My parents grew that small business from one 18-year-old guarding a bingo to more than 125 employees in three states. And sure, there was help along the way. But my parents took the risk. They stood up. And you better believe they built it.
I went to law school. And I became a prosecutor. I took on a specialty that very few choose to pursue. I prosecuted child abuse and child homicide cases. Cases that were truly gut-wrenching. But standing up for those kids, being their voice for justice was the honor of a lifetime.
My dad was a golden gloves boxer in the Marine Corps, then a deputy sheriff. My mom worked as an office assistant.
During my administration, we've welcomed a broad and diverse group of industries to New Mexico, including high-tech and traditional manufacturing, health care, information technology and finance. Some are homegrown New Mexico companies; others are global leaders in their industries.
Success, they taught me, is built on the foundation of courage, hard-work and individual responsibility. Despite what some would have us believe, success is not built on resentment and fears.
Our laws are too lax, our justice system too weak - particularly when it comes to violent, dangerous offenders.
New Mexico's agricultural economy is primarily composed of dairy and range livestock production.
Unfortunately, New Mexico depends significantly on federal dollars. We have four military bases here in New Mexico. We have two national labs that are very important to our national defense.
I actually became a lawyer because I thought you had to be a lawyer in order to get into national politics.
I have to deliver the results I promised because, as the first Hispanic female governor, I'm going to pave a path of some kind. I want it to be one that little Hispanic girls will want to follow.
The big corporations have a team of lawyers and accountants to help them. It's the small businesses, the mom and pop shops, that get lost in the layers of red tape.
Every judge should have real-time access to the criminal background and history of defendants who appear in their courtrooms - so that sentencing and bail decisions can be made with that information.
I will veto any tax increase.
Experience has taught me that privacy truly is the touchstone of our criminal justice system.
