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Udall responds to Club for Growth attack ad

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall is out today with a new TV ad responding to an attack ad unveiled this weekend by the Club for Growth. Calling the group an out-of-state ally of his Republican opponent, Steve Pearce, the Udall campaign announced its ad today in a news release. Here’s the 30-second spot: “A Washington special interest wants to pick our senator,” the ad’s narrator states. “First they falsely attacked Heather Wilson (Pearce’s primary opponent). Now it’s Tom Udall.” “On energy, Tom Udall says do it all. Continue Reading

Kemp to campaign for McCain Thursday in ABQ

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Former Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp will attend a shooting contest in Albuquerque on Thursday to kick off John McCain’s New Mexico sportsmen coalition. The event will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Calibers Shooting Range, 5600 Holly Ave. NE. The event, an invitation from the campaign of the current Republican presidential candidate states, will feature a shooting contest. The winner will receive a “special prize” from the campaign, according to the invitation. Continue Reading

McCain’s new Spanish radio ad hits Obama on taxes

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John McCain’s new Spanish-language radio ad continues his recent trend of taking aim at Barack Obama’s celebrity, but the ad is primarily an attack on the Democratic presidential candidate’s economic policies. The 60-second ad, which is airing in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico, begins with the narrator saying, in Spanish, “Fame must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to lead in tough economic times?” The ad then goes on to attack Obama for having a “grand history of raising taxes,” and states that his campaign promises “would mean even more taxes on income, electricity, small business, seniors, your life savings, your family.” “Painful taxes — when times are tough enough,” the narrator says. You can listen to the Republican presidential candidate’s new ad by clicking here. Update, 8:15 p.m. Obama spokesman Carlos Sanchez released this statement: “A negative ad is a negative ad no matter what language it is in. Continue Reading

New Mexico’s title insurance industry needs reform

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By Fred Nathan It is highly unusual for an industry to ask to be regulated, but that is exactly what happened in March 1985 when the New Mexico Legislature passed a bill regulating title insurance at the behest of the industry. The story of how this law came about actually began two months earlier on Jan. 7, 1985, when President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Trade Commission filed price-fixing charges against six major title insurance companies. The FTC alleged that the price fixing had occurred in 13 states, including New Mexico, and sought to prevent the industry from engaging in such practices in the future. An industry spokesman responded at the time not by denying the charges but by stating, “We believe that our activities are exempt from (federal) antitrust laws because (we) are regulated by the states.” Indeed, since the 1945 passage of the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act, Congress has exempted insurance companies from federal antitrust laws and given the states the authority to regulate the entire insurance industry. Continue Reading

Obama gives interview to Las Cruces Sun-News

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The Las Cruces Sun-News got a chance on Monday to conduct a phone interview with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and used the opportunity to talk primarily about immigration and the state’s defense-related government facilities. The question the Sun-News didn’t get answered because an Obama handler cut off the interview was whether the candidate will return to the Las Cruces area before the election. The interview came during Obama’s Monday trip to Albuquerque. You can listen to the full interview with reporter Diana Alba by clicking here and read her article here. Continue Reading

Herrera tells nonprofit to register as a PAC

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Secretary of State Mary Herrera has told New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) to register as a political committee and comply with the state’s campaign reporting laws, but the group says it will contest that demand with legal action. “After consultation with our legal counsel at the Office of the Attorney General, it appears that New Mexico Youth Organized is operating as a political committee,” Herrera’s letter, sent late today, states. Eli Il Yong Lee, executive director of the Center for Civic Policy (CCP), the parent organization for NMYO, said both organizations “strongly disagree” with Herrera’s decision. “We will purse all legal remedies at our disposal,” he said in an e-mail. Herrera’s letter does not provide any legal argument to back up its claim that NMYO has been operating as a political committee. Continue Reading

Senate approves scaled-back tax, health-care bills

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The state Senate today approved smaller tax rebates than those proposed by Gov. Bill Richardson and a scaled back health-care bill, again rejecting the governor’s plan. On a vote of 36-2, the Senate approved a bill that would give more than 700,000 taxpayers rebates. Each person making $30,000 per year would receive $50 under the bill approved by the Senate. “This funding provides New Mexico’s single mothers, senior citizens and people having trouble making ends meet some relief,” Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, D-Albuquerque and the bill’s sponsor, said in a news release. “Higher prices at the gasoline pump and higher food costs at the grocery store are placing a tremendous burden our single-parent and working-parent families. Continue Reading

Obama praises guv during campaign event in ABQ

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With the biggest political question of the week being who Barack Obama will choose to be his running mate, the Democratic presidential candidate had strong praise for Gov. Bill Richardson during an appearance earlier today in Albuquerque. Obama called Richardson “one of the finest public servants of our generation, somebody who has done so much.” “You know, he can’t fit everything on one résumé,” Obama told a crowd of about 2,000 people at Rio Grande High School in Albuquerque’s South Valley. The Obama campaign and Richardson’s staff aren’t commenting on the VP process, but speculation has increased in recent days that Richardson has found his way onto Obama’s short list. Obama also had high praise for U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall, who, like Richardson, were with him at the town-hall meeting. In praising Bingaman, his Senate colleague, Obama said, “If you look up in the dictionary the word gentleman, you would see this man’s face.” He asked the crowd to give Udall, the Democrats’ U.S. Senate candidate, “a big round of applause and your vote.” That was the second of two events Obama held in Albuquerque today. Continue Reading

Another nonprofit takes issue with AG’s advice

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I wrote last week that the secretary of state’s decision on whether to force New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) to comply with the state’s campaign reporting laws could have far-reaching implications in New Mexico. One of the organizations such a decision would ostensibly affect, SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), has some strong words in a blog posting on its Web site about a potential decision to classify groups like it as political committees. “We know the rules and we follow the rules. As a non-partisan organization we have been diligent and careful about our advocacy efforts. We are confident that in nearly 30 years of existence we have never crossed the line,” the posting from the group states. Continue Reading

Special session update: Senators blast governor

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There’s a lot happening quickly during the special session of the Legislature underway in Santa Fe. I’m not there, but here are a few updates: • The most interesting moment thus far came Sunday when a number of senators blasted Gov. Bill Richardson for what they said are political motivations for forcing them to be in Santa Fe. “I really have no earthly idea why we are in this building except to serve the political purposes of this governor,” Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said during a hearing on Richardson’s proposal to provide health care to every child in the state. The Albuquerque Journal has the goods on the Senate tabling the bill. Some senators, according to the Journal, plan to introduce a substitute that does far less than Richardson proposes. Continue Reading

Udall agrees to four debates with Pearce

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Following weeks of being called a debate ducker by his Republican opponent, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall has agreed to four debates — one more than he originally said he would participate in. Udall’s campaign released a schedule on Saturday that includes three debates in Albuquerque in October and a fourth debate on NBC’s Meet the Press at a date that has yet to be announced. “We feel this schedule gives the people of New Mexico plenty of opportunity to see the candidates side by side,” Udall spokeswoman Marissa Padilla said. “(Republican opponent) Steve Pearce was more focused on theatrics and playing politics than on answering for his record on the issues. Now he has nothing left to hide behind.” Pearce, who has hammered Udall on the topic of debates for some time, had originally demanded three debates, and Udall agreed. Continue Reading

Club for Growth attacks Udall in new TV ad

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The right-wing Club for Growth is out with a new TV ad in New Mexico attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall and urging him to support increased domestic drilling. Here’s the 30-second ad: The ad chastises Udall for having voted against offshore drilling while also voting “for more government power to take private property” and “to keep the Death Tax,” according to a news release from the group. “For Tom Udall, if it’s private property, he thinks the government should take it; if someone dies, Tom Udall thinks the government should tax it; but if it’s American oil, he thinks the government should leave it in the ground,” the news release states. It’s a line that’s similar to one used in the TV ad. The group is spending $150,000 to run the ad for two weeks. Continue Reading

Newspaper takes a look at Domenici’s legacy

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The Las Cruces Sun-News published on Sunday what will be one of many parting profiles of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici before he leaves office at the end of the year. The Sun-News is one of the first to take an in-depth look at Domenici’s legacy because New Mexico State University is hosting the Domenici Public Policy Conference from Wednesday to Friday. Domenici for some reason declined to talk about his career during an interview with the Sun-News, but he did say he’s looking forward to the conference. “We’ve been very successful in getting people who I personally thought would be well-respected and that I had great confidence and admiration for,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “I think that by the time we’re finished, it will be a rather exciting time.” Read the article by clicking here. Continue Reading

Clinton stands with Richardson in Española

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During her visit to Española on Sunday, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talked, in an interview with reporters, about campaigning alongside Gov. Bill Richardson for the Democrats’ nominee, Barack Obama. “We’re both Democrats. We both share a lot of the same values,” Clinton said of Richardson. “… We campaigned against each other during the primary and now we’re campaigning with each other for Sen. Obama.” That’s significant because of the stir Richardson, a former cabinet secretary in the administration of Clinton’s husband, created when he endorsed Obama over her in the primary. Listen to the full interview from the New Mexico Independent. Continue Reading