New Mexico Politics: New Mexico FBIHOP - Front Page

Richardson wants Schwarzenegger's milkshake, according to LA Times

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:10:15 GMT

Bill Richardson, as Trip Jennings noted Wednesday, was recently in Los Angeles, California meeting with Hollywood producers to help entice them to film more TV shows in New Mexico.

This led the Los Angeles Times to report, "Some states are so hungry to keep their slice of Hollywood, they'll even send their governors here to drum up business."

"If we want to compete, we have to hustle, we have to stay competitive," Richardson said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times before meeting with TV executives. "We've got the incentives, free state land. We've got the landscape and excellent weather."
New Mexico has had some success stories with movies and TV shows (Both Transformers movies are among the highest grossing movies of all time while the TV show Breaking Bad was nominated for five Emmys today), and Richardson has hung his hat on this success before.

"I made this trip to show our strong commitment to the industry and to showcase the differences that make New Mexico the ideal place to do business," Richardson said in a statement sent Wednesday after the meeting.

If you don't get the reference to milkshakes that the LA Times (and our headline) makes, it was based on a famous scene from There Will Be Blood.

Though the film was not shot in New Mexico, the title was based on a quote by former New Mexico Senator Albert Fall about the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Fall was convicted of conspiracy and bribery in the scandal.

Teague, Lujan sign onto letter opposing tax provisions of healthcare reform bill

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:05:08 GMT

New Mexico's Congressmen from northern and and southern New Mexico signed onto a letter with 18 other freshman Democrats asking Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to amend the way that healthcare reform will be paid for. The letter was penned by Colorado freshman Democrat Jared Polis, and northern New Mexico Democrat Ben Ray Luj?n and Hobbs Democrat Harry Teague signed on.

"Especially in a recession, we need to make sure not to kill the goose that will lay the golden eggs of our recovery," said the letter. "By concentrating the cost of health care reform in one area, and in one that will negatively affect small businesses, we are concerned that this will discourage entrepre?neurial activity."

The provision they are talking about is the health tax surcharge that has been proposed among those with an income over $1 million. This would be in addition to letting the George W. Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans expire.

"Combined with state taxes, many successful small businesses --the very kind of business that should lead in creating new jobs and help us emerge from this recession -- will be taxed over 50 percent," the letter reads.

The letter comes from Democrats from across the party's ideological spectrum -- there were those in the Blue Dog Democrats as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus (Luj?n is in the Progressive Caucus). Also, those not affiliated with either group signed on, like Teague.

Zanetti out of gubernatorial race (updated)

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:12:56 GMT

Greg Zanetti is no longer running for governor. So reports Heath Haussamen, via his Twitter.

Earlier today, Haussamen wrote a story about how Zanetti's campaign had all but disappeared and how multiple e-mails and phone calls to Zanetti's office were not returned.

This leaves former state GOP chairman Allen Weh exploring a run and Susana Martinez was supposed to formally announce her run today. (Note: State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones has also formed an exploratory committee)

On the Democratic side, Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish is already running and Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez is exploring a possible run.

Update:

Heath has a story up at NMI.

The Albuquerque financial adviser and Army National Guard brigadier general recently completed a year as deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Upon returning, he began considering running for governor and traveling around the state.
"These travels only increased my love of New Mexico and my fellow citizens," Zanetti said in a prepared statement. "But to myself and to my family these travels seemed like another deployment. I missed a number of important family events."

Water and Energy Appropriations bill passes with Heinrich amendment to help labs

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:12:57 GMT

Congressman Martin Heinrich (D-CD1) spoke on the floor successfully in favor of an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill which would set Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) at 7 percent of the labs' funding rather than 6 percent as it the bill previously allotted.

The overall bill passed on a vote of a vote of 320 to 97 and will now head to the Senate for consideration, and included other provisions related to New Mexico.

The amendment passed on a unanimous vote, 424-0.

Sandia Labs Chief Technology Officer Steve Rottler praised the amendment in a statement, saying, "LDRD projects play an integral role in Sandia National Laboratories' strategic goal of nurturing core science and technology expertise to enable our national security missions, including enhancement of the security and reliability of our nation's energy and other critical infrastructures."

But as John Fleck notes, it is still a drop in LDRD research from recent years, where the 8 percent of all funding was set aside for the work.

Congressman Ben Ray Luj?n (D-CD3) represents a district that includes Los Alamos National Labs, and he praised the passage of the overall bill in a statement.

"This bill makes important investments in energy technology and infrastructure. This bill will help us move toward energy independence and rebuild our aging infrastructure," said Luj?n.

Luj?n praised the water improvements the bill would provide for in rural areas, citing $3 million in funding set aside for repairs and to replace the Jicarilla Apache Rural Water System.

"This will help address the public health priorities in our region by fulfilling the promise Congress made 7 years ago when they authorized funding to address the substandard and dilapidated water system serving our people," said Levi Pesata, President of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

Nearly $7 million will go to an US Army Corps of Engineers Project which will provide "flood damage reduction as one unit of the flood control plan for the Rio Grande and Tributaries, New Mexico" according to Luj?n's statement.

Romero, Berry pledge to serve only two terms

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:36:42 GMT

Mayoral candidates Richard Romero and RJ Berry continue to drive the news cycle in the Albuquerque mayoral race. This time, they aren't talking about possible political use of city funds by incumbent mayor Martin Chavez, but instead about term limits.

Chavez, of course, challenged term limits which said that a mayor could only serve two consecutive terms.

From the front page of today's Albuquerque Journal:

Romero said he favors the City Charter provision limiting mayors to two consecutive terms. The limit was struck down last year after Ch?vez challenged it in court.
Berry and Romero both said they would voluntarily step down after two terms if elected.
"When an executive becomes so entrenched that they have no other option but to keep running and running, something is wrong with the system," Berry said.

Chavez's spokesperson says it shows desperation by Romero and Berry.

Intel PAC showing no love for former employee, Barela?

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:19:07 GMT

It's nice to be incumbent when coming up to an election (Nevada governor Jim Gibbons and Senator John Ensign notwithstanding), and campaign finance reports tend to show that. For example, Congressman Martin Heinrich received $6,000 from Intel's political action committee -- the same company that employed Barela.

The Associated Press points out, "Intel Corp.'s PAC contributed $6,000. The company is a major employer in the Albuquerque area."

Barela was the Manager Government and Community Relations for Intel New Mexico.

Of course, Barela has only been in the race since June 18 and has raised no money from PACs yet.

But $1,000 of the $6,000 in donations (PACs can donate $5,000 per election, with the primary and general elections each counting as a different election) came after Barela entered the race.

This isn't as surprising as seeing the name "Aubrey Dunn" donate to Harry Teague last year. Aubrey Dunn Jr. ran for the 2nd Congressional District seat as a Republican, but he (or his father, it does not show a Sr. or Jr.) gave a bit of cash to the Democratic candidate -- Teague (and to Democratic Senate candidate Tom Udall) just before the elections last November.

With Barela in the race and other Republicans (like funeral home director Kevin Daniels) considering runs, the fundraising pace will pick up in the coming months ahead of the primaries next June and the general election next November.

Are those on the Rightosphere concerned about the truth?

LP — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:32:48 GMT

This is about the national presence of the Right on the web, not here in New Mexico (the Right on the web hasn't made much of an impact in New Mexico). But Talking Points Memo makes a good point:

I'm often asked why the right doesn't have a muscular online news presence that mirrors the reporting-intensive, fact-heavy websites that have emerged on the left. The explanation is complicated, but one part of the answer is very simple: Most of the right-wing "news" sites have no interest in being journalists. That's not what they're about and that's not what they see as their primary function, which is advocacy.

The difference can be seen most between the approaches by Media Matters ("a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media") and Newsbusters ("a project of the Media Research Center [MRC], the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias").

While Media Matters is matter-of-fact and writes like adults, Newsbusters is full of right-wing catchphrases and buzzwords. In other words, Media Matters seems professional while Newsbusters comes across as unprofessional.

Supreme Court won't hear cockfighting ban appeal

LP — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:32:40 GMT

It seems so long ago that we were talking about cockfighting in New Mexico -- more than two years since the Legislature passed the ban and Gov. Bill Richardson signed it.

But the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the ban today by not hearing a cockfighting ban appeal.

There is still a federal appeal making its way through the courts -- but considering that all 50 states have banned the practice, it seems unlikely there will be much traction for relegalizing the bloodsport.

Chavez limiting access to public events again

LP — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:40:13 GMT

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez has a well-documented animosity towards photojournalist and blogger Mark Bralley. His staff has been seen flipping off Bralley on camera. He also barred Bralley and blogger Ched MacQuigg from an event earlier this year.

And now, Chavez has done it again.

was made aware of the event through Ch?vez' campaign's media advisory.
I requested of Griffin by e-mail:
"Please place me on your media notification list for Mayor Martin Chavez' campaign announcements, press releases, event calendar, debates and the like."
Within minutes she responded: "You got it".
When my blogging colleague Ched MacQuigg, Diogenes' six and I arrived at the Taylor Ranch Community Center to cover the event, I was confronted by Vince Harrison who said, "...that they asked specifically that you not be allowed to be in here."

Go read the whole thing.

Bralley,who I don't always agree with politically, has covered Presidential campaign events, congressional campaign events and a number of other high profile events. To my knowledge, the only time he has been barred from entry to a public political event is by Chavez.

Kokesh running as a Republican

LP — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:54:46 GMT

Last year, the Republican running in the 3rd Congressional District (Dan East) didn't get much support from the state or national Republican Party.

This year, Adam Kokesh will have support from out-of-state Ron Paul supporters, but the New Mexico Republican Party looks to be concentrating on regaining the 2nd Congressional District rather than attempting to take over the solidly ~~Republican~~ Democratic 3rd Congressional District.

But Kokesh is going to run as a Republican anyway. This will give him a leg up on getting onto the ballot over running as an independent or third party candidate.

The statement announcing that he was running as a Republican said, "Often a critic of the party leadership, he believes the actual platform - limited government and lower taxes - is most aligned with his belief system, even though the Republican office holders have strayed far away from the party platform."

This district has been solidly Democratic since it's inception, with the only exception being a special election victory for Republican Bill Redmond. Redmond was then defeated by Tom Udall. Udall left the seat and is now the Senator from New Mexico -- incumbent Ben Ray Lujan easily won the seat in 2008.

Other candidate fundraising numbers come in

LP — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:44:32 GMT

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan raised $151,235.02 and Congressman Harry Teague raised $328,300 in the second quarter, according to FEC reports which were due yesterday.

Teague now has $574,377.67 cash on hand, while Lujan has $159,965.03 cash on hand.

Teague's opponent Steve Pearce did not declare as a candidate until after the second quarter.

Ben Ray Lujan's only announced candidate, Adam Kokesh, also did not declare his candidacy until the third quarter.

Congressman Martin Heinrich, who raised $332,228.40, has two opponents -- Republican Jon Barela reported just $73,350 in donations for the quarter, with no money spent.

Libertarian canddiate Bob Woodruff reported less than $3,000 cash on hand -- all of which came from himself.

Heinrich raises $333K in Q2

LP — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:40:29 GMT

Congressman Martin Heinrich raised over $330,000 in the second quarter of 2009, which runs from April 1st to June 30, according to FEC filings. This brings Heinrich's total cash on hand to just under $475,000 towards his 2010 re-election campaign.

Heinrich's $332,288.40 second-quarter haul looks like a good one when compared to other candidates, especially in a district with relatively cheap media purchases. Heinrich spent $60,631.41 during the quarter.

So far, the results for Congressmen Ben Ray Lujan and Harry Teague are not available online. Neither are the fundraising reports for any of the announced challengers in any district.