Center for Civic Policy releases most 2007 donor info

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The Center for Civic Policy, which is at the center of the controversy over campaign mailers one of its groups sent out, has released information about where it gets most of its funding. A breakdown of most of the center’s 2007 fiscal-year funding was published in a weekend article in the Albuquerque Journal. The group released information about foundations that have contributed but did not release information about individual contributors. Some have criticized the group for not releasing funding information because it has pushed for ethics reform, including campaign contribution limits, in New Mexico. The foundations that contributed to the center during the 2007 fiscal year were: • Panta Rhea Foundation: $110,000 • McKay Foundation: $102,000 • McCune Foundation: $100,000 • Western Conservation Foundation: $90,000 • New Mexico Community Foundation: $52,500 • Carnegie Corp: $50,000 • Tides Foundation: $50,000 • General Service Foundation: $35,000 • Angelica Foundation: $10,000 • Beldon Fund: $7,500 • S.F. Community Foundation: $5,000 • Brett Family Fund: $3,000 • Fiduciary Trust: $2,500 The center’s budget in 2007 was about $645,000. Continue Reading

Udall starts campaign tour Tuesday in Sunland Park

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall plans a two-week tour of New Mexico that begins Tuesday in Sunland Park. Udall’s “Doing Right by New Mexico Tour” is aimed at convincing voters that, during his career as attorney general and the representative of the state’s 3rd Congressional District, Udall has consistently done what’s right for New Mexicans, according to a news release from his campaign. “For the next two weeks, Tom Udall will travel the state and exchange ideas with New Mexicans about how to get our country back on track,” the release states. “With a special emphasis on the 1st and 2nd congressional districts, he will listen to New Mexicans and tell them why he’ll always do right by New Mexico in the United States Senate.” Udall will be at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing Restaurant, 1 Ardovino Drive in Sunland Park, at 11 a.m. Tuesday to kick off the tour. He’ll then appear in Anthony at 1 p.m. at the VFW hall, 1800 North Fourth Street, before leaving Doña Ana County to appear at other events throughout the state in the coming days. Continue Reading

Nader plans trip to N.M. later this month

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Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will visit Northern New Mexico later this month in what will be his first visit to the state as a 2008 hopeful. According to Nader’s Web site, he’ll attend a rally for his campaign in Albuquerque on Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. The event will be held in Ballroom C in the student union building at the University of New Mexico. The event requires a contribution of $5 for students and $10 for others. At 5:30 p.m. that day, according to his Web site, Nader will attend a rally in Santa Fe at the College of Santa Fe. Continue Reading

Nonprofit says AG is inviting an ‘unnecessary’ lawsuit

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A nonprofit facing the possibility of being forced to comply with the state’s campaign finance reporting law threatened on Saturday to sue if that happens. New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) and its parent organization, the Center for Civic Policy, made the threat in a news release that came in response to Friday’s strongly worded release from Attorney General Gary King in which he stood by his office’s prior assertion that NMYO’s activities have crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning. King said the secretary of state needs to force the group to comply with the reporting law. “The attorney general’s statement that he recognizes what can be regulated on the basis of whether it ‘walks like a duck’ is an indication that he doesn’t understand the law in this area, and he is inviting entirely unnecessary litigation against the State of New Mexico,” John Boyd and Sara Berger, attorneys for the groups, said in the news release. They were responding to King’s Friday statement that mailers NMYO sent out were not lobbying materials designed to influence the coming special session, as the groups assert, but campaign materials designed to influence the June primary. Continue Reading

Sen. Sanchez says he may run for governor in 2010

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Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez says he’s considering running for governor in 2010, according to an article in the New Mexico Independent. The Friday announcement that the Democratic senator from Belen is thinking about the state’s top job came more than two years before the election and a week before the Legislature convenes in special session to consider health-care reform, tax relief and road funding proposals made by Gov. Bill Richardson. Sanchez and other Senate leaders have been at odds with the governor for some time. It’s also no secret that Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who is running for governor in 2010, aren’t the best of friends. “At this point, I’ve been approached and asked to consider it and I’m considering it,” the Independent quoted Sanchez as saying, but the article didn’t state who asked Sanchez to consider running. Continue Reading

Most voters in non-scientific poll say Nuñez will win

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The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said state Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, will be re-elected in November. Of 159 voters, 104, or 65 percent, said Nuñez will win the District 36 race, while 55 voters, or 35 percent, said his challenger, Republican Mike Tellez, will win. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

AG stands by prior advice to change nonprofit’s status

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The attorney general’s office is standing by its assertion that a nonprofit’s activities have crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning and its prior advice that the secretary of state force the group to comply with campaign finance reporting laws. That statement from Attorney General Gary King was issued this afternoon in a strongly worded news release. The release appeared to be a direct response to an article in the New Mexico Independent in which the deputy secretary of state was quoted as saying the AG’s office had told him to disregard that advice. “If the deputy secretary of state thought we had instructed him to simply ignore our letter, then that was a misunderstanding on his part of what was said,” King said in the release. The Independent article was headlined “Ignore that letter” and quoted Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo as saying that, after Chief Deputy Attorney General Al Lama sent the May 22 letter telling the secretary of state to change the status of New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO), Lama called and told him “to disregard (the letter) or set it aside. Continue Reading

McCain: Another attack on Obama’s celebrity

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Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s new TV ad continues his attack on Democratic opponent Barack Obama’s celebrity and, in the tradition of McCain’s previous Paris/Britney ad, features a brief image of Obama next to another blond on the cover of an entertainment magazine. Here’s the 30-second ad, which is airing in New Mexico and other battleground states: It’s the third TV ad McCain has unveiled focusing on Obama’s celebrity. The ad opens with images of a crowd and then Obama on the cover of several magazines, including GQ and Vanity Fair. “Life in the spotlight must be grand, but for the rest of us times are tough,” the ad’s narrator states. “Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000. Continue Reading

To debate or not to debate?

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Sanitized format, Tinsley’s rule-breaking characterize CD2 event, but candidates say more debates are coming Thursday’s joint appearance by Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague and Republican opponent Ed Tinsley was so sanitized that it barely met the definition of a candidate forum, but both candidates say they will participate in additional forums and debates before the Nov. 4 election. By many definitions, the word forum means “open discussion.” It’s a stretch to say that’s what happened at Thursday’s event in Las Cruces, which was sponsored by the Association of Commerce and Industry (ACI). First the background: Teague isn’t the most articulate public speaker. Apparently sensing an opportunity, Tinsley has challenged Teague to debates in every county in the district. Continue Reading

On energy, Teague says he brings best of both worlds

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Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague calls himself a needed conduit between oil and gas and renewable energy in a new blog posting on the Web site of the Washington publication The Hill. Teague, a Hobbs oilman, writes that Congress “needs someone who understands the oil and gas industry, and who is ready and able to work with alternative energy.” “For too long, our energy policy has been dictated by extremes, none of which are willing to work together to find a comprehensive solution to the mess we’re in,” Teague wrote. “I want to change that.” Teague pointed out that he built a company that employs more than 250 people in the oil industry. As a county commissioner, he worked to bring a nuclear enrichment facility to southeastern New Mexico. And, he claimed, as a private citizen he has “been hard at work to get solar and wind farms to southwest New Mexico.” “Washington needs that kind of experience. Continue Reading

Guv scales back health-care proposal

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Admitting the political reality of the situation, Gov. Bill Richardson has scaled back his health-care plan for the special session that begins Aug. 15 to focus on children. Meanwhile, the attorney general has given his stamp of approval to another effort by Richardson to expand health-care coverage in New Mexico. The Santa Fe New Mexican has the scoop on Richardson’s new proposal, which his administration developed after lawmakers balked at an expensive universal health care plan Richardson pushed earlier this year during the regular session and remained skeptical about through months of negotiations since. The new plan would require all parents to insure children 18 and younger. Continue Reading

Pearce continues hammering Udall on energy

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Republican Senate candidate Steve Pearce’s new radio ad continues his campaign’s hammering of Democratic opponent Tom Udall on energy issues. “It’s time our government stood up for working families, reduce our energy costs by building nuclear power plants and drilling for oil on land and offshore,” Pearce says in the ad, which you can listen to by clicking here. “The far left environmentalists are not going to like this and maybe it’s not politically correct, but nuclear energy is a sure way to America’s energy independence. Nuclear power can make America free from Middle Eastern oil cartels.” “Nuclear power will make energy affordable, America prosperous and keep American jobs here instead of being shipped overseas,” Pearce says in the ad. “But Tom Udall and the extreme environmentalists oppose nuclear energy and offshore drilling. Continue Reading

GOP House candidates to skip nominating convention

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What about the Democratic hopefuls? The chairman of the fund-raising committee for House Republicans recently told congressional hopefuls they should not shy away from criticizing fellow Republicans and would be wise to skip next month’s GOP presidential nominating convention in Minnesota. New Mexico’s Republican House candidates are skipping the GOP convention at the beginning of September, their campaigns said. And all three — 1st District candidate Darren White, 2nd District candidate Ed Tinsley and 3rd District candidate Dan East — released statements touting their independence. “We’re going to run our race the way we’ve been running it. Continue Reading

Is Ben R. Luján ducking forums?

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Is 3rd Congressional District Democratic candidate Ben R. Luján ducking forums? That’s what two of his opponents are saying. And Luján isn’t responding. The 3rd District candidates had been scheduled to participate in a forum this evening in Clovis, but it was canceled on Tuesday after Luján backed out. His withdrawal came the day after he, Republican candidate Dan East and independent candidates Carol Miller and Ron Simmons participated in a forum in Santa Fe. Continue Reading

Dems continue to focus on Tinsley’s Santa Fe home

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Democrats will present Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley with a mock Santa Fe “Resident of the Month Award” later today, the latest political stunt in their effort to highlight the home he owns there. The award will be presented on the Santa Fe Plaza at 3:30 p.m. by Santa Fe Mayor David Coss. Tinsley owns a ranch in Capitan in the 2nd District and a home in Santa Fe in the 3rd District. While Tinsley votes, pays taxes and says he spends most of his time at the ranch, Democrats, including his opponent, Harry Teague, have repeatedly accused him of not living in the district he is running to represent. Today’s ceremony comes on the heels of the Tinsley campaign erroneously sending fund-raising letters to the Democratic Party’s state headquarters addressed to a number of high-profile Democrats late last week. Continue Reading