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| Gov. Martinez |
Susana Vetoes "Anti-Big Box Store" Bill
Gov. Martinez OKs bill creating medical marijuana fund
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| Susana Martinez |
The Sanchez Dictatorship is "Highly Partisan"
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| Steve Fischmann |
Both Cynthia Nava and Steve Fischmann are loyal Democrats. They cited a “partisan” atmosphere in Santa Fe as their reason for quitting. A partisan atmosphere?
Two pieces of legislation come to mind.
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| Mary Helen Garcia |
A bill sponsored by Representative Mary Helen Garcia that would have halted the widely discredited practice of social promotion in public schools offers plenty of insight. The bill had bi-partisan support in the legislature for two years and this year was supported by the necessary funding. Unfortunately, the bill had two fatal political flaws. First it required the blessing of self-serving union leaders. Unions tend to be opposed to all educational reform that don’t include more money for…..unions. Second, and more important, the Governor was one of dozens of elected officials working across the aisle in favor of the bill.
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| Mary Kay Papen |
Another bill that contained a simple liability waiver for Spaceport America put the power of the trial lawyers within New Mexico’s Democratic Party on full display. With several hundred million dollars of taxpayer investments already made in the Spaceport, the trial lawyers managed to choke off the bill, which was sponsored by Democrat Mary Kay Papen, who also happens to be from Dona Ana County.
It is a good bet that the departure of Senators Nava and Fischmann reflects their frustration with the highly partisan attitude of Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez. The last two sessions the behavior of Sanchez has bordered on obsession. His actions would not allow any elected officials in his party to work across the isle to accomplish anything that might lead to Susana Martinez getting credit. |
| Michael Sanchez |
Swickard column: The dog days of elections
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| Michael & Conrad |
© 2012 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. My dog Conrad was amused by the story this week of an Albuquerque man who registered his dog to vote and promptly got a voter card for the dog in the mail. He wanted to show that a New Mexico voter card was easy to get even for those who are not legitimate. He has been proven right and has gotten the attention not only of the State of New Mexico law enforcement authorities but also the “dog set to vote” story went national. These dog days of the election process are quite interesting because it would seem that getting a false voter card was easy. This is despite the fact that I have been told many times the registration process insures only legitimate voters are on the rolls. Read column
Hayes Column: New developments in the New Mexico Senate race.
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| Candidate Heather Wilson |
From the Weekly Standard - by Stephen F. Hayes - Republican hopes of winning the Senate in 2012 took a major hit Tuesday when Maine senator Olympia Snowe announced her retirement. The late notice gave Republicans in the state, as well as those in Washington, D.C., little time to recruit a viable candidate and build an organization that might allow them to hold the seat in November. The unexpected retirement takes a nearly certain Republican seat and makes it a likely Democratic one. Snowe’s departure will increase the attention on another Republican woman—a considerably more conservative one—whose race for the Senate could well determine which party holds a majority at the beginning of 2013—Heather Wilson. The former New Mexico congresswoman was considered a rising star in the Republican party in 2008. A self-described commonsense conservative, her possible ascension that year to the Senate would have made her the first female from that state to serve in the upper chamber of Congress. She never got the opportunity. Wilson lost in a tough Republican primary to Representative Steve Pearce, who ran to her right on, well, pretty much everything. It was a primary that seemed designed to test the Buckley Rule: William F. Buckley’s admonition that conservatives ought to vote for the most electable conservative candidate in a given race. Wilson had the endorsements of many in the New Mexico Republican establishment, including retiring senator Pete Domenici, and her supporters argued that Pearce was too conservative to be elected statewide in a purplish-blue state. But intensity matters, and Pearce had the enthusiastic support of the growing conservative movement in the state and national backing from the Club for Growth. In June, Pearce held off a late surge from Wilson to win the primary 51 percent – 49 percent. Five months later he was trounced by Tom Udall, 61-38, a margin even larger than Barack Obama’s 57-42 defeat of John McCain in the state. Wilson is running again this year, trying to replace retiring Democratic senator Jeff Bingaman. But the odds that she will face a serious challenge from the right seem to be diminishing every day. Earlier this month, Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez, who had been endorsed by Senator Rand Paul, dropped out of the race. Wilson’s remaining opponent in the Republican primary, businessman Greg Sowards, has been endorsed by former Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle and has indicated some willingness to spend his own money to win. Sowards speaks the language of the Tea Party, with regular campaign references to the Constitution, the Framers, the overreach of the federal government, and the corruption of runaway spending. Read more
One Final Government Intervention Swan Song for Departing Senator Bingaman
Bloomberg - Natural gas, which already is edging aside coal in American electricity generation, would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a clean-energy mandate for utilities under consideration in Congress this year.
Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a measure March 1 to force electricity companies to use an increasing share of energy produced from “clean” sources over the next two decades.
The bill reshapes the energy debate by calling for sources that emit less carbon than coal, a definition that includes natural gas, instead of focusing on zero-emission renewable sources such as wind and solar, both critics and supporters say. While the proposal faces long odds of getting enacted this year, Bingaman’s plan may gain a powerful ally -- and new opposition from environmental groups.
“The obvious goal is to expand it beyond renewables in order to get enough votes,” said Dan Simmons, director of regulatory and state affairs at the Institute for Energy Research in Washington, a group critical of the legislation. “By including natural gas, it’s a way to broaden support.”
Bingaman’s clean-energy mandate may benefit companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) of Irving, Texas and Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK), the two largest producers of natural gas in the U.S. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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| Jeff Bingaman |
Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a measure March 1 to force electricity companies to use an increasing share of energy produced from “clean” sources over the next two decades.
The bill reshapes the energy debate by calling for sources that emit less carbon than coal, a definition that includes natural gas, instead of focusing on zero-emission renewable sources such as wind and solar, both critics and supporters say. While the proposal faces long odds of getting enacted this year, Bingaman’s plan may gain a powerful ally -- and new opposition from environmental groups.
“The obvious goal is to expand it beyond renewables in order to get enough votes,” said Dan Simmons, director of regulatory and state affairs at the Institute for Energy Research in Washington, a group critical of the legislation. “By including natural gas, it’s a way to broaden support.”
Bingaman’s clean-energy mandate may benefit companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) of Irving, Texas and Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK), the two largest producers of natural gas in the U.S. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Martinez Signs Bill Providing Relief to Business
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| Susana Martinez |
"As New Mexico job creators are working to get our economy back on track and hire new workers, it's vital that we provide this temporary tax relief to ensure that we're not putting barriers in the way of job creation," said Governor Martinez. "Working in a bipartisan fashion with Sen. John Arthur Smith and others, I am encouraged that we passed a significant amount of tax reform and tax relief for small businesses during this past session.”
Last month, the Governor signed legislation that will provide significant tax relief to the state’s construction and manufacturing sectors by curbing the practice of “pyramiding” – the double- and triple-taxation of certain goods and services that contribute to a final product. The legislature also approved the Governor’s proposal to provide a tax credit of up to $1,000 to New Mexico businesses when they hire a veteran who has returned from service in Iraq or Afghanistan. All proposals enjoyed broad bi-partisan support.
New Mexico businesses had been facing a substantial rate increase (to a level 3 rate schedule) as a result of unemployment legislation passed by the House and Senate during the 2011 legislation session that was upheld by the Supreme Court. SB 32 prevents this burden from being imposed on New Mexico job creators this year (maintaining a level 1 rate schedule in 2012 and moving to a level 2 rate schedule in 2013), providing $81 million in temporary tax relief in 2012 and additional relief in 2013. During this time period, the unemployment council provided for in state law and activated by Governor Martinez through an executive order in November 2011 will work to craft recommendations that ensure the fund’s long-term stability and solvency through a more equitable, predictable rate schedule by which businesses contribute to the state’s unemployment insurance fund.
Governor Martinez's goal is for future fluctuations in the fund to be determined by actuarial and economic conditions - not the votes of politicians in Santa Fe, and for rate changes to be gradual and guided by experts on the unemployment council so that the fund truly operates as an insurance mechanism for businesses.
Thomas Molitor the New "Watchdog"
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| Thomas Molitor |
Since moving to New Mexico in 2005, Thomas has made economics, government affairs and politics a full-time obsession. He ran for the New Mexico state legislature, became a regular columnist for two years on NMPolitics.Net, wrote op-ep pieces that have appeared in the Albuquerque Journal, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal and American Action Forum.
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| Paul Gessing |
Thomas believes there is a modern day citizen journalist reformation emerging – an Internet Reformation. It is led by the Internet making everything in life more transparent, most importantly government affairs and how taxpayers’ money is being spent.
Prior to joining New Mexico Watchdog as a reporter, Thomas was an adjunct scholar at the Rio Grande Foundation. Said Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing, “Molitor will be a great addition to watchdog journalism in New Mexico. In recent years, we have made great strides in making government in the Land of Enchantment more accountable and transparent. Thomas Molitor will be working full-time (and more) to expand upon those successes.” Molitor’s work, including the latest update on the “Earthstone” saga at the State Investment Council, will be available at: http://newmexico.watchdog.org/.
Earthstone to Bill
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| Bill Richardson |
Since Mr. Scarantino last visited the EarthStone story over two years ago, I thought it timely to update the story as your new Watchdog reporter and see how the company is doing and to see if the people of New Mexico have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting any of their money back.
First off, to flashback to Scarantino’s discoveries, let’s start from the incestuous beginning. Andrew Ungerleider and Gay Dillingham, the entrepreneur husband and wife team behind the EarthStone idea, approached the SIC to invest in their company. This, I might add, was after the New Mexico Angels, a group of early-stage individual investors turned down Mr. Ungerleider and Ms. Dillingham’s idea as unworthy of investment. Read full story here: News New Mexico
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