Guv’s approval stays below 50 percent

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The newest SurveyUSA poll has Gov. Bill Richardson’s approval rating at 42 percent. The survey of 600 New Mexicans, released Saturday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. That matches a New Mexico State University poll released earlier this month that had Richardson’s approval rating at 43 percent and the February SurveyUSA poll that had his approval at 41 percent. In the new poll, 54 percent said they disapprove of the job Richardson is doing, and 4 percent said they don’t know whether they approve of his performance. Richardson’s approval dropped below 50 percent for the first time in January as became dogged by a controversy involving the ongoing federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay to play in his administration. Continue Reading

Auto failures: The next big economic crisis?

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I’ve shared more than once in the last few months, most recently in this column, my doubts about the attempts by the Bush and now Obama administrations to fix this economic mess with big-dollar bailouts. Regardless, I’m cringing tonight seeing the headlines: The White House has determined that neither Chrysler nor General Motors is viable, and neither deserves anymore bailout cash, at least as currently structured. Check it out from The Politico and The Associated Press. What does this have to do with New Mexico politics? It’s becoming increasingly likely that at least one major automaker — maybe more than one — is heading for bankruptcy, soon. Continue Reading

Repeal of death penalty wins this site’s weekly poll

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The repeal of the death penalty received the most votes in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site asking what event from the legislative session was most significant. Of 177 voters, 56, or 32 percent, picked the death-penalty repeal. Meanwhile, 31 voters, or 18 percent, picked the defeat of domestic partner benefits, and another 31 picked the approval of open conference committees. Some 22, or 12 percent, picked the approval of campaign contribution limits, and another 22 picked the approval of the state budget. Fifteen, or 8 percent, picked the approval of webcasting. Continue Reading

Whistleblower says housing audits are flawed

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In a new report, woman who revealed housing authority problems to the public takes issue with Balderas’ audits of the system The woman who first blew the whistle on the scandal in New Mexico’s housing authority system says the state auditor’s reports on the matter are seriously flawed, not going far enough to reveal what she calls “the fundamental corruption that goes down to the very base of our public entities.” Las Crucen Frances Williams, in a document she authored at the request of two state senators, writes that State Auditor Hector Balderas’ special audits of the affordable housing system are “confusing, contradictory, inconsistent, inconclusive and misleading.” The document has been circulating among lawmakers and others. It was Williams, complaining to newspaper reporters and others in 2006, who first revealed the problems in the system to the public. At the time, she was a board member of the Las Cruces-based Region VII authority. Some of Williams’ complaints in the new report appear relatively minor. For example, Williams writes that her “first clue about the quality of the audit” of Region VII was the fact that it does not contain a full list of its board members, including her. Continue Reading

Teague unveils new Web site

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Harry Teague, the Democratic congressman from southern New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, is the first of the freshman members of the state delegation to finish his new congressional Web site. Check it out by clicking here. The simple design makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. Personally, I think it’s great. The other new members of the state’s delegation have temporary, generic Web sites that their staffs put up in January when they took office, but have not yet unveiled their custom-made, personal sites. Continue Reading

Bob Johnson, thou aren’t avenged yet

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Fate of open conference committee bill rests with a ‘backpedaling’ governor You might recall me writing in 2007 about the death of Bob Johnson, then the head of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG). He was a tireless supporter of opening legislative conference committees to the public who was once berated on the Senate floor by an opponent of opening the meetings. “Bob Johnson, thou art avenged!” was what The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell wrote on his blog last week after the Legislature, following years and years of debate, approved a bill that would open conference committees and most other legislative meetings to the public. Then Gov. Bill Richardson announced earlier this week that, despite saying for years that he would sign such a bill, he might not sign the bill the Legislature approved this year. So, referring to his prior statement about Johnson, Terrell slammed on the brakes in a column published today in the newspaper and on his own blog. Continue Reading

Denish to speak at J. Paul Taylor Symposium

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Lt. Gov. Diane Denish will deliver the keynote address at a symposium on the state’s juvenile justice system at New Mexico State University next month. Denish will speak at 7 p.m. on April 15 at the J. Paul Taylor Symposium: Justice for Youth, according to a news release from NMSU.She will address the state’s overall vision for the juvenile justice system and the challenges, obstacles and improvements needed in New Mexico. The 5th annual event will be held from April 14-16 in the Corbett Center Ballrooms on campus. The symposium is dedicated to the many years of social justice work of Taylor, a former state representative and teacher. The symposium was created as a mechanism to explore NMSU’s role in partnering with others to explore and address the social justice issues facing the larger community, state and region. Continue Reading

Herrera named president of Latino organization

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Secretary of State Mary Herrera was named president of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) today. Herrera had previously been serving as the organization’s vice president. “I am deeply honored and humbled in the confidence my colleagues have in my leadership for this very important organization,” Herrera said in a news release. “During the difficult times our nation is facing, I am proud of the public service Latino elected officials are providing to lead our nation in the right direction. NALEO plays a critical role in supporting their leadership and I am proud to serve my colleagues in this capacity.” The association is a nonpartisan leadership organization. Continue Reading

Guv to sign veteran’s museum bill in Las Cruces

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Gov. Bill Richardson will be in Las Cruces on Friday to sign a bill that would create a state veteran’s museum and establish Las Cruces as its home. Richardson will sign House Bill 59, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, during a ceremony at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. The event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. The governor also plans to spend two hours — from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. — holding five-minute meetings about legislation with state residents at his Las Cruces satellite office, which is located at the museum. The meetings are on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who want to meet with the governor must present a valid New Mexico driver’s license and have the name and number of the bill they want to talk about. Continue Reading

NM officials praise new focus on border

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New Mexico’s political leaders praised President Barack Obama’s plan, announced today, to redirect resources to the U.S.-Mexico border to help combat drug-related crime and strengthen border security. Obama announced that he’s moving more than 450 law enforcement agents and additional equipment to the border to help combat cartel violence that has led to the deaths of more than 7,200 people in Mexico since 2008 and resulted in the deploying of the Mexican Army to the border city of Ciudad Juárez, which has become a battle zone. The violence has the American government on edge. According to the Washington Times, The U.S. Defense Department believes “Mexico’s two most deadly drug cartels together have fielded more than 100,000 foot soldiers — an army that rivals Mexico’s armed forces and threatens to turn the country into a narco-state.” The violence has also spilled over, to some degree, into the United States. Phoenix’s police department, according to its mayor, is overwhelmed by drug-related kidnappings and torturing, CNN is reporting. Continue Reading

Lujan retracts accusation of racism

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House Speaker Ben Lujan is retracting his statement that Senate Finance Chairman John Arthur Smith is racist. But Lujan didn’t apologize in an interview with the Albuquerque Journal for his verbal assault on Smith, and he is continuing to defend the legislation Smith attacked on Saturday, the last day of the session. “Maybe my choice of words could have been better,” the Journal quoted Lujan as saying. “But there was no reason to make an accusation things were suspicious of any kind.” It was after Lujan slipped an already-killed proposal into an unrelated bill to try to resurrect it that Smith, on Saturday, opened the first conference committee in the history of the legislature, invited the press, and said that slipping the amendment into the bill created a “cloud of suspicion.” The proposal to allow bigger cities and counties to issue bonds to finance private projects — and have the bonds repaid through lease payments — was Lujan’s attempt to help a developer fund a project at the Santa Fe Railyard. Shortly after the session ended, Lujan called Smith a racist in an interview with two journalists. Continue Reading

Furloughs spread to additional NM newspapers

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The latest bad news for the state’s newspapers comes in the form of mandatory furloughs at three east-side papers. The Clovis News Journal, Portales News-Tribune and Quay County Sun in Tucumcari are the New Mexico newspapers owned by Freedom Communications, Inc., which announced Friday that all company employees have to take five days off without pay between April 1 and June 30. “We need to continue to reduce expenses while delivering our valuable products and services to our customers and advertisers. Of the many options we considered, a furlough provides the savings we’re seeking while still allowing us to maximize operations,” Freedom CEO Scott Flanders said in an article published in the Sun. Earlier this month, the Las Cruces Sun-News laid off three staffers. Continue Reading

Guv might not sign conference committee bill

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Despite prior pledge, Richardson now says ‘loopholes’ in bill concern him Though he previously pledged to sign a bill that would open conference committees and many other currently closed legislative meetings to the public, the governor’s office now says Bill Richardson is concerned about “loopholes in the bill” and isn’t certain he’ll sign it. “The governor has concerns about what appear to be major loopholes in the bill,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos wrote tonight in an e-mail. “…The governor is taking his time to scrutinize the bill.” That’s not what Richardson said on Thursday when asked by a reporter during a news conference if he would sign House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, should it pass the Senate. “Yeah,” Richardson said at that news conference. The bill passed the Senate that night on a vote of 33-8. Continue Reading

Legislature OKs one land office reform bill

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A bill that would require competitive bidding on all State Land Office development leases was the only legislation in a package of proposals made by three Las Cruces Democrats to gain approval in the session that ended Saturday. Senate Bill 540, sponsored by Steve Fischmann, is now awaiting action by the governor. The bill was a mirror of House Bill 606, sponsored by Jeff Steinborn, who along with Fischmann and Rep. Nate Cote pushed the package of bills in response to a development controversy in Las Cruces. “Given the problems we’ve had with the State Land Office, and the unchecked opportunity that office has to arbitrarily develop state lands, it was important that we close this loophole,” Steinborn said in a news release about the passage of the Fischmann bill. “This reform will ensure that any developer who acquires state land for development does so through a competitive bidding process, and not through insider connections or big campaign contributions.” Fischmann said in the release that he was “proud to be a partner in this legislative effort to protect New Mexico’s treasured public resources while also protecting our schools’ financial bottom line. Continue Reading

Guv likely to OK veteran’s museum this time

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Gov. Bill Richardson once again has an opportunity to make Las Cruces the home of a planned state veteran’s museum, and he’s likely to do so this time. The Senate gave unanimous approval on Saturday to House Bill 59, which would create the museum and establish Las Cruces as its home. The House had already approved the bill, also unanimously. “I can’t think of a better way for the Legislature to finish their work this session than to honor our veterans with this new museum,” Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces and the bill’s sponsor, said in a news release. “In addition to honoring their sacrifice and telling New Mexico’s rich military history, it will also contain an office for veterans to get important services and information. Continue Reading