Senate committee OKs another ethics bill

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This article has been updated.The Senate Rules Committee gave a do-pass recommendation today to a proposal to ban former legislators from becoming lobbyists for a year after their terms end. The committee also continued discussion on two other ethics-reform proposals as it works its way through a host of ethics bills. On the proposal related to legislators becoming lobbyists, after considering Senate Bill 94, sponsored by Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, and Senate Bill 163, sponsored by Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, the committee opted to move Griego’s bill forward because it “is actually much more expansive,” committee Chair Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said at today’s meeting. That’s because Boitano’s bill would have prohibited legislators from becoming lobbyists for a year after they leave office, which would have left open the possibility of a lawmaker resigning from office mid-term to become a lobbyist more quickly. Under Griego’s bill, even if a legislator resigns, he or she could not become a lobbyist until a year after the term he or she did not fulfill ends. Continue Reading

North Korean envoy named, and it’s not the guv

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has named a special envoy to North Korea, and it isn’t Gov. Bill Richardson. Last month, U.S.-run Radio Free Asia reported that the Obama administration was considering making Richardson a special envoy assigned to deal with the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The report said former U.S. Ambassador to Korea Stephen Bosworth was also under consideration for the job. A Richardson spokesman said at the time that the report was false. Pahl Shipley said Richardson was “not interested” in the job and had not “discussed it with anyone.” Ultimately, it was Bosworth who Clinton tapped for the position earlier today, The Associated Press is reporting. Continue Reading

Senate Rules meeting to be webcast today

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This article has been updated.The New Mexico Independent will once again webcast the meeting of the Senate Rules Committee this morning. The webcast is part of a continued attempt to shine light on the debate about ethics reform in the New Mexico Legislature. Several reform bills are currently being considered by the committee. The Independent has webcast the committee’s last two meetings. A week ago, the committee left a proposal to expand the state’s public financing system in limbo but gave a do-pass recommendation to a bill that would establish a process for the forfeiture of retirement benefits for state employees and state retirees convicted of felonies “arising from conduct related to” their public employment. Continue Reading

What about webcasting the guv’s news conferences?

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In doing research for a column published earlier today about the economy and the state of affairs in California, I came across something cool: Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is into webcasting. His office webcasts live audio and video of his news conferences and other events. And it’s all archived on his government Web site so people can watch it later. Check it out by clicking here. Continue Reading

Obama’s spending spree won’t fix this mess

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Spending nearly a trillion dollars in borrowed cash isn’t bold. It’s foolish. And it only adds to a growing national debt that is the real albatross around our neck. Let me get this straight: With the new stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama this week, we’re borrowing more money so we can spend more money to generate more spending of money so that we’ll have more money to spend — when this started with spending money we didn’t have in the first place. Forgive my ignorance, since I’m not a trained economist, but that sounds ridiculous to me. Continue Reading

Kilmer hires powerhouse public relations firm

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Val Kilmer has hired the Washington public relations firm McMahon, Squier & Associates to handle communications and media for his potential gubernatorial campaign, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed. The move is a major step toward a gubernatorial run for an actor who has made a lot of noise about considering running for New Mexico governor in 2010 but taken no visible, concrete steps toward making it happen — until now. The hiring of the firm follows Kilmer’s visit to Washington, D.C. last week. While there, he met with political operatives and some members of the New Mexico congressional delegation. McMahon Squier, according to the company’s Web site, specializes in communications, advertising production and strategic media placement. Continue Reading

Foy sues State Investment Council for records

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Frank Foy filed a lawsuit last week to try to force the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB) to release documents it’s withholding. He filed another lawsuit against the State Investment Council (SIC) today for the same reason. Foy, who has also filed a third lawsuit alleging a pay-to-play scheme involving the Richardson administration, filed requests under the state Inspection of Public Records Act in January seeking a myriad of documents from the two state agencies. As the ERB did last week, SIC also rejected Foy’s request — but for a different reason. While ERB rejected the request on the basis that it was “excessively burdensome and broad” — which Foy alleges in that lawsuit is not a valid justification for rejecting a request for public records — the SIC’s rejection letter states as its basis “the well settled public policy and case law that freedom of information laws cannot be used to evade a court’s discovery process.” Translation: Any records Foy wants, the SIC is saying, will have to be obtained through a subpoena. Continue Reading

Top staffer for state DAs arrested for DWI

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The top staffer for the state’s district attorneys was arrested last weekend on suspicion of drunken driving, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting. Randy Saavedra, director of the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys, was stopped at a DWI checkpoint near Bernalillo over the weekend and arrested, but he says he wasn’t intoxicated and will fight the charges. “I am very upset about this,” the Journal quoted him as saying. Saavedra, the newspaper reported, has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving before, in 2001, but the charge was dismissed by the district attorney in Bernalillo County. That was before Saavedra became head of the state-funded office in 2006. Continue Reading

Vigil-Giron questions timing of audit’s release

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State auditor’s office says release on Tuesday was routineFormer Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron is questioning the timing of the Tuesday release of an audit that was completed last summer and slammed her administration’s handling of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds. But the state auditor’s office says the audit is being made public along with hundreds of others this month following the office’s annual review period for such audits, and there’s nothing unusual about it. The audit, which I reported about when the state auditor released it on Tuesday, was completed in July and adds to the body of evidence indicating that Vigil-Giron’s administration severely mismanaged $6.3 million in federal funds. State Auditor Hector Balderas announced in a Tuesday news release that he had forwarded the audit to three investigatory agencies, including the attorney general, who is already scrutinizing the situation. “Can you believe that they waited more than seven months to release this report! Continue Reading

Services set for Debi Rounds

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Visitation will be held Thursday and a funeral service will be held Friday for Debi Rounds, wife of Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds, who died earlier this week. The visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at Getz Funeral Home in Las Cruces, the school district announced this evening. The funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Las Cruces. Burial will be in Plainview, Texas. Continue Reading

Another audit points finger at Vigil-Giron

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Report released today reveals ‘severe mismanagement of federal funds that were intended to improve voter education,’ state auditor says A financial audit released today adds to the body of evidence indicating that former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron’s administration severely mismanaged federal funds appropriated under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The regular, annual audit of the secretary of state’s office for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, conducted by Atkinson and Co. and released today by state Auditor Hector Balderas, highlighted “questionable payments” totaling $6.3 million made to a single contractor by Vigil-Giron’s administration, according to a news release from Balderas’ office. That is similar to what the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) Office of the Inspector General found last year in its own audit — that Vigil-Giron paid Gutierrez & Associates $6.3 million for advertising and voter education leading up to the 2006 election using the federal funds, which were not to be used for such purposes. To top it off, the company can’t account for how $3 million of that money was spent. Continue Reading

Looking back on Lady Sunlight’s webcasting quest

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I’ve already written about one definitive account of the battle to bring webcasting to the New Mexico House of Representatives. Now there’s another, edgier account of the situation. The Santa Fe Reporter’s Dave Maass, in last week’s edition, took a look at the fight from a fictional, futuristic perspective. The article begins in the year 2059 with an account of what might be: a statue of “Lady Sunlight” in the Roundhouse. It’s “a life-sized likeness of Janice Arnold-Jones, the turn-of-the-century Republican legislator who, through civil disobedience, forced the New Mexico House of Representatives to begin broadcasting its meetings to the public.” The article goes way in-depth on this topic. Continue Reading

Same-day registration is a step toward inclusion

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By State Rep. Joe Cervantes The history of voter registration in this country has been a history of exclusion. Since the founding of our nation, the battle to include every American in the electoral process has been hard fought. Originally only wealthy, white, male property owners were allowed to vote. Though our democracy is imperfect, Americans have struggled through the years to right it. The turn of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women the right to vote in 1920. Continue Reading

Guv announces new ethics reform proposals

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Gov. Bill Richardson announced today that he’s proposing a ban on campaign contributions from corporations, contractors and lobbyists and a second piece of legislation that would require contractors to register with the state and disclose information including contributions. In doing so, the governor is taking on what is at least a perception of a pay-to-play culture in Santa Fe at a time when his administration is dogged by pay-to-play allegations. “I’m proud of the reforms we’ve enacted since I’ve taken office, including gift limits, public financing for appellate judges and a ban on contractor campaign contributions during the procurement process,” Richardson said in a news release. “I’m urging lawmakers to expand on those reforms and to break the logjam that has blocked our past efforts to create strong and meaningful ethics laws.” Richardson called the new proposals the “strongest pieces” in his legislative package, which also includes the creation of an independent ethics commission, campaign contribution limits for candidates and political action committees, public financing for statewide candidates, stricter and more frequent campaign reporting and a rule prohibiting legislators from becoming lobbyists for one year after leaving office. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a question about who would be sponsoring the new bills, which the news release said would be introduced this week. Continue Reading

Wife of LCPS chief dies in Santa Fe

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The wife of Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds died while her husband was attending a hearing at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe this morning. LCPS spokesman Mike Cook confirmed Debi Rounds’ death. He said he didn’t know the cause of death or have any information about funeral arrangements. Rounds died at a hotel in Santa Fe. “We’re all still in shock,” Cook said. Continue Reading