Democracy for New Mexico

Senate Paper Ballot Bill Passes Despite Republican Rants

Editor's Note: The Santa Fe New Mexican provides a good account of what occurred at yesterday's Senate Rules Committee meeting on SB 295.

From Paul Stokes of United Voters NM:
I am pleased to tell you that the paper ballot bill, SB 295, was given a "do pass" today. The vote was 5 - 4 on party lines. And the discussions were brutal. The Republicans hammered on their key talking points, using a letter from Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera to provide them with much of their information. An excellent response to that letter from Jim Noel was ignored.

The bill now goes to the Senate Public Affairs Committee. Click to contact members.

Emails and phone calls to these senators will be very important to show the public's interest in getting this bill passed. Based on the close votes on SB 295, it will be important to get all the votes that we can. The next Public Affairs committee meeting is scheduled for 1:30 PM Friday, 10 February, in Room 321 and SB 295 is likely to be heard then; however, check on the Legislature website for information. I hope to see you there.

The Republicans said that, based on Herrera's letter, over a thousand ES&S Model 100 opscans would be needed for early voting sites just in Bernalillo County; that this was a scheme to funnel money to a single supplier; that the AutoMARK ballot marking device did not meet the needs of disabled voters; that the vote count from paper ballots would be inaccurate because of ballot box stuffing, lost ballot boxes, etc.; and that there was no reliable estimate of the cost to convert to paper ballots. They said this with much elaboration over a period of about two and a half hours. They charged that the administration was corrupt, and was forcing a voting system on the state that was not in the public interest.

The Noel letter discussed several options for equipping early voting sites that would be use far less equipment that the thousand opscans mentioned in Herrera's letter, and also corrected some assumptions made in the letter that would significantly reduce the number of Model 100 machines needed if that were the option chosen.

ACTION ALERT: Minimum Wage Countdown

From New Mexicans For a Fair Wage:

Friday: Call the Governor
In the past few weeks, we have generated hundreds of calls to the Governor, and he has taken a stand for $7.50 in spite of protests from numerous opponents. But Governor Richardson needs to support indexing, so the wage increase several years down the road will retain its buying power.

We need to step up the calls to the Governor dramatically. The legislative session ends at Noon Thursday. Get five of your friends to call the Governor today, and call them back to make sure they placed the calls! Dial 505-476-2200 and tell the Governor that a minimum wage without indexing to inflation will soon return working New Mexicans to deep poverty.

Call Senator John Arthur Smith (D-Deming)
Tell him to support SB 449 and to add inflation indexing to the bill. 505-986-4363.

Saturday: Call Senator Mary Jane Garcia (D-Las Cruces)
Tell her we need a $7.50 minimum wage with indexing: 505-526-5048.

Monday: Attend Attend Senate Finiance Committee Meeting
Senator Ben Altamiro’s bill, SB 449, has been referred to a third committee, Senate Finance, which is likely to hear the bill Monday afternoon. This may be the best, last time to come to the Roundhouse before the session ends to tell Senators what New Mexicans really need before they cast their final votes. Stay tuned for final scheduling.

Editor's Note: Check out this previous post for background on the House and Senate paper ballot bills.

Bernalillo County Dem Ward & Precinct Meetings Tonight

The Democratic Party of Bernalillo County will be holding ward and precinct meetings tonight, February 9, at 6:30 PM. Wards will elect delegates and alternates to the State Party Pre-Primary Convention. All registered Democrats are urged to attend. Any Democrat can run for a delegate or alternate position. See below for meeting locations around the county.

Attendees can also submit resolutions tonight for approval. If approved, they will be referred for approval to the Bernalillo County Resolutions Committee, which will meet on Saturday, February 11, at 9:00 AM at the UNM Law School, Room 2401.

To determine which ward meeting to attend, first you need to determine your precinct. Visit the and type in your address. Once you know your precinct, you can find your ward either by calling Terri Holland at County Party Headquarters, (505) 256-1855, or checking this .

Here are the ward meeting locations:

• WARDS 16A, 16B, 23A, 23B, 29
  LBJ Middle School, 6011 Taylor Ranch Road NW
• WARDS 10, 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B
  Rio Grande High School, 2300 Arenal Road SW
• WARDS 11A, 11B, 11C, 17A, 17B
  Valley High School, 1505 Candelaria Road NW
• WARDS 15A , 15B, 25A, 25B
  Del Norte High School, 5323 Montgomery Blvd N E
• WARDS 18A, 18B, 19A, 19B, 26
  Highland High School, 4700 Coal Avenue SE
• WARDS 24A, 24B, 27A, 27B, 30A, 30B
  Sandia High School, 7801 Candelaria Drive NE
• WARDS 20A, 20B, 21A, 21B
  Grant Middle School, 1111 Easterday Drive NE
• WARDS 28A, 28B, 31A, 31B
  Eldorado High School, 11300 Montgomery Blvd N E
• WARDS 20C, 22,
  Los Vecinos Community Center, Old Route 66, Tijeras

Other upcoming County Party meetings:

COUNTY RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE AND CREDENTIAL/RULES COMMITTEE, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006, 9:00 AM, UNM LAW SCHOOL, 1117 STANFORD NE, ROOM 2401, ALBUQUERQUE.

PRE-PRIMARY COUNTY CONVENTION, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2006, 10:00 AM, HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL THEATER, 4700 COAL SE, ALBUQUERQUE.

PURPOSE OF COUNTY CONVENTION: The purpose of the County Convention is to certify the delegates and alternates elected at the Ward elections to the Democratic Party of New Mexico Pre-Primary Convention and conduct other business pertaining to the county.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF NEW MEXICO STATE PRE-PRIMARY CONVENTION, SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2006, HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL, 4700 COAL SE, ALBUQUERQUE

Madrid: Wilson Call for Wire-Tap Hearings Too Little, Too Late

As you probably know by now, Rep. Heather Wilson has suddenly become concerned about our constitutional rights and is criticizing the NSA illegal domestic wiretapping program. Click for the New York Times story. Wilson's newfound conscience may well be emerging because a new poll puts her in a dead heat with her Democratic opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid, in the 2006 CD1 congressional race.

This from the Madrid Camp: AG Patricia Madrid today called Rep. Heather Wilson’s rhetoric on wire-tap hearings too little too late and said that Wilson, as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, should have acted sooner instead of supporting the policies of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

“Rep. Wilson could have stood up to this illegal program sooner,” Madrid said. “As Chairwoman of House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, Wilson had direct oversight of this program and she did nothing. She could have – and should have – taken action sooner.”

Madrid also criticized Wilson’s rhetoric as an election-year effort to separate herself from President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Further, despite Wilson’s election-year rhetoric of concern about wire tapping, she voted in 2003 to allow random “sneak and peek” searches on American Citizens as part of the Patriot Act.

“Rep. Wilson is now and has always been a rubber stamp for the policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration,” Madrid said. “Having served seven years as New Mexico’s Attorney General, I believe that the Bush-Cheney domestic wire-tapping scheme is illegal and unacceptable. I support a full, open, independent investigation in which the investigators have full subpoena power and in which the witnesses will be placed under oath. Americans have to have confidence that this is an open and thorough investigation.”

Madrid, an attorney and two-term New Mexico Attorney General, is running against Wilson in the race to represent New Mexico’s First Congressional District.

“New Mexicans are ready for a change,” Madrid said.  “We don’t need someone who talks about independence, we need real leadership that is independent. While I’ve been enforcing the law in New Mexico, Rep. Wilson has been sitting on the House Intelligence Committee apparently ignoring abuses of the law until nine months before an election.”

Coretta's Funeral: Speaking Truth to Power

If you didn't get a chance to see the funeral of Coretta Scott King yesterday, you missed something powerful. Crooks and Liars has a compilation of clips from Keith Olberman's Countdown.

And here's video of Maya Angelou singing out and speaking about her "chosen sister" at the funeral. There were many uplifting and deeply felt words spoken yesterday, but these were some of my favorites. I also very much liked seeing all the magnificent hats worn by many of the now very elderly sisters of the civil rights movement. Icons of another time and place, still kicking, still striving, still elegant.

Could there be a more powerful contrast than seeing so many giants of the civil rights movement, still speaking truth to power, framed by the face of the fearmongering bully, the mocking warmonger in the background? The standing ovations against his immoral, dishonest mangling of the world were satisfying on some deep, unfathomable level to me. Will we really overcome? Hearing so many courageous and impassioned words by those who know what overcoming is all about makes it seem possible, still.

Another of my favorites was the Reverend Joe Lowery, the legendary former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Council. Here's the video. Excerpt:

We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. [Standing Ovation] But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more, but no more for the poor.

Jimmy Carter (click for video) also gave an excellent speech, bringing standing ovations when he mentioned how Martin and Coretta were harrassed by the FBI and domestic wiretapping and saying we have more work to do:

We only have to remember the color of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, those most devastated by Katrina, to know that there are still not equal opportunities for all Americans. It is our responsibility to continue their crusade.

I note the right-wingnutery bloggers are out in full force today, bashing these speakers and others for being "political" at Coretta's funeral. I wonder what they think her life and that of her husband's and those of so many at the event were about? These were decent, honest, righteous, POLITICAL people standing up bravely to bigotry and lies, personally and directly, often at the cost of their livelihoods or even their lives. And there you had the epitome of privileged bigotry and lies sitting right there on the platform, still grinning inappropriately after all these years. Amazing what happens when Bush steps outside his protective bubble of scripted events into the real world, isn't it? Oh, the right-wingers are so SHOCKED!

Solar Energy Bills Need Your Help NOW

From Ben Luce of the Clean Energy Network:

THIS IS IT FOR THE SOLAR BILL FOLKS!

The Solar Tax Credit Bills are in their final stages. We need as many phone calls and emails as possible, ASAP, into the Senate Finance Committee. Please call and/or email the Committee
members, whose contact information is given below. These may be heard as early as Wednesday, February 8th.

Please call and or email the Senators below even if you do not live in their territories. Simply give your name, any renewable energy credentials you might have, and ask that they support the bills listed below. Tell them you think these are well thought out bills and beneficial for New Mexico.

The bill number is SB 269 (Solar Market Development Act), and is sponsored by Dede Feldman. Mention the phrase "solar tax credits" explicitly, so they don't have to look up the number to know what you're talking about. This bill would provide a 30% tax credit, up to $9000, for people who install solar systems on their homes or businesses. Its a great bill - very carefully thought out.

Also, please urge support for SB 469, which provides production tax credits for "mid-size" renewable energy projects (such as a wind or biomass project at a farm), and support for larger scale solar projects (projects larger than 1 megawatt). SB 469 is sponsored by Carlos Cisneros.

Talking Points:

There is great skepticism on this committee, in particular, about problems with solar tax credits in the 1980s. These problems were real, and the proposed legislation takes them into account very carefully. If you should find yourself discussing this issue with one of the legislators, the talking points on this are:

This bill (SB 269) will not re-create the problems of the 1980's because:

1) The state tax credits are modest (30%) compared to the 60%+ credits of the 1980s.

2) The new federal solar tax credits (which are capped at $2000) are subtracted, not added, to the state credits. The purpose of the state credits is to increase the cap to $9000, and extend them beyond 2007, but its NOT to add to them willy nilly and create an overheated market.

3) The bill requires that the state carefully certify system components and installations before issuing the credits. The process will not be onerous at all for people using good equipment and good installations, but it will completely prevent having tax credits for the complete garbage that some companies were hawking in the 1980's.

4) Today's technology is much better, and has a great track record both here (in small numbers), and in other states and other countries that already have strong incentives.

5) There are now a growing certification system for installers (the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, for example), which is helping greatly to promote high quality installations. Such certification is not required by the bill, but the state will be encouraging installers to obtain such training.

The Senators on the Senate Finance Committee and their contact info is:

Senator Joseph A. Fidel, Chair, Democrat
Grants, NM
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4362
Office Phone: 287-4432
Home Phone: 287-4864

Senator John Arthur Smith, Vice Chair, Democrat
Deming, NM
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4363
Office Phone: 546-4979
Home Phone: 546-8546
E-mail: john.smith@nmlegis.gov

Senator Joseph J. Carraro, Ranking Member, Republican
Albuquerque, NM 87114
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4387
Office Phone:
Home Phone: 898-9369
E-mail: joecarraro@aol.com

Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, Member Republican
Sandia Park, NM 87047
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4395
Office Phone:
Home Phone: 292-7116
E-mail: sue.beffort@nmlegis.gov

Senator Pete Campos, Member Democrat
Las Vegas, NM 87701
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4311
Office Phone: 454-5700
Home Phone: 425-0508
E-mail: petecampos@newmexico.com

Senator Timothy Z. Jennings, Member Democrat
Roswell, NM 88202-1797
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4863
Office Phone: 623-8331
Home Phone: 623-9378

Senator Carroll H. Leavell, Member Republican
Jal, NM 88252
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4278
Office Phone: 395-2535
Home Phone: 395-3154
E-mail: leavell4@leaco.net

Senator Leonard Lee Rawson, Member Republican
Las Cruces, NM 88004
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4703
Office Phone: 528-1801
Home Phone:
E-mail: lee.rawson@nmlegis.gov

Senator Nancy Rodriguez, Member Democrat
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4264
Office Phone:
Home Phone: 983-8913

Senator Leonard Tsosie, Member Democrat
Crownpoint, NM 87313
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4859

Thanks,
       Ben Luce

Rest In Peace

Coretta Scott King: April 27, 1927 -- January 30, 2006

Her funeral is taking place today. It's being televised on CSPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox. You can also watch or listen online at CSPAN2. The entire funeral will be reaired on CSPAN TV tonight at 6:00 PM MST. Here's a link to her elaborate funeral program. The New York Times has a good article about her life, including a slide show and video.

Could there be a more elegant and dignified representative of the civil rights movement? Coretta carried the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for 37 years after his assassination in April 1968, and did it with grace, strength and conviction. She also spoke out against a variety of injustices internationally and, unlike some others in the civil rights movement, strongly supported gay rights:

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice," she said. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people. -- March 31, 1998

Peace and farewell, Coretta. And thank you.

I am convinced that if I had not had a wife with the fortitude, strength and calmness of Coretta, I could not have stood up amid the ordeals and tensions surrounding the Montgomery movement. I came to see the real meaning of that rather trite statement: “A wife can either make or break a husband.” Coretta proved to be that type of wife with qualities to make a husband when he could have been so easily broken. In the darkest moments she always brought the light of hope. -– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Push Now for Senate Paper Ballot Bill

From Paul Stokes, United Voters of NM:
There were a number of supporters for and opponents of SB 295 present in the gallery at yesterday's hearing in the Senate Rules Committee. SB 295 is the paper ballot bill introduced by Senator Lopez.

Supporters and opponents were divided more or less along party lines. Supporters spoke mostly of benefits of paper ballots for assuring vote counting accuracy, providing for voter verifiability, transparency, voter confidence, and similar topics. Opponents said that implementing and using paper ballots and optical scan vote counters would be difficult, expensive and subject to falsification using techniques such as ballot box stuffing, and would remove discretionary power for county clerks to do the best thing for their constituents.

Supporters represented a broad range of individuals and groups, and included a number of election reform activists as well as other concerned citizens. Opponents identified themselves mostly with Republicans, but included some County Clerks or their representatives, and the vice president of sales and a lobbyist for Sequoia Voting Systems.

The Sequoia representatives said, among other things, that paper ballot systems cost 30% more, that opscans suffered a high undervote rate, and that the disability community was not adequately served by the AutoMARK, and might result in lawsuits.  As you may know, these claims are not true, although lawsuits can never be discounted.

Regarding expensiveness, Jaime Diaz from the Bernalillo County Clerk's office claimed that the twelve early voting sites in Bernalillo County would require some 4 hundred optical scan machines to handle all of the ballot styles in use in the county during a general election, and some 8 hundred machines for primaries (twice as many because of two parties).  He did not discuss other possible solutions, such as transporting ballots from early voting sites to central scanners. Ernie Marquez, in his role as Bureau of Elections chief and as the expert supporting Senator Lopez, did not necessarily agree with Diaz' claim, but didn't dispute it either.

The discussion that followed consisted mostly of Senator Duran asking questions of Senator Lopez or Ernie Marquez about the estimated cost to the state of going to the paper ballot system, considering various uncertainties in the number of opscans needed.  One variable of great importance is whether it will be acceptable to use opscans of various types currently available in the state, especially the large number of Sequoia Insights. As an example of the tenor of the discussion, she also pointed out a problem that recently occurred in Florida with the AutoMARK ballot marker.  She did not describe the details, but it turns out that the audio system of the AutoMARK cannot notify voters of undervotes on multi-sheet ballots (although it can for one- or  two-sided single sheet ballots) during the ballot review, although it does notify the voter while he/she is voting. Florida is confident this problem can be resolved, "and fully expects ES&S to ultimately complete this certification  effort" (Florida Department of State Division of Elections).

The obvious intent of the questions from Senator Duran was to show the difficulty of implementing the paper ballot system, and was not to enlighten the Committee regarding its implementation.

Just before the hearing recessed, Senator Ortiz y Pino pointed out that, contrary to what was said during the earlier discussion, the New Mexico representatives of the disabled community indicated no concerns with using the AutoMARK.  He further said that the real issue was accurate counting of the vote, not details of implementation and cost.

The meeting recessed about 10:15 AM because of urgent business on the Senate floor. It will re-convene today (Tuesday) morning at 8:30 AM in Room 321. There may not be time for this new schedule to be documented on the Legislature web-site.

The large number of concerned citizens that were present, many of whom voiced their support for paper ballots, was an important indication to the Senators of the public's interest in this matter.  Please do what you can to attend the meeting this morning or call members of the Senate Rules Committee.

NM House Passes Lujan Minimum Wage Bill

From New Mexicans For a Fair Wage:
By a 38-30 margin, Speaker Lujan's minimum wage bill (House Bill 258) passed the House floor Monday. Not a single Republican voted for it, while all Democrats, with the exceptions of Representatives Mary Helen Garcia (Las Cruces) and Dona Irwin (Deming), voted for New Mexico's working families. The Speaker’s bill was amended to cover all state and local governmental employees, a change that makes it even stronger.

Also, Senator Altamirano's minimum wage bill (Senate Bill 449) passed the Senate Corporations Committee (all Democrats voting for, all Republicans voting against). The bill was amended to strip a bad amendment that was attached to it last week. Now it matches the Governor's original proposal.

Senate Bill 449 has some serious weaknesses, but we need some kind of bill to pass the Senate floor. Now is the time to call Senators and ask them to support the bill but also amend it to include inflation indexing, a shorter phase-in period, and no preemption of cities that choose to enact their own laws. 

Just like in the House, it is very likely that there won't be a single Republican voting with us. There are also lots of conservative Democrats in the Senate who will only consider changing their minds if they see a tidal wave of calls in the next few days.

The list below is prioritized, with the first set of senators those most in need of hearing from the public. All are Democrats:

1st Tier:
Sen. Tim Jennings (Roswell) 986-4863
Sen. John Arthur Smith (Deming) 986-4363
Sen. Mary Jane Garcia (Las Cruces) 986-4726
Sen. Shannon Robinson (Albuquerque) 986-4856 (Thank him for voting for SB 449 in his Corporations Committee)
Sen. Joseph Fidel (Grants) 986-4362
Sen. Lidio Rainaldi (Gallup) 986-4310
Sen. James Taylor (Albuquerque) 986-4862
Sen. Mary Kay Papen (Las Cruces)

2nd Tier:
Sen. Michael Sanchez (Belen) 986-4727
Sen. Bernadette Sanchez (Albuquerque--Westside) 986-4267
Sen. Carlos Cisneros (Questa/Taos) 986-4861
Sen. Richard Martinez (Espanola) 986-4389
Sen. Pete Campos (Las Vegas) 986-4311
Sen. John Pinto (Tohatchi) 986-4835
Sen. Leonard Tsosie (Crownpoint) 986-4859
Sen. Cynthia Nava (Las Cruces) 986-4834

If you are able to get a firm answer about how a Senator will vote on SB 449, please email Carter Bundy at carterbundy@yahoo.com, so we can have an updated list of where each Senator is.

Let's enjoy our victory in the House, but remember that it is just one step of many before we get a final bill that really helps New Mexico workers. And you, by making these calls, are going to make the difference in getting that bill to pass both houses.  Gracias!

Editor's Note: Speaker Lujan's House bill, which passed after a three-hour floor debate, would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75 in 2007 and $7.50 in 2008. Employers could pay a "training wage" of $5.15 for the first 60 days a worker is on the job. And, in a concession to chile producers, food processors could apply to the state Department of Labor for exemptions. The bill includes increases indexed to the cost of living and permits local and county governments to enact their own higher minimums.

Sen. Altamirano's bill on the Senate side would provide $7.50 an hour phased in over three years, does not currently include cost of living indexing and stops local minimums from being enacted for five years.

Powell's Former Chief of Staff on Iraq Intel: 'I Participated In a Hoax'

If you missed Friday's installment of the PBS show 'Now,' you missed alot. Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff laid out, in detail, how Bush and his crew of liars created a hoax to lure us into the Iraq War.

In the piece, Colonel (ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson claims the Iraq War speech Powell gave at the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003 included falsehoods of which Powell was unaware. He said, "My participation in that presentation at the UN constitutes the lowest point in my professional life. I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international community and the United Nations Security Council." Wilkerson also claims that neither then CIA Director Tennant nor other CIA analysts who provided intelligence for the speech admitted there were disputes about its reliability. Wilkerson also discussed Cheney's involvement with the plot.

Must listen or read: Audio (mp3) or Transcript