up to debate these Republicans if you're real if you really believe that you could beat Holland and really relate to Republicans to get them to vote for you in the primary, which I think is doubtful. Like, I don't think you have a chance. Like, I'm Republicans are not gonna go change their voter registration to Democrat to vote for Sam Bregman. No.
Abe Baldonado:I'm sorry. Burst your bubble, but Sam Bregman, that's not gonna happen, man.
Elias Sisneros:No. It's not. Like, it's
Abe Baldonado:just not gonna happen. So but if you really believe that as a candidate, why don't you go debate Duke Rodriguez, Greg Hall and Doug Turner. Exactly. Prove yourself.
Elias Sisneros:Put your ideas to the test.
Abe Baldonado:Or are you afraid to realize that you can't win over Republicans because you don't have a conservative bone in your body? Yeah. You were the Democratic Party chair like Deb Holland. Yeah. You know, you're you're not a tough on crime attorney, district attorney, you were a criminal defense attorney once upon a time.
Abe Baldonado:Don't forget that. Like Mhmm. So I think that a lot of that has to do with, yeah, you know, I have a lot of skeletons in my closet. And Deb, clearly, hey, man, you were on you're on Epstein's plane.
Elias Sisneros:Yep. And they and they can't defend their policies. They can't defend what's happening here. Right? And that's why they're so scared to get on stage is because how can you defend being fiftieth in education?
Elias Sisneros:How can you defend the crime and the homelessness and the infrastructure?
Abe Baldonado:How can you provide a solution because you agree with the status quo? Exactly. So it's like you don't have a solution to fix it because you're saying, hey, I would do the same thing. I'd cater to the teachers' unions. I would just keep doing everything that we're doing, which is not moving the needle.
Elias Sisneros:And I think that's why this year is so consequential. Right? Because I think Republicans do have a chance to win because of everything that's happened over the last eight years with
Abe Baldonado:We're a predominantly Hispanic state, and I wanna pitch this to you because I've heard this over and over again is just a lot of younger voters and even voters our age just don't feel that the Republican Party relates to them. What what what can Republicans do to be relatable to you? You're an independent. Mhmm. What does it take for a Republican to be relatable, like, of the things that matter to you?
Elias Sisneros:Man. That's a loaded question. Know.
Abe Baldonado:That's It's just something I think about because I don't disagree. I think there needs to be shift there in messaging, but also outreach to educate New Mexicans
Elias Sisneros:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:About the the party and and not even about the party, but about the issues. Like, why do you stand on the issues? Like, I I don't even wanna talk about the party. I wanna talk about the issues. So what are the issues that you would bring to the table as Republicans that are different than the Democrats that would leave new bet New Mexico in a better place than we found?
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. I think rep like, for me, right, infrastructure. Right? Our roads are, I mean There are. Anybody that's driven on these roads, anything that's gonna affect their day to day, they need to be talking about, right?
Elias Sisneros:So I mean, I don't know how many times I
Abe Baldonado:Remove the income tax.
Elias Sisneros:Yes. And the income tax, right? That's a huge one. We don't have to file a state income tax anymore. Right?
Elias Sisneros:That would be great. Fix our roads, fix our schools, and stop being polished. Nobody wants to see polished politicians anymore.
Abe Baldonado:You think that's gone?
Elias Sisneros:Yes. I think it's gone and it drives me insane when I see a politician push up their tie and tighten their jacket and they they speak differently when they talk to people. I can't stand that. I'm like, be real. I wanna know who you are, you know, as a person, not just who you are on a stage in front of a camera.
Elias Sisneros:For far too long, we've seen people act one way. We were just talking about this.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. The wish washing.
Elias Sisneros:Yep. They act one way when they're in front of people in front of a camera and then behind closed doors, they're completely different. So, I think that era of politician is done. And I think anybody that runs with that is going to lose.
Abe Baldonado:Is it because you think they're just trying to appease people too much and not really say, hey, this is what I believe, not because I, hey, I was told I shouldn't talk about this, I shouldn't touch It seems fake.
Elias Sisneros:It just seems fake. I think New Mexicans are done with fake. I am, at least, you know. I think we're done with fake. We want real people that run our government and wanna actually make change.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Tell tell us like it is. I
Elias Sisneros:mean Yep.
Abe Baldonado:You don't have to go full blown, you know, Trump scorched earth.
Elias Sisneros:Exactly.
Abe Baldonado:But just have a real conversation and just tell it like it is.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. See, I think Trump did well because he went out and he told the truth about the things that were going on. But he sometimes I'm like, dude, your messaging is terrible. Someone take his phone away.
Abe Baldonado:But the policy is a good thing. But the policies
Elias Sisneros:are great. But, you know, people want a mix of both. Right? They want those policies but they don't want someone to act a fool either.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. You know? Yeah. Well, and you know, Trump is an anomaly, man, and no one could ever replicate. No.
Abe Baldonado:And that's what frustrates me. I also don't like candidates who try to be like Trump. It's like Mhmm. You're Trump.
Elias Sisneros:You're No. You're not.
Abe Baldonado:Not gonna be that. Like, that is not gonna be successful for you. Like, don't do that. But it works for him. And one thing that I've learned about the president, much to his credit, is I've learned to and I've learned this from people who have been close to the president is that don't take him literally, but take him seriously.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:And I I oftentimes have to even remind myself and I'm like, no, why would you say that? And I'm like, Abe, there there's a greater thing happening here. There's something that he is trying to negotiate that and sure enough, it always happens that way, right?
Elias Sisneros:It's Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Greenland. We're gonna take over Greenland. The goal was never to take over Greenland. It was like, hey, Greenland, come to the table and let's have a conversation because we have a blind spot that we're worried about in that northern part of our country where we can't see a Russia or China potentially attack The United States or, you know, maybe, you know, surveillance our country. And so that was all his idea was, hey, I'm gonna say this outrageous thing in the poll and I get it, man.
Abe Baldonado:The public is not gonna understand that, hey, that's what he's trying to do. He's trying to bring some sort of negotiation because he's saying something that just sounds absolutely like, what do you mean we're gonna take over Greenland?
Elias Sisneros:I can
Abe Baldonado:say No. It's like, hey, no. Right here is where I want him. But, you know, and I've had this conversation with friends. I'm like, when you go into a negotiation, do you tell them exactly what you want?
Elias Sisneros:No. No. He's a master at social media. I can say that.
Abe Baldonado:Oh, the social media is
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. He's a master. He's a master troll too. But going back to New Mexico, I think if these candidates not only talk about what's going wrong in New Mexico, but present a real solution on how to fix things, like, if they give New Mexicans, okay, this is what I'm gonna do.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. People wanna hear solutions.
Elias Sisneros:They wanna hear the solution to the to fixing that problem. Right? But if they just go out there and say, this is broken, this is broken, this is broken, which they do need to tell people that, 100%, but they need to tell people, this is how I'm gonna fix CYFD. Mhmm. You know, either I'm gonna tear it down and build it up brick by brick all over again, I'm gonna micromanage it, I'm gonna bring in these people, you know.
Elias Sisneros:This is how I'm gonna fix education. This is how I'm gonna fix our infrastructure. So I I really think that's how they win. They've gotta come up with real solutions. Things
Abe Baldonado:that actually matter to Mexicans. Things that, you know, we experience on day to day, whether it's our wallet, our drive to work, you know, our time at home, our time with our families, our kids. Those are the things that really matter.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Our wallet and kids.
Abe Baldonado:Wallet and kids.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. People that that's what's gonna pull people to the polls. Right?
Abe Baldonado:And jobs. You know, I think one thing is is that what are you gonna do? Are you gonna lower the GRT so that way we become a real business friendly state that we're actually saying, hey, we're open for business. We have opportunities here. We have the resources.
Abe Baldonado:You know, I see now like a lot of the pushback on data centers and I'm like, that's a great golden opportunity to
Elias Sisneros:diversify To diversify.
Abe Baldonado:To diversify our economy but also create a pipeline from education to career in these data centers, you know, that Yeah. That's the way we're going. AI is the the future and how do we tee up New Mexico now to be the the hub for that with data centers and, you know, it's interesting, man. And I'll get into the weeds of some policy stuff, but, you know, you hear these environmentalists saying they're going to use up all the fresh water. That's actually not true because right now in front of the Water Quality Commission, they're trying to create rules that would allow for produced water to be used for data centers like that.
Abe Baldonado:So that way we have water that is brought up during our development of oil and natural gas. How can we reuse that water for multi use purposes, whether it's farming and agriculture because we are in a desert that oftentimes we we have drought. And so can we use that produced water and get to a place where it is clean enough for the safe use? And, you know, they're saying, it's not clean. It's terrible.
Abe Baldonado:And actually, no, it's been treated like it is clean water. You can essentially drink it. That's not what they're recommending it for to But they're saying, hey, it is clean enough for us to use and be safe for our farmers who oftentimes lack water, meta, and, you know, these data centers that wanna develop here in New Mexico. Man
Elias Sisneros:And these let's do it. These companies are so wealthy. You can make them build a desalination plant. You can make them provide their own energy. And a lot of states are making them do that stuff already.
Elias Sisneros:So why not make them do it in New Mexico?
Abe Baldonado:Funny because California does desalination and they use treated produced water in their water systems and they're like free I'm like, so you're okay with it in California but they want to do the same here in New Mexico. Now you're saying that the industry is poisoning people? Yeah. I don't get it.
Elias Sisneros:And, you know, the the thing about progressives that drives me nuts, they they hate oil and gas. They wanna get rid of it but they don't wanna diversify to anything else. I'm like, if we don't I mean, oil and gas is what? 42, 45% of our budget. So if we wanna, you know, bring that number down, we have to diversify and these data centers are a way to do that.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. And the industry wants the state to diversify, right? Because they don't want that on their plate that their main bread and butter because they know that, hey, we are an industry that could potentially be volatile and, you know, economy and like world situations happen that kind of affect our business and it goes up and down and it ebb and flows. And but we don't wanna be at fault for the state to lose out money because
Elias Sisneros:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Our wells are are shutting down because we're in a recession or whatever it may be or demand is very low, so we're not able to pump as much. They don't wanna be responsible for that. They're like, yeah, please diversify. Like, we'd love Yeah. And you know what?
Abe Baldonado:The industry loves supporting New Mexico. Like, worked for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, getting to know the folks that live and breathe this every day that it is their job. They go to work at Conoco. They go to work at Chevron. And all our oil and gas companies that operate around the Permian And San Juan Basins, they love it, man.
Abe Baldonado:And they love New Mexico, and they live in these communities. And so I get really mad when I hear environmentalists saying they don't care. They don't care about our water. They don't clean up care about our air. And I'm like, that is in fact communities.
Abe Baldonado:It's their community. Kids are in these schools. They're they're going playing in these playgrounds. Like, they care about They
Elias Sisneros:they go hunting in these Yeah. You know, that's that was one thing I was always tell people. I'm like, these people that work in oil and gas, they go hunting in these mountains. It's part of their culture. Like Yep.
Elias Sisneros:They don't wanna see the state poisoned, know. You guys, of course, that's your narrative, right? And that's how you guys drum people up to the polls, you get them going.
Abe Baldonado:Fired up.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. That's how you get them fired up. But it's far it's not true at all.
Abe Baldonado:The I think the scary part, man, was I I went into classrooms which I thought was really fun as I was able to go back in the classrooms and educate students about oil and gas and how it contributes back to their everyday life without them even knowing it. Mhmm. And the amount of students and so the first question I asked of a class was, what do you all know about oil and gas? And they said, pollution. Of course.
Abe Baldonado:It's bad. You know? It kills us. And I'm like, how many of you love your makeup in here? All the girls raise their hand.
Abe Baldonado:They love their makeup. I see the environments environmentalist women protesting. They're wearing makeup. I'm
Elias Sisneros:like Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:Funny. You're wearing petroleum byproduct on your face. Yeah. And then I would ask the boys, how many of you love Jordan shoes? They all raise their hand.
Abe Baldonado:Right? We all love our Jordans. Petroleum byproduct. How many of you love your stretchy pants, your stretchy shirts, polyester? Petroleum byproduct.
Abe Baldonado:How many of you love knowing that a hospital can save your life? Okay. Well, what is a hospital runoff of? Natural gas, oxygen, the materials needed to save your life are plastics oftentimes. So the advancements in modern science and modern health care are all due in part to oil and gas in some way.
Abe Baldonado:So it's not just filling up your your car and driving, you know, it is much more than that. It is the the produce that you get. Right? We even see that a lot of of folks don't even know where they they get their produce from. They're like, oh, I get a Walmart.
Abe Baldonado:I'm like, no, dude. Some rancher
Elias Sisneros:and farmer,
Abe Baldonado:like Yep. Harvested that. Like, that was their their job. Like, they they farm that and got it over to your table, you know, and
Elias Sisneros:just Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:That disconnect, man. And so important to bring people back to say, hey. What are we doing? Like, this is where we need to be common sense right here.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. And we do it the cleanest. Yeah. We do it the cleanest.
Abe Baldonado:The strongest environmental laws in New Mexico. So when we say that the Permian Barrel is the cleanest barrel in the world, it in fact is because we have some of the most stringent regulations on the books.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. I mean, it's it's such a benefit. We are so lucky to have, you know, oil and gas in this state. If we didn't have it, we would be in
Abe Baldonado:I'm terrified though. Deb Haaland gets elected.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. She's she's saying that she's kind of moderate right now. Right? But as soon as she gets in
Abe Baldonado:Doesn't that bother you though? Yeah. Like, like these candidates say, I'm a moderate. Like, are you though? Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:What are you? Baloney.
Abe Baldonado:I'm okay. Like, if that is really who you are, but everything in your public record has proven otherwise. Yes. So you've never proven to be a moderate. Ever.
Abe Baldonado:Ever. No. Like if you if there were proof like, oh yeah, Deb Haaland, you know, she she was on the middle on this or she was in the middle here and it was consistent, then I would be like, hey, okay, you know what? I've actually seen her do some moderate things. Never seen it.
Elias Sisneros:No. She's far from it. She is quite she scares me. Yeah. She really scares me.
Abe Baldonado:I don't know how much more you can set New Mexico back as far as rankings go, but with her as governor, I think she absolutely sinks the ship to where it will be even harder in 2030 and for the years to come for us to get out of that hole.
Elias Sisneros:And Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:You know, I but the opportunities are there, man. We we are in a prime position to turn around this state. And Yeah. When I go to Arizona, I'm jealous. Our twin sister stayed over there because, man, they're thriving and I know.
Abe Baldonado:Geographically, they look just like New Mexico, man. Like and we actually have more. We have resources, man, that they do not. And it's like, why are we so far behind? Like, why are we struggling?
Abe Baldonado:There's no need for our state to be and I I don't view our state as dead last. Like, I really don't. Like, I know what the ranking say, but I know the potential. I know the people. I know having conversations with folks like you who say, hey, no.
Abe Baldonado:New Mexico is home. Like, this is this is our family. This is our land. This is our culture. This is who we are.
Abe Baldonado:This is what we're always gonna be. And we have the opportunities we know exist. We just don't have the right leaders to execute it.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Well, I made a decision about a a year ago. I had some job offers to to leave the state, and I made a decision that I wasn't gonna leave, that I was gonna
Abe Baldonado:And that's selfless, man, because we've all been there. We've all had opportunities, and I'm glad I never jumped ship and left either. Like, I I'm committed to seeing New Mexico. And I I always tell people this and I'm sure you feel the same way that, you know, in my lifetime, I hope to leave this state better than what I found it. Exactly.
Abe Baldonado:Just even having conversation like this, dialogue. Yeah.
Elias Sisneros:And I I want my my daughter to grow up in a state that is is doing a lot better than it is now. And that's my goal. Right? Because this is our home. My family's been in New Mexico since the You '16 know, since the sixteen hundreds.
Elias Sisneros:And, you know, I've had a lot of family members leave the state and they're thriving in other places.
Abe Baldonado:But they don't got the culture, man. Don't got the culture over there like us.
Elias Sisneros:And, you know, one thing I heard the other day that kind of really freaked me out is that the Chile farmers are having a hard time right now. Yeah. Because of all this Chile that's coming in from Mexico and it's, you know, it needs to be tariffed to give them a level playing field. Yeah. And that's a terrible thing.
Elias Sisneros:I think New Mexicans need to hear that. Right?
Abe Baldonado:Like, don't mess with Hatch, man.
Elias Sisneros:Don't mess
Abe Baldonado:with our Chile farms.
Elias Sisneros:These chile farmers are man. Struggling right
Abe Baldonado:You know? We we know Colorado is third tier, you know.
Elias Sisneros:What does Colorado know about Chile? Exactly.
Abe Baldonado:I I will argue with anyone who Yeah. Says Colorado Chile is even close to New Mexico Chile. But no, that's that's a good point, you know. Again, just seeing that our Chile farmers are even facing consequences from bad tariff policy.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. I'm I was I'm talking well, Greg Cunningham, he gave me the number of Chile farmers. So I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to one of them soon. He's gonna lay it out.
Abe Baldonado:Hopefully, you go down there, man. Have a fresh green chili right off.
Elias Sisneros:I I need to make a trip down south. I've had a lot of people that keep asking me to go down there and speak to different people running in certain districts. I am gonna make a trip down there. I just need to plan it a little bit more. With Race to the Roundhouse, I've been kind of slammed in Absolutely.
Elias Sisneros:Content and work and everything else.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. Well, Elias, I am delighted to have you locked in arms with us just trying to have dialogue with New Mexicans and voicing your thoughts and observations of what you're seeing in our politics here in New Mexico, our our elected officials calling them out, holding them accountable because I think it takes more people doing that. And so I hope with that momentum, with the more you're following grows and the more active you become and the more conversations that people like me and you have with individuals that they start feeling confident to say, you know what? I'm gonna speak out to you. Ay, but Elias, like they're
Elias Sisneros:all doing
Abe Baldonado:I think I need to too because now I'm not I don't feel like I'm the only one. Like, let's call this out. Like, if people are doing bad things, let's hold them accountable, Republican or Democrat. Like, if people are not living up to my values and my expectations of what a public service statesman is, well, hey, let's let's fire them. Like, the the power is in us.
Abe Baldonado:We we can elect you and we can fire you and let's let's take advantage of them.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. We need to come together. Like I said, we need more voices. Right? We need more voices.
Elias Sisneros:So anybody that is willing to speak up, I will stand side by side with them. Right?
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. And I think the first step is how do they get involved? Race to the Roundhouse, I think is they need to be there.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Race to the Roundhouse, May 8, Legacy Central. Right? We're gonna have Greg Hall, Duke Rodriguez, Doug Turner. Doug Turner.
Elias Sisneros:All of them on stage and it's gonna be different. It's not gonna be like those old Or these conversations. Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:It's gonna be a debate.
Elias Sisneros:That's that's what drives me crazy. Right? They go on to it like the KOAT thing, right? When they went on there, that wasn't a real debate. It was
Abe Baldonado:just A conversation with the candidates, I think is what they like titled it.
Elias Sisneros:Exactly. So, this is gonna be real. We're gonna sit down. There's no spin, right? Everyone is gonna be able to interact and we're going to ask them the tough questions.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. Can you give us insight to what type of questions, like what are going be some of
Elias Sisneros:the top issues? So there's definitely going to be, you know, education. We're definitely going to ask them about education. We're definitely going to ask them about crime. We're definitely gonna ask them about the economy and we're gonna ask them, you know What are gonna do about it?
Abe Baldonado:What are gonna do about it?
Elias Sisneros:Exactly. That's what we wanna know. Right? I wanna know the solutions and I want them to test their ideas against each other. Right?
Elias Sisneros:Because if Doug says he wants to do it one way, well then, why is your way better than Duke's way? Mhmm. You know? And if Duke's ideas, why is his idea better than Greg's way? I love that.
Elias Sisneros:Wanna know.
Abe Baldonado:That is democracy for the people right Yeah. To hear it. Like, don't shy away from it, don't try to dodge it, answer the question.
Elias Sisneros:Yep. And and what's your real solution?
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. Know? And if you don't have one, that's fine. If you don't one yet, be like, hey, I wanna work with experts in this field and Mhmm. Try to figure it out.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. And that's that's what we need to know, And you I think that's people are going to I and the race to the roundhouse is so close to the actual primary, right? So I think
Abe Baldonado:That was what? About maybe five, four and a half weeks out?
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. So I think them sharing their ideas and debating their ideas on this stage, you know, 61% of Republicans are undecided. I think that this may decide people may make up their minds this night Absolutely. On who they want going forward, you know.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. And it'll be a good time for everyone to find out where do each of the candidates stand on the issues that matter to you most and then you get to decide.
Elias Sisneros:Yeah. Because we keep getting these thirty second sound bites, right, from every candidate. You know, I wanna hear long form, I wanna hear what their actual positions are, I wanna hear their ideas and let's test them.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. So Love it. Elias, appreciate you. Good luck on hosting Race of the Roundhouse. We'll add some information to this.
Abe Baldonado:And Thank you. Man, I look forward to breaking down the primary election after June 2 Yes. With you. And we might even have to get in the studio and do a live observation as the numbers come Let's
Elias Sisneros:do it.
Abe Baldonado:And just sit here and, you know, chat a little bit and see what
Elias Sisneros:I would love I would love that, dude. Let's do it. Yeah. Yeah. Would
Abe Baldonado:be great. Alright y'all. If you haven't followed Elias, find Elias on social media. Yep. You're on Facebook.
Elias Sisneros:Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X, everything. YouTube. YouTube, under my YouTube, it's unfiltered with Elias. So check it out.
Abe Baldonado:Elias, appreciate you, man. Looking forward to it.
Elias Sisneros:Thank you for having me.
Abe Baldonado:Thank you for getting involved. And y'all, that's it for this week's Chile Wire. We'll see you next time.