Cargo in 2006

Former Governor Dave Cargo died in ABQ at the age of 84 in ABQ on Friday morning. Details here and here. More on the Monday blog.

The word from the ABQ mayoral campaign trail is that there will not be a single joint appearance by the three contenders in the month of July. The election is October 8 and early voting starts in September so there will be time for debates, but a whole month without any action speaks volumes about the lack of interest so far in this contest.

Republican Mayor Berry will use July to raise money for his effort. We've posted an example here--a $250 pop invite from prominent ABQ trial lawyers Turner Branch and Margaret Moses. (Click invite to enlarge).

Dem contender Pete Dinelli opted for public financing which gives him about $340,000 to spend. Berry went for private fund-raising so he hopes to raise significantly more than what Dinelli gets.

Republican Paul Heh is the other hopeful. He is also raising funds privately.

Berry has run into some early trouble over the city campaign law that says people doing business with the city can't contribute to the mayoral campaign. There will be a hearing on the matter soon.

HOTTER THAN A FIRECRACKER

Sen. Ortiz y Pino

A Wednesday legislative hearing featuring one of the Governor's cabinet secretaries got hotter than a Fourth of July firecracker. As the tension intensified, ABQ Dem state Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino suffered a burst blood vessel and was rushed to the hospital where he stayed overnight for observation. His friend, Democratic consultant, Harry Pavlides, reports that the 72 year old lawmaker is feeling fine and plans to attend a scheduled legislative hearing Tuesday.

What got Ortiz y Pino and other Democratic Senators on the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee so upset? The details:

Human Services Secretary Sidonie Squier abruptly left a legislative hearing Wednesday after three hours of questioning by legislators about the agency’s handling of an audit of 15 state behavioral health service providers. The audit, sought by the Republican administration and challenged  by Democratic lawmakers, found mismanagement, possible fraud and $36 million in overpayments to the nonprofit providers. Squier’s appearance...at a hearing in Albuquerque followed her department’s halt to payments to providers identified as having high error rates in billings. Democratic legislators repeatedly questioned whether some of the providers have been wrongly portrayed as fraudulent while details of the audit...remain confidential...

Squier apparently isn't used to much scrutiny, Her spokesman by way of explaining Squier's premature departure from the hearing said the legislators were "incredibly rude" but the paper reports Squier answered many of their inquires "testily."

Come on, Sidonie, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen--or the Cabinet.

This is the home of New Mexico politics. Thanks for stopping by this week.

Reporting from Albuquerque, I'm Joe Monahan

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A lot of Americans are getting a close-up view of New Mexico this Fourth of July weekend. It's because of the debut of the film, "The Lone Ranger," shot mainly in NM and showcasing the natural splendor of the state.

In his review, reader Eric Lucero says our state's scenery may be the saving grace of this production that he says moves "glacially slow:"

The Lone Ranger (2 Stars out of 5) is yet another over-hyped, hyper expensive ($250 million), graphically violent, glacially slow (2hrs, 26 min.) and under performing film masquerading as a western.

The saving grace of this ponderous effort is its breathtaking cinematography and the stunning performance of “Silver,” the Lone Ranger's faithful steed. Disney made excellent use of the panoramic Cimarron Canyon State Park in northern New Mexico near Eagle Nest. The untouched, pristine nature of the park sets the viewer up for the story of the coming development of the West that is central to the Lone Ranger and Tonto narrative. 

A loving, albeit, expensive re-creation of the late nineteenth century "Old West" is to be lauded, but is no substitute for the failure to develop the title character. 

An under utilized Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger, for instance, and Tonto, played by Johnny Depp, are problematic. Depp plays Tonto as somewhat dismissive of the Lone Ranger when in fact in the original legend Tonto is portrayed as a deeply loyal partner--not the dominant one. 

The film gives us a Cliff Notes version of American "Manifest Destiny." That's fine, but this history is made secondary to lots of loud explosions and buckets of blood. When you leave the theatre, you feel like you just saw another "Pirates of the Caribbean" starring Johnny Depp. And to think, Disney is already planning  a sequel.

Lucero may not have been won over by Depp's performance as Tonto, but he sports one heckuva of a make-up job. ABQ showtimes for "The Lone Ranger" are here. More Lone Ranger reviews here.

JOB SEARCH

Job seekers are galore in ABQ these days. Businessman and ABQ State Senator Michael Padilla says ABQ's South Valley will see a host of employers attend a job fair he's sponsoring:

Senator Padilla will be hosting a job fair on Wednesday, July 10, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, in the Harrison Middle School Gymnasium at 3912 Isleta Boulevard SW. Interested job seekers should bring a resume or a list of all past employment, contact names and numbers, and other pertinent job history information. .Employers wishing to participate in the job fair can email Senator Padilla at michael.padilla@nmlegis.gov or call (505)899-9921...

They say the more education you have these days the better your chances of staying out of the jobless lines. To that end this news:

At its heart is the idea of moving from “one-size-fits-all” education to a more personalised approach, with technology allowing each child to be taught at a different speed, in some cases by adaptive computer programs, in others by “superstar” lecturers of one sort or another, while the job of classroom teachers moves from orator to coach: giving individual attention to children identified by the gizmos as needing targeted help. In theory the classroom will be “flipped”, so that more basic information is supplied at home via screens, while class time is spent embedding, refining and testing that knowledge (in the same way that homework does now, but more effectively). The promise is of better teaching for millions of children at lower cost—but only if politicians and teachers embrace it.

Happy Fourth from The Home of New Mexico politics.

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Schleder (poached from Terrell)

Who is Terry Schleder and why should we care? Okay, thanks for asking...

Schleder is the new executive director of the NM Foundation for Open Government known as FOG. That's the government transparency group that acts on its own behalf and that of news organizations to ensure public access to government records. That's why we care.

And so apparently does the Governor. Utilizing her political operatives on Twitter (the usual suspects) they are assailing and attempting to discredit Schleder by calling him "left wing" a "liberal activist" and a "union organizer." (Oh, no. Not that!)

FOG says Schleder--the first nonjournalist to head the group--is a health advocate and policy consultant. But why should the Governor care who Schleder is? If she's running the open and transparent government she promised us, she needn't concern herself with who heads FOG.

(By the way, wasn't her good friend Pat Rogers, the GOP National Committeeman, until recently a longtime member of the FOG board? Yep.)

But then there is the Downs deal and the media drumbeat for the release of travel records of Chuck Franco, Martinez's husband. He took a controversial 2011 hunting trip to Louisiana accompanied by two state policemen. Louisiana is the home state of two owners of the ABQ Downs. At the time of the Franco trip the administration was in the process of awarding a lucrative 25 year racino lease.

Governor Martinez steadfastly refuses to release to the media the expense and lodging records from what Franco says was a hunting trip. Aaah, maybe that's why the Governor cares so much about Schleder?

Tell you what, Guv. You give up those Franco trip records and we will bring you the head of Terry Schleder. (Sorry, Terry. This is a deal for the greater good).

PEARCE DIGS IN 

Is Steve Pearce digging a deeper hole for himself?

The southern NM GOP congressman says "absolutely not" when asked if he will refund the nearly $20,000 the state department paid for a plane ticket for Pearce's trip to Egypt to visit NM National Guard members.

Pearce is unapologetic about the outlandish expenditure.

The ticket cost skyrocketed when a congressional delegation that Pearce was part of cancelled its scheduled trip to Egypt. But Pearce told the state department he still wanted to go. They put him in business class and ponied up nearly $20,000 for it. The high price resulted because the ticket had to be bought less than 2 weeks from departure.

An online petition from the liberal ProgressNM group is asking that Pearce--who they dub a Tea Party congressman--refund the money.

Pearce says he wanted to visit the guardsmen to tell them--among other things--about high-paying jobs that were available in the oil and gas industry in NM when they finished their tour of duty. That sounds like a stretch, but Pearce, a Vietnam veteran, is insistent that his trip was also good for their morale and he feels it was worth every taxpayer penny.

Pearce is in a safe Republican seat but the folly over the ticket may be doing damage to his statewide image. He is known as one of the harshest congressional critics of government waste. The average person is going to have a hard time buying Pearce's argument that what he had to tell the guardsmen was so important that they had to pay $20,000 to send him there to say it.

One big mistake can change an image quickly. Pearce is risking being painted as self-important and hypocritical, rather than the down-to-earth conservative most see him as. If he doesn't write a refund check, he will have to pound the table hard in next year's election that this is about supporting the troops--not about a personal extravagance that needs to be rescinded.

MULLING IT OVER

State Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez first said he would make a decision on whether he will seek the 2014 Dem Guv nomination by the end of June. He now tells newsman Milan Simonich that he will make a decision by Labor Day....Carlsbad attorney Roxanne Lara told me Tuesday she is again considering a run for the congressional seat held by Republican Steve Pearce. She had earlier said she was not going to run but she says friends have urged her to take another look. Lara recently ran for Dem state party chair and was defeated by Sam Bregman.

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More media heat for Governor Martinez over her refusal to release complete expense and travel records for a controversial 2011 Louisiana hunting trip taken by her husband Chuck Franco and two state policemen.

Over on the conservative east side, the Clovis News Journal joins the drumbeat for full disclosure. The newspaper editorializes that by digging her heels in, Martinez risks creating a "political nightmare:"

...Martinez has a public-relations problem that could become her political nightmare if she doesn’t come clean on simple records requests. Martinez needs to disclose details of an expensive security detail in 2012 that cost taxpayers more than $33,500 to pay for more than 1,600 hours of overtime worked by state police. And while she’s providing those answers, she should provide proof of who paid for a six-day alligator-hunting trip by her husband, Chuck Franco, in 2011. She should lay it all out there in the interest of full transparency.

Some Martinez foes or doubters suspect a connection exists between this trip and the winner of a bid to run an Albuquerque racetrack. Some of those bidders just happen to live in the state Franco visited, Louisiana. That is why the public has a right to know whether a connection exists and words without documents are not good enough, Gov. Martinez.

Both matters are drawing attention throughout New Mexico. It is a distraction to the governor and her team as long as the questions and potential suspicions linger. Martinez can eliminate any appearance of impropriety, whether it involves security detail costs for the governor or for members of her family, by responding fully and providing any necessary supporting documents. Full disclosure is the price people must pay when they hold a well-compensated job paid for by taxpayers.

How about that? And from Clovis.

We had to chuckle when someone on Twitter described an arcane article about opening up meetings of the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange as "kicking some ass." No, that's easy pickings.

The Clovis newspaper--in the heart of Martinez country and vulnerable to business pulling the plug on them--went all in on the real story impacting open government in this state.

The "pretend" journalists--financed by out-of-state corporate (and cautious) largesse--ought to read it twice and pin it on the wall. Better yet, why don't they come out and play in the real world? Well, there are risks, aren't there?

Back in that real world, The AP is asking for expense reports for the Governor's security detail for the three months leading up to last year's presidential election under the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA).

The administration says "security" is the reason for not giving up those records as well as the full expense and travel records for her husband's Louisiana hunting trip.

(We're still waiting for someone or some group to file an IPRA request specifically for the Franco trip records. Anyone out there?)

The potential nightmare for Martinez is that this still below-the-radar event begins to burst into public consciousnesses and questions about her integrity take hold as voters wonder if she has something to hide.

Obviously, saying gubernatorial security could be compromised by showing who lodged and fed Franco and his security detail during a two year old hunting trip that the Governor did not take part in  isn't going to wash.

THE COMING CAMPAIGN

Sen. Lopez (Stephen Jones)

If the ABQ Downs deal blows up or emailgate--featuring a number of former Martinez campaign staffers--results in a political inferno, ABQ Dem state Senator Linda Lopez hopes to take advantage.

She hasn't said anything about the various controversies flaring up in Santa Fe or the administration's deteriorating relationship with the media, but she is out on the campaign trail.

Here she is pictured speaking this past weekend before the  Doña Ana County Federation of Democratic Women in Las Cruces.

Lopez, along with Attorney General Gary King, have both officially announce their candidacies for the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

The March pre-primary convention to place Dem Guv candidates on the June '14 primary ballot is still far off, but beginning to come into sight.

Since Martinez has sported approval ratings north of 60%, there has not been that much interest in the Dem nomination contest, but the value of that nomination--seen as worth little six months ago--has gone up considerably because of the rough political patches the Governor is now encountering.

Will others join the fray because of them? Stay tuned.

SAN JUAN SUPER BEAR

Our friends in Farmington continued to get slammed by the San Juan County Super Bear. The latest:
Natural gas production in northwest New Mexico decreased 15.8 percent during the first three months of 2013, continuing a years-long decline that has rippled across the San Juan Basin. Perhaps most discouraging for the basin's sprawling oil and gas industry, oil production--a source of some hope--was also down by 12.3 percent, according to the (state)...This year is on track to mark the seventh consecutive year of declining gas production in northwest New Mexico. Oil production also fell to 227,553 barrels, down from 259,548 barrels during the first quarter of 2012. That's a reversal after two years of climbing oil production.

It's hard to believe now but when we were on the news desk back in the 80's the price of oil plunged to around $10 a barrel. That created mayhem with state finances which depend heavily on a high price to boost royalties.

With the oil boom in SE NM causing a housing shortage and forcing hotel prices in some places to over $200 a night, are we about to peak out and head down again?

IN MEMORY OF

NM senior Senator Tom Udall--a native of Tucson--comes with this remembrance of the 19 firefighters who gave their lives Sunday while fighting a blaze about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix:

They are heroes who put themselves in harm's way for the safety of others. New Mexicans are especially thankful for their assistance fighting the recent Thompson Ridge Fire in our state. We will never forget them, and our hearts and prayers go out to their loved ones. All of New Mexico understands the risks firefighters face, and as we remember the sacrifice of the 19 who gave their lives this week, we'll be doing everything we can to support all the firefighters battling dangerous fires in our state and around the nation.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer called the loss "unbearable."

Gov. Martinez has ordered flags flown at half-staff in honor of the 19 firefighters. The governor issued an executive order for flags to be lowered from Tuesday through sunset on Friday.

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Rep. Pearce

What is one to make of notoriously tight-fisted NM GOP Congressman Steve Pearce forking over nearly $20,000 in taxpayer money to take a junket to Egypt to visit NM National Guard members? It so runs against the grain of what Pearce preaches that reader Jeffrey Baker says Pearce has no choice but to reimburse the government:

The smartest thing Steve Pearce can do is to quickly write a check to the U.S. Treasury for the $19,525 airline ticket he bought with the taxpayer’s checkbook to fly to Cairo, and say, “sorry.” Otherwise, he’s just another politician who talks out of both sides of his mouth.

You nailed, it Jeff. Pearce is seen as having another easy race for re-election to his southern congressional seat, but his only challenger so far--political unknown and Dem Leslie Endean-Singh--has been handed a tasty entree of hypocrisy to kick off her '14 campaign.

The Egypt fiasco strikes at the very identity of Pearce as an authentic conservative voice with whom you may disagree but still respect.

Pearce has been in the front of the parade calling for drastic cuts in government spending. Now this? Steve, what were you thinking? And who was the travel agent that booked this whopper? Hope there are no complications there....

Pearce set off a tempest recently when he proposed that everyone getting unemployment benefits undergo a drug test. If he doesn't reimburse the government for his Egyptian extravagance a number of voters will want to put Pearce to the test. Best write that check, Steve.

EMAILGATE

The push continues for Governor Martinez to disclose travel records for that controversial 2011 Louisiana hunting trip taken by her husband Chuck Franco. On the NM public broadcasting program "In Focus," several journalists questioned the Governor's decision to fight disclosure. She says showing the records would compromise "security."

The panelists pointed out that the Martinez administration is now ducking transparency in the same manner she and the media criticized Dem Governor Bill Richardson for doing.

Franco was accompanied on his trip by two state policemen. The trip is controversial because two owners of the ABQ Downs racino live in Louisiana and the trip was taken at the time the Martinez administration was negotiating a racino lease for the Downs. The administration says the Downs owners did not provide lodging or food for the Franco hunting party, but without the records who provided what can't be verified.

One of the "In Focus" journalists sympathetic to the administration suggested that if the Governor is worried about security being compromised she could release records with the names of the hotels or private homes the party stayed at "blacked out."

No.

We must know where the Franco party stayed in order to determine if it had any direct or indirect bearing on the racino lease. Releasing only the expenses compiled by the state police officers won't do it. In fact, there are no "expense" records for the lodging because the Governor says the party was "privately hosted."

Why would we want "blacked out" records of a two year old trip that did not even involve the direct security of the Governor? The administration can end all of this with complete disclosure. What's the hang up?

GAY MARRIAGE VOTE?

Top Dem strategists are very wary of any effort to place on the 2014 ballot a measure that would ask voters to legalize gay marriage in New Mexico. They note that the issue still divides the state and that in a low turnout election it is likely that conservative voters will have more influence in the outcome.

They also fret that a larger conservative turnout because of a gay marriage amendment could endanger the slim hold the Democrats have on the state House of Representatives.

State Rep. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe, an attorney acting as a private citizen and in the aftermath of favorable US Supreme Court rulings toward gay marriage, has asked the NM Supreme Court to rule that such marriages are legal here. Keeping it in the courts keeps it off the ballot. Expect Dems to keep it that way.

Governor Martinez knows the score. She thinks it's a good idea to send the gay marriage issue to the voters next year--and no doubt it would also be a good idea for her re-election. But it would take a majority of the Dem-controlled Senate and House to place the amendment before voters so you can place that one in the "not gonna happen" category.

HOW LOW DID WE GO?

Pretty darn low when it comes to the collapse in construction jobs in the state since the onset of the recession:

The state’s peak came during the boom of 2006, and in June of that year New Mexico had 59,600 construction jobs. In May of this year, the total was 43,600--down 16,000, or 27 percent. New Mexico did gain 500 construction jobs last month and has been on a steady if modest gain for the year, adding 2,900 construction jobs since January as the housing market slowly continues its recovery in the Albuquerque area and other areas of the state.

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