ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: THE BLOG

Getting a Little Testy?

2012-02-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

It looks like Senate Democrats are getting a little snippy about the recent attention to the proposed constitutional amendments to reform the Public Regulation Commission.

The Senate Majority Caucus just released this statement:

"The bills on PRC reform are all in a similar place as all bills that have been referred from the House. HJRs 11,16, and 17 will all be heard in the committee at the call of the chair, and will be brought to the floor if and when they are passed through the appropriate committees.

We need to be deliberative and thoughtful anytime changes are made to the New Mexico constitution, and that will be the case with PRC reform."

You can see the story my colleague Trip Jennings wrote about the PRC proposals HERE. He quoted Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez saying, "I'm not sure if they're going to make it to the [Senate] floor."

The Critical NM Presidential Primary

2012-02-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Only four months until the New Mexico primary. And while most folks around here are most concerned about the U.S. Senate races -- and some with legislative, PRC and county offices, there's also a presidential primary going on too.

In recent presidential elections both Democrats and Republicans wrapped up their races long before our state's June Primary. In 2004 and 2008 the Dems held a caucus here in early February, which brought a lot of the candidates here both years. (Some cynics say that the Democratic Party's vote-counting process in 2008 served as a model for Republican vote counters in Nevada and Iowa this year.)

According to a news release from the Secretary of State's Office, something called the New Mexico Presidential Nominating Committee met today at the Supreme Court. Said panel certified Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul. President Obama was certified as the only candidate for the Democratic ticket.

But -- take note, Buddy Roemer -- other Republicans or Democrats can appear on the presidential primary ballot by successfully collecting andsubmitting approximately 16,000 signatures on or before March 12.

The committee is made up of the Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tem of the Senate, and the minority floor leaders of the House and Senate.

It's Official. Sanchez Quits Senate Race

2012-02-09T11:21:00.004-07:00

The lieutenant go vernor is out, leaving only Heather Wilson and Greg Sowards in the Republican Senate primary. Here's the official statement from the Sanchez campaign:

Eight months ago, our campaign for the U.S. Senate began with one clear objective: to give New Mexicans the opportunity to send conservative leadership to Washington D.C. The timing on this race was not ideal nor did we choose it. But the need for a conservative leader from New Mexico is real.

Throughout the course of this campaign, it has become clear to me, that in order to ensure that a Republican is elected to represent New Mexico in the U.S. Senate, the G.O.P must stand united. A bitter and divisive Republican Primary would only diminish our party’s genuine opportunity to bring real change in Washington. The reality is that the path forward to success in the campaign could cause a negative primary struggle that would leave the eventual nominee bruised, bloody and broke.

After much prayer, counsel with my family, and discussions with supporters, I have decided to end my campaign for the U.S. Senate, and continue to serve New Mexico as your Lt. Governor.

I want to express my sincere thanks to those New Mexicans who joined our campaign. I am forever grateful for the support we received from grassroots leaders, tea party patriots, business owners, GOP activists and everyday citizens. They offered their efforts and their dollars and it meant the world to me. This was not my time, but I will never forget their friendship.

I am redirecting myself today to helping our party advance the strongest slate of candidates to victory in November, from the Roundhouse to the White House.

I hope that you will join me in working with Governor Martinez, and all conservatives to complete the important work that we have begun in New Mexico.

May God Bless and Keep You, and may God Bless America and New Mexico.

More details as they develop.

UPDATE 12:06 pm : Former Sanchez rival Heather Wilson responds with the first nice thing she's said about Sanchez in at least eiught months:

“Lt. Gov. John Sanchez is a fine public servant who has always put the needs of New Mexico first. He ran a good campaign that questioned the current direction of our country and emphasized the importance of this election. I consider John a friend, and I know he will continue to serve New Mexicans with honor.”

UPDATE: 1:50 pm I just got this statement from Gov. Susana Martinez's spokesman, Scott Darnell:

The governor supports Lt. Governor Sanchez’s decision to exit the Senate race and focus on serving as Lt. Governor to help turn New Mexico around.

Once Again House Votes to Repeal Driver's License Law

2012-02-08T18:04:00.002-07:00

Once again the state House of Representatives on Wednesday voted pass a political hot potato bill that would repeal a state law that allows the state to issue illegal immigrants driver's licenses.

Following a near four-hour debate, the House by a vote of 45-25, passed House Bill 103, sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez, I-Hatch. The bill is strongly supported by Gov. Susana Martinez.

The bill goes on to the Senate, which last year heavily amended a similar House bill, effectively killing it.
Wednesday’s vote showed Nuñez’s bill by a larger margin than last year. Three Democrats who voted against last year’s bill — Rep. Nick Salazar of Española, Henry “Kiki” Saavedra of Albuquerque and George Dodge of Santa Rosa — voted for HB 103.

A total of 11 Democrats joined all 34 House Republicans and independent Nuñez in backing the bill.
Santa Fe’s delegation — House Speaker Ben Luján, Luciano “Lucky” Varela, Jim Trujillo and Brian Egolf — all voted against the bill. All four are Democrats.

Elsa Lopez, an activist with Somos un Pueblo Unido, a local immigrant-rights organization, said her group wasn’t surprised by the vote. Though she’s hopeful that the Senate will once again stop the driver’s license bill, she said people in the immigrant community fear that the bill is only the first one to be aimed at immigrants. “It starts with driver’s licenses,” she said, noting that years before Arizona passed its controversial immigration bill, the state stopped issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants.

The Arizona law requires police officers to check the immigration status of individuals whom they've stopped and for whom they have "reasonable suspicion" of being in the United States illegally.

However, supporters of the bill denied this. “This is not about immigration, it’s only about public safety,” Martinez’s chief of staff told reporters shortly after the vote. He said the administration will not push a law like Arizona’s “There’s no desire to do immigration law. The governor has said in public that we’re not in the business of doing immigration law.”

Nuñez said the same thing. “The Arizona law is too harsh,” he said.

See tomorrow's New Mexican for more on this.

Lots Happening in Roundhouse Today

2012-02-08T13:58:00.002-07:00

After many quiet days, a lot has actually happened in the Legislature today.

The House just a few minutes ago passed the budget bill, which now goes to the Senate. The vote was unanimous and the discussion was relatively brief.

From the House Dem press release:

The House of Representatives has passed a budget for the next spending year that begins July 2012. HB2 would provide $5.642 billion in state spending, an increase of $215 million (nearly 4 percent) over this year’s budget. The spending plan leaves $41.8 million to allow for flexibility in hammering out a final budget (such as tax reductions, pension solvency, infrastructure funding, or as a hedge against weak natural gas prices).

Meanwhile, the Senate approved not one, but two of Gov. Susana Martinez's cabinet appointees -- Arthur Allison at the Indian Affairs Department and John Bemis at the Department of Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources.

Both votes were unanimous, though Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, noted before the vote on Bemis that he had disagreed with Bemis over drilling in the Galisteo Basin. Wirth left the chambers before the vote.

Now the House is discussing the controversial driver's license bill. Something tells me it won't be as easy as the budget bill.

Ds and Rs Join Hands in Bipartisan Unity ... to Stomp on Independents

2012-02-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

In a rare display of bi-partisan unity in discussing legislation concerning elections, a House committee voted unanimously to effectively kill a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow unaffiliated voters to vote in primary elections.

Andy Nunez changing his voter registration to DTS last year

House Joint Resolution 17, sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez of Hatch — the only current independent legislator — would allow those registered as “declined to state” to request a Democratic or Republican ballot for the primary in June.

According to statistics on the Secretary of State’s website, as of Dec. 28, 17 percent of voters statewide are independents — which means they can’t participate in primary elections, which are paid for by the state.

In Santa Fe County, declined-to-states outnumber Republicans.

Nuñez said that 14 other states — including the early presidential primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire — allow open primaries.Viki Harrison, executive director of New Mexico Common Cause, testified in favor of the measure, saying that it would encourage participation in the electoral process.

But both Democrats and Republicans on the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee argued that only those affiliated with a party should be allowed to chose candidates for that party. All four members present voted to table the joint resolution.

“I would do anything to get more people to vote,” committee chairwoman Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, said.Nuñez said he wasn’t surprised. “I knew where this was going when the Speaker (of the House) gave it three committee assignments,” he said.

Keller Reacts To Robinson Reemergence

2012-02-07T12:28:00.001-07:00

State Sen. Tim Keller, who defeated incumbent Shannon Robinson in the Democratic primary in 2008, sent me a statement regarding my Sunday column about Robinson announcing he'll challenge Keller for the seat this year -- this time as a Republican:

“It's time Shannon Robinson live in the present. Gone are the days when he and Manny Aragon ran the Senate and he could freely dole out hundreds of thousands of dollars to club teams he coached. Shannon lost, 2 to 1, in large part because of his compromised record, not because of one mailer. I think people recognize I’ve worked hard to help our district and pass meaningful legislation for our state.”

By the way, Keller told me this little irony, In 2008 Robinson attacked him for once being a ... Republican. Keller said he registered as a Republican while he was a teenager, but switch whiled he was in college.

I told you this was going to be a fun one to watch.

Some Recent Articles

2012-02-06T15:44:00.002-07:00

Here's a bunch of links to articles I've written about (but neglected to blog about) in recent days:

* My weekend story on where various bills stand in the session is HERE

* My most recent look at lobbyist reports, in which I noted that some of the biggest recent social events for legislators have been thrown by groups associated with state universities. That's HERE

* And, turning away from the Legislature for a moment, here's an article I wrote for Saturday's paper about the Americans Elect group having enough verified petition signatures to get on the November ballot. Previous pieces I've done about Americans Elect are HERE and HERE

Roundhouse Roundup: The Return of the Bull Moose

2012-02-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Feb. 5, 2012

Baby boomers may recall an old TV Western called Branded starring Chuck Connors. In the opening segment, Jason McCord, played by Connors, is at an Old West military outpost being marched before a commanding officer.

As McCord stands straight, square-jawed and silent, the much-shorter commanding officer violently yanks the hat off McCord's head, rips the epaulets off his shoulders and the buttons from his shirt, then finally takes McCord's sword and breaks it over his knee. McCord walks out of the fort as soldiers close the gates behind him.

Former Sen. Shannon Robinson

"That's what the progressives did to me," former state Sen. Shannon Robinson told me in an interview last week, describing the opening of Branded.

Nobody actually broke Robinson's sword or ripped his buttons. But in June 2008, Robinson, who had represented his southeastern Albuquerque district for 20 years, lost a bitterly fought Democratic primary to a political newcomer, Tim Keller.

Robinson blamed his loss partly on a full-color mailer produced and distributed by the Center for Civic Policy and other progressive groups that attacked Robinson's ethics. Two other Democratic legislators who were the subjects of similar mailers also lost their primaries that year.

So, as the theme song went, "What do you do when you're branded and you know you're a man?"

In Robinson's case, you switch parties and run for your old seat. Late last year, Robinson changed his registration from Democrat to Republican. The person who handled the registration was none other than former state GOP Chairman Harvey Yates.

When I asked if he was running against Keller, Robinson said, "That's the plan." Asked if he was going to have a formal announcement, he said, "I thought that's what this was."

Robinson, a lawyer with a flair for the dramatic, perhaps was best known for his fiery floor speeches in the Senate. He usually was passionate, sometimes bombastic and never dull.

He said one reason he's running is because of an increase in crime in District 17, which includes the area south of Central Avenue now called The International Zone, though some have less cheerfully referred to the area as "The War Zone."

He said the laundry where he takes his dry cleaning has been the target of three armed robberies in recent years. "The last time someone held a gun at the lady's head," Robinson said.

"There are serious security problems that aren't being dealt with," he said. "We have to rebuild property values there. There's a lot that needs to be done."

Robinson sometimes used to refer to himself politically as a Bull Moose, after Teddy Roosevelt's old third party. Bull Mooses, he said in a 2002 speech on the Senate floor, are united by issues related to tobacco, alcohol and outdoor sports such as shooting and boating. "Trucks and guns ... and cows. Anything having to do with cows."

The fact that he was a driving force in passing the state law permitting the carrying of concealed handguns should make him popular with Republicans. But some in the GOP might have to overlook some things about Robinson, such as the fact that for a while, he frequently criticized the Iraq War on the Senate floor. And he was behind a peace conference that was held in Santa Fe a few years ago. ("Some of us are for that sort of thing," a prominent Republican activist told me last week when I mentioned the subject.)

Robinson told me he missed being in the Legislature. "I always considered it an honor to serve, and I tried to conduct myself in a way to reflect that honor," he said.

I'm not in the business of choosing sides. I like Keller, too. But the Robinson/Keller rematch should be fun to watch.

(Here's what Robinson said the progressives did to him in 2008)

Sanchez Quitting Senate Race?

2012-02-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, that's what Heath and Gwyneth are saying, relying on the word of a "source with knowledge of the situation." (Those are my favorite kind.)

Lending credence to the unnamed source is Sanchez himself, who is quoted saying, "I can tell you as of today I am a candidate for the United States Senate."

Yikes! I guess my mistake was not asking Sanchez to swear he was still in the race, like Gwyneth did.

The weird thing is that I ran into the lieutenant governor the night before last. I was leaving the Capitol and he was heading back.

We just made small talk, not a formal interview. I mentioned that his campaign hadn't been very visible since the session started. He indicated to me that he was tied down at the Roundhouse during the session but he'd be getting back on the campaign trail when the session ends.

Back in 2002, when he was a state representative running for governor, Sanchez was criticized by his Democratic opponent Bill Richardson for missing floor sessions, allegedly because of campaign events. I'd been thinking Sanchez wanted to avoid any repeat of that criticism in his Senate race.

Clifford Passes Rules Committee

2012-02-03T12:46:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: 2:31 pm As I predicted, the Senate confirmed Tom Clifford for DFA secretary a few minutes ago. The vote was unanimous.

Tom Clifford is the latest appointee of Gov. Susana Martinez to be recommended for confirmation by the Senate Rules Committee.

I'll go out on a limb here and predict that the full Senate will confirm him by the end the day. There's been no opposition, no controversy. Clifford has been around state government for years and is well respected.

If the Senate does get around to confirming him today, he'll be the third Martinez cabinet secretary confirmed this session, following Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel and Aging & Long Term Services Secretary Reta Ward.

Still awaiting confirmation are designates Hanna Skandera, Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela, Arthur Allison at the Department of Indian Affairs; and John Bemis at the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

Senate Rules Recommends Marcantel

2012-02-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

UPDATE 3:17 pm The full Senate voted 38-1 to confirm Gregg Marcantel as Corrections secretary.

Despite the concerns of Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Linda Lopez about Corrections Secretary designate Gregg Marcantel, the panel recommended the confirmation of Marcantel for the job. Lopez was the only dissenting vote.

Gregg Marcantel with Senate President Pro-tem Tim Jennings
after Senate Rules Committee hearing Wednesday

Lopez in a letter to Marcantel released to reporters on Monday, said she was concerned that Marcantel, a career law enforcement officer, had not disclosed a civil lawsuit in which he was a defendant. That suit centers on an informant who earned early release in exchange for information in a drug case; the man later pleaded guilty to raping two children. Marcantel was a detective with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department at the time

Lopez, in her letter, also said Marcantel hadn't disclosed two suspensions that took place early in his career when he was a corrections officer in Louisiana.

Marcantel told the committee that he wasn't trying to hide anything. He was dropped as a defendant in the civil suit before it was settled he said.

Baretta

As for the two suspensions, Marcantel said, he said the question on a questionnaire wasn't clear. The question asked whether there had been allegations of sexual harassment or other "workplace misconduct" against him.

The suspensions took place when he was 19 years old he said and "knew nothing more about police work than what I saw on Beretta."

He said he had disclosed those suspensions in previous background checks for law enforcement positions.

"I'm not a great guy," he told reporters after the hearing. "I'm a guy that’s got as many faults as anybody else. But I am going to tell you what I am not, I am not a liar.”

Law enforcement officials from around the state were at the hearing to testify in favor of Marcantel's appointment. These included Public Safety Secretary Gordon Eden and Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston.

Houston told the committee that dealing with confidential informants is one of the uglier sides of law enforcement. "Sometimes to get to the Devil you have to dance with demons," he said.

Marcantel still must be confirmed by the full Senate.

Fugitive Murder Suspect Captured After Writing Gov. Martinez

2012-01-31T13:35:00.002-07:00

Noe Torres

Gov. Susana Martinez is holding a news conference this afternoon about the arrest in Mexico of a Clovis murder suspect.

According to a news release from Martinez's office, suspect Noe Torres:

... has been charged with the murder of Carlos Perez and the attempted murder of his brother Ruben Perez. Torres and his accomplices originally targeted Ruben when they went to the Perez residence on September 15, 2005 and shot nine rounds into Carlos and Ruben’s bedroom window. Carlos Perez was killed by a bullet that struck him in the head. While Torres was never apprehended and fled to Mexico, his accomplices were all tried and convicted for their roles in Carlos’s murder.

But here's the twist.

Torres, according to the news release had been taunting Clovis law enforcement officials through phone calls and letters. And on Jan. 18 Martinez herself received a letter from Torres. It's not clear what he had to say to the gov, but the next day she gave it to Chihuahua Governor Cesar Duarte, along with a packet of information on the case.

"Six days later, Torres was arrested by Mexican authorities and is now in the process of being extradited to the United States to stand trial," the news release said.

I'll update if there's more information out of the news conference.

UPDATE: 4:55 pm Here's the letter that Noe Toress sent to the governor. (Some of it's faded. Use Full Screen feature.)

Noe Torres Letter to Gov

Corrections Nominee Hits Snag

2012-01-30T17:41:00.002-07:00

Gov. Susana Martinez's nomination of Gregg Marcantel to be secretary of Corrections apparently has hit a roadblock.

Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Linda Lopez said in a news release that "Secretary Designate Marcantel background investigation and questionnaire have identified issues that cannot be ignored."

Court records sent with the news release indicate that Marcantel as a Bernalillo County police detective had been one of two detectives in charge of a confidential informant with a record of convictions for rape and kidnapping in Socorro and Albuquerque. According to a civil lawsuit filed in 1997, the informant, at the time he was under the watch of Marcantel and his partner, raped two children.

A court deposition also shows that Marcantel, while working as a corrections officer in Louisiana, had been suspended twice. In a letter to Marcantel, Lopez said these facts were not disclosed on Marcantel's background questionairre.

Lopez has asked Marcantel to testify at a closed-door executive sesseion of the Rules Committee on Wednesday.

However, a spokesman for Martinez calls Lopez's allegations against Marcantel a "smear job."

“The case Senator Lopez is using to smear Gregg Marcantel is the same case in which he was given the nation’s “Top Cop' award by the National Association of Police Organizations. In fact, Marcantel’s actions were deemed so exemplary that he was invited to the White House as a result of the award by President Bill Clinton.

Furthermore, Secretary-designate Marcantel does not believe this should be discussed in `executive session,' but rather in a public committee meeting and looks forward to defending his integrity against these political attacks.

Secretary-designate Marcantel is making great strides in professionalizing the Corrections Department and holding those accountable who were allowed to take advantage of taxpayers during the previous administration. He has protected and served the public with great distinction throughout his law enforcement career.”

Darnell also supplied a quote from Jim and Rita McGrane, the parents of slain Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy James McGrane, Jr.

“Gregg Marcantel is a man of impeccable integrity who has dedicated his life to protecting our community. When our son was murdered in the line of duty, then Lt. Marcantel spearheaded the murder investigation and personally went to Mexico to take custody of Michael Paul Astorga. We know Gregg’s character and are sad to learn that someone would personally attack him.”

Marcentel is one of several Martinez cabinet appointees waiting to be confirmed by the Senate. The Rules Committee this morning recommended confirmation of Retta Ward as secretary of Aging & Long-Term Services.

Another GOP Candidate in CD 3

2012-01-30T16:04:00.004-07:00

There's another Republican who wants to challenge incumbent Congressman Ben Ray Lujan.

Jefferson L. Byrd

Jefferson Byrd, a Quay County rancher and engineer, announced today that he'll seek the GOP nomination.

In an email, Byrd wrote:

“After much prayer and counsel with my wife Suzanne, and with growing grassroots support across the district, I believe that my strong conservative background is best to take on Ben Ray Lujan’s socialist policies. In order to effectively compete for this seat, we need a true conservative who is from the district and has actually lived through the tough times that the Obama/Lujan agenda has created.”

Rick Newton of Taos announced late last year that he's seeking the Republican nomination for Congress in this district. Both Byrd and Newton are political newcomers.

The Third District is considered a safe Democratic district. Not only is there a near 2-to-1 voter registration advantage for Dems, in recent elections the national GOP has basically ignored the Republican nominee in CD 3.

Lujan also has Democratic primary opposition. Former Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya recently announced he'll run against Lujan. Artist Sean Closson also is running as a Democrat.

UPDATE: 5:52 pm The original version of this gave an incorrect name for Harry Montoya (who I've know for years.) Sorry Harry, and thanks to Chris for pointing it out.

Roundhouse Roundup: Letting the Clock Run on Murder

2012-01-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Jan. 29, 2012

It took eight years for Teri Johnson and Laura Bowman, two Albuquerque sisters, to find out what really happened to their brother, Michael Snyder. The two found out last week that it also might take a long time to convince the Legislature to take action to change a law they say created an injustice for their family.

Snyder, a mechanic who suffered from multiple sclerosis, had been missing since 2002. In 2010, thanks mainly to a tip from an informant, his body was found buried next to the house he had built for his family in Albuquerque. His wife, Ellen Snyder, was accused of killing him, burying the body and lying to police, claiming that Michael Snyder left his family after an argument.

However, prosecutors thought charging her with first-degree murder would be too risky, and the statute of limitations for second-degree murder is only six years. So, in a plea deal -- opposed by Johnson, Bowman and other family members -- Snyder pleaded last year to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. She waived the statute of limitations on that charge. The sentence also includes time for lesser charges such as tampering with evidence and tax fraud.

Sen. Bill Payne, R-Albuquerque, is sponsoring a bill (Senate Bill 37) to eliminate the statute of limitations for any homicide. Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, is sponsoring the similar House Bill 31. Gov. Susana Martinez endorsed the legislation in her State of the State address.

Currently, there is no time limit in New Mexico for prosecuting first-degree murder cases. But that's not the case for homicide charges.

But Payne's bill ran into trouble Thursday with the Senate Public Affairs Committee, which added amendments that Payne said waters it down.

The sisters expressed disappointment immediately following the hearing. "We don't want to send the message that if you're a clever enough criminal, you'll get away," Bowman said.

"It's disappointing to see opposition to something I thought was a no-brainer," Johnson said.

The bill was opposed by the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New Mexico Women's Justice Project. Sheila Lewis of the latter group said eliminating statutes of limitations gives families of homicide victims false hopes and does not allow them to get "closure."

The sisters disagreed.

But following the meeting, they didn't seem to have much false hope about the prospects of the bill.

The main hang-up by some committee members was the fact that the statute of limitations would be lifted for homicides, including assisted suicide.

The committee adopted an amendment by Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, to eliminate the statute of limitations on second-degree murder. But for the lesser crimes, manslaughter, vehicular homicide and assisted suicide, the statute of limitations would be raised from five years to 10 years.

Then the committee voted to pass an amendment by Sen. Tim Eichenberg, D-Albuquerque, to drop assisted suicides completely from the bill. The amended bill goes on to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The trouble with that, Payne said, is that in murder cases like Snyder's, when evidence comes in years later, defense lawyers will try to plea it down to some of the lesser crimes -- such as assisted suicide.

Payne said the statute of limitations could become an issue if the West Mesa murders ever go to court. Nobody has been charged in the killings of 11 women found in a mass grave on Albuquerque's West Mesa in 2009.

Most prosecutors, Payne argued, wouldn't attempt to try cases with weak evidence anyway. But in cases where the evidence is good, time shouldn't be a barrier, he said.

Though disappointed, the two sisters aren't giving up. "This affects everyone who walks the streets of New Mexico," Johnson said.

Howe Now?

2012-01-27T13:49:00.002-07:00

Monday night at a League of Women Voters event, I ran into Public Regulation Commissioner Doug Howe, who told me that he was running for the position this year as a Democrat.

Shortly after talking to him, I blogged about it and wrote a brief for Tuesday's New Mexican.

Then, late last night, I read this in today's paper:

"I don't know how to be a politician. I'm not one. I might be able to learn. But I need a lot more than two months to do it. I finally came to the conclusion that it is an insurmountable task."

I'm not sure what happened between Monday night and yesterday. But I guess that makes this card a collector's item.

The Eldorado Incident: Occupy vs ALEC

2012-01-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

The protest of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) dinner at the Eldorado apparently turned violent last night after a small group of Occupy Santa Fe protesters went inside the hotel and disrupted the dinner.

According to several legislators who were there, a female guest of Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, was struck in the eye by a piece of cardboard -- actually a satirical dinner menu and program created by the protesters. According to legislators, her cornea was scratched.

Rehm declined comment, but a spokeswoman for House Republicans who talked to him said Rehm's guest's eye is being monitoring and is improving today.

The incident was denounced by members of both political parties, including some who have expressed agreement with Occupy's positions on issues. Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe said the incident made the protesters look like their opponents' caricature of the Occupy Movement.

Jeff Haas, a spokesman for the protesters, said in an email to The New Mexican, "While Occupy believes that confrontation and civil disobedience are often effective as demonstrated by Dr. King and Rosa Parks, we regret that anyone was injured last night by either flying paper or rough treatment by hotel security or ALEC members. Fortunately the injuries were minor compared to the devastation to people and the environment caused by ALEC legislation"

But Sen. Eric Griego, an Albuquerque Democrat who has been sympathetic to the Occupy movement, said on the Senate floor, this kind of incident "undermines Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. I stand with my colleagues who say we can't tolerate this behavior."

Haas said photographer Lisa Law, who was with the protesters was "roughed up by hotel security and ALEC members who sought to grab her camera."

Law said in a Youtube posting that she was "attacked from the back" and "ended up with a bloody hand and a very stiff and sore neck, arm and back." She said she made a police report on her injury.

Rep. Paul Bandy, R-Farmington, who is a state co-chair of ALEC, told reporters that he arrived early to the dinner so he could talk with protesters outside of the hotel. He said the discussion was cordial.

After the main protest outside dispersed some protesters came inside to the hotel bar, Bandy said.

About the time the ALEC guests were eating their salads in the Old House restaurant inside the hotel, a small group of protesters entered, Bandy said. Estimates on the number ranged from three to seven. "At least three of them really carrying on," Bandy said.

A female protester began flinging the cardboard menus. Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, said they were about the size of a large Christmas card.

Sen. Clint Harden, R-Clovis said protesters were "hurling the cards like karate stars."

Kintigh, a retired FBI agent, said Rehm stood up to confront the protester when his guest was struck by the envelope. "That's when yours truly stood up." He said he placed his hands on the woman and escorted her out of the door.

In a Santa Fe police report on the incident, no suspects were named.

Several legislators in the House and the Senate blasted the protesters.

Senate Republican Whip Bill Payne, the other ALEC state co-chair, said the incident was the worst thing he's ever seen in Santa Fe. Besides the protesters, Payne also criticized the hotel security, Santa Fe Police and "the tenor of the press" in Santa Fe. He specifically mentioned recent articles of mine about ALEC and lobbyist expenses.

Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, said many groups engage in responsible, peaceful protests, but when any group resorts to violence, "it's our responsibility to call them out."

Egolf, who was quoted in my article criticizing ALEC, agreed with other legislators about the Eldorado incident. "When folks start crossing the line, getting in people's faces and throwing things, it's deplorable," he said.

"And it's extremely counterproductive. Now you can't have a conversation on issues like economic disparity and leveling the playing field." Instead, he said, the issue is personal safety at legislative functions and the behavior of the protesters.

Without naming him, some House Republicans criticized statements about ALEC made by Egolf in Monday's story.

"I believe in free speech and individual liberty," Bandy told reporters. But public officials, he said, "need to be awful careful about inciting people to violence."

Egolf said in the article that ALEC "is the truest embodiment of all the things that people who care about keeping corporate money out of politics, preserving our democracy and keeping our air, land and water clean fear most."

On Thursday Egolf said, "Everything I said about about the organization and issues. ... I didn't make any comment about any members."

Here's a video of the incident by Lisa Law of 40 seconds

Party Time!

2012-01-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

As I do periodically during a session, I checked the first batch of lobbyist reports yesterday to see who is throwing parties, hosting dinners and paying for meals for legislators during the session.

Just a few have come in so far. My story about that is HERE.

There's one thing this year that's more difficult in looking up these reports in the past. The Secretary of State's Office has changed systems. In the old days (up to the 2011 regular session) you could just go over to the office and go through a stack of paper reports.

But now it's all automated. No more paper. The good news is there will be no more errors based on lobbyist penmanship. The bad news is, while all the reports are now online at the Secretary of State's Campaign Finance site , there's no quick way to search for the 48-hour reports (the reports lobbyists have to file during a session within two days of making an expenditure more than $500.)

Thus, unearthing the information requires the help of SOS staff. I was able to find a few of the reports on my own Tuesday (including the golf passes given to legislators), but the SOS staff yesterday located a couple more that I'd missed.

I'm hoping that they update the website -- which is very helpful with finding campaign finance reports and other stuff -- so that you can go directly to the 48-hour reports.

Legislative Committee Process Explained

2012-01-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to KNME's In Focus, specifically Matt Grubbs for pointing this out.

Speaking of Grubbs, he also called my attention to this video he found when recently Googling "Terrell" and "Roundhouse:

"

FORE!

2012-01-25T09:34:00.001-07:00

Sometimes state legislators only get grief.

But sometimes they get cool gifts -- like free golf passes.

Here's my story in today's New Mexican about this gift from The New Mexico Golf Tourism Alliance.

Howe to Run for PRC -- as a Dem

2012-01-23T19:41:00.001-07:00

Public Regulation Commission Doug Howe, who was appointed late last year by Gov. Susana Martinez to fill out the term of Jerome Block, Jr., said Monday he will run this year for a full term on the regulatory body.

Howe, who has worked for several energy companies and as a consultant to regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was an independent when appointed to the body in November.

However, he said Monday that he intends to run as a Democrat. He joins an already crowded field in the Democratic primary.

Block resigned last year after pleading guilty to multiple felony counts in Santa Fe District Court.

ALEC: Free Market Think Tank or Right-Wing Puppet Master?

2012-01-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago The New Mexico Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill that some now say sprang from model legislation developed by a controversial right-wing organization.

The group: the American Legislative Exchange, aka ALEC.

The bill? The one that established the state Sunshine Portal.

The Sunshine Portal, of course, was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was one of its main champions.

But, as talk about in an article in today's New Mexican, a handful of other bills that might have originated with ALEC have been introduced in this state in, but none of those has passed. (An anti-ALEC website, ALEC Exposed, has a list of such bills HERE.)

I spoke to the two New Mexico legislators -- Senate Republican Whip Bill Payne of Albuquerque and Rep. Paul Bandy, R-Farmington, who are currently state co-chairs of ALEC in this state.

I also spoke with Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, who is not very fond of ALEC.

The chief criticism of ALEC deals with the fact that corporations pay the lion's share for the group, its conventions and its task forces, which recommend the model legislation.

This is an area in which no side's hands are clean. Corporations pay millions of bucks to subsidize both the Republican and Democratic national conventions every four years, as well as to throw lavish events to wine and dine the delegates. Even non-partisan groups like the Council of State Governments and National Conference of State Legislatures have corporate sponsorships.

The one thing that sets ALEC apart however is that private businesses are allowed to become actual members of the organization in general and the various task forces. As ALEC itself says, "ALEC provides the private sector with an unparalleled opportunity to have its voice heard, and its perspective appreciated, by the legislative members."

So check out my story, check out ALEC and its critics and decide for yourself.

Roundhouse Roundup: Executive Privilege -- Down But Not Out

2012-01-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Jan. 22 2012

Only minutes after Gov. Susana Martinez was inaugurated — just after midnight on New Year’s Day last year — she signed an executive order stating that unlike her predecessor Bill Richardson, under her administration “executive privilege” no longer would be used as an excuse to withhold documents that might be embarrassing to public officials.

The order states that “access to public information should be the rule and the denial thereof an exception.” And the order established a policy that any agency under the governor’s control that wants to invoke executive privilege to deny releasing documents must receive written authorization from the Governor’s Office.

Journalists and others concerned about openness in government were happy about the order. But some cynics among us sarcastically scoffed, “I wonder how long this will last.”

Now, one year later, an environmental group that last month made a public-information request to the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department doesn’t think Martinez’s office is living up to that high-minded executive order.

Conservation Voters New Mexico on Dec. 16 requested several of the documents — mostly emails and memos dealing with the controversial pit rule.

This rule governs how oil and gas producers handle waste from drilling operations. Martinez wants the rule, which was implemented by Richardson’s administration, to be repealed. The Conservation Voters want to keep it.

The department denied most of the documents that had been requested. Some of the denials were based on attorney/client privilege. Fair enough. But others were denied solely on the basis of executive privilege.

That response prompted Leanne Leith, Conservation Voters’ political director, to file a follow-up public-information request. She asked the Governor’s Office for copies of the written authorizations for executive privilege denials — not just from Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources but from several other departments as well.

Leith got a reply: “We have reviewed your request and the Office of the Governor does not hold any responsive documents,” the governor’s records custodian, Pamela Cason, wrote in a Jan. 13 email.

I asked Martinez’s spokesman Scott Darnell how all this squared with Martinez’s executive order.

“As you know, throughout the administration, executive privilege is asserted sparingly,” Darnell said Wednesday. “I will look into this situation further, but these documents have not yet been reviewed by the Governor’s Office for executive privilege.”

He said Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources staffers felt they should immediately produce the documents that they knew didn’t fall under executive privilege while the others were still being reviewed.

Said Darnell, “That is not the procedure that is regularly followed, and we have addressed this issue with them. We will work to ensure that all of [the department’s] responsive documents are examined by our office quickly, and any documents not deemed to be executive privilege by the Governor’s Office will be provided to the requestor.”

Sarah Welsh, executive director of New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, agreed with Darnell that Martinez’s office has used “executive privilege” infrequently.

As for complying with the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, Welsh said, “The Martinez administration has been really good, particularly with requests made to their office.”

As for those executive-privilege claims by the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources, we’ll just have to wait and see how those turn out.

Harry Montoya Challenges Ben Ray

2012-01-20T16:58:00.002-07:00

Former County Commissioner Harry Montoya, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress the year Ben Ray Lujan got elected, is once again challenging Lujan for the CD3 seat.

In an email statement Montoya said:

I believe that being a Democrat means standing up for working people, for families, forchildren, and for the environment. I will stand up for these ideals even when standing up is hard, or inconvenient or painful, because doing the right thing is what matters most of all. For too long, the corruption of the machine politics has been getting in the way of solving important problems in New Mexico.

Montoya joins artist and political newcomer Sean Closson in challenging Lujan in the Democratic primary. Republican Rick Newton also is running.

Montoya came in third in a crowded 2008 Congressional primary that Lujan won. Montoya also ran unsuccessfully for state Land Commissioner in 2010, losing to Ray Powell, who went on to win the general election.

He served two terms in the County Commission from 2003 through the end of 2008.

Layoffs? What Layoffs?

2012-01-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

Gov. Susana Martinez was quoted today by KOB TV talking about how she's done with the state budget.

"The savings we accrued allowed us to balance a budget without laying off state employees, or no furloughs, no salary cuts and yet we balanced a budget without raising taxes," she said.

Well, that's true.

Unless you count 33 jobs at the Public Education Department
And 16 jobs at Expo New Mexico
And 11 at the Tourism Department.
And 11 others at the Economic Development Department, Regulation and Licensing Department, Commission on the Status of Women, State Land Office and Organic Commodity Commission.

But who's counting?

(In fairness, the state has hired back many of those laid off last year, albeit at lesser salaries.)

Day 2 Legislature 2012: What now?

2012-01-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Sen. Michael Sanchez drops by the
Capitol newsroom yesterday

After the regular hoopla of opening day -- which basically was flattened yesterday by Speaker Ben Lujan's announcement that he's been suffering from lung cancer -- things are expected to slow way down for the next few days as bills are introduced and printed, committees are organized, etc. If it's like every other regular sessions I've covered in the last 11 years, there will be no floor sessions whatsoever on Friday.

That gives me a little time to catch up on a few things. Before the Lujan announcement, I had intended to blog about Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez's chat with reporters in the Capitol newsroom a couple of hours before the session started.

Sanchez said a few interesting things. First of all he predicted the same result for Gov. Susana Martinez's bill to repeal the law allowing undocumented residents to be issued driver's licenses. In other words, he said, it'll pass the House but be thwarted in the Senate.

I asked him what he thought about Sen. Steve Fischmann's Guest Worker Act (Senate Bill 14), which would establish guest-worker permits for immigrants and allow those with such permits to get driver's permits.

Sanchez seemed positive about the bill, saying it's an interesting concept that deserves serious discussion in the session. His one reservation was the fact that implementing such a program, as Fischmann has acknowledged, would require waivers from the federal government. And there's no guarantee the feds would go along.

(I wrote about that bill in an article published a few days ago. It's HERE.)

Sanchez, who never has been a favorite of the governor's (come to think of it, he wasn't a favorite of the previous governor also), was skeptical of Martinez's recent statements that she intended to communicate better with lawmakers. He said there's been no hint of that so far.

"I think she's lost my phone number," he said.

Hey, tell all your pals to join in the lunchtime live blog at the New Mexican at noon today. Any legislators or other officials reading this also are very welcome to join in. It's at www.santafenewmexican.com

Speaker Lujan Announces He Has Lung Cancer, Won't Seek Re-election

2012-01-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

Shortlly after convening the House of Representatives today, Speaker of the House Ben Lujan confirmed he is battling stage 4 lung cancer.

He said he was first diagnosed in 2009. He apologized to friends, family and other legislators for keeping his condition secret for so long. The speaker said that he had undergone chemotherapy through 2010 and later went through radiation therapy as well.

He said it was rough when undergoing the treatment to endure attacks on "my leadership and integrity." Lujan in 2010 survived a close primary challenge for re-election, then faced a challenge for the speakership by Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces.

Lujan, who has been speaker since 2001, told a somber House that he would not seek re-election. He said his cancer has increased his awareness that Democrats and Republicans need to work together for the betterment of the state.

"We can't sacrifice education for partisan politics," he said.

He received a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle after the speech.

Carl Trujillo, who came close to beating Lujan in the 2010 Democratic primary, has announced he is running for Lujan's seat, which the Speaker has held since the mid '70s.

UPDATE: 2 p.m Trujillo's campaign released this statement:

"We fully anticipated this possibility and we wish Mr. Lujan and his family well. We plan to make no changes to our campaign. We have always considered our opponent to be the entire political machine, not just one man. More than ever, now's our time to create the change we need."

Here's a copy of Lujan's speech.

NM House Speaker Ben Lujan's Announcement That He Has Cancer

UPDATE 1-18-12 9:20 am; My full story on Lujan's speech is HERE

Also check out Trip Jennings' article about what happens next. That's HERE

Apparently There's Something Happening In the Roundhouse Today ...

2012-01-17T10:47:00.001-07:00

There sure are a lot of people here. The Tea Party is on the west side of The Capitol, the Occupy folks are on the east.

The House media gallery is filling up. (No more space for laptops. I'm back in my office in the Capitol news rooms typing this.)

The gavels bang in about an hour and a half and the governor gives her speech, supposedly about 30 minutes later, though traditionally these things run late.

The New Mexican's Legislature page can be found HERE.

And don't forget the Legislative Lunch Live Blog Wednesday at noon.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez just came into the news room. Gotta go!

The Legislature is Coming to Town

2012-01-15T11:47:00.003-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year again.

Remember this from last year?

I contributed to The New Mexican's big pre-session package published today.

My story on the political tensions facing the Legislature itself is HERE

My colleague Trip Jennings focused on the role of Gov. Susana Martinez in the upcoming session. That's HERE

A quick list of the major issues facing the Legislature can be found HERE

I also wrote a wise-guy list of things legislators say and what they really mean. (If you are a legislator and you read this, remember, it's not you I'm talking about. It's those other guys. Read it HERE

This year the New Mexican will have a live blog on its website each Wednesday (noon to 12:30 pm) during the upcoming Legislative session. It's going to be called "Legislative Lunch." Granted, lunch during the Legislature usually involves slurping a Frito pie in the House or Senate gallery or over my computer keyboard in the office. We'll see if I can blog and eat at the same time. Pleas join us. Watch The New Mexican web site for further details

Roundhouse Roundup: Primary Memories

2012-01-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

Downtown Des Moines Jan 1, 2008

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Jan. 15, 2012

Like any self-respecting political junkie, I've spent a lot of time, especially since the New Year, following news coverage of the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

I've done that every four years since 1968 when Gene McCarthy's surprising New Hampshire showing put a major crimp in LBJ's re-election plans. (I was 14 at the time.)

But this year, I was a little wistful while reading articles or watching news coverage of the early contests. That's because four years ago, I was there, in both Iowa and New Hampshire, covering what turned out to be then-Gov. Bill Richardson's final days as a presidential candidate.

Richardson in Concord, NH

Richardson himself says he gets a little nostalgic when following the coverage. "... I do miss those town meetings and I do miss the campaigning and, you know, it brought a lot of memories" he said when I saw him at the Roundhouse last week.

Though I still shiver when I think about how cold it was in Des Moines when I stepped out of the airport on Jan. 1, 2008 (according to those who were there, it was much warmer in Iowa this year), I have a lot of fun memories on that trip.

There was the airplane hangar in Dubuque, where Richardson addressed a small crowd. It was so cold that you could see people's breath when they spoke, but that didn't stop the inquisitive Iowans from asking lots of (mostly intelligent) questions. I found that in both states, the people there seem extremely engaged. They like and expect to deal with the candidates personally.

Paul & Kucinich at Merrimack Restaurant

I was impressed with the speed and efficiency displayed by both parties. By the time I left the caucus at a Des Moines high school, the results were being announced on the radio. A couple of weeks later I contrasted that with the problem-plagued New Mexico Democratic Caucus — which took about two weeks just to get results. After this year's razor-close Republican Caucus, in which Mitt Romney beat Rick Santorum by eight votes — or did he? — Iowa's vote count didn't seem nearly as efficient.

But the Hawkeye State still is far better at snow removal than we are.

In New Hampshire I ate breakfast in the now-closed Merrimack Restaurant in Manchester in a booth next to the one where Ron Paul, then Dennis Kucinich were being interviewed on the radio.

Bill & Chelsea:
Can you feel the love in this room?

The day before, I had run into Chelsea Clinton in a Portsmouth coffeehouse, right before Richardson arrived for a planned appearance.

In both Des Moines and Manchester, Richardson's concession speeches sounded more like victory speeches. He got about 5 percent in New Hampshire and 2 percent in Iowa. In Iowa he declared, "We made it to the Final Four!" I was reminded of that Tuesday night when former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who came in a distant third in the GOP primary, buoyantly declared he had a "ticket to ride" out of New Hampshire.

In his final New Hampshire speech, Richardson referred to the Nevada primary, saying, "We head out West and the fight goes on!" But even before I got off the plane in Albuquerque the next night, word had spread that Richardson was calling it quits.

(For the record, the best concession speech in history had to have been former Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris' in 1976 after a disappointing showing in New Hampshire. Harris, who since moved to Albuquerque, actually said that he'd lost because the "little people" he'd been fighting for in his campaign "couldn't reach the voting levers." He left the '76 contest not long after that.

I must confess I was secretly hoping that former-Gov. Gary Johnson's campaign for the Republican nomination would have caught on last year so I could have at least argued with my editors that they should send me to Iowa and New Hampshire again this time.

Blog bonus: CLICK HERE to see a bunch of my snapshots from Iowa and New Hampshire in 2008

Richardson's last rally before the NH primary

It's Official Now -- Trujillo is Running

2012-01-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

Last month Carl Trujillo's campaign manager Faith McKenna told me that Trujillo would once again run for House Speaker Ben Lujan's seat and would make an official announcement in January.

She was telling the truth.

From Trujillo's announcement:

“Today, I’m officially announcing my 2012 candidacy for New Mexico State RepresentativeDistrict 46. As many of you know, we came within just a handful of votes of victory in 2010 when we first launched our campaign to stand up against the entrenched and outdated Party Machine that has ruled New Mexico for far too long.

"Growing up in this community, as a son, a husband and a father, I see the damage that entrenched career politicians have done to our community for too many years. Every corrupt deal that goes down and lines the pockets of party politicians and their cronies steals opportunities from our kids and our community. We need to vote out the entrenched, corporate-funded party politicians, and elect real people who will put the interests of our community first."

Lujan has not said whether he'll seek re-election.

Nick Salazar is IN

2012-01-12T14:48:00.001-07:00

Last week longtime New Mexico House stalwart Nick Salazar said he was considering not seeking re-election because of the new redistricting plan that would pit him against a fellow Democrat, Rep, Thomas Garcia.

However, Salazar, a Rio Arriba County resident, just dropped by the Roundhouse press room to say that he will run again.

"If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose," he told reporters.

In a news release, Salazar said, "Due to encouragement and support by my colleagues, friends, and constituents, along with my priest, doctors, and most important of all, my family, I have decided to be a candidate for re-election in June as state representative for District 40, which is now comprised of Rio Arriba, Mora and Colfax Counties."

Salazar, who is the chairman of the House Rules Committee, has been a representative since 1973.

Salazar said he's talked to Garcia who indicated he's running. I haven't heard from Garcia yet. If I do, I'll update this post.

UPDATE: 6:34 pm I spoke with Rep. Garcia earlier. He said he'll make an announcement near the close of the upcoming session -- but that he will be running for some elected position this year.

Williams-Stapleton Gets Primary Challenger

2012-01-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Beleaguered State House Democratic Whip Sheryl Williams-Stapleton has a primary challenger for the Democratic nomination for her House seat this year.

Rob Nikolewski of Capitol Report New Mexico just confirmed that Cara Valente-Compton, a University of New Mexico law student, will run against the whip.

The challenger said that Williams-Stapleton's recent Roundhouse outburst -- in which she accused Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, of "carrying the Mexican's water on the Fourth Floor," a barb aimed at Gov. Susana Martinez -- played a role in her decision to run.

“Of course it did,” Valente-Compton said, “but it’s not the primary reason why I’ve decided to run. But we do have to elevate the tone in Santa Fe … we’re professional people and we have to treat others, and those we disagree with, with respect …. I was raised by Republicans, you have to honor and respect them.”

Williams-Stapleton has apologized to Martinez, Espinoza and the public in general for the remarks.

I think there will be a few interesting primary challenges this year.

ACLU Asks For Summary Judgment in Suit Against SOS

2012-01-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

New Mexico’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is asking a judge to rule on its suit that would force the Secretary of State’s Office to turn over the names of the foreign nationals who registered to vote in New Mexico.

The issue first arose during last year’s Legislature when Secretary of State Dianna Duran told a House committee considering legislation aimed at alleged voter fraud that 17 non-citizens had illegally registered to vote in the state and that 37 of those had actually voted in elections here.

“Secretary of State Duran undermined the public's confidence in our elections when she alleged fraud, then refused to substantiate those claims, the civil liberties group’s New Mexico director Peter Simonson said in a news release. “Making unfounded allegations that cast doubt on the integrity of our entire system of government is reckless.”

I’ve asked for response from the Secretary of State’s office. I’ll post that whenever I receive it.

The lawsuit is seeking the lists of alleged foreign nationals who registered to vote and the signature rosters and checklists that would prove they actually cast ballots in an election.

In November, Duran’s office released a report saying it could only prove that 19 foreigners actually have voted here — and that some of those might have done so mistakenly thinking they had the right to vote. The number of non-citizens who registered to vote shrank to 104, according to the report.

In addition to those, Duran’s office has said there were two other registered voters who voluntarily asked that their names be taken off the voter rolls because they are noncitizens. One of those was a 22-year employee of an unspecified county government who has been voting in most elections since the late '90s. In both cases, the person did not know it was illegal for a non-citizen to register to vote until they applied for citizenship.

The Secretary of State’s office has released more than 100 pages of documents — many of which were heavily redacted. But they have refused to release records with the non-citizen names or the voter rosters

Duran’s office has claimed that releasing the records sought would violate state and federal privacy laws against releasing Motor Vehicle Department records. The ACLU has argued that it’s not seeking MVD records but instead voting records, which are considered public information.

Links to the motion for summary judgment and other documents in the case can be found HERE.

Americans Elect Submit Petitions to SOS

2012-01-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

Americans Elect -- a national organization touted as a computer-age alternative to “hyper-partisanship” and special-interest dominance in electoral politics -- took a step forward Monday by submitting petition signatures to get on the ballot in New Mexico.

Patricia Pallares of Bosque Farms, who has been active in the group, said she brought in petitions with 6,891 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office.

State Bureau of Elections Director Bobbi Shearer said a minor political party needs a little more than 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Shearer said her staff will determine how many of Americans Elect’s signatures are valid in about a week or 10 days.

Ken Ortiz, the Secretary of State’s chief of staff, said if enough of the group’s signatures are verified, Americans Elect will join the Democratic, Republican Libertarian and New Mexico Independent parties on the ballot in November.

Americans Elect was established last year as a way to get average citizens — not the bases of the major parties — involved in the nominating process. All registered voters in the country — and who have access to a computer — are allowed to become delegates.

More in tomorrow's New Mexican

GWAR: What is it Good For?

2012-01-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. Urungus

I normally don't blog about every political endorsement that comes across my computer screen, but I can't ignore this one.

Longshot Democratic Congressional hopeful Sean Closson, who is challenging incumbent Ben Ray Lujan in the Democratic primary has been endorsed by one Oderus Urungus, singer for the infamous costume-metal band GWAR.

"He's not bad, for a human...I think a GWAR fan in congress is only fair. I mean, most congressmen like ABBA or some shit," a Monday news release from Closson said. "... we need more metal in government and Sean Closson is just the guy for the job! Plus he paid me to say this."

Urungus, whose real name is Dave Brockie, is a semi-regular "Intergalactic Correspondent" for a Fox News show called Red Eye.

My big question: Does this mean Ben Ray will have to scramble for the Marilyn Manson endorsement?

Here's a Fox segment with Urungus:

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Adventures in Email Land

2012-01-08T08:48:00.001-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Jan. 8, 2012

As a political reporter, a good chunk of my email consists of announcements of government meetings or political events, people criticizing or, less frequently, praising something I've written, a few scattered tips for stories, political organizations indignantly pointing to the outrageous misdeeds of their opponents or politicians asking for money.

But I also get my share of interesting stuff.

Such as the email in the Turkish language I got Monday with a color photo of red and green serrano peppers. It's apparently an ad for some kind of weight-loss product.

To quote from that email,

Samandag biberi Hatay ilimizde yetisen zayiflamaya etkisi muthis olan bir biber turudur. Unlu tv sunucusu MESUT YAR bu biber sayesinde ( gün 3-4 adet tuketerek) toplamda 40 kilodan fazla kiloyu cok kısa bir zamanda vermeyi basardı.

I'm not sure how I got on this list for this product, except maybe the fact I've written about legislators taking trips to Turkey.

Or maybe someone who saw me at the Turkish-American friendship dinner I covered a couple of months ago thought I needed to lose weight.

On Thursday I received an unsolicited email appealing to my status as a white man.

Usually when people start talking about "white pride," I start sniffing for swastikas. But whoever sent this didn't appear to be an overt racist, though he's far more concerned than I am about what he calls "a subtle bias against whites."

The email was hawking an e-book by an author named William McGaughey for 99 cents, billed as a "moderate white man's race manifesto" that "proposes a way that persons of the white race can regain their dignity without becoming an enemy of others."

"What it means to be white in America has never been adequately considered. For the past fifty years, there has been a consensus based on historic injustices perpetrated by the white race against other peoples. Politically correct strictures have been imposed upon white society, brooking little dissent. However, this situation is starting to change. Barack Obama's election as President has opened up new horizons for white as well as black people."

Well that's good. I'm tired of all those other races putting me down because I dance like a goofball.

You thought the "birther" movement was dead just because President Obama produced his birth certificate last year? Think again. A frequent sender of emails to me (and other New Mexico reporters as well as various national conservative pundits) on Thursday forwarded a request he'd sent to Secretary of State Dianna Duran.

"On or about December 13, 2011, I wrote to you requesting that your office provide me with some direction and/or guidance that would assist me in getting President Obama removed from the New Mexico 2012 presidential primary election ballot over allegations of fraud because I now believe that there is a preponderance of indisputable evidence, which I also shared with you in my letter, that collectively prove that he in fact is ineligible to hold the office of President of the United States and Commander-In-Chief of our armed forces."

(I asked Duran's chief of staff, Ken Ortiz about that. " ... we would need a court order to remove someone from the ballot" after a candidate is certified.)

My correspondent wrote a similar email the same day to Gov. Susana Martinez saying, "This disturbing issue literally keeps me up at night ..."

I believe it.

Some of the email I get might seem weird to some people, but it's definitely not crazy. A few days before Christmas I got an email from the spokesman for Allen Weh, a former state Republican chairman and unsuccessful 2010 gubernatorial candidate. I don't know if Weh is running for anything these days, but he sends occasional emails with his views on issues.

But this mail wasn't political. It was one of his cooking videos — this one for a delicious looking soup called Caldo Gallego. Weh did a few cooking videos during his campaign. It's one of the few things I miss about that election.

Here's that video:

:

New Mexico: 100 Years Young!

2012-01-06T16:50:00.002-07:00

Here's the official proclamation from the governor:New Mexico Centennial Day

Viki Harrison is the New Common Cause Director

2012-01-06T11:06:00.001-07:00

Common Cause New Mexico has hired Viki Harrison to replace outgoing executive director Steve Allen, who is going to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Normally I don't post announcements like this. But Harrison has an impressive record at the state Legislature.

The main notches on her belt:

1) As executive director of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty, she spearheaded the successful 2009 effort to end capital punishment in New Mexico.

2) As program manager of Animal Protection New Mexico, she as one of driving forces behind the successful effort to outlaw cockfighting back in 2007.

The question now -- as the head of Common Cause, will she be successful at ending bad government in New Mexico? That's a pretty tall order, even for Viki.

Some Other Education Issues That Could Spark Session Fights

2012-01-06T10:32:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I covered a League of Women Voters lunch at which Santa Fe legislators (and Sen. Carlos Cisneros of Questa) spoke. Much of the discussion centered around a couple of education issues.

No, not Gov. Susana Martinez's "social promotion" bill or other governor proposals. I'm talking about the ongoing battle between Santa Fe Community College and the state Department of Higher Education over a planned $12 million Higher Learning Center as well as proposed constitutional amendments that would make permanent the rate at which the state taps money from a state permanent fund for education.

My story is HERE

Thanks to Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, I learned that there was an attorney general's opinion about the Higher Learning Center issued last week. Basically it says that there's no need to have the Legislature approve the center -- despite what Higher Education Secretary Jose Garcia has said.

You can find that opinion HERE.

I was surprised that Higher Education Secretary apparently hadn't seen the opinion. And I was amazed that the AG's office didn't send out a press release on this opinion when it came down last week. Of course, they've got more important things to worry about.

Some Recent Political Stories

2012-01-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

I've neglected to post links here to a couple of recent articles I've written. Must be post-Holiday blahs.

But anywho, I did a story about the likelihood of the Legislature having to grapple once again with proposals to required voters to present photo ID at the polls. This is a national movement by Republican legislators all over the country. It's not likely to pass the current Legislature, but it certainly will generate some heat. My story is HERE.

Also, I did a story about the net worth of our Congressional representatives. That story is HERE.

I should repeat this disclaimer as stated by The Center for Responsive Politics' website:

"It is difficult to gauge what a lawmaker is worth based on what they file because the disclosure forms do not require exact values. Instead, the lawmaker reports the range of value into which an asset, for example, falls. As the values increase, the ranges get broader."

To calculate the net worth of Congress members, the center added together the lawmaker's range of assets and then subtracted their range of liabilities. For its rankings the Center used the median point between the ranges. Thus, Sen. Jeff Bingaman's net worth was estimated at $16.3 million in 2010 and a mere $6.9 million in 2004. The Washington Post and others also use this method to rank Congressional wealth.

More Redistricting

2012-01-05T09:17:00.002-07:00

I did a story on how the state House redistricting plan approved by Judge Jim Hall. You can find it HERE.

Two interesting bits of political news here.

1) Rep. Nick Salazar of Rio Arriba County, whose district was crunched into that of fellow Democrat Thomas Garcia, said he's considering not running for re-election.

2) House Speaker Ben Lujan still hasn't decided whether he'll seek re-election. He said he's still digesting the new redistricting map.

My story focused on Lujan's District 46 because the Speaker is expected to get a primary challenge this year. Most of Santa Fe's districts remain fairly similar in that they are extremely safe Democratic districts. The districts currently represented by Lucky Varela, Jim Trujillo and Brian Egolf have better than 60 percent Democratic registration. (Varela's is more than 69 percent Democratic.)

But one big change I overlooked -- as pointed out to me by not one but two local lawmakers -- is that the community of Eldorado southeast of the city no longer is in Egolf's district. Instead, Eldorado has been moved to the district currently represented by Rhonda King of Stanley.

At meetings before and during the special session last fall many residents of Eldorado spoke in favor of being kept in Egolf's district. Instead, they've apparently become eggs broken for the redistricting omelet. (So now if Eldorado residents have a problem with state government, they'll have to say, "Help me, Rhonda.")

R.I.P. Mike Cerletti

2012-01-04T16:44:00.001-07:00

Former New Mexico Tourism Secretary Mike Cerletti is dead after a long bout with brain cancer. He was 72.

Cerletti, who had managed several Santa Fe hotels. was New Mexico’s first tourism secretary, appointed in 1991 by Gov. Bruce King. Gov. Bill Richardson brought him back to that job during his first term. He served until the end of the Richardson administration in 2010.

Richardson in a written statement said:

Mike Cerletti was a great promoter of New Mexico and the best Tourism Secretary the State ever had. He was also a true friend who never wavered in his loyalty and dedication to the values of honesty and decency that he championed. He leaves a huge void. His wife Helen was always at his side and thousands of Mikes friends throughout the state and country wish her the very best.

I first got to know Cerletti back in the 1980s when he managed La Posada and became a member of the city's Occupational Tax Advisory Board. He always was friendly and had a good sense of humor even in those rare times he'd call to argue about something I wrote that he didn't like. Cerletti was a true gentleman

Cerletti's funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m on Jan. 13 at the St. Francis Cathedral Basilica.

It's Salazar vs. Garcia in Approved Redistricting Plan

2012-01-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Rep. Nick Salazar

Veteran Rio Arriba lawmaker Nick Salazar will have to face fellow Democrat Thomas Garcia if both decide to run for re-election in the upcoming election. That's thanks to the state House redistricting plan approved yesterday by Judge Jim Hall.

Salazar, who is the chairman of the House Rules Committee, has been a legislator since 1973. Garcia first came to the House in December, 2006, replacing Hector Balderas who resigned his seat after being elected state auditor.

The Salazar/Garcia pairing is one of three in the redistricting plan. In southern New Mexico, Rep. Dennis Kintigh would have to face Rep. Bob Wooley. Both are Roswell Republicans.

Also, the judge combined two Albuquerque districts currently represented by Republican Jimmie Hall (no relation to the judge) and Democrat Al Park. park is not seeking re-election. He's running for Public Regulation Commissioner instead.

Rep. Thomas Garcia

The consolidations were necessary to create two Albuquerque-area districts and a new one in Rio Rancho.

The plan Judge Hall chose was proposed by Gov. Susana Martinez, whose spokesman told the Associated Press, "This plan does not favor one party over the other and instead ensures competitive districts that will allow New Mexicans to determine who represents them in the House."

Democrats aren't so happy. Rep. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe, who had proposed another plan, said in an email last night:

"I am distressed that the Judge has ignored the important issue of maintaining Hispanic voting strength while buying into the governor's crass effort to achieve a radical Republican gerrymander under the guise of alleged respect for Native American self-determination.

"The Judge had before him plans that achieve low deviations and showed true respect for Native American wishes; selecting one would have been in the interest of New Mexico's citizens."

Me on TV

2012-01-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Diane Kinderwater

Last month I recorded an episode of the Issues & Answers show with Diane Kinderwater on KCHF (Channel 11).

We talked about what might be in store for New Mexico politics in 2012. Hopefully my psychic powers didn't fail me.

It's been airing on KCHF this week. Next showing is 10 a.m. Friday and later that night at 10:30 p.m.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: They Took The Prize in 2011

2012-01-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Jan. 1, 2012

Looking back on some of the political stories of 2011, I said to myself, "Some of these guys take the prize!"

So here's those prizes:

Why Do You Think They Call it Dope Award: To former Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr., who blamed an addiction to prescription drugs on the idiotic antics — fraudulent use of state gasoline cards, etc. — that led to criminal charges and to Block being forced to resign from the commission. That alone would have been enough to win this award, but Block put a cherry on this sundae by his multiple arrests for violating his conditions of his Drug Court program, eventually getting booted from the program.

Law of Unintended Consequences Award: To various tea-party organizations around the state for their last-minute drive to sandbag State Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, who was making an insurgent challenge to unseat House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Námbe. This opposition to Cervantes scared enough House Republicans away from Cervantes' proposed coalition with conservative Democrats to keep Luján in power for another two years.

Second prize in this category goes to Speaker Luján for taking revenge on Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, who was one of the most vocal supporters of the Cervantes coalition. Luján stripped Nuñez of his chairmanship of the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee. Nuñez responded by switching his party registration from Democratic to declined to state, thus making the already shaky Democratic majority in the House even shakier. Now there are 36 Dems and 33 Republicans.

Party Hopper Award: Until last week Nuñez was the shoe-in for this category. But then last Wednesday former Gov. Gary Johnson officially changed his registration from Republican to Libertarian, so he can seek the Libertarian Party's nomination for president. In announcing the switch, Johnson described himself as a "lifelong" Republican, but said the GOP had snubbed him during his frustrating, tractionless campaign for the Republican presidential nomination this year.

Supreme Court Piñata Award: To Gov. Susana Martinez, whose actions in various areas have led to numerous challenges before the state's high court, which sided with the governor's challengers. In two separate cases, the Supremes ruled against Martinez's partial vetoes of bills passed by the Legislature. In other cases, the court ruled that Martinez lacked authority to arbitrarily remove two members of the state Public Employee Labor Relations Board and ordered her to reinstate the two members; and that the governor acted improperly when she requested the state's records administrator delay publishing greenhouse-gas emissions rules that the state Environmental Improvement Board approved shortly before she took office.

Liberal Use of Conservative Award: This conservative award goes to the conservative Heather Wilson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate — as a conservative. It seems that every one of her conservative news releases uses the word "conservative" about a dozen times. And that's a conservative estimate. When she ran for Senate in 2008, primary opponent Steve Pearce painted Wilson as a "liberal." Conservative as she is, Wilson, a conservative, is doing her conservative best to ensure that the L-word doesn't stick this time.

Most Cheerless Holiday Cheer Message Award: To former Gov. Bill Richardson for a recent comment to reporters in the Roundhouse who asked him about his most recent grand jury investigation. That investigation is about allegations that Richardson hit up campaign contributors to raise hush money for a former state employee who claims she and Richardson had an affair. But Richardson's only response to the pesky reporters was growling "Merry Christmas" and walking away.

Independent Announces U.S. Senate Bid

2012-01-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

A longtime employee of the Federal Aviation Administration, Vietnam veteran (Air Force) and homeopathic practitioner announced today he's running as an independent for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by the retiring Jeff Bingaman.

Jon Barrie sounds like a Libertarian in some ways. A quick look at his platform shows he's in favor of: eliminating the Internal Revenue Service, repealing the Patriot Act and eliminating "undeclared wars."

He also wants to "Put God back into our country" and says "this nation is a Christian nation and that God is our Creator who guides us in all things. Further, I testify of the divinity of his Son Jesus Christ." But he also says he supports "the freedom of all religious and non-religious groups to worship in freedom."

Johnson Makes it Official. He's Running for Prez as a Libertarian

2011-12-28T12:06:00.001-07:00

Johnson announces in Rotunda
Photo by Clyde Mueller for The New Mexican

As anticipated, former Gov. Gary Johnson this morning announced he will seek the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States.

At his news conference in the Roundhouse Rotunda, Johnson, who has described himself as a lifelong Republican, announced he is leaving the GOP. Moments later he formally signed a voter registration form declaring himself a Libertarian.

Mark Hinkle, chairman of the national Libertarian Party, traveled from California to speak at Johnson's news conference. Officially Hinkle is neutral in the race, which has nine other declared candidates. But he did note that Johnson is the first two-term governor of any state to join the Libertarian Party.

A spokeswoman for the state GOP said in an e-mail today, "I do not anticipate us having any comment on Johnson's decision to run as a Libertarian."

A spokesman for the current Republican governor of the state, said Gov. Susana Martinez had no comment on Johnson.

Hinkle said that Johnson actually is coming back to the Libertarian Party. He had been a dues paying member back when he was governor, Hinkle said.

Johnson later told reporters that even though he liked President Reagan, in 1984 Johnson voted for the Libertarian candidate because of the debt incurred during Reagan's first term.

He said he supported Ron Paul for president in 2008 and still prefers Paul to the other current Republican presidential candidates. But he said, despite Paul's high poll numbers in Iowa, he doesn't expect Paul to be the GOP nominee.

Asked about the differences between him and Paul, Johnson said, "I am not a social conservative."

Johnson promised to reduce federal spending by 43 percent to balance the national budget; to do away with all current federal taxes to be replaced by a "fair tax" of 23 percent on all goods and services; to "reduce welfare and reduce warfare"; to fight for gun rights as well as gay rights; and to legalize marijuana and change its classification as a "schedule one" drug.

Johnson said it should be easier for Mexican citizens who want to work in the U.S. to get work permits

In today's New Mexican, I quoted UNM political science professor Lonna Atkeson saying that even though the Libertarian Party could be on all state ballots in November, running as a Libertarian will be an extremely uphill battle for Johnson because historically that party -- as well as most third parties in history -- has been handicapped by a lack of resources.

That's not likely to change next year, Atkeson said.

She also noted that Johnson, as a Libertarian, likely would face the same problem he faced while seeking the Republican nomination — being excluded from the televised debates. Not since the 1996 election, when Texas businessman Ross Perot ran on the Reform Party ticket, has a third party been included in a general election debate.

"The debates have been institutionalized, and it's hard for a third party to be included," Atkeson said.

Asked about that today, Johnson said he believes that there's a "real possibility" that he will be included in next fall's debates.

Updated 2:10 p.m. I added the "no comment" from the state Republican Party.

Could the Libertarians Be a Force in NM in 2012?

2011-12-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

With former Gov. Gary Johnson expected to announce tomorrow his bid for the Libertarian Party nomination for president, some wonder whether that could make Johnson a real contender in the contest for New Mexico's five electoral votes.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a PPP poll of New Mexico voters showing Johnson taking more than 20 percent of the vote in the general election in a three-way race with Democrat Barack Obama and either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich as the Republican nominee. According to that poll, Johnson would take 26-30 percent of the Republican vote in New Mexico and win a plurality of the independent vote.

According to PPP, Obama would win the state by 15-17 percentage points with or without Johnson in the race. (That is, if the election were held a couple of weeks ago when the poll was taken.)

If Johnson becomes the Libertarian nominee, he surely would win far more votes in New Mexico than any previous Libertarian candidate.

According to numbers available on the Secretary of State's website, the most votes a Libertarian ever received in a presidential race here was in 1996, when candidate Harry Browne got 2,996 votes in the general election. That was the year when Bill Clinton was re-elected, beating Republican Bob Dole.

In the years since then, the Libertarian candidate normally gets more than 2,000 votes statewide.

The best year for a Libertarian candidate nationwide was 1980, when candidate Ed Clark received 1.1 percent of the national popular vote. However, in every other election the party's standard bearer received less than 1 percent of the popular vote.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-19T12:49:00.004-07:00

I'm on Christmas break this and won't be back to work until Tuesday Dec. 27. So I won't be posting much on this blog until then.

But I want to wish all you readers a Merry Christmas. And I'm not the only one with that holiday wish.
And a happy New Year!
(Thanks to Rob at New Mexico Watchdog )

Roundhouse Roundup: A More Democratic Nomination Process or Just a Slick Shtick?

2011-12-18T21:21:00.002-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 18 2011

An organization that says it wants to take the "hyper-partisanship" and "special interests" out of presidential politics and change the way the U.S. nominates presidential candidates is gathering petition signatures in New Mexico in an effort to get on next year's general-election ballot.

Americans Elect's goal is to get its presidential ticket on the ballots of all 50 states. And who are those candidates? That's to be determined by an online "convention" next summer. Every registered voter in the country is eligible to become a delegate.

In an interview last week, Americans Elect's chief operating officer, Elliot Akerman, explained that the organization will determine a platform of issues, debated and voted on over the Internet. Delegates will determine which candidate best matches the platform. Finalists then must choose their vice presidents. A running mate cannot be someone who belongs to the same party of the presidential candidate.

In June delegates will vote online to see who will be the Americans Elect standard bearer. Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer — who like New Mexico's former Gov. Gary Johnson has been running as a Republican but is ignored by the GOP establishment — recently announced he would seek the nomination. And controversial billionaire Donald Trump last week said he might be interested too.

Is this Buddy's best shot?

So far, the group has won a place on the ballots in
11 states. Akerman said. Nearly 2.2 million people across the country have signed petitions for Americans Elect. To get on New Mexico's presidential ballot, a "minor party" needs only 6,028 signatures.

Thomas Friedman in a July New York Times column bubbled, "What Amazon.com did to books, what the blogosphere did to newspapers, what the iPod did to music ... Americans Elect plans to do to the two-party duopoly ..."

But not all its press has been so glowing. Salon.com recently ran a critical article under the headline "The slick shtick of Americans Elect," while Politico published a piece saying the group has a "democracy deficit."

The National Journal noted last week that President Barack Obama's top political strategist David Axelrod criticized the fact that candidates chosen at the online convention must be approved by a Candidate Certification Committee. "It's like uber-democracy meets backroom bosses," Axelrod said.

Is this The Donald's
best shot?

The members of the committee are Larry Diamond, a Democrat who is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, a conservative think tank; James Thomson, an independent who was president of the RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank; and — here's one for the conspiracy buffs — former CIA and FBI director William Webster, a Republican.

In response, the group issued a news release quoting its chief executive officer Kahlil Byrd saying that voters have lost faith in the government and "Washington is failing the American people and misinformed partisan attacks like these are a key reason why."

The Salon piece was more harsh than Axelrod. "It's fueled by millions of dollars of secret money, there is a group of wealthy, well-connected board members who have control over Americans Elect's nominating process, and the group has myriad links to Wall Street."

The organization is classified under the tax code as a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" group, meaning its contributors are not reported publicly.

Americans Elect adviser Darry Sragow, responding to such criticism, defended keeping contributors secret. "Cross those who hold power and you are banished to political Siberia, or targeted ... by unresponsive or hostile government actions," he wrote.

PPP: If Johnson Runs as a LIbertarian, He'd Be a Big Factor in Prez Race

2011-12-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

Former Gov. Gary Johnson could be a major factor in the race for New Mexico's five electoral votes if he runs for president on the Libertarian ticket, the latest Public Policy Poll of New Mexico voters says.

I just spoke with Johnson here at the Roundhouse a few minutes ago and while he says he hasn't completely made up his mind about seeking the Libertarian nod, he sounds like that's the direction he's heading in.

According to the poll, In a race between Johnson, President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Obama would get 44 percent, Romney 27 percent and Johnson would get 23 percent.

If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the GOP candidate, Obama would get 45 percent, Gingrich 28 percent and Johnson gets 20 percent.

"As a third-party candidate, Johnson would draw 26-30 percent of the Republican votes, 12-16 percent of Democrats, and actually win independents with 31-33 percent," the PPP polling memo says.

Johnson noted that if he actually won the state, he'd be the first Libertarian to win any electoral votes in the state.

Without Johnson in the race, Obama would defeat Romney in New Mexico by 15 percentage points and Gingrich by 17 percentage points.

Obama's approval ratings here are weak. 49 percent approve while 46 percent disapprove, according to the poll. But the Republican candidates poll worse here.

“Barack Obama’s popularity is way down in New Mexico but voters don’t see any of the Republican candidates as serious alternatives,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling in a news release. “It should stay in the Democratic column in 2012.”

The big grain of salt:

PPP is a Democratic polling company. Yesterday, state Republicans, as well as a national GOP pollster, attacked PPP for under-representing GOP voters in the poll.

The breakdown of the poll, taken between Dec. 10 and 12, was 52 percent Democrat, 29 percent Republican and 19 percent independent, the company's director Tom Jensen said in an email.

According to the Secretary of State's website, the actual registration numbers are 49 percent Dem, 32 percent GOP.

"Our final pre election poll in 2008 that got the result pretty much right on the head was also 52 percent (Democrat)," Jensen said.

Jensen was quoted today by Heath Haussamen saying, "…we had fewer Republicans on today’s poll than the 2008 poll, but we also had a sample of independents that was much more Republican leaning than 2008, as shown by (U.S. Senate candidate Heather) Wilson winning those voters. Party ID shifts over time and people who may have identified as Republican in 2008 are now identifying as independent, but still voting Republican. That’s a product of the Tea Party movement – folks might not want to call themselves Republicans anymore but they’re still supporting GOP candidates under a different label.”

In its news releases, PPP says, "PPP is a Democratic polling company, but polling expert Nate Silver of the New York Times found that its surveys in 2010 actually exhibited a slight bias toward Republican candidates."

For its general election poll, PPP surveyed 500 New Mexico voters through automated telephone interviews. The margin of error for the survey is 4.4 percent. This poll wasn't paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization.

The Johnson numbers
According to PPP, in New Mexico, "45 percent see (Johnson) favorably and 39 percent unfavorably — not overwhelming numbers, but golden compared to the other Republicans, whose favorability ratings range from 21 percent to 28 percent , and unfavorability figures from 54 percent to 67 percent. Johnson is the only candidate more popular than the president, who has a 49-46 approval spread in the state, down just slightly from 50-44 in June.

"Just because he's doing that in New Mexico doesn't really say anything about his ability to do it on a broader scale," the PPP blog says, "but it shows that with folks who are familiar with his message he has support across the spectrum.

PPP Release NM 1216513

Stapleton Apologizes for "Mexican" Remark

2011-12-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 16, 2011

A contrite State House Democratic Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton made an apology to Gov. Susana Martinez Thursday for an outburst at the Capitol this week in which she accused a Republican lawmaker of “carrying the Mexican’s water on the fourth floor.”

Christine Trujillo of the American Federation of Teachers
with Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton Thursday

“I lost it, ladies and gentlemen,” Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, told reporters at a news conference. Stapleton, whose demeanor normally is spirited, spoke softly. At times during the conference her voice sounded as if it were about to break. “I expect more of myself,” she said. “This is not my character.”

Stapleton, the first black woman elected to the Legislature, was surrounded at the conference by several supporters, all Hispanic, some of whom told reporters Stapleton is no racist.

The incident occurred Wednesday during a break of the Legislative Education Study Committee. Stapleton confronted Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, who recently had been interviewed on a KRQE-TV investigative report about Stapleton, a school administrator, being paid by Albuquerque Public Schools while she was in Santa Fe at legislative sessions. At the time, that was a violation of the school district’s policy, thought the policy since has been changed.

Stapleton said she’s written a letter of apology to Martinez and has requested a meeting with her to “clear the air.”

“I’m a Latina, just like her,” Stapleton said. Martinez is of Mexican-American heritage. Stapleton’s roots are in the Caribbean — The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Stapleton said she wasn’t aware until later that sometimes in New Mexico, calling someone a “Mexican” can be taken as a pejorative. Many Hispanics in Northern New Mexico, especially older people and those who can trace their ancestry to Spain, refer to themselves as “Spanish.”

“I didn’t think the word ‘Mexican’ was a racial slur,” Stapleton said.

But though she apologized to Martinez and most assumed she was talking about the governor as the “Mexican” on the fourth floor (where the Governor’s Office is located in the state Capitol), when asked to verify that, Stapleton wouldn’t admit she was talking about Martinez.

At one point she said, “I wasn’t thinking about anyone in particular.” She also said that there are other “Mexicans” who work on the fourth floor besides Martinez.

However, not long after the incident on Wednesday, Stapleton told a reporter from Texas-New Mexico Newspapers that Martinez and her chief of staff were responsible for drumming up criticism of her that from Republican legislators.

Martinez, in a statement via a spokesman, responded to Stapleton’s apology.

"I believe Rep. Stapleton's words were sad and disappointing. In New Mexico, we pride ourselves on our diversity, and on our ability to be proud of our unique heritage, while remaining united as New Mexicans. I'm pleased that Rep. Stapleton apologized to New Mexicans because the people of our state are the ones who deserve the apology.”

The governor said she would be happy to meet with Stapleton. “I'm certainly not going to allow this unfortunate incident to distract me from accomplishing what the people of New Mexico have elected all of us to achieve on their behalf.”

Earlier in the day, state Republican Party Chairman Monty Newman called upon Stapleton to resign her post as majority whip. “That kind of behavior is beyond the pale and has no place in the New Mexico House of Representatives,” Newman said in a news release. “Representative Stapleton's rhetoric yesterday was completely unacceptable.”

Stapleton said she would not resign from the position.

After the news conference, at a meeting of the education panel, Stapleton apologized to Espinoza.

Stapleton told reporters at the news conference that she first became upset Wednesday when she arrived at the meeting and a Republican senator chided her for not being at her job.

She said she has been “personally attacked” by Republicans and has been under stress since the KRQE report. Bur she said she takes responsibility for the outburst.

Gingrich, Wilson, Heinrich Top Latest NM Poll

2011-12-15T15:33:00.002-07:00

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich leads the presidential race among New Mexico Republicans, while former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson has an even wider lead over her opponents in the U.S. Senate Republican primary race.

However, if the election was this week (instead of 11 months from now), Wilson would lose to Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich in the general election, 47 percent to 40 percent and, in another scenario, would be tied with Democrat Hector Balderas, the state auditor, at 43 percent each.

That's according to the latest Public Policy Polling surveys of the state published earlier this week.

“Democrats continue to have a modest advantage in the New Mexico Senate contest,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But it looks unlikely they’ll have the kind of cakewalk race they did in 2008 when Tom Udall was overwhelmingly elected to replace Pete Domenici.”

And that race might actually be tighter. Republican pollster Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies tweeted today that the PPP survey over-represents Democrats in this poll by six percentage points. "Reweighted to current (registration) the race is a toss-up: 45percent Heinrich/42 percent Wilson.

According to the poll, Wilson has the support of 55 percent of "usual Republican voters." That's compared with only 20 percent for Lt. Gov. John Sanchez. Las Cruces businessman Greg Sowards came in at 6 percent while Bill English, whose campaign has been virtually invisible in recent months, received 3 percent in the poll.

PPP's poll of state Republicans shows Wilson still leading in a hypothetical match-up including former Gov. Gary Johnson, who currently is running for president. However, Johnson repeatedly has said he has no interest in running for Senate or serving in the Senate -- and I believe him. (PPP, in that scenario shows Wilson with 42 percent, Johnson with 31 percent, Sanchez with 15 percent and the others in single digits.

On the Democratic side, Heinrich has 47 percent to Balderas' 30 percent. Twenty three percent are undecided or back someone else.

New Mexico Republicans apparently don't consider Johnson a favorite son in the presidential race. There, Gingrich leads with 39 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is in a distant second place with 14 percent, while Johnson comes in third at 11 percent.

Part of Johnson's problem here may be that people don't think he has a chance to be nominated -- Johnson himself has said as much -- so they're leaning toward others. But another thing Johnson has going against him among the GOP is that 37 percent of those interviewed had a negative opinion of him. Forty nine percent had a favorable opinion.

PPP says it will publish results of the general election presidential race tomorrow/

PPP surveyed 300 usual New Mexico Republican primary voters and 309 usual Democratic primary voters between last Thursday and Saturday. The margin of error for the survey is 5.7 percent The survey wasn't paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization.

PPP is a Democratic polling company, but its results in the last election were fairly accurate.Here's a couple of PPP news releases with poll numbers:PPP Release NM Dec. 2011 PPP poll NM 12-15-2011

Supreme Court Rules Against Martinez

2011-12-14T15:50:00.001-07:00

The state Supreme Court has ruled that Gov. Susana Martinez's line-item veto of bill with a $128 million tax increase on businesses to shore up New Mexico's unemployment compensation fund was unconstitutional and ordered that the bill be reinstated into law.

After the regular session early this year, Martinez vetoed a provision of an unemployment bill that would have increased what businesses pay into the unemployment fund. However, the governor let stand a part of that bill that cut nearly $80 million in unemployment benefits.

Several Democratic legislators, including House Speaker Ben Luján and Rep. Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque, last May petitioned the high court, asking that the partial veto be declared unconstitutional.

The court in July put off ruling on it, saying it wanted the governor and Legislature to try to resolve differences during the special session, which took place in September.However, that didn't work out so well. No bill dealing with the program was passed.

In the 20-page decision, Justice Edward Chavez concluded that after the governor's veto, "what remained was an unworkable piece of legislation."

Moments ago, Martinez's spokesman, Scott Darnell commented: "Gov. Martinez used her line-item authority in the same way Governor Richardson did in 2010 and disagrees with the Court's decision today. Unfortunately, Democrats will get their wish to raise taxes on small businesses to fund unemployment benefits, even though the unemployment rate in New Mexico has fallen from 8.7 percent in January to 6.6 percent today.

"The Governor remains committed to working across party lines to reform the unemployment insurance system in a way that puts more New Mexicans back to work and keeps unemployment rates fair and stable for New Mexico small businesses by removing politics and basing rates on sound actuarial data," Darnell said.

Below is the Supreme Court's decision:
NM Supreme Court Unemployment Decision

Catching Up

2011-12-13T01:21:00.001-07:00

I've been so busy lately I haven't blogged some of the stories I've written for The New Mexican in the past few days.

Carlos Jaramillo

First of all, rest in peace Carlos Jaramillo, a former Santa Fe (and Espanola) police chief, who died in Arizona on Sunday at the age of 78.

I first got to know Carlos after he was appointed police chief in 1996 by Mayor Debbie Jaramillo. That appointment was an extremely controversial one because the mayor was his sister-in-law. The appointment was responsible for a voter backlash in the city elections, which took place about a month later. But after the dust had settled, Chief Jaramillo won the confidence and respect of most his troops, including some officers who had called his appointment a "slap in the face" from the mayor.

After his stint as police chief, Jaramillo worked as head of security for the Legislature during sessions. I'd frequently run into him on the first floor near the snack bar and joke with him that I never was afraid anyone would steal my Frito pie if he was around. As the former mayor told me Monday night, "People just took to Carlos. He was a funny, likable guy."

My condolences to Carlos' family, as well as the Capitol workers and old cops who miss him.

xxxxx

Last week I wrote about U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan being touted as a possible replacement for the retiring Charlie Gonzales, D-Texas as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. I quoted from an article in Roll Call published last month.

I also quoted U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich saying that it would be good for the state if Lujan gets the post. "As the Hispanic population grows in the U.S., so does the influence of the (Congressional Hispanic Caucus)," Udall said. "Serving as the chair is a significant responsibility with the ability to influence the national agenda."

xxxxxxxx

Also check out this fun little story I did about a project of the New Mexico Centennial Steering Committee. It's a series of 2-minute radio spots concerning stories from the state's history.

There are 16 posted on line for the next few weeks. You can find them HERE.

I especially recommend the one about the Socorro County sheriff encountering a UFO in 1964 and the one about lawman/gunslinger/politician Elfego Baca, one of the most unique characters in this state's history.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Unequal Application of the Law?

2011-12-11T11:06:00.001-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 11, 2011

Santa Fe Republicans indisputably are in the minority. This often leads to grumbling about their treatment by the Democratic majority. Like all political beefs, from any side, sometimes the concerns are overblown. Sometimes not.

Occupy Santa Fe at Railyard
Photo by Luis Sanchez Saturno/The New Mexican

Last week a couple of local GOP activists raised a valid question about basic fairness. Jim and Sheryl Bohlander emailed that they don't think it's fair that they had to pay hundreds of dollars to use the Santa Fe Plaza for tea-party events while members of the Occupy Santa Fe movement camp out at the city's Railyard Park for free.

"As two of the principal organizers of the 2009 and 2010 tea-party rallies on the Plaza, we can confirm that we had to secure a permit to use the Plaza, $400 for each event, plus we had to secure at liability insurance policy for both events, well over $300 each time," the Bohlanders said in their email. "The permit fee for 2011 was $455. Additionally, we had to state specifically the time frame of the events."

I realize some readers will be thinking, "What the heck? They're Republicans. They can afford it."

But setting political prejudices aside — if that's ever possible — one can ask if it's fair to make one group of citizens pay to use a city park for a political gathering while another group gets to use a park for free?

Location, location, location: I asked that very question of Mayor David Coss last week. The mayor, a Democrat who presides over our nominally nonpartisan municipal governing body, said the main reason is because of where the tea-party rallies took place, as opposed to where the occupiers are occupying.

"They're at a distant corner of the Railyard Park," Coss said. "They're not really affecting anybody."

On the other hand, the mayor pointed out, the tea-party events took place on the Plaza, "which is the center for commerce in downtown Santa Fe."

Tea Party on SF Plaza, 4-15-10

Coss also said he didn't waive any fees for anyone camping out at the Railyard Park because there is no fee schedule in place for that.

The occupy group is engaging in civil disobedience, Coss asserted — civil disobedience "sort of." Can it really be called disobedience when the participants aren't seeking arrest or confrontation with the law? They have negotiated with city officials, including police. All sides have said there is a good rapport. But Coss said he's made it clear that if there is damage to the park or other problems, he will want the city to remove the protesters. He said he and other city officials are monitoring the situation.

And so far, so good. There haven't been any more incidents at the Railyard Park since the occupy movement began their stay than were reported before, Coss said. The incidents reported haven't been serious, the mayor said — encounters with drunks, panhandling and such.

Coss said he's proud that Santa Fe has been able to avoid the kind of violent confrontations between protesters and police seen in other cities.

Unequal application: When told about the mayor's response, Jim Bohlander wasn't satisfied. "A public park is a public park," he said. "This is an unequal application of the law."

He pointed out that the city's website specifies fees for using parks starting at $60 a day on weekdays and $95 a day on weekends for most parks for groups of 20 or more. (The Plaza, Cathedral Park and events involving more than 100 people are more expensive.)

Another difference, Bohlander said, is that the tea-party events were limited to a few hours, while the occupy encampment has lasted more than a month. "I'm not saying there's a conspiracy or anything," Bohlander said. "It just seems to be hypocritical."

Coss said that as far as he's concerned, in the absence of serious problems, Occupy Santa Fe can stay in the park. At least until next spring when gay pride events are scheduled for Railyard Park.

"I bet they will have to pay for a permit, too," Bohlander said.

Richardson Buys Home in Massachusetts

2011-12-11T10:07:00.001-07:00

Former Gov. Bill Richardson has bought a "vacation" home in Chatham, Mass., according to a story yesterday in The Cape Cod Times.

According to the article, written by Susan Milton, Richardson and former First Lady Barbara Richardson:

"paid $1.67 million for a house on Fox Pond and Strong Island Road, according to the deed recorded on Sept. 15.

The couple secured a $675,000 mortgage from the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank and purchased the 2,278-square-foot house from Gerald and Stephanie Coughlan of Wellesley. The Coughlans paid $1.6 million for the property on Nickerson Neck in 2004.

Most of the property's value — $1.5 million — is in the 36,200-square-foot pond-front lot, according to Chatham assessing records. The assessed value of the three-bedroom house with 4.5 bathrooms was $297,900.

"Gov. and Mrs. Richardson will use this home as a vacation home," Richardson spokesman Caitlin Wakefield emailed Friday. "Their primary residence will continue to be Santa Fe, N.M. Mrs. Richardson has longstanding ties in the Cape Cod area."

Read the whole story HERE

It's been some time since I've seen Richardson in Santa Fe. Something tells me Richardson sightings around here are going to get even more infrequent.

Trujillo Will Run Again Against Speaker Lujan

2011-12-06T15:04:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I talked with House Speaker Ben Lujan about whether he planned on running again for the state House seat he's held since the 1970s.

Actually it was a short conversation. He said he'll wait to see what happens in the courts with redistricting issues before making his decision about running again.

I'd tried that day to get a comment from Carl Trujillo, who came within less than 100 votes of defeating Lujan in the 2010 Democratic primary. I wasn't successful then, but today Trujillo's campaign manager Faith McKenna emailed me to say, "Yes, Carl will be running again (as he promised following the 2010 primary)."

McKenna said Trujillo will make it official in January.

Looks like the race is on.

Disappointment of The Day

2011-12-06T14:49:00.001-07:00

Not the mayor

I was so excited this morning when I received a press release saying that David Cross would be joining state officials in a public discussion about extending unemployment insurance before it expires on December 31.

These meetings usually are so dry, I thought, the wry comic stylings of Cross should make it a far more interesting event.

My illusions were shattered when I got a follow-up email, explaining they had just misspelled the name of Santa Fe's mayor, David Coss. Nice guy, but not nearly as entertaining as David Cross.

Anyway, the event is Thursday at noon in the Bataan Building.

While I Was Covering the Redistricting Trial, This Happened

2011-12-05T21:28:00.002-07:00

Some folks associated with Occupy Santa Fe showed up at a meeting of the Environmental Improvement Board Monday. I don't think they were on the agenda.

(I don't know whether this was an official action of OSF or just individuals. But toward the end of their presentation, they said "We are Occupy Santa Fe. We are unstoppable. "

Former Gov's Mom Dies

2011-12-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

The mother of former Gov. Bill Richardson died in Mexico today, according to identical posts on Richardson’s website and Facebook page.

“Maria Luisa Lopez Collada, 97, passed away peacefully today in Cuernavaca, Mexico,” the message said. “She was surrounded by family, including her son, Gov. Bill Richardson and his wife, Barbara Richardson; and her daughter Dr. Vesta Richardson.”

No further details were available Monday night.

Lopez Collada was a native of Mexico. She was the secretary of Richardson’s father, William Blaine Richardson, an American banker in Mexico City, before she married him. She traveled to Pasadena, Calif. to give birth to her son in 1947 so he would be an American citizen. The former governor spent his first 13 years in Mexico before going to a boarding school in Massachusetts.

Her husband, Richardson’s father, died in 1972.

Roundhouse Roundup: More Tales from the PedoBear Front

2011-12-04T00:45:00.002-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 4, 2011

Last week in this column I wrote about the “menace” of PedoBear, that cute little Internet cartoon bear that most Web denizens consider to be a tongue-in-cheek symbol of pedophilia but who some in law enforcement — including apparently Attorney General Gary King — say is a sinister mark of real live child molesters.

And apparently at least one police department in the state is confronting purveyors of PedoBear.

King’s office on the day before Thanksgiving issued a news release warning that the evil PedoBear had been spotted — in the form of car decals — in this Enchanted Land.

I compared this news release with past instances of New Mexico law enforcement spreading urban legends as true crime. Are there any actual arrests or prosecutions of actual child molesters who displayed the wicked bear? If so, I haven’t found any.

The latest favorite of "PedoBear Sympathizers"

But even more embarrassing than the attorney general seizing on this Internet joke were the number of news organizations that reported this nonsense as an actual menace. At least one Albuquerque TV anchor even advised viewers to write down the license plates of any vehicle they see sporting the PedoBear symbol and call the police.

The irreverent news site The Gawker, a leading debunker of PedoBear paranoia, had some laughs last week about this latest outbreak of PedoBear paranoia. “New Mexico Attorney General Warns Against the Molesty Charms of PedoBear,” the headline said.

But one Las Cruces business owner isn’t laughing.

C.W. Ward’s business House of Grafix, sells PedoBear decals. His latest features the bear with the logo of the Penn State football team.

Ward is a husband, a father and a soccer coach. “I sell decals of anything funny or famous from the Internet,” he said in a phone interview.

He rattled off a bunch of names — Troll Face, Mr. Pinkshirt ... I had to admit I wasn’t aware of most the names he mentioned. (When I was a lad, the only cartoon characters on car decals were wholesome icons like Mr. Natural, Rat Fink and an angry cigar-smoking woodpecker named Mr. Horsepower.)

Although he’d done nothing illegal, a few days before Thanksgiving, a Las Cruces police detective and a forensic computer examiner came by Ward’s store to talk to him about his relationship with PedoBear.

“She told me I was promoting child pornography,” Ward said of the detective. She told him that child molesters were using the symbol, he said. But the only example she gave was a guy in a PedoBear suit who was kicked out of a comics convention in San Diego last year. “She told me that he was a sex offender,” Ward said. “I said, ‘No, he wasn’t.’ ”

Indeed, last year a Tulsa, Okla., television station had to retract a statement that the ComicCon bear was a sex offender. And even if some stray pedophiles have adopted the symbol, Ward asked whether a rapist wearing a blue shirt made everyone in a blue shirt a rapist.

The police computer expert seemed to understand what PedoBear was all about, Ward said, and even told him that it was his First Amendment right to display and sell the symbol. But the detective, he said, treated him like he was a child molester himself.

House of Grafix sells this sticker too

He wasn’t arrested or charged. Still, Ward said, he felt intimidated. “With child porn, even an accusation is the death penalty.” Perhaps a slight overstatement, but having the law accuse you of promoting kiddy porn could be pretty devastating to your reputation.

But it hasn’t hurt his business, at least not yet. After an Albuquerque station showed footage of his website in its PedoBear report Monday night, Ward said he was swamped with hundreds of dollars in PedoBear orders, including an Albuquerque store that intends to give away the decals.

Note: Because I was off work most of last week because of periodontal surgery, I wrote this column early in the week. Therefore it didn't mention anything about the Attorney General's infamous blog doubling down on the PedoBear "threat."

When I first saw the email alert Wednesday, I thought, "Uh oh, they've come up with a case of a real Pedophile using the Pedobear symbol to hurt a real child."

Nawwww.

Just more the same. If anyone with a PedobBear decal has ever molested a child in New Mexico (or elsewhere), we still don't know about it.

As one of my Twitter friends said, the AG doubled down on zero Pedobear evidence and came up with twice as much eviodence -- zero.

Last week's column is referred to in the post, though I'm not named. If this week's column prompts another post on the AG's blog, I'll get a certificate from the International Brotherhood of PedoBear Skeptics.

My favorite line in the blog post: "... yes, we know that anyone who has the bad taste to display a Pedobear symbol is not necessarily a pedophile...emphasis on the word `necessarily.' If you are a parent of a three year old, can you really take a chance?"

No. Like I said in last week's column, make sure your kids know enough not to get in any stranger's car, no matter what decals they might be displaying.

Judge Hall Says GOP Lawyers Can Get Sanderoff eMails, etc.

2011-11-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

Judge Jim Hall ruled today that Republican lawyers in the upcoming redistricting court battle can ask for email, notes and other communications between legislators and pollster Brian Sanderoff, who was hired to help draw up redistricting maps during September's special session.

The redistricting cases are scheduled to begin next week.

Lawyers for Democrats argued that such communications between Sanderoff and legislators should be considered confidential.

Not so, said the judge. He ruled there was no privilege of confidentiality because Sanderoff was identified as an expert witness to testify in redistricting trials.

Hall's order is below:

Protective Order - Order Denying Motion

You can find all sorts of redistricting trials documents HERE.

Roundhouse Roundup: Bears in Them Woods

2011-11-27T01:59:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Nov. 27, 2011

Fifteen years ago, Santa Fe’s municipal judge sent a dire warning to local newspapers and radio stations about the dreaded Blue Star acid “a small piece of paper containing a blue star. They are the size of a pencil eraser, and each star is soaked with LSD.”

Does showing this on my blog make me one?

A few years before that, the Santa Fe Police Department put a warning about a possible “gang initiation” in which prospective gang members cruise around in the dark on city streets with their headlights off, then murder the first hapless boob who flashes his lights to alert them.

Both the Blue Star LSD and the “gang initiation” are urban legends that have been taken seriously by those involved in the criminal justice system in Santa Fe and elsewhere. I was reminded of these warnings last week when the Attorney General’s Office emailed reporters with a warning about a new menace called “PedoBear.”

The news release quoted Attorney General Gary King saying that his Internet Crimes Against Children unit “has received reports that the PedoBear window sticker has been sighted in Albuquerque on at least two vehicles recently. We are very concerned about the potential link between the PedoBear symbol and pedophiles; we also want to increase public awareness of the potential danger to children, especially young girls.”

Images of this cartoon bear
have been associated with
picnic basket thieves

The news release included a flier and a photo of a Jeep in Albuquerque sporting a decal of the sinister cartoon bear.

A wolf in bear’s clothing: PedoBear started out as a Japanese anime cartoon character. Apparently some anime fans began posting his image on online forums if they thought someone was saying something inappropriate about children. It was a joke. Black humor.

But last year in California, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department issued warning about actual pedophiles adopting the symbol as a way to attract children. It’s almost identical to the one sent out by King’s office. Both contain the following text:

“At the San Diego Comic Con 2010 in July of this year, law enforcement discovered an individual dressed in a PedoBear costume, handing out candy and being photographed in contact with attendees, including multiple children. Once identified, the young man and his costume were excluded from the family-friendly event.”

Last year the flier made it to Tulsa, Okla., where police told a TV reporter that the guy at Comic Con was a convicted sex offender. He wasn’t. The TV station had to retract it.

Why do I get the sinking feeling that this also may be the story of that Albuquerque Jeep driver whose vehicle is in the attorney general’s press release? If there have been actual arrests of actual pedophiles using this symbol, it sure hasn’t shown up in any of these law enforcement warnings.

Protect the children: King spokesman Phil Sisneros said his office is aware that PedoBear started out as a joke. “... unfortunately, our investigators here and others around the country have found that pedophiles indeed have adopted the joke symbol and use it to identify each other. ... I guess we figure if we can prevent one child from being molested it is worth any ridicule we might get for publicizing this.”

I wish I had a buck for every bad piece of legislation passed or policy implemented based on “if we can prevent just one child from being harmed ... ”

Sisneros said that a sticker alone would never be the sole reason a suspected pedophile is investigated. “Just displaying the sticker is not against the law,” he said. “But it could draw the interest of law enforcement.”

Or maybe vigilantes.

Here’s an idea: Watch your kids. Tell them not to take candy or rides from strangers. But don’t get hysterical about every weird warning issued by well-meaning government officials.

Johnson Ponders Bid as Libertarian

2011-11-25T02:05:00.001-07:00

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson told me this week that he's well aware he’s not going to win the New Hampshire presidential primary and that he won’t be the 2012 Republican presidential candidate.

But, he said he’s seriously considering running for the Libertarian Party nomination for president.

“I feel abandoned by the Republican Party,” Johnson said in a phone interview. “The Republican Party has left me by the wayside.”

He’s been left out of all but two of the seemingly endless Republican presidential debates. His fundraising is low and his poll numbers are below radar level.

“If I’d have been included in 16 of the last debates we wouldn’t even be having this conversation,” Johnson said.

Johnson said there have been “overtures made” by the Libertarian Party. While there’s no guarantee he’d win the nomination, Johnson believes he’d have a fair chance.

See more in today's New Mexican.

No Debate Invites, But Gary Finds Some Sympathy

2011-11-23T10:09:00.001-07:00

Gov. Gary Johnson's exclusion from the Republican debates -- including last night'sas aroused foreign policy/national security debate -- has aroused sympathy for the former New Mexico governor in at least a couple of national media outlets.

In Slate, Dave Weigel wrote:

The rules that allowed no-hopers like Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, and Tom Tancredo into the 2007 debates would have let Johnson and Buddy Roemer in. So we're spared the presence of governors who last won elections in 1989 and 1998, and gifted with a senator who last won election in 2000 and a businessman who has never won anything. In the public interest. Or something like that.

Even Comedy Central's Indecision website is weighing in. Referring to the letter that Johnson sent to the Republican National Committee asking them to help open the debates, Indecision sarcastically wrote, "Whoa, settle down there Gary! Are you seriously suggesting that the RNC would allow certain voices within their party to be silenced by massive, wealthy media conglomerates?"

As for the RNC's contention that you have to have some thresholds to get into the debates or otherwise you'd have "utter chaos," the comedy website said:

Exactly. This isn't about excluding politicians who have unpopular views on social issues or who aren't rich enough. It's about making sure the debates are coherent events that allow voters to make reasonable judgments about who the best candidates are.

These candidates are poised and knowledgeable, and aren't into bickering or shouting matches. Gary Johnson just doesn't understand.

RNC: No Help for Gary Johnson

2011-11-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

It probably wasn't unexpected, but former Gov. Gary Johnson's recent appeal to the Republican National Committee for help in getting included in televised GOP debates (in his words, to "exert some leadership and reclaim the nominating process from the national news media who are today pre-ordaining the viability and success of candidates.") didn't get very far.

The Johnson campaign, in an email today, published the reply from the RNC. In it, chief counsel John R. Phillippe, Jr. points out that there are 21 Republicans who have filed in the New Hampshire primary.

"We simply have to have some minimum criteria in order for candidates to participate in these debates. Otherwise, the debates would be utter chaos and unhelpful to Republican voters as we select our nominee," Phillippe wrote.

He said the threshold for getting into RNC-sanctioned debates are $1 million in third-quarter fundraising or having an average of 3 percent in polls (as averaged by the Real Clear Politics site.)

Johnson's campaign manager, Ron Nielson, responded: “It is not surprising to us that the RNC feels it is not in a position to become involved in the presidential debate selection process in demanding that fairness be observed. Frankly, that is our concern. There is something wrong when CNN or CBS or the Washington Post can decide to exclude a successful two-term Republican governor from the field, and the RNC is powerless to do anything about it. Our only demand is fairness, and fairness isn’t happening.

“There is also something fundamentally wrong when one of the criterion for participation in the process -- embraced by the national party -- is a fundraising threshold. Since when does the size of one’s contributor list have anything to do with qualifications to lead the nation, and how is a candidate to be expected to raise millions of dollars when he is denied the opportunity to even appear on the debate stage?"

The old chicken and egg deal.

Here's the RNC letter, copied from Johnson's email:

Dear Governor Johnson:
Thank you for your letter to Chairman Priebus of October 20, 2011. As you know the Republican National Committee does not decide which candidates are invited to participate in every one of the presidential debates. Those decisions generally are made by the debate sponsors.

The RNC has, however, become involved in a limited fashion through the sanctioning of certain debates. Acting through the Committee on Presidential Debates, the RNC has set objective criteria to guide our decision as to which debates to sanction. Such criteria are necessary given how many individuals have declared candidacies for president. For example, 21 Republican candidates have filed in New Hampshire.

We simply have to have some minimum criteria in order for candidates to participate in these debates. Otherwise, the debates would be utter chaos and unhelpful to Republican voters as we select our nominee. The criteria chosen were aimed primarily at ensuring that only candidates exhibiting minimum indicia of viability would be allowed to participate. A candidate can establish that he or she has met this threshold by hitting certain fundraising targets or achieving a minimum level of support in public polling. The latter would allow candidates whose campaigns are more grassroots-oriented to still demonstrate viability even if they had not raised substantial money.

The third quarter threshold for fundraising was one million dollars, and the polling threshold, based on the RealClearPolitics average, was three percent. Eight candidates met at least one of these criteria. We will strongly encourage the debate sponsors to allow those candidates that meet that requirement to be included. With respect to non-RNC-sanctioned debates, you have to meet the criteria of the debate sponsors.

I understand the problem you and others have had with respect to being excluded from certain public polls. The RNC will work with various pollsters to encourage them to include as many candidates as possible in the polling.

We do not take your concerns lightly, and we appreciate your contacting us to raise the issues. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
John R. Phillippe, Jr. Chief Counsel

Will Ben Run or Not?

2011-11-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

I wrote a story in today's New Mexican about the fact that House Speaker Ben Lujan says he hasn't decided whether he'll seek re-election to his House seat.

"That's for me to decide," he said.

Well, that's true.

I pointed out that it's only four months until filing day. I also noted that there have been no stirrings from Carl Trujillo -- who lost to Lujan by 80-some votes last year -- or any other potential opponents.

But I also should point out that last election, hardly anyone had heard about Trujillo until filing day.

So, all I can say is stay tuned.

Roundhouse Roundup: A Turkish Friendship Dinner

2011-11-21T01:07:00.001-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Nov. 20, 2011

At first glance, it looked as though it might be some kind of political dinner. The room was crawling with politicians, especially legislators.

But it was a bi-partisan affair. There were Democrats, such as state Reps. Henry “Kiki” Saavedra, Rick Miera, Al Park and Moe Maestas, and Republicans, such as state Sen. Bill Payne, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry and Reps. Jimmie Hall and Jim White.

The event, which took place at Marriott Pyramid hotel in Albuquerque last week, was The Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner for the local chapter of the Institute of Interfaith Dialogue. The institute is associated with the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, a Texas-based organization with chapters in Oklahoma, Kansas, Mississippi and several other states. It’s mainly made up of Turkish-Americans and Turkish people who live the United States. There are an estimated 500 Turks in New Mexico.

Tolerance and dialogue were the main themes of the dinner. The Democrats, Republicans and others seemed to have no trouble tolerating each other. They even tolerated a few news dogs among them.

Fethullah Gulen

The Turquoise Council and the Interfaith Dialogue Institute are associated with the Gulen movement, inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish-born Muslim theologian known for a moderate brand of Islam that stresses education and tolerance for other religions and cultures. Gulen, for the past several years, has lived in Pennsylvania.

A few months ago, I wrote about this group sponsoring trips to Turkey for several legislators. As both the Attorney General’s Office and the Legislative Council explained, there is nothing illegal about these trips. The organization does not lobby the Legislature. There has been no legislation affecting the Turkish groups except a couple of innocuous and nonbinding memorials giving lip service to friendship between New Mexico and Turkey, etc. There is a Gulen charter school in Albuquerque, but nobody has asked the Legislature for any special favors for the school.

As I’ve said before, my problem with the trips is not with the Turkish organizations, but with New Mexico state law. There’s no mechanism to report the trips — which consist of about 10 days of lodging and food and, in at least some cases, airfare from Albuquerque and Istanbul. They aren’t campaign contributions and they aren’t gifts from lobbyists, so there’s no way to know whether someone is paying for an overseas trip for your legislator.

Politicians, for some reason, never issue press releases about such things.

But I also was interested in attending this dinner because of some rather rabid reaction I got from the previous stories about the Turkish trips. According to several emails I received and comments on my blog, there’s something very sinister about these guys. One gentle reader asked in a blog comment , “... are you really defending a ‘religion’ that idolizes a murdering warlord and his violent exploits against unbelievers????”

I can see how a group that espouses friendship, tolerance, education and finding common ground might make this guy uncomfortable.

So are the politicians who go to Turkey on the dime of the Turquoise Council dupes of an extremist Muslim movement? Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think I’m going to question the patriotism of Rear Admiral Bill Payne, a former Navy SEAL.

As a Gulen-movement paper in Turkey pointed out, U.S. critics of Gulen claim that an extreme Islamic fundamentalist lies beneath his public statements and that he is someone who wants to bring Sharia law to both Turkey and the United States. In Turkey, though, his enemies portray him as a Zionist puppet of the CIA and Israel.

I can relate to that. Here in the U.S., reporters have a saying, which I’ll clean up a little for the Sunday paper: If you’ve got both sides (angry) at you, you must be doing your job.

Ben Ray Gets Dem Challenger

2011-11-18T18:40:00.001-07:00

Sean Closson

A 25-year-old Santa Fe artist and hotel worker is challenging incumbent Democrat Ben Ray Lujan in next year’s Democratic primary.

Sean Closson, a political novice is challenging Lujan, currently serving his second term in Congress, announced his candidacy in a column published in the well-known national liberal website The Daily Kos.

“I'm here to represent the people who don't have lobbyists,” he said in the Nov. 5 column. “People who are struggling just to make rent and feed their families. People who get foreclosed on, even when they did everything right. People who's job gets sent overseas, or can't afford gas to heat their homes, or who have to hide in the shadows of society because they don't have the right paperwork. The people who, up to this point, have borne all the consequences of the recession, while those who are the best off reap record profits and enjoy unparalleled freedom to buy our elections.”

On his website he wrote, “They’ll try to smear me, destroy me personally, convince people I’m a bad person, a socialist, a hippy, a nut job, whatever will stick. Come at me, bro. I don’t care.”

Closson, who now works at a local hotel, was unemployed for several months after his temporary job with the U.S. Census ended.

He says that his experience being unemployed gives him a good perspective for representing the district. “I'm not someone who at some vague point in the distant past experienced some economic hardship. I'm someone who was on unemployment in 2010,” he said in the column.

Closson also criticizes Lujan for co-sponsoring the Stop Online Piracy Act. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would give the U.S. Justice Department and copyright holders more power in fighting intellectual property theft. Supporters say it’s needed to stop theft. Critics say the bill could lead to censorship of the Internet.

“Under this act, sites like Google, YouTube, and Twitter could all be shut down by the Department of Justice for linking to infringing content,” Closson said in a statement. “... It's too broad, it's draconian, and it would destroy the Internet as we know it today.”

Defeating an incumbent is rarely easy. Lujan, who faced no primary opposition in 2010, already has amassed more than $280,000 in campaign contributions, according to his latest report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Closson said he comes from a military family that moved several times during his youth. He went to high school in North Carolina and college in Florida, where he graduated from the Ringling College of Art & Design.

He moved to Santa Fe in the summer of 2008. He said he chose this town because it's the second largest art market in the country.

While Closson is attacking from the left, Lujan also got a Republican challenger recently Businessman Rick Newton of Taos, whose career has included high-profile deep-sea recovery projects, announced his candidacy late last month.

SOS Duran's Car Involved in Fatal Accident

2011-11-18T10:57:00.001-07:00

Here's some sad news. Secretary of State Dianna Duran's car was one of several vehicles that struck a pedestrian on Santa Fe's bypass (NM 599) last night.

Apparently she driving was one of the cars that hit the man after he initially was struck on the road.

New Mexican crime reporter Geoff Grammer has the story HERE.

Duran issued a statement this morning:

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim who lost his life Thursday evening on Highway 599 and Camino La Tierra.

This past evening at approximately 7:30 while driving home from work, my car was apparently one of multiple vehicles to pass over what appeared to be an animal that had been struck in the middle of the right lane of Highway 599.

We later learned that what I believed to have been an animal was in fact the body of someone who had been hit a few minutes before while crossing the highway.

I am sure other drivers have been just as shocked and saddened as I have been to learn what had actually taken place in this tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the family for this tragic loss of life.

Police Capt. Aric Wheeler told Grammer, "We aren't sure how many vehicles may have hit the man or maybe drove through the scene collecting evidence without even realizing it."

UPDATE 3:45 pm: Geoff Grammer has more details on The New Mexican site.

SOS to Send 104 Cases to Attorney General

2011-11-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Secretary of State Dianna Duran will be sending the Attorney General’s Office the names of 104 non-citizens who have registered to vote in New Mexico.

Of these, 19 have actually cast ballots in elections in the state, according to a report Duran submitted this week to legislators and county clerks.

The 18-page report, called “Interim Progress Report: Ongoing Efforts by the Secretary of State’s Office to Improve the Accuracy and Integrity of the Statewide Voter File.” doesn’t accuse anyone of consciously committing voter fraud. But the report says the possibility of fraud is there.

More in tomorrow's New Mexican.

The report is below:

SOS Interim Report 11 17 11 Final

Text Books for Religious Schools

2011-11-17T10:20:00.001-07:00

An interesting constitutional question is being raised by a petition to the state Supreme Court. A Santa Fe woman and a Las Cruces man are challenging the constitutionality of a 40-year-old state law that permits the state to distribute free text books to private schools, including church-run schools.

The state Public Education Department says, correctly, that they're just following the law. But does the law itself pass constitutional muster?

Attorney Gary King, who along with Gov. Susana Martinez, is a defendant in the case, gave some powerful suggestions that the law indeed may be unconstitutional.

My story about this is HERE. The AG's opinion, written last December, is HERE.

Roundhouse Roundup: Extremists, Fascists, Terrorists & Libyan Agents Ru Amok in NM Politics

2011-11-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Nov. 13, 2011

Political rhetoric by its very nature tends to be overheated, over-reaching and hyperbolic. You can’t really blame the people who write it. You’re not going to fire up your crowd by saying, “There are several technical issues over which we don’t see eye-to-eye with our opponents.”

But in recent days there have been several cases here in which the political rhetoric, accusations and insinuations have gone overboard.

I’m tempted to say that it’s the worst hyperbole in the history of the world!

Extremist Teddy Bears' Picnic

On Wednesday, the state Republican Party sent out a news release bashing the Bernalillo County Commission for nominating a Democrat, Lisa Curtis, to take the place of longtime State Sen. Kent Cravens, an Albuquerque Republican who is stepping down to become a lobbyist for the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association.

I can see why the GOP would be upset. It’s a heavily Republican district that Cravens has represented for more than a decade, and commissioners selected Curtis on a party-line vote. But the party’s press release cried that the commission appointed a “Liberal Extremist.”

There was a time not so long ago when the word “extremist” was reserved for wild-eyed maniacs with bombs strapped across their chests or jackboots on their feet.

Reading on, I learned the “extremist” was Lisa Curtis, president of the state Trail Lawyers Association. Granted, Republicans don’t like trial lawyers, but “extremist”? (The basis for this charge is that Curtis doesn’t support repealing the law that allows illegal immigrants to have driver’s licenses and is against Gov. Susana Martinez’s proposal to stop “social promotion” in elementary schools.)

Then there was the case of Christopher Monkton, a global-warming skeptic who recently spoke in Santa Fe. His use of — and defense of — the word “eco-fascists” to describe his critics even raised an eyebrow at the conservative Capitol Report New Mexico news site.

But not all the hyperbole is on the right end of the spectrum.

Last week the pro Democratic Party group Progress New Mexico sent an alarming news release: “Did Martinez Hand-Pick a Quaddafi Advisor to Join PRC?!” screamed the subject line.

The email went on to point out that Doug Howe, who Gov. Susana Martinez appointed to take the place of disgraced former commissioner Jerome Block Jr. on the Public Regulation Commission, had “served as an advisor to former Libyan dictator Muammar Quaddafi’s government from 2005-2007 while working for the Cambridge Energy Research Group ... If Howe was the best fit to design a system to serve Moammar Quaddafi why in the world would Susana Martinez allow him to regulate New Mexico?”

Oh no! Susana plans to murder her own citizens to stay in power using her Libyan puppets on the PRC!

Or something.

Howe told the Associated Press that his firm was hired by the Libyan electric company to help upgrade its management and operating practices to provide a more reliable supply of electricity. He said he only dealt with management of the utility during his work there. This was after the U.S. had resumed diplomatic relations with Libya and lifted terrorism-related sanctions against the country. He said he never met with any government official or member of the dictator’s family.

But it’s not just the political pros who engage in this rhetorical overkill. There were photos in this week’s Santa Fe Reporter of a guy who hates living near the Rail Runner tracks so much he goes out with a protest sign when a train passes.

The picture that caught my eye featured the man with a sign that read, “Rail Runner: State Sponsored Terrorists.”

That’s right. Some terrorists blow up school buses. Others operate commuter trains.

Some might say that, a year before the 2012 election, the “silly season” has started. But the beauty of the world of New Mexico politics is that silly season lasts year-round.

Perry's Debate Flub Brings Back Memories

2011-11-10T12:59:00.002-07:00

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's disastrous flub in last night's Republican debate on CNBC -- in which he couldn't remember the third of three cabinet departments he said he'd eliminate -- stirred some memories of debates in the past. First here's Perry's big moment.

The first thing I thought of was the infamous 2006 debate debate between two New Mexico Congressional candidates, Republican Heather Wilson and Democrat Patricia Madrid. Madrid's painful hesitancy in answering a question from Wilson about tax increases is painful to watch. The Wilson campaign campaign got a devastating attack ad out of this moment. Some believe this was the deciding factor in that extremely close race.

However, when I was watching the debate at home, I thought the question shown in the below video was a far worse mistake on Madrid's part.

Below are a couple of examples from presidential debates. I like the first one especially because it features Michael Dukakis himself owning up to the fact that he blew it with with his dispassionate answer to the infamous hypothetical question about whether he'd want the death penalty if someone raped and killed his wife.

And the mother of all debate gaffes ...

UPDATE: 1:58 pm A co-worker just reminded me of this one from last year.

Howe Says Think NM Plan for PRC is Worth Considering

2011-11-09T18:01:00.001-07:00

It wasn't exactly an endorsement, but new Public Regulation Commissioner Doug Howe has gone on record saying Think New Mexico's plan to reform the commission has some good ideas.

"I think their calls for certain qualifications and a possible tearing off of the commission to other agencies is something to consider," Howe told The New Mexico Independent yesterday.

Howe, who was appointed to serve the remainder of disgraced former Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr.'s term, wouldn't have any problem meeting Think New Mexico's proposed minimum qualifications -- a college degree or five years experience in any of the various areas regulated by the commission . He's got a PhD in mathematics and decades of experience in utilities.

Other commissioners to say they like some of the Think New Mexico proposals are Pat Lyons and Jason Marks.

However, Commissioners Ben Hall and Theresa Becenti-Aguilar are very much against the proposals.

In related news, Howe denies he was an accomplice of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

National Dems Advertising in NM

2011-11-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Democratic National Committee is targeting New Mexico as well as two other swing states, Ohio and North Carolina, with a new ad supporting President Obama's jobs plan. This is right before an expected Senate vote on part of Obama's plan that relates to hiring veterans.

It's a fairly low-key ad, focusing on an unemployed Iraq war vet. The only "finger-pointing" is the part that says " ...it's paid for by asking millionaires and corporations to pay their fair share. But Republicans have said no."

It looks like the Dems are playing to sports fans. Besides CNN, the ad will be running on ESPN and the NFL Network.

This is the second ad the DNC has run in this state this year -- and the first one in English.

Here's the ad:

A Tale of Two Non-Citizen Voters

2011-11-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

Secretary of State Dianna Duran last week informed Attorney General Gary King about two cases of non-citizens registering to vote in New Mexico.

But neither case involves sneaky illegal immigrants using their New Mexico driver's licenses to register in hopes of committing voter fraud.

In fact both cases involve people who registered to vote not realizing that it was against the law to do so. And in fact, both voluntarily asked to be taken off the voter rolls, Duran said.

The problem, Duran told King, could be the voter registration process, specifically third-party registration agents. Some foreign nationals used foreign documentation to get their voter registrations.

These are the first — and so far only — specific cases of noncitizens on the voter rolls Duran has reported since she told legislators earlier this year that she had found 117 foreign nationals who had registered to vote. Duran said at the time at least 37 of those people had actually voted in state elections.

That's the case with one of the two people Duran told King about. He's been voting in nearly every election since 1998.

My story about this is in today's New Mexican is HERE

Here's Duran's letter to King.

Duran King Letter 11-3-11

Independent Appointed to Block's Old PRC Seat

2011-11-07T16:24:00.002-07:00

Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed Santa Fe energy consultant Doug Howe to fill out the term of Jerome Block, Jr., who resigned last month from the Public Regulation Commission.

Howe is a registered independent. He will join two Democrats and two Republicans on the PRC, which regulates utilities, corporations, the insurance and transportation industries and other areas.

Here's the governor's news release:

Governor Susana Martinez announced today that she has appointed Doug Howe of Santa Fe to represent District Three on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. Howe is a professional in the energy sector who currently serves as a consultant to Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA), a research and consulting company focused on regulatory, policy, environmental, and conservation issues. He will fill the seat vacated by former Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr., who resigned from his position on October 7.

“Northern and Central New Mexicans deserve a commissioner who is competent, trustworthy, and focused on the numerous issues in front of the PRC,” said Governor Martinez. “As an accomplished professional who is well-versed in energy, environmental, and regulatory issues, Dr. Howe has demonstrated the knowledge and experience required to serve capably on behalf of the people of New Mexico. I am confident that he is the right pick to serve on the PRC and will approach his position thoughtfully and professionally.”

Since 2010, Howe has served as an independent consultant to IHS CERA, working on issues relating to regulations, environmental policy, renewable energy, and conservation for companies in the global energy sector. From 2002 to 2010, Howe was employed by IHS CERA as a senior director and consultant. He has also worked as Vice President for Regulatory Policy for General Public Utilities Service Corporation and acted as a consultant to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He has consulted on a number of energy issues and development projects in the United States and abroad. Howe holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Kansas State University and earned his M.S. and PhD in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a registered Decline-to-State voter.

Following Block’s announcement that he would resign from the PRC, the Governor’s office received roughly 90 applications for the vacant seat, which serves portions or all of Bernalillo County, Colfax County, De Baca County, Guadalupe County, Harding County, Los Alamos County, Rio Arriba County, San Miguel County, Sandoval County, Santa Fe County, Taos County, and Union County. After reviewing applications with a focus on professional qualifications and experience, Governor Martinez announced five finalists for the position on October 24. The Governor’s appointment of Howe is effective immediately.

Roundhouse Roundup: The 2012 Attack Ads Are Starting!

2011-11-06T10:41:00.001-07:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Nov. 6, 2011

The 2012 negative campaign ad season is upon us. There are only 365 slandering days left until the general election.

Last week, a national group connected to the Democrats’ favorite right-wing billionaire boogeymen, David and Charles Koch, began exercising its right to free speech in New Mexico and other battleground states by launching a $2.4 million television ad campaign targeting President Obama on the Solyndra solar company scandal.

The 60-second spot is running here as well as Florida, Michigan and Virginia.

The group Americans for Prosperity announced this the day after U.S. Tom Udall announced his proposed constitutional amendment to allow the federal government and state governments to regulate campaign contributions and spending — including “independent expenditures” by groups such as Americans for Prosperity.

Udall, at a Washington, D.C., press conference, lamented the proliferation of campaign ads that are “overwhelmingly nasty, negative and mean-spirited” since last year’s “Citizens United” decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

I later spoke with state House Republican Leader Tom Taylor of Farmington. While not endorsing Udall’s proposal, Taylor also spoke with disdain about the unwelcome barrage of attack ads by mysterious groups with generic-sounding names.

Just thinking about the inevitable wall-to-wall attack ads — which will have even political junkies like me pulling hair out — made me think that singer John Prine had the right idea 40 years ago in the song, “Spanish Pipedream:”

“Blow up your TV.”
The first shot: As far as attack ads go, “Obama’s Green Giveaway” actually is relatively restrained. The issue is bound to be embarrassing for Obama, but the delivery is not as vicious as many I’ve seen.

The Koch Bros: Beware those wealthy donors!

“Wealthy donors with ties to Solyndra give Obama hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the spot begins. “What does Obama give them in return? Half a billion in tax-payer money to give to his friends at Solyndra, a business the White House knew was on the path to bankruptcy, but loaned them the money anyway.”

The narrator continues: “What’s worse? The Obama administration has just approved a billion dollars in loans to solar companies who also donated money to Democrats.”

The implication: The contributions were the main reason for the loans. Plus, being “solar companies,” they’re bound to fail, just like Solyndra.

The ad concludes, “Tell President Obama you shouldn’t use taxpayer money for political favors.”

Good advice. Of course, the ad stops short of saying the government should stop subsides to oil companies that contribute big cash bucks to politicians.

A Washington Post blog in September reported that “evidence is mounting that there was something irregular about the way the Solyndra deal got greenlighted.”

The blog noted White House emails — some of which appear in the ad — from the administration pressing the Office of Management and Budget to approve the deal in time for a Solyndra groundbreaking ceremony in September 2009.

But the Post noted that Solyndra’s loan was initiated by the Bush administration and that several key investors were Republicans. The Energy Department’s loan guarantee program has made $38 billion in loans for 40 projects.

Here's the ad:

New Corrections Secretary Appointed

2011-11-04T14:23:00.002-06:00

Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed Gregg Marcantel, who has been serving as acting deputy secretary at the troubled state Corrections Department to serve as secretary. Marcantel also has been a deputy secretary at the state Public Safety Department.

He replaces Lupe Martinez, who resigned in August, shortly after her live-in boyfriend became the subject of a police investigation for firing a gun outside of their home on the penitentiary grounds.

According a news release from the Governor's Office:

Marcantel served in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office for almost 19 years, most recently holding the rank of Captain and assigned as the Division Commander of the Criminal Investigations Division. In addition, he led the department’s Support Services Division, overseeing the agency’s $31 million budget and managing many of its operations. Marcantel has also held the rank of Captain with the Bernalillo Police Department and served as a Law Enforcement Coordination Manager for the United States Department of Justice. He was also elected Executive Director of the New Mexico Gang Task Force. He has served as Deputy Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety since June 2011. Marcantel holds a Master of Science degree in Forensic Science and Legal Psychology from the University of Leicester and a Bachelor degree in Criminal Justice from Chaminade University of Honolulu. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and served in Operation Desert Storm. He is a resident of Sandoval County.

Interestly, Marcantel was quoted in an investigative piece on Corrections Department problems in the New Mexico Watchdog: "Marcantel said he doesn’t consider himself part of long-term management at Corrections. During his interim role, he is determined to get a handle on problems while not upstaging whomever soon steps in to lead the department."

The governor also announced that she is filing three vacant warden positions. Two of the three have been serving as acting wardens at their respective prisons.

Get Those Reports In!

2011-11-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

A couple of unsuccessful legislative candidates, as well as a political action committee used to help Javier Gonzales re-elected as state Democratic Party chairman last spring found out this week that they're going to have to pay the state at least $850 for not filing their campaign finance reports on time last week.

I wrote a story about that in today's New Mexican.

According to state law, the fine for not filing on time is $50 a work day, up to the maximum of $5,000. The reports were due on Oct. 11.

Ken Ortiz, chief of staff for Secretary of State Diana Duran, told me that it's not clear whether this law actually has been enforced before.

There could be some significantly larger fines coming down the road. Ortiz said he's sending letters to 40-50 candidates who have failed to file multiple reports in recent years. Stay tuned.

Unmoderated Chat with Gary Johnson

2011-11-02T10:45:00.000-06:00

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, will be the first candidate to engage in a live unmoderated “town hall” video chat on Yowie.

You can participate and follow the discussion at The New Mexican's website. The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. Mountain Time on Wednesday.

“Yowie enables me to have a direct digital dialogue with the public and engage in an open Q&A on key issues like smaller government, the economy, drug policy reform, tax reform, or any question a participant wishes to ask — no topic is off limits,” Johnson said in a news release.

Johnson’s campaign is considered a longshot. Lagging in the polls, he has been excluded from all but two of the GOP debates so far.

“Considering this is the first unmoderated online video chat by a U.S. Presidential candidate, we hope it sets a good example of how technology can help further bridge the gap between voters and their elected officials and candidates,” Johnson said.

R.I.P. Gerald Gonzales

2011-11-02T01:40:00.000-06:00

I was shocked Tuesday to learn of the death of former Santa Fe Country Manager Gerald Gonzales. He died of cancer at the age of 68.

Gerald, a lawyer by profession, had a number of high-profile government jobs. I knew him in recent years mainly as a spokesman for state Senate Democrats. He always was pleasant and easy to work with.

At one point in his career he was chief of staff for Tom Udall when Udall first went to Congress.

Udall, now a U.S. senator issued a statement Tuesday praising Gonzales:

"Gerald Gonzales was thoughtful, intelligent and loved New Mexico, its people and our history. That is why I hired him as my first chief of staff in the House of Representatives. He had a long career in New Mexico government and Jill and I are saddened to hear of his passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with Gerald’s wife Carrie and his entire family at this difficult time."

My colleague Tom Sharpe has more on Gerald in today's New Mexican.

Republican to Challenge Ben Ray

2011-10-31T17:16:00.004-06:00

Although the Third Congressional District generally is considered to be a "safe" Democratic seat, a Republican who recently moved to Taos will announce Tuesday that he's challenging incumbent Dem Ben Ray Lujan next year.

Rick Newton is a businessman whose career has included high-profile deep-sea recovery projects. According to his campaign website, Newton was involved in the recovery of a nuclear-powered Soviet submarine in the Pacific Ocean, the SS Central America, a steamship that sank in 1857 with an estimated $1 billion in gold, and other underseas projects.

He also helped prepare Soviet nuclear threat assessments for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT).

Newton currently owns a small security technology company with patents applied for, his campaign manager Ken Scarborough of Taos said in an email today.

Newton has been living in Albuquerque but recently signed a contract for a lease to purchase on a home in Taos, Scarborough said. He has owned other property in the Taos area, Scarborough said.

According to his website and a campaign brochure, Newton not only advocates changing some existing laws, but also amending the U.S. Constitution. He says the 16th Amendment should be repealed to get rid of the IRS, and replace the personal income tax with a flat tax.

He also wants to amend the Constitution to prohibit Islamic Shariah Law and "clarify" the separation of Church and State. Newton would insert language saying “No religion shall advocate the violation of any law found to be constitutional nor engage in any sedition to disobey any such law."

Newton also favors changing the equal protection clause of 14th Amendment to apply on to U.S. citizens, not "any person" as the amendment reads. This is to prevent "anchor babies" -- children born of foreign parents in the U.S. automatically becoming citizens.

In the last election, Lujan’s opponent Tom Mullins raised controversy when he joked in a radio interview about using land mines along the border to stop illegal immigration.

Newton is taking a different approach to that issue. “I have experience in new border security technologies that detect tunnels and safely ‘repel’ those attempting to cross illegally,” his brochure says. “Without harming anyone, my plan treats border crossers with respect and directs them to Points of Entry where they can enter legally. We need and want legal guest workers with specific education and skills. Drug transporters and terrorists can be detected at (points of entry) and dealt with forcefully.”

Lujan is serving his second term in Congress. Newton will be his first challenger, Republican or Democrat, in the 2012 race.

Roundhouse Roundup: Flashing Back to UNM Protests

2011-10-30T09:29:00.000-06:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 30, 2011

I was following on Twitter last week’s confrontation between police and (Un)Occupy Albuquerque protesters when, shortly after midnight Wednesday, I got a first-hand report from Yale Park from my son, a student at The University of New Mexico.

Even though some of the protesters had already been arrested, he was in good spirits. I think that he just wanted to let me know that he was there. And that he was safe.

Clearing Yale Park early Wednesday

I remember making a similar call to my mother from UNM nearly 40 years ago. Except I was far more scared. This was back during the Vietnam War protests in 1972. I’d just seen a police officer open fire on a small group of protesters near Yale Park. My buddy Frank, who’d been right beside me, was hit in the arm with birdshot.

I’d called my mom just to let her know I was OK — even though that shooting hadn’t been on the news — neither Frank nor the others who caught some birdshot were seriously injured — and she probably didn’t start worrying until I called.

Last week’s Yale Park situation brought back a lot of memories of those freshman-year anti-war protests. President Nixon’s May 8, 1972, announcement that he was mining North Vietnamese harbors sparked protests on campuses all over the country. It would be the last of the great anti-Vietnam war protests in these parts.

I hate to sound like a cranky old goat saying, “You think you kids got it rough, well, in my day ...”

But I’m going to anyway.

Compared with those 1972 protests, the police handling of the (Un)Occupy situation at UNM on Wednesday morning was downright friendly.

That’s little comfort, of course, to anyone who experienced the bitter taste of teargas last week. But back in ’72, police helicopters dropped teargas on demonstrators — and bystanders — all over campus during a week of protests.

Even worse, the day before my friend was shot, a reporter from the Daily Lobo was seriously injured when a police officer shot her in the chest and stomach. This was right after police used teargas to clear Interstate 25 near Central Avenue of protesters who were blocking the highway. (The reporter was hospitalized, but she lived.) This occurred on a street off Central while hundreds of students, including me, were fleeing.

One big difference between then and now is that current UNM President David Schmidly is the one who ordered the clearing of “Coyote Camp” at Yale Park. Back in ’72, UNM’s president stood with the protesters.

Dr. Heady

On the day after my friend was shot at Yale Park, Albuquerque police declared an 11 p.m. curfew and threatened to move in and arrest anyone who defied it. Naturally, hundreds, maybe thousands of protesters gathered at the UNM mall in defiance. The crowd probably was at least twice the size it would have been had that gauntlet not been thrown.

I was almost certain that we would all be gassed, perhaps clubbed and probably arrested. But shortly before 11, university President Ferrel Heady, who initially had ordered the curfew, appeared and made an announcement: “If they’re going to arrest you, they’ll have to arrest me, too.” He was cheered and no police action occurred that night. Just about all the protesters left within the hour.

I don’t think there was any way Schmidly would have stood with his students the way that Heady stood with us.

But I can’t help but think how this week’s confrontation could have been avoided had Schmidly just extended (Un)Occupy’s permit for Yale Park and not created the deadline to leave, which, just like in 1972, served mainly to swell the crowd size.

With the coming winter, the Yale Park campout — if not the Occupy movement itself — was bound to end soon anyway. Extending the permit could have saved some teargas, jail cell space, police overtime and a lot of hard feelings.

For a description of the 1972 UNM demonstrations and Heady's role in managing the crisis click HERE and scroll down.

Big $$ in Senate Races

2011-10-26T11:42:00.002-06:00

I finally ploughed through the most recent campaign finance reports of New Mexico's U.S Senate candidates. You can find that story HERE.

Some have questioned where the generically-named Good Government Fund, the major contributor to Republican Heather Wilson, came from. It's a a joint fundraising committee associated with Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's political-action committee, which raised money for Wilson and other Republican candidates.

The Wilson campaign provided me with a copy of the GGF's most recent report. I've posted it below.

My story points out that Democrat Martin Heinrich got a contribution from Gerald Cassidy, who was the focus of a book called So Damn Much Money, The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government by Robert G. Kaiser. There's an interesting reading from that book by the author, which originally was broadcast on NPR. You can find that HERE.

UPDATE 12: 49 pm I originally reported that state Rep. Zach Cook had contributed to Democrat Hector Balderas' campaign. The online version of The New Mexican story has been changed (as has this blog) to reflect the $300 contribution actually came from Angie Schneider-Cook, the representative's wife. She just told me she went to law school with Balderas.

Here's that "Good Government" report:

Good Government Fund 3rd Quarter 2011 Report 101311

Egolf: Renew the Permit for Occupy Protesters at UNM

2011-10-25T16:36:00.000-06:00

State Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe is asking University of New Mexico President David Schmidly to hold off on clearing UNM's campus in Albuquerque.

The university announced a day ago that the school wouldn't renew (Un)Occuppy Albuquerque's permit, citing safety concerns. The school ordered protesters to leave Yale Park by 10 p.m.

I realize that the presence of the protestors poses serious issues for campus management and securiry, but there are important and compelling First Amendment issues involved that bear serious consideration by you and your staff. As you know, the University occupies a special place in Albuquerque - both literally and figuratively. By forcing the protestors out, you are preventing them from making their views known to a large audience. I also believe that the University - as both a state-funded institution and as a place where debate and the exchange of ideas are encouraged - has a special role to play in the ongoing protests.

Egolf was the only legislator I saw at the Occupy Santa Fe event I covered on Saturday.

This brings back personal memories of my first campus protest nearly 40 years ago at UNM, the last great anti-Vietnam war protest in these parts. Albuquerque Police had declared a midnight curfew and threatened to move in and arrest anyone who defied it. This was 1972, so thousands of protesters gathered at the UNM to defy it.

But shortly before midnight, UNM President Ferrel Heady appeared and told us, "If they're going to arrest you, they'll have to arrest me too."

No police action occurred.

Here's a copy of the letter Egolf sent to the current UNM president.

Egolf Letter to Schmidly

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Psychological Warfare Endorsements, Wiccan Politics and More

2011-10-23T05:01:00.000-06:00

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 23, 2011

A wise editor recently pointed out that political endorsements don’t really mean anything. Few if any voters, he said, actually vote for any politician because some other politician endorsed him.

That’s true. But like any political junkie, I find it fascinating to check out the ducks that candidates try to get in a row.

For months, the candidates for U.S. Senate in both parties have been flooding reporters’ email inboxes with endorsement announcements. This especially is true for Republican Heather Wilson, who started out her latest campaign with a long list of endorsements from various past and present Republican leaders.

A recent Wilson email caught my eye. The former congresswoman has picked up the support of two Republican state senators, Rod Adair of Roswell and Caroll Leavell of Jal. This means 14 of the 15 Republican state senators are supporting her. (Sen. Bill Sharer of Farmington is the lone holdout. At least so far.)

Conventional wisdom is that Wilson is employing the bandwagon effect, making it look like everyone is on board, so you should be, too. But I wonder, in the case of the state senators, whether there’s a little psychological warfare going on here.

When her main opponent, Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, is presiding over the state Senate, he has to look out at a crowd of Democrats and Republicans supporting his opponent.

Casting his spell: Like failed Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, Gary Johnson is not a witch. But he did take the time last week to talk to a group of Pagan journalists at an online Google+ “Hangout” for nearly an hour and a half in his long-shot presidential bid.

Johnson talks with Wiccans

That’s right, while some of his GOP rivals at Tuesday night’s CNN debate talked about tolerating Mormons, Johnson was talking politics with the Wiccans — and one Hindu who joined in the questioning.

This group seemed to be concerned about the same kinds of things non-Pagan Americans are worried about.

Among the topics they had in mind for the former New Mexico governor were witchy, spooky, exotic topics such as taxes, campaign-finance reporting, Social Security, education funding, gay rights and corporate influence in government.

OK, there were some questions that might seem as though they came out of left field — the federal prohibition against selling raw milk across state lines and teaching yoga in public schools. (Johnson used that question as an opportunity to plug his support for “school choice” or government vouchers for private schools.)

Libertarian Johnson also talked about the separation of church and state and his own religious views, which he summed up as “Doing unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Johnson added, “I’m just going to go out on a limb here and guess you espouse that same feeling.”

The video interview is available HERE .

Keeping Occupied: Johnson also dropped in last week on another constituency that’s not traditionally Republican — the Occupy Wall Street demonstration.

Johnson said he doesn’t agree with all the points of all the protesters. “I, for one, believe everyone deserves to be heard, whether I agree with them or not. In that sense, it is a mistake to dismiss these protests, and I wanted to at least take the time to see what they are about,” he said in a news release Wednesday.

“I found one thing to be clear ... these protests are one more symptom of the anger Americans, including me, feel about an outrageous jobless rate, a government that bails out people who don’t deserve to be bailed out, and policies that have us spending billions on wars we shouldn’t be fighting, especially when we have real needs right here at home.”

(See my story on Saturday's Occupy Santa Fe rally HERE.)

"Shadow Group"'s Ads Hit the Airwaves

2011-10-19T16:32:00.002-06:00

I did a story about Independent Source PAC's radio ad campaign which lambaste Gov. Susana Martinez's administration on three separate issues.

ISP is a liberal political action committee headed by Michael Corwin, an Albuquerque private detective who frequently works opposition research for various Democratic candidates.

The ads deal with three cases ISP calls conflicts of interest in the administration: Chief of Staff Keith Gardner's wife getting hired at the Public Education Department; State Personnel Board Chairman Paul Yarborough being vice president of an Albuquerque law firm that has state contracts amounting to more than $500,000; and Patty Matthews, the PED's charter-school czar coming from a lawfirm that represents charter schools.

The Governor's Office declined comment except to say the ads "appear to be backed by a shadow group intent on opposing education reform and defending the status quo in New Mexico's education system, which has failed to adequately prepare our kids to read and learn."

You can find the story HERE.

Funny Cigarettes

2011-10-18T11:16:00.001-06:00

These tax stamps are old (1943)
I stole this image from www.ericjackson.com

In today's New Mexican I wrote about two cases of Indian leaders who have gotten into trouble for having businesses that sold cigarettes without the required state tax stamps.

The first case is that of Paul Rainbird, former lieutenant governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo and head of the Southwest Association for Indian Affairs (which sponsors Santa Fe Indian Market) . He was sentenced to prison last week for his Internet smoke business.

The other case is current secretary of the state Indian Affairs Department, Arthur Allison, whose store near Farmington, at least earlier this year, was selling cigarette without tax stamps as well as a brand of cigarettes, Seneca, which isn't on the state list of approved brands.

Attorney General Gary King wrote to Gov. Susana Martinez about this in May (that letter is HERE) but the Associated Press was able to buy the forbidden cigarettes in Allison's store in June.

Martinez's spokesman Scott Darnell said yesterday that since then, Allison has transferred ownership of the store to his son, who had been running the store for more than a year.

I'd asked the Attorney General's Office about the status of its investigation into Allison's store. Spokesman Phil Sisneros told me this morning. He said the office "is now focusing our efforts on the manufacturers of the cigarettes." They want the Seneca manufacturers to pay escrowmoney that was in question.

Judge Murphy Gets Indictment Reinstated

2011-10-17T17:41:00.000-06:00

Heath Haussamen has the whole story about Las Cruces Judge Mike Murphy HERE.

Basically Judge Leslie Smith, who is overseeing the case against Murphy, now says he was misled by Murphy's lawyer.

Murphy is accused of soliciting bribes from a prospective judge, allegedly to be paid to then Gov. Bill Richardson for a judicial appointment.

An affidavit released by special prosecutor Matt Chandler indicated that the practice of paying for judicial appointments was common in the state.

Richardson as well as Murphy have denied wrongdoing.

Who's Behind the Flag?

2011-10-17T16:31:00.000-06:00

Whoever is in charge of the Public Regulation Commission's website had a novel way of dealing with the Jerome Block vacancy. Just cover the District 3 spot with the state flag.

We don't know yet who's behind the flag. Gov. Susana Martinez and her staff have the unenviable task of going through 88 applications.

Monday, Monday

2011-10-17T10:23:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday to ya. Ready to start the work week.

In case you missed my story in yesterday's New Mexican about the money race in the Public Regulation Commission race, you can find that HERE. Actually there's not much of a race. All but one of the small army of Democratic candidates say they will or probably will use public financing, which means, assuming they qualify, they each will be receiving checks for $39,000 and change.

The only one who has said he won't use public financing is Danny Maki, who apparently is using his dad Butch Maki's contacts to build a good-size campaign war chest. And because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down part of Arizona's public financing law, if Maki (or any other candidate not using public financing) gets contributions beyond that $39,000, chances are the other candidates won't be getting marching funds from the state.

However, the fact that some Washington, D.C. telecommunications lobbyists among Maki's biggest contributors could become a sore point in the campaign, as the PRC is responsible for regulating the telecommunications industry.

Meanwhile let's start off this week with a little music. Here's Republican front-runner Herman Cain. He's said that if he's elected he'd like to jazz up the stodgy old "Hail to the Chief." I'm certainly against that. Unless he replaces it with this:

(Thanks to The Daily Beast)

Roundhouse Roundup: Keep Those Campaign Contributions Coming In

2011-10-16T20:05:00.000-06:00

(Sorry this is late to be posted. I'm still not used to posting my column early Sunday instead of early Thursday. I'll get the hang of it I promise)

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 16, 2011

I’m going to do something I rarely do. I’m going to say “thank you” to the state Legislature.

I’m not talking about the recent special session. My thanks are for our lawmakers passing a bill a couple of years ago that requires candidates for state office to report their donations more frequently. In the bad old days, our beloved politicians only had to file one report during a non-election year. Now it’s twice a year.

And the recent filings have yielded interesting stories. My colleague Trip Jennings reported about Attorney General Gary King accepting a $15,000 contribution from some New York law firm — which everybody except Attorney General Gary King seems to think is a clear violation of the new law establishing campaign contributions limits.

Then there’s the story about Gov. Susana Martinez, who, between her re-election committee and her political action committee, raked in more than $82,000 during the recent special session and the bill-signing period after it. The catch here is that the law prohibits a governor from soliciting contributions during that period but doesn’t say anything about accepting money during that time.

There’s no evidence that Martinez actually solicited any money during the session — except a “Donate” button on her SusanaPAC website, which was promptly removed when the Albuquerque Journal pointed it out in late September. The governor’s PACmen said only two small donations came over the website during the prohibited time and said both weren’t accepted.

What’s amazing to me though is that three years before the 2014 gubernatorial election, Martinez’s re-election campaign was able to bring in more than $66,000 without even asking for it. There might be campaign contribution limits in place now, but you can bet that 2014 is going to be another expensive campaign year.

Sonoma Susana: Another story to emerge from the campaign finance reports is the one about Martinez’s campaign funds paying thousands of dollars for a luxury resort in California wine country where Martinez gave a speech at a Republican National Committee dinner.

The liberal grassroots group ProgressNow blasted her for staying at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, which, the news release said “boasts a $565/night couples spa package and a $195/per person buffet (not to mention golf outings, wine dinners, body sculpting classes and cooking classes on site.)”

I haven’t verified all those fancy accommodations. But I looked at the Fairmont website and the joint does look fancier than a Motel 6.

There’s no proof Martinez partook in all these luxuries. But you can’t blame her if she went to a cooking class or two. After all, Martinez fired the Governor’s Mansion chefs and even though she said she liked her husband Chuck Franco’s baloney sandwiches, chances are she’s sick of them by now.

Martinez isn’t the only politician who has used campaign funds to pay for out-of-state travel. Bill Richardson did it all the time. And I don’t think he ever stayed at an Econo Lodge.

Still, it’s funny how all the campaign ads you’ll ever see in New Mexico show the candidate talking to cowboys and construction workers and reading to school children. They never show the candidate sipping wine at luxury resorts.

Bill Richardson supports Susana! Here’s another tidbit from the campaign finance reports. On May 12, Bill Richardson gave $5,000 to SusanaPac.

But I don’t think it’s the guy Martinez vilified at every possible turn in last year’s campaign. This Bill Richardson lives in Jackson, Tenn. His occupation is listed as “business owner.”

On the same day, two other “business owners” named Richardson from Jackson, Tenn., (James and Joe) also gave $5,000 apiece.

Johnson Raises $236K

2011-10-14T18:45:00.001-06:00

In his longshot bid for the presidency, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson reported raising more than $236,000 during the past three months.

However, according to his campaign finance report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, the former governor reported that he has less than $11,000 cash on hand.

But that’s just a fraction of what other Republican contenders have in the bank. Politico on Friday reported that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is reporting $14.7 million cash on hand, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry has about $15 million in his warchest.

Johnson’s campaign reports debts of more than $240,000.

Among Johnson’s contributors are names familiar in New Mexico Republican politics. Former state GOP chairman Harvey Yates contributed $2,500. Ray Westall, an oilman from Loco Hills who was appointed to the state Game Commission by Johnson gave $2,500, as did his wife Karen Westall. Johnson’s former press secretary Diane Kinderwater contributed $2,000.

UPDATE: 8:02 pm A previous version of this referred to "former" Texas Gov. Perry. I didn't mean to fire him! (Thanks to loyal reader Mark for catching that.)

The U.S.Senate Money Race

2011-10-14T15:59:00.005-06:00

Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Heather Wilson are looking more like frontrunners in the U.S. Senate primaries with the release of their latest fundraising figures.

According emails and news released from the campaigns, Heinrich, currently a Congressman representing Albuquerque, raised more than $650,000 in the third quarter of the year. That’s better than twice that raised by his primary opponent, State Auditor Hector Balderas, who reported raising $250,000. Heinrich’s campaign says he has more than $1.1 million cash on hand. Balderas has $465,000, a campaign spokeswomen said.

In the GOP primary, Wilson, who held the Albuquerque Congressional seat before Heinrich, raised $530,000 between July and the end of September. She has nearly $1 million cash on hand, her campaign reported.

Wilson’s main opponent John Sanchez’s campaign just reported that Sanchez took in $164,000 in the last quarter, leaving him nearly $250,000 cash in hand.

I also haven’t heard yet from long-shot Republican candidate Greg Sowards, but Hotline this week reported that Sowards had raised more $231,000 in the third quarter, of which $185,000 was a loan from himself. Sowards, Hotline said, will report more than $496,000 in the bank.

The eventual winner of the Senate race will replace longtime Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, who is retiring.

UPDATE: 405 p.m. The John Sanchez campaign emailed his figures right when I was writing this blog post. The post has been updated to reflect those figures.

Lobby This!

2011-10-14T15:33:00.000-06:00

A mayor in Florida has a novel new excuse not to talk to reporters: He considers us lobbyists!

If I'm going to be a lobbyist,
I'll need a hat like Jack's

According to the Sun Sentinel, Lauderdale Hill Mayor Richard Kaplan says that under a new ethics law, reporters should be considered "lobbyists," so he won't talk to any of them unless they register as such.

Says Hizoner in an email to the paper,

"Under the Law of Unintended Consequences, it appears that your newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel, is not only a contractor but may be considered a lobbyist, as well as its editors and the reporters. Therefore, until this is clarified, I will be needing all reporters and others from the paper who contact me for information to file whatever is required as a lobbyist to the City of Lauderhill before I can communicate further."

Why are newspaper employees "lobbyists"? Kaplan explains:

"Though reporters do not necessarily consider what they do is lobbying, their work is provided to the editors who use their research to write editorials. Editors do try to influence the final decision making indirectly (which is communication by an means) which is lobbying according to the new law as I see it."

But the mayor said, "Reporters can come to meetings and write about what happens there. There is an exception to that, but that is about it as far as I can see."

Well that's nice.

Fortunately I don't think the Law of Unintended Consequences ever made it out of committee with the New Mexico Legislature.

I just hope the politicians around here don't pick up on this idea and declare us newsdogs lobbyists. Next thing you know, legislators will be expecting us to buy them dinner.