Dendahl on abortion and other life issues

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Gov. Bill Richardson has still not agreed to debate Republican challenger John Dendahl. The reason given by his campaign manager is that Dendahl isn’t capable of “positive sharing of ideas.” Debates and candidate forums should be standard in all races. Richardson’s refusal to debate ideas on how to better the State of New Mexico shouldn’t mean that Dendahl doesn’t get to share his views in a public forum. Until Richardson agrees to a televised debate, I’ll be publishing Dendahl’s stances on various issues. I was planning to do the same for Al Kissling, the Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., because Pearce only agreed to one debate, held in the middle of the day, which ensured no live television coverage. Continue Reading

Poll: Most say Macias will win district judgeship

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In last week’s non-scientific poll on this site, an overwhelming majority said Democrat Fernando Macias will win his district judge race with Republican Rita Nuñez Neumann. Of 165 votes, 117, or 71 percent, went to Macias. Some 48, or 29 percent, went to Neumann. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

UP Aerospace rocket recovered

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UP Aerospace today recovered its rocket launched Monday from Spaceport America. The company announced that it also recovered the payloads and is returning them to customers. “We were absolutely determined to find the vehicle and provide the payloads and experiments back to our launch partners,” CEO Eric Knight said. “We’ve spoken to our launch partners this morning, and they’re ecstatic over the news of the recovery.” The company hopes recovery of the rocket will help determine what went wrong nine seconds into Monday’s launch, so any problems can be corrected before the next launch on Oct. 21. Continue Reading

BREAKING NEWS: Vigil found guilty on one count

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Former state Treasurer Robert Vigil has been found guilty on one of the 24 counts he was facing, according to KOB-TV in Albuquerque. Vigil was convicted on one count of attempted extortion, but acquitted on 23 other charges. The conviction carries a prison sentence of as much as 20 years or as little as 12 months, the station reported. The verdict came back about 1:30 p.m. today. Stay tuned for more. Continue Reading

Sex scandal increases chances Democrats will take control of House

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Retaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives keeps looking less likely for Republicans. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., abruptly resigned today after being questioned by ABC News about sexually explicit instant messages he allegedly sent to underage male pages who worked for him. Once a champion of tough laws regarding child predators, Foley might now be prosecuted under some of those laws, ABC News reported. Foley was chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children. His departure sends Republicans scrambling to find a replacement just weeks before the election, according to the Associated Press. Continue Reading

By not debating, Richardson disrespecting voters

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Gov. Bill Richardson’s refusal to agree to a live television debate with John Dendahl is a slap to the face of New Mexico voters. Richardson’s excuse is that Dendahl will go on the attack and that wouldn’t be good for the state. His people say Dendahl has no proposals, only criticisms, and that there could be no substantive debate. Richardson must have a really low opinion of New Mexico’s voters if he believes that, were Dendahl lacking ability to talk about issues, they wouldn’t see that. Democracy is about debate and compromise. Continue Reading

UP Aerospace still trying to recover rocket, but says Oct. 21 launch shouldn’t be affected

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Officials with UP Aerospace are still working to recover the rocket launched from Spaceport America this week, but now say they are confident the problem that caused it to fall short of space won’t affect a scheduled launch in October. The Monday launch went smoothly for the first nine seconds, until the rocket reached an altitude of 24,000 feet, the company said in a news release today. “At that point, an anomaly occurred” that “caused a wobble in the vehicle’s flight trajectory,” the release states. Ultimately, the rocket reached 42,000 feet – about 8 miles – before returning to earth. That was well short of the approximately 70-mile goal of space. Continue Reading

U.S. Senator to speak at NMSU fundraiser

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U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., will be the keynote speaker at a breakfast next month at New Mexico State University. Salazar will speak at the Sixth Annual Danny Villanueva Scholarship Breakfast from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Oct. 19, according to a news release. The event is held at the ballrooms in Corbett Center on campus. Salazar has been a senator since 2004 and was his state’s attorney general before that. Continue Reading

Alternate juror says feds set up Vigil

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Will former state Treasurer Robert Vigil escape conviction a second time? The jury in the case has begun deliberations. Meanwhile, one of the alternate jurors, dismissed from duty last night, told KOAT-TV in Albuquerque that the prosecution “didn’t have everything they needed” to prove the case. She said evidence was unconvincing, according to the TV station’s Web site. Asked about hidden video camera that recorded Vigil taking cash from an investment advisor, the alternate juror had this to say: “I seen all of that, and I think that was just a big setup,” according to KOAT. Continue Reading

Still ducking debate, Richardson stops in Michigan

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After hanging out with Democrats and the national press on the East Coast this week, Gov. Bill Richardson continued his ducking of a debate with John Dendahl while he spent today in Michigan. Richardson was in Lansing to launch a “Latinos for Granholm” group to support Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, according to the Associated Press. While there, Richardson jumped into the discussion about why that state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate was happy to have a fundraiser with first lady Laura Bush but was nowhere to be found when the president and vice president came through Michigan. “We’re seeing (Republican) governor candidates around the country staying away because the president’s not a help,” Richardson told the news service. “I’m seeing that everywhere.” I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing a governor staying away from New Mexico because he doesn’t want to debate Dendahl. Continue Reading

Vigil’s attorney doesn’t present defense, again

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For the second time, former state Treasurer Robert Vigil will present no defense in his public corruption trial. The prosecution in the case rested just before a lunch break today, according to the Albuquerque Tribune. After lunch, Vigil’s attorney, Sam Bregman, rested without presenting evidence or calling witnesses. He did the same during the first trial in the spring. Vigil is being tried on some 20 federal counts of extortion and racketeering. Continue Reading

Alleged conflicts, e-mail misuse plague Herrera

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Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera, the Democrat’s candidate for secretary of state, is under fire because two of her campaign workers also work in her clerk’s office. Vickie Perea, the Republican in the race, told KOAT-TV in Albuquerque that she is “very concerned” because two county clerk employees – Diane Brown and Daniel Gutierrez – also work for Herrera’s campaign. Perea said those employees have a stake – beyond getting an accurate count – in the results of the votes they’ll be tallying. Herrera countered in the news report that the employees don’t do campaign work on county time, but didn’t directly address the concern raised by Perea. The Bernalillo County code of ethics says employees should stay away from activity that affects the “independence of judgment or action in the performance of official duties,” according to KOAT. Continue Reading

Keep an eye on race between Wilson and Madrid

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If you aren’t paying attention to the Central New Mexico congressional race between Republican incumbent Heather Wilson and Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid, you should be. Political blogger Joe Monahan reports today that Democratic pollster Harry Pavlides has Madrid up one point over Wilson. An Albuquerque Journal poll done in August had Wilson ahead by three points. The Journal’s new poll will be released Sunday. The Hill reports this week that this is one of the most hotly contested House races in the nation – and perhaps the hottest. Continue Reading