Democracy for New Mexico

Rep. Mimi Stewart's Campaign Finance Reform Bill Passes NM House

From the NM House Democratic Leadership:
On Monday House Bill 821a — Campaign Reporting Requirements, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque), passed the House of Representatives with a 51 to 16 vote. The bill is part of the comprehensive ethics and campaign reform package that has been presented by House Democrats based on the recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force on Ethics Reform. 

Rep. Stewart said, “I am pleased that this essential element of ethics reform received bi-partisan support today. The public has been asking us to enact laws like this one for years and it is our responsibility as the state legislature to do so. This bill is only one part of a comprehensive program that is designed to apply to all elected public officials. Other bills in the package will also be voted on this week. I hope that all of them pass.”

New Mexico is one of only five states that does not have any type of campaign contribution limits. HB 821a enacts four reforms that strengthen state campaign finance law. It places limits on campaign contributions that are consistent with and indexed to federal law. That limit is currently $2300 per donor, per candidate, per election. And it requires disclosure of every occupation and employer or business of a contributor of $100 or more.

The bill closes a loophole in current campaign reporting requirements in the category of “independent expenditure” for out-of-state political entities. Previously, out-of-state donor organizations had no reporting requirements at all. It also grants the subpoena power to the Secretary of State for investigations into possible violations of the Campaign Reporting Act.

Nine Republicans supported the Campaign Reporting Requirements legislation, while 16 Republicans voted against it. There was no Democratic opposition to the bill. Opponents questioned why the legislation was necessary since there haven’t been any ethics transgressions from House or Senate members in recent years. They asked if the bill would really change anything.

“A crook is a crook is a crook. And crooks will be dishonest and go around the law no matter what we legislate,” said Rep. Cathy McCoy (R-Cedar Crest).

Rep. Ken Martinez (D-Grants) said, “This bill is part of eight items of legislation that form a comprehensive package. This bill is about institutional integrity. It is not a response to a particular case of wrongdoing. People worry about money in politics with good reason. This package takes a huge step towards openness, fairness and integrity in our state government.”

Speaker of the House Ben Lujan (D-Nambé) pointed out that the bi-partisan taskforce that studied the ethics issues over the past year and recommended the bills in the ethics package acted unanimously. On the House floor he also urged a 100% vote in favor of the bill.

“We are serious about these initiatives becoming a reality. We need to assure our citizens that we are protecting the integrity of our democratic process and access to the process. It is my sincere hope that we can achieve this is a bipartisan manner. It is unfortunate that some are choosing not to support this effort,” Speaker Lujan said.

Editor's Note: The bill now moves to the NM Senate Judiciary Committee. Click for contact information for its members. If campaign finance reform is to be successful this year, it's up to citizens to push for it, especially on the Senate side where a considerable amount of opposition exists. Please call or email the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as your State Senator to urge their support for HB 821a, as well as the other parts of the ethics reform package.

(Updated) Watch First Dem Prez Candidate Forum Today on C-SPAN

UPDATE: You can watch the entire candidate forum on REAL video from C-Span. Click here.
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The first candidate forum for Democratic presidential candidates will take place today in Carson City, Nevada. It's sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The audience will consist primarily of the union members, a group John Edwards has courted for many months. All but one of the probable candidates will participate, including Gov. Bill Richardson. Only Barack Obama will miss the forum and instead will be at an event in Iowa. Nevada's primary caucus was moved up to January 19, 2008, just after Iowa's and before New Hampshire's primary, after receiving the approval of the DNC.

Each candidate will take the stage alone and answer a few questions. They'll also have a chance to making an opening and closing statement. The event will be aired live on C-SPAN TV at 1:00 PM MST, as well as video streamed live and audio streamed live at the C-SPAN website. ABC News has also indicated it will provide some coverage.

Fresh Face Brian Colon to Challenge Long-Time Insider Michael Olguin for Dem Party State Chair

Now that current Democratic State Party Chair John Wertheim is calling it quits after four years (phew), talk is all over the New Mexico Dem circuit about who will replace him. NM blogger Joe Monahan is first out of the gate with today's post, describing the pending battle between "new blood" Brian Colon, an Albuquerque attorney and Party activist, and "old blood" Michael Olguin, who owns a Socorro insurance agency and has chaired the Socorro County Dem Party the last four years. Olguin is a former State Representative and House Majority Leader long aligned with former Speaker of the House, Raymond Sanchez.

Olguin is currently a lobbyist for the payday loan industry and others, and has refused to state he will resign those roles if he's elected to chair the Party. He was previously a paid lobbyist for the for-profit corrections industry, a job that reportedly forced him to stop down as a DPNM Vice Chair a few years back over perceptions of a conflict of interest. In 1998, Olguin lost his House seat to Repub Don Tripp, and two years later Raymond Sanchez was ousted as well, bringing in a new era of leadership in the NM House.

Brian Colon is supportive of the newer and generally progressive faces on the statehouse scene, like State Reps Al Park and Moe Maestas, and helped Hector Balderas of Wagon Mound get elected as state auditor. He graduated from UNM Law School in 2001 and was previously active in the Young Democrats of NM, as well as serving on the Executive Committee of the NM Hispanic Bar Association. He is generally free of the kinds of political and ethical baggage that can accummulate on the record of long-time political power players like Olguin, a member of the NM House from 1984-98. Colon was sympathetic to Rep. Ken Martinez's challenge of Rep. Ben Lujan for Speaker of the House this year. Olguin, on the other hand, has long been an ally of Rep. Lujan.

If elected, Olguin is expected to hire Albuquerque South Valley Dem operative Sisto Abeyta to replace the current State Party executive director, Matt Farrauto. Abeyta cites NM Sen. James Taylor as a mentor. No word yet on who Colon would be interested in hiring.

Colon will no doubt get strong support from grassroots Party activists and others tired of business as usual. There has been an ongoing battle within the NM Dem Party between those who want a stronger, more active, transparent Party structure and Party officials and veterans who seem more interested in preserving the status quo than in strengthening the Party's clout and outreach and modernizing its operations. One faction clearly seems to prefer things as they are, with a weak Party structure and most of the power concentrated within the Party's elite and top elected officials. The other faction wants to work for a reinvigorated Party that's more responsive to it members and voters, and eager to try innovative methods to make the Party all it can be at the state and county levels.

I'll be writing much more on Party matters and this race in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, what do you think about the matchup between Brian Colon and Michael Olguin?

How You Can Get Involved
Dem ward and precinct elections will occur on March 22 in Albuquerque this year, and will help determine who gets to vote for this year's crop of State Central Committee members. Democratic Party of New Mexico State Central Committee members from all over the state will choose the new Dem Chair at its April 28th meeting in Las Cruces. If you'd like to get more information on running for a ward or precinct office in your area, contact the DPNM headquarters at 505-830-3650. We need enthusiastic Dems to fill these important posts and have a chance at participating in the election of the Party's new officers.

New Orleans Manages Another Mardi Gras

From Penny Postcards from New Orleans

Despite it all. Or maybe because of it all. Some commentary on NPR here, here and here. A hometown perspective on both Mardi Gras and the Katrina aftermath in a number of posts, videos and photos at Blogging New Orleans. Meanwhile the Cake and Empire blog traces the roots and traditions of Mardi Gras, including (of course) King Cakes. Cool photos at Mental Floss. Maybe most importantly, visit Beyond Katrina, The Voice of Hurricane and Disaster Recovery, which not only has some terrific historical photos of Mardi Gras, but an abundance of links and ideas for keeping the help flowing to what we hope will continue to be America's most uncommon and funky city. Not to mention gay-friendly city. Not to mention one of my favorite cities in the world, bar none. May the good times roll, still and always, in the Crescent City. Wish I were there today....

RSVP Now for Las Adelitas Choice Reception

Las Adelitas
Women in Politics

Cordially invites its members and guests to a Reception in

Support of V-Day in Santa Fe 2007

Special Guest:  Cecile Lipworth, V-Day International Coordinator

Friday, February 23, 2007   5:30 to 7:30 PM

Linda Durham Contemporary Art Gallery

1101 Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe

By Invitation Only

Please RSVP to 988•1226 by February 20, 2007

Also, buy your tickets now for a benefit performance of 'Vagina Monologues' presented by V-Day Santa Fe 2007:

“Reclaiming Peace, as part of V-Day, a Global movement to end violence against women and girls.”

Benefit for the Santa Fe Rape Crisis Trauma Treatment Center, Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families & FGM Fund to End Female Genital Mutilation In Africa & End Vaginal Mutilation

March 8, 2007 at 8 PM
James A. Little Theater
1060 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe
Tickets: $25—$100
Tickets may be purchased at the Lensic Theater box office or call: 988.1234

Click to learn more about Las Adelitas.

Fighting Global Warming: Three ABQ City Councilors Propose Green Building Measures

As reported in this Albuquerque Journal article and a city , three Albuquerque city councilors are proposing a bill to encourage the use of green building practices in the city. The legislation (O-07-73), called the Albuquerque High Performance Buildings Ordinance, will be introduced at the next City Council meeting on Wednesday, February 21, 2007.

Martin Heinrich, Issac Benton and Michael Cadigan held a news conference recently to explain the plan, which has these three components designed to help move Albuquerque into the forefront of communities trying to deal with global warming:

• Part I of the legislation adopts the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code standards. By adopting the 2006 standards, Albuquerque would be surpassing what is required by the State (which still uses the 2003 code) and holding ourselves to a higher standard of energy conservation.

• Part II creates the “Albuquerque High Performance Buildings Ordinance,” which applies to all new construction and significant alternations of existing buildings.

  • Under this section of the ordinance, projects that are LEED certified will receive Priority Plan Check Processing at the City. This will help encourage and expedite the construction of energy-efficient buildings.

  • Requirements include: higher standard of efficiency for air conditioning and heating systems, building insulation, roof insulation, and hot water heaters; testing for building leakage; Energy Star appliances and low-e windows.

• Part III tackles an air-quality issue by amending the Woodburning Ordinance to include five additional materials – garbage, paints, paint solvents, treated wood, and waste petroleum products – that are prohibited from being burned.

Quotes:

According to Councilor Isaac Benton, a green architect with 30 years of professional experience, “The requirements set forth in this ordinance take care of what I would call the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of efficiency standards that any architect and builder can achieve at relatively low cost. Though the changes being proposed are actually quite simple to make, the impact on our environment will be significant.”

"My sense is that it will not be controversial, except for the lowest end of builders and contractors," he said. On the City Council, "I would be surprised if we have significant opposition. To me, it's mom and apple pie," Benton said.

“We have been working for a number of months to draft legislation that will serve as a national model for addressing the global problem of climate change,” explained Councilor Martin Heinrich. “This ordinance will move Albuquerque into the forefront of green building in the United States and help us get a handle on Albuquerque’s greenhouse gas emissions by mandating higher standards of energy efficiency for all residential and commercial buildings in the city.”

Councilor Michael Cadigan said it will help the city be "a serious player" in dealing with global warming. In addition, he said, "we think this will save money for consumers and businesses in the long term through lower energy bills and an overall reduction in demand for energy, increase demand for energy-saving products and reduce air pollution."

The councilors also said they'll be looking for more ways to tamp down Albuquerque's contributions to global warming, including in the area of transportation.

Click here to read the ordinance and track its progress. All citizens are invited to attend the City Council Meeting at 5:00 PM on February 21, 2007 when the ordinance is scheduled to be discussed. City Council meetings are held at the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Center, One Civic Plaza NW. Call 768-3100 for more information on the Council.

To contact your councilor about this legislation, .

(Updated) Call Their Bluff on "Supporting the Troops"

UPDATE 2/20/07: The Army Times also covers this story, based on their investigation of Walter Reed's treatment of outpatients and others. They cite understaffing and undertraining of staff as the major causes of problems. Click here.

Every time we hear or read about some Bushwar promoter saying we can only "support the troops" by continuing the Iraq occupation into infinity, and how anyone against that is jeopardizing the troops and ruining their morale, we should make sure they get a copy of this Washington Post article by Dana Priest and Anne Hull. "Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army's Top Medical Facility" describes in gritty detail the horrific degenerating conditions in certain "outpatient holding" areas of Walter Reed Army Hospital in DC, the place seriously wounded or suffering troops are sent when they return to the USA from Iraq and Afghanistan and are released from acute care hospital beds.

I would quote some of this distrubing report but I want to encourage you, instead, to read the entire thing, to get the true flavor of what is happening at a now over-run institution long considered to be one of our best. Imagine what's going on in other, less scrutinized and honored corners of the war time machine.

Every time we hear or read about some Republican lying and promoting the myth that Democrats against the escalation in Iraq "want to cut the funds that support our troops," we should send them this article. It is the BUSH ADMINISTRATION and the REPUBLICAN-RUN CONGRESS that has been shortchanging funding for our wounded, our services for veterans and our troops in the field, not us. It is Bush and his compliant rubberstamps in Congress who have been content to send the same members of the military into Iraq over and over and over again to act out their dreams of glory and "victory" in a winless confrontation, and who then cut corners on dealing with those struck down in the process.

I can't imagine anyone reading the WaPo article and not wanting to rush the White House and Congress to make them listen, make them wake up, make them admit responsibility and accountability for the underfunded, bureaucratic chaos of Walter Reed's outpatient facilities and the other horrors being perpetrated in our names. Then again, some of these people have been so oblivious to facts for so long that I doubt they even know what reality is anymore.

But we know. And we have to keep trying, from any angle we can devise, to go at these problems and demand solutions, force an end to the madness, clean up the mess and start the healing. There is nothing down Bush's prescribed path but a worsening nightmare of catastrophic proportions. The holding areas of Walter Reed comprise just one aspect of that horror. And if Bush gets his way, those areas will be filled with even more casualties suffering needlessly from neglect, snafus and a lack of adequate resources.

Part II of the Washington Post series on the treatment of casualties upon their release to "outpatient" areas of Walter Reed can be found here.

KUNM 89.9 FM 8:00 PM Tonight: Organizing Against Barelas/Martineztown Flooding

From Espejos de Aztlan:
Tune in to KUNM 89.9 tonight, Monday, February 19th, at 8:00 PM for "Espejos de Aztlan," a weekly radio program highlighting the courage, strength and beauty of the Chicano/Latino community in New Mexico.

Host Javier Benavidez will be interviewing several community organizers from Albuquerque's Barelas and Martineztown neighborhoods who have undergone reoccuring struggles in their streets and homes with severe flooding and sewage-contaminated storm water due to crumbling and inadequate infrastructure systems.

This past summer, a great deal of attention was brought to the two neighborhoods' agony as television news images of the damage inflicted in some areas by rainstorms resembled images brought on by flooding in New Orleans. Since the storms took place last August, community members have organized to bring a critical remedy to the situation, including a $40 million construction proposal before the New Mexico State Legislature and a plan to transform Tingley Park into an emergency flood basin and park.

Espejos de Aztlan has been on-air since 1979 and is part of the Raices Colectiva which conducts programming on news, culture and music from a Latino perspective on KUNM 89.9. Listeners outside of the radio area can access streaming audio at https://www.kunm.org/.

Support the NM Identity Theft Protection Bill

From the office of NM Senator Dede Feldman:
The Credit Security Freeze -- aimed at Identity Theft -- will hit the NM Senate Floor Tuesday. Senator Dede Feldman asks everyone to call all Senators to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee Substitute for SB 448 and SB 165. Click to find contact information for your State Senator.

Listen to Sen. Feldman's latest podcast (mp3) discussing this bill (and Miss New Mexico).

Senator Feldman has been working on a compromise with everyone who's interested in protecting consumers from identity theft. The compromise would allow consumers to freeze their credit report. The Attorney General, AARP and many others support the bill Senator Feldman is sponsoring. If passed, consumers could call the credit agencies, and, for $5, place a freeze on their account information so no one with whom they do not already do business can have access to their data to open new accounts or commit crimes. Consumers can then unfreeze their accounts and allow people to see it when they want to make a major purchase.

Senator Bill Sharer (R-Farmington) introduced a related industry-backed bill. Together with Senator Sharer, Senator Feldman got everyone together and hammered out a compromise, which was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday. Efforts are still being made to accommodate the auto dealers who want consumers to be able to "thaw" their credit almost immediately. Miss New Mexico, a victim of identity theft, who has made this her platform, was at the Capitol Friday to help with the passage of the Bill. Senator Feldman has already received many emails but urges everyone to keep them coming because there is still a long way to go before the bill is finally passed and signed into law.

Editor's Note: Be sure to add Senator Dede Feldman's Blog to your favorites and blog roll.

NM's Sandia Pueblo Seeks to Host Native American Forum of Dem Prez Candidates

According to an AP article in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque's Sandia Pueblo is one of two tribes considered front-runners to host an historice "Prez on the Rez" forum of Democratic candidates for president to be held this summer. The Native American organizing group, Indigenous Democrat Network's List Education Fund, expects the event will attract hundreds of tribal leaders from across the country:

The Oklahoma-based group, INDN's List Education Fund, is putting together the event that's expected to attract most, if not all, of the Democratic presidential candidates, the Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story.

"I anticipate this is going to be the biggest political event in national American Indian history. Never has this been done before," said Kalyn Free, an organizer for the event and an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee.

Sandia Pueblo and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, whose reservation is near Palm Springs, Calif., are considered the front-runners to host the Aug. 23 event, according to former Sandia Pueblo Gov. Stuart Paisano.

The forum will focus on Native American issues and a decision on the site for it is expected to be made next [this] week. INDN's List is a Democratic group which works to increase the number of Native American candidates seeking public office.

... Free said while political candidates in the past have viewed Indian Country as a potential source of campaign cash and votes in swing districts, on the whole, "we think we've long been ignored."