Webcasting would change Santa Fe’s culture

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Finding new ways to shine light on public officials is the most important of all ethics reform proposals. It’s time for the Legislature to embrace webcasting and develop a formal system to make it happen. Two years ago, I traveled four hours from Las Cruces to Santa Fe to follow one issue — reform of the state’s housing authority system — through the legislative process. At the time I was in my first year as an independent online journalist, and most lawmakers in Santa Fe didn’t know me by sight. The issue I went to cover was a contentious one. Continue Reading

Cervantes proposes same-day voter registration

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State Rep. Joseph Cervantes introduced a bill today that would allow people to register to vote on Election Day in New Mexico. Under Cervantes’ House Bill 395 (which isn’t yet available online), New Mexico residents who are eligible to vote could register on Election Day at polling locations by showing photo identification and then vote immediately. Currently, the deadline in New Mexico to register and be eligible to vote in an election is weeks before Election Day. “Unfortunately, the history of voter registration in the United States is a history of exclusion,” Cervantes said in a news release. “We have made great strides in providing access to all Americans to vote, and this bill is another step in ensuring that New Mexicans have every opportunity to participate in the electoral process. Continue Reading

Should an ethics panel have subpoena power?

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Supporters of creating a state ethics commission want it to have that critical investigatory tool, but some fear the legislation may not have a chance at approval unless that authority is instead given to the attorney general. Can a state ethics commission be truly independent if it has to ask the attorney general for help when it wants to conduct an investigation? That’s the question public officials and activists are grappling with as they try to find a way to gain approval of the creation of such a commission from a Legislature that is skeptical of the proposal. At least 36 states have ethics commissions that have subpoena power, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But proposals to create an independent, nonpartisan ethics commission in New Mexico have fallen short in recent years despite the support of the governor and other political leaders. Continue Reading

Domestic partner benefits hearing to be webcast

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This article has been updated. Two New Mexico Senate committees will meet together this afternoon to discuss whether to grant domestic partner benefits in New Mexico and consider an alternative plan from a GOP lawmaker. The good news for those who want to listen in but can’t travel to Santa Fe is that the joint meeting of the Judiciary and Public Affairs committees will be webcast by KUNM-FM. Jim Williams, the station’s news director, confirmed that audio of the hearing will be webcast. The hearing is tentatively scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m., but the schedule in Santa Fe is so loose that the time could easily be moved. Continue Reading

Another day, another newspaper casualty

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I wrote recently that the economic downturn was going to push a newspaper industry that was already struggling to the brink. In New Mexico, there’s another casualty. The Las Vegas Optic announced today that it’s going to end its “long history” as a daily and begin publishing only three days a week starting March 2. The Monday-Friday paper, which has published since 1879, will become a Monday, Wednesday and Friday paper. “Economic circumstances necessitate the change. Continue Reading

A Domenici photo essay that’s worth a look

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Mark Bralley has posted a photo essay on his blog containing nearly 100 images recapping the long and distinguished career of former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici. Included in the essay are some fantastic photographs going back to Domenici’s early days as an Albuquerque city commissioner. Some of the photos are more intimate, while others capture some fascinating political moments. It’s really worth your time. Check it out on Bralley’s blog — What’s Wrong With This Picture? Continue Reading

We need a national popular vote

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By Mimi Stewart and Howie Morales This legislative session, we will be introducing the national popular vote bill, which would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states. Although more than 76 percent of New Mexicans support this legislation, there are several misperceptions about what the bill would do and what it means for the state of New Mexico. First, recent elections have brought the shortcomings of the current system to light. The current winner-take-all rule, which is in effect in most states, awards all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes. Because of the winner-take-all rule, a candidate can win the presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide. Continue Reading

House subcommittee to study webcasting

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The House Rules and Order of Business Committee decided today to create a subcommittee to study the issue of whether to allow webcasting of House proceedings. The vote to do that followed discussion of House Resolution 2, a proposal from Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, and Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, that would explicitly allow webcasting of committee meetings — but only if the chair of the committee in question allows it. The Rules Committee gave no timetable for its subcommittee to report back on webcasting, so the move effectively stops the Martinez/Taylor bill in its tracks for the time being. The move comes after Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones webcast live audio and video from the House Taxation and Revenue Committee on Monday. Today’s creation of the subcommittee, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash, came after an hour of debate, with some members arguing that webcasting creates openness and others saying the video could be used for political purposes. Continue Reading

KUNM webcasting live from the Senate floor

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This article has been updated. KUNM-FM is webcasting audio live from the floor of the New Mexico Senate right now. Click here to listen to the audio feed. It’s the next step in the push for video and audio webcasting from the House and Senate — something Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers have rejected for years. A posting on the radio station’s Web site explains the reason for the audio webcast: “New Mexico remains one of only five states that do not offer some type of webcasting of legislative proceedings,” the posting states. Continue Reading

Arnold-Jones allowed to webcast meeting

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State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones was asked to stop webcasting live from the House Taxation and Revenue Committee this afternoon, but no one forced her to turn off her camera, and she rejected the request. As a result, Arnold-Jones successfully webcast today the first of several House committee meetings she plans to broadcast live over the Internet each week during the 60-day legislative session that’s underway. It was committee Chairman Edward Sandoval, R-Albuquerque, who twice made the request to Arnold-Jones at the start of this afternoon’s meeting to turn off her camera. He did so in the context of informing Arnold-Jones of House rules that might be pertinent to her rogue attempt to bring greater transparency to the House, but Sandoval said he isn’t opposed to greater transparency. “This is probably something that is the future of legislatures and government as technology progresses. Continue Reading

AG’s stance on conference committees is wrong

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Speed is more important than transparency? Even considering the scandal-plagued culture in Santa Fe? You’ve got to be kidding me. Once upon a time, a newly elected New Mexico attorney general named Gary King told me he wasn’t going to jump into the fight over whether legislative conference committees should be open to the public. King said during an interview in February 2007, a little more than a month after he took office, that he had no position on whether conference committees should be open to the public because it’s a legislative, not an executive, issue. Continue Reading

Webcasting revolution begins this afternoon

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When the House Taxation and Revenue Committee meets this afternoon, we’ll learn whether Speaker Ben Lujan and other House leaders are ready to enter the 21st Century and allow more openness. That’s when Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, plans to initiate her own webcast of the meeting, armed only with a laptop and webcam. The idea was born out of her frustration at the Legislature’s refusal to begin its own webcasting. The committee is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m., but the Legislature is notoriously loose with its schedule. The committee meeting could start later, especially since the House convened later than planned this morning. Continue Reading

Richardson has long been ‘good to his friends’

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But does that mean he’s engaging in pay-to-play politics? The governor’s past statements and actions provide insight. Bill Richardson admitted in his autobiography to giving a state job to a man because the man’s father had helped him in a congressional campaign years earlier. And he told a journalist in 2007 that he remembers people who give him campaign contributions and thinks about ways to help them. Under our laws, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. Continue Reading

Articles delve further into GRIPgate

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Several news articles from the last few days shed new light on the pay-to-play allegations swirling around Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration. The first, from Bloomberg, reveals that the federal grand jury investigating the allegations issued a subpoena on Sept. 22 of last year to the governor’s office seeking communication between the governor’s office and companies tied to the investigation. It’s no surprise that the subpoena was issued. What is interesting is that it was done in September. Continue Reading

Voters in poll: domestic partner benefits will be OK’d

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The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site predicted that the New Mexico Legislature will approve a bill this year this year that would allow domestic partner benefits. Of 200 voters, 105, or 53 percent, predicted that will happen, while 84, or 42 percent, said it will not. Meanwhile, 11, or 6 percent, said they don’t know. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading