Oil and gas backs Pearce; lawyers give to Udall

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In the U.S. Senate race, the top contributing industry to Republican Steve Pearce’s campaign is oil and gas, while lawyers are the top givers to Democrat Tom Udall’s campaign. That’s no surprise, said New Mexico pollster and analyst Brian Sanderoff. Lawyers tend to give more to Democrats than Republicans, and the oil and gas industry tends to give more to Republicans. “That’s complemented by the fact that Tom Udall is an attorney and Steve Pearce comes from the oil and gas industry,” Sanderoff said. Udall had raised a little more than $3.2 million for his Senate campaign as of May 14, the date of the most recent financial information available on the money-in-politics Web site OpenSecrets.org. Continue Reading

Bingaman’s attempt to delay telecom immunity fails

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., made an attempt today to convince his colleagues to withhold immunity from telecommunications companies until a report on their activity from the Inspector General is released, but his proposed amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill failed. “We are talking about a program that was not conducted in accordance with the law, and from what we do know, may have violated the constitutional rights of innocent Americans,” Bingaman said in a news release following today’s vote. “I believe the only reasonable thing to do was to keep these suits from being dismissed until at least we have a complete picture of what actions we are shielding from liability.” Bingaman voted against the bill after his and other attempts to amend the bill failed. The vote on his amendment was 42-56, with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., joining the majority in opposing it. The bill was approved by a vote of 69-28. Continue Reading

Guv wants to spend windfall revenues on health care

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The battle over health-care reform continued today when Gov. Bill Richardson announced a large revenue windfall attributable to rising oil and gas prices and said that means the state has the money to fund universal health care. The chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee disagrees, and says some of the money should be given to taxpayers to combat high gas prices and some should be used to fix roads. Richardson announced today that executive- and legislative-branch analysts project that the state will have $392 million in new money for the upcoming budget year and another $1 billion for one-time spending projects. A news release from the governor’s office said the new money “will be on the table when he calls the Legislature into a special session to address access to universal health coverage.” Richardson has vowed to call a special session later this summer. “We can invest in health coverage in a fiscally responsible way,” Richardson said in the release. Continue Reading

Swift Boat Vets funder gives big to N.M. GOP

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The Texas homebuilder who funded the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s 2004 campaign against Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry is continuing to aid New Mexico Republicans. Bob Perry gave $125,000 to the Republican Party of New Mexico last month, according to The Associated Press. That was some 90 percent of the total funds raised by the party from May 28 to June 28, and it helped the GOP dramatically out-raise the Democratic Party of New Mexico during that period. Perry has shown quite an interest in New Mexico in recent years. He gave almost $240,000 to the 2002 gubernatorial campaign of Republican John Sanchez. Continue Reading

Heinrich’s new poll has him leading by three points

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A new poll conducted for the campaign of 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich has him narrowly leading his Republican opponent, Darren White. The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, had Heinrich leading White 47 percent to 44 percent. The survey of 518 likely voters was conducted June 29 to July 2 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points, so Heinrich’s lead was within the margin of error. The question that was asked of those surveyed, according to the poll memo, was, “Thinking about the election for U.S. Congress in November, if the election for U.S. Congress were held today and the candidates were Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Darren White, for whom would you vote, Democrat Martin Heinrich or Republican Darren White?” The last publicly released poll of the race came in October, when a poll conducted for the White campaign had White leading Heinrich in what was then a theoretical match-up by 18 points, 51 percent to 33 percent. That poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, surveyed 400 likely voters, was conducted Oct. Continue Reading

Bush must back up words on Iraq withdrawal

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President Bush said during a May 2007 news conference that American forces would pull out of Iraq if the Iraqi government so desired. Now the Iraqi government wants to set a timeline for U.S. forces to leave. It’s time for Bush to back his words up with action. Iraq’s national security adviser said on Tuesday, in reference to negotiations with America over a pending security deal, that Iraq will accept no deal that does not contain a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces, according to The Associated Press. Today an Iraqi government spokesman said, according to CNN, that the pullout of American forces could be complete as early as 2011 depending on “conditions and circumstances that the country would be undergoing” at the time. Continue Reading

LFC releases information about funding requests

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The Legislative Finance Committee has decided to make available on the Internet years of data about who requested funding that ended up in the state’s so-called “junior budget” bill. It’s a smart move toward increased transparency at a time when many accuse the state Senate of blocking ethics-reform and transparency proposals. In light of recent controversies over rugby and trash-can funding, it’s a way for the public to know who originated funding requests, which could pressure lawmakers to act more ethically. The move comes at the direction of Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming and chair of the LFC. The last four years of appropriations requested by senators and the governor to be included in the junior budget are included on the site, which you can find by clicking here. Continue Reading

Democrats tout voter-registration advantage

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More New Mexicans registered to vote as Democrats than as Republicans and independents combined in the first six months of the year, a statistic that has the state’s Democratic Party smiling. “With more and more Democrats registering to vote, we are confident that this year New Mexico will turn blue,” Brian Colón, chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, said in a news release. “Democrats are on the right side of the issues and represent the values of New Mexicans. Not only are we registering more and more voters, but record interest in volunteering has energized all the Democratic campaigns here in the state.” From Jan. 1 to June 30, 27,207 New Mexicans registered as Democrats, while 12,926 registered as Republicans and 11,805 registered independent of any political party, according to the news release. Continue Reading

McDonough won’t take the reins at NMSU after all

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James McDonough won’t be New Mexico State University’s interim president after all, the university announced today in a news release. McDonough’s withdrawal is due to a health concern he wasn’t aware of when he accepted the job last month, according to the Albuquerque Journal, which was quoting from the news release. No other details were released. “Jim’s health is of the utmost importance to all of us,” Regent Bob Gallagher stated in the news release. “He will remain in our thoughts and we wish him well.” The regents will reconsider candidates for the interim job at their July 14 retreat in Mescalero, according to the news release. Continue Reading

McCain mocks Obama’s message of hope in new ad

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Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s new TV ad running in New Mexico and elsewhere mocks Democratic opponent Barack Obama’s message of hope while focusing on McCain’s background. Here’s the 60-second spot, which is airing in New Mexico and 10 other states and on national cable: The ad promotes McCain as someone who has spent a lifetime putting America “before party, polls and self” and as a maverick who “tackled campaign reform, military reform, spending reform… took on presidents, partisans and popular opinion.” “He believes our world is dangerous, our economy in shambles,” the ad’s narrator states. “John McCain doesn’t always tell us what we ‘hope’ to hear. Beautiful words cannot make our lives better. But a man who has always put his country and her people before self, before politics, can.” “Don’t ‘hope’ for a better life,” the narrator says. Continue Reading

No more seats available for McCain event

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There are no more seats available for next week’s town-hall meeting in Albuquerque with Republican presidential candidate John McCain. As previously reported, McCain will be in Albuquerque on Tuesday for the 10 a.m. meeting at Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town. The day before, he’ll hold an evening fundraiser in Albuquerque. McCain spokeswoman Whitney Cheshire said a few hundred seats were made available on Monday for next week’s town-hall meeting, but “they’ve all been snatched up.” Only people who have made reservations will be allowed to attend the meeting. Continue Reading

The move to the middle

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By Dr. James “Jim” Kadlecek Pounding his fist on the podium at the U.S. Senate, former Sen. Everett Dirksen exclaimed, “I’m a man of the strongest possible principle.” He paused for effect before saying, “and my strongest principle is flexibility!” The senator from Illinois was paraphrasing Honest Abe, who made a similar statement at a time when Lincoln had to explain his change of position on an issue. Dirksen’s point was that politics is about compromise. To gain the support (enough votes) to win approval of a bill in Congress, or win an election, a majority is necessary. That means an individual legislator’s or candidate’s opinion must reflect public opinion. Both John McCain and Barack Obama are being criticized by certain media commentators and by political ideologues on the right and left. Continue Reading

How could four justices oppose the 2nd Amendment?

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By Dan Foley I was reading with much enjoyment the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution with regard to the Second Amendment. But then my blood ran cold when it suddenly dawned on me that the case was only decided by a 5-4 margin. My mind quickly moved from enjoyment to complete and total fear — fear that we actually have four justices who for some reason can find a way to limit my ownership of guns despite the clear language of the Bill of Rights. It was also a wake-up call when I read comments from such a fine constitutional scholar as Justice John Paul Stevens. He wrote, “In my view, there is simply no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas.” What? Continue Reading

Will conservation legacy hurt the Udalls?

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Environmental groups have lined up to help elect Democrats Tom Udall and Mark Udall to the U.S. Senate in November. So, with today’s economic situation being the top issue for voters, it’s no surprise that Republican opponents are attacking the Udall legacy as a contributing cause to the high price of gasoline. The New York Times published an article today raising the question of whether the Udall legacy of protecting the West’s natural resources will help or hurt the two candidates in November. Tom Udall is running for Senate in New Mexico. His first cousin Mark is running in Colorado. Continue Reading

Udall raises $2.1 million during 2nd quarter

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall raised more than $2.1 million during the fundraising quarter that ended June 30, the best fundraising effort yet for a candidate who, during the primary season, consistently outraised the GOP hopefuls combined. “We are so grateful to Tom’s strong, statewide base of committed supporters for making this our best fundraising quarter so far,” campaign Manager Amanda Cooper said in a news release. “Because of their generous support, our campaign is able to knock on thousands of doors, have a strong statewide presence and dominate the airwaves with hard-hitting TV ads.” The release didn’t state how much Udall spent during the second quarter of the year or had on hand on July 1. Finance reports aren’t due to the Federal Election Commission until July 15. During the first quarter of the year, Udall raised $1.3 million, while his Republican opponent, Steve Pearce, raised $473,725. Continue Reading