McCain tops both Dems in new poll of N.M. voters

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John McCain is beating both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a new poll of New Mexico voters that tests potential head-to-head presidential election matchups. McCain had a three-point lead – 49 percent to 46 percent – over Clinton and a six-point lead – 50 percent to 44 percent – over Obama in the SurveyUSA poll released today.The survey of 490 registered voters in New Mexico was conducted from Friday to Sunday and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent. McCain led Clinton among men by 14 points but trailed Clinton among women by six points. He led Obama among men by 16 points but trailed among women by three points. McCain topped Clinton in every age group except among 18-34 year olds. Continue Reading

Pearce continues attacking Wilson’s missed votes

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce continued today his attacks on primary opponent Heather Wilson for being in New Mexico campaigning this week instead of voting on bills in Washington. Today, Wilson missed her 22nd vote of the week, the Pearce campaign stated in a news release sent this afternoon. She has missed votes on “expanding opportunities for college students to get loans to pay for school” and “an important vote to add FISA legislation to a bill,” according to the release. The release points out again, as the Pearce campaign did on Wednesday in a separate news release, that Wilson missed a vote on Tuesday on whether to strip sanctuary cities – those that refuse to help the federal government enforce immigration laws – of their tax-exempt status. The proposal failed on a tie vote, 210-210, so Wilson could have cast the vote that would have led to House approval of the proposal. Continue Reading

Here’s another ‘only-in-New-Mexico’ story

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The Associated Press is reporting on a little-noticed bit of funding approved by the Legislature and governor this year to pay a New Mexico company to clean trash cans in a handful of communities around the state. Blast-N-Clean will get $162,500 after legislators appropriated the money to almost a dozen communities even though many of those communities didn’t ask for money to clear their outdoor garbage containers. But, as is often the case, the question of why lawmakers would appropriate the funds for this purpose when local communities didn’t ask for it is answered simply: The company hired a former lawmaker to be its lobbyist. Joe Nestor Chavez is a Democrat who represented Albuquerque from 1997 to 2000 in the Legislature. Click here to read the bill that includes the funding, and you’ll notice that it doesn’t mention the company, even though that’s where the money is going. Continue Reading

New online publication’s aim is watchdog journalism

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There’s a new, online publication in New Mexico whose aim is the sort of hard-hitting but fair government-watchdog journalism that is often lacking in today’s mainstream media. The New Mexico Independent launched on Tuesday. There are still some kinks to be worked out, but there are several articles already published on the site. Let me tell you up front that I’m one of nine fellows who have been hired to report part-time for the site. The site is published by the Center for Independent Media, a non-profit in Washington that also publishes The Washington Independent and similar news sites in four other states. Continue Reading

Lyons goes ahead with land deals despite AG opinion

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New Mexico Land Commissioner Pat Lyons plans to proceed with several land deals across the state that include a provision the attorney general says is not allowed by law. “I want to move ahead, create economic development,” Lyons told the Albuquerque Journal for an article published on Wednesday. “We suggest the attorney general work with us, not against us.” Lyons is now planning to proceed with land deals in Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe despite a February AG opinion that took issue with a key provision in a similar deal in Las Cruces. The formal opinion related to The Vistas at Presidio land deal on Las Cruces’ East Mesa states that the lease agreement’s method of compensating Philip Philippou’s company for developing the land is “not comprehended by and in conflict with” a statute that allows developers who improve land for the state to be compensated only for the appraised value of the improvements. In the lease, the land office also agrees to compensate Philippou for other project costs and 40 percent of the change in value of the land as a result of the improvements. Continue Reading

Guv’s NMSU speech may reveal his ambition

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Gov. Bill Richardson condensed the contents of several speeches he gave during his presidential campaign into one foreign policy speech that he delivered today at New Mexico State University. The result: I got the feeling that Richardson was testing a comprehensive speech on foreign policy that he will soon unveil to national audiences as he guns for whatever position he wants in a potential Obama administration – most likely vice president or secretary of state. Richardson has given a number of policy speeches since he began his presidential campaign in January 2007, but he has delivered them in places like Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. When his office announced earlier this week that he would give a major policy speech in Las Cruces today, I wondered why, when he’s clearly trying to stay in the national spotlight, he would give such a speech in a place where it would attract little media attention. Officially, Richardson was delivering a policy speech to the NMSU International Relations Institute, a new organization he’s trying to help build into a force along the border. Continue Reading

Media should promote substantive debate on issues

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I wish we could have honest debates about the issues in America. Too often, the 24-hour news cycle instead drowns us in controversy with only cursory examination of anything substantive. That’s a disservice to Americans. The latest example is the controversy over Barack Obama’s recent comment about Pennsylvania voters. For those who missed it, Obama said at a private fundraiser in San Francisco that many rural Pennsylvanians respond to their economic plight by becoming bitter and clinging to guns, religion, hostility toward people who are different from them and anti-immigrant and anti-trade sentiment. Continue Reading

Pearce attacks Wilson for missing sanctuary-city vote

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce is attacking opponent Heather Wilson today for missing a House session in which she could have cast the deciding vote in favor of stripping the tax-exempt status of so-called sanctuary cities. On the bill in question, the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act, the House voted Tuesday evening on a motion that would have added language stripping the tax-exempt status of cities whose policies prevent local police from inquiring about immigration status or enforcing federal immigration law in other ways. The vote on the motion was a 210-210 tie, so under House rules it died. One more vote in favor of the motion would have led to House approval of the motion and the bill, which would have also needed Senate approval to be enacted. Pearce, who voted in favor of the motion, released a letter he sent to Animas rancher Kelly Peterson on Tuesday evening decrying Wilson’s absence. Continue Reading

White tops CD1 candidates in first-quarter fundraising

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Darren White led all First Congressional District candidates in fundraising during the first three months of 2008, raising a total of $233,509. The GOP’s White raised $203,509 from individuals and $30,000 from political committees, according to the report he filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. He spent $108,568, leaving him with $297,499 on hand on April 1. Next was Democrat Martin Heinrich who, according to the report he filed, raised $201,045, including $161,997 from individuals and $38,785 from political committees. He spent $135,048 and had $342,422 in the bank on April 1. Continue Reading

Sowards raises $325K during first quarter of 2008

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Republican Second Congressional District candidate Greg Sowards raised $325,000 during the first three months of 2008 – all of it a personal loan he gave his campaign. That’s according to the report he filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. Sowards spent $24,679 during the first quarter of the year – his first in the race – leaving him with $300,320 on hand at the start of April. You can read about the fundraising of the other GOP candidates in the race by clicking here. Update, 9:25 a.m. Sowards said in a news release that he has not accepted or solicited donations to this point, saying the “earnest money” he has contributed to his own campaign “should testify to the fact that I believe strongly in the closing line of the Declaration of Independence, which reads, ‘And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’” Kimball Hakes, who serves as Sowards’ campaign treasurer, said in the release that Sowards “is the only candidate to commit this kind of money to the race who isn’t a millionaire.” “It is the willingness of ordinary citizens to make personal sacrifices that will preserve this great nation for future generations,” Sowards said. Continue Reading

McCamley raises $85K during first quarter of 2008

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Democratic Second Congressional District candidate Bill McCamley raised just over $85,000 during the first three months of 2008, including $2,166 that he contributed to his own campaign. In addition to that contribution McCamley made to his campaign, he raised $82,722 from individuals and had other receipts of $125, bringing his total fundraising for the quarter to $85,014, according to the report he filed today with the Federal Election Commission. He spent $61,470, according to the report, and ended the quarter with $235,944 in the bank. To date, McCamley has raised $357,229 and spent $121,284. McCamley’s only opponent in the Democratic primary, Harry Teague, reported earlier today raising $170,420 and spending $196,290 during the quarter. Continue Reading

Wiviott, Luján, Shendo are top CD3 fundraisers

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Don Wiviott topped all Third Congressional District candidates in fundraising during the first three months of 2008, but Ben R. Luján also raised an impressive amount, and the fundraising total of Benny Shendo Jr. was respectable. Wiviott, according to the report he filed today with the Federal Election Commission, raised $676,980 – $109,504 of it from individual contributors and $565,000 a loan he gave his campaign. He spent $540,315, and began the second quarter of the year with $433,375 on hand. “I have been touched by the outpouring of support from New Mexicans who believe in our campaign and want to join us in this important effort to bring change to Washington,” the Democrat said in a news release. “People recognize the stakes are high in this election and that it is time to start working together to produce the results we need to move our country forward.” Luján, according to the report he filed today, raised $328,740 – $296,140 from individuals and $32,600 from political action committees. Continue Reading

Board of Finance OKs emergency loan for primary

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The state Board of Finance today approved an emergency loan of up to $595,300 to help the Secretary of State’s Office cover expenses related to the upcoming June 3 primary. “I am keeping my promise to the secretary of state that we will work with her to ensure that her office has adequate resources and they are prepared to run a smooth primary election,” Gov. Bill Richardson, the board’s chair, said in a news release. “The public expects fair and accurate election results in a timely manner – as they should.” Richardson spokesman Allan Oliver said the funding has nothing to do with a previous $3 million budget deficit in the Secretary of State’s Office that resulted from the 2006 election or legislation the governor vetoed earlier this year that would have helped counties pay for maintenance of voting machines. The news release states that the Board of Finance has been working with Secretary of State Mary Herrera and her staff to ensure the office is fully prepared for the primary. The emergency loan will help cover the costs of election supplies, training for poll workers and judges and voter information cards. Continue Reading

Once again, Udall outraises GOP candidates combined

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For the second fundraising quarter in a row, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall bested the combined fundraising totals of GOP candidates Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson. Udall raised $1.3 million during the first three months of 2008, while Wilson raised $515,086 and Pearce raised $473,725. Udall ended the quarter with almost $2.6 million in the bank, while Wilson had $1.2 million on hand at the start of April and Pearce had $854,164. The Pearce and Wilson campaigns released fundraising totals today. The Udall campaign released its total last week. Continue Reading

Teague raises $170K during first quarter of 2008

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Democratic Second Congressional District candidate Harry Teague raised just over $170,000 during the first three months of 2008, including a $9,572 loan he gave his own campaign. Teague raised $157,847 from individuals and $3,000 from political action committees, according to the report he filed today with the Federal Election Commission. Along with the loan he gave his campaign, that brought his total fundraising for the quarter to $170,420. Teague spent $196,290 during the first quarter of 2008, leaving him with $336,864 on hand at the start of April. Teague raised $408,610 during the last three months of 2007, which included a $200,000 loan he gave his own campaign. Continue Reading