Another Dem to fight for right to take on Wilson

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Democratic Party insider Bryon Paez has decided to jump into the race for the Democratic nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., next year. A native of Las Vegas, N.M., Paez has worked for Gov. Bill Richardson, the national Democrats and several statewide Democratic candidates. He’s never run for office before. He’s a Marine Corps veteran and, according to the Albuquerque Tribune, served in Somalia and Iraq. The entrance of a Hispanic who is well-known to party insiders makes this race interesting. Continue Reading

Bingaman talks about new emissions bill

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Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s office is working on providing video of certain events for news Web sites. The first is from the senator’s announcement earlier this week of a new bill designed to help combat global warming by reducing emissions. If you want to hear Bingaman talking about the bill, watch the video that’s below. It’s about two minutes long. Continue Reading

Kissling raises $10K, says money gap doesn’t matter

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Congressional candidate Al Kissling’s second-quarter finance report indicates that his expenditures from April to June exceeded his contributions by more than $67,000, but Kissling says the report is incorrect and he has about $8,000 in cash on hand. The report indicates that Kissling raised $10,445 during the quarter, spent $79,686.13 and had a negative cash balance at the end of the period of $67,437.43. Expenditures listed included a payment to the New Mexico Department of Labor of, according to the report, $73,098 – the likely source of the error. “That’s not anywhere near correct,” Kissling said. In fact, he said, he has $8,000 in the bank today, and raised a little more than $10,000 during the second quarter. Continue Reading

Clinton, Edwards seek to disenfranchise voters

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Hillary Clinton and John Edwards want to exclude some of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls from future debates, a move that would disenfranchise a number of Democratic voters. Their remarks, caught on tape by a number of television networks following Thursday’s NAACP debate in Detroit, are outrageous. As reported by the Associated Press, the two spoke at the conclusion of the debate, most likely believing they weren’t in range of an open microphone. “We should try to have a more serious and smaller group,” Edwards told Clinton. She agreed, saying the debates were “trivialized” by some of the other candidates and by having too many on stage. Continue Reading

Judge in Foley case gave $50 to his campaign

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The Roswell judge assigned to hear the case of House Minority Whip Dan Foley, who is scheduled to go to trial next month on charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest, gave $50 to one Foley’s House re-election campaigns. In addition, Foley is a close friend of a son of Judge Clyde McKee, the Roswell Daily Record is reporting today. McKee, according to the site FollowTheMoney.org, gave $50 to Foley in 2002 or 1998. The year differs on different pages on the Web site. In addition, according to the newspaper, the judge is the father of Michael McKee, who told the newspaper he is “a close personal friend of Dan Foley and a campaign contributor and supporter.” In 2004 alone, Michael McKee gave $1,103 to Foley’s campaign, the newspaper reported. Continue Reading

Pearce raises $245,500 during second quarter

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U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., raised about $245,500 during the second quarter of 2007. In a report filed today with the Federal Election Commission, Pearce also reported expenses of almost $60,300 during the period that ended June 30. At the end of the period, he had a little more than $383,000 on hand for his 2008 re-election campaign. His fundraising total is high above that of his most active Democratic challenger, Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley, who raised $139,600 during the quarter. But McCamley’s expenses during the period were $6,300, leaving the difference between what each candidate raised this quarter and carries over to the next period at a little more than $51,000. Continue Reading

Guv rises in Pennsylvania and Michigan, not in Ohio

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Three new polls show Gov. Bill Richardson doing reasonably well in two large states and not so well in a third. In the new polls, Richardson is at 8 percent in Pennsylvania, 7 percent in Michigan and 2 percent in Ohio. The new poll in Pennsylvania, conducted by the conservative Strategic Vision, had Hillary Clinton in the lead among Democratic contenders with 36 percent, Barack Obama with 25 percent, John Edwards with 12 percent, Richardson with 8 percent and Joe Biden with 5 percent. Twelve percent were undecided. The overall survey of 1,200 likely voters in Pennsylvania was conducted July 6-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, but the survey asked many questions of Democrats and Republicans. Continue Reading

12 are finalists for Democratic Party director job

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The Democratic Party of New Mexico has named 12 finalists for the position of executive director, including one who wasn’t on the original list of applicants released. The successful candidate will replace outgoing Director Matt Farrauto. Party Chair Brian Colón is expected to make a decision soon. The finalists are: • Francisco Apodaca, who was not included on the original list of applicants released to the public • Joe Casados • Chris Cervini • Eamonn Donovan • Terri Holland • Christopher Honey • Michael Minh-Nguyen • Yvette Ramirez Ammerman • Laura Sanchez • Art Terrazas • Rebecca Vigil-Giron • Nate Williams Continue Reading

Bingaman global warming bill has bipartisan support

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced today bipartisan legislation his office says is “designed to stop the advancement of global warming while protecting the U.S. economy and American consumers.” The measure, which is cosponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is an economy-wide mandatory cap-and-trade program that limits the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted, according to a Bingaman news release. The bill would set an annual target on the amount of carbon that can be released into the atmosphere. It would allow firms to buy, sell and trade carbon credits and would provide incentives to promote a gradual transition to new, lower-carbon technologies. “There is a great desire in our country to address the global warming crisis,” said Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Continue Reading

Poll: Richardson at 4 percent in Obama’s home state

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A new poll shows Gov. Bill Richardson gaining little ground over the last six months in Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois, whose primary is important because of its early date – Feb. 5 – and the Chicago media market. Richardson has spent little time in the state since jumping into the race on Jan. 21, so the new American Research Group poll isn’t a surprise. The poll, conducted July 6-9, has Obama in the lead with the support of 37 percent of likely Democratic primary voters. Continue Reading

County seeks applicants for tax advisory board

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The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners is seeking applications from residents who want to serve on a committee that will help it decide how to spend the county’s portion of the spaceport gross receipts tax. One-fourth of the quarter-percent tax increase approved by voters in April will be returned to the county for use on spaceport-related activities. The commission intends to use it for education in math, science and business that relates to the aerospace industry. In June, commissioners created a nine-member advisory committee comprised of representatives from each of Doña Ana County’s three school districts and New Mexico State University’s Education and Engineering colleges, as well as a representative of the aerospace industry, a commissioner and two members of the public. The Spaceport Educational Advisory Committee will make recommendations to the commission about how to allocate the funding to the Hatch, Las Cruces and Gadsden schools. Continue Reading

Gay slur comes back to haunt Richardson

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Gov. Bill Richardson is coming under fire for a gay slur he made during a radio interview more than a year ago. The site Gay News Watch reported Tuesday on Richardson using a Spanish-language slur for gay people during a March 29, 2006 interview with former talk-show host Don Imus. Imus used the word “maricón” – which is most commonly translated as “faggot” – in telling Richardson that an Imus staffer named Bernard “has been claiming that you’re not really Hispanic.” “You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?” Imus asked Richardson. Richardson immediately replied, in Spanish, by saying, “I believe that Bernard, yes, he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic.” The incident went largely unnoticed, and Richardson had never publicly apologized or had to explain it before now, though he did apologize privately to one gay-rights activist, Gay News Watch reported. Continue Reading

Homans to join rubber recycling company

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Rick Homans is leaving his job as director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority to work for a Malaysia-based company that plans to build a rubber recycling plant in Gallup and its U.S. headquarters in Albuquerque. The state’s Economic Development Department announced today that The Petra Group plans to house both facilities in New Mexico, and will make a formal announcement Wednesday in Albuquerque. Michael Henningsen, spokesman for the department, confirmed that Homans would join the company, and said he would release more details later today in a news release. Homans said he could not comment until after that happens. The company has its fingers in a lot of projects, but one of its divisions focuses on environmental technology. Continue Reading

McCamley campaign has some big-name contributors

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Bill McCamley’s campaign contributor list includes a number of high-profile business owners and New Mexico Democrats, and it’s earning him some national attention. McCamley announced Sunday that he raised $139,600 during the second quarter of 2007. He spent $6,300 and had $133,300 on hand. All money McCamley raised is for the primary election, according to the report he filed with the Federal Election Commission late Monday. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, the Republican McCamley is attempting to unseat, hasn’t yet filed his report with the FEC. Continue Reading

County to begin Webcasting commission meetings

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Doña Ana County will soon begin broadcasting commission meetings live on its Web site and archiving the recordings for those who want to access them at a later date. Commissioners voted unanimously today to adopt a system proposed by the county attorney’s office. Under the new system, audio and video recordings of meetings will be broadcast and archived on the county’s Web site. Archives of the meetings will be organized based on the meeting’s agenda. Markers in the recordings will allow people to click on a specific agenda item and watch or listen to the discussion on that item. Continue Reading