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Thank you.

This is Fronteras: A Changing America.

I'm KC Counts.

Thank you for joining us.

After an eight year hiatus, the Domenici Public Policy Conference returns to Las Cruces September 8th and ninth.

Former governor and former NMSU president Doctor Gary Carruthers chaired an advisory committee that included faculty, staff and a number of NMSU retirees who were involved in past conferences to bring it back.

Doctor Carruthers recently appeared on this program and talked about that, and we invited him to return to discuss the conference's relaunch and what it means for the community.

Also joining us later in the program is former New Mexico congresswoman, former Air Force secretary and now UTEP president doctor Heather Wilson.

The conference's keynote speaker will also introduce you to Archer M. Scott, another mayor's top teen.

Dr.

Carruthers, nice to see you again.

Good to be back.

Thank you for inviting me.

Yeah.

So glad that we could bring you back so quickly to talk about something that you were really hopeful about when you were here last time.

And talked about it, and we were probably in the hopeful stage at that time.

Indeed, we put together a great program, and we would invite all of your viewers to come join us on the evening of September 8th and all day, September 9th for a powerful conference.

Let's talk a little bit about what makes it so powerful.

We we go out of our way to search out speakers from not only our state, but around the country that will illuminate the issues and affairs of today.

You mentioned Heather Wilson, the president of the University of Texas at El Paso.

She will speak principally about celebrating the the 250th birthday of the United States of America.

She's a great patriot.

She's an Air Force retiree, secretary of the Air Force.

congresswoman.

And she'll help us celebrate our 250th birthday.

And she'll also honor Senator Pete Domenici, who was the inspiration of the Domenici Public Policy Conference.

Talk a little bit about the history of the conference and Dominicis legacy that carries forward with it.

Well, years ago, when he and I were both active, I was visiting him when he was in the Congress and having dinner with him.

And he lamented the fact that his papers had been donated to UNM but they were doing nothing with them, and they boxed them up and put them in a storage unit.

And he had anticipated they would go immediately into the library.

And I said, New Mexico State would like to have this.

And we looked at them in the library and he said, well, let me come down and talk about it.

He brought his wonderful wife, Nancy, down.

We talked about it, and he chose then to move his papers from UNM to New Mexico State, which then established the relationship that led to the Domenici Conference.

And it was his aspiration that we have an annual conference that had really the finest leaders in the country come to that, and he was powerful enough.

He could invite them.

And if you look at the list of former conferees, it's just amazing the kind of people he could bring.

So we're trying to continue the tradition of bringing in the people that are very noteworthy in the news that are forming the policy, fighting the good fight.

Bring him and talk to our students and our community about what's going on in the world.

We used to have between 1000 and 1200 people attend this conference during the first 11 years.

We're starting up modestly now.

It's only a one day conference, usually a two day conference, but we're probably have 5 to 600 people that we emphasize inviting students.

Domenici very much wanted students to get into public policy, public issues.

And so we've always catered to students, for example, when the speakers speak.

The first conference, we offered the microphone to the citizens in the crowd to ask a question to the speakers.

It was awful.

They either berated the the poor person or asked the dumbest questions I ever heard.

We decided there's a better way to do this.

We would only use students.

They would be selected and they would be trained on the subject matter of the speaker.

And they do a wonderful job.

It is absolutely incredible.

Well, let's talk a little bit about how you went about defining those topics and choosing your speakers.

We kind of have to anticipate in advance and quite a ways in advance of what might be talk about.

So let me tell you what we found topical this year.

We're going to start off after Heather does the evening performance with, ambassador Chase Untermeyer, who's going to talk about the future of democracy.

Now, many of us believe that the future of democracy is somewhat in jeopardy.

It's not always worked perfectly, but Chase Untermeyers an expert.

I've actually seen the text of his speech, and he will tell us that there have been challenges in the past, and we've lived through them, but he's our first speaker.

Then artificial intelligence, that's always a big issue nowadays.

And we have a fellow named Greg Allen, who's the CEO of a big research firm that does work on AI and the dynamics of AI and the interface of AI with a lot of things, industry politics.

And it's so interesting to to see how young people are reacting.

And there's a little bit of a backlash, I think, against AI and kind of a desire to maintain those human connections.

What do you think in terms of how policymakers will be handling that situation in the near future?

We will follow up when Greg Allen tells us, because he talks about the dynamics of AI in the political world, in the industrial world, and perhaps he'll give us some tips.

But I think we're all uncertain about AI.

But then in addition to that, we're concerned about national security.

So we have Ambassador Flake, former senator from Arizona and was once the ambassador to Turkey.

He's going to talk about the security situation in the world, in particular with the Middle East.

And then we in that session with the David Hill from the Bipartisan Policy Institute in Washington, and he's going to talk about the geopolitics of oil.

And then, oh, boy.

And then that's just the morning session.

Then at noon, we have Senator Ben Ray Lujan, our junior senator, who will be a keynote speaker.

The afternoon is dedicated to people running for office.

The first speaker will be Stephanie Garcia Richard standing in for Deb Haaland, who is out of town, who is a gubernatorial candidate.

We always do the gubernatorial candidates and the congressional candidates.

That's all we ever do.

So she will lead off standing in for the candidate Deb Haaland.

Then, Gregg Hull, the mayor, the former mayor of Rio Rancho and the Republican candidate will speak.

Then we have the congressional candidates, as Greg Cunningham from the south part of Albuquerque.

And Gabe Vasquez from here in Las Cruces.

They will each make their presentations.

It's not a debate.

They each make their presentation.

Then the selected students ask him questions.

Those people leave the next person.

We have avoided debates.

We just don't do debates.

Then we top it off with Paul Begala from CNN and Charlie Black, one of the noted Republican consultants in the country, speculating on the 2026 midterm elections.

And then after that, there's a little reception and we all go home.

Well, obviously, one of the things that I think people who are familiar with the past conferences are nostalgic about is maybe a little bit more civility in politics that might have existed at that time.

how does that land for you in terms of where we are today versus where we where we need to go to go back to that?

And Senator Domenici was a case in point of a person who was always civil, worked across the aisle, did a lot of his legislating with Democrats in and he kind of exemplifies what we need today in our political leaders.

It's so acrimonious now.

I've never seen such name calling.

When I was in politics, we didn't call each other names.

Maybe after work a beer would call him a name, but we would never publicly, personally insult anybody.

That's all gone.

We try to have a conference where you see civility, where people are expressing their opinions, students asking the questions, and then you learn from that, and you don't have to put up with the rhetoric.

Let's talk with the last minute that we have.

As time went by so fast about the importance of this conference for students.

Senator Domenici insisted that we have students.

The future of the country is always students He Wanted these students to be enlightened.

He wanted them to practice.

That's why they ask questions.

He wanted them to be informed on a broad array of national and international issues.

And we accomplish that every what's accomplished with the conference.

Well, it sounds like you've got an action packed conference Dr.

Gary Carruthers.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming back to talk about it with us.

You bet.

So nice to have you.

And since the 2025 2026 Las Cruces mayor's top teens were named KRWG Public Media has been introducing them to you.

Membership coordinator Liz Liano talks with Organ Mountains Archer M. Scott.

Welcome to Mayor's Top Teens.

I'm Liz Liano, and today we're going to be talking to Archer Scott.

Hi welcome Archer and congratulations on being a Mayors Top Teen.

Hi,thank you.

It's, it's great to be here.

It was great to be nominated and selected.

It's fun being top ten I guess.

Yeah, it's wonderful to hear all of the different things that you have going on.

So tell us some of the extracurriculars and activities that you have.

Right now my main focus is year book, I'm the editor in chief, and then I do a number of other things on the side.

I did chess club for a long time.

I picked up e-sports as part of a hobby.

I started a tutoring program at my school and, that's mostly it.

I do, a lot of tutoring and stuff on the side.

And then other than that, I just focus on my AP classes.

Okay.

Wow.

That's, that's a nice list.

So you started a tutoring program at your school?

Well, I, in part, actually, the person who started it with me was Eleanor, she's another of the Top Teens.

Oh, wonderful.

And it, it was pretty small.

Not a lot of people, actually, really were that excited to get help.

But the ones that did were, pretty successful.

And then it kind of petered out towards the end.

And what inspired you to start a tutoring program?

Just, most of it was like, a lot of the extracurriculars people, so that was our main demographic, people in the extracurriculars weren't qualified to compete because their grades were too low.

So that was most of our demographic.

We helped, a number of different sports and clubs and other organizations.

Wonderful, and you say you do a lot of tutoring on the side?

Not so much any more.

Those most in my junior year.

Oh, okay.

I did, Some SAT tutoring through a program called School House.

It was online, and so I did, like, a four week course.

I felt like a I think it was either 8 or 13.

It was some weird number.

I tutored them and helped them get their SAT scores out.

Wonderful, wonderful.

Some, really nice endeavors.

So what is it that you want to end up studying?

It's kind of hard question.

I know I want to go into engineering.

My focus right now, I'm thinking, will be mechanical engineering, but I've also considered civil and aerospace engineering as well.

Oh, wow.

What makes you want to go into engineering?

I really enjoy problem solving, and I, have a lot of passion for creativity, but it's hard for me to express that passion without something productive or practical.

So the problem solving aspect of engineering, it really appeals to me, and it gives me an outlet for some of that creativity that feels, productive.

And what are some of the problems that you want to solve?

That is a very hard question.

Oh okay.

I might need a second.

Oh sure, sure.

Take all the time you need.

That's a pretty big question.

Give me one problem you want to solve.

Oh, that's a hard question.

That's okay.

Right now, prosthetics are very limited because they're cost and, just like complexity.

So I don't really want to go into mechanical engineering.

I would want to help develop manufacturing practices that could reduce the cost of very specialized, I guess, tools or mechanisms.

so the kind of things that would be used in prosthetics so.

Well, the actual implementation wouldn't be my goal.

I would I want to help develop new production methods that could alleviate some of those problems.

Very cool Archer.

And where will you be heading to school in the fall?

My top choice school is Colorado School of Mines.

I think it's, at least top 20 engineering.

But that's contingent on some scholarships.

Right now, my primary backup school that I'm looking atis New Mexico Tech, so, in Socoro.

Cool, well, it sounds like you have a really bright future ahead of you Archer.

I want to congratulate you again on being one of the Mayor's Top Teens.

Thank you.

Our thanks to Liz Archer and all of the mayor's top teens.

Moments ago, we spoke with former New Mexico governor and NMSU president, doctor Gary Carruthers about his efforts to bring back the Dominici Public Policy Conference to Las Cruces after an eight year hiatus.

Joining us now is the keynote speaker for the conference, former New Mexico congresswoman for district one, former Air Force secretary and now UTEP president, Dr.

Heather Wilson It's great to have you.

My pleasure.

Now, before we dive into all the seriousness of public policy, I have to ask you, Doctor Wilson, how you adjusted to the I-10 rivalry.

Well, volleyball just beat New Mexico State Sunday night in what was an absolutely fantastic day.

So so it's it's a wonderful rivalry of the sports that we work together when it's not on not on rivalries and sports.

So.

So it's a good relationship and a lot of fun for the students.

Let's talk a little bit about your time in Congress and how would you characterize that time.

The biggest challenges that you had to address, and how do you think it might be a little different today?

Well, of course, you know, I was thinking about this recently when I was first elected to Congress in 1998.

My predecessor, Steve Schiff, did not have a public e-mail address.

So think about how much time changed.

You know, that that, from 1998 and I served until 2009, the iPhone was invented.

It first came out in 2008.

So the world is changed both in the way people communicate and their access to information.

So I think it's we're more segmented perhaps, than we were as a society.

And that shows up, that shows up in, in the way the Congress serves and the way people relate to their government.

What would you say about the way government has responded to the progress of technology, or the lack of response, perhaps.

One of the things I, I think we all can regret is the way that, some members of Congress seem to be there, in a performative way and in my perspective on it, looking back on it now, there were two kinds of people in the Congress.

There were those who wanted to do something and those who wanted to be somebody.

And fortunately, I was blessed to serve with a lot of people who were there to do something.

And we didn't always agree.

but we worked through differences and knew that we had a responsibility to serve and govern.

And it wasn't about us.

It was about the people we served.

And I thanks.

Pete.

Domenici was a great role model in that way.

Well, I want to talk a little bit about his legacy and how you view his legacy and how the conference furthers that.

Well, I think, you know, he he, he was alive when this was established, and he worked very hard with New Mexico State to bring policymakers to New Mexico State for meaningful conversations.

And I think, I think that was one of the things he was known for in the United States Senate.

He served New Mexico well, but he also worked very hard to get things done and to to reflect the institution of the United States that they have responsibilities.

We're serious about those responsibilities.

There's also a very good mentor to me, and I was deeply grateful for his mentorship along the way.

some of it delivered very directly in his in a way that that he could do.

but I was in a different generation, and I could take that, and it didn't bother me at all to sometimes get very direct advice, but it was definitely.

What do you think is the biggest public policy challenge facing our lawmakers today?

Oh, there's a lot of challenges.

Certainly there are budget challenges and financial challenges.

The economy and energy, there's all kinds of issues.

But I think overall, as a society to declining trust in our institutions is something that as Americans, we've got to figure out how to restore.

And that's not just government or federal government.

That's, the church, that's universities and education and local government, or corporate issues.

And I think that we restore confidence in institutions from a community level up.

And that's one of the responsibilities I think, of higher education is getting young people engaged in service in institutions that care about with neighbors.

And we're becoming a more.

You know, in some ways, coming out of the pandemic, we realize we're very social people, and we need to actively engage with the people in our community and not just click it like and watch.

One of the topics that will be covered at the conference is AI.

Of course, everybody's going to be talking about AI, and one of the things that I think, communities are sharing is the challenge of how to deal with the needs of AI in terms of data centers.

I know that's going to be one of the topics in the conference.

Can you offer some thoughts about how our communities are responding to that challenge?

Well, I think every community is dealing with it.

I think that the been interesting to watch in West Texas and southern New Mexico, a lot of the focus has been on water.

I don't think that's the biggest challenge, the biggest challenge to energy use.

and making sure that we have enough energy to be able to, to power these systems without increasing people's local electric bills.

And so, so, from least from the data that I've seen, water is less of an issue.

The power is and and we we've got to ensure that we have enough electricity to be able to power these.

The amount of computing power used is substantial for AI.

And let's face it, work.

And we're using these data centers.

The pictures you have on your iPhone or on your phone.

They're are on a server somewhere and get access to them.

And likewise, when you, ask a question of your, of your phone in the morning and it comes back with an AI answer that is coming off some server somewhere, and so it takes a lot of power to do that.

Well, meeting those energy needs is also an interesting topic.

And, one for policymakers to think about.

I believe Texas is the number one state for wind energy, although sometimes listening to Texas politicians, you wouldn't believe it.

and something else that Texas and New Mexico share, of course, is the Permian Basin and energy that comes out of there.

Talk a little bit about how you see the future of that, part of the earth and green energy in our region.

You know, it was a it was amazing.

When I was in Congress, I served on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the in the, in the energy bill, which was one of my signature accomplishments.

one of the things that was in there was, was opening a pathway for ports for liquefied natural gas.

But at the time we did that import port, natural gas.

And in fact, we're now, because of fracking, new, you know, innovation and exploration.

We're net exporters of natural gas.

So those natural gas terminals are being used to export and supply more of the world with with energy that's produced, in our region, the, the of course, the pipelines for that energy go through like, yeah, the El Paso that the the passage, if you will.

because they go around White Sands Missile Range.

And so there's that is one of the places where energy, energy transport is important over state lines in our region.

So I think, you know, I tend to be an all of the above energy person.

nuclear, natural gas, oil, solar, wind, so that we have abundant and low cost energy for, for, 21st century way of life.

Well, you spent, a considerable amount of your life serving in the U.S.

Air Force.

And I want you to talk a little bit about that.

Not the switch to, but the addition of the Space Force and how important our activities are in space.

So America's the best in the world at space, and our adversaries know it.

And they are seeking to deny us the use of space in crisis or at war.

most people use space before breakfast this morning, and they didn't even know there were.

And certainly most people use it every day.

The timing system on an on the ATM machines comes from space.

The blue dot on your phone does not come from the cell phone company.

It comes from 40 members of the United States military out of ... outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who run the Global Positioning System for the World.

And that enables huge amounts of industry.

So.

So we are really good at space and our adversaries know it.

what that allows us to do is to be able to observe and orient and enable decision making and act faster than an adversary in a crisis.

And so our adversaries are seeking to deny us that capability in a moment of crisis.

And we need to be able to defend those things that are on orbit.

So it's a it's a different world with respect to space.

And, you know, most of what's up in space that's exquisite was built at a time where just like we, you know, we built a glass houses up there at a time before the invention of stones.

And now stones exist.

So we need to be thinking about how to defend them.

through crisis and in some cases, all the way through war.

All right, well, you'll be delivering the keynote address at the Domenici Public Policy Conference.

Dr Heather Wilson, UTEP president.

Thank you so much for spending these few minutes with us.

It was great having you.

My pleasure.

And thanks again to Doctor Gary Carruthers for being part of the program as well.

And thank you for watching.

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