Libertarian prez hopeful Barr getting organized in NM

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Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is getting organized in New Mexico, and Doña Ana County is an early focus of the campaign. The county is one of a handful in New Mexico that has an active libertarian party organization. Dusty Sensiba of Las Cruces wrote in an e-mail that he has been appointed coordinator of the Barr campaign for the county. He’s the campaign’s first county coordinator in New Mexico. Sensiba’s task: Solicit volunteers in Doña Ana County “to help spread our message of small government, personal liberties and less war.” Those who are interested can contact Sensiba at donaana@bobbarrnm.com. Continue Reading

Udall ad, Web site blame Pearce for economic woes

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall is out today with a new TV ad and Web site aimed at blaming the financial woes of New Mexicans on Republican opponent Steve Pearce and President Bush. Here’s the 30-second ad: “George Bush and Steve Pearce. How much are they costing you? Go to MiddleClassSqueeze.com and use this calculator to find out,” the ad’s narrator states. “Steve Pearce voted 91 percent of the time with George Bush. Continue Reading

Debate about debates continues in 2nd District race

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Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague is seeking to put an end to allegations that he’s ducking debates, but Republican opponent Ed Tinsley isn’t letting up. Teague’s campaign put out a news release on Monday announcing his “debate and forum schedule.” In addition to two events that have already taken place — one in Mescalero sponsored by the Farm Bureau and one in Las Cruces sponsored by the Association of Commerce and Industry — the Teague campaign said he plans to participate in three televised debates and two forums. That includes a televised debate sponsored by The Municipal League on Friday in Clovis, an Oct. 9 debate on KRWG-TV in Las Cruces and an Oct. 19 debate sponsored by the Albuquerque Journal and KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, Teague claimed. The forums are on Sept. Continue Reading

National groups spar over N.M. CD1 race

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In response to a radio ad currently being run by the conservative Freedoms Watch attacking 1st Congressional Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running a new ad in the Albuquerque area attacking Heinrich’s Republican opponent, Darren White. The theme of the spat is a familiar one that’s on the forefront of most Americans’ minds: energy. Freedoms Watch’s ad, which you can hear by clicking here, accuses Heinrich of opposing exploring for more offshore oil even though 70 percent of Americans support it. “Heinrich doesn’t get it. American oil means lower gas prices, more American jobs and keeping American dollars here,” the ad’s narrator states. Continue Reading

Auditor wants you to report fraud, waste and abuse

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By Hector Balderas As New Mexico’s state auditor, I am responsible for the regulatory oversight of $60 billion in governmental assets. I’m the watchdog for New Mexico’s taxpayer dollars and aggressively investigate fraud, waste and abuse. I join New Mexicans around the state who expect transparency and accountability in government and demand their tax dollars be spent properly in their communities. Unfortunately, government agencies or workers may not always live up to those expectations. In order to restore public confidence, citizens must be given an opportunity to report fraud and shed light on possible corruption. Continue Reading

Center for Civic Policy releases most 2007 donor info

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The Center for Civic Policy, which is at the center of the controversy over campaign mailers one of its groups sent out, has released information about where it gets most of its funding. A breakdown of most of the center’s 2007 fiscal-year funding was published in a weekend article in the Albuquerque Journal. The group released information about foundations that have contributed but did not release information about individual contributors. Some have criticized the group for not releasing funding information because it has pushed for ethics reform, including campaign contribution limits, in New Mexico. The foundations that contributed to the center during the 2007 fiscal year were: • Panta Rhea Foundation: $110,000 • McKay Foundation: $102,000 • McCune Foundation: $100,000 • Western Conservation Foundation: $90,000 • New Mexico Community Foundation: $52,500 • Carnegie Corp: $50,000 • Tides Foundation: $50,000 • General Service Foundation: $35,000 • Angelica Foundation: $10,000 • Beldon Fund: $7,500 • S.F. Community Foundation: $5,000 • Brett Family Fund: $3,000 • Fiduciary Trust: $2,500 The center’s budget in 2007 was about $645,000. Continue Reading

Udall starts campaign tour Tuesday in Sunland Park

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall plans a two-week tour of New Mexico that begins Tuesday in Sunland Park. Udall’s “Doing Right by New Mexico Tour” is aimed at convincing voters that, during his career as attorney general and the representative of the state’s 3rd Congressional District, Udall has consistently done what’s right for New Mexicans, according to a news release from his campaign. “For the next two weeks, Tom Udall will travel the state and exchange ideas with New Mexicans about how to get our country back on track,” the release states. “With a special emphasis on the 1st and 2nd congressional districts, he will listen to New Mexicans and tell them why he’ll always do right by New Mexico in the United States Senate.” Udall will be at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing Restaurant, 1 Ardovino Drive in Sunland Park, at 11 a.m. Tuesday to kick off the tour. He’ll then appear in Anthony at 1 p.m. at the VFW hall, 1800 North Fourth Street, before leaving Doña Ana County to appear at other events throughout the state in the coming days. Continue Reading

Nader plans trip to N.M. later this month

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Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will visit Northern New Mexico later this month in what will be his first visit to the state as a 2008 hopeful. According to Nader’s Web site, he’ll attend a rally for his campaign in Albuquerque on Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. The event will be held in Ballroom C in the student union building at the University of New Mexico. The event requires a contribution of $5 for students and $10 for others. At 5:30 p.m. that day, according to his Web site, Nader will attend a rally in Santa Fe at the College of Santa Fe. Continue Reading

Nonprofit says AG is inviting an ‘unnecessary’ lawsuit

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A nonprofit facing the possibility of being forced to comply with the state’s campaign finance reporting law threatened on Saturday to sue if that happens. New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) and its parent organization, the Center for Civic Policy, made the threat in a news release that came in response to Friday’s strongly worded release from Attorney General Gary King in which he stood by his office’s prior assertion that NMYO’s activities have crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning. King said the secretary of state needs to force the group to comply with the reporting law. “The attorney general’s statement that he recognizes what can be regulated on the basis of whether it ‘walks like a duck’ is an indication that he doesn’t understand the law in this area, and he is inviting entirely unnecessary litigation against the State of New Mexico,” John Boyd and Sara Berger, attorneys for the groups, said in the news release. They were responding to King’s Friday statement that mailers NMYO sent out were not lobbying materials designed to influence the coming special session, as the groups assert, but campaign materials designed to influence the June primary. Continue Reading

Sen. Sanchez says he may run for governor in 2010

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Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez says he’s considering running for governor in 2010, according to an article in the New Mexico Independent. The Friday announcement that the Democratic senator from Belen is thinking about the state’s top job came more than two years before the election and a week before the Legislature convenes in special session to consider health-care reform, tax relief and road funding proposals made by Gov. Bill Richardson. Sanchez and other Senate leaders have been at odds with the governor for some time. It’s also no secret that Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who is running for governor in 2010, aren’t the best of friends. “At this point, I’ve been approached and asked to consider it and I’m considering it,” the Independent quoted Sanchez as saying, but the article didn’t state who asked Sanchez to consider running. Continue Reading

Most voters in non-scientific poll say Nuñez will win

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The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said state Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, will be re-elected in November. Of 159 voters, 104, or 65 percent, said Nuñez will win the District 36 race, while 55 voters, or 35 percent, said his challenger, Republican Mike Tellez, will win. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

AG stands by prior advice to change nonprofit’s status

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The attorney general’s office is standing by its assertion that a nonprofit’s activities have crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning and its prior advice that the secretary of state force the group to comply with campaign finance reporting laws. That statement from Attorney General Gary King was issued this afternoon in a strongly worded news release. The release appeared to be a direct response to an article in the New Mexico Independent in which the deputy secretary of state was quoted as saying the AG’s office had told him to disregard that advice. “If the deputy secretary of state thought we had instructed him to simply ignore our letter, then that was a misunderstanding on his part of what was said,” King said in the release. The Independent article was headlined “Ignore that letter” and quoted Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo as saying that, after Chief Deputy Attorney General Al Lama sent the May 22 letter telling the secretary of state to change the status of New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO), Lama called and told him “to disregard (the letter) or set it aside. Continue Reading

McCain: Another attack on Obama’s celebrity

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Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s new TV ad continues his attack on Democratic opponent Barack Obama’s celebrity and, in the tradition of McCain’s previous Paris/Britney ad, features a brief image of Obama next to another blond on the cover of an entertainment magazine. Here’s the 30-second ad, which is airing in New Mexico and other battleground states: It’s the third TV ad McCain has unveiled focusing on Obama’s celebrity. The ad opens with images of a crowd and then Obama on the cover of several magazines, including GQ and Vanity Fair. “Life in the spotlight must be grand, but for the rest of us times are tough,” the ad’s narrator states. “Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000. Continue Reading

To debate or not to debate?

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Sanitized format, Tinsley’s rule-breaking characterize CD2 event, but candidates say more debates are coming Thursday’s joint appearance by Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague and Republican opponent Ed Tinsley was so sanitized that it barely met the definition of a candidate forum, but both candidates say they will participate in additional forums and debates before the Nov. 4 election. By many definitions, the word forum means “open discussion.” It’s a stretch to say that’s what happened at Thursday’s event in Las Cruces, which was sponsored by the Association of Commerce and Industry (ACI). First the background: Teague isn’t the most articulate public speaker. Apparently sensing an opportunity, Tinsley has challenged Teague to debates in every county in the district. Continue Reading

On energy, Teague says he brings best of both worlds

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Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague calls himself a needed conduit between oil and gas and renewable energy in a new blog posting on the Web site of the Washington publication The Hill. Teague, a Hobbs oilman, writes that Congress “needs someone who understands the oil and gas industry, and who is ready and able to work with alternative energy.” “For too long, our energy policy has been dictated by extremes, none of which are willing to work together to find a comprehensive solution to the mess we’re in,” Teague wrote. “I want to change that.” Teague pointed out that he built a company that employs more than 250 people in the oil industry. As a county commissioner, he worked to bring a nuclear enrichment facility to southeastern New Mexico. And, he claimed, as a private citizen he has “been hard at work to get solar and wind farms to southwest New Mexico.” “Washington needs that kind of experience. Continue Reading