Judge Murdoch steps down after serving court for 26 years

From KOB-TV.com - By: Tracy Dingmann & Danielle Flores, KOB.com; Jeremy Jojola, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - The New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission announced Tuesday that 2nd Judicial Court Judge Albert ‘Pat’ Murdoch will retire effective 5 p.m. on Friday, July 29. Murdoch, who has been a criminal court judge for 26 years, is stepping down in the wake of allegations that he raped a prostitute in his home. In an agreement with the New Mexico Supreme Court, Murdoch agreed to permanently retire from judicial office in lieu of further disciplinary proceedings. He also agreed to never run for judicial office or seek or accept a judicial appointment in New Mexico. Murdoch has agreed that if he violates this agreement, he could be held in contempt of court and will “..agree, acknowledge and accept that all allegations lodged against me in this matter are admitted by me as fact...” In papers filed in state Supreme Court, the judicial commission said it would file a motion to accept Murdoch’s agreement. Upon granting the motion, the Supreme Court will unseal the entire Supreme Court file in the Murdoch matter. Shortly after his retirement announcement, Murdoch's attorneys sent out a statement. "Unfortunately, law enforcement has rushed to judgment before fully considering the facts and issues surround the case. Sadly they have damaged a good man's reputation beyond repair, making it impossible to remain on the bench." Read more
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Susana’s gamble paying off so far

From Capitol Report New Mexico.com - As the legislative session ended in March, Gov. Susana Martinez took a calculated risk. She could make an exception to her no-taxes pledge and OK a $128 million plan approved by both houses of the legislature to shore up the state’s unemployment fund or she could line-item veto the hike and hope that New Mexico’s struggling economy could improve enough on its own to keep the fund solvent. Martinez rolled the dice and vetoed the bill in early April. Now, less than four months later, her gamble has paid off — so far. As Associated Press reported last Friday (July 22), the finances for the unemployment compensation fund are improving and should remain in the black through March of 2013. “We’re cautious but we want to keep going in the direction we’re headed in,” Gov. Martinez told Capitol Report New Mexico on Tuesday (July 26). The big reason for the fund bouncing back is New Mexico’s drop in unemployment rates. Back in January and February, the jobless percentage was stuck at 8.7 percent. But in every month since then, the rate has dropped across the state and according to statistics released Monday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Mexico’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.8 percent for June. Read more
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Haussamen: We must come together if we’re to move forward

Commentary by Heath Haussamen, NM Politics.net - I’m sure Democrats think Republicans need to budge on their pledge to not raise revenues. And I’m sure Republicans think Democrats need to accept more dramatic reforms to entitlement programs. So they’re haggling and arguing and making dramatic speeches for the media to amplify around the globe. It isn’t that Boehner or Reid or Obama wants the nation to default. It’s that they haven’t been able to find a way to stop it. The problem is systemic. Washington often fails to function these days regardless of who is in office, which party controls things, and how hard they’re trying to get things done. The results are pitiful. Decades ago we put humans on the moon several times. Now we can’t get to the International Space Station without paying Russia to take us there. That’s not a Democratic problem, and it’s not a Republican problem. It’s a Washington problem, and beyond that, it’s a societal problem. The government put in place by We the People has failed to keep us at the forefront of space exploration. That could have all sorts of military, scientific and other consequences. And now the government has taken us to the brink of defaulting on our debt. If that happens, we’ll be sending a message to the rest of the world that we really are a society in decline and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Read more
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State: No services cut if feds blow budget deal - New Mexico treasury can cover expenses for 22 days

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - Gov. Susana Martinez's top budget official says no worker furloughs or cutbacks in state services are expected if federal revenues are disrupted because of a failure to raise the nation's debt ceiling. Finance and Administration Secretary Rick May said New Mexico has balances of $1.4 billion in the state treasury that can provide cash flow to cover expenses for about 22 days if federal revenues are temporarily disrupted. On an average business day, the state spends about $65 million for all government programs, including workers' salaries. "No one should be panicked about this because we do have some flexibility, and we're trying to maximize that flexibility," May said. "It's not the governor's intent to let any disruption affect services and people's livelihoods." Federal revenues account for about a third of the $15 billion in total annual spending by state government. Almost $3 billion in federal money last year went to Medicaid, which provides health care for a fourth of the state's population. The federal government pays for nearly $3 of every $4 that's spent on Medicaid in New Mexico. The program covers uninsured children, the poor and disabled. However, the state typically pays expenses for programs and services, such as Medicaid, and the federal government later reimburses New Mexico. Read more
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Tucker: Still not Serious About Spending

Commentary by Rich Tucker - In the self-declared “Little City” where I live, a sign went up recently. It says that Falls Church plans to build one of those radar signs to alert drivers if they’re going too fast. The project is being funded by the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” better known as the Stimulus. And so it goes. Just across the Potomac River, Congressional leaders are supposedly grappling with ways to trim our country’s massive debt, some $14.3 trillion and counting. Meanwhile, already-approved stimulus programs roll merrily along, regardless of whether they’ll actually create any jobs. Think of it this way: A new radar sign might compel drivers to slow down. But it won’t “create” any jobs, because it will be installed by a local government team that would have been getting paid anyway. And wasn’t “creating jobs” supposed to be the whole point? In recent days, President Obama has held a series of news conferences ahead of his meetings with Congressional Republicans. He repeatedly says he wants a big agreement that would trim trillions from the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt over the next decade. Yet in a recent meeting, Sen. Mitch McConnell asked the vice president: “How much does the Biden plan actually cut from next year’s discretionary spending budget?” The answer: $2 billion. Well, that probably seems like a lot. $2 billion is more money than most of us could even imagine earning or spending. But in this context, it’s nothing. “According to the Congressional Budget Office, our total federal deficit for 2010 was approximately $1.3 trillion. That means that every day, the government will accumulate an average of $3,561,643,835.62 in additional debt. So trimming $2 billion from next year’s budget saves us about 12 hours of borrowing. That means that we’d be in the clear on, say New Year’s morning. But by the time most of the college football bowl games had kicked off, we’d be borrowing again, and would continue to do so for the rest of the year. Read more
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Commentary: Production of Public Records Not An Enterprise Fund

From the Rio Grande Sun - Commentary by R. Braiden Trapp - The more things change the more they stay the same. So said French novelist Alphonse Karr. That’s the situation with the never-ending fight for public access to public records in the state of New Mexico and more specifically in Rio Arriba County. The most recent change was the passage of an addition to the Inspection of Public Records Act, which went into effect July 1 and was heralded by sunshine activists and those of us in the trenches as a great movement forward. Forward, as in progress toward more access. County elections bureau chief Michelle Jordan sees it differently and would like to keep things the same, even as they change. The new law states public records custodians must turn over public records in electronic form when available. At the same time a law went into effect parallel to the Act that can be interpreted to mean, or construed, the County Clerk can charge for the actual cost of searching for and sending these records. In an effort to turn records request fulfillments into a revenue stream, Jordan has decided she’ll charge an outrageous amount for providing electronic records and even more asinine is charging the public for sending an e-mail or to take a photo of a document. Read more
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Mexico judge sentences 14-year-old U.S. citizen assassin to 3 years

From the El Paso Times.com - MIACATLAN, Mexico (AP) - A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a 14-year-old U.S. citizen to three years in prison for organized crime, homicide, kidnapping, and drug and weapons possession. A judge gave Edgar Jimenez Lugo the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor in the central state of Morelos, said state prosecutor Jose Manuel Serrano Falmerol. Jimenez was tried in a state court because Mexico does not have a justice system to try minors at the federal level. Authorities say the teenager confessed to working for the South Pacific drug cartel, led by reputed drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva, and to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were hung from a bridge in the tourist city of Cuernavaca. Read more
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Sowell: Debt-Ceiling Chicken

Commentary by Dr. Thomas Sowell - The big news, as far as the media are concerned, is the political game of debt-ceiling chicken that is being played by Democrats and Republicans in Washington. However the current debt-ceiling crisis turns out, the current economic turmoil in financial markets around the world should cause some serious thoughts about the long run, and about the whole idea of a national debt-ceiling. Some people may have been shocked when the credit-rating firm Moody's recently suggested that the debt-ceiling law be repealed, in order to avoid fiscal crises which can throw world financial markets into turmoil that can injure countries around the world. Anyone who wants to show that Moody's is wrong should be prepared to show the actual benefits of the debt-ceiling, not its goals or hopes. That will not be easy, if possible at all. Too many policies, programs and institutions are judged by what they are supposed to do, rather than by what they actually do and the consequences of their actions. The United Nations, for example, survives as a glorious idea, despite how corrupt, counterproductive and even dangerous its actions are. The national debt-ceiling law should be judged by what it actually does, not by how good an idea it seems to be. The one thing that the national debt-ceiling has never done is to put a ceiling on the rising national debt. Time and time again, for years on end, the national debt-ceiling has been raised whenever the national debt gets near whatever the current ceiling might be. Regardless of what it is supposed to do, what the national debt-ceiling actually does is enable any administration to get all the political benefits of runaway spending for the benefit of their favorite constituencies -- and then invite the opposition party to share the blame, by either raising the national debt ceiling, or by voting for unpopular cutbacks in spending or increases in taxes. Read more
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A leadership default

From NM Politics.net - by Tom Mullins - Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution reads, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.” Article I, Section 8 reads that the Congress shall have the power “To borrow Money on the credit of the United States.” Some have proposed that the president can authorize the U.S. Treasury to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally under Section 4 of Amendment XIV to the Constitution, which reads, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” Proponents of this solution fail to read Section 5 of Amendment XIV, “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” As a representative democracy, we the people have given authority to our elected representatives, specifically House members, to govern and make the difficult decisions required to maintain the full faith and credit of our nation. The can we have kicked down the yellow brick road is more worn than stimulus-funded resurfaced asphalt. One of the $350,000 federally funded snow plows may have eaten the can. Since politicians are always thinking of the next election, they need a reminder from you that they must balance both sides of the ledger. There are not enough millionaires and billionaires available to confiscate their wealth. Read more
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