Half a dozen enraged New Mexicans clung to homemade posters and shivered outside of Tom Udall's Downtown office on Friday.
The group, brought together by Stop the War Machine, gathered in outrage over what they said was the misuse of federal bailout money and poor representation of the New Mexican population in Washington, D.C.
Ronnie Roberts, a 55-year-old retired teacher who has spent most of her life working for Albuquerque Public Schools, said that since she didn't have enough money to lobby for Udall's attention, she was left with the option of standing outside in the 48-degree weather in hopes that he might notice her.
Udall was not in his office at the time.
Calls to Udall's Washington office Friday were not returned.
Roberts said Udall's absence from his Albuquerque office was representative of the absence of the New Mexico population in Udall's political decisions.
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"We have no say. That's why we're here," Roberts said.
Roberts said she is disappointed in the stake corporate America has in federal government.
"They control both parties - Democrats and Republicans," Roberts said. "Since (politicians) care a lot about being re-elected, they try to work both sides of the issue and compromise and play games and cut deals and do all that while the people in the United States - working people - are suffering and nothing is happening for them."
Alex Clay, 20, said he decided to participate in the protest because he was infuriated with how federal bailouts have been awarded to big businesses and bankers.
"I would love to get a $7 million check in the mail for ruining the economy," Clay said. "I think it's a bunch of B.S. that you can basically be a fraud, a fake and a liar and then get a bonus check for not doing your job."
Clay said he is disappointed in the politicians representing him in Washington. By passing trillion-dollar bailouts and doing nothing to impose regulations on the money, they are damaging the economic climate and the country's future, Clay said.
"I think our reputation across the world has already been tarnished enough, and I think giving people that are ripping everybody off and not doing their jobs bonus checks is making us all look extremely incompetent and stupid," Clay said. "I think it's time for a change, and not Obama's kind of change."
Stephen Dinkel, president of the Lobo Conservatives, said that a lack of communication between the state's politicians and the state's population is to blame for angering citizens.
Dinkel said some politicians, such as Udall, seem to have forgotten that a lack of communication can cause an uprising among their constituents and that the problem could compromise their ability to get re-elected in 2010.
"The one thing they could be doing to maybe make people happy would be opening up lines of communication," Dinkel said. "I mean, they could be holding town-hall meetings in the areas that they represent or consider making a video blog or something like that - just to open up lines of communication."
Charlotte Salazar, organizer of the upcoming Albuquerque Tea Party, said she has been working with organizers in 30 other cities to coordinate a massive protest on April 15 in response to the government's spending.
Salazar said the Albuquerque Tea Party has a political meaning behind it, but it has nothing to do with tea.
"Let me be clear: We are not telling people to not pay their taxes or to make IRS employees' lives hell by mailing in tea bags," she said. "This is a peaceful,
nonpartisan, grassroots effort conducted by average New Mexicans. We are here to remind our government elected officials that we, the people, are the government, and we are fed up with its direction on the economy and its wasteful spending of our hard-earned money."
Salazar said students should get involved with the Tea Party movement because they are the ones who will be burdened with the financial reprocussions of the bailout bills. Students should stand up and voice their opinions on the issue, she said.
"All Americans must demonstrate their First Amendment rights and speak out while we still have the opportunity to do so," she said. "It's not yet too late to reclaim what is ours. America will stand proud and raise picket signs high on April 15. We, the people, will reclaim our capitalism."
Albuquerque Tea Party
April 15, 4 p.m.-7 p.m.
Begins at Independence Grill
6910 Montgomery Blvd. N.E.
