PRC's Sloan
You want value for your entertainment dollar during this recession? Forget the movies or that sale at Dillard's, just tune in to the NM Public Regulation Commission, the powerful panel that is charged with regulating the state's major utility companies. First we had a Santa Fe jury finding that Republican Commissioner David King sexually harassed his former assistant and having her awarded $840,000 in damages. Then we had the indictment on election-related charges of Democratic Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr. as well as his father, former Commissioner Jerome Block, Sr. Now, we have Dem Commissioner Carol Sloan arrested for going after a Gallup woman she apparently believes has been "entertaining" her husband of over 30 years. And that doesn't mean they're watching Netflix together. To the police report and the Navajo Times:

Gallup police are investigating a report that Carol Sloan, a member of the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission and a former McKinley County clerk, committed aggravated assault on July 15. According to city police , Sloan attacked Brenda Yazzie at her apartment in Gallup between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., hitting her with a rock she had in her hand.

Yazzie said Sloan also kicked her during the attack and yelled at her, accusing her of having an affair with her husband of over 30 years. Yazzie told police that she and Sloan's husband, Jameson Sloan, had been exchanging phone calls in the past few weeks about a medical condition both of them had. Police officials said Tuesday that no arrest warrant has been issued as yet and the case is under investigation.

And here's the ABQ Journal's version.

Commissioner Sloan rock throwing and kicking? The western NM Dem, a former McKinley County Clerk, has been as quiet as a nun--until now. She was elected in 2006 and is eligible to run for re-election in 2010. She won in a landslide last time. And with her demonstrated familiarity with rocks, dare we say she may turn in another "landslide."

So now we have three of the five PRC commissioners making like a modern-day vaudeville act. All we need next is Commissioners Jason Marks and Sandy Jones to join the fun. Come on fellas, the taxpayers are already forking out good money for a three ring circus. Might as well make it a five ringer.

HOW COLD IS THAT FREEZE?

Itchy legislators wondering just what kind of hiring freeze the Governor has slapped on state government in the wake of the crash of state revenues are learning that 317 classified jobs have been filled during the so-called freeze as have 41 so called "exempt" positions. Those are the jobs where you can be fired at will and that you often get through political connections. Bill's office continues to explain that the freeze exceptions are approved by the Department of Finance and the state Personnel office. They add that so far the freeze is on track to save $9.6 million a year and that 1,200 positions have been held open since the freeze began last November.

The Guv's office says most of the classified jobs being filled relate to the public safety and health. But 317 of them? The Legislature may have a different opinion on which jobs are vital and which aren't. Will we hear that opinion during an anticipated special session of the Legislature in October?

SHIP-JUMPING SEASON

We are also now hearing of the usual end-of-the-administration-ship jumping, That's when a person working at the pleasure of the Governor or a cabinet secretary hunts around for a state classified job--one from which the next Governor can't fire them. The trick is you must serve a year on "probation" in the classified post. During that time you are subjected to firing for just about any cause. The ship-jumpers are going to want to get classified jobs by December so they can do their year of probation and lock down before the new Governor takes office Jan. 1, 2011.

Ship-jumping has already made headlines with two "exempt" cultural affairs employees managing to get themselves into classified positions recently, a move that is not going unnoticed by lawmakers. It's hard to justify placing political appointees of cultural affairs into classified positions in that department. What do those posts have to do with public safety concerns?

The New Mexican economy is currently supporting about 25,000 full-time state employees as we enter a long-term era of slow or no economic growth. Either that number continues to come down, or something else is cut to keep the payroll party going. This comment from one of our readers seems to sum it up best.

Rep. Heinrich & Friend
Hold on tight, Mr. President. You're team is entering some Class IV rapids on the Rio Grande but there are more placid waters ahead, as long as you don't flip over during this health care debate. And by the way, Mr. President, it appears some of your buddies here think Dem US Rep. Martin Heinrich could be doing more to keep the raft afloat. You're approval rating in Rio Grande Land is a very healthy 61% in the SurveyUSA released Wednesday night. That's up from 53 percent in June for a two month average of 57 percent. It's not as if Martin has a real good reason to jump ship, but he's been spotted paddling in the opposite direction on your key issue of the day--health care--and it's causing some grimacing among those who really believed in your "change" message. Let's check it out.

Lawrence Rael
Will the cash count be the deciding factor in the wide-open-who-knows-who-will-win-race for the 2010 Dem nomination for lieutenant governor? It could. That's why it caught our eye when we received word that Lawrence Rael will host an August 6 cocktail reception where ticket prices top out at $1000 and are also being offered at $500 and $100. The fund-raiser announcement comes even before Rael makes a formal entry into the crowded light guv race. That's expected soon. But such is the importance of the cash count that the fund-raiser is already being touted before the issues. Campaign pros say it will take $250,000 just to establish credibility and as much as $500,000, if not more, to take the #2 prize.

The host committee for the Rael reception includes high-powered ABQ trial attorneys Margaret and Turner Branch; former Bernalillo County Commissioner Steve Gallegos; Sandoval County Commissioner Donnie Leonard; businesswoman and former University of New Mexico Regent Maria Griego-Raby and Steve Anaya, executive VP of the Realtors Association of NM and nephew of former NM Governor Toney Anaya. The reception will be held at the law offices of Salazar and Sullivan who specialize in medical malpractice.

Rael, 51, has never held or run for elective office. He is now executive director of the Mid-Region Council of Governments which spearheaded the development of the Rail Runner, an issue the former longtime chief administrative office for the city of ABQ is sure to use on the trail. (There is good but there is also bad to that.)

And he will have a lot of company on that trail. ABQ State Senators Linda Lopez and Jerry Ortiz y Pino are off and running as is Santa Fe Sheriff Greg Solano. Numerous other candidates wait in the wings, including NM Dem Party Chair Brian Colon. Insiders think Rael and Colon have the most fund-raising prowess. Are they right?

Rael is said to have a good relationship with early 2010 Dem Guv front-runner and current Light Guv Diane Denish. Talk has also circulated of Rael being chief of staff if Denish took over the Fourth Floor. As a light guv nominee, his Hispanic background would balance a Denish-led ticket, but he is not from the Hispanic north, which some observers see as the ideal home area for the Dem ticket's second banana.

READERS WRITE

Speaking of Linda Lopez, our Tuesdy blog talking of repealing the state tax cuts for the wealthy passed in the early years of Big Bill's term brought this reaction from longtime reader Danny Hernandez:

Talk of repealing the Richardson tax breaks for the upper income brackets reminds me that Sen. Lopez has introduced a bill to return income taxes to pre-2004 rates every year since 2004...Perhaps 2010 will be the year this bill will get some traction. While I'm on Linda's soap box: You keep writing how Lady Di needs to separate herself from Big Bill. From that strategic perspective: Who's better known for her independence from Richardson than Sen. Lopez?...

Well, the problem is not Linda's independence from Bill; it's her independence from Di. It was Denish who thwarted Lopez's ambitions years ago to get a slot on the ballot as lieutenant governor. Ever since their relationship has been icy, with occasional warm spots. But we're sure they can let bygones be bygones. Can't they? Of course, if Denish wins and Linda is Light Guv, we might have to start a second blog just to cover that relationship. Remember Bruce King and Casey Luna?

Reader Fred Van Soelen also had some thoughts on repealing the state tax cuts for the wealthy. He also commented on our thoughts that a tax increase to balance the state budget is unlikely when the Legislature meets in an expected October special session. Fred told us to get off the soap box:

When you say tax increases are off limits, but advocate for repealing tax cuts and tax breaks, it needs to be said that repealing a tax cut IS a tax increase, and repealing a tax break IS a tax increase. To argue otherwise is pure sophistry. And while I'm at it: don't spin the arguments for the tax increasers, let them do it on their own.

Fred, you busted us. I am now administering to my backside the traditional ten lashes with a wet noodle.

IT'S DIFFERENT THERE

Is the Santa Fe City Council, Mayor Coss and Big Bill bowing to sentiment and nostalgia or does it really make sense for the city and state to sell millions in bonds to purchase the failed liberal arts College of Santa Fe? From the outside, there seems ample reason to raise the question. The purchase, which appears unstoppable, could be either a brilliant move or a disaster that will haunt the city for years to come. Especially eyebrow raising is this statement from Santa Fe Councilor Wurzburger: "We have to get his done before next week." What? The debtors won't wait until important questions can be answered?

Getting it done means issuing $30 million in bonds backed by city revenues to wipe out the school's massive $20 million debt. Big Bill is promising another $11 million in bond capacity that the city would have to pay back with gross receipts tax revenue--revenue that continues to plunge. Is this economic development or a bail-out? The news report from the ABQ Journal's Kiera Hay reads like a Chinese crossword puzzle--the unanswerable questions on this deal are all over the map.

Even as the Santa Fe leadership gambles on a second coming for the College of Santa Fe, there may be no second chance for some of the city work force. Furloughs of city workers are impending because of the crash in city revenues brought on by the bear markets in tourism and real estate and the slowdown in government employment. Employee hours have already been cut to save money, now the furloughs. Can layoffs be far behind? But why worry? Let's go out and buy a college! Even the usually level-headed editors of the New Mexican seem smitten, even if not exactly sure how the deal will work. Well, they don't call it the City Different for nothing. The byzantine deal still lacks the necessary council votes. Maybe some last-minute sanity will prevail and Santa Fe's beleagured taxpayers will be spared from seeing their dollars entered into a crap shoot. Now that would really be a City Different.

PEARCE ON THE CLOCK

Here's 75 seconds of raw video of former southern NM GOP Congressman Steve Pearce from Hobbs where Tuesday morning he made official his already widely reported decision to try to recapture the House seat he once held and that now belongs to Harry Teague. Steve also made an "official" announcement in Las Cruces Tuesday, the districts most vote-heavy region.

THE ABQ CAMPAIGN

Supporters of ABQ Mayor Chavez are hoping to score political points against fellow Democrat and mayoral hopeful Richard Romero by pointing out he gave numerous campaign donations to Republicans while serving s a lobbyist in Santa Fe. We blogged Tuesday of a $200 donation Romero made to GOP State Rep. Richard Berry in 2006. Berry is now also running for mayor. Other R's Romero gave money to include $200 contributions in 2006 to GOP legislative candidates Bill Rehm, Tom Anderson and $150 to GOP Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert. But Romero, who is now heavily courting progressive Dems, takes it in stride. His campaign says:

I think u covered it. Lobbyists tend to contribute campaign funds to legislators. Richard Romero, as a lobbyist, donated to many Republicans: Payne, Snyder, Youngberg, Hall et al, probably a small contribution to everyone of the ABQ Santa Fe delegation.

One of Romero's main lobbying clients was the University of New Mexico.

On the flip side of the coin, some Romero supporters are trying to make hay over the fact that Mayor Marty spent some $40,000 in campaign money in late 2008 to conduct an in depth poll, among other things. The assertion is that this may violate the city's public finance law and should count against the $328,000 in public money Chavez was given to conduct his 2009 re-elect bid. Trouble is
the 2009 council election calender put out by the city clerk indicates that the clock doesn't start ticking on city election spending until January 1 of the election year. It states:

Jan. 1 (Thurs.) Exploratory Period Begins for Public Campaign Funding.

It's a loophole in a law that seems riddled with them and the lawyers, we're sure, would be glad to argue about it. But like Romero's contributions to R's, this is a process issue that comes during the slow days of summer as we await serious engagement over serious issues. Meanwhile, it looks like there's still some iced tea in that pitcher. Enjoy.

This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news tips, comments and political info.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

The outlines of an October special legislative session are starting to come into sight as key players wrestle with one of the steepest economic downturns in state history. State Senator John Arthur "Dr. No" Smith, co-chair of the powerful Legislative Finance Committee, is telling insiders that an October special appears inevitable as state tax collections continue a precipitous decline. ABQ area GOP State Senator Sue Wilson-Beffort, a longtime member of the panel, shares that view. The new willingness for a special began to surface only recently as the downbeat and unrelenting sour economic news shakes even these most experienced New Mexican business and political experts.

Challengers to ABQ Mayor Martin Chavez have not been parsimonious in their first weeks of spending on the campaign trail, and that reinforces the conventional wisdom that the October 6 race is the Mayor's to lose. In their first finance reports filed with the city, Republican Richard "RJ" Berry and Dem Richard Romero report spending over $60,000 of the $328,000 of the public funds the mayor hopefuls are getting to run their races. By contrast, the late-starting Chavez spent only $37,000.

The pros say it appears that combined Romero and Berry will now have perhaps $400,000 for paid media for the final 75 days of the 2009 race and Chavez perhaps around $260,000. The remaining money will go to salaries and other non-media expenditures. That is not a great disparity for the incumbent. With the price of direct mail and TV spots, it is not the kind of financial firepower that can sustain much more than three or so weeks of heavy attack ads from the Romero and Berry camps.

OUTSIDE MONEY

The question remains whether third party groups will come to the aid of the challengers or Chavez. Under city rules any outside committee that does come with an attack against a candidate would trigger matching funds for the candidate being attacked. For example, if a group calling itself "Time For A Change" throws up $10,000 in attack ads against Chavez, his campaign would be eligible to receive matching funds from city campaign funds. The question of involvement by federally sanctioned nonprofit groups is unanswerable. They do not report their donations or expenditures. If it is determined by the city that one or more of them has delivered an attack message against a candidate, there would be no way of knowing how much the attack cost. How could the candidate subjected to the nonprofit attack be awarded matching funds?

A THICK PAYROLL

Romero and Berry have spent substantially in the early rounds on paid professional help, a practice that Chavez has limited in this race as he has in his three previous mayoral bids. Romero paid Neri Holguin, his now replaced campaign manager, about $17,000 for several months service and reimbursements, according to the city report. Berry's campaign manager, Dana Feldman, has received checks for over $20,000 in salary and reimbursements. She is the wife of Adam Feldman, a GOP operative from Kentucky who came to NM to take over as executive director of the state GOP and now conducts field operations for the GOP.

In addition, Berry, a GOP state representative from the far NE Heights that includes the Four Hills area has brought back into city politics Jay McCleskey, a a GOP consultant who has played in many of the recent races. The Lincoln Strategy Group that McCleskey, a former regional coordinator for the Republican National Committee, is now associated with was paid around $23,000, according to figures we added up on the city's Web site. Apparently some of that money was spent on an early mail piece. Also, Public Opinion Strategies, a polling firm that McCleskey's wife, Nicole, is a partner with was paid $1,650 by Berry. The candidate also put up over $12,000 for those "volunteers" who blanketed the area this spring to get required donations for Berry to qualify for the ballot. In contrast, Chavez has a bench of city employees and volunteers who work for free.

CHAVEZ ON THE CHEAP

Berry and Romero shelled out major bucks for consulting and staff in the early going, while Chavez paid his campaign manager Mark Fleischer $3,000. He also delayed announcing his candidacy, saving more money. And Marty conducted some $25,000 in polling and robo calls late last year with money he had raised for a statewide race he decided not to pursue. That expenditure did not count against the money given him under the public financing law. Among his city expenditures, the mayor paid $8,000 to Gold Communications, a direct mail firm out of D.C. that also numbers Big Bill among its clients. He also spent about $7,000 on BuzzMaker, an Internet specialty firm that builds Web sites for Dems.

The new campaign money law will make the mayor contest more grassroots, with the campaigns really cranking up relatively inexpensive get out the vote operations. Media is just too broad-based and too costly to do the job. Targeted mailing will be a favorite way to maximize dollars. If only 75,000 or so voters are going to go to the polls, you don't want to be talking to the majority who won't.

The "free" media---newspaper, TV and radio news coverage--is also more limited this cycle. The demise of the ABQ Tribune saw to that. Online media is relevant to the race in how it can shape perceptions (e.g. the Alligators) and help set the agenda for the mainstream media where most voters will get their unpaid campaign info. Also, the candidates may want to be careful about what they saw on their Facebook pages and in their Twitter messages. An off-hand remark could become major news from these new media sources.

MAYORAL MEDIA GAME

The TV stations have not announced any mayoral debates as of yet. I have my media mavens checking and we do expect at least one prime time duel between the three contenders. Chavez is ahead, but it doesn't seem he can risk turning down TV debates. Besides, his long experience makes him favored to win any debate. There will also be the usual bundle of mayoral forums across the city that will likely be sparsely attended, but sometimes covered by the press.

The ABQ Journal, whose editorial pages have long supported Chavez, is expected to endorse him for his third term in a row and fourth overall. The alternative weekly, the Alibi, well-read in the university area, will likely give their editorial nod to Richard Romero. The mother of all endorsements may have been a Christmas present in June for Chavez--AFSCME--the union representing 3,500 city employees for the first time gave him their backing for the mayoral post.

The Chavez challengers have had one big media break with the sensational June 20 murder at a West Side Denny's, but the news flow in the subsequent month has been quiet and therefore favored the incumbent.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
Berry
Aside from the Denny's incident and the crime issue it raised, Romero and Berry have struggled to generate issues that elicit emotion and put heat on Chavez. Their most recent foray was into term limits and how Chavez had them overturned---a process issue, but one they hope will get voters to feel tired of Chavez.

The city's troubled economy would appear to be an issue ripe for exploitation, but the pros point out that the turnout for the mayoral election will be heavy on older voters, those with long-term residency and government workers. Those are voting blocs whose economic destiny is not as much at risk as the nonvoting classes. Also, despite high-profile government failures at encouraging private sector development--Eclipse Aviation being the most notable--Chavez has avoided tax increases, employee layoffs and is friendly to the pro-growth forces that have largely held sway over city politics in the post WWII era.

Determining and hammering home an overriding reason for ousting Chavez that resonates with enough voters to keep him from amassing 40 percent and getting him in a run-off election remains the elusive challenge for the challengers. There is time, but what is that reason?

ROMERO DONATES TO BERRY?!

Romero
They had a news conference together earlier in the campaign to complain about Mayor Marty's use of TV public service time. Now it turns out that Dem Richard Romero and Republican Richard ""RJ" Berry go back more years than anyone thought. Records on file at the Sec. of State's office reveal that Romero's congressional campaign committee made a $250 donation to Berry's 2006 legislative race. (House District 20 Oct. 9, 2006 filing). Romero unsuccessfully sought the ABQ congressional seat in 2002 and 2004. He went on to become a Santa Fe lobbyist. Berry is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

NO PARTY LINES HERE

Another interesting tidbit from those campaign reports filed Friday. Republican Councilor Brad Winter gave $200 to Dem Councilor Michael Cadigan's re-election bid and Winter's wife, attorney Nann Winter, gave the West Side lawmaker $450. R's are making a major push against Cadigan with Dan Lewis, but will apparently have to do it without Winter, the city councilor the party backed for mayor four years ago. Dem Jeremy Toulouse is also in that West of the river contest.

DON THE DODGER
Don Harris
Councilor Don Harris has dodged more bullets than a deer in hunting season, and he dodged another big one late Friday when former ABQ City Councilor and current Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Brasher announced he would abort his short-lived campaign for the far NE Heights seat that Harris first won in 2005. Brasher, a conservative Dem turned R, was and is popular in the district, but he told me that the "district's demographics" have changed substantially since he was first elected to a council seat back in 1989. His county commission seat includes GOP areas in the East Mountains which are not in the city council district. Brasher, longtime manager of ABQ Public Schools radio station KANW 89.1 FM, says he will finish his second four year term on the commission which ends at the end of 2010 and then think about his political future.

As for Republican Harris, he managed to get into a run-off with the incumbent District 9 councilor in '05. He won that race, but soon found himself the target of a rare recall election over ethics charges. But voters overwhelmingly rejected the recall.

Harris still has one more bullet to dodge--David Barbour, a computer programmer who moved here two years ago from the San Francisco area, is on the October 6 ballot. But he is much more liberal than Harris. His campaign platform includes universal health care. Also, Harris has qualified for public financing and has $32,000 to spend. Barbour has so fare collected $2,000, but it's money he loaned himself.

Harris, like several of his council colleagues, has had his ups and downs with ABQ Mayor Chavez. Most recently they have been on the same page.

COUNCIL CAMPAIGN ACTION

Republican Dan Lewis is running a spirited campaign in an effort to unseat incumbent Dem Councilor Michael Cadigan. So far he has spent about $10,000 of the $42,000 of his public financing. Cadigan is not taking public financing and reports raising $16,400 and spending only $800. The Lewis campaign spins that Cadigan's fund-raising has fallen behind his 2005 rate, but attorney Cadigan has heavy name ID. Also, he was raising money earlier in the cycle for his '05 council bid. For much of this year he was running for mayor, not council. He decided to drop the mayoral bid when support did not materialize and go for re-election to the council. He was first elected in 2001. Dem Jeremy Toulouse is also in the race. He raised $1,000.

Cadigan must get 40 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off to stay on the nine member council where he has developed into a harsh critic of Mayor Chavez.

IS IT COOKING?

In the mid-ABQ NE Heights district represented by two term GOP Councilor Sally Mayer, challenger Mike Cook's campaign says Sally, like Cadigan, is running behind her fund-raising pace of four years ago. She has taken in about $5,700 so far this cycle compared to about $15,000 at this time in the '05 cycle. Like Mayer, Cook, a certified financial planner, is a Republican. He qualified for $36,000 in public financing and has spent about $7,000. Most of that went to attorney and political consultant Doug Antoon who is also consulting Republican council candidate Dan Lewis. Sally made some front-page news when it was divulged that she is being sued for a $5,600 bill to Target. But the news cuts both ways in these troubled times when many feel Mayer's pain. But what the heck was she charging at Target that sent the bill so high? Their stuff is just a notch above Wal-Mart prices. Hey, maybe financial planner Mike can help Sally figure it out.

Another closely watched council duel is between Councilor Ike Benton and challenger Alan Armijo, a former councilor who is now in his second terms as a Bernalillo County Commissioner. Armijo is not taking public financing. He raised $8,900 in the early going. $530 of it came from his old friend and longtime politico Steve Gallegos. Benton, also a Dem, is taking public financing and has spent about $3,000. The district includes parts of Downtown, Barelas and the University of New Mexico area.

The only polling we've seen on any of the council races was in Cadigan's district a few months ago and it showed him leading, but with an opening for challenger Lewis to hold him below 40 percent and force a run-off. The polling schedule of the ABQ Journal has not been released. The paper is expected to do at least one mayoral survey, but traditionally does not poll the council races.

We'll have our election night team on October 6 on 89.1 FM KANW to bring you live coverage of the city election.

THE BOTTOM LINES

If you're wandering the halls of the Roundhouse, be on the look out for a guy with a baseball bat who looks pretty angry. That would be Guv candidate Allen Weh:

“When I get to Santa Fe, I’m going to take a baseball bat, and we’re going to clean that place out."

Now Big Bill is a former ace baseball pitcher. He probably can avoid Weh's swinging bat. But we worry about the rest of the gang. Seems it may be time for universal health care if Weh is let loose...

E-mail your news tips and comments and help us cover the wide world of New Mexico politics.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2009
Not for reproduction without permission of the author