Acting like ‘Dictator Bush’

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Gov. Bill Richardson’s current troubles have me thinking back on my first real experience with him. Here’s a story about the time he tried to bully a 22-year-old single mother — and lost.Gov. Bill Richardson’s current troubles have me thinking back on past allegations that he was playing loose with the rules and bullying people. And that inevitably brings me back to my first real experience with the governor, during which I once compared him in a column to “Dictator Bush.” Richardson’s egregious actions actually inspired me to, for the first time, take advantage of my constitutional right to petition my government. First the context: In July 2003, Richardson summoned New Mexico State University Student Regent Felicia Ybarra to his office. On three key votes, the college student had disregarded the wishes of the governor who appointed her and who held her already signed but undated resignation letter in his hand, and he wanted an in-person meeting, on his turf. Continue Reading

Senator pressures guv on background checks

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Tension between the Senate and governor is already spewing into the public view even before the 60-day legislative session kicks off on Tuesday.Yesterday, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque and chair of the Senate Rules Committee, requested that Gov. Bill Richardson reconsider his refusal to allow the Department of Public Safety to conduct background checks for the committee on Richardson’s high-level appointees that are subject to confirmation. “The committee has an obligation to act responsibly. … If state, school and local government employers perform background checks on corrections personnel, school custodians and accountants, there is all the more reason to do the same thing for these high-level positions,” Lopez said in a news release. “I am hopeful the governor will agree it is time to have a more meaningful confirmation process.” Lopez said if the committee “is unable to obtain good background information, it will have difficulty in moving forward with any confirmations.” The new pressure from Lopez comes as Richardson is under heavy scrutiny because of a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay-to-play in his administration. Media attention on the probe has helped give new energy to a move for ethics reform in Santa Fe. Continue Reading

State Rep. Dub Williams retires

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State Rep. Dub Williams, R-Glenco, announced Tuesday that health reasons are forcing him to retire days before a 60-day session begins next week.According to the Alamogordo Daily News, Williams’ wife has been sick, and the two are unable to travel to Santa Fe for the session. Williams has asked commissioners in Otero and Lincoln counties to consider nominating Zack Cook, a Ruidoso lawyer and village attorney in Capitan, for the position. Gov. Bill Richardson will choose a replacement from among candidates recommended by the two counties’ commissions. Williams, who has served in the Legislature since 1995, recently won re-election. “It has been a great honor for me to serve Lincoln County in the state legislature the past 14 years,” Williams wrote Lincoln County Commission Chairman Tom Battin, according to the Alamogordo paper. Continue Reading

Lobbyist played dual role in Richardson’s world

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Bloomberg.com continues to lead the way in uncovering the story behind a federal investigation into allegations of pay-to-play in Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration with a new report highlighting the dual role of a man who served as a director for one of the governor’s political action committees while also reportedly working to help a bank that gave money to the PAC win a state bond contract.Fred DuVal is a Phoenix lobbyist who worked as a consultant for UBS AG. His firm was credited by the bank with helping win “an assignment to sell a portion of $1.1 billion of bonds for the New Mexico Finance Authority in April 2004,” the news organization reported today in an article you can read by clicking here. That came two months after DuVal was named as a director of Si Se Puede! Boston 2004 Inc., one of two Richardson PACs at the center of the federal investigation that caused Richardson to withdraw his nomination to be commerce secretary a little more than a week ago. The PAC received $75,000 from CDR Financial Products around the same time in 2004 that it won a finance authority bond contract related to the UBS contract that ended up paying CDR almost $1.5 million. Continue Reading

State Senate won’t start webcasting this year

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I’ve written several times about the need to broadcast legislative proceedings online. Though there was a chance it was going to happen in the New Mexico Senate for the first time this year, it now appears it won’t happen.Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Steve Terrell reports on his blog that he saw Roundhouse maintenance workers taking down the cameras in the Senate gallery today. The cameras were installed after the Senate voted last year to spend $30,000 to start webcasting but, last month, Senate leaders decided not to start webcasting, even though the system is in place to easily do it. They blamed the budget crunch. New Mexico is one of six states that doesn’t webcast at least some legislative proceedings, Terrell wrote. Continue Reading

Guv to be in Las Cruces on Wednesday

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Gov. Bill Richardson will be in Las Cruces on Wednesday as part of a statewide tour to promote his legislative agenda in advance of the 60-day session that starts next week.Richardson will detail some of his public safety initiatives at a news conference at his satellite office, located at 505 S. Main Street, at 12:30 p.m., according to a news release. Richardson will also be in Farmington and Roswell on Wednesday. He will make public appearances in Hobbs, Clovis and Tucumcari on Thursday. Continue Reading

A new delegation, a new chance for wilderness

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Democrats Bingaman, Udall and Teague work toward permanent protection of land in Doña Ana County A bill U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman sponsored on Sunday that would set aside land in nine states as wilderness doesn’t include the Organ Mountains or other land in Doña Ana County, but the senator’s office says he plans to introduce legislation to extend wilderness protection to land in the county in the coming months. In the meantime, the bill the New Mexico Democrat sponsored over the weekend does include one proposal sought by many in the Las Cruces area: the creation of a 5,367-acre national monument in the Robledo Mountains to protect fossilized prehistoric animal tracks there. That proposed monument is important to conservation groups in the area, but it’s only a part of the larger battle over how to protect land in Doña Ana County — and how much land should be protected — that has raged for years as a coalition led by the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance has sparred with a group led by some ranchers and four-wheeling enthusiasts. The wilderness coalition wants to designate about 300,000 acres in the county as wilderness and another 96,000 as a national conservation area. The ranchers’ group wants no wilderness at all and proposes new, less-restrictive designations for the land, in addition to requiring the sale of 65,000 acres of the land owned by the Bureau of Land Management. Continue Reading

Stray cats and dogs deserve humane euthanization

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By Ken W. MartinezEvery legislative session, I have the daunting task of deciding what issues I will focus on and what causes I will support. Being from Grants, I understand the challenges our rural communities face and, having the responsibility of being the New Mexico House majority leader, I understand how those issues intersect with the broader needs of our state. Unfortunately, animal-rights issues have taken center stage in New Mexico the past few years, and this year is no different. It has often been said that how our community treats our animal population is a commentary on how we truly are as a society. From cases of horse cruelty in Albuquerque to animal hoarding in Española and Los Lunas to dog-fighting rings in Las Cruces, we still have a lot of work to do to ensure that we treat animals humanely. Continue Reading

Guv, lawmakers propose budget cuts

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Gov. Bill Richardson proposed today more than $700 million in budget cuts but no tax increases as he announced a plan to help the state weather the current economic crisis.“My budget plan does not increase taxes, leaves essential services for New Mexicans intact and keeps substantial and responsible cash reserves to protect us against further shortfalls,” Richardson said in a news release. The governor’s news release didn’t say how much, if any, money would be cut from public schools. The plan also includes a strong effort to increase revenue through improved tax collections. The state has to address a current fiscal-year deficit and a projected deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that are approaching a combined $1 billion. The current state budget is about $6 billion. Continue Reading

Leaving Emperor Bill’s realm

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Continued corruption vindicates my decision to leave New Mexico after losing the gubernatorial race to Richardson in 2006. The sleaze the governor has made endemic will lead to years of buyers’ remorse in the Land of Enchantment.By John Dendahl Moving away from New Mexico in early 2007 was neither easy nor fun. The state calls itself “Land of Enchantment” — an apt description in many ways. The lovely city of Santa Fe had been my family home for about 130 years. I am among the third of four Dendahl generations born in Santa Fe and had spent most of my 68 years there. Continue Reading

NYT explores guv’s dealings, NM’s lack of ethics laws

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“This is the Wild West,” state Sen. Dede Feldman says about New Mexico being one of only a handful of states without campaign contribution limits and an ethics commission.Thus begins an in-depth look at New Mexico’s lack of ethics laws that ran in today’s New York Times. It comes in the face of a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay-to-play in Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration. You can read the article by clicking here. “Since taking office in 2003, Mr. Richardson has been dogged by accusations that big contributors to his campaign received favors from the state — patronage jobs, infrastructure projects, contracts, approvals from state boards. Those accusations, never proved, have not hurt Mr. Richardson’s popularity,” the article states. Continue Reading

Ouch! Obama makes joke at guv’s expense

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He may not have intended it, but President-elect Barack Obama, who at times has been known to make comments that could be interpreted as insensitive, made a joke at Bill Richardson’s expense on Sunday.Obama was asked on ABC News’ “This Week” about his family’s search for a dog. “They seem to have narrowed it down to a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound,” Obama said. “… Medium-sized dog, and so, we’re now going to start looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.” “So, you’re closing in on it?” host George Stephanopoulos asked. “We’re closing in on it. This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary,” Obama replied with a smile. Continue Reading

Yates is the new state GOP chairman

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As many expected, Harvey E. Yates Jr. was elected to be the new chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico on Saturday.Yates, an oilman from Albuquerque, will lead the party for the next two years and replaces Allen Weh, who has served since 2004. Yates defeated Allen McCulloch of Farmington and Michael J. Meyer of Albuquerque for the leadership position after securing the backing of many high-profile party leaders. “I’m very honored New Mexico Republicans are entrusting this great party to my leadership as we head into the next election cycle,” Yates, 66, was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal as saying. Also Saturday, former congressional candidate Bill Redmond of Los Alamos was elected treasurer of the party, defeating former Bernalillo County GOP chairman Fernando C de Baca, who resigned from that position last fall after making racially charged comments that offended many. Nina Martinez, the party’s former secretary, was selected to be first vice chair, and Rod Montoya was selected as second vice chair. Continue Reading

Most voters in poll see truth in GRIPgate allegations

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The vast majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said there is truth to the allegations of pay-to-play that derailed Bill Richardson’s nomination to be commerce secretary. Of 297 voters, 232, or 78 percent, said there is truth to the allegations, while 65, or 22 percent, said there is no truth to the allegations. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

AG, guv will push ethics reform during session

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Gary King announced today that he will support several ethics reform proposals in the upcoming legislative session, and Gov. Bill Richardson, whose administration is the subject of a federal pay-to-play investigation, promptly did the same.King, in a news release, announced what he is calling an “ambitious legislative agenda” that includes enacting campaign contribution limits, creating a state ethics commission, enacting a whistleblower protection law, giving the AG jurisdiction to prosecute public corruption, expanding the state governmental and conduct acts to apply to local governments, and prohibiting legislators from becoming lobbyists for one year after they leave office. Perhaps referring to the current climate of scandal — in addition to the federal grand jury probe of the Richardson administration, King is about to take the drawn-out criminal investigation into the state’s housing authority system before a grand jury — King said he’s ready to move forward with the reforms. “I know this is an ambitious package of ethics proposals, but I sense there is keen interest among many legislators to move forward aggressively this year with major new ethics legislation,” King said in the release. “I certainly intend to work hard to help ensure their success, and I believe these bills will enjoy broad public support.” Several hours after King put out his news release earlier today, Richardson sent out his own news release stating that he “welcomes” King’s support of the reform proposals. “I look forward to working with the attorney general and lawmakers to once and for all pass a comprehensive ethics reform package,” Richardson said in the release. “I’ve proudly signed the ethics bills that have made it to my desk in recent years. Continue Reading