{"id":209,"date":"2006-04-26T23:09:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-27T05:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/04\/many-call-for-richardson-to-follow-his-own-advice-and-evans-could-hold-two-public-offices\/"},"modified":"2006-04-26T23:09:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-27T05:09:00","slug":"many-call-for-richardson-to-follow-his-own-advice-and-evans-could-hold-two-public-offices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/04\/many-call-for-richardson-to-follow-his-own-advice-and-evans-could-hold-two-public-offices\/","title":{"rendered":"Many call for Richardson to follow his own advice, and Evans could hold two public offices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The criticism of Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s ethics task force continues.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Joe Monahan<\/a> challenged Richardson this week to put his money where his mouth is \u2013 literally \u2013 in calling on the governor and his Republican opponent in November, J.R. Damron, to voluntarily agree to limit the size of campaign donations and their overall spending, to disclose campaign contributions on the Internet within 48 hours, and to disclose all travel paid for by outside interests.<\/p>\n

Most of those are suggestions Richardson made in Las Cruces a week ago in announcing the formation of the task force, which he says will propose sweeping legislation to clean up state government.<\/p>\n

One inside politico balked at the governor\u2019s proposals, which won\u2019t even be debated by legislators until next year, after Richardson\u2019s last election in New Mexico has come and gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you keep a straight face, when here\u2019s the guy getting all the free rides, and sports tickets, and other gifts, and saying we need to eliminate gifts?\u201d the source asked. \u201cIf you believe we shouldn\u2019t be doing this, then why are you still doing it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The politico is right. Richardson has accepted all sorts of gifts that sometimes teeter on the edge of ethical lines, and now he says the ability of New Mexico\u2019s politicians to accept gifts should be limited.<\/p>\n

Another source, a longtime politico in New Mexico, reminded me that former Gov. Jerry Apodaca set up an ethics task force in the late 1970s. Its members met periodically for two years and ultimately did nothing but hold a few press conferences and make Apodaca look good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t want to do anything,\u201d the source said. \u201cIt was a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the source said, we have a similar situation. The source predicted that ethics legislation will be proposed in January, will pass the House, and will die in a Senate committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will have served its purpose for the governor,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Richardson told me last week he reads my blog, so how about a personal note to him: You should take Monahan\u2019s advice, Governor Richardson. If these politicos are wrong about you, prove it.<\/p>\n

All this talk could add up to some major campaign issues for the governor, should Damron choose to go on the offensive. But he has not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s amazing is how quiet the whole election is turning out to be,\u201d one source told me. \u201cIt\u2019s really disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner D. Kent Evans, a Republican, is one of three seeking the Public Regulation Commission seat currently held by Democrat E. Shirley Baca.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also set to serve another two years on the county commission.<\/p>\n

I asked him whether he planned to resign from the county commission if he wins the PRC seat, and he said he doesn\u2019t know. County Attorney John Caldwell has apparently advised him that nothing in state law says he can\u2019t serve on both boards.<\/p>\n

Evans said he could do both. The PRC job would require him to have a home in Santa Fe, but he would need to return to Las Cruces frequently, and the commission only meets twice each month. He is already talking with some constituents about the issue, and said their input would play a major part in his decision, should making one become a reality.<\/p>\n

For now, he has a tough primary race in June and, should he win, an even tougher race in November, and he said he is focused on winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll cross that bridge when I come to it,\u201d he said about the decision on whether to remain a member of the county commission if he is elected to the PRC.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Another week passes, and we have less than six weeks until the primary election. I\u2019ll post an interesting political link tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading this week. I hope you come back next week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The criticism of Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s ethics task force continues. Political analyst Joe Monahan challenged Richardson this week to put his money where his mouth is \u2013 literally \u2013 in calling on the governor and his Republican opponent in November, J.R. Damron, to voluntarily agree to limit the size of campaign donations and their overall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}