New Mexico's agricultural economy is primarily composed of dairy and range livestock production.
— Susana Martinez
I want to make sure kids read by the third grade and are prepared for the fourth grade. As school gets harder and kids get older, the words get bigger... If they don't understand what they are reading, they start to fall back, and their interest in school falls off.
When there is a crisis, how you handle the crisis is just as important as the crisis.
I don't think there's ever a silver bullet to any problem. There are always several answers and solutions to a problem.
I do think we do have to respect the position of the presidency.
I didn't suddenly become conservative. It was only the label that changed.
'Self-deport?' What the heck does that mean?
As a prosecutor, I served victims; I fought to keep communities safe, and in every instance, I knew that it was my job to protect individuals' privacy.
I don't want to be known as a politician.
My father was a security guard. I was a security guard.
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.
As a border prosecutor, I've put criminals behind bars who worked for some of the most violent cartels in the world.
Our laws are too lax, our justice system too weak - particularly when it comes to violent, dangerous offenders.
In many ways, Mitt Romney and I are very different. Different starts in life. Different paths to leadership. Different cultures.
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.
I've always known that my father's father and grandfather and grandmother were from Mexico. I've never denied it. I've always said it.
I hope I've been able to show other young girls that as long as you work hard and you're committed to fight for your education, that anything's possible.
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.
We need to grow the private sector in every corner of New Mexico.
Criminals take advantage of weak laws, like giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
I offered early on - I think I was governor about a month when I met President Obama - and said, 'I would like to visit with you in reference to border security, in reference to immigration. I'd like to be part of the discussion because I lived on the border all my life.' I've never received a call.
I didn't have a whole lot of role models to say, 'This much is possible, versus this much.' So I finally said, 'I think I'd like to be a mayor. I'd like to pull together a city and help do good things.'
Republicans need to stop making assumptions, and they need to start talking to younger people, people of color, and ask them - not talk to them - ask them, 'What is it that we can do better? How do we earn your vote? How do we earn the ability for you to see that we can be the party that will make your life better and that of your children?'
I am donating $10,000 from my inaugural committee to the 'Pink Pack' because the only way we will find a cure for cancer is by joining together, pooling our resources, and focusing on the lifesaving mission that everyone can fight back against cancer.
As an elected official, I live a very public life. That elected figures live under something of a microscope is perhaps a necessary condition for an informed public, and yet, even as a public official, I maintain very personal documents that are not intended for public view.
Raising taxes does nothing to allow the economy to recover.
It's extremely important that we elect people that look like the population they serve.
Certainly, cutting spending is one of the things that can transcend to the federal government. I mean, I think the federal government has grown by leaps and bounds, and they need to look where do they need to cut.
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.
No child is un-teachable. I will never give up on any kid. Every child can learn.
Sometimes you pay a price for standing up.
I am my own person.
I've known where my heritage is from all along.
Too many Americans are out of work, and our debt is out of control.
I know what not being able to read can do to a child's confidence.
New Mexico should be a tech jobs leader and a haven for innovation, a place where the best and the brightest come to bring their products to market.
When we set up our kids for failure, we set up our workforce for failure, and we set up our economy for failure. I can't emphasize enough the importance, the absolute importance, of education in achieving long-term economic growth.
You want to earn the vote of every single person you can... It doesn't matter whether individuals are in need of assistance of the government or individuals who are in college; it doesn't matter.
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.
Gangs have evolved. The stereotypical gang member covered in tattoos and wearing colors does not really exist any more. There's this fear that it could be any kid, but by any kid, that means any Latino kid.
Experience has taught me that privacy truly is the touchstone of our criminal justice system.
I think politicians nationwide have earned a reputation sometimes that is very unfavorable because they will say things and then do something else when they get into office.
I actually became a lawyer because I thought you had to be a lawyer in order to get into national politics.
I want to make sure that I fulfill the promises that I made to New Mexicans. That's extremely important to me.
I'm an independent thinker. I am a woman. I am a Republican. And I think for myself, and I decide where I vote and how I vote.
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 was a prosecutor for 25 years. I saw so many 15, 16, even 20 year-olds who could not read, had little hope that they would ever find work, faced more challenges than opportunities in life, dropped out of school at some point, and turned to crime.
At 18, I guarded the parking lot at the Catholic Church bingos. Now, my dad made sure I could take care of myself. I carried a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum - that gun weighed more than I did!
The criminal justice system should have the authority to determine the immigration status of all criminals, regardless of race or ethnicity, and report illegal immigrants who commit crimes to federal authorities.
Latinos care about education, yes, so we need reform, not just money.
