Did southern Dem Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small indicate that she does not support the presidential candidacy of Bernie Sanders? In a statement to the AP Torres Small said she hasn't decided on supporting a candidate yet, but added:

I remain concerned by some of the policies the candidates have proposed, including a federal ban on fracking.

The fracking process has been key to making the SE Permian Basin one of the most productive oil fields in the world. Senator Sanders supports a ban on fracking, citing environmental concerns. Former VP Biden does not support a ban but wants it better regulated.

So did Torres Small signal support for Biden? Probably. She has steered away from the progressives since being elected in 2018 and faces a stiff conservative re-election challenge.

Torres Small is a "super delegate" to the Dem national convention who will cast a ballot if no nominee receives a majority on the first ballot. If you're a vote counter for Biden it appears you can safely put her in your column. How that would play for XTL with progressive Dems in important Dona Ana County is another question.

SLOW ROLLING

About the Monday blog citing two NM federal judge vacancies and whether filling them is being "slow rolled"  by the state's two senators waiting for the presidential election, an ABQ Legal Beagle writes:

Joe, the two greatest reasons for the local federal logjam in the criminal arena are: 

1. The unnecessary referrals by Bernalillo County District Raul Torrez. There are numerous cases referred that have little federal nexus. Then there is the decision to refer felon in possession of a firearm cases to federal court, many of which are completely non-violent and should be dealt with locally.

2. The local US Attorney, John Anderson, has orders from on high and insists that no plea deals be offered unless the highest charge in an indictment results in a conviction. This lack of flexibility results in more trials. Trials take a lot more time than plea agreements.'

Okay, but this is busy place filled with immigration and drug cases so add that to your list, Mr. Beagle.

Good insights from the Legal Beagles this week. Now we know.

BROADBAND BANTER

Readers write of our recent blogging of getting broadband to rural NM. JG writes:

In a few years, the current approaches to high-speed internet in sparsely populated areas will be obsolete, kinda like the current approach to public transport and especially Mayor Berry’s boondoggle ART. Take a look:

With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.

Well, let's hope so. Starlink is part of SpaceX.

Marcus Martin writes from Edgewood:

. . . You don't have to go to tribal lands to finds folks who need help. I live in the East Mountains and my neighborhood still has the same DSL from 20 years ago. Now there are signs that CenturyLink has no plans to improve the service and might even discontinue it. Given the rolling terrain, wireless is not currently an option for many of us (we still do not even have cell service down here in the Yrisarri area). From talking to folks here the consensus is that the only way anything will get better is if there is some government involvement to motivate CenturyLink to provide internet that works (I get 1.5 MBS on a good day, and I mean day, because in the evening it goes to almost zero for reasons that remain mysterious). If  you get any information about politicos in this area who care about the issue I would love to know about it. Already new folks cannot get onto the DSL out here and if the bigshots at CenturyLink decide to turn it off we will be in a very desperate situation.

FYI: GOP State Senator Jim White represents the Edgewood area.

John Badal, president of Sacred Wind Communications, writes:

Thank you for bringing more attention to the broadband needs of rural New Mexico. . . I share your frustration. Sacred Wind Communications, was created specifically to address the digital divide on the Navajo Nation and in other rural areas. We have been operating for 13 years and have succeeded in building a broadband network over a great expanse of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. More recently we have expanded broadband to several other rural communities in northwest New Mexico. We also signed a partnership agreement with Microsoft to extend broadband even further into Navajo Nation lands.

Our company is only one of 12 rural telecoms in the State that have been delivering higher broadband speeds to their customers. The greatest lack of broadband can be found in rural New Mexico where those rural telecoms do not operate, and it is those areas that have been the targets of federal and state broadband programs. Those programs have helped to support the creation or growth of broadband operated by a few tribes and other smaller fiber and mobile wireless companies. . . The NM Public Regulation Commission manages a $5 million annual broadband fund to provide broadband to underserved areas and the NM Department of Information Technology has just implemented a Broadband Improvement Grant program targeting specific underserved areas.

As you express, the need in much of rural New Mexico is great and immediate, and what is most needed is a concerted plan to fill in all the gaps within a 3-5 year time period. While money is a critical element , there are additional challenges. Particularly, acquiring rights of way across multiple federal and state jurisdictions. This issue is being addressed in the federal legislation that you referenced in your blog, but the issue needs to be managed here at home. Some progress is being made in expanding broadband to rural New Mexico and I am hopeful our Governor will lead an effort to achieve throughout the State what we and others have accomplished in our little corners of the world.

We did not know about the Microsoft agreement, a company we mentioned on the blog as a possible partner to help get broadband to rural ares. Glad to see that and hope, as you do, that the Governor will lead a statewide effort to provide all rural areas high speed Internet service.

BILL FULGINITI

NM House Appropriations Committee Chair Patricia Lundstrom notes the passing last week of 78 year old Bill Fulginiti, the longtime director of the NM Municipal League

New Mexico lost a giant in public service last week. Bill Fulginiti, director of the Municipal League for more than 40 years, was a big guy whose presence was felt every time he entered a room. But, more significantly, his absence will be felt throughout the state. . . He was, according to others who walk the corridors of the Roundhouse, a “force to be reckoned with,” whose endorsement or dismissal of a bill could make or break legislation. But he was also known for his honesty and integrity, his willingness to work with “newbies” to help them understand the process and the policy, and the hundreds of meatball subs he and his wife, Pat, made for legislative staff every session.

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We may yet see the Democratic presidential campaign unexpectedly land in the Land of Enchantment.

Everything was supposed to be settled by the time our state's June 2 primary rolled around but last night's Super Tuesday results were indecisive enough for the politicos to take a second look at the primary where 40 delegates will be selected to the party's national convention.

29 of those delegates will be decided by the popular vote. 12 are "super delegates" that include party officials and the state's congressional delegation. 40 delegates may not sound like much but with Sanders and Biden looking as if they may take the race down to the wire, every delegate would matter.

Biden would also certainly get the backing of the state's five congressional Dems who they will see as the safer choice.

In the only polling done for the primary--back in January--Sanders and Biden were running neck and neck here, with Sanders getting 28 to Bernie's 27 in an Emerson survey.

A Biden-Sanders face-off will remind Dems here of the Clinton-Sanders '16 primary which sharply divided the party. Clinton won narrowly--51.53% to 48.47%

Just a week ago it appeared Sanders was steamrolling toward the nomination with Biden a has been.. How quickly the worm can turn which reminds all that politics is an art not a science.

BROADBAND BEAT

The maddeningly slow pace of getting high speed internet to the vast majority of rural New Mexican homes--especially those on the Navajo Reservation--hit home again as it was announced that the state and Plateau Communications are partnering with Exxon-Mobil in a $5 million plan that will spread high speed broadband in the oil rich Permian Basin in Eddy and Lea counties where big money is being made.

And get this. They expect the broadened to be up and running in a matter of months not years--in August.

If the state can so easily partner in oil country, can't they find suitable partners to do the same in the rural but much poorer areas? What about Exxon? Amazon? Microsoft? Facebook? Wouldn't these ultra wealthy companies be proud to help extend vital Internet serve to Native Americans and others? And also be pleased with the deserved PR bonanza?

The Governor said of the Exxon partnership:

My administration is always seeking out additional mechanisms to leverage public and private resources for the maximum benefit to New Mexicans.

Great. So how about setting a specific date for wiring 90 percent of the state's rural homes with high speed service which is essential to improving education and living standards? Can Chief of Staff John Bingaman or someone on the Fourth Floor get on the horn to corporate America and get a deal?

Meanwhile the plodding pace goes on and there is some news. NM's Sacred Wind Communications says:

Sacred Wind Communications completed the first-ever broadband fiber-to-the-home project to Navajo homes within a Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) development in the Huerfano Chapter.  Reaching the more sparsely populated areas over a network of fixed wireless towers, Sacred Wind has provided. . . broadband. . .  to Navajo homes wirelessly and has now begun to deploy fiber optic cable to replace copper cable within the housing developments managed by the NHA and HUD. . . “In more rural areas of the country,” said John Badal, CEO of Sacred Wind, “using a mix of technologies is key to delivering broadband to everyone. Fiber-to-the-home only makes economic sense in the more densely populated areas, which, on Navajo Lands, are largely within NHA developments.”

And from DC:

Sen Tom Udall (D-NM), along with Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Bridging the Tribal Digital Divide Act of 2020 to accelerate the deployment of broadband services to Native communities. . .The bill would expedite the deployment of affordable broadband on Tribal lands by improving the effectiveness of federal resources. According to the FCC, less than half of households on Tribal lands have access to fixed broadband. This represents a nearly 27-point gap compared to non-Tribal rural areas. This gap only widens when compared to the country-wide average. In 2018, the FCC estimated that 35 percent of Americans living on Tribal lands lacked access to broadband services, compared to eight percent of all Americans.

How about some big ideas with a big budget to get the job fully done and a firm timetable? Isn't 20 years long enough?

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Here comes the judge! Well, not so quickly in federal court in New Mexico. A judicial insider provides insight on why we still have a federal judge shortage, even as the big caseload "drowns" the system. Are New Mexico's two US Senators "slow-rolling" the appointment of new judges? Read on. . .

The District of New Mexico is historically among the busiest federal district courts in the country, in large part because of the high number of drug and immigration cases, and the Bernalillo County District Attorney has been increasingly referring criminal cases for federal, instead of state, prosecution. “We’re drowning" is how in September U.S District Judge Martha Vasquez described the heavy caseload and judge vacancies.

Unfortunately, in the five months since then, nothing much has changed. At that time there were three judicial vacancies. The President had nominated Judge Kea Riggs of Roswell for an Albuquerque vacancy, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Sweazea for a Las Cruces vacancy. The third vacancy, in Albuquerque, was still in the application process. Judge Riggs assumed office on December 31st, which now leaves two judicial vacancies here. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts considers these vacancies a “judicial emergency.”

The second nominee, Sweazea, has since withdrawn his name from consideration after receiving a phone call from Senator Tom Udall’s office informing him that New Mexico’s two senators would no longer support his nomination—despite having submitted Sweazea’s name to the President on their approved list of potential nominees.

So, that leaves New Mexico—one of the busiest U.S. District courts in the country—two judges down and in the middle of a “judicial emergency.” And because of the secretive and confusing nature of federal judicial appointments, the citizens of New Mexico are left in the dark with no real way of getting a straight answer on what is being done to get us out of this emergency. There are only two people in this state that hold the answers: Senators Udall and Martin Heinrich.

Our two Senators have been engaged in an application process for the Albuquerque vacancy since May 6th of last year and presumably have developed a list of names, but have yet to send the names to the President. The application process for the other vacancy—the Las Cruces vacancy, following Sweazea’s withdrawal—is likely back at square one. 

Because there are no Republicans involved in the process, and because the general public typically has limited knowledge on what goes into the nomination process, Senators Udall and Heinrich are able to slow-roll this nomination process—likely in an effort to hold the two vacancies open for the next year with the expectation that there will be a new Democratic president—without answering why they are putting politics over the safety of our communities and placing party loyalty over helping a drowning U.S. District Court.

I urge you to reach out to the Senators’ offices to find out where the application process stands and I also urge you to ask point blank if the Senators intend to hold the judicial vacancies open until next year—through delay or otherwise—at which time, the process would have to begin anew, and the people of our state would have to continue to live with a “judicial emergency/' New Mexicans deserve to know if our Senators are playing politics with our safety and with our future. 

Interesting and important insights there. Okay, Senators Udall and  Heinrich, why shouldn't you be taken to the woodshed over this? Inquiring minds want to know.

THE APD FADE

Geier and Keller (Journal)

What's with all the unanswered questions surrounding the many murders in ABQ? That's the question this Senior Alligator tackles:

Something is very wrong at APD and City Hall. Possible murders are faded by Mayor Keller and Chief Geier. Clearly they are afraid the murder numbers for 2019 are much higher than they originally reported. They waited until February 2020 to admit that 4 year old James Dunklee was murdered in December. Now we discover that 2 deaths (Adam Perry and Lawson Reeves) who were found dead in November are possibly murders too! And how many times will we see media reports of the murder victims families complaining that APD will not tell them anything, have not solved their case or that APD has arrested an innocent person? 

Albuquerque is falling apart because of crime and not one of our elected officials or chief of police are willing to answer hard questions about APD not doing it’s job to protect the citizens. APD's Homicide Unit has a horrible clearance rate. There are hundreds of APD cold cases that will never be worked. Keller and Geier need to be honest with the citizens. There is a problem at APD Homicide. Geier is going to walk away next year with a pension of over $150,000 per year! He should at least answer some tough questions before he leaves.

Where is the city council? They seem to be ghosts who “know nothing, do nothing and say nothing.” The media needs to start hounding them to do their damn jobs and start overseeing APD. 

The council should demand that Geier appear for questions at the next council meeting and demand to know why Geier ignored the Civilian Oversight Commission recommendation to terminate PIO Simon Drobik. 

--Demand to know why Geier has not opened an investigation into the false arrest of Gisele Estrada (the 17 year old falsely accused of murder)? 

--Demand to know why the Dunklee murder wasn’t reported as a murder until 3 months later? 

--Demand to know what the status is of the Perry and Reeves deaths and why APD won’t release information? 

--Demand to know why the death at 219 Utah NE (November 2019) was not investigated as a murder and why Chief Geier and his staff were consulted before the decision not to make it a murder investigation was done? 

--Demand to know why APD  won't allow BCSO and NMSP to assist in murder investigations? 

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Here in sharp relief is the immense rural-city divide that represents the New Mexico politics of our time.

The counties colored red have approved "Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions which "prohibit the enforcement of certain gun control measures perceived as violative of the Second Amendment such as universal gun background checks, assault weapon bans and red flag laws."

A novice looking at that map might easily infer that New Mexico is a deep Red state. Of course, the reality is the opposite--NM has gone deep Blue with all executive offices, the legislature and the state's congressional delegation controlled by Democrats.

While 27 of the 33 counties have approved the sanctuary resolution, five counties have not, and therein lies the rub (Los Alamos County not pictured did not pass a resolution).

Those five counties, Bernalillo, Dona Ana, Santa Fe, Taos, Los Alamos and San Miguel. have a population of of 1,126,000 (according to July 1, 2019 Census estimates). That is 53 percent of the state's estimated population of 2.1 million.

This is a deeply frustrating map for anti-gun control advocates as well as the Republican Party which supports their cause. It clearly shows why the Red Flag gun law was approved by the legislature this session. No doubt the matter will head to court to determine the legality of the resolutions and also if a county sheriff refuses to enforce the new law.

Rural New Mexico has been slammed this century by anemic economic conditions and an inexorable population move to the cities here and out of state. That trend shows no signs of abating. The state's Blue standing seems likely to stay as national Republicans have announced no plans to target the open US Senate seat or seriously contest the presidential race (although Trump, as he did for a short while in 2016, continues to tease the prospect of vying for NM).

One thing this map probably doesn't mean, however, is that MLG and the legislature will aggressively pursue more restrictive gun laws. They have passed backed background checks for gun buyers and the Red Flag law that have enraged tens of thousands. While the new laws command strong majorities in the cities, rural New Mexico has been good at provoking intense opposition that could impact voter turnout and make life uncomfortable for Democrats in legislative districts they control only narrowly.

That's some comfort for the Second Amendment crowd but when it comes to gun control the horse has left the barn. While that horse roams the meadows of only a narrow patch of New Mexico that's where the political power resides.

DEFENDING XOCH

Reader Stan Fitch reacts to the news that southern Dem Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small is leaving the door open to placing a high level nuclear waste disposal site in Lea County in SE NM:

Please mark me down as one of the Democrats who supports the approach of  Rep. Torres Small relative to the interim nuclear waste storage facility proposed for southeast New Mexico. Science and the scientific method should always be used to inform policy, not the other way around. I am confident that renowned Democrat Harold Runnels, who served his constituency well as congressman of the second congressional district years ago, would agree with the approach of Torres Small. Otherwise  if we allow superstition and hysteria to rule policy, society will take a significant step back, not forward.

The rest of the Democrats in the state's congressional delegation oppose the Holtec nuclear project.

As for Runnels, he was a conservative Dem who represented the southern district in the US House for ten years. He died in 1980.

CLAIRE'S AD

Comments from southern GOP congressional hopeful Claire Chase draw fire from reader Richard Flores:

She is saying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Xochitl Torres-Small and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are "career politicians." Granted, Nancy Pelosi is a career politician in the same way that Steve Pearce is a career politician and former Senator Pete Dominici was a career politician. But, putting Xochitl and Alexandria in the same category is nonsense. Using the same criteria, and in the very unlikely event that Claire Chase wins the southern district, would Claire Chase also qualify as a career politician while serving in her first term?

Chase is opposed for the GOP nomination by former State Rep. Yvette Herrell and Las Cruces businessman Chris Mathys.

THE BOTTOM LINES

Attorney Kerry Kiernan has dropped out of the race for the Dem nomination for the seat held by Shammara Henderson who was appointed to it recently by MLG. Attorney Jane Yohalem is apparently still in the race.

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