Shining light, but at what cost?

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Journalists talk about the perils of working along the U.S.-Mexico border By Vicki Nisbett Journalists who work near the U.S.-Mexico border said during a panel discussion at New Mexico State University on Thursday that they have to practice self-censorship because they fear becoming another statistic or making someone else a target in a conflict that has cost many lives. Two dozen Mexican journalists have been killed in the past nine years for speaking openly about violence and murders that have plagued Mexico. Another seven have disappeared, according to the El Paso Times. In February, 38-year-old photojournalist Jean Paul Ibarra Ramirez, from the Mexican newspaper El Correo, was shot and killed. Twenty-two-year-old Yenny Yuliana Marchan Arroyo, from the newspaper Diario 21, was also shot, but survived. Continue Reading

Sanchez: conference committee debate tonight

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This article has been updated.Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, just said on the Senate floor that he plans for a debate tonight on one of the bills that would open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public. There has been talk all day about whether House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, or Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, will be brought up for consideration. The identical bills have both made it to the Senate floor. Cervantes’ has already passed the House. Early today, Sanchez called Feldman’s bill up for debate, but she asked for a delay, saying she wants the Senate to vote on Cervantes’ bill instead. Continue Reading

Feldman wants Senate to vote on Cervantes’ bill

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Sen. Dede Feldman asked to delay a hearing earlier today on a proposal to open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public because she wants the Senate to consider another bill instead of hers. So the Albuquerque Democrat is trying to get Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, to bring up for debate House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, instead of her Senate Bill 737, she said. Cervantes’ bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, so it’s on the Senate floor but has not been scheduled on the calendar. Feldman’s bill is No. 2 on today’s calendar and was called up for debate by Sanchez earlier today, but Feldman asked for a brief delay. Continue Reading

Conference committees could be heard shortly

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This article has been updated.Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, just brought up, “as promised,” a bill that would open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public. Then the bill’s sponsor asked for a short delay. Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, could be debated shortly. Feldman asked that it be delayed by one item so she could speak with Sanchez. After they spoke, Sanchez began moving down other items on the agenda. Continue Reading

2nd conference committee bill reaches Senate floor

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Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted this morning to send to the Senate floor a second bill that would open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public. House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, now joins Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, on the Senate calendar. Feldman’s bill has been on the calendar for more than four days but skipped over. It’s listed as No. 2 today. Continue Reading

Death of ethics commission is a shocker (not)

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Let’s be honest: Though it’s become crystal clear in the last day that, certainly and without a doubt, the proposal to create a state ethics commission is dead in the New Mexico Legislature (picture feigned surprise), we already knew that. We knew the proposal had no chance of passing the Senate. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen and an ethics commission opponent, pretty much told reporters that before the start of the session and a couple of times during the session. We all know he controls what gets heard on the Senate floor and what doesn’t, and he’s also an influential voting member of the Senate Rules Committee, where ethics-reform bills tend to go to die. His statements added to the fact that the ethics commission proposal has never, despite several years of lobbying, made it to the floor of the Senate for consideration. Continue Reading

Another poll finds guv’s approval below 50 percent

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Another independent poll confirms that Gov. Bill Richardson’s approval rating is well below 50 percent. Richardson’s approval rating was 43 percent in the poll, which was conducted by students in a government course at New Mexico State University taught by Jose Z. Garcia, an occasional columnist on this blog and a political pundit. The survey, conducted March 5-7, had a wide margin of error of 7 percent because it surveyed only 206 New Mexicans. Still, it matches a SurveyUSA poll released in February that found Richardson’s support at 41 percent.The reason? Well, we’ve all been reading (or in my case, writing) about the ongoing federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay to play in the Richardson administration. Continue Reading

Psych! Conference committee bill delayed again

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This article has been updated.After saying earlier today that a vote on whether to open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public would “probably” come tonight, Majority Leader Michael Sanchez delayed a hearing on the bill again this evening. It’s the fourth straight day that Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, has been ready for a floor vote but been skipped over by Sanchez, D-Belen, who controls what gets heard on the Senate floor. The announcement that the bill won’t be heard tonight was made by Feldman on a liveblog hosted by the New Mexico Independent. “I don’t know what his intentions are,” Feldman wrote about Sanchez on the liveblog. “When I said it really was too late at this point for this bill to make it through, he reminded me that things can move very fast here.” Feldman said Sanchez told her the bill won’t be heard tonight because the Senate might consider the budget. Continue Reading

Liveblogging the conference committee debate

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With the Senate likely to debate opening conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public tonight, I’m joining in a New Mexico Independent liveblog of the Senate floor session. You can take part in it too. Click here to do it. And click here to watch the floor session online. In addition, check back here for complete coverage of the conference committee debate later tonight and tomorrow. Continue Reading

Guv’s remarks on repealing the death penalty

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Saying he does not have confidence that the criminal justice system is or can be perfect, Gov. Bill Richardson signed this evening a bill that repeals the death penalty in New Mexico. You can read about it from the New Mexico Independent. And here are the remarks, as prepared for delivery, that Richardson was to make at a news conference held earlier this evening: Richardson’s remarksMarch 18, 2009 Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty. Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm believer in the death penalty as a just punishment — in very rare instances, and only for the most heinous crimes. I still believe that. Continue Reading

Legislature approves housing authority reform

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Richardson has endorsed the bill that came in response to 2006 scandal A bill that would reform the state’s scandal-plagued affordable housing system sailed through the House today and is now headed to the desk of a governor who has endorsed it. The House approved Senate Bill 20, sponsored by Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, on a vote of 64-0. The bill had previously passed the Senate on a vote of 37-0. “The overwhelming support this bill has received in both the Senate and the House shows that our Legislature realizes the urgent need for regional housing reform,” Lt. Gov. Diane Denish said in a news release. Denish, along with Papen and Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, have led the charge to reform the system. Continue Reading

Conference committee vote ‘probably’ coming tonight

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The Senate will “probably” consider this evening a bill that would open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public, Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said today. Sanchez made the comment while informing members of the Senate moments ago that they will have to come back for a second floor session this evening. In listing bills that will be considered this afternoon, he skipped over the conference committee bill, which is Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque. Sanchez then said Feldman’s bill will “probably” be considered this evening. The announcement from Sanchez comes after he has skipped over Feldman’s bill for three days. Continue Reading

Staffers working hard to get webcasting right

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After heavy criticism of the view provided by the official Senate video webcast, Legislative Council Service put a new lens today on the lone camera bringing you video from the floor of the Senate. The lens has a wider angle than its predecessor, but it doesn’t improve the view much. You can still see the desks of only nine of 42 senators, but you can see a few additional feet on each side of the room, so it’s a small enhancement. That effort on the part of legislative staffers reminded me that, despite the shenanigans pulled by some lawmakers, the staffers should be recognized for their work to bring webcasting to the public in the middle of a busy session. These are the staffers that keep the Roundhouse running, and they’re absolutely swamped with work. Continue Reading

Accused cop killer talks about the death penalty

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Gov. Bill Richardson has until midnight to decide whether to sign a bill that would repeal the death penalty, and he says the vast majority of those who have contacted him want him to sign it. Meanwhile, the Santa Fe Reporter gave a voice today to a person whose comments about the death penalty are interesting and loaded: accused cop killer Michael Astorga, who himself might face the death penalty if he’s convicted. The man accused of shooting and killing Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriff James McGrane Jr. didn’t say much to reporter Dave Maass about his own case, but he did talk about the death penalty, which Richardson has said he deserves. Richardson has long been a supporter of the death penalty but now says his stance is softening. Astorga, who is housed in the state penitentiary outside Santa Fe awaiting trial, told Maass that he believes Richardson is not having so much a change of heart as he is a “contradiction” of heart. Continue Reading

Vigil-Giron alleges a ‘conspiracy to destroy me’

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Former SOS says recently-released audit is severely flawed and that its promotion by the state auditor is politically motivated Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron is blaming politics for a recently released audit that found severe mismanagement of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds by her administration — an audit she says is severely flawed. Because of that, she is requesting that the firm that completed the audit, Atkinson & Co., retract, correct and reissue the audit. “I hope that this information and request does not fall on deaf ears and that my Detractors cease in their conspiracy to destroy me and all the good service that I have given to the state of New Mexico,” Vigil-Giron wrote in a letter she mailed to Atkinson on Monday. In the eight-page letter, Vigil-Giron alleges that Atkinson was “set up to assist in destroying my reputation.” She also writes that State Auditor Hector Balderas has sensationalized the firm’s audit report “for political gain,” possibly because he has a desire to run for higher office. Vigil-Giron’s letter includes a lengthy response to each of the findings in the audit of the secretary of state’s office for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. Continue Reading