Democracy for New Mexico

Don Wiviott Guest Blog: Good Jobs, A Healthier Planet & Freedom from Foreign Oil

This is a guest blog by Don Wiviott, Democratic candidate for Congress in New Mexico's Third District:

It’s time for action.

Gas costs over $3 a gallon and it’s climbing. Home heating prices are up 11% this year and prices continue to climb. The Middle East provides 17% of America’s oil and that percentage is growing. Global warming continues unabated. And, our shaky economy means too many New Mexicans are worried about their jobs.

It’s time to harness our potential both as a country and in northern New Mexico.

When it comes to wind, solar and geo-thermal power, rural New Mexico is to renewable energy what Saudi Arabia is to oil. We have the best scientists at Los Alamos to harness and develop the latest energy technologies. We can create jobs now by encouraging spin-off companies from the Lab and producing local energy through wind, solar, and locally grown crops. And we have hard working people who are looking for stable, good paying jobs with good benefits.

It’s time to be bold.

It’s time to slash welfare for big oil corporations and invest that money in the clean technologies of the future. By reducing big oil’s windfall subsidies, we’ll free up funds that can be used for tax credits and subsidized loans that will allow more New Mexicans to buy clean, environmentally sustainable technology. And some of those funds will also be invested in sustainable energy research, innovative new energy companies and clean energy production right here in New Mexico.

Continue reading "Don Wiviott Guest Blog: Good Jobs, A Healthier Planet & Freedom from Foreign Oil"

(Updated) ACTION ALERT: Help Needed to Count Caucus Ballots

ATTENTION ALL
Volunteers needed to come to REDW
And help count provisional ballots.
6401 Jefferson St NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
(505) 998-3200

Please call me at 975-8780 if you can help today, tomorrow or Saturday.
Today until 7pm
Tomorrow 7am - 7pm Friday  7am - 3pm , 7 - 10 pm
Saturday 7am - 7pm  Saturday 7am - 3pm, 7-10 pm
(hat tip to Mr. Terrell for updated times)

Thanks! Robert Adams

Tonight: Bernaillo County Dem Party Ward/Precinct Elections

It's one thing to criticize the Democratic Party or its candidates. It's another to become the Democratic Party -- or at least to become active in its workings. If you want to have a say about the Party platform and the candidates who will be on the Party's ballot for the June 3rd primary election, now's the time to get yourself elected as a delegate (or alternate).

Any registered Democrat can run for one of the state pre-primary convention delegate slots, which are allocated to each precinct and ward based on voting patterns in the 2004 presidential election and the 2006 gubernatorial election. To run, you need to attend the appropriate ward/precinct election to be held TONIGHT, Thursday, February 7, 2008, at 6:30 PM, at a variety of locations around Bernalillo County. To have a better chance to be elected, bring along some of your neighbors to support you.

Continue reading "Tonight: Bernaillo County Dem Party Ward/Precinct Elections"

(Updated) NM Dem Prez Caucus: My View on the Blame Game

Update: I've been informed that Sen. Jeff Bingaman did indeed donate significant funds for the Caucus and also did outreach to get other constituencies to do the same when he was asked to help.
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This post is very long but I hope you'll hang in there with me. First, go read Heath Haussamen's update about the problems associated with New Mexico's February 5th Democratic Presidential Preference Caucus. Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Brian Colón explains what happened with the three Rio Arriba ballot boxes and asserts that the results on the top two candidates were called in to the Party in Albuquerque before the boxes left the caucus sites. Colón then takes responsibility for problems associated with handling the massive turnout on Caucus day:

Pointing out that turnout on Tuesday was much greater than the 105,000 who showed up in 2004, Colón said the story could have been about how the two Democratic presidential candidates inspired New Mexico Democrats to vote.

“What we can write about is how two candidates came and lit the state on fire in less than 10 days, and that’s amazing,” he said. “I regret that I allowed this other situation and the party’s organization to become the story instead of that.”

Colón has taken responsibility for the problems and apologized in other statements to local media as well. Why? Because he's an incredibly hard-working, sincerely caring, principled individual who doesn't have a habit of creating convenient scapegoats. Don't take my word for it -- ask other people like me who work within the Party structure. I'm a precinct chair and a member of the State Central Committee and I've seen the Party improve in leaps and bounds under his leadership. It's been like night and day.

New Energy in the Dem Party
In my view, Colón as Chair has been a huge breath of fresh air within a Party that was sluggish, lazy, anti-outreach, anti-transparency and downright nasty at times to rank and file Dems when John Wertheim was in charge before Colon. Wertheim was the kind of Party Chair who seemed to resent an influx of new faces into the Party as volunteers, ward and precinct chairs and elected members of the SCC. (Google his name within this blog to read about some of the epic battles activists had with Mr. Wertheim.) Colón has been just the opposite in my experience. Has he made mistakes dealing with an often raucous Party with a variety of factions and complex political alliances? Sure. But I think the Party has been operating incredibly well compared to how it functioned previously under Wertheim. It's a tough and time-consuming job for anyone.

How We Got Here
Certainly Colón and others were caught flat-footed when turnout surged on Caucus day. Although there was excitement about the presidential primary in other states where early contests were held, there wasn't much here until we got barnstormed in the week or so before our Caucus. Before that, with Richardson in the race and no interest at all in our Caucus from the other candidates, it was assumed there'd be no real contest here. After all, Bill Richardson insisted until the day he dropped out of the race that he was in it until Super Tuesday. Many of us believed him and figured the turnout would be rather light and made up mostly of those loyal to Richardson in the state.

By the time momentum picked up in the race, which really happened when Obama started being perceived as a serious challenger to Clinton, it was very late in the game for our caucus process.

The Role of Richardson and Other Dem Powerhouses
Even though Colón appears to me to be falling on his sword for Richardson, I want to point out that there are many within the Dem Party who should be held accountable in my view -- including Richardson himself. I'm especially appalled at what I consider to be a pompous, selfish, spin-loaded statement by the Governor about the situation, one obviously designed to protect his "national standing" and transfer the blame to someone else.

Everyone knows the early, Party-run and paid-for Caucus was Richardson's baby and part of his presidential run strategy. He "urged" the SCC to approve his plan to institute the Caucus and was heavily involved in the 2004 version. Contrary to what he says in his statement, that year's Caucus also had its serious problems, but the positive spin applied by his forces that year was strong enough to head off most negative media attention.

In addition, the '04 Caucus was clearly better funded by Party bigwigs and benefited from an influx of volunteers and other help steered to the process by the campaigns of Dem prez nominees like Howard Dean, as well as interest generated by a presidential primary debate held at UNM. Richardson's wide-reaching political network was also central to the process. That help wasn't there this time. That kind of money and attention from the top echelons of Dem power in the state wasn't there this time either.

Continue reading "(Updated) NM Dem Prez Caucus: My View on the Blame Game"

Gov. Richardson Releases Statement on NM Dem Prez Caucus

In response to various problems being reported about yesterday's New Mexico Democratic Presidential Preference Caucus, Gov. Bill Richardson released the following statement today:

SANTA FE, NM- New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today issued the following statement regarding the state's Democratic Presidential caucus.

"I am proud that so many New Mexico Democrats turned out to vote in yesterday's caucus.  The unprecedented interest and activism in the primary process shows that New Mexicans take seriously their important role in choosing the next President.  Make no mistake, New Mexico's 26 delegates matter greatly."

"That said, I am deeply disturbed by the reports that problems and delays at polling locations may have kept people from voting.  As this very close election shows every vote is important, and every vote must count.  Anything less is unacceptable.  In addition the delay in results was extremely disappointing. I have expressed my frustration to Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon and I told him that I stand ready to help the party in any way that I can."

"At the same time, I believe that New Mexico voters- Democrats and Republicans alike- must decide whether they want to preserve their early voice in the process in the future, and what form it should take.  Whatever the decision, we must pledge to voters that future caucuses and primaries are professionally run, inclusive, and provide accurate, timely results."

Continue reading "Gov. Richardson Releases Statement on NM Dem Prez Caucus"

(Updated) NM Dem Caucus: This Reeks

Update 2: Please also read my later post on this issue. Turns out the the results on the top two candidates were called in from Rio Arriba County to the Party in Albuquerque before the boxes left the caucus sites, with watchers from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns standing right there. End of story.

Update 1: Kate Nash reports that as of about 5:00 PM, counting of about 16,000 provisional ballots hadn't yet begun because representatives from all sides are negotiating the ground rules. The process is ongoing at the REDW firm in Albuquerque. Also, Gov. Richardson released a statement about the Caucus and the problems surrounding it.
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Some serious attention is being given today to the whys and hows related to Rio Arriba County Dems holding three Caucus ballot boxes overnight at their homes. The officials reportedly failed to count the votes and phone the results into the State Dem Party after voting ended last night, as required. The votes held back may equal half of the votes cast in the county.

More than a day after New Mexico Caucus voting began, a believable, factual account of what happened has still not been released or confirmed. Heath Haussamen is following up on the story today. Go read it and weep. Excerpt:

The New Mexico Democratic Party caucus may be tainted by three ballot boxes that spent the night in the home of the Rio Arriba County party chair or the homes of other local election officials instead of being reported to the state party.

Those ballots still haven’t been counted, but they have been retrieved by the state party.

Several sources told me the ballot boxes spent the night at the home of Rio Arriba County Party Chair Theresa Martinez, whose state-lawmaker husband, Sen. Richard Martinez, endorsed Hillary Clinton. But Richard Martinez told Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Kate Nash that the boxes actually spent the night in the homes of three polling-place managers. He gave Nash no explanation for why the results from those ballots weren’t reported to the state party last night and why they were instead kept overnight in officials’ homes.

... The ballot boxes were retrieved from Theresa Martinez by the state party this morning.

I agree with Heath's assessment that "The state party needs to quickly resolve this and tell the public how it’s going to allay fears that the election process is tainted beyond repair." Of course there could be innocent explanations for this stuff, but it gets harder to believe as more time passes.

Continue reading "(Updated) NM Dem Caucus: This Reeks"

Just So We Don't Forget ...

Big Mo Continues for Obama Beyond Super Tuesday

Obama fans in Barrow, Alaska, northernmost point in U.S.

Obama won 13 states out of 22 that held Dem contests on Super Tuesday, and had healthy margins in other states that will earn him delegates. His victories were in Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota , Missouri, North Dakota, Utah. He may still pull out a win in New Mexico, as well. Click for CNN New Mexico results. Click for CNN Super Tuesday results (all states).

Clinton's performance was flat in that she won no states that were unexpected, and she lost in a few -- like Missouri and Connecticut -- where she had maintained huge leads only weeks before the primaries. She prevailed in eight states and one territory: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee and American Samoa.

Up until a few weeks ago, Hillary was expected to dominate the Super Tuesday states to such an extent that she would drive Obama from the race. His big mo after South Carolina has clearly changed the trajectory of the quest for the Dem nomination.

The final numbers in the February 5th contest for delegates are not yet available. Delegate allocation is a tricky business. According to a late-nite prediction on MSNBC, however, Obama may have a total of 841 delegates versus Clinton's 837 (plus or minus 10 delegates) once the numbers are crunched from Super Tuesday. It may or may not be accurate.

Continue reading "Big Mo Continues for Obama Beyond Super Tuesday"

(Updated) Results: 2008 Super Tuesday

Updated NM results from KOAT as of Wednesday morning (does not include almost 17,000 provisional ballots, which may or may not be valid, that will start being counted at Noon). Dem State Party Chair Brian Colon told the AP that results from four precincts were still being delayed this morning -- three from Rio Arriba County and one from Sandoval County. DPNM Results page.

2008 New Mexico Democratic Caucus Candidate Votes Percent Winner Hillary Clinton 65,845 48% < Barack Obama 65,728 48% < Bill Richardson 1,174 1% < John Edwards 2,013 1% < Joe Biden 112 0% < Chris Dodd 68 0% < Dennis Kucinich 496 0% < Uncommitted 405 0% < Precincts Reporting - 181 out of 184 - 98%

Updated NM results from KOAT as of a few minutes before 1:00 AM:

2008 New Mexico Democratic Caucus Candidate Votes Percent Winner Hillary Clinton 62,802 48% < Barack Obama 63,030 49% < Bill Richardson 1,124 1% < John Edwards 1,966 2% < Joe Biden 102 0% < Chris Dodd 67 0% < Dennis Kucinich 482 0% < Uncommitted 344 0% < Precincts Reporting - 175 out of 184 - 95% /td>

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Updated as of Midnight Mountain Time:
Still waiting on New Mexico results. Most vote totals in from small or sparsely populated counties. Santa Fe is the only more populated county to report so far. Keep checking results at the NM Dem Party website. From the looks of things we'll probably have a pretty even delegate split between Obama and Clinton here. Here's the CNN exit polling on New Mexico, which shows a narrow Obama win.

Site Problems
Mary Ellen was a Caucus site manager and didn't get home until about 10 PM, tired to the bone and starving. No food at the site and no time to stop and send out for any or to consume it if any was at hand. No one could take any breaks as the voters just kept on coming from Noon to 7. She reports the volunteers she met from other sites were in the same shape after being completely overwhelmed all day.

It is a crazy thing for a party to try and run 184 voting sites across the state, plus all the rest that goes with a statewide election, with a volunteer staff that's maybe half of what it should be and only a few paid staffers. I mean half of what it should be with a normal turnout, not this huge one. There weren't enough tables, ballots, or just about anything else. This was awful for voters in many areas and awful for the volunteers trying to perform miracles with the numbers and resources they had.

Caucus volunteers were very hard to attract in places like Bernalillo County. People are busy. People aren't interested. People are content to leave the work to others and complain. The unpaid county and state officers worked like dogs, as did the paid state party staff. You can imagine which party members weren't around to help in any way. They all hold offices or are candidates or are "name" politicos or big Dem donors. No sign of them anywhere work was being done, or where a few pizzas or donuts might be welcome. Very troubling, to say the least. I wonder what the former presidential candidate and all his pals did all day and into the night. After all, a Caucus was originally his idea.

Right now:

CLINTON
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
Oklahoma
Tennessee

OBAMA
Alabama 
Alaska
Connecticut 
Colorado
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Minnesota 
Missouri
North Dakota
Utah

Basically, Clinton won states close to Arkansas and close to New York where the Clinton organization goes back years. California is a similar story, with the Clintons having spent many years nurturing their political network. Huge night for Obama, meeting or exceeding expectations while Clinton did the opposite. She didn't win enough states or by big enough margins where she did win to dominate, as had been expected up until the last few days. The Obama campaign had said if they could stay within 100 delegates of Hillary, it would be a big victory. Obama did much better than that.

MSNBC's political analyst last had projected delegate totals with Obama up by 4 delegates with an interpretation generous to the Clinton campaign and a warning it could change by 10 delegates either way. Truly an amazing achievement, most of which was accomplished during about a two-week period of surging numbers for Obama. Now the energies of the race move up an octave and the battle continues, delegate by delegate.

CNN will have results for all states here or you can visit the New Mexico page. Here's where the NM Dem Party's results will show up eventually. KNME will air a local results show from 7:00-8:00 PM tonight, along with a live stream online. Crooks and Liars has an easy to read table of nationwide results. I'm going to leave you to clicking for results on your own for now. I'm going to have dinner and relax in front of the TV. Wel, relax is probably the wrong word. Nervously stare at the tube is more like it. Hey, lots of others are live blogging this thing -- why repeat the results here! I'll check in later after more is revealed. It could be a long and bumpy night.

First Dem Projected Winner: Obama, Georgia (based on exit polling)

Continuing reports that Caucus turnout is strong around the state. In Albuquerque we're hearing that sites are running out of provisional ballots, and they're having difficulties obtaining more. Provisional ballots won't be counted until Wednesday because data has to be checked to ensure the votes are valid. The waits are in the general range of 30 minutes to an hour, with lines snaking through the sites and out the doors in some places. Caucus sites are open from Noon to 7:00 PM tonight. If you're in line by closing time, you'll be allowed to vote. If you need info on where to vote, check out our left-hand sidebar for links.

Problems are being reported in many voting sites nationwide, with unprecedented turnouts in many areas.

NM Senate Finance Retaliates Against Air, Land, Water Protections

This is alarmingly childish and damaging: As reported in today's Albuquerque Journal: "The budget (HB 2) by the Senate Finance Committee ... would cut money and legal staff for two state agencies that have drawn criticism from some legislators for proposed tougher regulations on the oil and gas industry and vehicle emission standards."

Governor Richardson's blog also weighs in on the cuts: "The Senate Finance Committee tucked cuts into its version of the state budget that would essentially punish state agencies that have the audacity to hold oil and gas companies accountable for protecting New Mexico’s environment. The budget cuts look like an effort to retaliate against tough but fair rules and regulations implemented by the Richardson Administration to protect the environment."

Conservation Voters of New Mexico released the following statement today on the clearly retaliatory actions by Senate Finance, which is chaired by Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat:

SANTA FE – Conservation Voters New Mexico and many of its ally environmental organizations are calling for the reinstatement of $500,000 in cuts against important positions in the Environment Department and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) by the State Senate Finance Committee. The cuts remove four staff attorneys from the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and two staff attorneys from the Environment Department. Those staff positions serve as important resources to agencies such as the Environmental Improvement Board and the Oil Conservation Division, who under the authority of state statue, have been working to strengthen protections against environmental and health threats such as vehicle emission air pollution and ground water contamination throughout New Mexico.

Continue reading "NM Senate Finance Retaliates Against Air, Land, Water Protections"