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Remembering Patty Jennings

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This article has been updated.Patty Jennings, wife of Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings and a tireless advocate on behalf of those with disabilities and the uninsured, died Saturday after a long battle with breast cancer. Jennings, who was director of the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool, was 53. Jennings’ family plans to hold a private service this week, and a public memorial is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Roswell Convention Center, according to The Associated Press. Gov. Bill Richardson says he will order that flags be lowered in memory of Jennings. Here are some comments I gathered over the weekend about Jennings’ death: “Patty was one of the most magnificent women I have ever known. Continue Reading

Giving our students a running start

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By State Rep. Richard Berry Business and industry benefit when we have a large, well-trained and prepared workforce. New Mexico benefits when business and industry is supported by these trained professionals. Companies will want to bring their business to the state, leading to more job growth and opportunity while, at the same time, stimulating the economy. One way to attract business to New Mexico while providing our workforce with greater opportunities is to start training future workers in a practical way that meets the needs of students, business and industry. House Bill 44 — the “Running Start for Careers Act” — sets up a pilot program that will allow high school juniors and seniors to use their available electives to attend industry-taught classes. Continue Reading

Most voters in poll don’t want Kilmer to run

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The majority of those who voted in last week’s non-scientific poll on this site said Val Kilmer should not run for governor. Of 295 voters, 204, or 69 percent, said he should not run, while 81, or 27 percent, said he should, and 10, or 3 percent, said they don’t know. Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. Continue Reading

Kilmer meeting with political operatives in DC

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Val Kilmer has apparently been meeting with political operatives in Washington this week, and there’s a lot of speculation that he’s looking for staffers to work on his potential 2010 gubernatorial campaign in New Mexico. I wrote earlier this week that Kilmer was in Washington to visit with some members of the New Mexico congressional delegation and attend a speech on American Indian issues. In addition, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed, someone representing Kilmer set up meetings between the actor and some operatives in the D.C.-area that were held this week. Then there’s this from Washington blogger Joshua Baca, who keeps an eye on issues related to New Mexico: “My sources tell me that Val Kilmer was dining this morning at the Royal Restaurant — a local breakfast diner in Alexandria, Virginia,” Baca wrote in a Thursday posting on his site. “This time, however, he wasn’t dressed as Batman, rather dressed in a suit and tie, chatting with two other gentlemen in suits and ties.” “Could he be in the market for a Democratic consultant or operative?” Baca asks. Continue Reading

New Foy lawsuit seeks release of agency records

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Man alleging pay-to-play scheme says educational retirement board has no basis for denying records request A man who has already filed a civil lawsuit alleging a pay-to-play scheme involving the Richardson administration filed a second suit on Thursday alleging that the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board is illegally withholding public records and seeking a court order to force their release. Frank Foy, the agency’s former chief investment officer, filed a request under the state Inspection of Public Records Act in January seeking a myriad of documents, including minutes of board meetings and any other records related to the board, any other committee or advisory group, Vanderbilt Capital Advisors — the company at the center of the pay-to-play lawsuit, and dozens of other individuals and companies. In addition to paper records, the request sought electronic records including text messages, e-mails and cell phone messages. The request matches a subpoena Foy’s attorney, Victor Marshall, issued to the retirement board, according to documents provided by Marshall along with a news release sent today. In Foy’s pay-to-play lawsuit, which he has filed on behalf of the state, he alleges that the state made investments with Vanderbilt and affiliated companies in exchange for a little more than $15,000 in contributions to Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign. Continue Reading

Committee leaves public financing bill in limbo

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A bill that would expand the state’s public financing system remains in limbo in the Senate Rules Committee after members who were present for a vote on whether to table the bill earlier today were evenly split. The party-line vote on a motion from a Republican senator to table Senate Bill 165 was 3-3. Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, did not attend the meeting, and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, left the meeting when debate on the bill started. At the time of the committee’s vote on the bill, the Senate had already begun its daily floor session. Sanchez runs the floor sessions. Continue Reading

One ethics bill moves through Rules Committee

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The meeting is still in process and being webcast by the New Mexico Independent One ethics-reform bill moved quickly through the Senate Rules Committee this morning as lawmakers tackled an agenda that includes a number of reform bills. Senate Bill 261, sponsored by Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, would establish a process for the forfeiture of retirement benefits for state employees and state retirees convicted of felonies “arising from conduct related to” their public employment. The rules committee passed the bill on to the Senate Judiciary Committee with no recommendation because of several procedural and due-process questions to which some members want better answers. That will require the gathering of some additional information by staff. Sen. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa, voted against the motion because she wanted the committee to pass the bill on with a favorable recommendation. Continue Reading

What about repaying those trillions of dollars?

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© 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done.” – Oscar Wilde Sen. Everett Dirksen’s quip, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money,” has been changed in Washington from billion to trillion. Years earlier the quip used the word million. A trillion is as easy to say as a million, but is a million times harder to repay. Our country’s fiscal policies allow debt of unfathomable magnitude without any repayment plan. In the last 50 years, politicians from both political parties have dramatically increased the national debt with no dialog or plan on what is most problematic for our nation — how the debt is to be retired. Continue Reading

Sen. Lopez will allow Rules Committee webcast

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Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, says she will allow the New Mexico Independent to webcast tomorrow’s meeting of the Senate Rules Committee, which she chairs. Lopez made the comment this evening via the social networking Web site Facebook. Here’s how it happened: Earlier today, I changed my status on my Facebook page to say, “Heath is wondering if the Senate Rules Committee is going to try to stop an attempt to webcast Friday’s meeting.” After the day’s events — the Senate Committee’s Committee reversed its earlier decision and voted to proceed toward webcasting from the Senate floor — I changed my status to, “Heath is doubting that the Senate Rules Committee will try to stop the webcasting of Friday’s meeting.” Within minutes, Lopez, who has her own Facebook page, posted a comment on my status. “You’re right! I won’t,” she wrote. Continue Reading

Official: Virgin Galactic lease won’t be renegotiated

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I reported earlier this week that a bill in the Legislature that would protect companies doing business at Spaceport America against civil lawsuits from passengers could mean a renegotiation of the lease agreement with Virgin Galactic, but a state official says that’s not the case. The fiscal impact report for Senate Bill 37, sponsored by Clinton Harden, R-Clovis, states that the spaceport authority, which is insured through the state’s Risk Management Division, requires those who lease facilities at the spaceport to carry “certain levels of insurance.” “If this bill becomes law, those leases will have to be reviewed and perhaps amended to account for decreased liability,” the official legislative report states. The only current lease holder is Virgin Galactic, which signed its lease in December, so I reported earlier this week that, based on the fiscal impact report, the bill might mean a renegotiation of the contract and that Virgin might not have to pay the state as much money as it’s already agreed to pay over the course of its 20-year lease. That won’t happen, according to Steve Landeene, executive director of the spaceport authority. “No renegotiation will occur based on approval of this bill,” he wrote in an e-mail about the Virgin contract. Continue Reading

Article detailing guv’s ‘descent’ contains some errors

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“A breathtaking descent” is how one national news publication is describing Gov. Bill Richardson’s fall from being Barack Obama’s commerce secretary-designate to a “late-night punch line” because of controversy plaguing his administration. In the article from The Politico, which you can read by clicking here, reporter Andy Barr writes that, since withdrawing his nomination in January because of a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of pay to play in his administration, Richardson, who was “once unmatched in his power and popularity in Santa Fe,” has “seen his political fortunes crater.” “He’s had a pretty rough go of it since he withdrew,” Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings was quoted by The Politico as saying. “His popularity has really declined in the state.” In addition to the pay-to-play controversies and the jokes that have come from David Letterman and Jay Leno, the article cites a recent New Mexico Independent story about an auditing firm headed by a man with ties to the governor that has seen a boom in government contracts since Richardson became governor. While the tone of the Politico article is probably fair — Richardson’s political reality has changed drastically in the last couple of months — there are a few errors in the article that should be pointed out. • For starters, the article doesn’t quite get right the money involved in the pay-to-play case the grand jury is investigating. Continue Reading

Senate takes a step toward webcasting

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The Senate Committee’s Committee decided this afternoon to take a step toward webcasting by allowing cameras to be reinstalled in the Senate gallery with the intention of beginning webcasting audio and video later this session, the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash is reporting on her blog. In the meantime, Nash writes, the committee plans to draft rules governing webcasting to present to the Senate Rules Committee. According to Nash, the Senate still needs some money to set up the system and may need more to operate it, so there are still some details to work out. The move comes the same day that the New Mexico Independent announced that it plans to webcast Friday morning’s meeting of the rules committee to increase public access to the debate on several ethics reform-proposals that will be considered. If allowed, it will be the first webcast of a Senate committee meeting. Continue Reading

Will webcasting of committee meeting be allowed?

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The New Mexico Independent is going to attempt to webcast Friday’s ethics reform hearing being held by the Senate Rules Committee. The big question is whether the powers-that-be will allow it to happen. The online news publication (I’m a contract reporter for it, by the way) published a blog posting this morning stating its intention to webcast the meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday. The Independent also plans to liveblog the meeting on its Web site and invites anyone to participate in that online forum. “Our goal is to provide increased public access to the meeting and encourage a lively discussion on the subject of ethics reform,” the posting by Gwyneth Doland states. Continue Reading

Omnibus bill would only kill ethics reform, again

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This year’s plan to ensure no significant reform is approved: Put all the proposals into one bill to rally opponents of various pieces of legislation behind a common purpose — voting down one bill In 2007, Rep. Mimi Stewart introduced an ethics reform bill that would have made 13 different changes to the state’s Campaign Reporting Act, including enacting contribution limits, giving the secretary of state subpoena power to investigate potential violations of the act and implementing tougher reporting requirements. At the time, one legislator said to me something to the effect of, “She’s putting all the eggs in one basket. If she would split these up, some would pass. Together, they’re all going to die.” Predictably, 2007’s House Bill 821 did die. Two years later, New Mexico still has no campaign contribution limits. Continue Reading

Reform backers hopeful about Friday’s hearing

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Senate Rules Committee to consider a number of ethics reform proposals The Senate Rules Committee has finally begun to move on a number of ethics reform proposals, and that has reform supporters saying there is reason for optimism despite the committee’s late start on the issue. “The public pressure is pretty clear at this point… and my impression is that our legislators are aware that the public pressure has been raised quite significantly,” said Steve Allen, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. One key reason some are citing for their optimism is that the rules committee gave a unanimous do-pass recommendation on Wednesday to Senate Bill 141, which would allow a judge, in the case of an elected official who commits a felony connected to his office, to impose a fine no greater than the elected official’s salary and benefits in addition to the standard sentence. The bill is sponsored by William Payne, R-Albuquerque. Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen and a member of the committee, missed the vote. Continue Reading