Democracy for New Mexico

Common Cause NM Seeks Executive Director

With former Executive Director Matt Brix moving on to another opportunity, Common Cause New Mexico is seeking to hire someone to replace him. See the attached (doc) for more information. Interested applicants need to send a resume, cover letter and references by July 3, 2007.

Desert Rock Power Plant Update: Public Hearings Set for July

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
Public Hearings will be held for citizens to speak out about the planned Desert Rock Power Plant in the Four Corners area. This is your chance to stand up for clean air, land and water in New Mexico! On May 22nd the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released a draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) which strongly supports the Desert Rock Power Plant and 10 public hearings will be held on this, starting July 17th, 2007 (see below).

The BIA is holding these hearings because these communities and the people living in them will be directly affected by the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant. The mercury emitted by Desert Rock will find its way into the watersheds serving these communities, including both rivers and fishing lakes.

For more information, please contact Trisha London: trishal@nmwild.org.

Editor's Note: Here's the listing of all the scheduled hearings from https://www.desert-rock-blog.com, which is an activist site that covers the fight against the proposed filthy, coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant:

• July 17, 5 - 8 PM, Farmington Civic Center.
• July 18, 10 AM - 1 PM, Ute Mountain Casino, Towaoc, Colo.
• July 10, 5 - 8 PM, Iron Horse Inn, Durango, Colo.
• July 19, 1 - 4 PM, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque.
• July 20, 1 - 4 PM, Runnels Building (Larrazolo Auditorium), Santa Fe.
• July 23, 10 AM - 1 PM, Shiprock Chapter House.
• July 23, 5 - 8 PM, Nenahnezad Chapter House.
• July 24, 10 AM - 1 PM, Burnham Chapter House.
• July 24, 5 - 8 PM, Veterans Memorial Center, Sanostee, N.M.
• July 25, 10 AM - 1 PM, Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock.

You can download a copy of the draft EIS here, where you can also submit written comments about the proposed project. The closing date for comments is Aug. 20, 2007.

Also of interest is a recent that describes how the originally scheduled hearings were abruptly postponed without word getting to the Navajo activists who intended to testify, many of whom traveled many miles to attend the hearing orginally set for June 18. The article also reports on the process for plant approval and had this to say about the draft EIS:

The draft environmental impact statement, a document about the size of the Phoenix phonebook, analyzes how the power plant would affect the surrounding environment and people under various development scenarios. A technical consultant funded by Sithe Global and the DinŽ Power Authority prepared the EIS, which is required under federal law.

It concludes that there will be adverse impacts but that these would be outweighed by the benefits of job creation and revenue for the tribal government.

Opponents fault the study for inadequate research and misleading conclusions, and say it dodges the most significant question of this era - how the power plant would contribute to global warming.

You can find most of our previous posts on the Desert Rock Power plant in this archive.

Repub Rep. Foley: Obscenities, Spitting Tobacco Juice and Charging at Cops

Arrest Mug Shot: NM Rep. Dan Foley (R-Chaves County) with tobacco spitting residue evident on his shirt

The Roswell Daily Record provides the photo (above) and the story on what the police report on Foley's Sunday arrest at a youth basketball game reveals. You really should read the whole thing, but here's an especially telling excerpt:

Screaming profanities at an opposing coach, the Roswell Republican rushed the court and spat chewing tobacco at an officer before being arrested, police said.

... "I told Mr. Foley to 'get back,' but Mr. Foley continued to push forward," Carrasco said in the incident report. "I attempted to pull Mr. Foley back, but Mr. Foley pushed forward (charged) in an aggressive stance. ... I pulled Mr. Foley back and placed him on the ground facing up... I held Mr. Foley down ... to stop him from getting up." One witness said Foley had been yelling at players and officials during previous games. The witness told police that when Foley was being escorted to the mall security office for police questioning, the crowd began to cheer.

During questioning at the mall, the aggression continued, the report said. Foley asked for officers' names, saying he was going to "have our jobs," an officer said. "Mr. Foley used too many obscenities to be remembered," the officer said.

If convicted at his August 2nd trial, Foley would face a potential maximum fine of $784 and 20 days in jail. He's entered a not guilty plea to charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest and is reportedly requesting a jury trial.

Click for our previous post on the arrest of Foley.

SICK O' The System Press Conference & Rally Set for Friday Morning in ABQ

From Charlotte Roybal, Health Action New Mexico:
SICK O' The System Press Conference and Rally
JOIN US: Friday, June 29, 2007
10:00 AM - before the SICKO first showing in ABQ at 11 AM
Century 14 Movie Theatre (SW Corner of 1st and Central)
Filmaker Michael Moore's long awaited documentary "SICKO" will be released in ABQ. Sponsored By:

• Native Health Care Council
• Community Coalition for Health Care Access,
• Health Action NM
• NM Conference of Churches
• American Medical Students Association-NM Chapter

See attached flyers to distribute:

• Download sickow.doc (Word doc)
• Download sicko-2.pub (Publisher)
• Download sickopc.pub (Publisher)

Editor's Note: The Progress Report backs up "Sicko's" destruction of four major myths about American health care with the facts. This past Saturday, "Sicko" sold out every single sneak preview held in cities around the nation, including here in Albuquerque. Also check out David Sirota's report on his attendance at a sneak preview of the film in Denver and a rally with Michael Moore at the Colorado state capitol, including this video clip:

Guest Blog: Ben Luce on Why He Launched "Break The Grip!"

This is a guest blog by environmental activist Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:

For the past ten years I have tried as hard as I could to work through our existing political system, as a mostly polite and "professional" environmental advocate, to bring about policies that support renewable energy development and energy efficiency. I collaborated with the Richardson Administration and the utilities, to the extent that this was possible, to "move the ball forward" as people say. Mind you, this was not an easy process, I sometimes sparred publicly with the Administration and the utilities, and often sparred with them behind the scenes, but I mainly pursued the usual channels of lobbying politely, participating in PRC cases, etc.

We did make some progress, to be sure, getting things such as solar tax credits and stronger solar rights through, and the initial renewable energy standard and some other things. I am still very happy and proud about those things.

But I did fight many quiet wars, things were often delayed or compromised to a great extent, and I was always bothered by the pervasive and blatant undue corporate influence that I saw around me at the Legislature in general.

Then, in the recent Legislative Session, I experienced undue corporate influence to the extreme: The Richardson Administration, to my great sadness and dismay, basically teamed up with PNM to exclude citizen advocacy at all costs and try to gut the effectiveness of the new renewable energy standard, of course while making it look good for Richardson. They also tried to strip out crucial renewable energy provisions from the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (already an extremely scary piece of legislation), and force a clean coal incentive down our throats. The Administration even had a PNM lobbyist working inside and officially representing the Administration (Art Hull), who was assigned to work on the Transmission Authority. Similarly, the clean coal incentive was forced us by a coal-industry connected LANL person named Charryl Berger, who was "on loan" to the Legislature.

Moreover, I sadly watched as the Democratic Leadership put a PNM lobbyist forward and bully citizen advocates to pass a PNM originated bill that rolls back protections for low-income people, and also try to force a $60 million tax incentive through for the Desert Rock Power Plant.

All of this obscene abuse of power was finally too much for me. After mulling it all over, and writing down my experiences over the past ten years (and storing this for safe keeping with others), I finally decided to go public about what actually happened. More than that, instead of just issuing an angry "rant" (as the Administration characterized my first press conference), I decided to launch, with other concerned citizens, a new campaign called "Break The Grip!". This will hopefully be a persistent citizens' campaign to systematically expose as much of the corporate political monopoly over New Mexico as possible, and call for a wide range of reforms.

I spent a few weeks developing the web site , which now contains much detail about the past relative to my own experiences, and we launched the campaign on Tuesday, June 19th (Tuesday being associated with the Greek God of War).

Since that time, AP coverage of the event has spread widely, including nationally, so I think we've made some impact.

We've also received tremendous support from the public: It seems that many people feel the way I do.

But we will need lots of help from the public on keeping the buzz going. We already used up a lot of publicity capital in our first press conference, so we need people to write letters-to-the-editor, join our network , etc. Don't let these guys hear the end of it!

The forces that be are already fighting back: A Richardson appointee named Gregory Green already crashed my press conference on behalf of the Administration and attempted to blunt our coverage by playing dumb about what happened during the session (he was a lobbyist for my former organization during the session), and apparently conveniently managed not to mention that he is currently a Richardson Appointee to the powerful Environmental Improvement Board. This is the kind of unethical response that needs to be countered. Who knows what else they will try? I've certainly written my fair share of embarrassing emails in the past, and I expect to start seeing them turning up in public. Do I care? Sure, things will likely be painful for me. But I'm persona non grata now anyway (at least among the corrupt! I've gotten lots of support from people on the inside too).

So, please help us rid our state of the obscene grip of corporations over our political system here in this state. Now is the time. Visit , read through the materials there, join the network, and await news of further opportunities to participate. We intend to take this campaign to the doorsteps of the powerful, and not back down.

Thanks and best wishes,
Ben Luce

Editor's Notes: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

Click to read a previous post on the formation of Break the Grip!

(Updated) Republican NM House Leader Arrested During Altercation in Roswell

UPDATE: KOB News 4 has video of a response from Foley. He states he won't apologize.
*************
State Rep. Dan Foley (R-Roswell), who serves as the Republican House Minority Whip in the NM Legislature, was arrested Sunday night in Roswell. According to a Roswell Daily Record article,

State Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, was arrested Sunday evening by Roswell police officers after an altercation during the Gus Macker basketball tournament which was being staged in the back parking lot of the Roswell Mall.

... Charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing an officer, Foley was booked into CCDC Sunday evening and faces a $900 surety bond, according to Moe Espinoza, a CCDC corrections officer.

Click for a video of a KRQE News 13 story about Foley's arrest that aired last night. The story states that, "During that confrontation, a police officer took Foley down." Foley has since bonded out of the Chaves County Detention Center and faces arraignment on Tuesday, June 26th, in Roswell.

Ironically, Rep. Foley is a member of the NM Legislature's Judiciary Committee as well as an advisory member of its Interim Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee and its Interim Legislative Ethics Committee. He's also known as a "law and order," conservative.

Rep. Foley also got into hot water in February of 2006 for requesting a flyover by F-16s at the opening of a Roswell Toyota car dealership owned by Tom Krumland, a prominent Republican donor and 2004 RNC delegate. As reported in an Albuquerque Journal article:

The leader of the New Mexico National Guard has ordered an investigation into a flyover by four F-16 fighter planes for the opening of a Roswell auto dealership.

Brig. Gen. Kenny Montoya authorized the flyover for the day before Veterans Day after being asked by Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell. Montoya acknowledged this week that he should have looked closer at the request.

Ah the circles are small in New Mexico. According to a item on Talking Points Memo, it turns out that Tom Krumland's wife, Linda Chavez Krumland, chaired a group called New Mexicans for Honest Courts that bought anti-David Iglesias radio ads earlier this year.

Guest Blog: Patrick Lyons Needs to Answer Questions About Campaign Contributions

This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois of Las Cruces:
"Fair and honest" are the words used by Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons. He was the same Patrick Lyons that thought buying a pick-up truck with campaign funds was acceptable.I am sure he believes he was fair and honest. I can't say with any certainty that Mr. Lyons has done anything illegal according to New Mexico law.

We, as New Mexican voters, extend to our elected officials a certain amount of trust and we have the expectation that trust will be honored. Some of the comments attributed to Mr. Lyons might cause one to think there is a credibility gap. On one hand he says "everything we do is fair and honest" and he is doing everything he can to raise money for state trust funds. On the other hand he doesn't feel compelled to answer questions about campaign donations given by the same developer before and after the bid was awarded to him. When called by an Albuquerque Journal reporter about those donations he told the reporter, "don't call me back again." He then hung up. I think the commissioner doth protest too much.

To my knowledge, there is no bid process on state trust lands, yet Mr. Lyons created a Request for Proposal process with a reported deadline of February 1. He awarded the bid to a Las Cruces developer on December 26. Mr. Lyons claimed that this contractor had by far the best proposal. Question: How could Mr. Lyons know it was the best proposal if he didn't see any of the others? And why would he go against his process by awarding the bid almost a month early?

The contractor can donate to any campaign he wishes, as long as he doesn't have some expectation of some kind of return. For me, I think there should be an investigation of all transactions made while Lyons has been in office. Unlike the legislature, which must have a majority vote to pass legislation, Lyons is able to make decisions unilaterally and arbitrarily. We learned in the recent past that behavior isn't always wise. Let's have answers to the right questions.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their personal opinions on relevant political issues. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

To learn more about the controversy over Patrick Lyons' handling of a development bid in Las Cruces and campaign contributions he received from the chosen developer, try these for starters:

• Lyons Got Donations After Vote, Albuquerque Journal, 6.16.07
• Land Commissioner on Shaky Ground, Albuquerque Journal, 6.19.07
• On trip to Las Cruces, Lyons defends land lease, Heath Haussamen, 5.16.07

Crying Wolf on Lab Funding Cuts?

I know everyone in New Mexico is supposed to be hysterical because of the U.S. House cuts to the budgets of Los Alamos and Sandia Labs totaling about $400 million. But as far as I can tell, I don't see how such cuts would result in up to 2000 layoffs at Los Alamos and 900 at Sandia, as is being bandied about. Googling around, I found that the cuts are mostly directed at reducing spending on security enhancements, computer hardware upgrades, a new chem building and funding for the controversial and much criticized Reliable Replacement Warhead and plutonium pit manufacturing programs.How do these cuts translate into that many lost jobs?

Moreover, If we look at this issue carefully, I think what the cuts really portend is a growing movement in Washington (and the nation) on both sides of the aisle to to deemphasize Cold War-era type nuke weapon spending and put more money into modern-day security in the form of clean and renewable energy technologies. If the labs -- and Domenici, Pearce and Wilson -- don't wake up and start moving quickly into the new era of global warming threat reduction and diminishing fossil fuel use, they'll have only themselves to blame.

Udall's Role
Rep. Tom Udall tried unsuccessfully to reinstate $192 million of the budget cuts, but not for the plutonium pit and Reliable Replacement Warhead programs. Instead he requested more funds for the Los Alamos high-speed supercomputer system and the stockpile stewardship programs that test the reliability of already existing bomb components without using underground blasts. Udall's amendment failed by a vote of 121-312. Sen. Domenici and Reps. Wilson and Pearce have been trying to blame the cuts entirely on Democrats -- and especially on Udall. However, 103 Republican members of Congress voted against Udall's attempt to restore lab funds:

Democrats; 24 Aye; 209 Nay; 2 Not Voting
Republicans: 97 Aye; 103 Nay; 2 Not Voting

Back to the Future
As Eric Griego writes in his latest Albuquerque Tribune column:

... could the cuts really be an opportunity? Could the proposed cuts to the labs be the impetus so desperately needed to finally change the mission of both labs to one focused on renewable energy development instead of protecting and developing nuclear weapons?

Conservationists and those who oppose continued nuclear weapons development have tried for years to redirect the mission of the state's two national labs in the direction of renewable energy. Sandia has taken on more renewable energy work over the past several years, but Los Alamos has actually deepened its nuclear mission.

Rep. Udall has been the target of a lot of often mean-spirited bashing because of the cuts, but I applaud him for refusing to attempt to reinstate the funding for the RRW and plutonium pits. It's high time we bring the core missions of our national labs into the 21st century, where renewable energy and mitigating global warming will be the key areas where we need our best scientific minds to concentrate their research. We're moving into an era of rapid and profound change, with many similiarites to the years when horse power was being replaced by the combustion engine.

At some point, you either have to face the new realities and make the switchover, or you'll pay the consequences for hanging onto a no longer relevant mindset. We'll be needing fresh ideas and a change in focus from our national labs if they are to survive and thrive in the new techology environment. Many believe the world as we know it hangs in the balance. Yes, an inconvenient truth. I had to say it.

Tuesday: Join the Call to Free NM Government from Corporate Grip

From Ben Luce, Break the Grip!:
Tired of the domination of New Mexico by big corporations like PNM, Qwest, Oil & Gas, Media monopolies, and others, but feeling helpless to do anything about it?

Break the Grip! is initiating a campaign to end the pervasive grip of corporations on New Mexico State Government. For more information on the origins of this campaign, see the Open Letter to Governor Bill Richardson. More information will be given at BTG!'s Campaign Initiation Gathering (supporters are encouraged to attend) and press conference:

• When: Tuesday, June 19th, High Noon
• Where: East Entrance of the Santa Fe Roundhouse
• Directions: Northwest corner of Paseo de Peralta and Old Santa Fe Trail. Come early - parking close by can be hard to find. Parking may be available in the parking lots off the northeast corner of this intersection. There is paid parking near the St. Francis Cathedral downtown, about a 10 minute walk from the Roundhouse.

Supporters are encouraged to attend. (Detractors are encouraged to enjoy lunch instead at the Mission Cafe, located on East DeVargas Street near the Roundhouse.) Come prepared to sing! See the Lyrics to our theme song, "Let's Break Their Grip!"

An expanded version of the Break the Grip! website will be uploaded on June 19th and will contain history, calls for reform, calls to action, and more. Break the Grip! is a citizen's campaign that is not affiliated with any political party, election drive, nonprofit or for-profit corporation or other interest.

Editor's Note: Ben Luce is the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Mother Media has more on Luce's decision to leave that post and start Break the Grip!.

Garduño and O'Malley Campaigns for ABQ City Council Seats Heat Up

Report and photos by Suzanne Prescott:
The official campaigns for Debbie O'Malley and Rey Garduño have gotten off to a good start. Canvassers in Rey's district and Debbie's district are already collecting signatures. According to Garduño, he already has half of the approximately 550 signatures needed. No count is available from O'Malley who needs approximately 650 signatures.

Both candidates have events planned for this weekend. District 2 incumbent candidate O'Malley is having a KICK-OFF PARTY at her house tonight (Friday) from 5:30 to 8:00 PM. She's inviting people to stop by and have a bite to eat with other supporters and pick up a petition sheet(s) and walking lists, or sign up to walk on a weekday or weekend with Debbie and other volunteers.

What: KICK OFF PARTY
Where:  AT O'Malley's - 839 Fitzgerald Rd. NW (Off of 4th Street, 1 Block S of Candelaria—the street next to Wendy's)
When:  Friday, June 15, 5:30 to 8:00PM
Who: O'Malley supporters

Garduño also plans a get-together at his house. So far he reports that voters are telling him that voters have expressed major concerns about traffic in the district and concerns about the aging infrastructure in District #6. Voters are saying that they would like to see their tax dollars spent to revive the aging infrastructure. The information below is for anyone who has time to help Rey this Saturday.

When:  Saturday, June 16th, 10 AM-1 PM
Where:  At Garduño's - We will meet at our house:  414 Vassar, Dr. NE (Just inside the UNM Campus – from Girard and Campus; go West on Campus into the campus, first right is Vassar, first house is 414 Vassar; If you are having difficulties call 266-4424 or 688-6981 cell.)
Why:  To continue the momentum and possibly finish our Petition Drive. Come to door-knock or if you don’t have the time, stop by to sign a petition and/or take some petition forms with you! 
Who:  All community members that support clean elections and a strong community voice on the City Council. Especially people registered to vote in City Council District 6.

Editor's Note: You can read all our previous posts on the Albuquerque City Council races in our archive. Click to visit Rey Garduño's campaign website.