Democracy for New Mexico

U.S. Senate Race in New Mexico: Photo & Quote of the Day

Rep. Heather Wilson (NM-01) and Rep. Tom Udall (NM-03) at 2007 Veteran's Day event in Santa Fe

Photo (Flickr) by Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Steve Terrell, from his blog. Silently pondering a future matchup?

And in this Politico piece, Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez is quoted dissing Tom Udall again:

But Chavez remains unbowed in his determination to seek the seat. In an interview with Politico, Chavez said his achievements as mayor would compare well with what he called Udall’s lackluster record in the House.

“You take a tough-charging mayor against a congressman who is not known for having done anything,” Chavez said.

“He’s never had the occasion to make tough decisions to offend people. You’re polling at the peak of his popularity. He’ll find that lead will evaporate like wet tissue paper.”

I guess Chavez is referring to "tough decisions" like killing a city ethics bill or fighting a raise in the minimum wage for Albuquerque, or hiring bad boy Republican Greg Payne to run the city's Transportation Department ....

Next ABQ Sierra Club Program: Clean Cars

From Michal Mudd, Group Chair, Sierra Club Central New Mexico Group: Please join us to hear Lauren Ketcham of Environment New Mexico speak on "Bringing Clean Cars to New Mexico."

Next Sierra Club Program
Tuesday November 20, 7-9 PM
UNM Law School, Stanford & Tucker Blvd., Room 2405, ABQ

In 2000, transportation was responsible for more than one-quarter of the state's carbon dioxide emissions. If current trends continue, transportation-sector global warming emissions in NM could increase by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2020. Trucks, cars and other vehicles in New Mexico also create smog and air pollution. Luckily, the technology exists to make cleaner cars that can help to reduce the state's global warming and air pollution emissions. But auto-makers and auto-dealers have been slow to embrace cleaner cars.

The Clean Cars Program sets strict standards for traditional air pollutants. The program would also reduce global warming, requiring that by 2016, new cars would emit 34 percent less global warming gases, while light-duty trucks would produce 25 percent less. Twelve states have already adopted these cleaner standards.

The state's Climate Change Advisory Group (CCAG) analyzed the Clean Cars Program and found it to be THE MOST cost-effective way to significantly reduce New Mexico's global warming emissions. Following the unanimous CCAG vote, Governor Richardson announced his support for the program and directed the New Mexico Environment Department to draft regulations for administrative adoption. Rule-making hearings for Clean Cars have been scheduled before the Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board.

HOWEVER, auto dealerships in New Mexico, as well as some state legislators, are fighting the proposed regulations hard.  Environmental activists need to make  their voices heard as well.  Please come to our general meeting, and learn how we can help bring cleaner cars to New Mexico.

Editor's Note: Click for more info on the Clean Cars Program.

Marty Chavez for Senate: Blog Smackdown

Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez has been getting hit repeatedly by bloggers and commenters and folks at Dem gatherings ever since he decided he'd abandon his long advertised run for governor in 2010 and instead enter the Dem Senate primary race. Mockery. Complaining. Groans. Tales of horror about Marty's past dealings. Complaints about his lack of integrity, ethics, people skills, honesty. I guess that's what happens when a politico has a sudden expedient ephiphany (oops) epiphany that leads him to try to pretend he's someone he's not in order climb up a big, big rung on the political scale.

Marty has just burned too many bridges and backstabbed too many people to get away with it. Too many in New Mexico know him for who and what he is, no matter how many top notch campaign consultants he hires to repaint the picture. Here's a sampling of some of the most recent blogging critical of the Mayor and his candidacy:

• Bumpersticker, mjh's blog
• Mayor Marty and Montano, Cocoposts
• Where in the World is Marty San Diego? , Burque Babble
• Marty Chavez’s Donkey Con, Coco on Duke City Fix

And ouch -- this Monday front pager by Markos on Daily Kos certainly doesn't mince any words. Quote:

Everyone wants Chavez out of the primary, suggesting he run for one of the House seats opened up by this Senate race. Me, I'd rather see Chavez' career destroyed by Udall in this primary once and for all. The last thing we need is his corrupt ass in Washington in the House, stinking up the Democratic brand and making Latinos look bad. So I hope he's stupid enough to stay in the Senate race. I'll have fun seeing him go down in flames.

Finally, there's the rapidly evolving story about Marty and his pet money-making red light cameras. You know, the ones he had put into place for safety reasons -- not to make money or headlines. Sheriff Greg Solano of Santa Fe weighs in on those on his blog. Suddenly, now that Marty is running for Senate (and questions are being asked about where the money is going from the program), he's developed new doubts about their effectiveness. So many doubts, in fact, that he's appointing a task force to study the cameras -- better known as putting the onus on somebody else, anybody else.

As of June 30th, the cameras have made $5.8 million for the city after paying off the company that runs the program. Meanwhile, there's no clear cut evidence that they're cutting down on accidents -- or that they're not, for that matter.

The odd thing is that Chavez. who has made the camera program something of a personal crusade, has now admitted publicly that he's reconsidering the red light cameras for political reasons. A Sunday Albuquerque Journal article reports:

Mayor Martin Chávez, saying the city's red-light camera program is not "delivering on its promises," will appoint a task force to consider scrapping it.

... "Folks either love these things or hate them, and more and more people just hate them," Chávez said in a telephone interview Friday from Chicago, where he was attending a conference. "I am not seeing the reduction in accidents that justify the headache and the controversy."

The city launched the program in October 2004 at two Northeast Heights intersections. Initially, it was designed to catch drivers who run red lights.

The program has since expanded to 20 intersections, and most cameras are also catching speeders. The city has added three camera-equipped vans to catch speeders as well. Chávez on Friday acknowledged that the program could be a "political liability." He announced last month that he was seeking the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici.

"If we have a policy that is not liked and not working, certainly that is a political liability," Chávez said. "It is not the only issue on my municipal plate. I want to make sure that it does not deflect other things we have accomplished."

Probably realizing the impact of what he said on Friday about political considerations, Chavez changed his tune on Sunday:

Chávez downplayed any notion that he is trying to jettison his unpopular red-light camera program because it could be a political liability in his recently announced candidacy for the U.S. Senate.  ... The mayor said his appointment of a nine-member panel— which will make recommendations to him if the program should be kept, changed or scrapped— is timed to January's state legislative session in Santa Fe and not to his campaign strategy.

"If it were political, I'd kill the program," Chávez said in an interview following a news conference at the Civic Plaza.

I've always thought that one of Chavez's most serious faults is the transparency with which he conducts his purely political and often nasty movidas. I guess he really thinks we won't see through them because we're too clueless and naive to realize that the emperor has no clothes. He'd better think again.

For our previous posts on the 2008 U.S. Senate race in New Mexico, visit our archive.

Citizen Action Files Counter Lawsuit Against NM Environment Department for Secret Documents

From Citizen Action: Citizen Action, an Albuquerque-based public interest group, today filed a counter lawsuit in the New Mexico Court of Appeals against the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) charging that the state violated the Public Information Act and Open Meetings Act by failing to provide secret reports about Sandia Laboratories’ Mixed Waste Landfill. The landfill, a Cold War legacy waste dump containing 700,000 cu ft of radioactive and hazardous waste, is situated above Albuquerque’s sole source drinking water aquifer. 

"The New Mexico Environment Department has a habit of trying to quell dissent and debate, both inside and outside the Department," said Nancy Simmons, attorney for Citizen Action. "Now that the Attorney General has ordered them to provide heretofore secret documents to Citizen Action about what they're doing or not doing to clean up the hazardous and radioactive waste dump at Sandia Labs, the Department has turned around and sued Citizen Action. This is apparently in an effort to get my client to back down. It won't work. The citizens of New Mexico have an absolute right to observe their government in action. Citizen Action will go to court today to protect that right. The TechLaw reports they're protecting from public view were paid for by tax dollars; we all have a right to see what we bought."

The TechLaw reports were used by NMED to examine computer modeling showing that radioactive and hazardous wastes will leak into the groundwater at Sandia’s Mixed Waste Landfill. 

Robert Gilkeson, registered geologist, stated that “NMED and Sandia have known since 1991 that they do not have a well monitoring system at the dump capable of detecting contamination. All computer models predict contamination will hit the groundwater. Sandia and NMED have not gone the next step to install monitoring wells at the hot spots. Instead of validating the models with real data, NMED and Sandia are manipulating assumptions in complex computer models to cover up a wrongheaded decision to leave these long-lived wastes in place under a dirt cover.”

The Department of Energy (DOE) describes the low cost dirt cover as “Environmental Stewardship.”  However, a report by the National Academies of Science describes this stewardship as “providing unacceptable risks to people and the environment.” The report states:

“Stewardship (covering waste with dirt and instituting institutional controls) of waste sites will be difficult if not impossible to achieve.

“At many sites hazardous wastes will remain posing risks to people and the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years.

“No plan developed today is likely to remain protective for the duration of the hazards.”

Citizen Action’s Director, Dave McCoy, stated that “NMED apparently is unwilling to make decisions about the dump in the broad daylight of public scrutiny. With global warming and coming water shortages, DOE and NMED should protect Albuquerque’s groundwater by excavating the dump’s toxic wastes. They failed to order cleanup at Los Alamos and now there is plutonium in Santa Fe’s drinking water.  They should pay attention to the public demand to clean up the Sandia dump with its plutonium, instead of shooting the messenger.” 

Over the last year, Citizen Action filed agency complaints that the dump has monitoring wells that cannot detect contamination because they are out of place with damaged well screens in violation of federal law.  Citizen Action discovered that no capable wells or soil gas monitoring systems were in place to detect contamination during Sandia’s recent use of heavy compaction equipment over fragile waste containers in the dump.  Citizen Action found out from other information requests that: the installation of part of the soil cover proceeded without an approved plan; berms built to protect the soil cover construction were breached from storm water; the storm water pathway away from the dump is not analyzed and lab samples were lost.  Citizen Action along with a coalition of other Albuquerque based organizations and individuals filed a complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency that NMED is shutting the public out of its right to review and comment on documents and decisions about the dump and the long-term monitoring network plan.

For more information contact Citizen Action New Mexico: (505) 262-1862 or visit the Citizen Action website at www.radfreenm.org.

See our previous post about the law suit filed against Citizen Action by the NM Environment Department and this one about Citizen Action's previous Notice of Intent to sue the NMED and others for allowing the illegal operation of the Mixed Waste Landfill.

Anne Kass on Peeling the Paint: Justice for All

This is a guest blog by political activist and retired Second Judicial District Judge Anne Kass of Albuquerque:

I had the opportunity to attend the swearing-in ceremony for Charles W. Daniels to the New Mexico Supreme Court Friday. It was a moving and inspiring ceremony. 

Justice Daniels told of being a share-cropper's son in Arkansas where, as a small child, he played with a black child names James. When it became time to start school, James went to the dilapidated schoolhouse down the road, while young Charlie Daniels was bussed miles away to a white-school. He was taught the Pledge of Allegiance and began to recognize the disconnection between the words “with liberty and justice for all” and the reality of his experience. He talked about his dedication to making the promise of “justice for all” a reality. His talk was truly moving. 

During his remarks Justice Daniels addressed the issue of equal rights for women. He mentioned that Fred Hart, who was Dean of the New Mexico School of Law when Justice Daniels was a student and professor there, opened the doors of the law school to women and minorities. (I made the same observations when I was a student at the UNM School of Law.) 

Justice Daniels said, after some years, when almost half the law school classes were comprised of women, "... the good 'ole boys discovered that the paint didn't peel off the walls when women appeared in the courtroom as lawyers or judges." While he continued his remarks, I found myself thinking -- That's right, the paint didn't peel off the walls, and THAT'S the problem. The paint should have peeled off the walls.

The paint of property law that allows for the private ownership of everything needs to be peeled off the walls of the halls of justice, starting with laws that allow for the private ownership of everything, including other human beings. Today, one manifestation of this notion is in the form of incarceration and deportation of undocumented workers only trying to survive while their exploitative employer-owners go unpunished.   

Property law also allows for private ownership of DNA genetic codes and private ownership of cures and treatments for terrible diseases. In many of these cases, the underlying research has been paid with public dollars. There are many layers of property-law-paint that need to be peeled off the walls.

The same holds true for many layers of criminal-law-paint which dictates grotesquely disproportionate imprisonment of people of color for drug offenses and which makes the penalties for shoplifting severe while providing no penalties at all for the looting of the national treasury by corporations such as Halliburton. 

Justice Daniels was correct. The “good ol’ boys” have learned they have nothing to fear from either women or minorities entering the law. They have simply co-opted them. Women and people of color have been allowed and even encouraged to join the ranks of lawyers and judges but only on the condition that they walk, talk, and look just like the “good ol’ boys” who wrote the rules and laws in the first place.   

Women and people of color have not changed the system. They have accommodated themselves to a very rigid system. They are the ones who have changed, become assimilated. And that's why, although a relatively small number of women and people of color have risen to positions of much prestige and power in the law, the status and circumstances of women and people of color, in general, remain virtually unchanged. 

If Justice Daniels has any hope at all to make good on his promise to make the national promise of “justice for all” a reality, the first thing he needs to do is peel paint -- lots of paint -- off the walls of the halls of justice. I enthusiastically support his intentions.

This is a guest blog by Anne Kass, who posts periodically on DFNM. Guest blogs provide our reader with an opportunity to express their opinions and may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand side of the page.

Veteran's Day War Stories

Editor's Note: This is a rather long story about my memories of veterans in my family that was originally posted here on Veteran's Day 2005 and has been updated. If you have any memories you'd like to share on this Veteran's Day, post them in the comments section below.

As I was having my coffee this Veteran's Day morning, memories of family members who served in the military came bubbling up. Many of the men in my family served in the U.S Navy.

My grandfather, Max, was a Navy diver during World War I. He wore one of those unwieldy metal helmets and a bulky dive suit of the era, and ended up with a severe case of the bends from arising from the depths too quickly. According to doctors, this shortened his life considerably, and he died at 45 from liver and kidney problems. I never knew him, but always heard that he never spoke much about his service. By all accounts he returned from the war a changed man, prone to a world-weary wildness during the Roaring Twenties and beyond in a speakeasy-filled Chicago that slid into the brutal throes of the Great Depression.

My Uncle Bob served as a radar man on a Navy destroyer escort at the tail end of the Korean War. Although he saw some heated shelling and combat on the seas, most of his service consisted of traveling around the globe on post-war good will tours to foreign ports. He would show up back in the old immigrant neighborhood in Chicago in uniform, on leave, when I was very young. I thought he was the most handsome man in the world in his Navy whites. He never spoke much about the war itself, but was full of yarns about exotic ports of call, characters he had met around the world and rowdy Navy traditions that accompanied nautical events like crossing the equator for the first time. When the winter windows would frost up, he would show off his radar man skill of writing backwards, like radar techs used to do on glass to communicate with those on the other side. He made us giggle and imagine, to lust for travel, for history, for adventure.

My Uncle Vito was a Navy cook during WW II, which instilled in him a lifelong love of cooking. The only problem was he always prepared massive quantities, in huge pots, as he had in the service. This irked my Aunt Esther no end. After all, she was the one left to handle the mess cleanup detail. Uncle Vito's specialities included huge pots of Italian delicacies like snails and clams and dandelion greens and spaghetti sauce made with pigs' feet or chicken necks. I never heard any battle stories out of him. He, too, died young. Of a heart attack, while tending his garden, with his tiny grandson toddling nearby. Just like Brando's Godfather in the movie.

My uncle Artie served in the WW II Army infantry in Italy. He had some fingers blown off when he grabbed a live grenade and tossed it away from himself and his fellow soldiers, no doubt saving lives. He had little feeling in that hand and was always suffering unexpected cuts and burns on it during his factory work. Looking at the mashed results of the grenade always scared me. He'd just laugh and say, "oh, it's nothing. I'm alive!"

Iwo Jima beachhead

I know the most about the military service of my late father, Bill, who joined the Navy during World War II and was quickly attached to the Marines as a medical corpsman. He was 21 years old. After a short course of rushed medical training, he eventually ended up in the truly horrific beach landing and battle for Iwo Jima in the Pacific. He, too, was very reticent to talk about his service, but over the years I managed to piece together some facts about it. Most of his fellow corpsmen didn't make it out alive. The Japanese forces had a strategy of wounding Marines in order to draw out the medics to come to their rescue. Then they'd proceed to kill the medics.

At Thanksgiving, the smell of the turkey being prepared somehow reminded my dad of the smell of flesh during the Marine's long "mop-up" of the labyrinth of caves and underground tunnels on Iwo, using flame throwers and explosives to destroy the Japanese military survivors who wouldn't surrender. He always got slightly sick with memories for a time on this day and could never stay in the kitchen for long.

On rare occasions my dad would allow us to examine some of the souvenirs he brought home from the war. Wrinkled Japanese paper money and darkened coins, an ornate Japanese comb, his medals, photos from bootcamp and of servicemen playing volleyball on Hawaiian beaches and standing outside their tents on Okinawa, a Marine yearbook, a small Rising Sun flag, a thick piece of window glass from a downed plane made into a heart with a piece of metal down the center that created a rainbow effect when held up to the light. As a child these things always smelled ancient to me, with a strong undertone of ruin and mystery. My father always handled them with sad reverence rather than joy or pride. Melancholy would seem to overwhelm him, and he'd quickly put away the memorabilia and become silent.

When I was older, I'd sometimes question him about his war experiences, and once in a great while he'd speak about them quietly. About the feelings of extreme helplessness when he had been unable to do much when Marines he knew were dying in incredible pain in his arms. Of the intestines erupting from live bodies and missing, bleeding limbs and atrocious head injuries and other serious wounds he had to try and patch with only a yeoman's level of medical experience and knowledge. Of the strange fungi that latched onto Marines on Iwo, eating their flesh during the 36-day battle on hot, ashy, lava soil, with no chance to wash or change your clothes or socks. Sometimes Marines endured holes caused by fungus that went right through their torsos. My dad had a permanent case of fungus on his feet from the battle. I can still see him soaking his feet every night in a basin of hot water and epsom salts.

The only time I heard any happy war stories from him was when we once paid a visit to one of his fellow corpsmen from Iwo Jima who lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Corpsman Wright was more than 6 feet tall and kept his Jack Daniels in the Frigerator and his bad memories at bay. When the adults had a few whiskey highballs on our first night there, funny stories about youthful escapades in the Marines tumbled out one after another. We were fascinated with tales of my dad being rowdy and risque, a sharp contrast to the straightlaced and responsible father we knew, loved and sometimes even feared. I remember clearly how my father blushed during the retellings.

As the night wore on, however, both my father and his Marine buddy became more and more morose and depressed. After that first night, no more war stories were shared. It became so powerfully clear to me, as a 14-year old, how many intense and conflicting emotions were connected to their war experiences. I'm sure many veterans are in the throes of similar emotional knots on any given Veteran's Day, including this one. As are their families and loved ones.

This conflict about what war is, what it means and what it does to its participants came to a head for many during the Viet Nam War. I remember so many angry and volatile discussions between my brother and I and my dad about Viet Nam and what true patriotism demanded from Americans. So much division in the nation and in its families. Yet, as the war progressed, my father changed his mind. I thought it showed alot of courage. He and my mom ended up traveling to Washington to participate in one of the huge antiwar marches in the late 60s. My father carried one of his medals when he marched. And a large American flag.

Luckily, my brother managed to escape the ravishes of Nam -- he ended up with a high draft number in the national lottery. Many of his friends, however, returned home with broken spirits or broken bodies or both. Several died in the jungle. One came home with Viet Cong ears preserved in a jar and eventually collapsed into an enduring fugue of mental illness.

My dad's friend, Corpsman Wright, ended up dying young at 56 from liver damage from chronic alcoholism. My dad died at 55 from stomach cancer. I can't help but think that their painful and profound war experiences were a primary cause of their early deaths, and of their often uncomfortable emotional lives. As my father grew closer to death, he insisted that only one person he knew would be right for the task of conducting a service when he passed. He was one of his surviving friends from the medical corps -- a man who was unable or unwilling to deal with the rough and tumble of the business world after Iwo, and who had become a missionary of sorts after the war.

The reverend and his wife served in various missions built to minister to street people, the poor, alcoholics and vets down on their luck. My father wasn't a religious man, though his spiritual and humanist tendencies were strong. He wanted his old comrade to conduct the memorial service, not because of the minister's religious standing, but because -- even after all the intervening years -- he felt closest to those who had intimately shared his service and suffering during the war.

The reverend did conduct the memorial service, and gave quite an eloquent speech about what the medics had witnessed and the confusing emotional aftermath that unfolded afterwards. It was held in one of those well-used missions filled with stories of woe and redemption. My brother and his musician friends performed George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' after the speech. My dad's old friends sang the Marine Hymn. Like the convoluted feelings of vets and their families, like the coexisting pain and pride of service caused by war, like the continuing conflicting views about using force or not, the memorial service was a juxtaposition of opposing elements. A jumble of contrasting traditions. A metaphor for another Veteran's Day mired in another grinding war and rememberances of the wounds gone unhealed from the ones that came before. War is over if you want it. Peace.

Iraq Military Casulaties by Time Period

Period	US	UK	Other*	Total	Avg	Days
	774	41	9	824	2.9	284
	933	32	20	985	2.39	412
	715	13	18	746	2.35	318
	580	25	27	632	2.93	216
	718	27	59	804	1.9	424
	140	33		173	4.02	43
Total	3860	171	133	4164	2.45	1697

Iraq War Casualties, New Mexico: 31

		Albuquerque	Ramos, Christopher	Private 1st Cl.	05-Apr-2004
		Albuquerque	Adlesperger, Christopher	Private 1st Cl.	09-Dec-2004
		Albuquerque	Christensen, Jeremy E.	Specialist	27-Nov-2004
		Albuquerque	Merville, Christopher A.	Specialist	12-Oct-2004
		Albuquerque	Vizcaino, Eric	Specialist	21-Nov-2006
		Albuquerque	Spohn III,, Clifford A.	Specialist	09-Apr-2007
		Albuquerque	Zembiec, Douglas	Major	10-May-2007
		Albuquerque	Akin, James C.	Sergeant	03-Jun-2007
		Clovis	Segura Jr., Leroy	Sergeant	04-Aug-2006
		Farmington	Todacheene, Lee Duane	Sergeant	06-Apr-2004
		Farmington	Westbrook, Marshall A.	Sergeant	01-Oct-2005
		Fruitland	Yazzie, Clifton J.	Sergeant	20-Jan-2006
		Hondo	Chavez, Steven M.	Lance Corporal	14-Mar-2007
		La Mesa	Pirtle, James H.	Specialist	03-Oct-2003
		Las Cruces	Rodriguez, Joseph E.	Staff Sergeant	28-Jan-2005
		Las Cruces	Reyes, Mario A.	Private 1st Cl.	07-Nov-2005
		Las Cruces	Zamora, Jesse M.	Corporal	03-Feb-2006
		Las Cruces	Apuan, Matthew S.	Sergeant	18-Feb-2007
		Las Vegas	Harris, Shane P.	Lance Corporal	03-Sep-2006
		Los Lunas	Dahl, Joel A.	Sergeant	23-Jun-2007
		Not reported	Gutierrez, Marshall A.	Lieutenant Col.	04-Sep-2006
		Roswell	Salas Jr., Ricky	Private 1st Cl.	07-Mar-2006
		Roswell	Gray, Tommy L.	Sergeant	03-Aug-2004
		Roswell	Rocha, Moses Daniel	Sergeant	05-Aug-2004
		Sandia Park	Lewis, Joel W.	Sergeant	06-May-2007
		Santa Ana Pueblo	Sanchez, Emilian D.	Lance Corporal	21-Jan-2007
		Santa Fe	Grant, Jonathan Walter	Lance Corporal	11-May-2005
		Shiprock	Cambridge, Lyle J.	Corporal	05-Jul-2005
		Springer	Hildebrandt, Chad R.	Lance Corporal	17-Oct-2005
		Sunland Park	Zamora, Jose	Corporal	06-Aug-2006
		Veguita	Byrd III, Henry G.	Private 1st Cl.	24-Jun-2007

Data above from .

Support Our Troops and Veterans:

• Iraq Veterans Against the War
• Veterans for Peace
• Military Families Speak Out
• Gold Star Families for Peace
• Any Soldier Care Packages
• Armed Forces Relief Trust
• Books for Soldiers
• Fisher House: Helping Military Families
• Help Our Troops Call Home
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
• Disabled American Veterans
• Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
• Army Emergency Relief
• National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
• New Mexico VA Volunteer Opportunities
• New Mexico VA Patient Needs List
• New Mexico Veterans Integration Center

Bingaman Makes Strong Case Against Mukasey Appointment

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) voted last week against the appointment of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General. Unfortunately, six Dems voted for Mukasey's appointment, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Diane Feinstein, who permitted the appointment to gain passage in the Senate Judiciary Committee. His nomination passed the Senate by a margin of 53-40. See the New York Times editorial, "Abdicate and Capitulate," which asks why the nomination didn't need "60 votes" to pass. After all, Senate Dems are always using that magic number for an excuse for not taking action. Filibuster anybody?

If you really want to make yourself sick, read Greg Sargent's piece on that explains why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a deal to allow the Mukasey appointment. Hint: It has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with ethical action.

The good news is that Sen. Bingaman made a blunt yet eloquent floor statement against Mukasey's appointment, saying he was troubled by the Judge's unwillingness to be clear on torture, but also by his refusal to agree that the President must comply with constitutional laws passed by Congress. Sen. Bingaman also compared some of Bush's executive power assertions -- defended by Mukasey -- to the similarly dangerous claims of being beyond the law made by Richard Nixon:

Floor Statement of Sen. Jeff Binaman (D-NM) on Nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey

Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be the next United States Attorney General.

First, let me say that by all accounts Judge Mukasey is a good man with a long distinguished record. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he made clear that he understands the need to restore the public's trust and confidence in the Department of Justice. I also believe he demonstrated a willingness to take the necessary steps to de-politicize the Department, and to provide the leadership required to repair its credibility.

However, I am also deeply troubled by the positions Judge Mukasey has taken regarding several important issues. Much has been said about Judge Mukasey's unwillingness to clearly state that certain interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, are unlawful and amount to torture. I share this concern, but I would also like to highlight another area that I find particularly disturbing; that is the idea that the President doesn't have to comply with a constitutional law passed by Congress.

Over the last 6 years, the Bush administration has put forth a view of Executive power that is incredibly expansive, and in my opinion, an unjustified and dangerous threat to our fundamental rights and our commitment to the rule of law.

The President has asserted the right to unilaterally imprison whomever he wants without judicial review, whether or not they are a United States citizen, if he determines that they are a so-called “enemy combatant.'' The administration has taken the position that the President can authorize the use of techniques that amount to torture, and then immunize any person acting pursuant to his orders from criminal liability. The President also authorized warrantless surveillance in direct contravention to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

In all of these instances, the President justified his actions on the basis that he was acting within his authority as commander-in-chief to defend the country, and that neither Congress nor the courts can infringe on this power. While many of these assertions have ultimately been rejected by Federal courts, Congress, or overturned internally when they became public, the President continues to assert that there are few restraints on his power when it comes to national security matters.

During his confirmation hearing, Judge Mukasey stated that he would step down if he determined that the President's actions were unlawful and the President refused to heed his advice to change course. Although this does signal a welcomed degree of independence, I remain concerned about what Judge Mukasey will find to be "lawful.''

Let me read an exchange that took place during a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee which illustrates this point.

Senator Leahy: . . . where Congress has clearly legislated in an area, as we've done in the area of surveillance with the FISA law, something we've amended repeatedly at the request of various administrations . . . if it's been legislated and stated very clearly what must be done, if you operate outside of that, whether it's with a presidential authorization or anything else, wouldn't that be illegal?

Judge Mukasey: That would have to depend on whether what goes outside the statute nonetheless lies within the authority of the president to defend the country.

Senator Leahy: Can the President put someone above the law by authorizing illegal conduct?

Judge Mukasey: If by illegal you mean contrary to a statute but within the authority of the President to defend the country, the President is not putting somebody above the law, the President is putting somebody within the law.

While this view may be consistent with the current administration's position regarding Executive authority, this stance is not consistent with how the powers of the president have traditionally been interpreted. The notion that the president may disregard a valid law by citing his inherent power to defend the country is disconcerting.

And frankly, it is all too reminiscent of President Nixon's assertion that actions taken in the name of national security, whether or not they are in accordance with relevant statues, are by definition legal if they are carried out on behalf of the President. This assertion was widely rejected, as it should have been.

As our Nation's highest law enforcement officer, it is essential that the Attorney General faithfully execute laws passed by Congress. It is one thing for the Attorney General to state that he or she will not enforce a certain measure because it is unconstitutional; however, it is a very different matter if the Executive Branch asserts that it is not bound by a law that is clearly constitutional.

It is for this reason that I cannot support the nomination of Judge Mukasey to be the next Attorney General.
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If you'd like to send Sen. Bingaman a message supporting his action on the Mukasey nomination, click here.

Tweeti Blancett to Speak in Santa Fe Monday

From Johnny Micou at DrillingSantaFe.org:
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center and Southwest Seminars will host a lecture with Tweeti Blancett in Santa Fe on Monday, November 12th at Hotel Santa Fe at 6:00 PM. She'll speak about "Rip Roaring Ranching and Fighting Oil and Gas." If you haven't seen her presentation, it's well worth it. Cost is $10 or $5 for Law Center members, and $45 for the series. Call 505-989-9022 for more info. The series benefits the Law Center, which is celebrating 20 years of victories for New Mexico's environment and communities.

About Tweeti:

• High Country News
• National Geographic
• OteroMesa.org
• Sierra Club
• Audubon Magazine
• SanJuanCitizens.org

(Updated With Internal Poll, AP Story) Udall & Wiviott: Latest on U.S. Senate Race in New Mexico

UPDATE: The Associated Press is that Tom Nagle, Tom Udall's Chief of Staff, Tom Nagle, has stated,"He's definitely running." Nagle also said Udall will formally announce his decision in New Mexico during Congress's Thanksgiving recess. In addition, DraftUdall and SwingStateProject have released an internal poll conducted for Udall by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates during the period October 23-27, 2007 that again shows strong numbers for Udall:

Even more telling in terms of pretty much destroying Marty Chavez's claim that Udall wouldn't do well in the general election because he's "too far to the left," Udall significantly beats Marty's numbers with self-described "moderate" voters in the general:

In addition, Udall is very strong with Dem primary voters, including Hispanics and Bernalillo County residents: "Udall is the clear preference among likely Democratic primary voters for the nomination. In a three-way contest with Chávez and Developer Don Wiviott, Udall also reaches 50 percent support and holds a 20-point lead over Chávez. Udall holds strong leads among Hispanic and self-described moderate and conservative Democratic primary voters, as well as those who live in Bernalillo County, as shown below."

The polling firm also reports low favorables and high unfavorables for Chavez and just the opposite for Udall.

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Original Post:

I have it on very good authority that Rep. Tom Udall is announcing to his long-time supporters tonight that he will, indeed, enter the U.S. Senate race. And that Don Wiviott (left), the first Dem brave enough to run for Senate back when Domenici was still saying he would run for re-election in 2008, intends to withdraw his candidacy if Udall makes an official public announcement of his entry. I've also learned that Don intends to seriously explore running for Congress in NM-03 if he does end up withdrawing from the Senate race. I hope he does. He's one of the good guys who decided to run for office for all the right reasons.

Reliable Source: Tom Udall to Enter U.S. Senate Race

Rep. Tom Udall (R), his wife Jill Cooper Udall (L) and Tom's father, former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall (C), with their paper ballots on election day 2006

According to a post yesterday on Heath Haussamen's blog, Rep. Tom Udall (NM-03) will soon announce his entry into the race for the Dem nomination for U.S. Senate in New Mexico. The report is based on leaks from "reliable sources" that Udall has been calling "Dem insiders" and "some county party chairs" this week to inform them he's running. At last Saturday's Dem Party State Central Committee meeting, Udall indicated he'd be making his decision within two weeks.

Today's Albuquerque Journal featured a front-page article by Michael Coleman about Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez's responses to a potential run by Udall. Not surprisingly, Chavez says he''ll stay in the Senate race no matter what. Some have interpreted Udall's delay in officially announcing his Senate run as providing some time for Chavez to exit gracefully in the face of a challenge from a highly popular and proven statewide vote getter. No dice. By all accounts, grace is not one of Chavez's strong points.

As reported in Coleman's story,

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez said Friday that speculation that he might drop out of the U.S. Senate race if Rep. Tom Udall gets in is just wishful or wrong-headed thinking. "That's someone's wishful thinking or else someone's mistaken speculation," Chávez said in a telephone interview Friday. ... "I'm in the race," Chávez said. "I believe in this race."

Meanwhile, the Udall camp had this to say in the Journal story:

Tom Nagle, Udall's chief of staff in Washington, said Friday that the congressman is close to announcing his decision— possibly as soon as next week. Nagle said Chávez's entry into the race hasn't factored into Udall's decision-making process. "It's not about the mayor; it's about who would be the best senator from New Mexico," Nagle said. "If he decides to run, Tom Udall believes that would be him."

Chavez was in Washington on Thursday for a meeting he requested with Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the DSCC, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He apparently failed to convince them to remain uninvolved or to support his run. It's been widely reported that Schumer and other Senate Dems have been less than impressed with Chavez's chances in the race and have been actively encouraging stronger, more popular Dems to consider running, including Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and Rep. Udall. The pressure on Udall to run appeared to increase exponentially as polling data emerged showing he'd wallop both Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson in the general election, and Denish officially announced she wouldn't mount a Senate run.

Chavez is clearly trying to define Udall as being first and foremost the DSCC's candidate -- implying New Mexicans aren't behind his run. Marty has alternately claimed that Udall is "too far to the left" to succeed in a Senate run or that he and Udall hold the same positions on almost every issue. Pick one. Now Chavez has stooped to criticizing Udall for considering leaving his Congressional seat and his place on the House appropriations committee:

Chávez suggested that Udall, who recently earned a coveted seat on the House appropriations committee, would be doing a disservice to New Mexico if he gave up that seat. "That means we would send three freshman representatives and one freshman senator," to Washington, Chávez said. "It will be the weakest delegation in the history of New Mexico in terms of seniority. They won't have the clout to change a roll of toilet paper."

Always the gentleman, isn't he?

Other Candidates
Other candidates in the Senate race include Dems Don Wiviott, Jim Hannan and Leland Lehrman, all from Santa Fe. These three brave souls entered the Dem primary race months ago, when incumbent Repub Sen. Domenici was still insisting he would run for another term, and no other Dems had the gumption to challenge Pete. Hannan, who ran thousands of dollars worth of newspaper ads critical of Domenici and then Wilson, has said he will withdraw if Udall runs. No word yet from Wiviott, whose campaign has raised more than $400,000 from donors and loans from the candidate. Wiviott has been criss crossing the state for months, working hard on gaining support for his candidacy and reaching out to Dems of all stripes. It appears that Lehrman intends to continue in the race.

When Udall officially announces, expect a free for all of candidates to emerge in NM-03 where Tom will be giving up his seat. It's getting to be the norm in this unique election cycle in New Mexico. One thing that's become evident is the depth of the Democratic bench. The excitement being generated statewide for an unprecedented, across-the-board changing of the guard in New Mexico's House and Senate delegation can only grow stronger.

Race News
By the way, one of the most active forces encouraging Udall's run for Senate has been DraftUdall.com, where you can sign a petition supporting Udall for Senate, donate to the effort via ActBlue and keep track of developments in the race. Other good sources of race info nationally include the blogs Senate2008Guru and SwingStateProject. Locally, HeathHaussamen in Las Cruces, as well as community blog , the bloggers three at m-pyre and La Politica vet JoeMonahan in Albuquerque, are always on top of things. More will be revealed.

To read our previous coverage of the 2008 U.S. Senate race in New Mexico, visit our archive.