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Let us vote on global cooler or warmer

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© 2009 By Michael Swickard, Ph.D. 1995 Movie The American President, environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade: “…global warming is a calamity, the effects of which will be second only to nuclear war.” Later in the movie, “… 10 years from now (2005) any cars with an internal combustion engine is gonna be considered a collector’s item.” I enjoy the movie The American President, but when the lobbyist predicts a quick end to Earth unless radical changes are made, I realize changes were not made and nearly 15 years have gone by. The warnings were just political crap. These dire environmental warnings have gone on for decades. I was in college for the first Earth Day in 1970. The central message: Earth was in trouble and could not last long. Continue Reading

Coverage of public-records lawsuit against NMFA

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There’s been some pretty good media coverage in the last week of my company’s lawsuit against the New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA), and I wanted to share it with you. In case you missed the news, Haussamen Publications has filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to force the NMFA to release copies of subpoenas it has received in the federal probe of allegations of pay to play in the Richardson administration. Though the governor’s office has released a similar subpoena, the NMFA has refused. Newspaper coverage of the lawsuit has come from The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell and an Associated Press article that ran in the Las Cruces Sun-News, Albuquerque Journal, on The New Mexican’s Web site and in other print and online publications. There’s also been some radio coverage from KRWG-FM’s Evan Woodward in Las Cruces and KUNM-FM’s Julie LaJeunesse in Albuquerque. Continue Reading

Regent says guv not involved in Cruzado resignation

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Javier Gonzales and Lt. Gov. Denish say community should give regents a chance to set up a fair process for picking NMSU’s next president New Mexico State University Regent Javier Gonzales says Gov. Bill Richardson and his staff had no involvement in the resignation of Interim President Waded Cruzado. And Gonzales and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish both said in interviews that the NMSU community should give the Board of Regents a chance to put in place a process for selecting a new president that is fair to all who want to apply, including Cruzado. Gonzales’ comments followed news that, as the regents restart the search process, Cruzado is moving back to the executive provost and vice president job she held before being named interim president last year. It’s a move three influential state legislators who support Cruzado quickly condemned and said had the governor’s fingerprints all over it. Not so, Gonzales said. Continue Reading

Guv says he didn’t know about payments to Correra

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Bill Richardson’s office says the governor wasn’t aware of any fees investment companies doing business with the state paid to Marc Correra — or anyone else for that matter. “The state did not pay these fees, and the governor was not informed of any fees paid by private fund managers to third-party marketers,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos wrote in an e-mail. “Those were private transactions, which were only disclosed after the state asked for more information about the fees from the fund managers who paid them.” Earlier this week, I wrote that a couple of scandals might intersect in the instance of Correra. He shared in more than $11 million in finders’ fees as a third-party marketer for financial companies that won business with the State Investment Council (SIC) and another $4.2 million in fees that came from contracts with the Educational Retirement Board (ERB). That may include as much as $2 million he earned from a controversial investment deal in which the state lost $90 million — a deal that is the subject of the pay-to-play lawsuit brought by Frank Foy on behalf of the state. Continue Reading

Regents chairman says Cruzado is not being ‘dumped’

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Blake Curtis, chairman of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents, says Interim President Waded Cruzado isn’t being “dumped.” Instead, she’s being moved back to her previous position as executive vice president and provost in order to ensure “the integrity of the search” for a new president, he said in an interview. “Her job performance has been wonderful,” Curtis said. “She’s done a super job … and she’s been very responsive.” Some legislators say they believe the regents and Richardson administration are forcing Cruzado out. Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings said earlier today that Cruzado is being “dumped.” “Anything but being dumped,” Curtis said in response. “She’ll be moving back to the second-most prestigious position in the university.” The move comes as the university ramps up its search for a new president. Continue Reading

Waded Cruzado out as NMSU interim president

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Some legislators see administration’s fingerprints on the situation, say a vote of no confidence in the NMSU regents is possible The resignation of New Mexico State University Interim President Waded Cruzado is in the works, a move that has angered some powerful state legislators who believe the Board of Regents and the Richardson administration are forcing the change. Cruzado is going to return to the job she previously held, executive vice president and provost, a number of sources with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed. Three powerful legislators — Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, President Pro Tem Tim Jennings and Finance Committee member Mary Kay Papen — are all upset by the move, saying they believe the Richardson administration is behind it. “I’m a fan of hers,” Smith said of Cruzado. “I think she’s tried to do what is right, and I will certainly lead a charge in the New Mexico Legislature on a vote of no confidence on the entire board of regents and whoever else is involved.” Cruzado and most members of the NMSU regents could not immediately be reached for comment. Continue Reading

It’s simple: Don’t use government e-mail to campaign

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Note to public officials throughout the state: It’s not appropriate to use government e-mail addresses for campaign purposes. Every time I start thinking that goes without saying, someone proves me wrong. This time it’s Clovis Mayor Gayla Brumfield, who, according to the Clovis News Journal, asked a secretary to forward an e-mail to city commissioners inviting them to a fundraiser she is hosting on Friday for Lt. Gov. Diane Denish’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. It’s also not appropriate, by the way, to ask your government employees to do such political work for you. The mayor was quoted by the newspaper as saying she “didn’t know” she couldn’t use government e-mail for campaign purposes. Continue Reading

Auditor: AG may be illegally seeking info about probes

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Balderas says subpoena may be a fishing expedition to determine what auditor’s probes have revealed about King, the AG’s office or other agencies with which King has a conflict State Auditor Hector Balderas says Attorney General Gary King may be illegally using a subpoena for documents as a way to find out what Balderas has discovered in the course of investigations involving King, the AG’s office or other agencies with which King has a conflict. While Balderas isn’t saying exactly what his office is investigating that might involve King or King’s office, he said he believes a broad subpoena issued by King’s office for state auditor records “is being used as a backdoor” for information about the auditor’s probes. He called that “illegal misuse of the subpoena” and said it threatens the auditor’s ability to investigate. “I’m very concerned that a subpoena would be used to disrupt or usurp independent, constitutional authority to protect taxpayers,” Balderas said. “The law is set up in a way that there are two, independent watchdogs.” Balderas’ words are the latest in a fight between the two statewide elected officials and their offices over the subpoena. Continue Reading

Report: Mexican Cartel might use deadly force in U.S.

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The head of a Mexican cartel has instructed associates to use deadly force on this side of the border if necessary, which could lead to violence aimed at American law-enforcement agents, the Los Angeles Times is reporting. The order that smugglers should “use their weapons to defend their loads at all costs” came from Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who heads the Sinaloa Cartel and who the Times identifies as Mexico’s most-wanted fugitive. It’s a shift from the previous position of avoiding confrontations in the United States with law enforcement officers or rival drug traffickers. And that’s what has me confused. The Mexican Army is currently trying to take down the cartels. Continue Reading

Scandals may intersect in payments to Correra

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Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration is currently facing so many scandals and controversies related to financial deals that you had to know, at some point, some of them might intersect. That may have happened in the instance of Marc Correra, the son of a close friend of Richardson. We already knew that Correra shared in more than $11 million in finders’ fees as a third-party marketer for financial companies that won business with the State Investment Council (SIC), thanks to a document the SIC released last month. Now, as reported by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal, the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB) has released its own document detailing finders’ fees paid to third-party marketers by companies that won business with the ERB. The document indicates that Correra shared in as much as another $4.2 million in finders’ fees that came from contracts with the ERB, according to the AP. Continue Reading

Arnold-Jones considering running for guv, Congress

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State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, says she’s seriously considering whether to run for governor, Congress or re-election to her legislative seat next year. And she knows the clock is ticking as others are making decisions. “People keep telling me every day that I don’t make a decision is a day that I can’t get back,” Arnold-Jones said in an interview. She said she is weighing her chances of winning either of the high-profile races against the opportunity she currently has to push for change in the state Legislature. “While I would like to run for governor, there’s a real practical issue here that I’m weighing,” Arnold-Jones said. Continue Reading

Weh forms gubernatorial ‘exploratory committee’

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Allen Weh can begin raising money to run for governor after he announced today that he’s forming what he’s calling an “exploratory committee” as he considers jumping into the 2010 race. “We need to clean up the corruption in Santa Fe. We need to save jobs and make jobs, and move New Mexico in a better direction,” Weh said in a news release sent shortly after he held a news conference in Albuquerque to announce the formation of the committee. Weh, the former chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said in the release that he is taking a “long, hard look at this race.” He was joined at the news conference by members of his family, former U.S. Rep. and Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., former Albuquerque City Council President Vickie Perea and several leaders in the business community. Today’s announcement wasn’t a surprise. Continue Reading

Challengers enter 2010 congressional races

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Two of New Mexico’s Democratic freshmen in the U.S. House are already drawing potential 2010 challenges. Iraq war veteran Adam Kokesh has formed an exploratory committee as he considers running against Democrat Ben R. Luján in the Third Congressional District next year. The Marine, who has become a leading voice in the anti-war movement since returning to the United States, has gained quite a following though Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty. There’s even a Draft Kokesh movement on the Internet. “When I got out of the Marine Corps, I joined the monumental fight to end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, bring the troops home to defend America and restore a Constitutional foreign policy. Continue Reading

A new day for Otero Mesa

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10th Circuit ruling means we need to now focus all of our energy on permanent protection for this Serengeti of the Southwest By Nathan Newcomer April 2009 will be a time to remember for the campaign to preserve Otero Mesa. On April 28, at 11:45 in the morning, we received a document from the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on our lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas drilling plan for Otero Mesa. The decision couldn’t have been more forthcoming. The court ruled that the BLM’s original resource management plan amendment, which opened the vast majority of Otero Mesa to oil and gas leasing and limited protection for the desert grasslands, was fatally flawed due to its failure to consider protection for Otero Mesa and the salt basin aquifer. The court declared that the BLM had to consider an alternative that closed Otero Mesa to oil and gas leasing, admonishing the agency that “(d)evelopment is a possible use, which BLM must weigh against other possible uses — including conservation to protect environmental values…” The court ruling underscores what has been at the heart of the Otero Mesa debate for the past eight years. Continue Reading

Guv: swine flu is cause for concern, but not panic

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At Las Cruces news conference, Richardson and other officials seek to calm fears, provide facts By Vicki Nisbett Doña Ana County should expect some cases of the swine flu soon, but New Mexico is prepared for the situation, so there is no need for panic, state officials said Monday at a news conference in Las Cruces. “It’s inevitable that Doña Ana County will have some cases of the swine flu,” Department of Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil said at the news conference. He was joined by Gov. Bill Richardson and others. (Listen to the entire news conference by clicking here.) There have been three confirmed cases and 12 probable cases of swine flu throughout six counties in New Mexico, but none — yet — in Doña Ana County. Half of the state’s cases are in people who have already recovered or are recovering. Continue Reading