News New Mexico: 09/27/11

PRC's Jerome Block to resign this week?

From KOB-TV.com - By: Gadi Schwartz, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Big developments are expected this week in the case against PRC commissioner Jerome Block Jr. KOB Eyewitness News 4's Gadi Schwartz says several sources have confirmed that Block is expected to resign sometime this week. Tonight Block himself confirmed resignation is on his mind. For the past week and a half, Block again has stopped showing up for work. He missed a PRC meeting Tuesday morning, and two last week - but last Thursday he did stop by the PRC office to pick up his paycheck. Today Schwartz reached Block by phone, and he said he is thinking about resigning and doesn't want taxpayers to have to pay for his impeachment proceedings. But he also told us he has a status hearing for his 2009 election fraud case scheduled for tomorrow in district court. Neither Block nor the Attorney Generals' office will tell us what the hearing is about. But the hearing comes a little more than a month away from when lawmakers could take up new allegations against Block - based on newer allegations regarding his use of a state-issued gas card. Read more

Editorial: Wasted days, wasted nights

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - Even our low expectations for Gov. Susana Martinez's first special legislative session were not met. In this latest train-wreck excuse for governing, neither she, the Republicans nor the Democratic leadership have emerged with credit to their names. The biggest losers, unfortunately, are New Mexico taxpayers, who spent around a million bucks on session expenses. Now taxpayers are facing millions more in court costs to complete redistricting. Santa Fe now resembles Washington on the Rio Grande, with gridlock, finger-pointing and a lack of will to get the people's business done. At the beginning of this mess, we suggested a way to save money on the session. Pass a dummy redistricting bill, let the governor veto it and send it to the courts. Stay a day, or two, at the most. It was clear that whatever a Democratic Legislature passed, our Republican, red-meat governor would veto. So why stretch it out? The Legislature itself has little to crow about. Our representatives could not even pass a redistricting plan for the state's three congressional districts. What did get through was redistricting of the state Senate, the House of Representatives, the Public Regulation Commission and the Public Education Commission. The governor says the plans are too partisan and promises to veto most, if not all of them. That means the courts will decide where people vote, a process that cost some $3.5 million 10 years ago. Read more

Mexico rejects video call to exterminate cartel

From the El Paso Times - Mark Stevenson AP - The Mexican government said it is investigating videos posted on the Internet in which a gang of masked men vow to exterminate the violent Zetas drug cartel, and said it opposes such vigilante methods. At least two videos have been posted by a group believed linked to the powerful Sinaloa cartel that calls itself the "Mata Zetas," or "Zetas Killers." The Zetas were founded by deserters from an elite military unit and are known for their brutality. In the most recent video, posted over the weekend, the group says it is attacking the Zetas because people are tired of the gang's kidnappings and extortion. "We are the armed wing of the people, and for the people," says a man with a ski mask, who is seen in the video sitting at a table with four other masked associates and reading from a prepared statement. "We are anonymous warriors, with faces, but proudly Mexican." The speaker said his group was prohibited by its ethical code from carrying out kidnappings or extortion. No group has formally claimed responsibility for that video, but the language and style of the declaration were similar to a video released in July, in which about two dozen armed men claimed to be "Mata Zetas" from the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel, or New Generation cartel, a group linked to the Sinaloa cartel. Read more

NC governor recommends suspending democracy to focus on jobs

From The Daily Caller - Update - a press person said the governor was just kidding - By Matthew Boyle - As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending congressional elections for the next couple of years. “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, N.C., according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.” Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members of Congress to focus on the economy. “You have to have more ability from Congress, I think, to work together and to get over the partisan bickering and focus on fixing things,” Perdue said. North Carolina Republicans immediately scoffed at Perdue’s proposal, pointing out to her that elections hold politicians accountable for their actions. Read more

Commentary: Obama May Still Cave on Social Security

From The Progressive Magazine - By Matthew Rothschild - President Obama appears to be finally standing up for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But I’m afraid he’s nonetheless preparing the way for cuts in these programs. First, he’s exaggerating the risks that deficits pose, which fuels the Republican fires. Second, he’s already proposing higher deductibles for people who are just coming into Medicare. Third, his cuts in Medicaid may invite states to kick poor and disabled people off the rolls. And while he didn’t include Social Security cuts in his proposal, it wasn’t so long ago that he was negotiating a so-called grand bargain with John Boehner, where he put everything on the table, including cuts in Social Security and raising the eligibility age for Medicare. Read more

David Axelrod: Obama 2012 Campaign Will Be 'Titanic Struggle'

From the Huffington Post - MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Barack Obama's chief political adviser on Tuesday conceded that a dark cloud looms over the American economy and Obama's political future, describing the president's road to a second term in the White House as "a titanic struggle.""We have the wind in our face because the American people have the wind in their faces," David Axelrod told an audience of New Hampshire politicians and business leaders. "So this is going to be a titanic struggle. But I firmly believe we're on the right side of the struggle."
But even as he acknowledged the stark political reality, Axelrod said the president would ultimately win re-election, in part because of the flawed field of Republican candidates. He characterized their plans to repair the nation's ailing economy as the same kind of deregulation and tax cuts that caused the downturn in the first place. "This isn't new wine and old bottles. This is old wine and old bottles," Axelrod said. Read more

Christie: US Fails to Live Up to 'Tradition of Exceptionalism’

From NewsMax.com - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in a much-anticipated speech at the Reagan Library slammed President Barack Obama for being a “bystander in the Oval Office,” and said the Washington gridlock is ineffective and embarrassing to the rest of the country.Christie addressed domestic and international issues important to Americans, but did not do what many supporters had hoped announce a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.“We watch a president who once talked about the courage of his convictions, but still has yet found the courage to lead,” Christie said. “We watch a Congress at war with itself because they are unwilling to leave campaign style politics at the Capitol’s door.” The address at the Reagan Library gives Christie, who has urged Republican presidential candidates to take a harder line on entitlement spending and debt, an opportunity to expand his influence in national politics and shape the race, according to political observers. Still, supporters were not letting it go. In a brief question-and-answer session after his speech, it was the number two question asked by a supporter. Christie joked that he had expected the "are you running" question to be the first. Again, Christie was pressed by another audience member; he directed people to go to a website that compiled a video version of all his no answers back-to-back. "Click on it, those are the answers," Christie said. Read more

Report: Iran Threatens to Deploy Navy Off U.S. Coast

From The Blaze - Reuters is reporting that Iran has raised the possibility of sending Iranian warships close enough to U.S. shores to ratchet up tensions. According to the official IRNA news agency, Iranian naval chief Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said: “Like the arrogant powers that are present near our marine borders, we will also have a powerful presence close to American marine borders.” Sayyari was speaking at a ceremony marking the 31st anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq. He didn’t elaborate on the scale or timing of the possible naval deployment. This Iranian saber-rattling comes on the heels of other recent provocations, including the passage of Iranian warships through the Suez Canal a few months ago, which marked the first time the Islamic Republic of Iran has ever deployed warships to the Mediterranean. Read more

Bila: Why Herman Cain Resonates With Voters

Jedediah Bila

Daily Caller - His tea party support is solid and growing. He won the Florida straw poll on September 24, receiving 37% of the vote, more than double that of runner-up Rick Perry. And the latest IBOPE Zogby poll revealed that “Rick Perry has tumbled by more than 20 percentage points over the past month among Republican presidential primary voters and is now second to Herman Cain, who leads the field with 28%.” Herman Cain possesses two ingredients that are resonating with voters quite powerfully: executive experience and no-nonsense candor. A resume that includes regional vice president of Pillsbury’s Burger King division, president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and president of the National Restaurant Association attracts voters who are tired of politicians with zero business experience lecturing them about free-market economics. But it’s the latter trait — his candor — that I believe has caught voters’ attention more than anything.

I have had the honor of speaking with Herman Cain in person and interviewed him recently. I was impressed on both occasions by his refusal to tell me what he thought I wanted to hear, and to instead simply tell me what he thought. There is a refreshing honesty with which he delivers his message, one that is void of the arrogance and elitist condescension that characterize our current commander-in-chief. Cain is down-to-earth, approachable and in touch with the values that built this country. His love of the American dream comes from having fought so hard to attain it. His commitment to free-market principles comes from the practical knowledge that those principles are key to building a strong and prosperous business, economy and country. His disgust with D.C. politics has driven him to lead a solutions-based campaign. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Zogby Poll: Herman Cain is on the LEAD

Herman Cain

Human Events - A new Zogby poll puts Herman Cain at the top of the Republican field, as the top choice of 28% of poll respondents. (IBOPE Zogby International says the polling sample consists of “all likely voters and of likely Republican primary voters.”) Rounding out the top three are Rick Perry at 18%, and Mitt Romney at 17%. Fourth place goes to Ron Paul at 11%. Paul’s the most solid performer in Zogby’s polling history for the 2012 GOP race – his 11% might as well be chiseled in stone. Interestingly, this poll was conducted after the Orlando GOP debate, but before Cain won the Florida straw poll. It’s a huge surge for Cain, who was polling at 12% just two weeks previously, and was floating at a campaign low of 8% two weeks before that. Aside from that bitter 8% number, Cain has generally done quite well in the Zogby poll, usually good enough for second or third place. On the other hand, Rick Perry’s numbers in the Zogby poll have cratered, falling 19% in just two weeks. His debut last month was also his high-water mark thus far, when Zogby had him at 41%. Michelle Bachmann has also been slipping steadily, chugging in at 4%. That puts her just below Jon Huntsman, which is the same way she finished the Florida straw poll. Bachmann was actually the leading candidate in Zogby’s polling from June 21 through July 25… then she plunged to 9% in the next poll and continued sliding down from there. Romney’s been holding fairly steady in the Zogby poll. He bounces a few points up and down, but seems to hover in the 15-17% range. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Lawyers Pounce, Brian Egolf First in Line

Santa Fe New Mexican - A flurry of lawsuits in state court Monday announced the move to overtime in New Mexico's redistricting battle. State Democratic Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, and several voters sued in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe over plans drawn up in the recent special session. Meanwhile, three Republican lawmakers, including state House Minority Whip Donald Bratton, filed a separate lawsuit in the 5th Judicial District Court in Lea County.

The sprint to the courts by both Democrats and Republicans wasn't a surprise given the just-completed 19-day special legislative session that had partisan tempers flaring over the Legislature's constitutional duty to redraw congressional and legislative districts every 10 years. The coming court fight, however, does come at a time of financial hardship for New Mexico. In recent months, the administration of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has laid off dozens of state workers. Meanwhile, New Mexico has asked state workers to pay more into their retirement plans so the state could reduce what it contributed by the same amount. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Some Felony Charges Against Murphy Dropped

Judge Michael Murphy

Newsnm note - Spence - This story has been corrected and updated from yesterday via NMPolitics.net.
NMPolitics - The judge overseeing the bribery case against District Judge Mike Murphy on Monday unsealed an order he issued last week and revealed that he has dismissed the entire grand jury indictment that was issued in May. Judge Leslie Smith granted the defense’s request to dismiss the indictment based on an argument that exculpatory evidence should have been presented to the grand jury. The judge’s order allows special prosecutor Matt Chandler to take the allegations before a new grand jury and seek another indictment if he presents that evidence. For now, Murphy is no longer facing the four felony charges contained in the indictment. And as NMPolitics.net reported last week, Smith has also dismissed a misdemeanor charge of violating the state’s Governmental Conduct Act that Chandler brought against Murphy in June. Read full story here: News New Mexico

UNM A.D. Krebs Base Salary $358,000

Paul Krebs

University of New Mexico Athletic Director Paul Krebs was at the helm when Rocky Long, the winningest coach in Lobo football history, was squeezed out of his job. Long had taken the once lowly Lobo football program to five bowl games. And it was with great fanfare that Krebs announced the hiring of now former UNM head coach, Mike Locksley after the 2008 season. Twenty-eight football games later, the Lobos had two victories to show for the post Rocky Long era. Yesterday it was reported in the Albuquerque media that UNM President David Schmidley was "1,000 percent behind Krebs." According to Bloomberg, Krebs draws nearly $30,000 per month in salary. If only every Lobo fan and taxpayer in New Mexico could enjoy the kind of job security that an A.D. who traded a coach with five bowl berths for a 2-26 result seems to have.

Herman Cain's New Face

Courtesy of Conservativedailynews.com

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