Voters in poll say Garcia will narrowly win primary

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A narrow majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, will hold off a June primary challenge from Doña Ana County Commissioner Oscar Vásquez Butler. Of 190 voters, 99, or 52 percent, said Garcia will win the primary, while 91, or 48 percent, said Butler 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

Denish’s acceptance of funding bills leads to face-off

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Gov. Bill Richardson appears headed toward a showdown with lawmakers over whether the lieutenant governor had the authority to accept the junior budget and capital outlay bills on Saturday and start the clock on the time the governor has to act on them. One powerful senator said the dispute will end up in court if the governor doesn’t back down. Lawmakers on Saturday gave final approval to House Bill 43, the capital outlay bill, and Senate Bill 165, the junior budget bill. The House apparently approved them after senators threatened to quit working and go home unless that happened. The New Mexico Constitution gives Richardson three days, excluding Sundays, to act on any bill sent to him before the third-to-last day of the session. Continue Reading

Things aren’t looking good for ethics reform

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The three major ethics-reform proposals of the 2008 legislative session are having a hard time moving toward approval. I wrote more than a week ago that the reform bills weren’t picking up much momentum. That’s still true. Here’s a rundown: Campaign contribution limits • The good news is that Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez’s apparently worthless campaign contribution limits bill, Senate Bill 387 (click here for an explanation of the problem with the bill), was amended and improved by the Senate Rules Committee. Now, instead of having a loophole that made the limits apply to almost no one, the bill would place real limits on contributions to individuals, political action committees and political parties. Continue Reading

Domenici staffer decides he won’t run for Congress

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Clint Chandler, a Las Cruces staffer for U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, has decided he won’t seek the Congressional seat being vacated by Steve Pearce. “I have concluded the time demands required to conduct an effective campaign would place too many strains on my family,” he said. “My children are aged six and nine, and I prefer to invest in them the time I would otherwise spend chasing dollars around the state.” Chandler said the decision was difficult because “several current officeholders” he did not name “had committed to endorse me, and many other electeds and party activists and strongly encouraged me to make the run.” “Their confidence has been humbling and very much appreciated. I’ll long remember the kindness and generosity I encountered while I traveled to various parts of the district late last year,” he said. “I believe public service is a high calling, and perhaps I will pursue a similar course in the future. Continue Reading

Dem CD2 hopefuls to attend forum in Anthony

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Most of the Democratic candidates seeking to replace Steve Pearce in Congress will participate in a forum in Anthony on Monday. Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley, Roswell businessman and retired teacher Frank McKinnon and former Lea County Commissioner Harry Teague have all confirmed their attendance at the forum, which will be held at the Women’s Intercultural Center, located at 203 Lincoln Street in Anthony. The fourth Democratic candidate in the race, retired Presbyterian pastor Al Kissling, will not participate. The public is invited to attend. For more information, call (575) 621-0268 or (575) 882-5039. Continue Reading

Work is getting done at a glacial pace during session

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By Diane Denish You might have heard some rumblings that we’re having a bit of a slow legislative session in the Roundhouse. Those rumblings are right… and they’re wrong. Far from a “do-nothing session,” as a certain governor recently branded it, work is getting done. It’s just been, well, glacial. The main reason for that pace is the comparative lack of money for new programs and projects. Continue Reading

Former state AG says caucus results can’t be trusted

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(This article has been updated to correct apparently inaccurate information. Please see the note at the end of the article for an explanation.) The Democratic Party of New Mexico wants to assure the state that the results from Tuesday’s caucus will be trustworthy, but some believe the process is fatally tainted. Among those critics is former Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who said problems with the caucus have resulted in “a tremendous black eye for Democrats in this state.” “We have conducted an election that doesn’t have the integrity and the confidence of the voters,” said Madrid, who supported Barack Obama but was speaking for herself, not his campaign. “I’m particularly livid about this as an Obama supporter. Can we trust this vote? Continue Reading

Alternate path to the ballot appears likely this year

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The House and Senate have approved by overwhelming majorities a proposal to provide an alternate path to the ballot for Republican and Democratic hopefuls who fail to secure the votes of 20 percent of delegates at their party’s preprimary nominating convention. Though they approved different bills, the bills are the same, so it’s likely one will easily make it through the other chamber. The governor has said he supports providing an alternate path to the ballot. Under the previous law, Democrats and Republicans could get on the ballot by receiving the votes of 20 percent of delegates at their party’s preprimary nominating convention or, if they failed to do that, by submitting petitions containing enough signatures to qualify. A 2007 change, approved unanimously by lawmakers and signed by the governor, got rid of the second provision, and was designed to increase the power of those who control the major parties. Continue Reading

Kissling says he never agreed to endorse Clinton

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Al Kissling, a Democratic candidate for the Second Congressional District seat being vacated by Steve Pearce, says he never agreed to endorse Hillary Clinton for president. The campaign included him in two news releases announcing endorsements from around the state in the days leading up to Tuesday’s caucus. “I never endorsed the Hillary campaign. I went to both events. I thought they were both very interesting and well-done,” Kissling said. Continue Reading

Colón apologizes, explains Rio Arriba situation

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Brian Colón, chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, is apologizing for problems with Tuesday’s presidential caucus, and also explained why the reporting of some votes, including those from three polling places in Rio Arriba County, has been delayed. Pointing out that turnout on Tuesday was much greater than the 105,000 who showed up in 2004, Colón said the story could have been about how the two Democratic presidential candidates inspired New Mexico Democrats to vote. “What we can write about is how two candidates came and lit the state on fire in less than 10 days, and that’s amazing,” he said. “I regret that I allowed this other situation and the party’s organization to become the story instead of that.” The party wasn’t adequately prepared for the approximately 150,000 people who voted on Tuesday. It ran out of ballots at some locations, had only one polling place and a long line in Rio Rancho and had trouble reporting accurate and current results on its Web site on Tuesday evening and today. Continue Reading

Parties need a new nominating process

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Hillary Clinton was visibly exhausted when she arrived on stage at Highland High School in Albuquerque on Saturday. She paused to cough a few times during her 30-minute speech. Her voice was slightly raspy. After she left the Duke City, the cold got worse. She lost her voice during an appearance in Connecticut on Monday, MSNBC reported. Continue Reading

Uncounted Rio Arriba County ballots raise eyebrows

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(This article has been updated to include Richard Martinez’s comments to Nash and the new vote margin separating Clinton and Obama.) The New Mexico Democratic Party caucus may be tainted by three ballot boxes that spent the night in the home of the Rio Arriba County party chair or the homes of other local election officials instead of being reported to the state party. Those ballots still haven’t been counted, but they have been retrieved by the state party. Several sources told me the ballot boxes spent the night at the home of Rio Arriba County Democratic Party Chair Theresa Martinez, whose state-lawmaker husband, Sen. Richard Martinez, endorsed Hillary Clinton. But Richard Martinez told Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Kate Nash that the boxes actually spent the night in the homes of three polling-place managers. He gave Nash no explanation for why the results from those ballots weren’t reported to the state party last night and why they were instead kept overnight in officials’ homes. Continue Reading

New Mexico comes down to provisional ballots

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New Mexicans hoping to wake up this morning and find out whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama won New Mexico will be disappointed to learn that the contest will remain unresolved until thousands of provisional ballots are dealt with later today. That’s the latest news on an election day (that has carried over into the next day) that was blessed with record turnout and plagued by problems. The state Democratic Party’s Web site, which was supposed to be the official bearer of election results, hasn’t been updated since 11:56 p.m. on Tuesday and doesn’t include results from several counties, including the state’s two largest, Bernalillo and Doña Ana. It’s a good thing that Albuquerque television stations have more updated numbers. As it stands, Clinton has a 117-vote advantage out of 131,573 ballots cast. She has 65,845 votes to Obama’s 65,728 with 98 percent of precincts reporting. Continue Reading

Only 228 votes separate Obama and Clinton

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The newest update from KOAT-TV in Albuquerque has Barack Obama narrowly beating Hillary Clinton, 63,030 votes to 62,802 votes, with 95 percent of precincts reporting. That’s a difference of 228 votes out of 125,832 cast. I can’t tell you which counties are yet to be counted. The TV station is way ahead of the state Democratic Party’s Web site on the vote count, but the station doesn’t break it down by county. If the margin stays that tight, this race won’t be decided until after the state party deals with the provisional ballots. Continue Reading

Obama wins big in Santa Fe

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Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton by about 4,000 votes in Santa Fe County, keeping this race in the too-close-to-call column. Obama had 12,696 votes in Santa Fe County. Clinton had 8,651 votes. I’ve given up trying to tally the vote totals. The state Democratic Party’s Web site is a mess. Continue Reading