Democracy for New Mexico

More Crocodile Tears Over "Failures" of Ethics Advocates

As background to this post, see Joe Monahan's latest piece about ethics and campaign reform, where he announces a silly contest. Next, check out what Marjorie at m-pyre has to say about it.

The cowardly Alligators-Afraid-To-Reveal-Their-Names are crying crocodile tears again over the alleged mismanagement of ethics and campaign finance reform by -- get this -- the reformers themselves. The reptilian view is that reform efforts have hit a brick wall because those pushing for change haven't been clear and focused about what they want. This alleged lack of clarity has confused the public so they don't know what to get behind. And it's just plain snookered the poor legislators who have been trying in vain to decipher the priorities of the reformers. Shame on the nonprofit public advocacy organizations that have been using ineffectual tactics and asking for too much at once -- according to the unnamed sources at Monahan.

Let's Have a Contest!
The solution -- who'd a thunk it -- is lurking out there in the mind of some college student in the form of a hip new plan to achieve campaign donation limits. All Joe and his Alligators have to do is bring the ideal plan to the surface by dangling a prize for the winning idea, open their jaws and snap it up.

Too bad Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, AARP and many other organizations that have long been working for change didn't think of that. Why talk to legislators, organize citizen lobbying efforts, urge constituents to contact their reps and vigorously promote the findings of two years of highly respected and publicized work by the Governor's Ethics Task Force -- when they could have just offered up $500 in prize money to entice a college student to come up with a winning advocacy plan!

I think we should try this masterful approach with other legislative efforts that are wildly popular with voters but meet stubborn resistance from the Lobbied Ones. It's not that the Lobbied Ones are bought off by vested special interests or dominated by overly developed greed glands. It's that they're standing by waiting for a clever appeal -- a magic advocacy plan -- to inspire them to do their duty to the people they represent. All this time, powerful legislators have been pining to pass ethics reform legislation -- they've just been waiting to be approached with sufficient pizzazz.

Shaming the Status Quo
Well, there is one problem with the Alligators' blame-the-public-advocate campaign. It has absolutely no credibility in the real world. We can clearly see the forces working the puppet strings at the New Mexico Legislature. We've also noticed how happy the dancing puppets have become with things the way they are. We've seen the light because we've been paying more attention than ever before -- and the light is helping us to follow the money.

The public knows why ethics reforms have had trouble passing. Unquestionably, it's because the foxes (and alligators) guarding the henhouse don't want to change the status quo. They LOVE getting large donations from those with business before the Legislature. They LOVE to use that money to keep competitors from running against them so they can keep on voting against the will of the people. They LOVE having no limits on "campaign contributions" so they can string out an election win into decades of incumbency without merit. They LOVE operating in a state that lacks an ethics commission with the clout needed to root out and punish corruption. They've come to truly LOVE all the cash cows.

Nothing will make certain powerhouses in the Legislature -- and especially in the Senate -- change their minds on ethics reform unless they are absolutely SHAMED into it. They need to be called to account again and again for their refusal to clean up the present system. What we have now is essentially a Legislature where insider networks -- dependent on whats amounts to widespread graft -- operate with impunity to thwart the will of the people. It's a system designed to preserve the perks of incumbency and eliminate any risk of serious challengers emerging with the means to run against anti-reform legislators. The special interests love it. The patronage networks love it. Ordinary people suffer.

Obviously, Monahan and his nameless Alligators have concocted their silly contest to keep the pressure and attention off themselves and put it on those who've been working tirelessly for reform in the face of legislative arrogance. Unable to argue their case with convincing logic, they resort to mockery and farce.

This prime-the-pump system they're defending has worked like a charm for years -- but the people are now wising up and getting active. We've learned too much about how the game works to allow us to sit helpless any longer. We've witnessed the damage first hand when monied special interests call the shots. The destruction is displayed all around us. The crooked games must end.

What Can We Do?
Some of us are lucky enough to have ethical challengers to the status quo running in Dem primaries or the general election against business-as-usual legislators. Even if we don't live in the districts of the challengers, we can lend our time, make small campaign donations and spread the word.

If, like most voters in New Mexico, we live in State House and Senate districts with uncontested races, we can keep contacting our legislators day after day, week after week, month after month about reform. We can make it clear that anyone who keeps fighting ethics and campaign finance reform will be outed repeatedly for their shameful refusals to clean up the cesspool. And we can generously support advocacy organizations like Common Cause that lobby in a non-partisan way on behalf of the citizenry.

As with many issues, only strong public pressure is likely to result in success. We do know what to do. We just have to keep on doing it until we win some victories for the people.

Also see my previous post about the alligator swamp and complaints about ethics reform advocates.

Udall Asks Pelosi to Move Indian Health Bill to Top of House Agenda

In a statement released yesterday after the long-awaited Senate passage of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, US Rep. Tom Udall (D, NM-03), urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to move the bill to the top of the House’s agenda.

“Our nation’s health care system is badly in need of reform,” Udall wrote in a letter to Pelosi. “But nowhere is the issue of inadequate healthcare more acute and in need of improvement than on Native American lands and in the Indian Health Service agency.”

The legislation, which passed the Senate today by a vote of 83-10, is the first substantial overhaul of the Indian health care system in over a decade. It would provide medical care to approximately 1.8 million American Indians and would authorize spending for the Indian Health Service (IHS) for the next 10 years.

Udall acknowledges the legislation does not remedy all of the wide-reaching problems in Indian Country, however, passing the bill will mark huge progress. “While S. 1200 is not a panacea that would immediately fix every one of the problems plaguing the access to care and the quality of care for Native Americans, it is an important and long overdue step towards modernizing the Indian health care system,” he wrote.

To read the full text of Udall’s letter click here.

According to published studies from the US Indian Health Service, IHS-served populations generally suffer from a higher incidence of illness and premature death rates than the U.S. population as a whole. The study indicates that in comparison with the general population, American Indians are 6.5 times more likely to die from alcoholism, 6 times more likely to die from tuberculosis, almost three times more likely to die from diabetes and 2.5 times more likely to die in accidents. To see the full study, click here.

Udall represents a district that is 19 percent Native American. He serves a Co-Vice Chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus and is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, which appropriates funding for the Indian Health Service.

Santa Fe County Suspends New Oil and Gas Drilling

Yesterday the Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners passed an emergency interim development ordinance that temporarily suspends the processing and granting of applications for permits to drill for oil and natural gas within the Galisteo Basin until February 28, 2009. The ordinance also empowers the Board to extend the prohibition for an additional 6 months, if necessary.

The County Commission voted unanimously to approve the ordinance and received a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 100. The suspension is designed to give County staff more time to study environmental, geographical and archeological issues in the basin before completing the final draft of new oil and gas regulations. The County had begun drafting new oil and gas regulations last fall after Tecton Energy announced plans to drill for oil in the Galisteo Basin.

In January, Gov. Bill Richardson issued a similar six-month moratorium on drilling in the Galisteo Basin to allow for a study on the area's extensive archaeological treasures. The City of Santa Fe will soon begin a review of the ownership of subsurface mineral rights for city-owned property in the area.

To join the battle against drilling in the Galisteo Basin area, visit the Drilling Santa Fe website and sign on to endorse the principles of the Coalition for Energy Accountability. For months, citizens and advocacy groups have been actively fighting Tecton's announced plans to drill in Santa Fe County and urging governmental action to ban or delay drilling and conduct technical studies that may form the basis for strengthened drilling regulations.

Dem Prez Debate Tonight, MSNBC

Tonight's debate in at Cleveland State University between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be the last of the long Dem primary season. You can watch it live on MSNBC cable TV or online at msnbc.com from 7:00-8:30 PM MST. Moderator Brian Williams will be joined by Tim Russert.

The debate comes on the heels of increasingly heated and controversial rhetoric on the part of the Clinton campaign, as well as Sen. Chris Dodd's endorsement of Obama today in Ohio (video). Click to read Obama's response to Sen. Dodd's endorsement. And here's a response (video) by a senior Clinton adviser to questions about the endorsement and other topics from MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. Primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island will take place on March 4th, with 436 delegates at play.

According to the :

A CBS News/New York Times survey gave Obama a 54 percent to 38 percent lead among Democrats nationwide. A USA Today poll had him up 51 percent to 39 percent nationally among Democratic voters. There was more alarming news for Clinton, a day after a poll showed Obama leading in Texas for the first time, as a Rasmussen Reports survey Tuesday showed Obama cut her lead among Ohio Democrats to just five points, as she led 48 percent to 43 percent. Last week, Obama had 40 percent, and the week before 38 percent."

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results of 2008 Prez Election

Oops

Accuracy of NM Secretary of State's Voter List Questioned

Heather Clark of the Associated Press has written a thoughtful and comprehensive article discussing problems encountered with the voter lists used at caucus sites during New Mexico's February 5th Democratic presidential caucus. New Mexico's Secretary of State's office, along with those of many other states, contracts with ES&S, a Nebraska-based corporation, to maintain its master list of registered voters.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico used the Secretary of State's list to generate the list used at the caucus sites. According to the Party, the only changes made to the master list were the result of a merge operation conducted by TrueBallot, which added in late additions sent by three counties. The Party contracted with TrueBallot to produce the list used at the caucus sites.

As quoted in the article, reports from caucus volunteers, long-time registered voters who weren't on the caucus site list, the Mora County Clerk and others seem to point to the Secretary of State's list as a likely source of data problems. Excerpts:

In interviews with The Associated Press, several voters and volunteer poll workers pinpointed problems with the voter lists at polling places—and raised the possibility that the trouble may have originated not with the party but with the voter lists Democratic organizers were provided by the Secretary of State's office and county clerks.

In Mora County, for example, where half the voters cast provisional ballots, about 1,000 Democrats were stripped of their party affiliation in the Secretary of State's databank and so were never given to the Democratic Party for the caucus list, County Clerk Charlotte Duran said.

In one Bernalillo County polling place, last names beginning with the letter "A" were missing, said Lynn Jacobs, a volunteer poll worker at the site. In San Miguel County, voters on an entire street did not appear on the list, said Pat Leahan, director of the Las Vegas Peace and Justice Center who observed the caucus. And Caucus Director Beth Adams said caucus workers have noticed the names of some people whose addresses were rural routes or post office boxes were not included on the lists.

The names of state Auditor Hector Balderas and state District Judge William Lang—both longtime Democrats and voters—were omitted from the voter lists that were relied on during the Super Tuesday caucus, the two officials said.

A half dozen poll workers said they saw other longtime Democrats try to vote on Super Tuesday only to find their names were not on the lists.

"I had person after person, who had voted in every election, they hadn't moved in years, and were not on the lists," Jacobs said.

Since the lists were provided by Secretary of State Mary Herrera's office, any problems during the caucus could be repeated for the June primary and general election in November.

The question is: Were the problems inherent in the original lists provided by Herrera's office or did the Democrats change the data and inadvertently knock off voters' names?

... Anne Kass, a retired district judge and regular party volunteer, said nearly half those who voted by provisional ballot at the Albuquerque polling place where she worked were regular Democratic voters, who carried their voter ID cards that showed they were in the correct polling place.

"They would say, 'My spouse's name is here. My kids' names are here.' It was bizarre," Kass said.

Kass said the problems on caucus day make her worry about whether they will be repeated in later elections this year.

"I'm concerned about June and November. I'm concerned about the accuracy of elections and have been for some time now," she said.

The Response of the Secretary of State
Unfortunately, NM Secretary of State Mary Herrera and others in her office seem uninterested in determining if there are problems with the state's master list, as produced by ES&S:

A spokesman for Herrera said her office has no immediate plans to investigate reports of missing voter names and is waiting to hear from the Democratic Party about any inadequacies with the lists.

"If there are any discrepancies, it would have been after it would have been received by the Democratic Party. Let them investigate it. Let's find out what really happened," spokesman James Flores said.

The article goes on to debunk this view in regard to at least some of the errors encountered:

But Mora County's missing voter names happened before they handed over their lists to the Democrats, Duran said.

Clerks there discovered after the caucus that about 1,000 Democrats and about 100 Republican voters had been stripped of their party affiliation in the databank. So the Democrats' names were never passed to the party to be included in the caucus lists.

Duran said she contacted Election Systems & Software, which contracts with the state to manage the software, but was unable to get a guarantee that the problem would not crop up again.

"They couldn't answer me or they didn't want to," she said.

... Since 2000, the Nebraska-based company has provided the state with software, which was last updated in December, Flores said. County clerks offices are responsible for updating voter information, which, in turn, automatically updates the Secretary of State's list, he said.

"Everything that the software was supposed to have done before we handed over the list to the Democrats, we're satisfied with," Flores said.

Dem Party Investigation
Meanwhile, the Dem Party has said they will be studying how the caucus was conducted and looking further into complaints about the voter list:

The Democrats say they plan to investigate complaints about voter lists they received. Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon and Gov. Bill Richardson have scheduled an April 25 summit in Albuquerque to discuss the caucus, and Colon and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish are talking about forming a committee to review the caucus.

"We're going to take a long-term look both at whatever happened at the caucus and whether we're going to hold a caucus and that's going to take a long time," said Josh Geise, the party's interim executive director, who started working for the party about two weeks after the caucus.

... Geise said three counties—San Juan, Santa Fe and Eddy—had late registrants that did not show up on the Secretary of State's Office lists, but were later forwarded to the party as soon as they were available.

The party then turned the lists over to TrueBallot, which it hired to help administer the caucus.

Response by TrueBallot
TrueBallot denies that anything they did in handling the master list would have created the kinds of errors found with the list at caucus sites:

The company's chief information officer, Nick Koumoutseas, said his company merged the initial Secretary of State list with the late registrants from the three counties and managed the databank.

But Koumoutseas said he does not think names were dropped from the Democrats' list during his company's management of them.

"I've been doing this for 13 years and I generally err on the side of having too many instances of voters. I would have the same name in there twice" in cases were addresses were vague or names showed different spellings, he said.

Speculation on DNC VoteBuilder Merge
The article also addresses questions as to whether there was a merge of the State's list with the DNC's VoteBuilder list that might have caused the problems:

Some poll workers and election watchdog groups have speculated that some of the problems may have come up when the state Democratic Party merged the Secretary of State's list with a VoteBuilder list of Democratic voters, which was prepared by the Democratic National Committee.

Adams said the VoteBuilder list was only used after the caucus to help validate voters who cast provisional ballots and was never merged with the Secretary of State's voter list.

Actions Needed
So what should come next? Obviously every effort should be made to determine the source of the list problems so that errors and omissions can be corrected before we vote again at our June primary and the general election in November. Furthermore, we must learn what kind of system or human errors produced the inaccuracies so that additional inaccuracies aren't produced in the coming months. And if we're to trust our election process, any investigation of the problems must be done out in the open, not behind closed doors. We can't allow any examination into the source of the flawed data to end up as just another political blame game full of deceptions and spin -- while the problems fester uncorrected.

The Secretary of State's office needs to stop the finger pointing and begin working with the Democratic Party to produce an honest assessment of what happened with the voter list and what can be done to assure it doesn't happen again in the future. The DPNM needs to reach out to the Secretary of State and begin working with them to get it done, and get it done out in the open so ALL the problems and their causes are exposed.

Paul Stokes, coordinator of United Voters of New Mexico, an electoral watchdog, said he thinks the Democrats should investigate the problems in conjunction with the Secretary of State's office.

"Clearly this needs to be investigated in a transparent way so the public can know what's going on," he said.

P.S. The reason I quoted so much of the article as published in the Las Cruces Sun-News is that the Albuquerque Journal omitted some of the most important passages when it published a version of this story today. Specifically, the Journal's truncated version omitted some of the quotes by caucus site volunteers and did not include the explanation by TrueBallot of their handling of the list and how it was merged with updates from three counties.

Clinton Campaign Devolves Into Hypocrisy, Mockery

Mixed with a little Pink Floyd above. Moving closer to the edge below.

How low can she go? Apparently really, really, really low if she keeps listening to the venal advice characteristic of slimy Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson, her two most prominent strategy and messaging consultants. She's now freely using the Rovian tactic of accusing her rival of doing something she's doing. However, I can't imagine how the majority of voters in the March 4th primary states will see it as anything but the transparent and desperate hypocrisy that it is.

Clinton's plunge into bashing Obama doesn't seem to be working, at least in Texas, where she once held a huge lead. The lastest polling released today by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. shows a statistical dead heat: 50% of likely Democratic primary voters said Obama is their choice for the party's nominee, while 46% backed Clinton. Two recent polls by other organizations also show the race statistically even.

Clinton still holds about a 10-point lead over Obama in Ohio, according to polls released today by Quinnipiac University, the University of Cincinnati, and the American Research Group. However, she's rapidly losing ground to Obama as the March 4th primary nears. Her lead was at 21 points in a February 12th Quinnipiac poll, and a Columbus Dispatch Poll released late last month had Clinton up 23 points.

NAFTA
Despite endorsements of Obama by unions including the Teamsters, SEIU, Unite HERE and the International Transport Workers Representatives of Unite HERE, Clinton keeps claiming that Obama supports NAFTA while she does not. Here's what Obama is saying in his stump speeches on that point:

"Sen Clinton has gotten mad at me, because I said she supported NAFTA,” Obama said at a rally in Toledo. “She said, ‘Well, that’s misleading.’ And I had to say, ‘Well, hold on a second.’ The Clinton administration championed NAFTA, passed NAFTA, signed NAFTA. She's saying that part of the experience that makes her the best qualified to be president is all the work that she was doing in the Clinton administration. You can't take credit for everything that's good in the Clinton administration and then suddenly say you don't want to take credit for what folks don't like about the Clinton administration.”

Considering that the Clinton administration considered the passage of NAFTA to be one of their crowning achievements, it's beyond the pale that Hillary is now claiming she's against it. I guess that's what happens in a floundering campaign that needs huge wins in Texas and Ohio to get any bragging rights at all. In fact, Clinton would have to win all the remaining races by about a 60-40 margin to catch Obama in the pledged delegage department.

Should be quite a debate tomorrow in Cleveland.

Vote! Clean Elections Amendment on March 4th Santa Fe Ballot

On March 4th, 2008, Santa Fe has a chance to join Albuquerque and many other communities around the nation in voting for clean elections. Albuquerque voters approved the adoption of a voluntary public financing option for all municipal elections in 2005, by a margin of 69-39%. In next week's municipal election in Santa Fe, voters will consider Charter Amendment 4, which proposes a process for establishing public financing in city elections prior to May 2010. Common Cause New Mexico provides an excellent guide on the issue why you should support Amendment 4.

A Santa Fe New Mexican article describes Albuquerque's public financing option and lays out how the Santa Fe amendment would approach the issue:

If Santa Fe voters favor Amendment 4, they will order the City Council to develop a system to establish "meaningful public financing of campaigns" before May 2010, although the amendment doesn't specify the system must be up and running by that time.

... Campaign spending has been on the rise in recent Santa Fe city elections. In 2002, winning incumbent Mayor Larry Delgado raised and spent about $96,000. In the 2006 mayoral election, in which three candidates spent a total of more than $355,000 campaigning for the $25,700-a-year part-time position, winner David Coss led the pack at $146,169.

City councilors last year approved putting the campaign-financing amendment on the ballot on the recommendation of a Charter Review Commission. The commission said such a system would eliminate the potential for corruption inherent in the current situation.

The commission stopped short of suggesting a specific financing system, however, because members realized the charter would be difficult to amend in a way that would allow adjustments. The panel also wanted elected officials, instead of appointed ones, to resolve key issues such as whether the system should involve full funding of campaigns, similar to Albuquerque's system, or partial funding, through matching of private donations. Other issues include how to defray the estimated $100,000 to $200,000 annual public cost of supporting campaigns.

Voting Info: Santa Fe 2008 Municipal Election:
You can vote early in-person on a paper absentee ballot through February 29th at the City Clerk's office on the second floor of City Hall, 102 Lincoln Ave. Office hours are 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. If you want to request a mail-in absentee ballot, you must do so before February 29. About 20 polling places will be open March 4 from 7 AM to 7 PM. Click for Election Day polling places or call the City Clerks Office at (505) 955-6521 or (505)955-6520. Voter registration closed earlier this month.

Voters in the Santa Fe municipal election will also elect a City Councilor in four districts and an at-large municipal judge. There are a total of seven Charter Amendments on the ballot. Click for complete information at the Santa Fe City Clerk's website.

The Santa Fe New Mexican online has an election guide to the candidates and some of the Charter Amendments.

DPNM: Back to the Future

The next time you want local mainstream media to pay attention to your event, send out an anonymous and roughly written "press release" promising mayhem and claiming widespread support. Works like a charm.

I don't know who sent out the release the day before Saturday's Democratic Party of New Mexico's special State Central Committee meeting in Albuquerque on resolutions and platform announcing there'd be an attempt to oust DPNM Chair Brian Colón. The statement claimed strong support for a recall from SCC members, candidates and current and former Dem officeholders, but didn't name any names. KRQE-News was apparently so taken with the prospect of a brouhaha aimed at Colón that they covered the press release challenge on their Friday evening broadcast -- despite there being no way to check out its veracity. New TV-News Rule: No fact checking necessary on political stories about possible Democratic Party turmoil.

So what happened at Saturday's SCC meeting? Several standing ovations for Brian Colón (right) and everybody else involved in the Dem Caucus for hanging in there and performing the incredibly tough jobs of responding to record voter turnout and painstakingly qualifying and counting 17,000+ provisional ballots. Most attendees wore pro-Colon stickers.

"Evidently, the rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated" said Colón. "I sit before you humbled by the support I have received from the 33 county chairs. They believe in Brian Colón." Here's an AP story, an Albuquerque Journal article and a column by the Journal's Gene Grant about the meeting.

Colón announced that the Party would pursue a two-pronged plan to study the strengths and weaknesses of the Caucus process: 1) forming a committee headed by himself and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish to study what happened, including problems with the voter lists, and consider alternatives for future caucuses or primaries; 2) organizing a town hall Caucus Summit to be headed by Gov. Bill Richardson, tentatively set for April 25, to hear feedback and suggestions from Party members and voters about the issue. 

Colón reminded the crowd that vote counting is still going on in California and New York, places where state government ran the primaries with larger budgets and many more workers. He also mentioned there'd be no real need for a Democratic presidential caucus in 2012 if we win the presidency -- our incumbent prez would presumably be running for a second term. Talk about a positive thought.

Most of the conversations among revved-up crowd members from all over the state focused on a willingness to work hard to turn New Mexico completely blue at the Congressional level and take back the White House. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the crowd about our November prospects, along with amazement at the Caucus turnout.

After buzzing around among the candidate tables outside the meeting room at CNM's Smith-Brasher hall and cheering for speakers that included NM Federation of Labor- AFL-CIO President Christine Trujillo, State Treasurer James Lewis and State Auditor Hector Balderas, the SCC members set about conducting the Party's business.

What followed were hours of often tedious work to get through more than 100 resolutions that had emerged from the ward and county levels to the State Resolutions & Platform Committee, and then to the SCC for approval. Those gaining passage, along with previously approved resolutions, will form the backbone of the State Party's 2008 platform, which will be voted on at the Democratic Pre-Primary Convention at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Rio Rancho on March 15, 2008.

Not a peep was heard during the meeting about any resolution or motion to recall the Chair.

Click on images for larger versions. All photos by M.E. Broderick.

Dem Women of Sandoval County to Meet 3/5/08

Wednesday, March 5, 7:00 PM, social time at 6:30. Democratic Women of Sandoval County will meet in the Town Council Chambers at the Town of Bernalillo City Hall, 829 Camino del Pueblo, Bernalillo. Invited speaker will be DA Lemuel Martinez. Questions will be taken from the audience following his talk. Light refreshments will be served. The public is encouraged to attend. Guests are welcome. For info call Janice Saxton at 867-1139 or email jnjsaxton@msn.com.