Guv will call special session for health-care reform

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Gov. Bill Richardson will call a special session for health-care reform, and says it could begin as early as Monday but he’s willing to work with legislative leaders on the timing. Richardson made the announcement, in a speech that was highly critical of Senate leaders, shortly after the regular legislative session ended today. “While we had some major accomplishments during this year – tougher domestic-violence penalties and progressive energy-efficiency legislation – I’m not going to sugarcoat my feelings about this session,” Richardson said, according to prepared remarks released by his office. “After five hugely successful sessions, this is the least productive session since I have been governor. The results are mediocre, at best.” Richardson said he is the voice for 400,000 New Mexicans who don’t have health care, and praised those representatives who worked toward compromise and House approval of his health-care plan during the regular session. Continue Reading

Senate leaders point to ‘session successes’

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In a news release, leaders of the state Senate say the session that just ended was at least partly successful, pointing to the approval of funding bills and making reference to battles with Gov. Bill Richardson. At least two Senate leaders, in the news release, made references to Richardson’s decision on Wednesday to veto the original capital outlay bill, House Bill 43, before the 6 p.m. deadline lawmakers and the attorney general said he faced to take action. “…we had a conflict with the governor over constitutional roles. But, fortunately, the governor recognized that he needed to stick to the role laid out for him in the state constitution for signing or vetoing bills,” Senate President Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said in the release. Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said it was disappointing that Richardson “chose to veto some of the funding that the Senate felt was important – and even critical – for meeting many of our local and statewide needs,” but said “that is how the process works.” “Still, we passed lots of important legislation – and some of the funding we felt was important was left in place – and, if nothing else, the governor recognized that the legislative process involves two branches of government, each with their own duties and responsibilities,” he said. Continue Reading

Session ends; guv’s news conference is at 1 p.m.

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The 2008 legislative session has ended. Various caucuses and lawmakers are scheduled to be talking to the media about the end of the session. Gov. Bill Richardson has called a news conference for 1 p.m. The big question is whether he’ll call a special session and, if so, when it will be held. Richardson had said he would call a special session if the Senate didn’t approve his health-care bill before noon today – which it did not do. Unfortunately, I’m not in Santa Fe, but I’ll report on what’s happening as soon as I get information. Continue Reading

Democratic caucus tally is again in doubt

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After announcing on Tuesday canvassed and supposedly final regular- and absentee-ballot numbers from last week’s presidential caucus, the Democratic Party of New Mexico now isn’t certain whether those numbers are accurate. As you can read in this Associated Press article, that further calls into question the integrity of the vote. It reinforces what I wrote on Wednesday – that trained government workers should run elections. The party’s original, uncanvassed results gave Hillary Clinton a 1,123-vote lead, 68,654 votes to Barack Obama’s 67,531. Tuesday’s announcement changed that. Continue Reading

House sends new capital outlay bill to guv

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With no debate, the House approved Senate Bill 471 almost immediately after convening this morning and sent it to Gov. Bill Richardson. The vote was 63-5. I don’t know who the five were. The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate has already approved the bill, and the House made no changes that would require concurrence. Continue Reading

House has choice: side with guv, Senate or nobody

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A group of House Democrats who are willing to cross party lines may end up deciding how the final hours of the legislative session play out today. The House, including independent Democrats such as Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces and Peter Wirth of Santa Fe, has a tough choice to make. In the capital outlay fight, its members can side with Gov. Bill Richardson and send him Senate Bill 471, the new capital outlay bill, or they can side with the Senate and try to override Richardson’s Wednesday-evening veto of House Bill 43. Or they can do neither by voting against SB471 or letting the session end without taking any action on it. That would force lawmakers to return to their homes without any capital outlay. Continue Reading

Second capital outlay bill heads toward House OK

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The second capital outlay bill, Senate Bill 471, is quickly moving through the House and may soon be headed to Gov. Bill Richardson. It has already been approved this evening by the House Taxation and Revenue Committee and Appropriations and Finance Committee. It’s ready to be voted on by the full House any time, and would go to the governor for his signature after that because it has already been approved by the Senate. The bill is nearly identical to House Bill 43, the original capital outlay bill Richardson vetoed earlier today, with the only major exception being that it does not include a $300,000 appropriation to the Gadsden Independent School District from Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces. This is an incredible turn of events. Continue Reading

Guv says legislators can OK another capital-outlay bill

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Gov. Bill Richardson’s office just put out a news release saying he vetoed the capital outlay bill because lawmakers didn’t give him enough time to consider it and other funding bills at the same time. “It is unreasonable for the Legislature, which took four weeks to pass the capital outlay bill, to demand that the governor review and take action on it in just three days – while simultaneously taking action on the GO bonds, the budget bill and junior budget bills,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a news release. “This political gamesmanship is a disservice to New Mexicans who expect their elected leaders to work together to move the state forward.” “The 332-page capital outlay package includes 1,959 projects totaling more than $348 million. The governor chooses to take the appropriate time to not only evaluate the worthiness of the projects, but also to consider those projects in the context of his obligation to balance the overall state budget,” Gallegos said. Then this gem: “There is still sufficient time for the Legislature to present the governor with a capital-projects bill so he will be afforded the opportunity to fulfill his responsibility to New Mexicans to balance the budget in a fair and fiscally responsible manner,” Gallegos said. Continue Reading

More on Richardson’s junior-budget vetoes

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Gov. Bill Richardson has stripped from the junior budget bill funding for a number of judicial projects and money for public trash-can cleaning in some communities around the state. Richardson went light on the vetoes in this bill after completely killing the capital outlay bill moments ago. Interestingly, he left intact funding for trash-can sanitizing in some communities – like Albuquerque and Portales – while killing the funding for other communities including Questa and Belen. Richardson’s action on the bills avoids a legal showdown with Senate leaders. He complied with the 6 p.m. deadline they believed applied to the bills. Continue Reading

Guv vetoes capital outlay, may have secret weapon

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Gov. Bill Richardson has vetoed, in its entirety, the capital outlay bill that was approved Saturday, acting before the disputed 6 p.m. deadline and giving the Legislature time to override the veto. Richardson also vetoed some portions of the junior budget. Click here for the final version, as acted upon by the governor. I haven’t had time to go through it and figure out what Richardson took out. Action on the bills comes after a closed-door meeting with House Democrats, and Richardson may have a secret weapon: Senate Bill 471 is a nearly-identical bill to the capital outlay bill Richardson just vetoed. Continue Reading

Funding bills’ disputed 6 p.m. deadline approaches

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As the disputed 6 p.m. deadline approaches for Gov. Bill Richardson to act on the junior budget and capital outlay bills, the governor is in a closed-door meeting with House Democrats. The big question: Will Richardson act on the bills before 6 p.m. and avoid a legal showdown with the Senate? Or will he wait until after 6 p.m. to act, daring the Senate to take him to court? Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the attorney general, is among those who keeping an eye on the situation. He said the AG doesn’t have plans to join any lawsuit, even though he has sided with the Senate in the dispute. Continue Reading

Lawsuit claims Teague ignored harassment of worker

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A federal civil-rights lawsuit filed in December accuses Second Congressional District candidate Harry Teague of ignoring a sexual harassment complaint filed by an employee against a top manager at one of his companies. Teague, one of four Democrats vying for the seat being vacated by Steve Pearce, hasn’t been served in the case, his campaign said in a statement. The plaintiff has 120 days from Jan. 8 to do that. The lawsuit, filed Dec. Continue Reading

Elections should be run by governments

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Elections should be run by governments. The debacle that was last week’s New Mexico Democratic caucus makes that clear. It’s not the record voter turnout and the resulting long lines that bother me. That’s a great problem to have. What calls into question the integrity of the vote is the Democratic Party of New Mexico’s difficulty in responding to the high voter turnout, the weak protection for the ballots and the fact that a party-run caucus isn’t subject to state election law. Continue Reading

Mayor to deliver State of the City address

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Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima will deliver his State of the City address this afternoon. It will take place at 12:15 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, located in City Hall at 200 N. Church St. You can watch it live online by clicking here, listen online by clicking here, or watch it on Comcast Cable channel 20. This will be Miyagishima’s first State of the City address since he was elected in November. Continue Reading

Richardson faces a new reality in Santa Fe

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The first legislative session since his longshot presidential bid came to an end is turning out to be a pretty lonely one for Gov. Bill Richardson. He’s at odds with Lt. Gov. Diane Denish on a couple of issues, and Attorney General Gary King is siding with the Senate in another dispute. The Senate hasn’t been a friend to Richardson in quite some time, and even many House members are up in arms over his line-item vetoes in the general appropriations bill. Richardson has always ruled with an iron fist. He has a deep need to be in control. Continue Reading