Democracy for New Mexico

AFL-CIO Vets Launch Council, Release Video Critical of McCain

Today, AFL-CIO union veterans are launching the first Union Veterans Council, which will bring together the power of union veterans on the issues that matter most to veterans and all working families...for the 2008 elections and beyond. 

Find out more—and get the facts on John McCain’s record on veterans issues and his economic record here. If you are a veteran and a union member, retiree or Working America member, join the AFL-CIO's new Union Veterans Council now. Sign up here.

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(Updated) NM-01: Lobo Coach Doesn't Know Darren White

Update: The front page of Darren White's campaign website STILL includes a listing for "An Evening with Coach Steve Alford" in their events section.
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From today's Albuquerque Journal story on the swirling controversy about NM-01 GOP Congressional candidate Darren White's (right) July 16th "Evening with Coach Steve Alford" fundraiser at the home of UNM lobbyist Joe Thompson, it's hard to tell which Republican is telling the biggest whopper. Turns out nobody knew much of anything about the event. They seemed to be participating in the event planning and were set to attend, but -- surprise -- there was only a vague idea about what the party was, why it was taking place or why Alford was asked to attend. The accounts of the people involved in the fundraiser are rather murky and confusing as to the who, what, where, how and why aspects of how things developed.

I guess this bunch has an odd habit of wandering around from place to place with no idea why. They're just out there glad-handing and touting Lobo basketball, right? No politics intended. UNM's VP of Athletics Paul Krebs (left) admits he's the one who asked Alford to attend, but "said he didn’t know the coach would be the main attraction." Oh, and he and Alford merely like to meet leaders in the state. It just so happens that takes place at candidate fundraisers:

Krebs said that while he and Alford have attended past political fundraisers, their attendance is not meant as an endorsement — “it’s in our best interests to be out and about ... and meeting the leaders in the state,” Krebs said.

Somehow some of the major players in the dustup had no idea the event was a big-ticket fundraiser for White or that Alford was scheduled to do anything but stop by to say hi. Alford must be one friendly guy, ready at the drop of a hat to attend parties and greet the guests. Even though the official invitation had allegedly been okayed by party host and UNM lobbyist Joe Thompson, no one seemed to realize that photos with Alford were going to be hawked for $1000 each. But perhaps the most hilarious revelation comes from Alford himself:

Alford told the Journal he agreed to stop by the July 16 event at [UNM VP for Athletics] Krebs’ request, but that doesn’t mean he is endorsing White — or anybody else.

“I wouldn’t know Darren White if he walked in front of me,” Alford said. “It got falsely advertised. I was just stopping by.”

Continue reading "(Updated) NM-01: Lobo Coach Doesn't Know Darren White"

Colorado Activists Set Up Defense Fund for Librarian Cited at McCain Event

Rachel Maddow reports on Denver free speech incident

Beware the wrath of foes of civil liberties if you intend to use your free speech rights anywhere near the McCain campaign events in Albuquerque next week. McCain will be here for two days -- at a big ticket fundraiser on July 14th at the home of car dealer Ken Zangara, and at a town hall meeting at the Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town the next day. (Doors open at 8:45 AM but all seats have been filled.)

McCain held what was called a "public" town hall meeting yesterday in Denver, but it turned out to be none too public as a peaceful and polite woman holding a sign outside the event was cited and threatened with arrest for "trespassing." ProgressNowAction, a network of Colorado grassroots activists, fills in the details with an email today, and asks for donations for a defense fund they've set up for Carol and others who may get caught exercising their rights:

This is what we're up against. 

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain's Secret Service detail had a 60 year-old librarian removed from a public plaza.  The librarian, Carol Kreck, was merely carrying a sign that said: McCain = Bush.

As our state moves to the national spotlight later this summer, you can bet there will be more occurrences like this. And you can bet we'll be there to document and publicize it [see video above].

... After you've seen it for yourself, I hope you'll pitch in and help us help Coloradans like Carol Kreck. Please make a donation today at the following link.

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NM-01: Poll Shows Heinrich Up 3 Over White Before Alford Scandal Broke

Dem Martin Heinrich leads Darren White, his GOP rival in the NM-01 Congressional race, by a margin of 3 points in an internal poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. The survey of 518 likely voters in the district was conducted from June 29 to July 2, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%.

Greenberg's polling memo, entitled "Heinrich Surging in NM-1," compares the new results favorable to Heinrich with those released nine months ago by White's camp that showed the Sheriff ahead 51% to 33% -- when a DC newspaper said said White was "untouchable." Obviously, things have changed, and ominously so for White, who's been perceived to have the edge due to his strong name recognition in Bernalillo County and beyond.

According to The Crypt on Politico, the poll "suggests the race will be one of the most competitive in the country" and the article characterizes the results this way:

White has been touted as one of the Republicans’ top recruits, and for Heinrich to be holding a lead at this point against the better-known White shows his campaign is in solid shape. Heinrich handily won his party’s nomination in June against three under-funded opponents.

White and Coach Alford
This poll was conducted before the scandal began to unfold related to White's inviting UNM Lobos basketball coach Steve Alford to a gathering, only to reportedly blindside him by billing the event as "An Evening With Coach Steve Alford" and offering photos with the Coach to elite donors for $1000 each.

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(Updates) Capitulation Day on FISA

Rachel Maddow and constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley discuss the Senate's cave-in

See voting result updates below the fold.

Today's the day for the Senate showcase on political convenience and expediency on FISA. Apparently it's focus groups before the Fourth Amendment or the rule of law. Hey, it's not their problem, as Jonathan Turley explains in the above clip. "The founders would have found this incomprehensible," he says. Many of us do too.

So far, a significant majority of our noble Senators have defeated the Dodd amendment to strip the immunity provisions from the bill by a 32-66 margin. They then proceeded to off the Specter amendment, which would allow broader court review and require the cases to be dismissed if the court determines that the warrantless wiretapping programming was legal, by a margin of 37-61. Next they killed Sen. Bingaman's amendment, which would delay the immunity and make it contingent upon the results of a report on the telecom surveillance by the Inspector General, by a 42-56 vote.

Continue reading "(Updates) Capitulation Day on FISA"

FISA: Last Stand

I could write more about tomorrow's vote on the FISA bill and why the bill is awful, but anyone who would bother to read it probably already knows what I know, or understands more than I understand. The rest of our fine citizens apparently don't care or understand the implications, and many actually think the executive branch should be conducting unlimited wiretapping and data vacuuming without any oversite. It makes them feel "safe."

I don't claim to entirely understand all the complexities of the FISA bill, but when the ACLU, acclaimed constitutional and legal scholars, Glenn Greenwald and Senators I respect are all against it, that's essentially enough for me. And then there's the whistleblowers.

I'll leave you with a diary by mcjoan at Daily Kos that discusses the views of two recent telecom surveillence whistleblowers, as well as those of one of America's most famous all-time whistleblowers, Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg, as you may recall, is a former military and intelligence analyst who risked everything to release the Pentagon Papers in the early 70s, showing the horrors going on within the government related to the Viet Nam war and other matters. Excerpt from the statement by Ellsberg on FISA:

You can't have a democracy with the state--the executive branch--having that kind of information, total information about every communication, every credit card, every transaction, every fax, e-mail, telephone conversation of everyone. And as far as we know, that's what's being collected now. We do need to know whether that's yet true or not, but I think it's a pretty good assumption.... You can't keep a republic, a constitutional republic with that degree of knowledge by the president, by the executive branch of all of our private affairs. You can't have it. You have something else, you have, you can call it an autocracy, a dictatorship. It's the basis for tyranny, and that's what the Constitution was meant to prevent and that's what this bill would confer--unlimited power....

I have to say that no senator, Republican or Democrat, should be voting for this Senate bill. Not one. Everyone who does so is in fact, I would say, violating his or her oath to defend the Constitution. But they can do better than that.

This New York Times op-ed provides an excellent overview of the flawed FISA bill. There are still three amendments out there that would quash at least the tip of the iceberg of bad stuff in this bill. They aim to either delete telecom immunity from the bill or make it more conditional. Not one of them is expected to gain the votes necessary tomorrow. My understanding is that they'd have to get the support of at least 60 Senators due to some rule or agreement in play.

Last Ditch Efforts
Those who care about the rule of law are being urged to contact their Senators and persuade them to at least vote for NM Sen. Jeff Bingaman's amendment, which would put off retroactive telecom immunity at least until Congress gets a report on an investigation to be done by the Inspector General on what happened. Bingaman has gotten a lot of praise for the effort in the netroots and from civil liberties authorities. The word is that his amendment has the best chance of passing, although the chances are still slim so close to an election. We all know what happens when an election is nigh.

The diary by mcjoan also suggests we call the Senators who did not vote for FISA last time to urge them to stand their ground:

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Care About Fair and Accurate Elections?

If so, you should definitely give a listen to an interview with Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver conducted by Peter St. Cyr. It's posted on his blog, "What's the Word?" Peter is a well-known reporter with KKOB News Radio. His blog permits him to share interviews and other stories in their entirety, expanding on the short sound-bites that are typically aired on the radio.

As I'm sure most of you know, Maggie is running to retain her office after initially being appointed County Clerk in 2007 to replace Mary Herrera, who was elected Secretary of State. She's earned significant and widespread praise for the innovations and organizational prowess she's displayed since taking on the wide-ranging responsibilities of County Clerk in New Mexico's largest county.

St. Cyr's interview with Toulouse Oliver covers a lot of ground, from her experience with a recent audit of the county's electronic tabulator accuracy funded by the Pew Center to what she's doing to make sure the November 4th election runs just right. One of her top priorities is to ensure that an adequate supply of poll workers is well-trained and available to handle the massive turnout expected on election day this Fall:

“I’m going to be out this summer visiting neighborhood associations, and civic organization meetings, all over the place trying to recruit poll workers,” said Toulouse-Oliver. “I’m also meeting with a variety of stakeholder groups to ensure they are getting their people and parties, union organization and other activist groups who care about elections and the outcomes of elections.”

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Dems/Obama Ask for Input on National Platform; Patricia Madrid Co-Chairs National Platform Committee

Be a Part of the Process
As I reported back in January, former NM Attorney General Patricia Madrid was elected to serve as one of three Co-Chairs of the DNC's national Platform Committee, along with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and former president and chief executive of Discovery Communications, Judith McHale. The Co-Chairs will be overseeing an intensive party platform process -- designed to be inclusive and transparent -- that will ultimately produce the Dem's national platform for 2008.

Today, the DNC and Obama for America released a statement announcing an initiative to reach out to Democrats nationwide for their input into the national platform. This year, for the first time, voters will have the opportunity to take part in Platform Meetings in all 50 states to help shape the Democratic Platform. DNC Chairman Howard also announced that Governor Napolitano will chair the Platform Drafting Committee. Michael Yaki will serve as National Platform Director and Karen Kornbluh will be the Principal Author of the Platform.

How You Can Get Involved
Members of the public are invited to host and/or attend Platform Meetings in their communities as an opportunity to exchange ideas and share perspectives on the challenges we face. To facilitate the process, the Obama campaign and the DNC will send policy experts and DNC Platform Committee members to as many meetings as possible to serve as facilitators. Each Platform Meeting will produce a written summary that will be reviewed and considered by the Platform Committee.

From today through July 15th, you can register to attend or host a Platform Meeting here -- where you can also download a host guide with everything you need to create your won Platform event. The Platform Meetings will occur across the country from July 19th through July 27th.

"From the beginning, we said we were going bring down the traditional walls of the Democratic Convention and make this event more accessible and include as many people as possible," said Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean in a statement today.

"This process will empower Americans in all 50 states to make their voices heard as they help write the document that embodies our Party's values and vision for the future. Barack Obama will bring real change to Washington, and as we write the Democratic Platform, there will be a clear choice between more of the same failed policies of the Bush Administration with John McCain or real change with Barack Obama who will make the American people, not the special interests, the priority again."

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NM-01: Heinrich Once Again in Top 5 ActBlue Fundraisers

Martin getting the treatment at a recent visit to a local farmer's market

ActBlue reported its latest weekly fundraising totals this morning, and NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich is once again in the top five:

Top Fundraisers on ActBlue June 30-July 6, 2008:
1. Darcy Burner | WA-08 | $112,706.88
2. Rick Noriega | TX-Sen | $93,572.22
3. Kay Hagan | NC-Sen | $86,021.37
4. Joseph Sestak, Jr. | PA-07 | $55,892.32
5. Martin Heinrich | NM-01 | $34,164.38
6. Scott Harper | IL-13 | $27,447.31
7. Dan Seals | IL-10 | $27,351.66
8. Mark Warner | VA-Sen | $26,639.75
9. Ronnie Musgrove | MS-Sen | $24,269.01
10. Andrew Rice | OK-Sen | $22,999.19

ActBlue has this to say about Martin:

The Heinrich campaign's end-of-quarter fundraising push, initially set to raise $35,000 and "Fill the Balloon!" on its website, launched the balloon into the stratosphere of political fundraising by bringing in nearly $100,000. Heinrich's weekly total is nearly double the amount he brought in only two weeks ago, which first catapulted him onto our Top 10 list.

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Tom Udall in Lead at LCV's Give Green

Over the weekend, New Mexico's U.S. Senate candidate Tom Udall took the lead in Give Green donations over his cousin Mark, who's running for U.S. Senate in Colorado. As of today, Tom's campaign has garnered more than $2,400 from 71 donors since the site launched a little over a week ago -- the most of any candidate on the site. Meanwhile, NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich has received more than $870 to date in Give Green donations from 48 donors. Haven't heard of Give Green? Keep on reading.

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, recently launched Give Green, the first donation bundling website to raise money exclusively for environmental champions and candidates. The non-partisan website at is similar to the highly successful ActBlue and EMILY’s List fundraising sites, but is unaffiliated. Why did LCV decide to launch Give Green? 

“Ever increasing numbers of environmental voters and donors live in every part of the country,” LCVAF President Gene Karpinski said in a statement. “But America’s clean energy future is not just a local issue. Give Green makes it easy for concerned citizens to support not only local environmental candidates, but also future members of Congress from across the country who will fight for a clean, renewable energy future.”

Today, Give Green features 20 federal candidates who are environmental champions and who have earned LCV’s endorsement. As the election nears, other champions will be added to the site.

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