Gutierrez, committee shelve coal plant tax break

Posted 2/28/2007 05:08:00 PM

After voting two weeks ago to bring the bill back to life, Rep. Joni Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, voted with fellow Democrats today to permanently table a bill that would give an $85-million tax break for the Desert Rock coal plant on the Navajo Nation.

The proposal is still alive in the Senate, but the Senate Finance Committee has yet to schedule a hearing on Senate Bill 431, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City.

The vote on House Bill 178, sponsored by Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Farmington and the minority leader, was 7-6 in favor of shelving the bill in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier today. Gutierrez and the committee’s other Democrats, including Jeff Steinborn and Antonio Lujan of Las Cruces, voted to shelve the bill for the remainder of the session, while the committee’s Republicans all voted against the motion to table.

Rep. Thomas Garcia, D-Ocate, missed the vote.

Gutierrez voted on Jan. 29 along with other Democrats to table the bill, but on Feb. 16 made a motion to reconsider it and voted with Republicans to bring the bill back to life. She refused to comment on why she did that, and environmental groups pressured her to vote against the tax break.

The tax credit is controversial because the plant will send an estimated 10.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. It’s going to be built by Sithe Global Power of Houston, in partnership with the Navajo Nation.

Gov. Bill Richardson has a goal of reducing such emissions throughout the state by 11 million tons each year. Though he says he is concerned with the plant’s impact on his emission reduction goals, he has declined to take a position on the tax break proposal.

Compromise on surface owners' rights passes House

Posted 2/28/2007 04:15:00 PM

Rep. Andy Nuñez, D-Hatch, agreed to support Ben Lujan last year in his bid to remain speaker of the House in exchange for the chairmanship of the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.

Nuñez did that because he wanted another shot at passing a bill the oil and gas industry has torpedoed for several years.

Lujan won the leadership battle, Nuñez got his chairmanship and increased clout, and the House, earlier today, passed House Bill 827, which requires oil and gas companies to pay landowners for damage to their property caused by drilling.

Following some amendments that actually earned the bill the endorsement of the Oil and Gas Association, it was approved on a vote of 62-5. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

“There has been a lot of blood let on both sides, but we’ve come up with a compromise bill that both the cattle growers and the oil and gas industry support,” Nuñez said in a news release.

In fact, oil and gas heavily financed Nuñez’s opponent in the 2006 election in an attempt to stop this legislation from moving forward.

Under the compromise, the bill would protect landowners who don’t own the mineral rights below their land, which is common in New Mexico. According to the Oil & Gas Accountability Project, ranchers, farmers and homeowners have had more frequent complaints about damage and reduced property value in recent years because oil and gas drilling has increased.

The bill would require the oil and gas industry to notify landowners 30 days prior to any oil and gas operations, to describe the operations, and to propose a surface use and compensation agreement. The landowner then has 20 days to accept, negotiate or reject the offer. If no agreement is reached between the landowner and company, a bond must be posted before operations begin.

Vigil defense lawyer could be the next U.S. attorney

Posted 2/28/2007 02:51:00 PM

One of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil’s defense attorneys is under consideration and may be the frontrunner to replace David Iglesias as the U.S. attorney for New Mexico.

Fresh off helping win Vigil’s acquittal on 23 of 24 felony counts, Jason Bowles is under consideration for the top federal law enforcement job in the state, a source close to the process confirmed for me. He said Bowles is the frontrunner.

Reached by telephone, Bowles wouldn’t confirm that he is being considered or is the frontrunner, but he didn’t deny it.

“I can’t comment on any of this,” he told me.

The news comes on Iglesias’ last day as U.S. attorney. It also comes as Vigil’s attorneys are appealing his conviction on one count of attempted bribery to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, as well as a federal judge’s refusal to let him remain free while he’s appealing.

Working under attorney Sam Bregman, a Democrat, the Republican Bowles helped secure Vigil’s acquittal last year on all but one count in the massive public corruption case. Vigil’s conviction on the remaining count of attempted bribery has landed him a 37-month prison sentence, and he has been ordered to turn himself in within 60 days of Jan. 24.

Iglesias says he was forced out for political reasons, not because of poor job performance, but many have speculated that his failure to secure guilty verdicts on more counts in the Vigil case was a factor in his ouster.

Bowles, on the other hand, gained stature for helping secure not-guilty verdicts on almost all charges.

Still, it would be hard to ignore the irony of the situation: A lawyer who helped unravel one of the largest public corruption cases in state history could become the state’s next U.S. attorney.

Bowles was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1996-2001 before moving into private practice and taking on a caseload that includes a lot of criminal defense work. According to his Web site, he has tried more than 40 cases in front of juries and has handled more than 25 appeals to the 10th Circuit.

News of Iglesias’ departure first broke when the Bush Administration asked Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to recommend candidates to replace him. The senator suggested Jim Bibb of Santa Fe, who ran unsuccessfully against Gary King for attorney general last year; T. Glenn Ellington of Santa Fe; Charles Peifer of Albuquerque; and Pat Rogers of Albuquerque.

Rogers said he wasn’t interested the job. Following several weeks of consideration of the other three, the administration began looking elsewhere, the source told me.

I’ve been unable to reach officials in Domenici’s office or elsewhere for comment.

Update, 4 p.m.

Sources say an announcement on the new U.S. attorney could come any day from the Bush Administration, but may be delayed by the controversy surrounding Iglesias’ departure.

Update, 4:10 p.m.

Bregman said he couldn’t comment beyond releasing this statement:

“Jason Bowles is one of the brightest attorneys in New Mexico, and whatever he would do or has chosen to do would be an outstanding choice for New Mexico,” he said.

Update, 4:35 p.m.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said the congressman won’t comment on appointments that haven’t yet been made, but said it is important that the next U.S. attorney be able to effectively confront a number of challenges, including border security.

Group decries Democrat-sponsored industry bill

Posted 2/28/2007 01:46:00 PM

An activist group whose aim is to get young people involved in politics is attacking a bill working its way through the House as a proposal that would benefit only “the corporations and the sleazebag lobbyists, whose single goal is to consolidate wealth and power for their rich friends.”

House Bill 685, sponsored by Rep. Dan Silva, D-Albuquerque, is a lengthy bill titled the Administrative Accountability Act. The bill would create uniform requirements for rulemaking, adjudication and inspection performed by state agencies, according to the fiscal impact report, but it’s a few of the particulars that have the League of Young Voters upset.

• The bill would require agencies to divulge names of people who report violations by companies the agencies regulate, unless prohibited by law. That, according to the bill’s fiscal impact report, “could have a deleterious affect on the health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans since potential whistleblowers may be deterred from coming forward because of fear of retaliation. This type of provision is not found in other state, federal or model administrative procedure acts.”

• It would limit agencies’ ability to make rules and charge fees to only those areas where the Legislature has specifically granted such authority, which, according to the fiscal impact report, “could greatly reduce an agency’s ability to act” because some agencies have been given “very specific rulemaking” while others have been given only general authority. For example, the bill could give a company grounds to challenge every rule of the Energy and Natural Resources Department, which regulates the oil and gas industry.

• It would require agencies to follow specific requirements while conducting inspections that, according to the fiscal impact report, “could limit the ability of agencies to conduct effective inspections to protect the health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans.”

The bill is largely modeled after legislation drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a controversial group that aims to affect policy on the state legislative level. Many watchdog groups say the council is nothing more than a front for Corporate America.

Common Cause in Washington calls it “one of the best-funded and most prolific industry front groups” and says it uses “shady tactics” to advance special-interest legislation.

The bill has been pushed in New Mexico by lobbyist T.J. Trujillo, who works for BP America, Diary Producers of New Mexico, Dell, Occidental Petroleum Corp., OXY USA, and Phelps Dodge Mining Company.

The ties to the controversial council have the League of Young Voters upset. The group is running radio ads in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area this week questioning Silva’s motives.

“Silva’s bill makes it OK for corporations to endanger employees, pollute our air and water and ignore health standards in New Mexico,” the radio ad states.

Silva has not returned a message I left Monday at his office.

Several state agencies complained about the bill, and their comments are included in the fiscal impact report. For example, the Environment Department said its role in pollution prevention would be “severely undermined and protection of human health and the environment put at risk” because of the additional responsibilities required by the bill, unless additional staffers are also added to the budget.

The bill would also limit the department’s “ability to meet legislatively mandated performance and accountability measures to prevent pollution, and (to) conduct compliance and enforcement actions,” the report states.

The League of Young Voters’ goals this session, according to its Web site, are to enact ethics reform proposals and defeat the Administrative Accountability Act.

With the act, “ALEC is trying to deregulate New Mexico’s environmental laws, making it easier for big business to sidestep the checks and balances system,” the league’s Web site states, adding that the bill “will not only devastate the state’s ability to regulate environmental standards, but also makes it extremely hard for whistleblowers to step forward.”

The bill was approved earlier this month on a vote of 10-0 by the House Business and Industry Committee. It now goes to the Taxation and Revenue Committee before it can be considered by the full House.

House approves bill that would allow district judges to force the mentally ill to submit to treatment

Posted 2/28/2007 10:56:00 AM

Rep. Joni Gutierrez’s second attempt at passing a bill that would allow judges to order treatment for the mentally ill in some circumstances has been approved by the House.

Gutierrez, D-Las Cruces, introduced Kendra’s Law, which would allow judges to force mentally ill patients who are dangerous to take their medication and submit to other treatment, during the 2006 session, but it was quickly shot down.

Gutierrez worked over the summer with a wide range of people who work with mental illness and tweaked her bill, the Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting. House Bill 609 was approved Tuesday by the House on a vote of 53-13, and now heads to the Senate for consideration.

The bill allows a family member, treatment guardian, hospital director, doctor, service provider or police officer to petition a district judge to force a mentally ill person to submit to treatment, if that person is refusing treatment and may be a danger.

“I’m hopeful because we worked all summer, and we really made some substantial changes,” the newspaper quoted Gutierrez as saying.

The bill’s narrow scope, according to Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham, gives it a chance at passing.

“It is much more directed at the individual’s rights and protections this go around,” she told the newspaper.

The person in question must be an adult with a mental illness who needs mandated treatment in order to prevent a situation “that would likely result in serious harm to the person or another person,” the bill states. He or she must also have refused treatment in the 10 days before the petition is filed in court.

The bill remains controversial, and the American Civil Liberties Union opposes it as an infringement on civil rights.

Gutierrez took on the cause following two highly publicized incidents in 2005.

In Las Cruces, a mentally ill man who was not taking his medication assaulted a woman, stole her vehicle, led police on a high-speed chase through the city and ran over and killed another man.

In Albuquerque, a mentally ill man who was not taking medication went on a killing spree that led to the deaths of five people, including two police officers.

Outgoing U.S. Attorney Iglesias says he was fragged

Posted 2/28/2007 08:53:00 AM

David Iglesias, the outgoing U.S. attorney for New Mexico, says it was politics, not job performance, that cost him the position.

In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune, he confirmed that he did write in an e-mail to a friend that his dismissal was a political “fragging” – a military term for being killed by a subordinate.

The e-mail was first reported Monday on Joe Monahan’s blog.

“I know that performance was not the real issue,” the Tribune quoted Iglesias as saying, contradicting a deputy U.S. attorney general who told a Senate panel the opposite.

“That leaves only one possibility, and that’s politics,” he said. “… This was not a respectful way to treat someone who has served this administration for five years.”

Iglesias leaves office today. His ouster is part of a larger controversy in which eight U.S. attorneys have recently been dismissed by the Bush Administration. Six are Republicans appointed by President Bush, and all, including Iglesias, received positive evaluations before being forced out.

Senate Democrats are investigating.

“I would have had no objection to someone calling me and saying I’d lost my political support,” Iglesias told the Tribune. “Instead, they said it was performance, and I’ve got lots of data showing that’s not the case.”

Many speculate that Iglesias’ ouster has to do with a lukewarm prosecution of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil and delays in a public corruption case currently under investigation regarding the construction of government buildings in Albuquerque. Many suspect Republicans wanted indictments in the second case, which could include Democratic powerhouse Manny Aragon, to come out before the November election.

Iglesias told the newspaper the indictments will come out “very soon,” but was not specific. A source tells me they may be coming next week.

And he said he has helped bring public corruption cases to the forefront in New Mexico.

Iglesias told the Tribune he doesn’t know who pushed for his ouster.

“It could have been someone at the White House, someone at Justice or someone in Congress,” he said. “All political roads lead back to Washington, but no one has reached out to tell me what the problem was. I wish they had.”

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., recently recommended four to replace Iglesias – Jim Bibb of Santa Fe, who ran unsuccessfully against Gary King for attorney general last year; T. Glenn Ellington of Santa Fe; Charles Peifer of Albuquerque; and Pat Rogers of Albuquerque.

Bibb is a former assistant U.S. attorney. Ellington is a former secretary of the state Taxation and Revenue Department and state judge. Peifer is a former chief assistant attorney general for the state. Rogers has done a lot of work for the state Republican Party and is involved in the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

Rogers has already declined the job, leaving the other three.

Update, 2:30 p.m.

There’s quite a controversy brewing today. McClatchy Newspapers is quoting Iglesias as saying he was called in October by two members of Congress to inquire about when there would be indictments in the ongoing probe into a kickback scheme involving the construction of government buildings in Bernalillo County. It’s the scandal that could result in the indictment of former Senate Leader Manny Aragon.

The implication is that the elected leaders wanted indictments before the November general election. When they didn’t come, Iglesias was ordered to step down a month after the election.

“I believe that because I didn’t play ball, so to speak, I was asked to resign,” Iglesias told the news service.

He refused to name the members of Congress out of fear of retaliation.

Staffers for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., have told other media organizations today that they didn’t make such calls to Iglesias. The others haven’t yet commented to anyone.

And it’s possible Iglesias was referring to members from other states, though it’s unlikely. Those he was most likely referring to were Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

I’ve been unable to reach Domenici and Wilson press staffers for comment.

One Republican I spoke with today said Iglesias’ failure to prosecute that case in a timely manner was one of several problems. He also cited the Vigil case and the 2004 voter fraud case, in which Iglesias’ office investigated more than 100 complaints but issued no indictments.

Iglesias’ allegations are likely to ramp up the Senate Democrats’ investigation of the situation.

Update, 5:30 p.m.

In response to the allegations made by Iglesias, Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate will force several of the eight ousted U.S. attorneys, including Iglesias, to testify under oath about their situations, the Associated Press is reporting. They will issue subpoenas if necessary.

Papen explains votes on conference committee bill

Posted 2/28/2007 07:50:00 AM

A pair of votes Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, didn’t intend to cast sent the Senate into a bizarre series of events on Tuesday afternoon.

At the end of it all, the Senate had killed, on a vote of 21-20, Senate Bill 322, sponsored by Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, which would have opened legislative conference committees to the public.

Before that, however, the Senate approved the bill on a vote of 19-18, with Papen voting for it. Several minutes later, she made a motion to reconsider the vote, which was approved on a vote of 21-20, but she voted against the motion.

“They were a couple of stupid votes,” Papen told me. “I was working on something else and not paying attention. … It was my mistake. I take full responsibility for voting upside-down.”

Her original vote prompted many to suspect Papen had changed sides in the debate. Papen has long opposed opening conference committees, and voted against another proposal to do it two weeks ago.

But she voted several days ago in a committee hearing to give Carraro’s bill a do-pass. That, combined with the events of Tuesday, had many watchers confused.

“I have always not supported the bill, but I wanted to get it out of committee to give it a chance on the floor,” Papen said about the committee vote.

As to why she opposes the proposal, Papen had this to say:

“I think you have more freedom to work something out if you don’t have someone going out and writing what you’re saying,” Papen said.

She added that opening conference committee meetings would take away that freedom, which would mean lawmakers would deliberate before showing up to conference committees, making them superficial events.

“I don’t think that really gives the public transparency anyway,” she said. “I don’t think that it would give the people what they’re looking for.”

You can read more about Tuesday’s events from the Albuquerque Journal by clicking here or the Las Cruces Sun-News here.

Here’s how each senator voted, courtesy of the Associated Press via the Journal:

Republicans voting for the bill

Rod Adair (Roswell)

Mark Boitano (Albuquerque)

Joseph Carraro (Albuquerque)

Kent Cravens (Albuquerque)

Dianna Duran (Tularosa)

Carroll Leavell (Jal)

Steven Neville (Aztec)

William Payne (Albuquerque)

John Ryan (Albuquerque)

William Sharer (Farmington)

H. Diane Snyder (Albuquerque)

Republicans voting against it

Vernon Asbill (Carlsbad)

Sue Wilson Beffort (Sandia Park)

Clint Harden (Clovis)

Stuart Ingle (Portales)

Gay Kernan (Hobbs)

Steve Komadina (Corrales)

Leonard Lee Rawson (Las Cruces)

Democrats voting for the bill

Pete Campos (Las Vegas)

Dede Feldman (Albuquerque)

Mary Jane Garcia (Doña Ana)

Lynda Lovejoy (Crownpoint)

Richard Martinez (Espanola)

Cisco McSorley (Albuquerque)

Cynthia Nava (Las Cruces)

Gerald Ortiz y Pino (Albuquerque)

Nancy Rodriguez (Santa Fe)

Democrats voting against it

Ben Altamirano (Silver City)

Carlos Cisneros (Questa)

Phil Griego (San Jose)

John Grubesic (Santa Fe)

Tim Jennings (Roswell)

Mary Kay Papen (Las Cruces)

John Pinto (Tohatchi)

Lidio Rainaldi (Gallup)

Shannon Robinson (Albuquerque)

Bernadette Sanchez (Albuquerque)

Michael Sanchez (Belen)

John Arthur Smith (Deming)

James Taylor (Albuquerque)

David Ulibarri (Grants)

Absent

Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque)

GRIP II, spaceport road funding approved by House

Posted 2/27/2007 05:07:00 PM

A bill that includes $25 million to fund a paved road to Spaceport America was approved by the House this afternoon.

On a vote of 62-5, the House approved GRIP II, a bill that provides $250 million for road and other transportation projects around the state. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.

This is one of four proposals the Legislature failed to pass last year that Gov. Bill Richardson has demanded this session.

Currently, the Upham exit off Interstate 25 in Doña Ana County leads to a dirt road that runs north into Sierra County and to the site of the spaceport. The money would fund a major, paved road from the exit to the launch site.

During the first launch from the spaceport last fall, heavy rains damaged the dirt road to the point that it wasn’t passable and couldn’t be repaired before the launch, and the hundreds who attended had to be diverted north to Truth or Consequences and on to even more remote dirt roads to reach the launch site.

The paved road is sorely needed, if the spaceport is to become a reality.

Senate again kills conference committee proposal

Posted 2/27/2007 04:33:00 PM

The Senate has just voted to kill another proposal to open legislative conference committees to the public.

On a vote of 20-21, Senate Bill 322, sponsored by Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, died.

The resolution came after a bizarre afternoon in which the Senate at first passed the bill on a vote of 19-18 with Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, voting in favor of it, Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune reported. Papen then made a motion to reconsider the proposal, which passed 21-20.

Following more than an hour of debate after that, Papen and 20 others voted to kill Carraro’s proposal.

Carraro’s bill was different than another proposal that was killed by the Senate earlier this month on a vote of 20-19 in that it specified that the public could be present but could not participate in conference committees, and that political parties would have proportional representation on committees.

Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, who voted against a similar proposal two weeks ago, voted for Carraro’s today. She told Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican that was because the previous bill didn’t address issues about confidentiality, but her questions have since been answered.

“I have no problem with open meetings,” Terrell quoted her as saying.

Sens. John Pinto, D-Tohatchi, and David Ulibarri, D-Grants, voted to open conference committees two weeks ago, but switched sides and voted to kill the proposal this time.

Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, was the only member absent.

The Senate might have to take up the issue a third time this session, if House Bill 297, sponsored by State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, or House Concurrent Resolution 1, sponsored by Majority Leader Ken Martinez of Grants, is approved by the House.

Senate votes to open conference committees, then votes to reconsider its vote; resolution is pending

Posted 2/27/2007 03:33:00 PM

The Senate originally approved a proposal to open conference committees to the public today, but following confusion and a motion for a new vote, it’s now reconsidering the issue.

Senate Bill 322, sponsored by Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, originally passed on a vote of 19-18, according to Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune. A similar bill was killed on a vote of 20-19 two weeks ago.

Following today’s vote, Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, made a motion to reconsider, Nash reported. Apparently, some who planned to vote against the bill weren’t in the chambers at the time.

The motion to reconsider passed on a vote of 21-20.

Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, who voted against opening conference committees two weeks ago, is away on a family emergency and will miss the vote, so this one may also be defeated by one vote.

The Senate is just taking the issue up again, Nash tells me. I’ll have an update as soon as I know what’s going on.

Update, 3:55 p.m.

I erroneously reported in the original version of this posting that Papen voted against the bill. She apparently voted for the bill to open conference committees, then made the motion to reconsider the Senate’s vote. Two weeks ago, she voted against a similar bill, and, in a conversation since, she has reiterated to me that she opposes opening conference committees to the public.

Papen is a little busy debating right now, so I can’t reach her for comment.

Update, 4:11 p.m.

The debate has once again become a press-bashing festival, Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting.

Update, 4:25 p.m.

Here’s a list of Senators who voted against the bill earlier this afternoon, according to Nash. I don’t have a list of who voted for it or who was absent.

Those voting against the bill: Ben Altamirano, Vernon Asbill, Sue Wilson Beffort, Carlos Cisneros, Phil Griego, John Grubesic, Clinton Harden, Stuart Ingle, Tim Jennings, Gay Kernan, Steve Komadina, John Pinto, Lidio Rainaldi, Leonard Lee Rawson, Bernadette Sanchez, Michael Sanchez, John Arthur Smith and David Ulibarri.

Komadina and Rawson were absent for the vote two weeks ago. Ulibarri and Pinto voted to open conference committees two weeks ago, but have apparently switched sides.

Richardson speaks to hundreds at Latino luncheon

Posted 2/27/2007 02:57:00 PM

By Travis Galey

Galey is a journalist in Washington, D.C. who attended today’s luncheon and wrote this article for Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics.

Gov. Bill Richardson has said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he’s not running for president as a Hispanic candidate.

That may be true most days, but not today.

Richardson gave the keynote address at the Latino Leaders Luncheon Series in Washington, D.C. this afternoon. And while some of the latest headlines suggest Richardson is having trouble attracting Hispanic voters, today’s event proved otherwise. The event is held once every quarter, and today’s lunch drew a bigger crowd – some 300 attendees – than any previous luncheon.

The attendance number even eclipsed that of last quarter’s speaker, Eva Longoria, the Latina actress from “Desperate Housewives.”

Jeff Kline, chairman of Hispanic Communications Network, said many Hispanics may currently support other presidential candidates, but he believes that will change.

“People don’t know much about Bill, but the more they learn of him… He’s a doer,” he said.

Richardson delivered a series of anecdotes to the crowd during today’s luncheon, moving flawlessly between Spanish and English, and his ease with Spanish-speaking reporters was evident.

Richardson said he’s targeting all American voters, but he he’s hopeful his Hispanic roots will help him. At the luncheon, the governor thanked Hispanic politicians who have helped him in the past. He said he’s still seeking Hispanic support, and he’s mindful of what a win would mean to many Latino citizens.

“I need your help,” Richardson said at the end of his speech. “We can win this thing. If that happens, we make history.”

Kline said he believes Richardson’s language skills will separate him from other candidates.

“In order to understand the subtleties of issues such as the war in Iraq, it helps that he’s able to speak Spanish,” he said.

Richardson believes Hispanic-rich states including California and Florida will be instrumental in his presidential bid. On three separate occasions during his speech and a press event, he called for California to move up its Democratic primary to Feb. 5 – something that state’s legislature is in the process of doing.

Richardson has been in the nation’s capital for a four-day meeting of the National Governors Association. During his speech he said that, on a visit Monday to the White House with the association, he congratulated President Bush on reaching a deal with North Korea to end its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for economic aide.

He said he also told Bush he needs to negotiate with the Iranians in order to get them to end their nuclear program.

Monday night, Richardson used his diplomatic ties to find more international support. Spanish Ambassador D. Carlos Westendorp hosted a dinner Richardson.

Richardson concedes he’s a long shot in the race to become the Democratic nominee. He said last month’s address to the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting seemed to jumpstart his campaign.

He believes is now at the top of the second tier of candidates, and he’s gaining momentum.

“I started this race four weeks ago and I was at one percent. But check the polls today. I’m at eight percent. I’m moving up,” he said to applause.

After the cheering died down, he added, “I’ve got to move up a little more.”

Richardson said the New Mexico Legislature is keeping him from devoting all of his time to campaigning. But, he said, once he has finished signing bills following the session, that will change.

“After the first of April, I’m pretty much going to be full time, and that’s where you’re going to see the real Bill Richardson campaign,” he said. “… watch what we do the second quarter.”

One story from Richardson’s speech may sum up how far he still has to go. He said he called his mother, who lives in Mexico City, recently to see how she was doing. Twice during the conversation, she asked if he was still governor of New Mexico.

He told her he was, and that he was also running for president. Her response was, “President of what?”

If more people don’t learn the answer to that question, soon, he won’t be president of anything.

Spaceport tax election gets additional polling places

Posted 2/27/2007 12:32:00 PM

Plans for the April 3 spaceport tax election will have to be redrawn after the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners voted today to more than double the number of polling places that will be open.

Because the election is only five weeks away, state law requires that a district judge approve the plan before it can become formal.

The commission had previously approved 33 polling places, but many residents expressed concern that, on such an important vote, access to polling places should be easier.

As a result, the commission decided during today’s meeting to scrap its plan for consolidated polling places and use the same polling places that were open during the November 2006 election. That’s approximately 75.

“You’re asking these county residents to consider a 1/4 percent gross receipts tax increase, which will be approximately $7 million per year,” Commissioner Oscar Vasquez Butler said. “We should be looking at maximum participation.”

The change was approved on a vote of 5-0 after a separate motion to expand the polling places from 33 to 37 was defeated on a vote of 3-2.

“The enormity of this and they controversy on this, I think, deserves everybody to have a chance to go vote,” said Commissioner Dolores Saldaña-Caviness.

Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins said the plan for 33 polling places would have cost about $56,000. Under the new plan, assuming a judge approves it, the election will cost approximately $100,000. Ellins recommended the plan to expand to 37 locations, noting that would put one polling place in each rural community in the county.

Butler argued that wasn’t good enough. He said every county resident must be within walking distance of a polling place.

Ellins said, with five weeks to go until Election Day, expanding to so many polling places will be difficult but “theoretically possible.” He said he plans to spread the word about the changes not only through legal announcements, but also through radio and newspaper advertisements written in plain language in Spanish and English.

The vote to expand the number of sites came after several residents asked for the additional polling places.

“If you don’t open all the polling places so that all people have access to voting, it isn’t fair,” said Leon Billstone of Las Cruces.

Commissioners had also been scheduled to discuss a resolution that would put in place safeguards on the tax to ensure that, if the spaceport doesn’t meet certain goals, they can rescind it. The commission plans to put the same restrictions on the tax money that the state Legislature put on the $115 million it appropriated last year: The state must obtain a license from the FAA to operate the spaceport; it must sign a lease agreement with Virgin Galactic, and the cost of the spaceport must be $225 million or less.

Commissioner Bill McCamley was scheduled to present the resolution, but was attending by telephone from Santa Fe and had to leave the meeting for business there. The commission plans to hold a special meeting, most likely next week, to vote on that resolution.

Update, 4:25 p.m.

There’s some confusion about how many polling places the commission approved today. There are 106 precincts in the county. Technically, each is a separate polling place, even if two or three are located in the same high school gymnasium. The commission approved using the same number of polling locations as were used for the November 2006 general election. This means 106 precincts will be located in approximately 75 buildings, or places, around the county.

Minimum wage increase bill amended again

Posted 2/27/2007 10:15:00 AM

A proposal to increase the state’s minimum wage underwent another significant change in a House committee Monday as lawmakers struggle to find compromise.

Senate Bill 324, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City, was approved by the House Business and Industry Committee on a vote of 7-6, but it more closely mirrors a House proposal than the one approved by the Senate.

The bill is on the House temporary calendar, so there’s a chance it could be voted on today.

Two weeks ago, the House Labor and Human Resources Committee amended Altamirano’s bill to mirror House Bill 759, sponsored by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Nambé. The bills differ on key points, and a failure to find compromise torpedoed the wage increase proposal in 2006.

There have been a lot of confusing changes, so here’s where things stand:

• The current version of Altamirano’s bill, as approved by the House committee on Monday, raises the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour this year and $7.50 per hour next year. It includes indexing that would increase the minimum wage in the future to keep up with inflation and does not prohibit local governments from passing their own, higher wage increases.

Thanks to an amendment by the committee, it also exempts agricultural workers and provides other exemptions, including some employees of charities.

• The version that has been approved by the Senate would raise the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour in 2008 and $7.50 per hour in 2009. It does not include indexing that would increase the minimum wage in the future to keep up with inflation, exempts agricultural workers and keeps cities and counties from passing their own wage increases, with the exception of those that have already done it – Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.

• Lujan’s bill would raise the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour this year