A golden opportunity for change

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By Tom Taylor and Keith GardnerOn behalf of the House Republican caucus New Mexico is in the middle of a fiscal crisis and, once again, the Democrat majority refuses to make the necessary changes to ensure we have enough money for the next year. The House Republican caucus voted “no” last week on House Bill 2, the budget bill, because it will not fix New Mexico’s fiscal problems. The Legislature had a choice — use a Band Aid and temporary money or set a new course of change for the way business is done. This budget is unfair to New Mexicans and depends too heavily on the federal stimulus money that has not yet arrived. The state is gambling on the future based on overly optimistic projections of oil and gas revenues. There was a $450 million budget shortfall this year because, last August, the Legislature predicted oil and gas revenues to bring in more money than they actually did, then continued to spend that extra money without restraint. Continue Reading

Lujan’s support should clear path for housing reform

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Once accused of trying to kill an overhaul of the state’s housing authority system, Lujan is now shepherding it through the House In 2007, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and Sen. Mary Kay Papen accused House Speaker Ben Lujan of trying to torpedo their attempt to reform the state’s affordable housing system. But this year, he’s shepherding their housing authority reform bill through the House for them. The move, announced Monday, indicates a great deal of consensus behind Papen’s Senate Bill 20, which unanimously passed the Senate this weekend. With Lujan’s backing, the bill is likely to sail through the House. The governor has endorsed it. Continue Reading

House approves e-mail records request bill

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The House unanimously approved today a bill that would require government agencies in New Mexico to accept requests for public records via e-mail and fax. House Bill 598, sponsored by Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, was approved on a vote of 64-0. It now moves to the Senate for consideration. “Government actors should not be able to rely on artificial barriers to avoid making public records available to the public,” Cervantes said following today’s vote. “With this legislation, no government actor can hide behind an argument that a records request must be printed and mailed or hand-delivered to constitute a valid request. Continue Reading

Rules Committee OKs contribution limits

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The Senate Rules Committee gave a do-pass recommendation today to a bill that would enact campaign contribution limits in New Mexico. On a vote of 7-0, the bill now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the New Mexico Independent. It’s a committee substitute drafted after consideration of several contribution-limit bills over the last couple of weeks, and isn’t yet available online. The bill would limit contributions from individuals to $2,300, from political committees to $5,000 and from political parties to $10,000 per calendar year. It would take effect on Jan. Continue Reading

Senate committee OKs webcasting rules

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A resolution that would set the rules for live audio and video wecasting from the Senate floor was approved today by the Senate Rules Committee. The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash is reporting about the committee’s do-pass recommendation for Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque. The measure now heads to the Senate floor. Last month, the Senate Committee’s Committee decided to take a step toward webcasting by allowing cameras to be reinstalled in the Senate gallery with the intention of beginning webcasting later this session. Boitano’s resolution would finalize that decision by setting in place the rules governing the webcasting. Continue Reading

‘Key witness’ says Malott pushed risky investing

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Former Educational Retirement Board Member Pauline Turner says the investment deal at the center of Frank Foy’s pay-to-play lawsuit was ‘hasty’ and ‘irresponsible’ Pauline Turner thought it was unusual for Bruce Malott, chairman of the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB), to call a special meeting in May 2006 for a vote on whether to invest $40 million with Vanderbilt Financial. Special meetings weren’t unheard of, but they were by no means common, she said in an interview. And Turner, then an ERB board member, had become increasingly concerned about the board’s move, under Malott’s leadership, toward what she saw as riskier investments. So she was in the minority in voting against the Vanderbilt investment at the May 12, 2006 meeting of the board. Turner explained her opposition at the meeting, according to the minutes: She felt the board was making “what appeared to be a hasty decision” because its members hadn’t been educated on the type of investment they were about to make and didn’t have policies and procedures in place to deal with such investments. Continue Reading

In new film, Iglesias says Gonzales lied under oath

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It appears that a documentary about the U.S. attorney scandal that plagued the Bush administration is going to be quite revealing — or salacious, depending on your point of view. InJustice, which is being produced by Storyville Films, is still in production, according to information about the documentary on the company’s Web site. But the company has released a 10-minute trailer. In the trailer, you’ll see a hint of emotion from David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico who was among those fired, when he alleges that former Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson pressured him to speed indictments in a case involving a high-ranking Democrat in time to sway voters in the 2006 election. “It was un-American, and the more I thought about it — in fact, I’m getting angry again just thinking about it, because it’s not what this country stands for,” he says. Continue Reading

Senate OKs more frequent campaign reporting

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I neglected on Monday to report on one transparency bill that received Senate approval over the weekend. So, here goes: On a vote of 37-3, Senate Bill 128, sponsored by Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, now heads to the House. The bill would require that candidates file reports of expenditures and contributions twice a year in off-election years. Currently, the law requires that annually. It’s not a major ethics proposal, but it’s a small piece ethics-reform backers hope will increase transparency in government. Continue Reading

Keep charities at the table, not on it

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New Mexico is on the front lines of a critical battle to reform corruption in politics. We need nonprofits to help restore democracy and faith in government. By Larry Ottinger and Aaron Dorfman America’s serious economic crisis is hurting — and will continue to hurt — the children, families and communities that are served by its more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations. Yet, at the very time our policy-makers most need the wisdom and involvement of nonprofits and ordinary Americans, there are some government and big business cronies who like the “old boys’ network” and want to shut the people out. Take a look at New Mexico today and you will find the front lines of a critical battle to reform the corruption in politics with which Americans are rightfully fed up. Continue Reading

Kintigh plans to webcast Judiciary on Wednesday

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State Rep. Dennis Kintigh plans to webcast meetings of the House Judiciary Committee beginning Wednesday after the committee’s chairman, Rep. Al Park, D-Albuquerque, approved it today. Park was “VERY positive” about Kintigh webcasting the committee’s meetings, Kintigh wrote today in an e-mail. The Roswell Republican tried to start webcasting live audio and video from the committee today, but a technical issue prevented it. He’ll try again on Wednesday. The committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. or sometime after the House floor session ends. Continue Reading

Senate approves housing authority reform

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The Senate unanimously approved today a bill that would overhaul the state’s affordable housing system in response to the scandalous 2006 collapse of most of the state’s regional housing authorities. Senate Bill 20, sponsored by Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, now moves to the House. The bill would increase oversight and completely restructure the system. An initial funding request of $600,000 was stripped from the bill before today’s vote because of the state’s budget crunch, but Papen still hopes to secure a portion of the required funding in the budget bill so the transition can begin. “Our state’s tragedy is that some of the housing authorities we created to help with providing (affordable) housing have run themselves off the track,” Papen said in a news release. Continue Reading

Group concerned that NMFA won’t release subpoena

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The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG) says it is concerned by the New Mexico Finance Authority’s (NMFA) denial of a records request I filed in January. The request sought copies of any subpoenas NMFA has received in a federal grand jury investigation of allegations of pay to play in the Richardson administration.FOG Executive Director Leonard J. DeLayo asked NMFA in a Feb. 13 letter to justify its denial of my records request and noted that the denial contrasted with the release of a similar subpoena by the governor’s office in response to requests from me and other journalists filed under the public records act. “If you believe you have any legal or statutory authority to refuse this request under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, please provide us with that information,” DeLayo wrote in the letter, which you can read by clicking here. NMFA General Counsel Reynold E. Romero responded in a Feb. Continue Reading

House OKs opening conference committees

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A bill that would open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public unanimously passed the House today. On a vote of 66-0, House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, now moves to the Senate for consideration. But there’s a good chance it will run into trouble there. The open conference committee proposal usually passes the House and is killed in the Senate. This year, the Senate version of the bill — Senate Bill 150, sponsored by Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque — has been left off the agenda of the Senate Rules Committee even as other ethics reform proposals have been discussed. Continue Reading

Watching the grass grow again in Senate Rules

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This article has been updated with a correction. Those who watched today’s meeting of the Senate Rules Committee in person or via webcast hoping that the committee would finally begin moving ethics-reform bills ended up pretty much watching the grass grow once again. The committee did discuss Senate Bill 555, sponsored by the committee’s chair, Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, but took no action on it. The bill would make the Governmental Conduct Act apply to local government officials in addition to state officials, and also require legislators who have a financial interest that would be affected by their official acts to disclose the nature and value of the interest to the public. But the committee took no action on the bill. Continue Reading

House to vote on open conference committees

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A bill that would open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public could be voted on by the House on Monday. House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, is tenth on the list of bills ready for a full vote of the House on Monday’s calendar. Conference committees are groups of usually of three House members and three Senate members who are tasked with reconciling differences between versions bills that have passed both chambers. In addition to opening their meetings to the public, the bill would open many other currently closed legislative meetings, including executive sessions of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. Exempted would be investigative or quasi-judicial meetings — such as impeachment proceedings — and political party caucus meetings. Continue Reading