Democracy for New Mexico

Political Fragging: Fired U.S. Attorney Iglesias Drops Bombshell on NM Repubs

In a story that continues to explode on the national scene, New Mexico's U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, who was recently fired by the federal Justice Department and accused of bad performance, held a news conference on his last day in office yesterday to defend his record as a federal prosecutor and blame politics for his firing. Even more damning, he told McClatchy Newspapers that he was called by two members of the NM Congressional delegation about a month prior to the 2006 election and asked pointedly about when he would announce indictments in a case involving possible criminal counts related to two state courthouse projects, as well as queried about details in the case.

In response to Iglesias' revelations, both a U.S. House Justice subcommitee and the U.S. Senate Justice Committee are considering issuing subpoenas to Iglesias and several other U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration under similar circumstances. The subpoenas would compel the attorneys to testify about their firings before the Congressional committees, and Iglesias has said he would comply with the orders if issued. In recent weeks, it was announced that six U.S. attorneys around the country, including Iglesias, would be removed from office and replaced by the Bush administration due to alleged "performance issues." Two others are also being replaced for unstated reasons. Many are asking questions about the real reasons behind the firings.

Soon after Iglesias' statements about calls from members of Congress were made public, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM2) said he wasn't one of those who called Iglesias. Rep.Tom Udall (D-NM2) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) also denied they were the callers. That leaves just two possible culprits -- Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM1) and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) -- and so far their offices have refused comment to the media. It has long been rumored that Wilson and Domenici may have been pressuring Iglesias to bring the courthouse case indictments before the election in November 2006 in order to help Rep. Wilson's reelection prospects against Dem challenger Patricia Madrid. In a tight race, Wilson ultimately beat out Madrid by a razor thin margin of less than 900 votes.

A post yesterday on The Carpetbagger Report by Steve Benen, the lead editor of Salon.com's Daou Report, had this to say, citing stories published by TPMmuckraker.com and McClatchy Newspapers:

Yesterday, David Iglesias, the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, described his firing as “political fragging.” Iglesias added, “I’m OK with being asked to move on for political reasons, I’m NOT OK with the Department of Justice wrongfully testifying under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee that I had performance issues.”

Today, Iglesias started airing the dirty laundry.

The U.S. attorney from New Mexico who was recently fired by the Bush administration said Wednesday that he believes he was forced out because he refused to rush an indictment in an ongoing probe of local Democrats a month before November’s Congressional elections.

David Iglesias said two members of Congress separately called in mid October to inquire about the timing of an ongoing probe of a kickback scheme and appeared eager for an indictment to be issued on the eve of the elections in order to benefit the Republicans. He refused to name the members of Congress because he said he feared retaliation.

Two months later, on Dec. 7, Iglesias became one of six U.S. attorneys ordered to step down for what administration officials have termed “performance-related issues.” Two other U.S. attorneys also have been asked to resign.

Iglesias, whose performance reviews included no criticisms, said, “I believe that because I didn’t play ball, so to speak, I was asked to resign.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) responded by noting that Iglesias’ allegations are “extremely serious and very troubling allegations coming from a man of great integrity. They call into question every other firing.”

... now that we know partisan prosecutions played a role in the purge, it should renew interest in the administration’s decision to fire San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam during her Duke Cunningham investigation.

The McClatchy Newspaper story also reported:

Iglesias acknowledged that he had no proof that the pressure from the members of Congress prompted his forced resignation. But he said the contact violated one of the most important tenets of a U.S. attorney's office: Don't mix politics with prosecutions.

"I was appalled by the inappropriateness of those contacts," Iglesias said of the calls.

... Iglesias said the two members of Congress not only contacted him directly, but also tried to wrest details of the case from him.

An article in today's Albuquerque Journal adds more to this story,

There has been grumbling for months within the state Republican Party and legal community that the investigation into possible contract padding in state courthouse construction projects has been conducted at a snail's pace. The original allegations— involving contractors, public officials and millions of dollars— were brought to the U.S. attorney and the FBI more than 18 months ago.

... And Iglesias told the Journal after the news conference that he began losing the support of important state Republican Party leaders after the 2004 election when he didn't prosecute anyone for voter fraud.

Also check out this post on Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo that cites information first published by the New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan blog. Monahan's coverage of the story continues today, including speculation about the possible political fallout that may damage the political futures of Rep. Wilson and Sen. Domenici (above right) due to the unethical nature of the accusations. More will be revealed.

(Updated) Shocker: Undervote Rate Plummets in Minority Precincts After New Mexico Changes to All Paper Ballots

UPDATE 2: There's a Daily Kos diary up by Land of Enchantment that discusses the voting analysis and the poster's experiences working a precinct in Taos County, NM for the 2004 election.

UPDATE 1: This story is now getting national attention on its own merits plus its implications for the case being made by many prominent election reform advocates against Rep. Rush Holt's (D-NJ) new Election Reform bill, HR 811. In addition, the analysis of election data uncovers another manner in which DREs might be manipulated to alter results according to the language of the voter. This begs the question of whether minority voters who used DREs in 2004 were the victims of machine manipulation that produced the high undervote counts. The data seems to raise the possibility anyway. See the front page story on The Brad Blog for more.
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From VotersUnite.org:
February 26, 2007 - A new report, based on official 2004 and 2006 New Mexico election data, shows a dramatic difference in undervotes in Native American and Hispanic precincts, depending on whether they voted on paper ballots or on Direct Record Electronic (DRE — often known as touch screen) voting machines.

The report explains: "Undervotes represent ballots on which no vote was registered for a specific contest.  Undervote rates higher than 0.5% in the major contest on a ballot, especially in presidential elections, suggest that votes may not have been counted, either through a mistake of the voter or a mistake in tabulation."

The report shows that in predominantly Native American and predominantly Hispanic precincts, undervote rates were abnormally high (7.61% and 6.33% respectively) in the 2004 presidential race, when the votes were cast on DREs.

In 2006, after the state changed to all optically scanned paper ballots, the undervote rates for Governor in those same precincts plummeted by 85% in Native American areas and by 69% in predominantly Hispanic precincts.

In Anglo precincts, undervote rates of ballots cast on DREs were about the same level as the rates for paper ballots — 2.22% and 1.75% respectively.

“We were looking for any impact the change to paper ballots may have had on New Mexico’s historically high undervote rate. When we found the dramatic drop in Native American precincts, we were shocked,” said Theron Horton, Project Manager for Election Defense Alliance. “Something was going on with the DREs in those precincts in 2004.”

“When Warren Stewart, Policy Director of VoteTrustUSA, and I did the analysis of New Mexico’s 2004 vote data two years ago, we found high undervote rates in the minority precincts,” said Ellen Theisen, President of Vote-PAD, Inc. and former Executive Director of VotersUnite.Org. “But we didn't do a complete comparison of paper ballot undervotes to the DRE undervotes in that election. When I heard of Theron’s work, I performed the comparison, and found that it’s the paper ballots that made the difference in the minority precincts.”

Read the two-page report here:
https://www.votersunite.org/info/NM_UVbyBallotTypeandEthnicity.pdf

Download the data here:
https://www.votersunite.org/info/2006NMSelectedData.xls

Contacts:

Ellen Theisen
360-437-9922
ellen@vote-pad.us

Theron Horton
505-751-4106
theronhorton@mac.com

ALERT: Concerns Raised About Proposed ABQ Clean Elections Regulations

From Common Cause NM:
Albuquerque- Common Cause New Mexico is raising concerns about recently released by the Albuquerque City Clerk for the upcoming 2007 municipal election. The regulations were developed to administer the "Open and Ethical Elections" charter amendment that was approved by Albuquerque voters in 2005.

At stake is the proper functioning of the public funding provisions of the new law, according to Matt Brix, Executive Director of Common Cause.

"Albuquerque voters passed the Open and Ethical Elections Referendum by an overwhelming 70% margin back in October 2005, making us the first city in the country to pass a clean elections measure by popular referendum," says Brix.  "Over a year has passed and the 2007 municipal election cycle is already underway.  Making sure we get these regulations right has become an urgent task, if the new system is to run smoothly as the voters intended."

The Albuquerque City Clerk is holding a hearing to receive public comment on the new regulations this Monday, February 26, at 3 PM in the City Council Chambers.

"There has been a good faith effort to prepare these regulations for public review," says Brix, "but several critical areas need fixing and Monday's hearing is the public's final opportunity to fix these problems."

Common Cause has identified a number of problem areas in the new regulations, such as:

• Inconsistencies with the reporting requirements for seed money contributions and regular campaign contributions. The City left out disclosure of a contributor's business and occupation in the reporting requirement for seed money contributors.
• Rules that define what independent versus coordinated expenditures are.
• Vague language that could delay by weeks matching funds to a candidate whose opponent exceeds the voluntary limit on expenditures.

Editor's Note: Those concerned about the proper implementation of the Albuquerque Open and Ethical Elections amendment are urged to attend Monday's hearing. You can also send your comments to the Albuquerque City Clerk and urge her to respond appropriately to the concerns raised by Common Cause:

Millie U. Santillanes, City Clerk
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1293; Albuquerque, NM 87103
Physical Address: City-County Bldg., One Civic Plaza, 11th Fl.
Phone: (505) 768-3030; Fax: (505) 768-2845
Email: msantillanes@cabq.gov

REMINDER: Tune in Saturday to ABQ's 1350 AM Insight NM Radio Show

Photo montage of last week's show by Suzanne Prescott (click photo for larger image)

, the weekly progressive call-in talk radio show with Eric Griego and Suzanne Prescott, will be on the air again this Saturday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. This week's guests will include:

• Danice Picraux, who serves in the New Mexico House from District 25. Representative Picraux is Chair of the Legislative Health & Human Services  Committee and Vice Chair of the Appropriations & Finance Committee
• Steve Terrell, who is a political reporter at The Santa Fe New Mexican, has two shows at KSFR, Santa Fe Public Radio and has several local blogs
• Lisa Grover, who is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools. She's a founder of Moreno Valley Charter School, recognized in 2006 by Newsweek Magazine as the 34th best high school in the USA

You can hear a rebroadcast of the show on Sunday morning from 7:00 to 8:00 AM on 1350 AM. You can also listen to podcasts (mp3s) of material from past shows at the podcast page of the program's website.

We need to tune in weekly if we want this show to stay on the air. For sponsorship opportunities, email Suzanne Prescott at and help support progressive talk radio in Albuquerque!

Tonight's 'We The People' Features Discussion on Elected vs. Appointed State Treasurer

WE THE PEOPLE: February 22, 2007, 7 PM, Live - Albuquerque Cable Channel 27! Lively discussion with Doug Brown, former Interim State Treasurer, New Mexico. Should the Treasurer be an elected or appointed position in state government?

Also Worldwide On The Net! Click for Streaming Media https://quote-unquote.org/
Second and Fourth Thursdays 7-8 PM Mountain
Call-in: (505) 346-1633, Hosts Judith Binder & Mickey Bock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quotes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

To contact your councilor about this legislation, .

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

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

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

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

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

This Saturday on Insight NM Radio: Rep. Chasey, NM FBIHOP, Christie Chisholm of The Alibi

Photo montage of last week's show by Suzanne Prescott.

The one, the only Insight New Mexico, hosted by Eric Griego and Suzanne Prescott, is back this Saturday with another hour of progressive talk radio on Albuquerque's 1350 AM, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. This week we'll hear from NM Representative Gail Chasey, local blogger New Mexico FBIHOP and Christie Chisholm, Managing Editor and News Editor of the Weekly Alibi.

Note: Shows are rebroadcast on Sunday mornings from 7:00 to 8:00 AM on 1350 AM.

Check out the show's website at for more info on guests, issues and blogging, as well as podcasts (mp3s) of previous shows. Listeners are encourged to call in during the broadcast with questions for the guests. Just punch in 338-4090 and you'll have a chance to ask your question on the air.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow, keep track of what's going on at the legislature and local politics and support progressive talk radio in Albuquerque. If you'd like information on sponsorship options for the show, email .

Iraq Escalation: Heather Wilson Tries to Have It Both Ways

Surprise. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM-01), has been critical of the Iraq occupation ever since she won her latest two-year term by a margin of only a few hundred votes. However, her criticism only goes so far. Yesterday she took to the House floor to comment about the pending resolution expressing disapproval for Bush's latest transparent band-aid of a solution to the chaotic fiasco. Instead of voting in line with her previous negative responses to Bush's plans, she claimed she couldn't vote for the resolution because it was too "vague." Oh, and did you know the Dems really want to take the bullets and body armor away from troops on the ground? Since the resolution doesn't say they DON'T want to do that, Heather can't support it. Quote:

"The resolution intentionally leaves unanswered the question of whether we will fund the bullets and body armor for troops who are not there yet but are going. I believe a majority of this House would vote to equip and support the men and women being sent there, even if they question the President's strategy ... The language in this resolution is clever. But this isn’t a time for clever.

Read the text of the resolution. Seems mighty clear and direct to me. I'd like to think Wilson was teary-eyed and quivering in her statement yesterday because she has a guilty conscience. Given her serious criticisms of the escalation tactics, she has to be aware of just how meaningless and dangerous it will be to shove 21,000+ more troops in the middle of a raging, bloody civil war and insurgency. Yet she can't bring herself to do the right thing and vote for the resolution, despite its nonbinding nature. I wonder how the Bush team "convinced" her to refrain from a true expression of her views in the vote. Campaign fundraising for her next election comes to mind, but that's just me.

MoveOn and others are urging folks in Wilson's district to call her NOW to urge her to change her mind. Here are the numbers: in Washington DC (202) 225-6316; in Albuquerque (505) 346-6781.

By the way, you can see video clips of a number of House Dems making statements about the Iraq resolution, plus lots of other stuff, at House Speaker Pelosi's new blog, The Gavel.

Also, Sen. Harry Reid just announced that the U.S. Senate will vote on the U.S. House resolution about the Iraq escalation this coming Saturday. Straight up or down vote on the simple resolution. Period. The House vote is expected to happen on Friday.

REVISED: Bernalillo County and State Dems Set Meeting Schedule

From Marvin Moss, DPBC Chair:
Here is the REVISED schedule of upcoming ward, precinct, central committee and working committee meetings to be held in March and April 2007 by the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County and the Democratic Party of New Mexico. More times and locations will be announced soon. All Democrats are welcome at these meetings:

Changes shown in RED:

March 19 (Monday): Site coordinator training at DPBC/DPNM HQs, now combined at 1301 San Pedro, NE, 7:00 PM

March 20 (Tuesday): Ward Chair meeting at Plumbers Hall, San Pedro and Zuni, 7:00 PM. All Ward Chairs or their representatives must attend.

March 22 (Thursday): Ward/Precinct cluster meetings to elect Precinct and Ward Chairs and additional County Central Committee members, 7:00 PM, sites to be announced

April 10 (Tuesday): County Credentials and Resolutions Committees meetings at UNM Law School, Rooms 2405 and 2406, respectively, 6:00 PM

April 14 (Saturday): County Central Committee meeting to elect State Central Committee delegation, consider resolutions and conduct other business; possibly in Highland High School gym - registration 9 AM, call to order 10 AM.                               

April 28 (Saturday): State Central Committee meeting to elect State Officers, consider resolutions and conduct other business - in Las Cruces.

Note: Proxy voting is permitted at County Central Committee and State Central Committee meetings. Proxy voting is not permitted at Ward/Precinct meetings.

For more information: Democratic Party of Bernalillo County; 1301 San Pedro Dr. NE; Albuquerque, NM 87110; (505) 830-3650, Ext. 22