Foley’s loss changes the dynamics in state House

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Dan Foley is a fighter. Whether it’s using his debating skills to single-handedly filibuster legislation on the House floor or rushing a Roswell basketball court in June after a fight broke out among teens, Foley has often found his way into battles. That has led to some of the controversies that ultimately cost Foley his elected position, including his arrest last June during the basketball-court fight on charges that were later dismissed. The House minority whip was defeated in last week’s primary by his well-funded opponent, Republican Dennis Kintigh, who went negative early and hammered Foley throughout the campaign. But Foley’s willingness to fight and his skill in a debate, coupled with his unique friendships with a handful of colleagues on the other side of the aisle, have also made him an effective legislator whose absence will change the dynamic in the House, many of his colleagues said. Continue Reading

Bribery statute may need clarification

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State Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Ohkay Owingeh, gave $100 from her campaign fund three times last year to help cover funeral costs, according to a Wednesday article in the Albuquerque Journal. She also wants to use her campaign fund for other expenses some would find questionable: She wrote a letter to the Attorney General’s Office last year asking whether it is alright to spend campaign money on phone cards, pizza parties and other expenses for voters. She wrote in her letter that her purpose in doing that “would be to garner good will from these men and women and their family and friends.” The AG’s office, in a letter I found confusing, responded last month that, while the Campaign Reporting Act appears to allow such expenditures, they might be illegal bribes under the state Election Code. The Election Code forbids a lawmaker from “willfully advancing, paying… directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable consideration… to any person… to induce such a person, if a voter, to vote or refrain from voting for or against any candidate.” Violation is a fourth-degree felony. The AG opinion states that any thing of value, “no matter how trivial,” can’t be given to “influence or induce a vote” unless it is strictly campaign literature. Continue Reading

N.M. Republicans to gather Saturday in Las Cruces

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New Mexico Republicans will elect a new national committeeman, confirm the five who get the state GOP’s electoral votes and hear from candidates for federal office at a meeting on Saturday in Las Cruces. The 2008 Republican Party of New Mexico Quadrennial Convention will begin at 10 a.m. at the performing arts center at Oñate High School. The most interesting vote of state central committee members who attend Saturday’s meeting will be on who will replace George Buffett as the national committeeman for New Mexico — a representative who has a voice in the Republican National Committee. Albuquerque attorney Pat Rogers had previously announced his candidacy, but two late entrants — Albuquerque small businessman Anthony Contri and Albuquerque car dealer Don Chalmers — jumped into the race this week. It’s too late for their names to appear on Saturday’s ballot, but they’re still welcome to compete, said Allen Weh, chairman of the state GOP. Continue Reading

County warns of misleading registration activities

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The Doña Ana County Bureau of Elections has received complaints about misleading voter-registration activities and wants to make sure the public knows the truth about registering. Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins said in a news release from the county that the “most disturbing” complaint is from people who say they are being told they must re-register to vote under a new law passed by the state Legislature. “This is simply not true,” Ellins said. “Any voter who is registered and in good standing has no obligation to re-register.” County spokesman Jess Williams said many of the complaints are about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, more commonly known as ACORN. The group has been actively trying to register voters in Doña Ana County in recent months. Continue Reading

New Udall ad criticizes the ‘George Bush economy’

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall is out with a new television ad criticizing the “George Bush economy” and promising that he will fight to ease the burden on middle-class Americans by focusing on alternative energy and health-care reform. Here’s the ad: “… we have to get serious about alternative energy. That will lower gas and food prices,” Udall says in the ad. “And I’ve fought to give every small business access to the same health-care plan we have in Congress. I’ve approved this message because we have to make the economy work for the middle class again.” Udall campaign manager Amanda Cooper said in a news release that rising food costs, caused by the hike in fuel costs, have even forced public schools to increase meal prices. Continue Reading

NBC News says guv isn’t on Obama’s list for VP

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NBC News claims it has the list of potential vice presidential candidates that Barack Obama’s campaign is discussing this week with congressional Democrats. Gov. Bill Richardson isn’t on the list. According to NBC’s Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro, writing in a Tuesday posting, among those being considered is Ret. Gen. James Jones, a former NATO supreme allied commander. Having him on the ticket could help Obama with the military and veterans — groups he is struggling to reach. Continue Reading

Another top employee leaving state Election Bureau

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The Election Bureau in the Secretary of State’s Office is in for another big personnel change. Daniel Miera, the elections administrator in that office, is leaving later this month, just days after the state canvass of last week’s primary election, to return to Taos and become the town’s manager, the Taos News is reporting. He was hired away from Taos, where he was assistant town manager, earlier this year for the state job. The culprit is a pay raise. Miera will earn $90,000 annually in his new job, the news service reported. Continue Reading

Dropping approval rating is a sign of guv’s struggles

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There were signs when Gov. Bill Richardson returned to New Mexico after a failed presidential campaign that his power had diminished. A dropping approval rating appears to be another indicator of his lessening influence in the Land of Enchantment. His rating in a May poll was 56 percent — still healthy but down 18 points from a year earlier, when Richardson’s presidential campaign was at its height and he was climbing in the Democratic presidential primary polls largely because of clever television advertisements. Richardson’s campaign petered out after that. And his gubernatorial approval rating in the monthly SurveyUSA poll conducted for KOB-TV in Albuquerque started dropping. Continue Reading

GOP blocks proposal to tax oil companies’ profits

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Senate Republicans blocked today a proposal to tax the profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies, with Pete Domenici of New Mexico among the leaders of the GOP effort to stop legislation he said would not provide any help for consumers. “The American people are clamoring for relief at the pump,” Domenici said during today’s debate, according to the Associated Press, but if taxes are increased on the oil companies “they will get exactly what they don’t want. The bill will raise taxes, increase imports.” Today’s debate was the latest in the battle over energy policy made complicated by election-year politics and the American public’s frustration with rising gas prices. Domenici, as the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Democrat Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the committee’s chairman, are key players in the debate. Last month, the Senate rejected a Domenici-led proposal to dramatically increase domestic oil production. Continue Reading

New poll suggests Nader could be a factor this year

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If a new poll is any indication, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader could be a factor in this year’s race. Nader, who chose to start his campaign earlier this year by gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot in New Mexico, is at 6 percent in a new CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll. Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Barack Obama leads in the poll with 47 percent to Republican nominee John McCain’s 43 percent. The poll, conducted June 4 and 5, surveyed 921 registered voters and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Continue Reading

Electing Heinrich a top priority for House Democrats

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The fundraising group for Democrats in the U.S. House today made electing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate, Martin Heinrich, a top priority. Heinrich was added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program following his “decisive victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary,” according to a news release from the DCCC. Heinrich is one of 12 candidates in the program. “Martin Heinrich is a strong and principled leader committed to change. Martin has a proven record of raising the minimum wage, creating good jobs, cracking down on crime and protecting New Mexico’s environment,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen said in a news release. Continue Reading

Wilson says sexism contributed to Hillary’s loss

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Hillary Clinton’s exit from the Democratic presidential primary this weekend prompted an interesting opinion piece published in the New York Times from New Mexico’s Heather Wilson. In the brief letter, the Republican representative of the First Congressional District stated that the Democratic nominating system favors the most liberal candidate — Barack Obama in this instance — but “there is a second reason Hillary Clinton lost that some are reluctant to openly acknowledge: a latent and lamentable sexism. She lost because the superdelegates — the Democratic establishment — went against her.” “She became a caricature: too smart, too strong, too assertive, too rational, too competent,” Wilson wrote. “Think how the young Harry Potter and his male friends initially reacted to Hermione Granger and you get the idea.” Clinton put a more positive spin on her loss in the speech she gave this weekend conceding the race and announcing her support for Obama. She focused on the state contests she won and her success in mounting the most credible presidential campaign by a woman in American history. Continue Reading

Final primary results from Doña Ana County

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The tallying of election results in Doña Ana County was completed early Saturday morning, meaning all that’s required to make the results official is a stamp of approval from the county commission. Several local races were decided by narrow margins. The closest was the county treasurer Democratic primary, in which former Treasurer David Gutierrez defeated former county Auditor Jill Johnson by 87 votes. Gutierrez had 4,476 votes, or 50.5 percent, to Johnson’s 4,389 votes, or 49.5 percent. In the county clerk Democratic primary, Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins defeated his closest challenger in a four-way race, incumbent Rita Torres, by 186 votes. Continue Reading

NMSU regents take two steps back on public input

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After Michael Martin accepted the job late last week as chancellor of Louisiana State University’s Baton Rouge campus, New Mexico State University’s Board of Regents named retired Vice President for Business and Finance James McDonough to fill NMSU’s presidency on an interim basis. Something else happened at that Friday meeting. The Board of Regents’ decision to allow public comments at meetings was revealed as a farce. Two former professors and the mother of a student were cut off and threatened with removal from Friday’s meeting during the public comments section.The Las Cruces Sun-News has the details. Essentially, Regents Chairman Bob Gallagher banged his gavel and cut them off when they questioned recent statements he made, the Sun-News reported. Continue Reading

No break in the action: New TV ads up in N.M.

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It appears New Mexico will get no break between the primary and general elections this year, with Republican presidential nominee John McCain and a special-interest group that is targeting the U.S. Senate race both currently running TV ads. Here’s McCain’s new ad, which is running in several battleground states, including New Mexico: The ad tries to sell McCain as someone who has a deep understanding of and hates war and as someone who, in his own words, is “running for president to keep this country safe.” The pro-Iraq war McCain has already said his campaign’s success will be decided by whether he can convince the American people that he’s right about Iraq. In addition, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is running an ad attacking Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce. Here it is: The ad attempts to link Pearce to President Bush, saying both have supported oil companies while Americans have had to deal with record gas prices. “Call Steve Pearce and tell him we need lower fuel costs, not more support for George Bush and Big Oil,” the ad’s narrator states. Continue Reading