Bernalillo County Assessor Under Fire

Karen Montoya

KRQE — Claims of wrong-doing by a high-ranking county official are coming to light again. Allegations that Bernalillo County Assessor Karen Montoya has been misusing Bernalillo county employees and county equipment are all contained in a recently-released investigative report. And the findings have captured the attention of the county commission. “The morale in the assessor’s office is really low and the employees are intimidated by the assessor and her deputies,” Helena Baca said. A commission meeting in August became a platform for frustrated employees of county assessor Karen Montoya. Those complaints sparked the investigation that led to a report, outlining a total of 19 allegations. The outside firm found some to be true. Among the findings, they found that Montoya allowed unauthorized people to log onto county computers containing confidential tax information. They also found that one of her employees was raking in thousands of dollars in incentive pay he wasn't entitled to. Among the claims still raising questions is that county employees and county equipment were allegedly used for Montoya’s political and personal gain. Leora Perez made her claims of misconduct in August. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Bernalillo County Assessor Under Fire

Rick Newton Tackles Social Security

Rick Newton

Capitol Report New Mexico - Rick Newton is new to this political campaigning thing. Maybe that’s why he’s not afraid to talk about an issue most politicians avoid as electoral poison — reforming Social Security. “I’m proud to say that I’ve never run for office,” the 64-year-old from Taos told Capitol Report New Mexico during an interview, adding, ”I’ll agree to be a congressman here for six years but that’s about it.” So whether it’s out of conviction or political naïvete, the retired engineer, physicist and small businessman who has officially tossed his hat into the ring to run as a Republican in Congressional District 3 for the seat in the US House of Representatives currently held by Democrat Ben Ray Luján offers a dramatic proposal when it comes to Social Security and the national debt. “I have a lot of experience in business and a lot of different disciplines like oil and gas and mining and defense,” Newton said, “and I felt that this is a time where my background matches up perfectly with the problems that we are facing today or that we may be facing just around the corner.” So what’s Newton’s plan? Read full story here: News New Mexico

Rick Newton Tackles Social Security

Gary Smith Enters C.D. # 1 Race

Gary Smith

KOB TV - Retired Army veteran Gary Smith of Albuquerque is running for the Republican nomination in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District. Smith, 65, announced his candidacy during the weekend and said he supports repeal of a health care law championed by President Barack Obama. Smith described himself as a fiscal conservative and said he would back a balanced budget constitutional amendment. He retired from the Army in 1991 as a sergeant first class. Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis and former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones also are seeking the GOP nomination. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Gary Smith Enters C.D. # 1 Race

Martinez Looks to Cut Taxes

Susana Martinez

New Mexico Business Weekly - Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration is looking for ways to reduce taxes on New Mexico businesses. The effort has been ongoing and could lead to proposed legislation during the January legislative session, said Tim Korte, spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration. “We are examining some potential changes to the tax system. Nothing has been decided,” Korte said. “We are looking at ways to lessen the tax burden on businesses. Corporate tax changes and changes to the gross receipts tax are under consideration. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Martinez Looks to Cut Taxes

Bankruptcy Filings Down in NM

New Mexico Business Weekly - Bankruptcy filings dropped by 8 percent in the U.S. for the 12-month period that ended June 30, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court said Monday. In New Mexico, bankruptcy filings for this calendar year are down 14 percent from the same period in 2010, the New Mexico Bankruptcy Court reported. At the end of October, 4,855 bankruptcy cases had been filed in New Mexico, compared to the 5,618 cases that had been filed by the end of October 2010, the Court said. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Bankruptcy Filings Down in NM

Los Alamos: High Concentration of Millionaires

Los Alamos, New Mexico

New Mexico Independent - Los Alamos has the highest proportion of millionaires in the United States, according to a new report by Phoenix Marketing International. The metropolitan area has 885 millionaire households out of a population of 17,950, making 11.7 percent of the Los Alamos population members of a millionaire household. The report credits the city’s wealth to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a site of important government research that specializes in weapons and bioscience : “Top chemists, engineers and physicists have pulled in hefty paychecks here since 1943, when the lab launched the Manhattan Project.” The median income is $91,741.

The definition of a “millionaire household” is a household with $1 million in “liquid, investable assets,” which excludes business partnerships, real estate and retirement plans, according to the report. The metropolitan areas with the second and third highest concentrations of millionaires are Naples, Fla. and Bridgeport, Conn. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Los Alamos: High Concentration of Millionaires

Did T.A. Corporate Ban the Fox News Channel?

News New Mexico has learned through a posse member that TA - Travel Centers of America may have made an important decision on censorship. Apparently, at the corporate level management at TA has decided to ban the showing of the Fox News Channel on all televisions.

News New Mexico placed a telephone call to the TA Center in the Las Cruces, NM area to verify the decision and the local manager did confirm that she was told by the corporate offices that Fox News Channel, the highest rated cable news channel in America, will no longer be allowed to be shown on televisions in the company facilities there. The reason cited was that Fox is just too “controversial.” We placed a call to TA headquarters. So far our call has not been returned. There is no word yet on whether TA has also decided to ban the airing of MSNBC or CNN.

Did T.A. Corporate Ban the Fox News Channel?

NM Day Cares to Receive More Funding

From koat.com -More than a thousand New Mexico parents may be able to give their children a better start after officials recently announced the state has more money for subsidized child care. Local officials said that with the additional money, 1,300 parents waiting for help with the cost of child care will be off the waiting list.  "Unfortunately, there are a lot of families right now living paycheck-to-paycheck, and any additional assistance that they receive is going to help them," Tapia said.  At Noah's Ark, staff members said 80 percent of the children they care for have families who need help affording day care.  More News New Mexico

NM Day Cares to Receive More Funding

Martinez to Talk Economic Development

Susana Martinez

LAS CRUCES – Governor Susana Martinez will be in Las Cruces today to address a meeting of the Las Cruces Forum, a group dedicated to economic development in Southern New Mexico and across the state. Governor Martinez will be the meeting’s keynote speaker and will address a number of economic development topics, including the recent arrival and expansion of companies in Las Cruces and Southern New Mexico, the outlook for January’s legislative session, and key infrastructure projects that are now under way.

Martinez to Talk Economic Development

Miller: Governor Eliminating Waste and Fraud

Jay Miller

Inside the Capitol - SANTA FE – "I will eliminate waste, fraud and abuse." It's the popular refrain heard from every politician running for office. Gov. Susana Martinez seems determined to actually do it. She immediately took out after waste in state government. She declined to fill many political appointee positions from the Bill Richardson administration – even after Richardson already had cut over 100 of a reported 500 political appointees. Martinez's appointees are considerably below the level during Gary Johnson's fiscally prudent administration.

Susana Martinez

The governor also has continued the modified hiring freeze from the last two years of the Richardson administration. Vacant positions are not filled unless their need can be demonstrated. Gov. Martinez has been similarly frugal with supplies, equipment and the state's motor pool. We don't know about her policy on saving paper clips but she did turn back to the general fund a considerable amount from her office at the end of the fiscal year. Alleged fraudulent use of taxpayer money was a cornerstone of Martinez's campaign a year ago. Since taking office, she has made new appointments wherever she can to guard against future occurrences. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Miller: Governor Eliminating Waste and Fraud