Thursday, April 02, 2020La Politica Potpourri: A Remote Legislature, Keeping Your Distance, A Dicey Decision, Another Doc Runs And The Dineobellator The coronavirus outbreak presents significant challenges to legislative action that may be necessary at a time when state and national public health directives call for limitations on mass gatherings and observance of social distancing. On one hand, the Constitution of New Mexico does not provide the framework that allows other states to conduct sessions without members physically present or outside the seat of government. On the other hand, the current public health emergency presents a situation not experienced in more than 100 years. Okay, LSC, thanks for something, but it appears we need a definitive answer from the Supreme Court. If Internet sessions are not allowed, the Legislature could consider placing a constitutional amendment before the voters this November allowing for such meetings in the event of future emergencies. By the way, state Sen. John Arthur Smith said Tuesday "late June" is the date he discussed with the Governor for the special session that is needed because of the coronavirus/oil price crisis. QUESTION ANSWERED Our Wednesday question was answered. Automated Election Services in Rio Rancho, which used to be Ink Impressions has the state contract to print ballots and would be the vendor for any all mail election that was decided for the June 2 primary. The company has done all mail election for APS and CNM. Ernie Marques is the elections director for the firm. There are no lobbyists listed for the company on the SOS site. The matter of an all mail election is before the NM Suprme Court, KEEPING DISTANCE Reader Alton Donnell comes with reaction to that social distancing map that was used at MLG's news conference and showed many rural areas of New Mexico getting a failing grade: Joe, A very casual look at the scoreboard appears to be biased against low population density areas. Initially, they put how far you traveled into the score. Hmm. Now they’ve added a grade for how much the distance you travel has changed. Also, hmm. If they really used just cell phone data, they should be able to exclude immediate family (in your house) and come up with a real measure. A count of how many strangers you came within 6’ of. That map was done by a company called Unacast, headquartered in New York. HOPE HE'S WRONG New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, said at his daily briefing Wednesday: Cuomo warned that the current numbers show “it’s a New York problem today” but “tomorrow it’s a Kansas problem, a Texas problem, a New Mexico problem.” New Mexico reports six deaths from the virus and a total of 363 positive cases, as of Wednesday afternoon. KINDA DICEY? It seems dicey that the construction industry is exempted from the Guv's stay at home order and is deemed "essential" but the city of ABQ will take advantage of it: Mayor Keller focused Wednesday. . . on nearly $70 million in construction projects that the administration is initiating in the next six months. “Under the necessary public health guidelines, it’s important to keep the city running and build some sort of bulwark for recovery. That’s why the City and the local construction industry are teaming up to accelerate what construction projects we can to help prevent layoffs, take advantage of empty streets and buildings, and provide critical momentum toward long-term economic recovery from this serious crisis." ANOTHER DOC We blogged of the entry of Dr. Willie Orr into the Dem primary for the state House seat held by Marian Matthews in the ABQ NE Heights. And that brought this: I wanted to flag for you that the candidate I'm working with, Dr. Martin Hickey, is also an MD running for the NM Legislature. He's running in NE Heights Senate District 20 for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Bill Payne. Also on the medical beat, from DC: Senators Udall and Martin Heinrich announced that the recently-enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act will result it an estimated $250 million increase in federal Medicaid funding for New Mexico over a 12-month period to provide added relief to the state, which will face growing costs due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). NM can use it. MLG said this week she will be expanding Medicaid eligibility because of the virus crisis. THREE WAY RACE The NM GOP reports: In the GOP U.S. Senate race, Gavin Clarkson will now be on the ballot after he collected an additional 1,503 signatures. He’ll join Elisa Martinez and Mark Ronchetti, who both received more than the required 20% at the pre-primary convention. In the northern Dem congressional race, John Blair is getting an early start with this ad running on broadcast and cable. At this point the opponents of Teresa Leger Fernandez have to be hoping she makes a mistake, after she landlslided all of them at the March pre-primary convention. R's are running but this district is all D all the time. But you already knew that. . . THE DINEOBELLATOR  A new carnivorous feathered dinosaur, coyote-sized with razor-sharp teeth and claws, has been discovered in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin. The small but formidable predator called Dineobellator would have stalked these open floodplains 70 million years ago. And the modern day descendants of the Dineobellator are known today as political consultants. That's it for now, kids. Thanks for the company. Reporting from Albuquerque, I'm Joe Monahan and. . . This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019
Wednesday, April 01, 2020Even In A Health Crisis The Cities And Rural NM Part Ways, Plus: Slow The All Mail Primary Train? And: Oil And Gas Upset Over Rep. Ruiloba Court Defeat It seems the counties least likely to stay put are rural, mostly Republican counties while blue BernCo and much of the Dem north get an "A" grade" for staying hunkered down. Lincoln is the only county south of ABQ that gets a green A. It's yet another example of the sharp divide between the cities and rural counties that has come into sharper focus since the elections of Trump and MLG. The info is based on cellphone tracking and was released at the Governor's news conference Monday by Dr. David Scrase, Secretary of the Human Services Department. He said NM overall earns only a "C" grade for limiting the interpersonal mingling. MLG chastised the public that have been seen gathering in large numbers in big box store parking lots and other locales, saying: This is not safe for your family. It’s unfair to your neighbors. It’s unfair to every single New Mexican. Compliance in Dona Ana County falls short while big BernCo and Santa Fe make the grade. Some of it has to do with Las Cruces not being in the ABQ media market where the stay at home message is pounded home. The noncompliance in rural New Mexico can be seen as somewhat political. They did not vote for MLG and she gets her worst poll ratings there and Trump gets his best. But the coronavirus is nonpartisan and as Dr. Scrase warned, rural areas are far from exempt from its effects. SLOW DOWN MAGGIE? Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver was going to do her dardnest to avoid an all mail in election but now she's joined with county clerks in seeking an emergency order from the NM Supreme Court to go to an all mail election for the June 2 primary because of the coronavirus threat. Too fast? It does raise questions: Mailing hundreds of thousands of ballots to Dem and R primary voters and not getting a ton of returns? Can't the state cut down on the number of days early in-person voting is conducted as well as the number of Election Day precincts? Can't counties quickly hire some of the many young people thrown out of work because of the shutdown and let them replace older poll workers worried about going out? And how are we going to get mailed ballots to the many members of the Navajo Nation in short order? Many more questions will arise in this debate. Back to the return issue with the state GOP: The lawsuit exemplifies these mail-in ballot dangers as manifested in the 2019 Albuquerque Public Schools bond and mill levy election. In that local election, more than 53,000 mail-in ballots out of 121,454 were returned as undeliverable. The R's have filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court to stop any all mail election. Let NM think about this, Supremes and MTO, before you change precedent forever. Creative solutions are out there. Sometimes democracy is expensive and inconvenient. But it's worth it. ALLIGATOR ASKS? Joe, what company would get the contract for all those mail ballots the state would order if we went to all mail elections this year? Do they have a lobbyist? Answers go to: newsguy@yahoo.com RUILOBA RUlLING
Ruiloba should have followed the proper procedure. But (NM GOP Chairman) Pearce and (House Minority Leader) Townsend getting involved have guaranteed them the loss of a pro-life, pro-second amendment, pro-oil and gas vote, further jeopardizing their ability to get anything done at all with their phone booth caucus. You gotta love that Alligator angle. That's why we keep them well fed. Ruiloba confirms that he is appealing his removal from the ballot.There is no R running. Independents and write-ins have until June 25 to file petitions to get on the November ballot. MEDIA AND CORONAVIRUS KOB-TV hunkered down when asked to reveal which member of its staff had contracted the coronavirus, with the general manager telling employees in a memo: . . . As this virus moves through our community, I believe this will be a nonissue. But the critics demanded transparency and they got it this week when news reporter Chris Ramirez revealed that he had contracted the virus, probably while traveling to New York. Fortunately, he says he has recovered. See, that wasn't so hard, was it? THE BOTTOM LINES We interviewed with Santa Fe radio talk show host Richard Eeds Tuesday. Hmm. . . Wonder what there was to chat about? You can hear it here. Eeds also interviewed Senator John Arthur Smith, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, about his outlook for the state's finances. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020
Tuesday, March 31, 2020ABQ State Rep Ruled Off Ballot, GOP Rep. Powdrell-Culbert Also In Peril, Sen Ortiz y Pino Survives Challenge, Plus: In Person Primary Voting? Case Goes To NM Supremes
At the conclusion of this year's legislative session Republican State Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert said of the 2020 election: "We're declaring war!" But Powdrell-Culbert could become one of the first casualties of that rhetorical war. When all was said and done at a district court hearing Powdrell-Culbert, a fixture at the Roundhouse since 2003 representing a Sandoval County district, appeared to come up short in the number of valid petition signatures needed to be placed on the June 2 primary ballot. The judge did not rule immediately after the hearing, but the attorney for Democrat Gary Tripp, who is seeking the Powdrell Culbert seat, argued she did not have enough signatures because some of her petition forms did not list the number of her legislative district (44). After those signatures were disqualified she failed to have enough to make the ballot. The judge will make the decision, but petition gathering is now conducted under what's known as the "strict liability" standard that was set into law by the 2017 legislature and clearly enunciated by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. Also, the requirement of listing the district number is listed on the petition forms. If Powdrell fails to qualify for the ballot it won't be a free ride for Tripp, a former director of the NM Activities Association. Libertarian Jeremy Meyers is running and Republicans could rally around that candidacy to keep what has been a safe R district in their column. If not, the Dems could score a major coup, getting a seat they never expected to have. It was a similar story for Democratic Rep. Patricio Ruiloba of ABQ's South Valley. He failed to list his House district number (12) on his petition forms and the district court ruled he failed to qualify for the ballot. Political consultant Sisto Abeyta says Ruiloba told him he will appeal the ruling. Ruiloba's heavy Dem seat features no Republican candidate. However, write-in and independent candidates have until June 25 to file petitions to get on the ballot and someone most surely will. A further wrinkle is that a person filing an independent candidacy has to be registered as a "decline to state" voter since January 25. That makes it more difficult for the Dems to slip in a candidate to replace Ruiloba, but they'll work on it, Then there's veteran ABQ Dem Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino. His petition signatures were challenged by Republicans who claimed some signatures were not from valid voters but after the hearing the court found that Ortiz y Pino, who represents a downtown/ABQ Valley seat, had a sufficient number. He has held the heavy Dem seat since 2005. Republican Lisa Meyer-Hagen is running unopposed for the GOP nomination. MOVING TARGET  More than two dozen county clerks asked the state Supreme Court for an emergency order that would allow them to move to a mail-in election for the June 2 primary. The clerks said they otherwise face an impossible choice — putting voters’ and election workers’ lives at risk or violating their oath of office. “The state of New Mexico faces a public health emergency unprecedented in modern times,” the clerks said in an their emergency petition, An attorney for Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico’s chief election officer, also signed onto the petition. The 27 clerks — mostly Democrats but also including five Republicans — argued that poll workers are scared to work and that election sites, such as schools, are already closed with no plans to re-open. Canceling in-person voting would be a huge challenge and immediately raised questions about the impact it would have on Native Americans and others. ABQ Dem State Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto, the attorney who filed the petition, says the movement for an all-mail election came together over the weekend. Under the plan absentee ballot "service centers" would be established where voters could pick up and drop off their absentee ballots but where only disabled voters could cast ballots. The plan would be to mail absentee ballots to all registered voters. However, when that was done in the 2019 ABQ school bond election tens of thousands were returned because the addresses were wrong. The voters had moved. No one knows what health conditions will be mid-May when early in-person voting is scheduled, but the high court has a doozy of a case on its hands. We'll blog more about it in the days ahead. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019
Monday, March 30, 2020Turnout For Primary Could Take Deep Dive Because Of Virus Crisis, SOS Urges Absentee Voting But Election Day Vote Still On, Also: Candidate Fund-Raising Pitches Looks Out Of Position During Crisis More than two dozen of New Mexico’s county clerks asked the state Supreme Court on Monday for an emergency order that would allow them to move to a mail-in election for the June 2 primary.The clerks said they otherwise face an impossible choice — putting voters’ and election workers’ lives at risk or violating their oath of office. “The state of New Mexico faces a public health emergency unprecedented in modern times,” the clerks said in an their emergency petition, filed Monday. An attorney for Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico’s chief election officer, also signed onto the petition. The price of oil might not be the only thing crashing in New Mexico. The turnout for the June 2 primary election could also do a deep dive, according to a number of election watchers. The coronavirus crisis is pushing poltical news (and interest) to the back burner. Also, there is no spirited Dem presidential contest this year as there was in 2016 when Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton fought a close battle for the state that Clinton narrowly won and that bumped turnout. Throw in the fear that some voters have of going to the polls in the wake of the virus attack and the inability of candidates to have much personal contact with voters and you have a recipe for a low turnout. How low? in 2016, 214,000 voters were cast in the D prez contest. A 25 percent drop would take that to about 160,000. There is a competitive race for the Dem nomination for the northern congressional district so that could be the spot where turnout holds its own. Republican turnout is also expected to dip. In 2016, 104,000 voted in the R' spresidential primary, even though Donald Trump had locked up the nomination by the time the action got here. Still, former GOP Bernalillo County Commissioner and City Councilor Michael Wiener predicts the 2020 primary could see a record low percentage of R's going to the polls: There is not much to get them out. No presidential contest and most Republicans believe the US Senate race is a foregone conclusion, that Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (the Dem nominee) will easily win in November no matter who the R nominee is. I'm afraid the GOP Senate primary is being likened to the fattening up of a sacrificial lamb. However, Wiener says there could be a decent GOP turnout in the southern congressional race due to the competition for the GOP nomination between Yvette Herrell and Claire Chase. However, the crisis has made it difficult to garner any widespread attention and it is going to stay that way into May as the virus escalates and people remain preoccupied with the health threat. If turnout does indeed tumble, who benefits? Political consultant Steve Cabiedes says: A low turnout in the legislative primary contests would seem to favor the incumbents. They have the name ID. With little coverage of the campaigns and the difficulty of in-person campaigning because of the coronavirus, it could be difficult for challengers to generate the interest and votes needed to defeat an incumbent. That scenario would be music to the ears of several state senators who are members of the Senate's conservative coalition and who have been targeted by progressive challengers. That includes well-known names such as Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith and Senators Clemente Sanchez and Mary Kay Papen. IN-PERSON VOTE STILL ON  As for the early in-person voting and Election Day voting, there are no current plans to cancel then and go to an all-mail election. The SOS's office says this is where they stand today: . . . An all-mail election is not likely for the primary, given the logistical and time constraints. . . As of now, there are no plans to change the date or the procedures of the June 2 primary. . . We’re encouraging the use of absentee ballots as a secure way for people to practice social distancing while also exercising their civic duty. Secretary Toulouse Oliver’s goal is to give eligible voters as many ways to participate in their democracy as possible. Our four-week early vote period, plus the use of no-fault absentee ballots, give voters a variety of ways to participate while also limiting social contact. . .We’re still waiting on the specifics of what help the federal government might give to states and how it can be used, but whatever funds New Mexico receives will be used to ensure all eligible voters can participate in the 2020 elections without jeopardizing anyone’s health and safety. One serious problem with all-mail elections is the high rate of returned ballots from registered voters who no longer live at the address at which they are registered. However, political consultants we asked do see an eventual move toward all-mail elections here and elsewhere because of the coronavirus crisis. You can request an absentee ballot from now until May 28th, but the ballot must be received by 7 p.m. June 2nd. More on absentee voting here. THE RIGHT TONE  We understand this is a challenging time for all of us. If you would like to opt-out of our fundraising emails while this COVID-19 public health crisis continues, that’s completely okay -- please let us know. If you have comments, questions, or ideas regarding COVID-19, please let us know. We appreciate you being part of this campaign, however and whenever you can be! How about candidates use their fund-rising lists for a month to raise money, not for their campaigns, but for worthwhile groups that assist the tens of thousands of New Mexicans who have lost their jobs or may lose their businesses? This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019
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