Taos HQ

I took my second trip up to Taos in a week. They opened their new Democratic Headquarters for the county tonight. I have to say it is the best looking county HQ I have seen.

This is a great picture of Mahatma Ghandi, former Questa Mayor and State Representative candidate Charlie Martinez, Taos County Democratic Chair Billy Knight, Smokey Martinez and John Kennedy. Billy Knight and the Democrats in Taos have worked hard to open this beautiful office.


This basket full of produce reminds me of all we have to be thankful for in New Mexico.
Our lands have sustained us for centuries. Now, we had better start sustaining them by protecting watersheds, forests, rivers, landscapes and croplands.

Calling all Journalists and/or Regulators

A few weeks ago Land Commissioner Pat Lyons announced a new bio mass powerplant to be built in Torrance County. This power plant will burn trees as an energy source. I understand but have not confirmed that the trees, mostly pinon and juniper, will come from thousands of acres of state land in the east mountain areas and south to Mountainair.

Given the fiasco of the solar power plant in Deming should some journalist check this one out? Denuding forests for power generation? Maybe some of this can be done in a safe and sane manner, but just to be sure, should anyone ask to see an environmental impact statement on a project of this size? Who are the 'business partners' of the land office and are they just a tad more reputable than the Deming bunko artists?

Won't some journalists ask that question please? Will some other state agency look into this? Someone? Somewhere?

61

I turned 61 years old today. Strangely enough, it was also my identical twin brother Tom's birthday. He celebrated by flying home from Rome, Italy after a Mediterranean cruise with his wife Jan. I celebrated with a birthday party/fundraiser at the Grove Cafe at 600 East Central. (Note to all candidates, you want to do a fundraiser there...it is beautiful and part of east downtown's continuing resurgence.) We actually brought in a good amount of money and thanks to Luisa Casso, Brian Morris, Connie Beimer and De Anza Valencia for their sponsorship of the event.

I campaigned all morning in Valencia County. I will predict that both Los Lunas and Belen will see a resurgence in the core areas because of the impending service from the Rail Runner. I met with the new Valencia County Manager Francisco Apodaca and he said they are getting inquires from major developers around the country who feel the rail line will make investment much easier in the county. And Republican Governor candidate John Dendahl and other detractors still think it is unwise to spend money on this much needed transportation system. They have totally lost their vision.

Being Honest

Sometimes I get brutally honest about things and that hurts me. This might be one of those times. I am having a little trouble with this on again off again candidacy of Jeff Armijo. After resigining on August 29th he announced today he didn't mean it and that he is back in the race for State Auditor. Without saying anything about the events that brought him to this point, I have to say this indecisiveness hurts him.

This will end up in a battle at the State Central Committee meeting on Saturday where a new candidate was to have been named. The Democratic party has said his resignation was valid and that he has to offer himself to the Committee if he wants to be reinstated. Depending on what happens there, unless Jeff throws in the towel again, there will be a lawsuit right up against the time for commencement of early and absentee voting.

Life is so interesting sometimes.

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
Buddha

Polls Hit

So, how do I feel about being ahead by 5% over my incumbent republican opponent Pat Lyons. Well, actually pretty good. The Albuquerque Journal Poll hit over the weekend and it looks like a sweep for the Democrats at this point. The one close race, mine, is due to me running against an incumbent. I am the only statewide candidate to face an incumbent. He has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry. The Yates petroleum company, who wants to drill in Otero Mesa, is his biggest contributor with most of the major oil companies close behind. This will become a major issue in the campaign from here on out. Everytime you see a negative commercial about me just remember it is being funded by your profit swollen oil and gas industry.

That means that we still need to raise more money though. You can go to www.jimbaca.com
to make a contribution.

The rest of the ticket is in good shape and I believe the Governor will go over 60%, which is good for all of the other constitutional offices up for election.

Patsy

We all went to see Bill Maher last night at the Kiva auditorium. Maher kept 2000 people in hysterics for an hour and forty five minutes as he roasted American Sacred Cows. Mainly, he hit the bush administration and the fundamentalist right.

Rodger and Connie Beimer joined us and we sat right in front of the Governor's communication staff. We saw just about everyone we know there including Patsy Madrid and her husband Mike Messina. Patsy looked exhausted, but I know why. She was thinking about Brian Sanderoff's Poll that would appear in this morning's Albuquerque Journal. I asked her if she had heard anything and she said she didn't have a clue. Well, when she woke up this morning I bet she felt invigorated. She is in great shape against incumbent Heather Wilson's with a just a 3% difference. That bodes badly for Wilson. I think Patsy will help take the U.S. House of Representatives into the Democratic column.

The Associated Press picked up on the Pat Lyons and Land Office fiasco this morning in newspapers around the state. Read it here. Incredibly, Lyons said he never met with the hucksters the Land Office hooked up with to build what Lyons touted as the "biggest solar plant in the world." Can you imagine anyone committing to a $1.5 Billion deal and not meeting with the principals of that company?

The really damaging thing here is that no reputable solar developer will look with any respect upon the State Land Office as a viable partner.

Solar Sucker Punch

Here is the link to the Albuquerque Journal story on the Solar Sucker Punch given to Commissioner Pat Lyons and the State Land Office.

Just think of the damage that might have been done to the state if this deal had progressed past today's story. (Look at Lyons news release about this deal here.) These con men Lyons hooked up with were going to use the good faith and credit of the Land Office to scam innocent investors in this solar plant. It will take a long time to get the Lyon's team reputation back in order after this massive failure of due diligence. Are there any MBA's working at the land office?

If the Lyons and his team had such a lack of business sense on this $1.5 Billion deal, what have they done about the other 350 business leases they have signed since taking office? Maybe the State Auditor should take a look to see if there are any more of these kinds of deals that have been made. Lyons is always saying the reason he has received so much money for his campaign from those who have leases with the land office is because he is business friendly. Well, friendly doesn't begin to describe this kind of performance.

There is One Born Every Minute

The front page article on Pat Lyons in the Albuquerque Journal this morning surely proves there is 'one born every minute.' Lyons touted his big solar development near Deming as the biggest project ever. The problem is that he partnered with scam artists and con men. More about this later. For some reason, the Journal has not put up the story on their web site. I am off to Socorro for the County Fair Parade.

First Car Weirdness

A few weeks ago I blogged about our daughter Noelle getting her first new car. Now our son Justin's girl has her first car. Karly and my son have been an 'item' for about four or five years. They met when Justin was doing undergraduate study at Cornell University and Karly was attending Ithaca College.

Now Karly is in her second year of a Social Work Master's Program at Syracuse University in Syracuse and Justin has started his MBA studies back at Cornell in Ithaca. So, one car was not enough since they are 60 miles apart.

This picture of Karly sitting in her first car reminds me of my joy at sitting in my first car which was a 1958 Volkswagen Beetle which I shared with my sister Carlota and brother Tom. Since my sister had several hunderd boyfriends after her in high school she never went with out a ride when she wanted one, so my brother and I just alternated days on who had 'command' of the VW. It worked pretty well. I remember gas in 1962 at the Hedges service station was 14.9 cents a gallon during gas price wars. We could fill up the VW for a buck fifty!

Climate Change and Beer

My opponent, despite his massive support by the oil and gas industry, must have decided that climate change and global warming may be happening and he is doing his small part to keep things cold. In order to conserve coldness he has been giving out beer can insulators to everyone he sees on the campaign trail. Yes, that is the Land Office Seal on the beer 'coozie' along with the state motto.

"Crescit Eundo" means "GROW AS IT GOES". Now, I guess it means "STAYS MORE COLD AS IT GOES."

Every little bit helps I guess.....Oh, wait, if he conserves cold does it get warmer? And if you refrigerate the beer does the energy expenditure make it warmer? All scientists please comment.....

Pucker Factor

The pucker factor is in effect for the next five or six days for all statewide and congressional candidates in New Mexico. The pucker factor is something that has been described to me by combat fighter pilots. It occurs when their warning systems start beeping because they are being painted by enemy fire control radar.

The pucker factor for politicians in New Mexico is caused by the Albuquerque Journal Poll. The word is out that they will start publishing results of their first poll by Brian Sanderoff's Research and Polling Inc. I have had several people tell me they were called in the poll so you can be pretty well assured that the results will start being handed out on Sunday. The reason the pucker factor is in effect here is that Sanderoff's polls are really very accurate.

I pucker at the thought. Look here for more definitions of the Pucker Factor.

Points North

I have been up in Northern New Mexico the last couple of days. I am attending the Municipal League annual conference in Taos and doing a round of media interviews and meetings in Taos and Rio Arriba Counties.

The northern part of the state looks beautiful after the recent downpours. Last June Taos looked so dry that one thought it might just blow away. Now everything is green and large fields of sunflowers have burst forth. You all need to come up this way and take a look. I will be back into Albuquerque late tonight and then prepare for a hard Labor Day weekend of campaigning all over the state.

Distraction-Solution

I think Jeff Armijo has done the right thing by dropping out of his race for State Auditor. The way politics works these days the 'Rovian" spin masters would have painted every Democrat running for office as being part of the alleged crime committed by Armijo. That won't happen now much to the credit of the Governor. Armijo was a hard worker and it was probably against his nature to drop out, but these charges could ruin him if he doesn't devote time to defending himself.

We are now entering the home stretch on this midterm campaign. Labor day activities will start a very intense two months for all of the candidates. I am feeling good about the race. My polls show me widening the lead against my opponent but he has amassed a small fortune from the oil and gas industry and others who do business with the land office. I am certain their donations will fund a nasty and negative campaign to keep their 'own' land commissioner in office. It should be an interesting fall season.

Summer Cold

God, I hate summer colds. I started feeling the tingle in Salt Lake City on Thursday and it erupted forth Friday after arriving back in Albuquerque. At first I thought it was an allergy but those medications you take for hay fever had zero effect.

My head feels like it will explode. I am coughing and ......well you know how it is. A bunch of the other folks I was with last week in Montana are also sick so we figure one of our board members who travelled in from Indonesia brought the little virus with him.

Trying to work while on antihistamines is dumb. You hear what people are saying but nothing really registers. I do however remember that I have a lot of appointments over the week. I just hope I can retain some of the discussions.

I am sure glad we did a run to Costco a couple of weeks ago. We have a lot of Kleenex available.

Pretty Pictures-Centennial Valley, Montana

Natural Springs Feed this Stream

A Hike was Organized

Brightly Colored Boulders

Red Lichens

Old Wagon Wheel

Great Places

I am back in the Land of Enchantment. I was at a meeting of the Wyss Foundation in Centennial Valley in Montana and then the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in Salt Lake City. The Wyss Foundation funds regional environmental groups that protect great western landscapes. The picture above is from the ranch house we were staying at in the sparsely populated valley outside of Yellowstone. We will attempt to save it from the developers with the help of others, many of them long time ranchers. It is 60 miles long and 20 miles wide and looks as it did 100 years ago. It is breathtaking.


This is the Wyss Board and Staff. Everyone of them deserves mention. Top Row left to right are David Bonderman, John Leshy, Matt Hollenbach, Ed Norton, Marcey Olajos, Bob Bland, Molly Mcusic, Me, and on the bottom row are Bert Fingerhut, Francesca Di Silva, Amy Wyss, Anya Schoolman, Hansjoerg Wyss, Chris Killingsworth and Christina McAlpin. This group works to send grants totaling in the millions every year to protect our great western landscapes and watersheds. I am proud to be a part of this group.

Same News-Different City

I have a whole morning to myself before my Wilderness Alliance meetings start in Salt Lake City. I spent a leisurely breakfast reading the local newspapers. It is surreal how much the local news in Salt Lake City, or any other western city, really center on the same things. Water, sprawl, transportation, open space and growth stories are always one of the front page stories. I have done a lot of traveling to western cities over the last few years and this is always true.

These growth issues gain media attention, I believe, because people are really worried about there quality of life. Sadly, many don't realize that these issues are usually connected to the health of their watersheds and the biodiverstiy inside those watersheds. The developers, drillers and special interests usually trump smart growth policies. But, not always, as we can see in places like Ruidoso and Las Cruces where local people are trying to protect important places.

I often point back to the big battle in the 1970s when the City Commission on a close vote decided to keep the developers off the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque. Those were visionary elected officials. Today, we have a protected landscape on the eastern edge of Albuquerque that presents no mansions and slashed roads zig zagging halfway up the mountain.

Back in Civilization

Just a quick note from Salt Lake City. We arrived back from the Centennial Valley in Montana after two glorious days in the most unpopulated place I have been to in a long time. This valley is sixty miles long and is not far from Yellowstone. It is populated by wildlife and wetlands and just a few people. I will post a few pictures when I return to Albuquerque. I have two more days of meetings here and will be back in NM Friday.

It was weird not having cell phone or blackberry coverage for two days. One thing I noticed is that the amount of email drops when you aren't able to generate your own outgoing stuff. The stress stops too. Hmmmm.

On the Road

I will be on the road until Friday afternoon. I will blog if I can. I am in the Centennial Valley of Montana at a Wyss Foundation meeting. It will be nice to be away for just a few days before the last push to return the land office to Democratic leadership.

Interesting Reading

The Santa Fe New Mexican and an interesting story this morning that speaks for it self. Read it here.

There is one gross mistatement by Mr. Mechenbier in the story. He says when I was Director of the Bureau of Land Managment that I raised grazing fees. That never happened. I was attempting to enact rangeland reform measures aimed at stopping overgrazing and protecting watersheds and riparian areas. When Secretary Babbitt pulled the rug out from under us us on this effort I resigned as BLM Director.

I will say the Mr. Mechenbier's company, Sundance Construction, did a great job on the heating and cooling system on our house. We had a hotwater baseboard system installed when we built the house. We have had no problems with it.

This story only reinforces the need to make the Land Commissioners campaigns publicly financed. My opponent has now raised close to $700,000 from those who do business with the Land Office.

Common sense often makes good law.
William O. Douglas