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Guv now says special session may be held in August

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It appears that Gov. Bill Richardson may change his mind yet again on when he wants to hold a special session. The governor said today at a news conference that he might move up the date of the special session, which now includes health-care reform, tax relief and road-construction funding, to early August to speed aid to struggling New Mexicans, The Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash is reporting on her blog. Richardson said last week he would call the special session in early September, just after the Democratic and Republican parties’ presidential nominating conventions ended. He said then that the session’s agenda would include tax relief. That was the first time he indicated that it would include more than health-care reform. Continue Reading

Remembering Dr. Jim Kadlecek

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By Bill McCamley On Sunday evening, Jim Kadlecek passed away. Many on this site knew of him, as he was a regular contributor as a columnist. I had the good fortune of knowing Dr. Kadlecek both as a co-worker and a friend. Jim will be sorely missed by many in New Mexico for many reasons. As a columnist and novelist, Jim had the ability through writing to bring to life commonsense policy solutions that many lacked the courage to articulate. Continue Reading

Cotter tops Garcia in non-scientific poll

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The majority of those who voted in the last non-scientific poll on this site said Republican Lee Cotter will unseat Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, later this year. Of 315 voters, 177, or 56 percent, said Cotter will win the Senate District 36 race, while 138, or 44 percent, said Garcia will win. Don’t forget to vote in the new non-scientific poll, located at the top of the right column on this page. A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Garcia is the minority whip. Continue Reading

N.M. GOP needs to prepare for 2010, redistricting

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Many Republicans are already beginning to think past 2008 — a year that could be dismal for them — to 2010 and a chance to regain power in Washington by winning greater influence in the next decade’s redistricting process. In New Mexico, there’s another reason Republicans should be thinking about 2010 and redistricting. If they don’t win the gubernatorial race or greater influence in the state House, Democrats will likely grab even greater control of state government through redistricting. According to the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, focusing on 2010 and redistricting is the GOP’s contingency plan for what many expect will be a further loss of influence in Congress this year. Many believe the party’s best chance at retaking Congress may come by first winning back a majority of governorships in 2010, because redistricting takes place at the state level. Continue Reading

Sun-News writes about Kadlecek’s death

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I’m still on the road and still trying to overcome the shock of Jim Kadlecek’s death, so I haven’t yet been able to process it all and write about him, but I promise to share my thoughts later this week. In the meantime, you can get the details on his tragic passing from the Las Cruces Sun-News by clicking here. You can read his most recent column for this site by clicking here and find his column’s archives here.- Heath Haussamen Continue Reading

New Udall ad proposes ways to lower gas prices

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall is out with a new television ad telling New Mexicans what he thinks can be done about high gas prices. Here’s the 30-second spot: In the ad, Udall says the first thing that must be done to lower gas prices is to “stop hedge-fund speculators from driving up the price of oil.” Then, he says, the United States must “get oil companies to build new, clean refineries in the U.S. to increase supply, or take away their tax breaks.” “I’m running for the U.S. Senate and I approve this message because record profits for big oil companies, while we pay record prices for gas, is wrong,” Udall says at the end of the ad. “Rising gas prices, and the additional associated costs, are crushing New Mexico citizens,” Udall campaign manager Amanda Cooper said in a news release. “Tom Udall is proposing effective solutions that could help stabilize prices and bring relief to New Mexicans right now.” Udall’s opponent, Republican Steve Pearce, responded to the ad in a news release by saying that Udall “continues to ignore the calls coming from New Mexicans for more energy supply.” “Instead, he pushes policies that will drive the price of gas even higher, damage our economy and cost New Mexico jobs,” Pearce said. “Not surprisingly, this is exactly the agenda of the far-left environmental extremists who oppose any increase in domestic production.” Pearce advocates for increased drilling and increased use of nuclear energy. Continue Reading

Pearce raises $1.2 million during second quarter

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce raised just over $1.2 million during the second quarter of 2008, his campaign announced today in a news release. That’s respectable but far less than the $2.1 million raised by Tom Udall, his Democratic opponent, from April 1 to June 30. Candidates have to file finance reports by midnight, but Udall released his fundraising total a week ago. The Pearce campaign made no comment on its fundraising in the news release, but said it spent just over $1.5 million and had $531,624.17 on-hand on July 1. The Udall campaign has not released information about how much it spent during the quarter or had on hand at its end. Continue Reading

Photos from McCain’s visit

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Here are some additional photos I took on Tuesday of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Here he is arriving in Albuquerque: Shaking hands with greeters: Talking with reporters on the bus headed to his fundraiser: Keep in mind that these images, and all on this site, are copyrighted by Haussamen Publications Inc. If you want to purchase them, click here for details. Continue Reading

McCain talks about wilderness, economy, immigration

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Though he wasn’t speaking specifically about the wilderness battle that is raging in Doña Ana County, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said in an interview today that it can take years of bipartisan work to get any wilderness proposal through Congress. McCain said he “philosophically, strongly” supports “permanent preservation of pristine areas.” In Arizona he worked with former U.S. Rep. Morris “Mo” Udall, a liberal Democrat, to preserve millions of acres of land. “We had to get consensus. You can’t do it without getting everybody on board. And we had to make compromise,” McCain said, adding that it took years to get environmental organizations, the business community and ranching groups to compromise. Continue Reading

A quick update

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There are two things happening about which I wanted to give you an update. I’m in Albuquerque and am one of five New Mexico reporters who get to interview Republican presidential candidate John McCain later today. Look for an article on the interview later tonight or early tomorrow. Now the bad news: Jim Kadlecek, one of this site’s columnists, has died. I’ll write more on this later, but I wanted to let you know about the passing of a man who devoted his life to public service and made a difference. Continue Reading

Cruces hearing will tackle mental illness, drug abuse

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By Sen. Dede Feldman Ask any office holder or candidate about some of the most heartbreaking concerns he or she hears about from voters, relatives and constituents and one topic will rise to the top: New Mexico’s alarming rate of mental illness and drug abuse. It seems like almost every family is affected. According to a gap analysis that detailed the lack of services for people with mental and substance-abuse problems six years ago, one in five New Mexicans has a diagnosable mental illness or substance-abuse disorder. The National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that the national rate is one in four. According to military data, there was a 46-percent increase in the number of post traumatic stress disorder cases from 2006 to 2007. Continue Reading

DCCC spending $2.5 million on TV ads in N.M. races

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The fundraising arm of Democrats in the U.S. House has reserved nearly $35 million in advertising for 31 congressional races across the nation, including $2.5 million for two House races in New Mexico. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved $1.3 million in television advertising time in September and October for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District race, according to information obtained by Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics. It has reserved $1.2 million in advertising time for the 2nd Congressional District race. The DCCC has included 1st District Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich and 2nd District Democratic candidate Harry Teague in its Red to Blue Program, which provides financial and other support for those candidates at the top of the DCCC’s priority list.That signifies that, at least in the eyes of Democrats, these are among the hottest congressional races in the nation. Continue Reading

Guv expands agenda for September special session

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Gov. Bill Richardson expanded today the agenda for a long-anticipated special session of the Legislature and said it will be held just after Democratic and Republican national presidential nominating conventions wrap up in early September. In addition to health-care reform, Richardson told The Associated Press that the agenda for the special session will include “a package of initiatives to help working families with the rising costs for food, gasoline and other household expenses.” That may include tax relief, he told the news service, but specific proposals are still being developed. Richardson had previously said he would call a special session for health-care reform in August or September. He told the news service today that he settled on early September because he didn’t want to interfere with the Democrats’ convention being held Aug. 25-28 in Denver and the Republicans’ convention being held Sept. Continue Reading

Counties assert control over spaceport-tax board

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Officials from Doña Ana and Sierra counties are asserting their authority to control a board that oversees tax money from their counties set aside for the construction of Spaceport America. Under the proposal, each county will appoint two members to the board that oversees the funneling of gross-receipts-tax money to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. Both counties have approved a 1/4 percent increase in the gross-receipts tax to help fund the spaceport. The proposal has been approved by Sierra County commissioners and will be voted on by commissioners in Doña Ana County on July 22. The agreement needs only the approval of Doña Ana County to become official. Continue Reading