Governor signs controversial capital outlay bill

By |

Gov. Bill Richardson has signed a bill that would restore capital outlay money he vetoed in 2006. Senate Bill 710, sponsored by Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, provides $82 million for capital outlay projects around the state, including $27 million for Senate projects, $26 million for House projects and $29 million for the governor’s projects. The bill was controversial because it was an attempt by the Senate to overturn the governor’s veto without actually going through the formal process, making it more like a bargaining chip. Richardson said he would sign the bill once some of his proposals were approved, but his bills have moved more slowly than he wanted. On Thursday, he signed the bill anyway, the Associated Press reported. Continue Reading

Secret negotiations likely on minimum wage increase

By |

It’s likely that attempts to work out a compromise on the particulars of raising the state’s minimum wage will be made in secret. The House approved on Thursday a different version of the proposal than the one already approved by the Senate, which will be asked to concur with the House version. The Senate president says that’s not likely. If he’s right, the dispute will be debated in a secret conference committee – the same place where the proposal died last year. The bill in question is Senate Bill 324, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City, but there are now two significantly different versions. Continue Reading

Judge swears in two new LCPS board members

By |

Two new members of the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education were sworn in today. District 4 Board Member Bonnie Votaw and District 5 Member Connie Phillips will participate in their first meeting as board members on Tuesday. Votaw replaces John Schwebke, who did not seek re-election, and Phillips replaces Sharon Wooden, who she defeated in last month’s election. The two were sworn in by District Judge Robert E. Robles at the LCPS administration building. Before swearing them in, Robles told the new board members that “the work they begin is of the highest importance. Continue Reading

Senate committee chair delays ethics reform hearings

By |

A government watchdog is upset about a Senate committee head’s decision to delay hearings on two ethics reform bills earlier today. Senate Bill 931, which would place limits on gifts to public officials, has been on the Senate Rules Committee calendar for more than a week. Senate Bill 800, which would place limits on campaign contributions, has been on the calendar for at least four days. They’re both sponsored by members of the committee, and yet Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque and the committee’s chair, passed them up again today in favor of hearing other bills, said Matt Brix, Common Cause New Mexico executive director. At the end of the hearing, a quorum of members were willing to stay to hear the ethics bills, Brix said, but Lopez would not allow it. Continue Reading

Subpoenas issued in U.S. attorney investigation as Domenici and Wilson continue to dodge questions

By |

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., are still refusing to talk about whether they had a hand in forcing out former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, even as a House subcommittee is issuing subpoenas in an attempt to find the truth. Meanwhile, the spokesman for a congresswoman leading the House investigation says any House members who pressured Iglesias to issue indictments in a public corruption scandal in order to affect the November 2006 elections might have committed ethics violations. Iglesias claims he was forced from his job by the Bush Administration because he refused pressure in October from two members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation to speed indictments in an ongoing investigation of alleged kickbacks related to the construction of government buildings in Bernalillo County. Though he has refused to name the members, three of the five – Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall and Republican Rep. Steve Pearce – were quick on Wednesday to say they didn’t do it. Domenici and Wilson, on the other hand, aren’t talking. Continue Reading

Jail head to resume duty while he fights charges

By |

Doña Ana County Detention Center Administrator Chris Barela, who is facing charges of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, will return to work Friday following more than a week on suspension. Assistant County Manager Sue Padilla made the decision today to reinstate Barela, who had been on paid administrative leave since Feb. 20. Padilla made the decision because County Manager Brian Haines is out of the office. Barela, 42, was arrested on Feb. Continue Reading

House committee moves another ethics reform bill

By |

Another bill in the House Democrats’ package of proposed ethics reforms was approved by a committee this morning. House Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, would propose a constitutional amendment to voters that would allow an annual disbursement for lawmakers equal to 15 percent of the salary of New Mexico Supreme Court justices, to be spent only on expenses directly related to their duties. With only Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Albuquerque dissenting, the committee voted to send the bill to the House floor. The bill is a companion to Martinez’s House Bill 820, which would prohibit lawmakers from spending campaign funds except, for the most part, on politically related activities, and would authorize the disbursements to lawmakers. That bill is one of five in the House Democrats’ ethics package that have been approved by the House. Continue Reading

Unanimous Senate vote against timely campaign finance disclosure has reformers shaking their heads

By |

With its opposition to opening conference committees to the public and just about all ethics reform proposals moving through the House, the Senate has done a lot lately to upset reformers. A unanimous vote by the lawmaking body on Wednesday means the anger and disappointment will continue to grow. Senate Bill 363, sponsored by Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, was approved on a vote of 32-0. It would eliminate the requirement that candidates file campaign disclosure reports electronically, and move the state away from better disclosure of money that influences elections. The Legislature and governor enacted a law in 2003 requiring that candidates, beginning in 2006, file campaign finance reports electronically. Continue Reading

Gutierrez, committee shelve coal plant tax break

By |

After voting two weeks ago to bring the bill back to life, Rep. Joni Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, voted with fellow Democrats today to permanently table a bill that would give an $85-million tax break for the Desert Rock coal plant on the Navajo Nation. The proposal is still alive in the Senate, but the Senate Finance Committee has yet to schedule a hearing on Senate Bill 431, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City. The vote on House Bill 178, sponsored by Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Farmington and the minority leader, was 7-6 in favor of shelving the bill in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier today. Gutierrez and the committee’s other Democrats, including Jeff Steinborn and Antonio Lujan of Las Cruces, voted to shelve the bill for the remainder of the session, while the committee’s Republicans all voted against the motion to table. Rep. Thomas Garcia, D-Ocate, missed the vote. Continue Reading

Compromise on surface owners’ rights passes House

By |

Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, agreed to support Ben Lujan last year in his bid to remain speaker of the House in exchange for the chairmanship of the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee. Nuñez did that because he wanted another shot at passing a bill the oil and gas industry has torpedoed for several years. Lujan won the leadership battle, Nuñez got his chairmanship and increased clout, and the House, earlier today, passed House Bill 827, which requires oil and gas companies to pay landowners for damage to their property caused by drilling. Following some amendments that actually earned the bill the endorsement of the Oil and Gas Association, it was approved on a vote of 62-5. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. Continue Reading

Vigil defense lawyer could be the next U.S. attorney

By |

One of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil’s defense attorneys is under consideration and may be the frontrunner to replace David Iglesias as the U.S. attorney for New Mexico. Fresh off helping win Vigil’s acquittal on 23 of 24 felony counts, Jason Bowles is under consideration for the top federal law enforcement job in the state, a source close to the process confirmed for me. He said Bowles is the frontrunner. Reached by telephone, Bowles wouldn’t confirm that he is being considered or is the frontrunner, but he didn’t deny it. “I can’t comment on any of this,” he told me. Continue Reading

Group decries Democrat-sponsored industry bill

By |

An activist group whose aim is to get young people involved in politics is attacking a bill working its way through the House as a proposal that would benefit only “the corporations and the sleazebag lobbyists, whose single goal is to consolidate wealth and power for their rich friends.” House Bill 685, sponsored by Rep. Dan Silva, D-Albuquerque, is a lengthy bill titled the Administrative Accountability Act. The bill would create uniform requirements for rulemaking, adjudication and inspection performed by state agencies, according to the fiscal impact report, but it’s a few of the particulars that have the League of Young Voters upset. • The bill would require agencies to divulge names of people who report violations by companies the agencies regulate, unless prohibited by law. That, according to the bill’s fiscal impact report, “could have a deleterious affect on the health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans since potential whistleblowers may be deterred from coming forward because of fear of retaliation. This type of provision is not found in other state, federal or model administrative procedure acts.” • It would limit agencies’ ability to make rules and charge fees to only those areas where the Legislature has specifically granted such authority, which, according to the fiscal impact report, “could greatly reduce an agency’s ability to act” because some agencies have been given “very specific rulemaking” while others have been given only general authority. Continue Reading

House approves bill that would allow district judges to force the mentally ill to submit to treatment

By |

Rep. Joni Gutierrez’s second attempt at passing a bill that would allow judges to order treatment for the mentally ill in some circumstances has been approved by the House. Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, introduced Kendra’s Law, which would allow judges to force mentally ill patients who are dangerous to take their medication and submit to other treatment, during the 2006 session, but it was quickly shot down. Gutierrez worked over the summer with a wide range of people who work with mental illness and tweaked her bill, the Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting. House Bill 609 was approved Tuesday by the House on a vote of 53-13, and now heads to the Senate for consideration. The bill allows a family member, treatment guardian, hospital director, doctor, service provider or police officer to petition a district judge to force a mentally ill person to submit to treatment, if that person is refusing treatment and may be a danger. Continue Reading

Outgoing U.S. Attorney Iglesias says he was fragged

By |

David Iglesias, the outgoing U.S. attorney for New Mexico, says it was politics, not job performance, that cost him the position. In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune, he confirmed that he did write in an e-mail to a friend that his dismissal was a political “fragging” – a military term for being killed by a subordinate. The e-mail was first reported Monday on Joe Monahan’s blog. “I know that performance was not the real issue,” the Tribune quoted Iglesias as saying, contradicting a deputy U.S. attorney general who told a Senate panel the opposite. “That leaves only one possibility, and that’s politics,” he said. Continue Reading