Jim Bibb’s view: GPS tracking for sex offenders is, ‘in some cases … simply not enough’

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Note: This is a guest column about how to deal with sex offenders that was solicited from both candidates in the attorney general race. Bibb was allowed up to 800 words, but chose this concise response. Democrat Gary King’s column ran Wednesday. By Jim BibbRepublican candidate for attorney general I prosecuted sexual predators as an assistant district attorney in Las Vegas, N.M., and as an assistant United States attorney for the District of New Mexico. As an FBI special agent I assisted in the execution of arrest and search warrants involving sexual predators seeking to entice young children over the Internet. Continue Reading

Land commissioner spat comes to an end

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Land Commissioner Pat Lyons fired what I’m going to call the final shot in the back-and-forth attacks this week on my blog, but not before a conservation group got involved in the fray. Lyons’ campaign responded to challenger Jim Baca’s accusations that he is owned by special interest groups by saying Baca “is clearly angry that these industries don’t support him. He would be singing an entirely different tune if the money was rolling into his account.” Democrat Baca started the attacks earlier this week by releasing an analysis of Republican Lyon’s campaign contributions that showed he has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from development and oil and gas companies. Baca said Lyons is selling the land office to special interest groups. In response, Lyons said he is business friendly and Baca is antagonistic. Continue Reading

NMSU provost may be interested in Highlands job

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New Mexico State University Executive Vice President and Provost William Flores says he has had no discussions with Highlands officials about replacing Manny Aragon on an interim or permanent basis, but he might be interested. “I would be interested in talking to them, just like I always do,” Flores said. Headhunters have recruited Flores to apply for several university president positions around the nation in recent years. He has applied for a few but not been hired. Flores also had the support of Gov. Bill Richardson to become NMSU’s next president when the regents instead hired Michael Martin in 2004. Continue Reading

BREAKING NEWS: Aragon agrees to step down

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New Mexico Highlands University President Manny Aragon has agreed to step down, the university’s president announced today. Details were not immediately released, and the agreement is pending a proposed settlement’s approval by the board of regents, the Associated Press reported. The regents are set to meet on Saturday. Gov. Bill Richardson was pleased, a spokesman said. “The governor is pleased that the instability at Highlands is over, and the university can move forward with a renewed focus on improving educational opportunities for Northern New Mexico,” said spokesman Gilbert Gallegos. Continue Reading

City denies National Guard access to border area

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The Sunland Park City Council voted 4-2 Tuesday to keep the National Guard away from Mount Cristo Rey, a religious site along the U.S.-Mexico border. The federal government had requested a right-of-way permit that would allow patrols on the mountain. Part of the mountain is owned by the city, and part is owned by the Catholic Church, according to KFOX-TV in El Paso. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier told KVIA-TV in El Paso that troops will still patrol areas near the mountain. Sunland Park, located in New Mexico just west of El Paso, has about 13,000 residents. Continue Reading

Dendahl now has campaign Web site

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Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl now has a campaign Web site, though some sections on the site are not yet complete. You can visit the site by clicking here. I share this because, earlier this year, I provided addresses of the Web sites for all candidates who will be on the ballot in Doña Ana County this year (or at least those candidates who have Web sites). At the time, Dendahl was not a candidate. For the record, you can visit Gov. Bill Richardson’s campaign Web site by clicking here. Continue Reading

Baca calls Lyons ‘special-interest friendly’

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State Land Commissioner hopeful Jim Baca is firing back at incumbent Pat Lyons, calling him “special-interest friendly.” Democrat Baca started the round of attacks earlier this week, releasing an analysis of Republican Lyon’s campaign contributions that showed he has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from development and oil and gas companies. Baca said the land office is being sold to those who have leases from it, and said Lyons would have a hard time remaining independent. Lyons responded by saying he is “business friendly” but also has allies who are conservationists. He said Baca “has admitted that he is antagonistic and it appears he alienated the people who did business with him at the land office. (Baca is a former land commissioner.) If those industries aren’t contributing to his campaign, he has only himself to blame.” Baca wasn’t impressed. Continue Reading

Gary King’s view: We need to monitor paroled child sex offenders with GPS devices

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Note: This is a guest column about how to deal with sex offenders that was solicited from both candidates in the attorney general race. Republican Jim Bibb’s column will run Thursday. By Gary KingDemocratic candidate for attorney general One of the key proposals of my campaign for New Mexico attorney general has been the improved protection of New Mexico families. This proposal includes strengthening our laws to protect victims of domestic violence and sexual predators. Two important recommendations I would make to the Legislature in my first year as attorney general are real-time tracking of paroled child sexual offenders by global positioning device (GPS) units and removal of the statute of limitations for prosecution of rape. Continue Reading

Politicos should return money from casino owner who admits trying to buy their support

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Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino owner Stan Fulton is continuing his admitted pay-to-play campaign against the proposed Anthony casino. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported today that Fulton gave $100,000 last month to the Democratic Governors Association, which is chaired by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and frequently pays for his out-of-state travel. The proposal by the Jemez Pueblo and Santa Fe art dealer Gerald Peters to build the casino in Anthony became public in August 2004. Since then, Fulton has been on an admitted campaign to buy opposition to the casino. He started by giving $1 million to the Gadsden Independent School District while a newspaper photographer and I watched. Continue Reading

Lyons responds to Baca attack, says he’s raising more money because he’s business-friendly

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State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons responded to an attack from his challenger by saying he is receiving more donations from developers and oil and gas companies because he is business-friendly. Democrat Jim Baca released an analysis of campaign contributions to the incumbent Republican Monday, which showed that Lyons had taken more than $117,000 from developers and real estate companies and more than $186,000 from oil and gas companies through May of this year. “It appears to me that a ‘selling of the land office’ is occurring to those who have leases with it,” Baca said. “The amount of money for a candidate from those who do business with the office that he governs is truly unprecedented. This shows that he will truly have a difficult time remaining independent. Continue Reading

Santa Fe case provides perspective on metro court debate in Las Cruces area

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An interesting court case in Santa Fe could provide some perspective on the debate over creation of a metro court in Doña Ana County. Twelve felony counts of records tampering against former Santa Fe Municipal Judge Frances Gallegos were dismissed Friday by District Judge Michael Vigil. Gallegos had been charged after altering public records in drunken driving cases. Essentially, she took the records of 12 cases that had been dismissed or in which the defendants had been found not guilty and changed them to reflect that she sentenced the defendants to jail time. It’s impossible to sentence anyone who has not been convicted of a crime, a fact Vigil said is obvious to those trained in the law, but was not obvious to Gallegos, who is not an attorney. Continue Reading

Baca attacks Lyons’ taking of money from real estate, oil and gas companies as ‘unprecedented’

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State land commissioner hopeful Jim Baca’s campaign has completed a review of contributions to incumbent Republican Pat Lyons and says the land commissioner has taken money from real estate and oil and gas companies on an unprecedented scale. According to Democrat Baca’s review, released Monday, Lyons had taken more than $117,000 from developers and real estate companies and more than $186,000 from oil and gas companies through May of this year. At the end of June, Lyons reported having just under $500,000 in the bank, dwarfing Baca’s $6,977. “It appears to me that a ‘selling of the land office’ is occurring to those who have leases with it,” Baca said in an e-mail. “The amount of money for a candidate from those who do business with the office that he governs is truly unprecedented. Continue Reading

State auditor to look into Highlands’ architect contract as FBI probe continues

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The state auditor will look into a contract to build a $12 million student services center at Highlands University in Las Vegas following a weekend Albuquerque Journal article. The contract is an important part of the dispute between the school’s regents and President Manny Aragon, the former state Senate leader the regents are trying to fire. In the Journal’s Sunday article, the chairman of the regents alleged that the board was kept in the dark about the awarding of that and other contracts. Longtime architecture firm Custer Basarich of Albuquerque was notified it would be awarded the $700,000 contract to design the student center, the Journal reported, though the regents had not yet voted to do that or been informed it was going to happen. The school later cut down the scope of work to a $182,542 price tag, but in doing so, changed it so much from the original request for proposals that the school’s purchasing director refused to sign off on it. Continue Reading

Following Dendahl’s DWI comments, neither campaign addressing the real problem

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There’s a controversy brewing over Republican gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl’s statements last week about Hispanics and American Indians and drunken driving. Dendahl essentially said that a disproportionate number of people with “Spanish last names” are repeat offenders. He then blamed the legislature, saying it wouldn’t enact legislation to deal with the problem because, “Gee, that would be racist.” Dendahl made the comments Wednesday on an Albuquerque talk show. Dave Contarino, Gov. Bill Richardson’s re-election chairman, responded by saying Dendahl “has a history of sticking his foot into his mouth by making insensitive comments and alienating whole classes of people.” Dendahl later said his point is that the legislature needs to enact tougher DWI laws because Hispanics and American Indians have a disproportionately high number of DWIs. According to the statistics Dendahl cited, in 2003, 54 percent of caught drunken drivers were Hispanic and 20 percent were American Indian. Continue Reading

Spaceport launch delayed, reset, again

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The date of the first launch from the Southwest Regional Spaceport has been delayed again, and reset, again. UP Aerospace postponed its Aug. 14 launch late last week, only about a week after the date was announced. It was the third time the launch, which was originally set for March, has been delayed. The company said it was awaiting the arrival of a delayed part for its rocket. Continue Reading