Democracy for New Mexico

(Updated) NM Senators Leave Citizens, Ethics in the Lurch

UPDATE 3.25.07: We now know 3 Dems voted with Repubs to adjourn: Senators Linda Lopez, Tim Jennings and John Arthur Smith. We also know 4 Dems were absent: Senators Cisco McSorley, Ortiz y Pino, Cynthia Nava and Mary Kay Papen. Adjournment was achieved by an 18-17 margin. According to this morning's Sunday Journal article it appears that Governor Richardson and the NM House leadership intend to keep going. Richardson is quoted as saying he'll basically keep a Special Session going until the Senate gives him an up or down vote on the bills he specified in his proclamation. Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez and some others appear to favor a cooling down period, with a break before another Special Session is called. The Governor doesn't agree, saying:

"I don't want them to go home and get comfortable and then find excuses not to come back," Richardson said. "If there are some senators that would rather politic and make excuses than do their work, I think the people are going to respond at the polls.

"I want the Senate to ask: What do they say to victims of domestic violence? What do they say to the (people) of New Mexico that wants roads in their cities and counties? What do they say to gay couples that want a fair shot? What do they say to controlling the meth problem in the state? And what do they say about ethics? I mean, we've had all these scandals, and the Senate doesn't even want to vote?"

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Kate Nash reports briefly:

UPDATE 11:23 AM The clerk is calling the roll. At 11:30, Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle made a motion to adjourn. It was a voice vote, which is being challenged. The clerk is now calling the roll. There were enough votes, by one, to adjourn. The Senate is clearing out.

They voted on nothing except adjournment, failing to pass even a feed bill to pay themselves. I'd love to know which Democrats voted to adjourn so I could personally thank them for the valiant efforts they made to show Governor Richardson who's boss, to stick it to the majority of New Mexicans who support ethics and campaign finance reform in the wake of ongoing ethics scandals, to make it clear to New Mexican families who critically need the very basic civil law protections of the domestic partnership bill that their civil rights aren't considered important and, well, you get the idea. Shameful. In my view, if there's ever been an argument to be made for terms limits, this is it.

Thanks, Senators! You've shown your true colors.

No word yet on whether the NM House intends to join in the adjournment. If they don't, the Senate would be forced to reconvene again in three days. This could go on for 30 days beyond the start of the Special Session, at which point the Governor could issue another call for a Special Session. We'll see what happens. 

To access all our past coverage of the 2007 NM Legislature, visit our archived posts on the topic.

Not Alone

Our steadfast Dem Senator Dede Feldman has a post and a podcast on her blog laying out her views on what she calls the "Standoff at the OK Corral - NM Style." Apparently, I'm not alone in believing that the legislation proposed by Governor Richardson for the Special Legislative Session -- especially the campaign and ethics reform and domestic partnership bills -- are important and need passage NOW. She urges folks who want to see the Senate take action tomorrow, instead of merely thumbing their noses, to contact their Senators, as well as this list of "renegades" who don't seem to get the need for reform:

Sen. Lopez Linda.Lopez@nmlegis.gov  phone:986-4737
Sen. Pinto John.Pinto@nmlegis.gov phone: 986-4835
Sen. John Arthur Smith john.smith@nmlegis.gov phone:986-4363
Sen. Michael Sanchez senatormssanchez@aol.com phone: 986-4727
Sen. James Taylor jamesg.taylor@nmlegis.gov phone: 986-4862
Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, especially. bernadette.sanchez@nmlegis.gov phone: 986-4267

NM House Up All Night, Passes All But One Bill

Members of the New Mexico House stayed up all night in a seven-hour marathon on the House Floor to pass all but one of the bills Gov. Richardson included in his proclamation calling the Special Session. Thank you and congratulations to our Dem Representatives for sticking to business! We know it wasn't any fun with Rep. Dan Foley and other Repubs reportedly interrupting the floor action, interjecting insults and introducing motions to adjourn. Luckily, they couldn't make any headway in the face of Dem unity.

The only bill left for the House to pass would limit campaign contributions. A long debate focused on whether the limits should apply to PACs as well as individual donors. This morning, House Speaker Ben Lujan called a recess, subject to the call of the chair to reconvene at any time. It's not known if they will meet again later today to try and pass the remaining campaign finance bill.

The bills are now headed to the Senate, which is adjourned in protest, but must reconvene on Saturday according to legislative rules. Various Senators are threatening to call another adjournment on Saturday, which would give them another three days before they meet again, but only if the House stays in session. Again, let's hope for the sake of New Mexicans that the balking Senators come to their senses, abandon their rebellion against the Governor and vote on the bills quickly. We get the point, Senators. You're displeased that Gov. Richardson called the Special Session so soon after a grueling regular session and then left the state for campaign events. Now could we please move on to the business of the Senate?

Here are links to the bills passed by the House in the Special Session, along with vote tallies:

HB 1, Feed Bill: Passed 47-13

HB 2, Severance Tax Bond Transporation Projects (GRIP II): Passed 42-16

HB 3, Clandestine Drug Lab Act: Passed 55-0

HB 4, Domestic Partnership Rights and Responsbilities: Passed 30-23

HB 5, Domestic Violence Penalties and Treatment: Passed 56-0

HB 6, Public Financing of Statewide Campaigns: Passed 35-21

HB 8, State Ethics Commission Act: Passed 38-16

Not yet passed by House in Special Session:

HB 7, Campaign Reporting Requirements: Passed House Judiciary Committee 8-0

More coverage available at the Santa Fe New Mexican and Heath Haussamen.

Hey Heather, Tell the Truth

This radio ad put together by the DCCC will run for five days in New Mexico. It confronts Rep. Heather Wilson (R, NM-1) on what fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias has testified under oath was a pressuring phone call regarding an ongoing, alleged New Mexico corruption case:

Wilson has repeated said that the call was entirely "appropriate." I guess that depends on the kind of standards of conduct you apply to making that judgment. Anyone applying common sense and a conscience would probably come to a different conclusion.

Fortunately, as far as we know, it's still a relatively rare occurence when a powerful politician feels justified in directly confronting a U.S. Attorney on a potentially explosive, politically important, active investigation, and doing so right before a close election -- in fact -- the caller's own election. Then again, most politicians haven't felt shielded from the consequences of such an action by an administration and Justice Department that's been dangerously politicized by the President's right-hand political operative, Karl Rove.

Here's the text version of the ad:

“Testified” – 60 second Radio

October, 2006
A phone call is made … a scandal begins.

According to testimony from the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Congresswoman Heather Wilson called U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and pressured him concerning a federal corruption investigation.

Listen to U.S. Attorney Igelsias’ testimony before the Committee…

“I received a call from Heather Wilson.” “She said ‘what can you tell me about sealed indictments.’ The second she said any questions about sealed indictments, red flags went up in my head, because as you know, we cannot talk about indictments until they’re made public, in general, we specifically cannot talk about a sealed indictment.”

Serious questions remain about Heather Wilson and violation of Congressional ethics rules.

It’s time for Heather Wilson to release her phone records and come clean.

It’s time for Heather Wilson to tell the full truth.

Announcer: Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, www.dccc.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Iglesias: Why I Was Fired

Fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias makes his case in a New York Times op-ed. After reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department, he concludes the evidence is clear that he was fired not for job performance issues, but for political reasons. Iglesias ends by saying, "only a written retraction by the Justice Department setting the record straight regarding my performance would settle the issue for me." Excerpts:

United States attorneys have a long history of being insulated from politics. Although we receive our appointments through the political process (I am a Republican who was recommended by Senator Pete Domenici), we are expected to be apolitical once we are in office. I will never forget John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, telling me during the summer of 2001 that politics should play no role during my tenure. I took that message to heart. Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.

Politics entered my life with two phone calls that I received last fall, just before the November election. One came from Representative Heather Wilson and the other from Senator Domenici, both Republicans from my state, New Mexico.

As for the continued yammering by Bush-Rove-Gonzales apologists that Iglesias was incompetent or worse in "refusing" to issue indictments for alleged "voter fraud" crimes in New Mexico, he says:

As this story has unfolded these last few weeks, much has been made of my decision to not prosecute alleged voter fraud in New Mexico. Without the benefit of reviewing evidence gleaned from F.B.I. investigative reports, party officials in my state have said that I should have begun a prosecution. What the critics, who don’t have any experience as prosecutors, have asserted is reprehensible — namely that I should have proceeded without having proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The public has a right to believe that prosecution decisions are made on legal, not political, grounds.

... After reviewing more than 100 complaints of voter fraud, I felt there was one possible case that should be prosecuted federally. I worked with the F.B.I. and the Justice Department’s public integrity section. As much as I wanted to prosecute the case, I could not overcome evidentiary problems. The Justice Department and the F.B.I. did not disagree with my decision in the end not to prosecute.

NM Senate Quits Special Session in a Tizzy, at Least for Now

Bottom line: the NM House can call the Senate back after three days, if they so choose. If not, it's all over. Kate Nash provides a day-long play-by-play and reports:

5:57 Sen. Linda Lopez just moved the Senate adjourn SINE DIE. It passed. But there is a challenge to the ruling, which was on a voice vote ... The vote was upheld. The Senate is out of here on a vote of 24-14 ... House committees have passed several bills, including the domestic partnership measure and the GRIP II road construction bill.

Oh, who cares about that, especially whether all our citizens have a semblance of parity under civil law? As the NM Repub Party news release puts it, in their typically sleazy, schoolyard style:

Special Session – Gov. Richardson’s “Domestic Partner” Agenda Spells Gay and Lesbian Votes in California: Gov. Richardson’s hastily called Special Session of the Legislature is a thinly disguised attempt to woo the votes of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the United States in his ambitions to run for president.

A “domestic partner” bill is one of the key issues the politicking governor has put on the agenda for the 2007 New Mexico Special Session. This piece of liberal legislation ensures that unmarried homosexual and heterosexual couples would receive the same rights as traditional married couples.

First off, if this domestic partner bill would give GLBT folks the same rights as legally married couples, I'll eat my 'Bush Is Over' teeshirt.  As has been well documented, legally married heterosexual couples receive a total of 1,138 FEDERAL benefits that neither state domestic partnerships nor state-provided same-sex marriages offer. All this domestic partnership law would do is provide the most basic of legal protections for partners and their families, whether straight or gay.

Secondly, is anyone else sick and tired of the Senators' whining and refusal to work? Think back to all the time spent on bolo tie, cowboy song and talapia farm bills and compare that to the time it would take to pass these bills of substance, some of which would significantly improve the lives of our citizens and the ethics of our goverment. In my opinion the Senate -- including many Democratic Senators -- are acting like rebellious children. Wah, I don't wanna work cuz the Guv. is running for president. Apparently it's all a game to them, just another ego-power struggle while the masses wait.

Of course it might help if Gov. Richardson would stay in town long enough to get this done. Surely he could miss a couple "fundraisers" at this early point in the presidential primary race, couldn't he? I mean if people like us were really important to him. More important than big donor cash.

I wish all of them would act their ages, get the business of the people completed without delay and quit the showboating, on all sides. Is that asking too much of those who are supposed to represent us?

PS: According to EQNM: By a vote of 6-2 HB4 (Domestic Partnerships) passed out of House Judiciary today and is now scheduled for a full floor vote of the House tomorrow Wednesday, March 21 at 2:00PM. If you can, please come to the Roundhouse to pack the gallery.

Bush Dares Congress to Bring It On

Must See TV: Bush stamps his feet at a press appearance today and draws a line in the sand about his people answering questions on the prosecutor purge. Rove, Gonzales, Miers, etc. can testify before Congress BUT:

• not under oath
• only behind closed doors
• no video or transcripts allowed

Of course, he's merely trying to stop Democrats from making purely political points without substance, and he doesn't want all those "kleig lights" (he says) pointing at his people. He is, after all, only protecting the Executive Branch so that it can do a good job for the people. He will go to the mat on this and warns Congress to refrain from issuing subpoenas to try and force the testimony under oath. Or else. Democrats, we're waiting. Still keeping your powder dry for the big confrontations? Still insisting that "impeachment is off the table"?

This post on Kos considers the constitutional and legal options available to Congress. Here's what Leahy and Conyers are saying. Constitutional crisis here we come. Unless the Dems back down, of course. By the way, many Executive Branch folks have testified before Congress. According to Think Progress:

Democrats, citing a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, say presidential advisers, including 47 from the Clinton administration alone, have frequently testified before Congressional committees, both while serving the president and after they had left the White House.

Under oath too. As Janet Reno, for one, was forced to do. However, as everyone knows by now, these people weren't working for an all-powerful monarch. The Decider won't have any of it. The scary thing is that if Dems cave on this one, it will set a horrible precedent that will carry over to every single additional investigation they might want to conduct in the next two years. We can't let that happen, can we?

(4 Updates) It's Official: Gov. Richardson Calls Special Session of the NM Legislature

UPDATE 3.21.07, 11:15 AM: The hearing on the House floor for the Domestic Partnership bill that was originally scheduled for 2:00 PM today has been cancelled. The games continue.

UPDATE 8:15 PM: See my later post for how the day ended.

UPDATE 6:10 PM: From Kate Nash, Albuquerque Tribune -They were here for less than 30 minutes before they recessed. And the state senators haven't been back since. Word on the street is that they are still debating whether to adjourn their special session, which convened at noon today, or stick it out and pass the handful of measures Gov. Bill Richardson has demanded. The House, by all appearances, is staying. Its members met this morning and then headed to committees to consider some of the five bills introduced this morning. They are scheduled to return at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

UPDATE 2:40 PM: From Equality New Mexico: House Bill 4, the Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act, sponsored by Mimi Stewart, has been introduced on the House Floor and assigned to House Judiciary Committee. The House Judiciary Committee will meet today at 3:30 PM in Room 309. We need to have people testify and fill the committee room. If your schedule allows, we would love to see you there. Assuming we pass out of House Judiciary, the bill will be heard on the House Floor tomorrow, time to be determined. On the other side of the Roundhouse, the Senate has recessed until 4:00 PM today and we have no idea what their next move will be.
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The Special Session will be begin at Noon today. You can read his proclamation here. It contains descriptions of the eight bills he's asking the Legislature to consider, which include:

• public financing of statewide judicial elections
• limit campaign contributions to statewide and district candidates and impose other requirements
• create a state ethics commission
• enact a Clandestine Drug Laboratory Act
• increase penalties for certain acts of domestic violence
• authorize Grip II, a large road and infrastructure funding bill
• establish a legal process to register domestic partnerships for both heterosexual and same sex partners

Special Sessions can run for up to 30 days by law. Richardson has said the business at hand could probably be completed within several days. Unfortunately, he's getting some backlash about calling the Session, reportedly from a number of Senators who aren't supportive of ethics and campaign finance reform or have other problems with having to return to Santa Fe so soon after the end of the regular Session. Media sources are even suggesting there may be a plot being hatched, led by Democratic Senators, to scuttle the Session by calling a recess as soon as the Senate meets. We'll see.

If you care about important legislation like ethics and campaign finance reform, domestic partnerships, public funding of judicial elections and increased penalties for domestic abuse, encourage your State Senators and Reps to return to work and get them passed. Click to get contact info.

To see all our coverage on this year's legislature, visit our 2007 Legislature post archive.

Gracias: Richardson to the Rescue

I want to thank Gov. Bill Richardson for his recent actions related to several controversial but vital bills that, for one reason or another, either failed by a few votes or got stuck in the general chaos of the last days of the NM Legislative Session in Santa Fe that ended at Noon on Saturday.

Medical Marijuana
Richardson was instrumental in saving the medical marijuana bill (SB 523) from a confusing razor thin defeat in the NM Senate by stepping in to jawbone Dem legislators, change some minds and get the bill passed in the last week of the 60-day Session. As Gov. Richardson explained when he announced he would sign the bill, it was the "right thing to do" because the law is for people who "are suffering. My God, let's be reasonable." Amen. Seriously ill and dying New Mexicans will at last have an especially effective prescription pain and nausea palliative at their disposal. An Albuquerque Tribune editorial agrees. And don't forget the valliant efforts of Rep. Moe Maestas, who sponsored the bill and spoke so eloquently on its behalf.

Special Session Called for Tuesday
Now the Governor has called a Special Session of the NM Legislature to start this Tuesday, March 20, to deal with several other important bills that didn't get their due during the chaotic days at the end of our regular Session.

Domestic Partnerships
Governor Richardson's Special Session call will reportedly include reconsideration of the popular Domestic Partnership Rights and Responsibilities Act (HB 603) sponsored by one of our best legislators, Rep. Mimi Stewart. The measure, which would provide all our citizens with the option of creating a legally defined partnership -- useful in dealing with health care and end of life matters, retirement and tax requirements and other domestic and family arrangements -- was killed in the waning hours of the regular Session. Despite passage by the NM House and two Senate Committees, the bill was essentially gutted and fell to defeat when four Dem Senators suddenly sided with Republicans to kill the bill.

Although being inaccurately portrayed as a stealth gay marriage bill by right wing opponents, the legislation in fact has nothing to do with marriage. Just the opposite. It's designed as a legal remedy for a wide variety of New Mexicans, from senior citizens who need legal protections for their long-term partnerships but don't want to marry for financial or other reasons, to heterosexuals who prefer to live together under a legal agreement short of legal marriage, to homosexuals who are in dire need of basic legal protections for their child and family arrangements.

The concept of domestic partnerships is promoted in the Democratic Party platform and has the support of all but a few Democratic officeholders in the state, as well as the vast majority of rank and file Dems. Let's hope that the Governor, the bill's sponsors and ordinary citizens can persuade a few of the Dem holdouts that this is a much needed law that represents the best of core Democratic values.

GRIP II, Ethics Reform, Water Bills
The Governor's call is also expected to include the $200 million GRIP II infrastructure and road bill, which was filibustered by Repubs at the end of the session. Also reportedly on the call will be several of his ethics and campaign reform package initiatives -- including the always excellent Sen. Dede Feldman's bill to limit campaign contributions (SB 800), which failed by one vote in the Session's last minutes, and stand-up guy Sen. Pete Campos' bill to establish a state ethics commission (SB 815) -- as well a couple measures that deal with crucial water projects.

Express Yourself
If you agree with Governor Richardson's attempt to rescue these vital legislative initiatives, be sure to give his office (505-476-2200) and your legislators (website) a call and say so. I know I'll be doing just that. We'll let you know when the Special Session agenda is finalized so you can take action in support of the bills to be considered.

Iglesias on Fox News Sunday: "My Firing Was a Political Hit" (And More on "Voter Fraud")

Think Progress has video and a transcript. They report:

Today on Fox News Sunday, former U.S. attorney David Iglesias beat back several misleading claims by Bush administration officials, and reasserted that his firing was a “political hit,” not done for performance reasons.

He pointed out that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed to write him a recommendation even after he was fired. “If [my firing] was performance based, there is no way they would have agreed to have allowed me to list them as a reference,” he said. “In fact, they agreed, telling me that the true nature was political, not performance.”

New York Times Has More
In the interview with Iglesias, Chris Wallace referred to today's New York Times front page story about the scandal, which reports:

Mr. Iglesias defended his handling of the vote-fraud and other investigations, saying his critics did not have access to the findings that guided his decisions. He says the attacks occurred because state Republican leaders felt betrayed, figuring “We helped the guy get the position, he owes us some kind of fealty.” [emphasis mine]

The article had this to say about the political maneuvering in New Mexico and Washington regarding Iglesias:

Mr. Iglesias said he had believed that his bosses shared his view that United States attorneys should stay above the fray. “I thought I was insulated from politics,” he said in an interview. “But now I find out that main Justice was up to its eyeballs in partisan political maneuvering.”

Since his ouster, Mr. Iglesias has received support from other federal prosecutors, who say the department failed to honor its obligation to ensure that decisions about prosecutions are free of political taint.

“People who understand the history and the mission of the United States attorney and Justice Department — they are uniformly appalled, horrified,” said Atlee W. Wampler III, chairman of a national organization of former United States attorneys and a prosecutor who served in the Carter and Reagan administrations. “That the tradition of the Justice Department could have been so warped by that kind of action — any American should be disturbed.”

Lack of Evidence of "Voter Fraud"
As to the alleged "voter fraud" that had Republican attorney Mickey Barnett and others so het up in 2004 in New Mexico, Iglesias lays out why he could not and did not bring charges, despite being pressured by Republicans eager for headlines they could use to their advantage in the election:

To appear even-handed, Mr. Iglesias set up a bipartisan task force with state officials to look into the matter. But soon after announcing his plan, he received an e-mail message from Mickey D. Barnett, a Republican lawyer who represented the Bush campaign in New Mexico, urging him just to bring federal charges against any violators.

Culling through about 100 tips about fraud, investigators found only a handful that had some merit, and “only one where we had a real shot,” Mr. Iglesias said.

That inquiry focused on the woman who had submitted the registration applications in the names of the teenagers and at least two dozen others. Mr. Iglesias said she had worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, which had paid her and others in part based on how many applications they turned in.

He said that when the F.B.I. interviewed her, she did not make any clear admission of guilt. And under federal election law, Mr. Iglesisas said, prosecutors would have had to prove that the woman, who had been fired for other reasons, had falsified the applications with the intent of influencing the election. Mr. Iglesias said “it appeared she was just doing it for the money.”

Albuquerque Attorney John Boyd Weighs In
Be sure to read New Mexico FBIHOP's , which includes coverage of a Brad Blog story that reports on studies showing American "voter fraud" to be a bogus problem, as well as a must-read statement by Albuquerque attorney John Boyd, who represented the Democratic Party of New Mexico when state Repubs filed voter fraud claims in 2004.

Front-Paged at Daily Kos (Again)
The Party That Cried Voter Fraud is another excellent commentary on the "voter fraud" that wasn't, and why the Repubs are constantly crying wolf on this issue. Hint: It provides cover for their own extensively documented election fraud and gives them an excuse to try reduce the numbers of Democrats who register and vote.

For even more on the "voter fraud" angle to this story, read our previous post. All of our posts on the U.S. Attorney firings can be found in our archive.