User:Avelino Maestas

I'm the community manager at OpenCongress. I'm a Sunlight Foundation employee, and I work closely with OpenCongress Wiki Editor Conor Kenny.

I'm a former small-town journalist living it up in the nation's capital. I covered local news in Silver City, New Mexico, for more than four years. Most recently, I spent two years as a staff writer for the Silver City Daily Press, one of the last independent newspaper operations in New Mexico. In mid-2007, I left the Land of Enchantment and moved to Arlington, Virginia, for a change of pace. I now live and work in Washington, DC.

I also run Live from Silver City, a local blog originally focused on news and politics in southwest New Mexico. Since I left the Land of Enchantment, the blog has shifted to a more general focus, with some additional emphasis on national issues. In addition, the site features my photography.

As a native Westerner, I'm deeply interested in water policy, energy development, wilderness protection, immigration, and wildfire.

Contact
I can be reached in several ways:
 * Via my talk page
 * By phone: (202) 742-1520, etc. 223
 * By e-mail: [mailto:avelino@opencongress.org avelino@opencongress.org]
 * On Twitter: @avelino