The torrent of criticism that has rained down on the Martinez administration over what we've dubbed the shadow government" has her giving a bit of ground. She came with a directive that state employees use only state email when conducting state business. This after the uproar over her, her political advisor Jay McCleskey and other top officials for using their Susana PAC email accounts to conduct state business, apparently to avoid public scrutiny. But even as she was trying to tamp down the flames of this scandal, it was revealed that a former cabinet secretary said under oath that Martinez's chief of staff told her and other cabinet secretaries to communicate state business with him by private email so they could avoid public records requests. (More below).

While her directive gets at the abuse of email, it does not get into the role of McCleksey and other outside political figures in her administration and how much state business in the administration's first 18 months has been conducted via private email. That saga goes under the heading "to be continued."

Here's a look at Martinez's directive:

I am directing all state employees under the governor's authority to utilize official state email when conducting state business via email. This includes discussions preliminary in nature to final decisions or actions that have occasionally been sent via personal email because they are not required to be maintained under state law. There is no state law that requires this to be done, but utilizing only state email to conduct state business in connection with public employees' duties is another important step to ensure continued confidence in government....

This directive goes beyond what has been required or practiced in the past..In addition, given that numerous other public officials, including legislators, discuss public matters on personal email addresses, I am urging the Legislature, other executive branch agencies, and local governments and municipalities to also adopt a similar policy that requires official email to be used when conducting state business and retained according to state regulations...

So we have the Guv coming clean on subrosa emailing, but still hanging out there is what other business--besides what already has been disclosed--has been conducted in the past 18 months via Susana PAC email or other private accounts and just what was that business? One wag joked, "They were busy pushing the "delete" buttons in Santa Fe over the weekend." Expect more news on this very soon. In fact, news is breaking today.

Lupe Martinez, the former corrections secretary, says in a court deposition that at a cabinet meeting "Keith Gardner told the cabinet secretaries, Governor and others in attendance to, whenever possible, use our private emails when communicating because by doing such would prevent them from being discovered through public records requests."

Martinez says she communicated numerous times with Gardner via private email.

Martinez was forced to resign as corrections secretary last September amid several controversies,but her statement regarding the administration's email policy should be able to verify or shoot down since she says it was made before multiple cabinet secretaries. The Guv's office told the New Mexican Lupe is lying:

"Her statement is simply false, and she knows it...And it's being peddled by a partisan attorney looking to bolster a termination appeal of her fired boyfriend."

If Lupe's charges are true, it will be yet another blow to Martinez's claim of being a "reform" Governor and one who would set new records for open and transparent government.

MORE EMAILS TO SURFACE

We have seen emails from Gardner and deputy chief of staff Ryan Cangiolosi discussing state business via email but using yahoo.com email addresses--not their state email accounts. Ryan Cangiolosi used "rmkcang@yahoo.com" and Keith Gardner used "gardners90@yahoo.com."

Also, an ABQ TV news source says he expects about 1,000 emails from Susana PAC accounts to become public soon and that some of them will deal with state business.

Now attention is on Attorney General Gary King and how aggressive he will be in pursuing the scandal. He has subpoena power if he thinks a violation of the law has occurred. He is also, by the way, talking about seeking the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

The Dems are pouncing, as one would expect. From the party HQ:

Today's Executive Order--issued only after she was very publicly busted--never addresses the business that has already been done outside of the reach of the public eye. For a year and a half, Jay McCleskey has been using the Governor's office as a political operation. No one voted for McCleskey, and he's not accountable for his job to anyone but the wealthy Republican donors who pay his hefty salary at Susana PAC. New Mexicans have no idea just how far his influence goes and they deserve answers. "Every indicator says the Public Education Department isn't the only department that was hijacked by the Martinez/McCleskey political operation, and today's Executive Order doesn't change the fact that for a year and a half Martinez and McCleskey were operating a shadow government in Santa Fe...We're calling on Susana Martinez to come clean with New Mexico: What other departments has your "senior advisor" been using for political purposes?"

That executive order resulted, in part, from a meeting the Governor had with the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (NMFOG). My top political sources say it was tense and took place in ABQ on Saturday. We are told among those in attendance were Matt Stackpole, Martinez's assistant general counsel, Kent Walz, editor of the ABQ Journal, Gywneth Doland, director of NMFOG, attorney Charles Piefer and Terri Cole of the ABQ Chamber of Commerce. Walz, Piefer and Cole all serve on the executive committee of NMFOG whose history is closely tied to the ABQ Journal. The meeting is said to have ended without much progress but then late Monday Martinez came with the directive on state employee use of private email accounts.

THE READERS WRITE

Quite a bit of reader reaction to our in-depth Monday blog where we laid out the connections of what we refer to as the "Shadow Government" in Santa Fe. Lets go straight to the email bag:

A reader writes:

Joe: Regarding your Monday blog: Wow. You are right on target. You are so right about the shadow government. (Political advisor) Jay McCleskey and (lawyer/lobbyist) Mickey Barnett have been running this administration from day one. Susana and her folks could make Big Bill blush. We feel that McCleskey, Barnett and the rest...take advantage of Susana and her lack of knowledge of Santa Fe politics. She is in so over her head and they know it. 

The one thing that bothers us and should bother the rest of New Mexico is that the Governor and her Chief of Staff Keith Gardner were kept in the loop from the very beginning and never once told McCleskey, Larry Behrens or Hanna Skandera to stop doing this, and if they are going to conduct state business to do it using state computers and email, which in my mind makes them (the Governor's offfice) just as guilty. 
 
If Susana continues to be a part of this underhanded business the Romney campaign may do the same to her as Obama did to Big Bill and drop any thoughts of her being  a part of the Romney administration. Its pretty sad that she isn't even halfway through her administration and the wheels are beginning to wobble badly.

Reader Stephanie L. DuBois writes:

Joe, What about the list of schools with union contracts that the Governor's operatives requested from the Public Education Department? And the list of teachers with their e-mails? Do teachers have any rights? A right to privacy on their personal information? I would guess this was a move to bust the teacher's unions. 

This "shadow government"  spying on teachers smacks of "McCarthyism." What is this administration going to do with the info acuqired? "Out" teachers that are union members? Or pressure those who are not union members to bust the unions? This is government at its worst. I thought Governor Martinez ran on rooting out corruption and making her administration the most transparent... 

AND MORE MAIL

From Philip in California, we get this:

McCleskeygate? Emailgate? SusanaIsToastGate? Whatever.  Any hope Susana had of being on the Romney ticket is gone--though there probably wasn’t much anyway.

From blog reader and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima:

Good Morning Joe, I just want to tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog, Monday through Friday. I especially appreciate the accuracy and fairness in your articles. Very impressive! Great Job! Regards, Ken Miyagishima

Thanks for that note, Ken. You don't last around here if you don't do your best to get it right. On this email scandal story, we don't know where it goes, but we feel we've done our job in laying out the connections and framing what is at stake.

And look at the way the Mayor signs off his email. You think he's been following the email scandal in Santa Fe closely? 

For city correspondence: Please use: mayor@las-cruces.org; For personal matters: Please use: miyagi@zianet.com

THIS BLOG

Reader Jon Hendry, president of the NM Federation of Labor, writes:

As an avid reader of your column, Monday's edition was the most insightful and informative that I’ve ever read. Not only good commentary but good journalism. Thank you for greatly adding to the discourse. Jon

Thanks much for that, Jon. It's good to know we can still hit a nerve once in a while.

Some of our critics like to forget that we started in journalism in the early 70's. One of our professors was a producer for the NBC evening news and one of our academic advisors was the famous author Tony Hillerman, who started as a news reporter and gave us a number of critiques of stories we wrote for the UNM Daily Lobo. We are also a winner of the Associated Press Spot News Award, have contributed news reports to CBS, NBC and the AP and served as a radio news director for several major ABQ radio stations.

We've hosted radio and TV talk shows, covered sporting events and done public relations for congress and mayors. We were once the assignment editor for the local CBS affiliate here and continue to anchor the longest running Election Night program in the state (on KANW-FM). We also continue to contribute to a variety of national media, striving to be both fair and penetrating in our analysis.

Today, as we near nine years of non-stop blogging of New Mexico politics, we mix our journalism with blogging, analysis, context and perspective...and sometimes our own opinion. We've been around newsrooms since before we shaved and we've worked with the best. So when the politicos (and even a couple of (jealous?) "journalists") start beating up on us for not doing it their way, we take it with a smile and the proverbial grain of salt. In short, we're darn proud most days of what we do, or we wouldn't be doing it. We believe we bring to bear on the news of the day deep and meaningful experience not only in journalism, politics and public relations, but in that all important school of life. In other words, we've been humbled along the way and made enough mistakes to have learned a thing or two.

LAY OF THE LAND

The NYT comes with an in-depth look at why New Mexico has gone from swing state to a safe Obama enclave. It includes quotes from two UNM poly sci professors.

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Dan Lewis
What a 60th birthday gift for Janice Arnold Jones. As she celebrated her birthday today, the ABQ congressional hopeful received the news that her chief rival for the Republican nomination is getting out of the race. We broke the news to the state via our Twitter account Tuesday morning. Here's the story....

Dan Lewis announced today he is out of the race for the GOP nomination for the ABQ congressional seat, paving the way for the June nomination of former ABQ State Representative Janice Arnold Jones who trounced Lewis at Saturday's preprimary convention. She garnered about 63% of the delegate support to Lewis' 34 per cent. Retired Army Seargent Gary Smith received four percent.

In getting out Lewis said he did not want to "split the party," the same reasoning Lt. Governor John Sanchez gave when he recently gave up his challenge of GOP US Senate candidate Heather Wilson. Lewis said he is not endorsing Arnold Jones because the ABQ primary is still contested.

Here is his complete withdrawal statement. 

Lewis, an ABQ west side city councilor, has had trouble putting his campaign together. He began with political consultant Doug Antoon, but when he left the campaign he never did hire a campaign manager. His fund-raising was also anemic. At the end of the year he only had $102,000 banked. But Arnold-Jones has been even more challenged in the fund-raising department, She showed only $20,000 in cash on hand at the end of the year. But that is all about to change as R's pull out their wallets to give her a push toward November.

The withdrawal of Lewis means a bloody, internecine battle between Janice and Dan is avoided and the R's can prepare for the fall battle. It also denotes that while the hard-right of the Republican Party talks a tough game their candidates have proven to be only electable in southern New Mexico.

Lewis, a pastor, tangled with 2010 ABQ GOP congressional hopeful Jon Barela and also split with ABQ GOP Mayor RJ Berry on a number of occasions. That tarnished his conservative credentials in some quarters and was seen as a factor in his decisive defeat at the preprimary.

The rush to Arnold-Jones is seen as a play by the R's to bolster the chances of GOP US Senate hopeful Heather Wilson. She needs a good ABQ area performance and the presence of Arnold-Jones on the ticket is seen as drawing conservative Dems and independents to the R side. They also see Arnold Jones as the best bet against liberal Dem State Senator Eric Griego, the current front-runner for the Dem nomination, believing that the ABQ district, despite becoming more blue in recent years, still desires a moderate congressional representative.

But Arnold Jones is not popular with the conservative Republican base. Her refusal to endorse the death penalty is especially problematic with them and her reaching across the aisle to Dems in Santa Fe has also drawn critics from the conservative column.

Arnold Jones looks good on paper, but her lackluster performance when she sought the 2010 GOP Guv nomination haunts her. She only managed to win 3% of the vote. Still, the Lewis withdrawal catapults Arnold Jones to the highest political plateau of her political career. Smith says he will stay in the race and get on the June ballot by collecting extra nominating petitions, but the party is quickly closing ranks behind Janice and she will be the prohibitive front-runner.

The ABQ congressional seat went Dem for the first time in its history in 2008 when Dem Martin Heinrich was swept in with the Obama landslide. He narrowly won re-election in 2010 and is now leaving the House to seek the open US Senate seat. We have the ABQ seat ranked as "likely Dem."

SUSANA AND HECTOR--2014?
Shades of 2014? (Capitol Report photo)
Is this photo of Republican Governor Susana Martinez and Democratic State Auditor Hector Balderas a glimpse of what we will see come the 2014 New Mexico's Governor's race? Never mind that the two were holding a news conference Monday to talk about a possible state government takeover of scandal-plagued Sunland Park. The politicos were rarin' to go, speculating that if Hector comes up short in his current bid for the Dem US Senate nomination against Rep. Martin Heinrich, he could start hatching plans for a '14 Guv run against Susana. And why not? There's not exactly a line forming of well-known and well-liked Dem candidates.

We note that Susana and Hector held the news conference outside of the Guv's office, not in the traditional room with the big roundtable and voters are used to seeing their Governors hold forth. "Don't you get any ideas," Susana may have been thinking about Hector.

Both elected officials, however, might have to work on their decisiveness. They said it's too soon for the state to intervene in Sunland Park, even though top officials in the border city are under indictment and the whole scandal reads like a Third-World political novel.

ISN'T THAT SPECIAL?

Call us sentimental for a bygone era but we found the rare bipartisanship that the photo of Martinez and Balderas represents refreshing. We find this Governor especially cagey when it comes to posing with anyone of the opposite political persuasion. Maybe now that she's done it with Hector she will find it doesn't hurt very much--and that it will benefit her politically as she looks to her 2014 re-election.

One other thing. Does Martinez posing with Balderas give him a boost against front-runner Martin Heinrich in that Senate Dem primary? Well, if it does, Susana isn't complaining.

LAST CALL

It's last call for the 112 New Mexico state House and Senate seats. Today is the official filing day for Primary Election 2012. Most of the key players and races are known by now, but everyone is on the look out for a filing day surprise or two.

We've had quite the exodus from the Legislature this cycle, as the AP reports:

The New Mexico Legislature is poised for its most dramatic facelift in two decades as near record numbers of  House and Senate members have decided to retire or seek another office. All 112 seats in the Legislature are up for election this year and 17 lawmakers have announced they're not running for another term..

In case you missed it, here again is our unofficial slogan for the new Santa Fe:  "It just isn't fun anymore."

How could it be? The bull market days of an overflowing state treasury are gone, the Republican Governor and Dem Legislature fight with each other constantly, nothing gets passed and there are a lot fewer lobbyist parties being thrown for the disgruntled lawmakers.

Still, the show must go on--or in this case---the government. It's just going about its business in much smaller ways---and with much smaller thinking.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver says many of the state legislative candidates from this area are required to file with her office. You can monitor who is filing today via the clerk's website.

OTHER OFFICES

It's not just filing day for the legislative seats but also county commission hopefuls, district attorney candidates, Public Regulation Commission contenders and more. One tidbit for you. GOP Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Wiener--who owns more than his share of controversial headlines--will draw a primary challenge from Republican businessman Lonnie Talbert, a former president of the ABQ Chamber of Commerce. Add that one to your "races to watch" list.

DA DOINGS

We've told you about the heated race developing between Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and Jennifer Romero, a former public defender who is challenging her for the Dem nomination as Kari seeks a fourth, four year term. But who will the winner of that primary face in November? The R's say they have a name. He is Chris Sturgess who has worked with the state public defender's office. The R's are busy rounding up last minute petition signatures to file today so  Sturgess will be on the primary ballot come June 5.

SMITH WATCH

Amid speculation that he would quit his campaign for the ABQ GOP US House nomination after failing to score the needed 20% delegate support at the state preprimary convention, the campaign of retired Army Seargent Gary Smith says he has suspended his advertising. However, the campaign adds that at this time he intends to go forward with his candidacy. A spokesman say he first wants to secure the extra petition signatures he needs to get a spot on the June 5 primary ballot. No candidate has ever won the primary after being denied a ballot position at a preprimary.

THE BETTING LINE

The very early betting line from the Senior Alligator crowd has the Dems picking up a couple of seats in the state House in November and putting an end to talk of a GOP takeover. Overall, they say the recent legislative redistricting is not going to be as much of a problem for the Dems in a high turnout presidential election year. However, that could change in the low turnout year of 2014. It's early so the betting line is subject to change.

DEAD ZONE

Is ABQ a jobs dead zone or what? Has anything of any size--outside of the Lowe's call center--come in here the past several years? Nope. And you hear zip about it from the city's economic development department, the city councilors or the mayor. We've seen more life in roadkill in Tucumcari than in the ABQ job market. Just sayin'.

It is absurd to hear some corners tell us not to fret about possible forthcoming federal budget cuts that would wreak havoc with the state economy They advise us to bring in new jobs to replace the high-paying fed positions and contractor money that would be lost in as the federal hatchet fell. The problem? They don't tell us how long we would have to wait for those wonderful new jobs. We want them as bad as anyone and believe our private sector can get it done--but eventually not overnight.

No, the short-term answer is clear as the starry sky on a summer night in the New Mexico mountains.New Mexico must fight to keep the federal funding it has while it goes about the very long term business of diversification. Our congressional delegation must muscle up. Our state's core national security mission--which founded the modern day economy here during WWII--has to be explained and defended. Otherwise, the economic rug is going to be pulled from underneath us and this state is going to be sent reeling backwards. The long unwinding may have already begun with the Los Alamos cutbacks.

Let's not kid ourselves. If the federal budget cuts are here to stay, some states will suffer more than others. States with congressional representation that is savvy, committed, has seniorit and is in fighting shape are going to get more. But if you keep telling Washington that you don't care about the spending cuts, that you can replace all that federal money with dreamed of private business, guess what? You're gonna get cut.

What this state needs in the here and now is not a fantastical new economic paradigm, but a Dennis Chavez, a Clinton Anderson or a Pete Domenici. Call us when you see one.

BLACK GOLD

In blogging of Obama's planned visit to Carlsbad tomorrow, we pointed out how the state's small population counties--like Eddy County--contribute a huge share of state revenues via royalties on energy production. That brought this quick retort from former ABQ mayor and state land commissioner Jim Baca who never misses an opportunity spar with the oil and gas crowd:


Those oil royalties paid in Eddy County are paid because the state and feds own the oil. It is our share of the take. The oil boys always say they pay for everything when in fact they are just paying for a product that is not owned by them.  It is owned by the State Land Office which funds education or by the Bureau of Land Management which then turns around and gives a portion of its royalties to the state as payment in lieu of taxes.

True enough, but the oil and gas industry does do the exploration and risk-taking to get the oil and gas out of the ground--no matter where it is.

BUST OF THE MONTH

Lt. Governor John Sanchez, you are so busted!

Sanchez spoke (at Saturday's GOP preprimary convention) of the pride he felt as an 18-year-old when he voted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. The curious part is that every record we have checked shows that Sanchez was born on Jan. 11, 1963. Therefore, he would not have reached the legal voting age of 18 until 1981--two months after Reagan's election. Sanchez could be older than his stated age of 49, meaning various biographical data and public records about him are incorrect.

Is John vain and fudging about his age? Or did he (someone warm up the black helicopters) vote illegally for Ronald Reagan? Ye gads!  Say it ain't so, John. And what about your driver's license, John? You got the right birth date on it? An illegal driver's license? Susana, pull this guy over....

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Schmidly
The downward spiral of the leadership of the University of New Mexico has accelerated with allegations of bid-rigging and nepotism for the $60 million Pit remodeling, and that gives new Governor Martinez an even stronger hand to push for a change in stewardship at UNM. If criminal investigations result, it will only intensify public clamor for the Governor and Regents to move.

Politically embattled and physically ailing President David Schmidly is hanging on by a thread. His tenure has been marked by the worst instincts of the Richardson administration. Much of UNM became politicized, packed with Bill's buddies. The athletic department also spun completely out of control and is another nest that UNM boosters will want the next president to clean out.

And now this direct hit on the President's office.

Martinez has several openings to fill on the UNM Regents and that can be her gateway to point UNM in a new direction. The Regents pick the president. But Martinez will be pressured to depoliticize. That means encouraging the pick of a clearly nonpolitical president and then getting out of the way as Governors did before Richardson. If she simply starts packing the place with her own political cronies, the school will continue to suffer.

One thing is certain. The bid-rigging scandal has given Governor Martinez even more of a mandate to get involved in UNM's future.

DEMANDING ACTION

One of those who challenged Martinez for the Guv's office, Allen Weh, hit the email circuit with a call for action on UNM:



Some reaction to the rumor mill that Wilson is a possible for the presidency if she does not pursue the US Senate seat held by Democrat Jeff Bingaman. Some readers asked if Heather holds a Ph.D, usually a requirement to become UNM prez. Yes, she does. Her doctorate is in international relations from the prestigious Oxford University in England.

Meanwhile, here's the latest from Schmidly on his health. He returned to campus this week after a months-long absence to receive medical treatment for cancer, according to media reports. Schmidly said:

My doctors cleared me to return to work…which has been my wish for the New Year...Needless to say, I am looking forward to returning to the President’s office and my duties.


And we have a new Speaker of the House -- Ohio Congressman John Boehner. ... His new slogan? 'Four more tears.'

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