Gardner replaces Foley as House minority whip

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Republicans in the state House of Representatives picked Keith Gardner to be their new minority whip this weekend.With that move, they replaced one Roswell politico — Dan Foley, who lost his primary race in June — with another. The Roswell Daily Record reported that Gardner beat another House Republican to win the two-year term as the caucus’ whip, but the opponent’s name and the vote tally was not disclosed. During the Saturday meeting in Albuquerque, the GOP caucus decided to keep Tom Taylor of Farmington as its minority leader and Anna Crook of Clovis as its caucus chair. House Republicans are turning their focus to the economy, announcing in a news release about the election of the leaders that they are preparing for what Taylor called “serious budgeting challenges” in the coming session. Gardner, who has held his seat since 2004, said in the release that, “during these difficult times, I am honored and humbled to have earned the support of my colleagues for this leadership position.” “Like most families and small businesses across New Mexico, we at the Legislature are going to have to focus on cost-cutting to pull through this,” he said. Continue Reading

Most voters in poll say Richardson is headed to D.C.

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The vast majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said Bill Richardson will be working in the Obama administration next year. Of 186 voters, 153, or 82 percent, said he would leave New Mexico to work in Washington for the president, while 33, or 18 percent, said he would remain the state’s governor. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s non-scientific poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

Garcia to challenge Stapleton for House majority whip

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Two years ago, House Democrats battled over who would be speaker and majority leader. This year, it appears that no one has stepped up to challenge Speaker Ben Lujan and Majority Leader Ken Martinez. But there is one other leadership fight brewing. Rep. Thomas Garcia of Ocate is challenging Sheryl Williams Stapleton of Albuquerque for the position of House majority whip. Though Garcia said it would not be appropriate to comment for this article, and Stapleton could not immediately be reached for comment, several people with knowledge of the situation confirmed that Garcia has been calling and e-mailing House Democrats to lobby for the position. Continue Reading

NM Independent lays off four in restructuring

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You may have already noticed this week that some bylines have disappeared from the news Web site the New Mexico Independent. Four seasoned journalists who were part-time writers for the site — Barbara Armijo, Tim McGivern, Kate Nelson and Denise Tessier — are no longer writing for the site. That leaves seven employees at the Independent. (By way of disclosure, I’m one of them.) The move was part of a larger wave of layoffs at each of the state sites owned by the nonprofit Center for Independent Media (CIM). In addition to New Mexico, the center has sites in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota. Continue Reading

Domenici’s field offices to close Friday

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U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici’s field offices around New Mexico will close Friday.The senator, who is retiring at the end of the year, announced today that, as required by Senate rules on transition, his offices in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Roswell will shut their doors for good. Constituents in need of assistance can continue to contact Domenici’s Washington office through mid-December. New casework should be referred to the offices of U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman. “Friday will be a sad day for me as my field staff moves on to different work. I salute them for all their efforts on behalf of New Mexicans over the years. Continue Reading

Doña Ana County discusses absentee ballot problems

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Approximately 2,487 people in Doña Ana County requested an absentee ballot to vote in last week’s election but never voted, Elections Supervisor and Clerk-elect Lynn Ellins announced today. That number could drop when his office conducts an audit of the absentee ballot process in the next two weeks, Ellins said. It’s the first indication of the scope of the absentee ballot snafu in which at least some people were disenfranchised because they requested but never received ballots and had no other way to vote. But the number isn’t a good indication of how many people were actually disenfranchised. Ellins, speaking at today’s meeting of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners, said those approximately 2,500 people accounted for 21 percent of people who requested absentee ballots. Continue Reading

Rawson concedes race to Fischmann

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This article has been updated. Republican Leonard Lee Rawson sent an e-mail to supporters today conceding defeat in last week’s District 37 state Senate race against Democrat Steve Fischmann.“Our district, which is the third largest by number of registered voters, appears to have a new senator to represent us,” Rawson wrote. With all but eight provisional ballots from Sierra County left to be considered, Fischmann leads the current Senate minority whip by 544 votes. Fischmann has 13,131 votes, or 51.1 percent, to Rawson’s 12,587 votes, or 48.9 percent. Rawson, who has served in the Senate since 1987, thanked his supporters in the e-mail and wrote that he has “poured my heart into serving each one of you in this unpaid capacity, often bearing your burdens with you, and it has been my joy to work diligently in your behalf.” Fischmann could not immediately be reached for comment. Continue Reading

A post-election update

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I was halfway through what at the time would have been a cutting-edge redesign of this Web site in October 2007 when Pete Domenici set the dominoes in motion. I’ve been so busy ever since covering the election that I never got back to that important project.And the redesign I was working on is no longer cutting-edge. That’s how quickly the technology of the Internet is changing. So I’m starting over. I just wanted to let you know, with the election finally over, what to expect in the coming weeks as I work to update my site to keep it as useful to you as possible. Continue Reading

Jimenez to be Ellins’ chief deputy clerk

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Doña Ana County Clerk-elect Lynn Ellins has announced that when he takes office on Jan. 1, he will appoint Mario Jimenez as his chief deputy clerk. Jimenez has worked as a lead document technician in the Bureau of Elections since September 2004, and he ran the primary and general elections this year because Ellins, who currently heads the elections bureau, was a candidate on the ballot and could not work. Ellins said in a news release from the county that he chose Jimenez because of his extensive working knowledge of the elections bureau and his ability to work well with the Secretary of State’s Office and with both major political parties and their representatives. In addition, Ellins said Jimenez has strong knowledge of system software, running elections, registering voters, record maintenance and the training of employees and poll workers. Continue Reading

What do you say after you’ve lost an election?

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What do you say to your supporters after you’ve just suffered a rather sizable defeat at the hands of Barack Obama and the Democratic tidal wave? Darren White, the 1st Congressional District Republican candidate who lost by 11 points to Democrat Martin Heinrich last week, chose congeniality in a message he posted on his Web site. “No doubt about it… it was a rough day. Even as we begin to close shop and pack away our supplies and materials, I just want to thank you,” White wrote. Continue Reading

Guv says little, but chatter about his future continues

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This article has been updated. Gov. Bill Richardson continues to say little about repeated chatter regarding what job, if any, he’ll hold in the Obama administration. And though sources continue to insist to me and others that Richardson has a meeting set with Obama or Obama staffers in Chicago later this month to discuss a potential role in the administration, Richardson staffer Pahl Shipley says no such meeting exists. Despite that, the talk won’t die down, and there’s no reason it should: Richardson has a penchant for insisting nothing is going on until a big announcement is ready to be made. For example, he continued to insist he loved his job as New Mexico governor and would finish out his term until he was ready to formally announce his presidential exploratory committee early last year. Continue Reading

Kilmer confirms that he may run for governor

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Actor Val Kilmer has finally confirmed rumors that he’s seriously considering running for governor of New Mexico in 2010. “There’s sort of a rumor around that I’m maybe thinking about running to be governor of New Mexico? Well, it’s sort of true,” Kilmer was quoted by the New York Post as saying. “It’s been my home 25 years. I really love my state. Continue Reading

Rawson mum on Fischmann’s apparent victory

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Barring some sort of legal challenge, Democrat Steve Fischmann has unseated Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces.With only eight provisional ballots from Sierra County left to be considered, Fischmann leads Rawson by 544 votes. Fischmann has 13,131 votes, or 51.1 percent of the vote, to Rawson’s 12,587 votes, or 48.9 percent. The new tally, which includes Doña Ana County’s provisional ballots, was first reported by the Las Cruces Sun-News. The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners is set to meet Wednesday to certify the county’s election results. The outcomes of no races changed as a result of the provisional ballots that were considered over the weekend. Continue Reading

Voters in non-scientific poll split on future of GOP

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Voters in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site were split about what will be the future of the Republican Party. Of 229 voters, 64, or 28 percent, said the party will slowly rebuild over several years, while 63, or 28 percent, picked “What future?” as their vote. Some 41 voters, or 18 percent, predicted a return to the party’s core principles; 34, or 15 percent, said Republicans will sweep the Democrats out of power in 2010; and 27, or 12 percent, predicted a radical shift in ideology. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading