Saturday, September 02, 2023FORMER NM GOV. BILL RICHARDSON DEAD AT 75 AT SUMMER HOME IN CHATHAM, MA; BIDEN PRAISES "A PATRIOT AND TRUE ORIGINAL"; CLINTONS CALL HIM "MASTERFUL NEGOTIATOR" NYT obit here. AP obit here. USA Today obit here. New Mexican obit here. Photos of Richardson's life here. Monahan's take. President Biden: Bill Richardson wore many weighty titles in his life – Congressman, Governor, Ambassador, Secretary. He seized every chance to serve and met every new challenge with joy, determined to do the most good for his country, his beloved New Mexico, and Americans around the world. Few have served our nation in as many capacities or with as much relentlessness, creativity, and good cheer. He will be deeply missed.
Bill’s legacy will endure in many places – in New Mexico, which Bill served for seven terms as congressman and two as governor; at the Department of Energy, where he helped strengthen America’s nuclear security; and at the United Nations, where he put his considerable negotiating skills to work advocating for American interests and values on the world stage. But perhaps his most lasting legacy will be the work Bill did to free Americans held in some of the most dangerous places on Earth. American pilots captured by North Korea, American workers held by Saddam Hussein, Red Cross workers imprisoned by Sudanese rebels – these are just some of the dozens of people that Bill helped bring home. He’d meet with anyone, fly anywhere, do whatever it took. The multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations he received are a testament to his ceaseless pursuit of freedom for Americans. So is the profound gratitude that countless families feel today for the former governor who helped reunite them with their loved ones. Bill and I crossed paths for the first time decades ago, when he was a staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which I served on as Senator. Over the years, I saw firsthand his passion for politics, love for America, and unflagging belief that, with respect and good faith, people can come together across any difference, no matter how vast. He was a patriot and true original, and will not be forgotten. Jill and I send our love to his family, including his wife of over 50 years, Barbara. BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON His innate diplomatic skills made him a success at the U.N., and his roots in the West, and his experience, helped him succeed as Secretary of Energy. Whether in an official or unofficial capacity, he was a masterful and persistent negotiator who helped make our world more secure. PRESIDENT OBAMA As a member of Congress, a Cabinet member, a Governor, and as an Ambassador, Bill Richardson was one of the most distinguished public servants of our time. He was a tireless diplomat, the type of advocate who brought a glimmer of hope – and in many cases freedom – to those Americans detained abroad under the most trying circumstances. I was grateful for his counsel over the years, and Michelle and I send our love to his wife Barbara and his entire family. RICHARDSON CENTER  Mickey Bergman, Vice President of the Richardson Center, commented: “Governor Richardson passed away peacefully in his sleep last night. He lived his entire life in the service of others – including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. There was no person that Governor Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom. The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad and I have lost a mentor and a dear friend.” Richardson served as a US Congressman, US Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton, and Governor of New Mexico. However, his enduring legacy is his post-government volunteer work, where his nonprofit foundation worked to free people who were held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. Since its founding in 2011, the Center has worked with over 80 families to provide them with guidance and support during the detention of their loved ones and to engage in “fringe diplomacy” to open the doors of negotiation with foreign parties to bring home those detained. Richardson has been nominated multiple times for the Nobel Peace Prize, including this year, 2023.
Bergman added: “Right now our focus is on supporting his family, including his wife Barbara of over 50 years, who was with him when he passed. We will share further information as it becomes available.” 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 2023 Thursday, August 31, 2023Could Trump Be Disqualified From NM Ballot? Issue Raised Here And Nationally; NMSOS Says She's Watching, Plus; AG And MLG Clash Over Yazzie Ruling; Torrez Charges State With "Slow Response"; Guv Pushes Back . . . A growing body of conservative scholars have raised the constitutional argument that Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election make him ineligible to hold federal office ever again.That disqualification argument boils down to Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which says that a public official is not eligible to assume public office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against" the United States, or had "given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver's office tells us the constitutionality of Trump being on the ballot here is a matter that will come under study if and when the time comes: We’ve been getting inquiries into our office about this. All candidates for 2024 elections are required to file with our office in February 2024. We are aware of and are reviewing the legal theories regarding the 14th Amendment that conclude Donald Trump is ineligible to run for President. If Donald Trump files in New Mexico to run for President, we will make a determination at that time based on our understanding of New Mexico law and the requirements to run for office in New Mexico. Any determination about a specific candidate’s eligibility for the ballot will be made after the candidate filing day in February 2024. Some Dems would relish keeping Trump off of the NM ballot but other more pragmatic ones point out that Biden has already beaten Trump here once and stands a good chance to do so again. That might not be as easy with another GOP presidential nominee, although the Dem would be favored over any R in blue NM. MLG AND AG CLASH
Attorney General Raúl Torrez wants to take over the state’s “slow progress” in reforming public education to ensure all children are sufficiently educated as required by a landmark 2018 court ruling. The judge in that lawsuit found the state had violated the educational rights of Native American, English language-learners, disabled and low-income children. "There is frustration with the lack of progress over the past five years. We’ve informed the governor’s office that we intend to resume control over the Yazzie-Martinez litigation.” He said. Gov. Lujan Grisham’s administration has resisted efforts for deep reforms to public education sought by plaintiffs in the lawsuit pushing for changes. In 2020, it asked a state judge to end court oversight of the case, saying the state had fully complied with the 2018 ruling. The judge denied that request, however, saying oversight should stay in place until long-term reforms are adopted. A spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, defended her administration’s work to resolve the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit, pointing to significantly increased public school funding, the creation of new state agencies focused on special and early education, and increasing required instructional hours. They suggested that Torrez should focus on holding local school districts accountable.
“We need to find a way to more directly hold school boards and school districts accountable for fully implementing the critical investments this administration has made over the last four years,” the spokeswoman said. “The attorney general’s office has the power to do just that.” According to Torrez’s office the Attorney General has broad statutory authority to control litigation in cases like Yazzie/Martinez where the state or an officer of the state is sued in their official capacity. This authority does not require approval from the governor or any other state agency, they said. “We are working with several stakeholders and hoping to accelerate satisfying the terms of the judgment." MLG's resistance to Yazzie has always been an eyebrow-raiser and resented by education reform advocates. Now that she is deeper into her second term and unable to seek re-election, ambitious pols like the attorney general are moving onto her territory. And his move could find support with a public tired of seeing the state at the bottom of the barrel in national education rankings despite increased spending. In April, MLG vetoed a bill that would have allowed Torrez to establish a child civil rights division in his office as she wrestles with the deeply troubled CYFD. THE BOTTOM LINES Onetime GOP US Senate candidate and professional contractor Mick Rich joins the chorus calling on the state broadband office to exercise more flexibility in providing high speed broadband to rural areas in need. He writes on Substack: NM is ranked forty-seventh for rural internet and road infrastructure. Santa Fe Democrats are stuck in the past with land-based rural internet. Rural New Mexicans could have internet within thirty days if they did not politically oppose Elon Musk’s Starlink network. Santa Fe Democrats would rather put NM tax dollars into Spaceport America, RailRunner and Albuquerque’s ART than our highway network.
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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 2023 Wednesday, August 30, 2023Time For For Another Edition of Reader Vox Populi; They Opine Of Guns, The Humongous State Surplus, Blue Sky Economic Plans And More Corrales reader Paul Stokes writes of our Aug. 24 blog on the immense surpluses that continue to pour into Santa Fe from the oil boom in SE NM. He comments on the fact that there are still no comprehensive plans on how to specifically use the fortune to improve the state's dismal rankings in education, child well-being, addiction and poverty etc. Where indeed is the plan? Thanks for calling attention to this. The public is mostly unaware of any significant activity in this regard. If it’s happening, they should tell us. Why is it that neighboring states that have little or no income from the likes of our O&G industry, yet they out-perform us? We should be learning how they do it. Meanwhile, the recent announcements of establishing solar-related plants is encouraging. If we are going to restart out economy, the renewable energy area is a natural place for New Mexico to start. Former Santa Fe state Senator Roman Maes writes of the big surpluses from San Diego: Joe, Why collect taxes if you're not going to use them? The Legislature needs more vision, more foresight for the future. They are content getting 3% return by investing so much of the surplus on Wall Street. If they circulated money on worthy projects that benefit the public they would get goodwill and strengthen the aspirations of New Mexico’s young folks. What about creating a state of the art trade school for electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers, auto mechanics, welders and more? Solid job opportunities that pay very well. The list goes on. This reader is cynical about the excess revenue piling up: Hello Joe, the reason money is piling up from oil revenue is that no one has figured out how to steal it! All you have to do is ask us--those living with crime and poorly educated children what to do with the revenue. But not in the land of Movida. Those in charge want it for themselves and their donors' grandiose development schemes. You know, all-electric vehicles and hydrogen and PNM takeovers--leaving us still crime-ridden and with way under-educated children. The more things change the more they stay the same. Reader Gary Ferguson writes with a rant: An amazing situation? Extra billions but no clue how to help the people of NM? Oh, maybe NM could "invest" a few billion in a NM owned and operated Developer of Renewable Energy and Transmission. And, maybe if it's not too late, invest in a NM owned/operated Oil/Gas Operation as long as we're going to keep producing NM's oil/gas resources and sending the big bucks to Houston. Rant OFF, G. This is not from out email but comments on the cash stacked to the rafters in Santa Fe: About $5.2 billion in capital funds (for construction projects) are still outstanding, according to the LFC. Fred Nathan, executive director of Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan think tank in Santa Fe, said the report underscores the need for reform. "The staggering $5.2 billion sitting idle, while construction costs rise, makes it more urgent than ever to reform New Mexico's broken capital outlay system so that the state prioritizes and fully funds critically needed infrastructure projects," he said, "instead of piecemeal funding a grab bag of less urgent items.” MISSING SOMETHING?
Joe, You’re absolutely right, fewer guns, fewer shootings. Right, now the city streets are flooded with guns. Feels like there’s a gun in every car. These days I drive around with caution. Careful not to accidentally provoke someone in traffic. Thankful our kids are not teens anymore. Thankful that what we dealt with was having our house egged (five times). Not so very long ago. I was a teenager in Albuquerque in the 70’s and 80’s. The LAST thing we worried about was being killed by guns. The city wasn’t awash with guns as our nation is now. Sad. More guns, more using them. I agree that in light of current conditions education in schools (early) needs to happen. We do it for drugs, needs to be done for guns. The murder of 5 year old Galillea Samaniego, a beautiful child. This should not have happened. Reader Trish Livingston sees it differently: You wrote: “Tell us if we're missing something." Okay. If we reduce the presence of guns in their lives, we reduce the horrific murders. Or are we missing something?” Of course you are missing something, until parents are held accountable nothing will change. Having lived in southern NM for over 30 years, guns are as common in many households as a computer or a car. Youth are not running around shooting each other in other parts of our beautiful state. It wasn’t long ago, young high school boys would go to school with their rifle in the back of their truck so they could go hunting after school. Clearly, the availability of guns is a correlation not necessarily a causation. Poverty, the breakdown of the family, and the lack of discipline and structure in these young peoples lives is never discussed and never addressed. Single mothers need extra support for those working night shifts. Education on gun ownership and gang membership should be tackled and yes, parents need to keep those guns locked up in these frightfully violent times. Finally, parents must be held accountable. THE ECON BEAT Read Alan Schwartz comments on our Aug. 17 blog on Virgin Galactic's precarious financial position and Spaceport America near T or C: The Spaceport has been an unqualified success on several fronts. First and foremost for Richard Branson who over several years has cashed out over $1 billion of stock holdings which he used to prop up other Virgin enterprises. Appreciated the comment about the annual drawdown VG continues to make. I think the most recent was $3 million and there was an additional request for $10 million for an operations building. The media continues to cite the decades old $215 million as the cost of the Spaceport when actually it is millions more. VG continues to forecast ultimately having 400 flights per year from multiple spaceports internationally. Over one flight per day when they can barely manage one flight per month. On our Aug. 14 blog regarding Maxeon's announcement that it would build a large solar manufacturing plant at ABQ's Mesa del Sol, we get this: You wrote "We've been here before." Each time it's with the promise of billions or hundreds of millions in investment and tons of "high paying" jobs. With respect to solar panels, remember Green2V, the company whose corporate headquarters was a mail drop at a Las Vegas UPS store? More recently there was Theia Orion, the satellite company who had never launched a satellite. And then there was the "ghost town" for SE NM that was to serve as a test bed for automated everything. And Eclipse Aviation, who never got farther than the Sunport when the plan was to create thousands of jobs. Currently we have Universal Hydrogen planning to manufacture canisters to haul hydrogen to airports everywhere for hydrogen powered electric airplanes. So far they have had a successful flight with one engine of a twin engine turbo prop so I guess you could say they are half way there. We continue to welcome your comment, opinions, rants and existential angst. 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 2023 Tuesday, August 29, 2023Lawrence Rael, A Face Of ABQ Govt For Decades, Heads For The Exits; Retires In November After Playing Key Role In City's Modern Development; A Look Back, Plus: Replacing Rael; Keller Picks CNM VP As New CAO
Lawrence Rael dodged more bullets than Billy the Kid and mastered more movidas than Manny Aragon. Now the ABQ public servant with a 35 year run behind him announces that come November he will retire as the city's longest-serving Chief Administrative Officer.
Rael has been around so long it's hard to believe he's only 65. And the job hasn't aged him much, like it has the many mayors (four) he has served under and shared power with. Unlike them, Rael did his best to fly under the radar as he oversaw 6,000 city employees and a billion dollar budget. He was never a stress junkie but a calming influence who successfully brought people together and often for the greater good. His early tenure began in 1990 under Mayor Louis Saavedra, the most unpopular mayor in city history, but Rael impressed and soon transitioned to the peripatetic years of first term Mayor Marty Chavez and then into a term under Mayor Jim Baca. He ended an 11 year run as the city's top bureaucrat in 2001. These were the go-go years of ABQ's modern development. The ABQ BioPark, the airport and convention center expansions, Explora and the new Isotopes Park all were part of Rael's handiwork. Later, for eight years he managed the controversial Rail Runner but his bureaucratic skills were such he remained unscathed. (Yes, he knows how to keep the trains running on time.) The one sore spot for Rael and a long list of other city leaders is APD. In 1998 he supervised a new chief brought in from out of town to quell the abuse of force that was happening at the department. It worked for a time but the old issues later resurfaced and remain today. In his latest incarnation as COO and CAO beginning in 2017 under Mayor Keller, crime has reached new highs and it is the one stain that will stick on Rael's record. Being the ultimate survivor, the crime wave was a rail that Rael did not touch directly and with force. His leadership skills were missed at a critical time in city history. Rael, a fluent Spanish speaker who is the son of a Mexican mother and New Mexican father, has been a rock for city mayors who can appear under constant siege in the state's largest city. They could trust him and vent to him without fear of disclosure. And he helped them with often recalcitrant city councilors. But Rael's sweeping knowledge of government did not translate into public power for himself. He made a run as a Democrat for Lt. Governor as well as Governor but the low-key personality that endeared him to egocentric politicians did not sell with his fellow Democrats. ABQ government has been known to be mostly scandal free. In the 90's Rael had a dust-up over the airport observation deck build-out with Mayor Chavez and more recently he was found to have violated city policies when he left the scene of a fender-bender. But under his watch the city's reputation nationally as a place to do business was generally solid and generally clean. What has unfolded in recent years is sad to behold when looking back at those go-go years of Rael when the economy buzzed, ABQ was on the cover of the big biz magazines and crime, always a bugaboo, was not nearly the destructive force it is today. Rael is the second legendary public service name to call it a career this year. David Abbey, longtime director of the Legislative Finance Committee, being the other. Both men were of their time, serving ably and building a solid foundation for their successors who unlike them look at a future that is more foreboding and uncertain. THE NEW GAL
Sengel, a 30 year NM resident, has experience managing personnel in a large organization, the task that gobbles up much of any city administrator's time and where expertise is essential to effectively navigate the legal mine fields. Her appointment will require approval from the ABQ City Council. One area of concern is Sengel's lack of experience dealing with a major police department and one that remains a viper's nest for even the most able administrator (although there has been progress made of late meeting the DOJ mandates). Sengel may be jarred by the relatively placid waters she leaves behind as the crime wave continues to deliver often unexpected and horrid results that will now be under her watch. And the base politics that are part of a police agency may surprise her as well. (Go ahead, Samantha. Take a look at APD overtime. We dare you). Hers is a thankless task and one she must be aware could swallow her up as it did Nair. And there is no "how to" manual on crime awaiting her on the clean desk Rael leaves. Most everything tried has failed. But she does have a city that welcomes her to the battle lines and wishes her the good luck she will surely need. 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 2023 Monday, August 28, 2023Redistricting Heat Tests Judges; Legal Climax Nears With Five Dems And One R Key Players; GOP Gains In Initial Test But Final Ruling Could Favor Dems
There are five Democratic state Supreme Court justices--some with decided progressive leanings--keeping watch as the Republican lawsuit alleging the three congressional districts were gerrymandered nears trial. And you have a conservative GOP rural district court judge presiding over that three day bench trial set to begin Sept. 27 and with his decision deadline from the Supremes now October 6. All the judicial players are expected to keep their emotions and political views to themselves as the heated arguments pour forth. It may be asking too much but that's the system here. First there is the partisan scuffling in the Legislature to come up with the new districts then the inevitable legal wrangling. Would an independent redistricting commission doing the task instead of the Legislature, as some have suggested, make a difference? Maybe, but we aren't about to find out since redistricting is done only once a decade with the next one scheduled for 2031 after the 2030 census. With Judge Fred Van Soleyn of Clovis praising the GOP argument for erasing the new districts and the Supreme Court agreeing to have him move the case forward to trial, there has been speculation that the high court--which will receive the appeal that will result from whatever Soleyn decides--might be prone to go along with a decision that tears up the new congressional districts that are now occupied by three Democrats. Don't say fat chance, but slim to none might be proper. National independent experts argue that the new districts still keeps open a chance of Republican victories in the three seats. The most compelling chance of victory is in the southern congressional district where former US Rep. Yvette Herrell is challenging Dem Rep. Gabe Vasquez who won the seat from her in the new district in 2022.
The first and Third Districts are more solidly Democratic. The fact that no major Republicans have yet emerged to run for those seats next year speaks to that. In the end it is not partisanship that has isolated the New Mexican Republicans. It is the desertion from their party over a decade and the flight of new voters to the Democrats. The GOP numbers are so diminished that they control no major statewide offices, none of the five seats in the state's congressional delegation, neither chamber of the Legislature, no seats on the aforementioned state supreme court and no GOP presidential candidate has carried the state since 2004. The US Senate seats, the presidential election and the statewide offices can't be gerrymandered. If the Republicans have voting strength that needs to be more fully accounted for in the redistricting, there is no evidence of it in any recent election. They have simply been outvoted and have lost their standing in the state. The famous political cliche that "elections have consequences" is why the GOP has been cornered not because of a partisan gerrymander. It would be nice and maybe even better for the state if there were a Republican or two to balance out the current Democratic dominance. But that's a right to be earned by a political party--not a privilege to be handed out in a lawsuit fight. (The preceding were political arguments in favor of the current lines, not necessarily legal ones.) JUDGING THE BLOG  For example, In July of 2009 he wrote to us: When you say tax increases are off limits, but advocate for repealing tax cuts and tax breaks, it needs to be said that repealing a tax cut IS a tax increase, and repealing a tax break IS a tax increase. To argue otherwise is pure sophistry. And while I'm at it: don't spin the arguments for the tax increasers, let them do it on their own. And in June of 2007 Van Soleyn wrote: Joe, it's getting harder and harder to take you seriously. Despite your over-the-top salivating at having someone take on (GOP Senator) Pete Domenici, you can't be serious in thinking that this newcomer Don Wiviott will have a chance against Pete. I know you really want someone to give him a run for the money, but this guy has no chance at all. He will be mincemeat by the end of the campaign (if he stays in that long). It turned out that neither Wiviott or Domenici were successful in 2008. Domenici ended up stunning the state by announcing he would not seek another term. Wiviott dropped out of the Dem US Senate primary when Tom Udall got in and then ran for the northern congressional seat. Udall ultimately took Domenici's Senate slot and Ben Ray Lujan won the northern US House seat. MIXED REVIEWS
Judge Van Soelen’s survey results were somewhat mixed. Among attorneys, he received positive ratings for being attentive to the proceedings, maintaining proper control over the proceedings, conducting himself in a manner free from impropriety, and for ensuring his personal staff is professional, productive and knowledgeable. His ratings were somewhat lower in finding facts and interpreting the law without regard to possible public criticism, being knowledgeable regarding substantive law and the rules of procedure and evidence, and exercising sound legal reasoning. It was noted by the Commission that his scores improved on every attribute since his previous interim evaluation in 2017. The court staff rated Judge Van Soelen quite positively in all areas. His highest rating was for behaving in a manner that encourages respect for the courts. The resource staff (e.g., law enforcement, probation and parole officers, interpreters, etc.) gave him generally positive scores in all areas. During the interview, Judge Van Soelen acknowledged that he needs to continue his work to improve his performance in certain areas. The commission did recommend that Van Soleyn be retained by Curry and Roosevelt county voters for a six year term and he was. THE ARGUMENT Here is a key passage of the ruling by Judge Van Soleyn that sent the GOP lawsuit to trial: Plaintiffs complaint makes a strong, well-developed case that Senate Bill 1 is a partisan gerrymander created in an attempt to dilute Republican votes in Congressional races in New Mexico. They make a strong, well-developed case that Senate Bill 1 does not follow traditional districting principles, including a lack of compactness, lack of preservation of communities of interest, and failure to take into consideration political and geographic boundaries. 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 2023 |
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