One ethics bill moves through Rules Committee

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The meeting is still in process and being webcast by the New Mexico Independent One ethics-reform bill moved quickly through the Senate Rules Committee this morning as lawmakers tackled an agenda that includes a number of reform bills. Senate Bill 261, sponsored by Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, would establish a process for the forfeiture of retirement benefits for state employees and state retirees convicted of felonies “arising from conduct related to” their public employment. The rules committee passed the bill on to the Senate Judiciary Committee with no recommendation because of several procedural and due-process questions to which some members want better answers. That will require the gathering of some additional information by staff. Sen. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa, voted against the motion because she wanted the committee to pass the bill on with a favorable recommendation. Continue Reading

Sen. Lopez will allow Rules Committee webcast

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Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, says she will allow the New Mexico Independent to webcast tomorrow’s meeting of the Senate Rules Committee, which she chairs. Lopez made the comment this evening via the social networking Web site Facebook. Here’s how it happened: Earlier today, I changed my status on my Facebook page to say, “Heath is wondering if the Senate Rules Committee is going to try to stop an attempt to webcast Friday’s meeting.” After the day’s events — the Senate Committee’s Committee reversed its earlier decision and voted to proceed toward webcasting from the Senate floor — I changed my status to, “Heath is doubting that the Senate Rules Committee will try to stop the webcasting of Friday’s meeting.” Within minutes, Lopez, who has her own Facebook page, posted a comment on my status. “You’re right! I won’t,” she wrote. Continue Reading

Official: Virgin Galactic lease won’t be renegotiated

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I reported earlier this week that a bill in the Legislature that would protect companies doing business at Spaceport America against civil lawsuits from passengers could mean a renegotiation of the lease agreement with Virgin Galactic, but a state official says that’s not the case. The fiscal impact report for Senate Bill 37, sponsored by Clinton Harden, R-Clovis, states that the spaceport authority, which is insured through the state’s Risk Management Division, requires those who lease facilities at the spaceport to carry “certain levels of insurance.” “If this bill becomes law, those leases will have to be reviewed and perhaps amended to account for decreased liability,” the official legislative report states. The only current lease holder is Virgin Galactic, which signed its lease in December, so I reported earlier this week that, based on the fiscal impact report, the bill might mean a renegotiation of the contract and that Virgin might not have to pay the state as much money as it’s already agreed to pay over the course of its 20-year lease. That won’t happen, according to Steve Landeene, executive director of the spaceport authority. “No renegotiation will occur based on approval of this bill,” he wrote in an e-mail about the Virgin contract. Continue Reading

Article detailing guv’s ‘descent’ contains some errors

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“A breathtaking descent” is how one national news publication is describing Gov. Bill Richardson’s fall from being Barack Obama’s commerce secretary-designate to a “late-night punch line” because of controversy plaguing his administration. In the article from The Politico, which you can read by clicking here, reporter Andy Barr writes that, since withdrawing his nomination in January because of a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay to play in his administration, Richardson, who was “once unmatched in his power and popularity in Santa Fe,” has “seen his political fortunes crater.” “He’s had a pretty rough go of it since he withdrew,” Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings was quoted by The Politico as saying. “His popularity has really declined in the state.” In addition to the pay-to-play controversies and the jokes that have come from David Letterman and Jay Leno, the article cites a recent New Mexico Independent story about an auditing firm headed by a man with ties to the governor that has seen a boom in government contracts since Richardson became governor. While the tone of the Politico article is probably fair — Richardson’s political reality has changed drastically in the last couple of months — there are a few errors in the article that should be pointed out. • For starters, the article doesn’t quite get right the money involved in the pay-to-play case the grand jury is investigating. Continue Reading

Senate takes a step toward webcasting

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The Senate Committee’s Committee decided this afternoon to take a step toward webcasting by allowing cameras to be reinstalled in the Senate gallery with the intention of beginning webcasting audio and video later this session, the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash is reporting on her blog. In the meantime, Nash writes, the committee plans to draft rules governing webcasting to present to the Senate Rules Committee. According to Nash, the Senate still needs some money to set up the system and may need more to operate it, so there are still some details to work out. The move comes the same day that the New Mexico Independent announced that it plans to webcast Friday morning’s meeting of the rules committee to increase public access to the debate on several ethics reform-proposals that will be considered. If allowed, it will be the first webcast of a Senate committee meeting. Continue Reading

Will webcasting of committee meeting be allowed?

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The New Mexico Independent is going to attempt to webcast Friday’s ethics reform hearing being held by the Senate Rules Committee. The big question is whether the powers-that-be will allow it to happen. The online news publication (I’m a contract reporter for it, by the way) published a blog posting this morning stating its intention to webcast the meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday. The Independent also plans to liveblog the meeting on its Web site and invites anyone to participate in that online forum. “Our goal is to provide increased public access to the meeting and encourage a lively discussion on the subject of ethics reform,” the posting by Gwyneth Doland states. Continue Reading

Omnibus bill would only kill ethics reform, again

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This year’s plan to ensure no significant reform is approved: Put all the proposals into one bill to rally opponents of various pieces of legislation behind a common purpose — voting down one bill In 2007, Rep. Mimi Stewart introduced an ethics reform bill that would have made 13 different changes to the state’s Campaign Reporting Act, including enacting contribution limits, giving the secretary of state subpoena power to investigate potential violations of the act and implementing tougher reporting requirements. At the time, one legislator said to me something to the effect of, “She’s putting all the eggs in one basket. If she would split these up, some would pass. Together, they’re all going to die.” Predictably, 2007’s House Bill 821 did die. Two years later, New Mexico still has no campaign contribution limits. Continue Reading

Reform backers hopeful about Friday’s hearing

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Senate Rules Committee to consider a number of ethics reform proposals The Senate Rules Committee has finally begun to move on a number of ethics reform proposals, and that has reform supporters saying there is reason for optimism despite the committee’s late start on the issue. “The public pressure is pretty clear at this point… and my impression is that our legislators are aware that the public pressure has been raised quite significantly,” said Steve Allen, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. One key reason some are citing for their optimism is that the rules committee gave a unanimous do-pass recommendation on Wednesday to Senate Bill 141, which would allow a judge, in the case of an elected official who commits a felony connected to his office, to impose a fine no greater than the elected official’s salary and benefits in addition to the standard sentence. The bill is sponsored by William Payne, R-Albuquerque. Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen and a member of the committee, missed the vote. Continue Reading

Grand jury subpoenas records from Domenici

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As part of the probe into the U.S. attorney scandal, it’s also interviewing today a former White House staffer who played a role in Iglesias’ firing A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from former Sen. Pete Domenici in its criminal investigation of the Bush administration’s U.S. attorney scandal, The Associated Press is reporting. The subpoena was confirmed “by two private attorneys who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not representing the former senator,” the news service reported. The Washington Post was also reporting on the subpoena, citing “lawyers following the case.” Domenici’s attorney, K. Lee Blalack, would not comment to the AP or Post. The reports come almost a week after Talking Points Memo reported that the grand jury was investigating Domenici’s role in the scandal, with a focus on “whether Domenici and other political figures attempted to improperly press (former U.S. Attorney David) Iglesias to bring a criminal prosecution against New Mexico Democrats just prior to the 2006 congressional midterm elections.” If they did, the article stated, their conduct might amount to obstruction of justice. Here’s what the AP has to say about the investigation’s focus: “Career federal prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy is looking into whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, other Bush administration officials or Republicans in Congress should face criminal charges in the (U.S. attorney) dismissals,” the article states. Continue Reading

Kilmer continues politicking with DC visit

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Val Kilmer is continuing politicking as he considers running for governor, this time with a visit to Washington, D.C. that includes attending a speech on American Indian issues and paying visits to the offices of at least three members of the New Mexico congressional delegation. Kilmer was in attendance at Tuesday’s speech in Washington by Joe Garcia, of the Ohkay Owingeh pueblo in northern New Mexico, to the National Congress of American Indians. Garcia heads the organization. There Kilmer ran into U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, according to Udall spokeswoman Marissa Padilla. Following the speech, Kilmer stopped by Udall’s office yesterday and again today, Padilla confirmed. Continue Reading

Senate committee moves into ethics overdrive

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After getting a late start, the committee that’s key to all ethics reform proposals in the Senate is scheduled to move into ethics overdrive this week. But don’t expect the myriad of bills that will be heard this week to have an easy time. Ethics reform proposals have died en masse in the Senate in recent years. The ethics hearings begin Wednesday morning, when two Republican reform proposals get their first committee hearing. The Senate Rules Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill 141, which would allow a judge, in the case of an elected official who commits a felony connected to his office, to impose a fine no greater than the elected official’s salary and benefits in addition to the standard sentence. Continue Reading

Guv’s brother-in-law lands exempt state job

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Gov. Bill Richardson’s brother-in-law by marriage scored a high-paying state government job late last year, the New Mexico Independent is reporting. Bill Walsh beat out four other finalists to become deputy director of the New Mexico Retiree Health Care Authority, a job that pays him $85,000 per year, the article by Trip Jennings states. Walsh is married to a sister of First Lady Barbara Richardson. He’s an exempt employee who works at the pleasure of Richardson. The agency’s executive director, Wayne Propst, said the agency went through a competitive hiring process before selecting Walsh for the job in November. Continue Reading

Check out analysis of House webcasting debate

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Mark Bralley, a photographer and blogger who keeps an eye on politics, has a lengthy but insightful posting on his blog — What’s Wrong With This Picture? — in which he dissects the webcasting debate in the New Mexico House of Representatives in an attempt to get to the bottom of what’s really going on. With an extensive essay, photos and video, he does a stellar job of analyzing the dynamics, behind-the-scenes maneuverings and other factors in the debate. He reveals a lot about the group that helped Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones start the webcasting revolution — a group of which he is a member. He even mentions me in the context of taking apart comments House Speaker Ben Lujan has made about his stance on webcasting. Continue Reading

Guv’s office releases subpoena; NMFA does not

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Is NMFA violating the public records act, or is the governor’s office releasing documents it isn’t legally required to provide? One state agency — the New Mexico Finance Authority — is refusing to release any subpoenas it’s received in a federal grand jury investigation of allegations of pay to play in the Richardson administration. But another — the highest state agency, the Office of the Governor — is releasing such documents in response to requests made under the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act. In fact, I made requests using the same language to both state agencies, which are both subject to the public records act, and received the different responses. What conclusion can be drawn from that? Continue Reading

Lawmakers consider spaceport-related bills

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There are a couple of interesting and potentially controversial bills related to Spaceport America working their way through the New Mexico Legislature. House Bill 200, sponsored by Bobby Gonzales, D-Taos, would exempt from the Inspection of Public Records Act any proprietary technical or business information the New Mexico Spaceport Authority obtains related to the possible expansion of a business. Essentially, that would allow the spaceport authority to withhold information it learns about companies considering doing business in New Mexico that, if it were available to the company’s competitors, might harm the company. The state’s Economic Development Department already has a similar exemption from the public records act. The argument is that without such confidentiality, the spaceport authority might not be able to attract space-related companies to New Mexico. Continue Reading