St. Pete

Okay, we  have to take the word Saint off of Pete Domenici's name now that he has admitted to having a child out of wedlock when he was a U.S. Senator.  He  had eight other kids with his wife Nancy.  He was a good Catholic for sure.

Also, maybe we could rename all the buildings named for Domenici.  They can be known as Domenici and Son.

And we might ponder why there are so many unanswered questions in the Journal Story this morning.  It is evident that Domenici went to them to get a story on his terms.  Can you imagine hard questions being not asked of someone like Bill Richardson in the same predicament.

But at least the Journal did the story.

Cop Out

Mayor Berry is having difficulty with the term 'cop out.'  He should practice it in the manner that would have him throw some cops out of the force.  Like the Chief and a few Deputy Chiefs.  Things just keep getting worse at APD after an officer kills an innocent girl with his patrol car after hanging out in a bar with other cops for a few hours.

No, the Mayor's definition of 'cop out' is to not enforce the new minimum wage ordinance.  He says he can't really do it because his City Attorney doesn't think he should.  Berry says though that he wishes folks would just pay the minimum wage.  He thinks minimum wage employees should just hire lawyers to get the boss to follow the voter mandated new wage ordinance.

Does this mean that if a burglar comes to my house I can't rely on government to prosecute?  Or will the city attorney not go after zoning law violators?  This attitude on the minimum wage is dangerous because it opens the door to selective enforcement of laws.

The Mayor also says that although he hires the City Attorney, he cant really tell him what to do.  As a former Mayor, I can tell you that is the biggest load of b.s. I have heard in at least a few days.

Current Reads and TV, Prophesy?

I am into this new SCIFI show called Continuum.  It is about the future being run by corporations instead of governments.  It paints an ugly picture of where we are and where we are headed by using time travel.  It is a Canadian series and producers aren't afraid to tell it like it is.

The last couple of books I have read both have similar themes about corporate power and class divide.  They are titled 'Kill Decision' by Daniel Suarez and 'Existence' by David Brin.

The other day we were talking about who is reading newspapers and some friends say that their kids won't go near them because they think it is all corporate inspired coverage that in the end tries to sell something that really isn't good for anyone.  So, they all read blogs and internet news services.

Case in point, the Albuquerque Journal's continued tirade, at the behest of the Chamber of Commerce, against a minimum wage.  Also, their editorial stand against run off elections which they must feel helps  solidify corporate power.  Although, the front page columns by Wynn Quigley and Leslie Lithicum still are helping them sell newspapers to me.

I wonder if this deeply submerged frustration with income disparity and lack of social justice will erupt into full scale political action soon.  After watching the feeble and leaderless 'Occupy' movement one can only wonder.  But if a real leader and visionary were to come along, that would be extremely valuable and a game changer.

How Not to Win

Here is a list of ways to not win a Mayor's election in Albuquerque.

1. As Pete Dinelli will find out using an issue that absolutely no one cares about to launch your campaign is not a good idea.  That would be the amount of money city law suits cost.  It would be better to talk about jobs.

2. Relying on pubic financing to win a race after the right wing leaning U.S. Supreme Court says that corporations are really people.  The $362,000 you might get for your campaign isn't worth spit once Mayor Berry's PACs start their 'independent campaigns.'  Thanks to the Governor's right wing hit squads.

3. Using all your time and organizational effort at getting $5 from 3500 voters, along with their signatures on a petition, will pretty much take you out of talking about issues for a while.  And most who go this public financing route will fail to get the required numbers.

4. As a candidate, don't think the Albuquerque Journal will give you fair political coverage when compared with any candidate that is further right wing than you are.  And forget the TV station's news departments who will concentrate on whose yard signs are being torn down by one candidate or another.

5. Thinking anything matters except for job creation in our city.  Except if you are the Mayor who, along with his Governor, has failed miserably at economic development.  Since he gets a break from the media on this most important issue, the rest of the candidates will sputter about wondering if it is important.

6. Not talking about the importance of Federal jobs to New Mexico and Albuquerque.  That is the backbone of our economy.  Has the Governor or Mayor gone to DC even once to lobby for protecting these historically important and well paying jobs?  Nope.  Maybe a Mayoral candidate could do so.  Just go see our Senators and Congressional members and say you are ready to help.

The only hope is that voters will vote to have a runoff election so that everyone can concentrate on that second election.  Then the visions of the candidates will be much more discussed.  At least let's hope so.

When it comes to Mayor Berry, the incumbent, I have been trying to put my finger on exactly what he has accomplished in his four years.  Although I think he is a decent guy I think he has failed to put into action any vision for our City.  In the four years I was Mayor I started reinvesting in downtown, passed a transportation tax to fix the city streets and bus system, found a new Triple A baseball team.  Passed an election to build a new profit making stadium for the city, and oversaw a very active economic development team under the leadership of Eric Pfeiffer.  Can one look at Mayor Berry's term as see much of that kind of on the ground action?

Yeah, I am blowing my own horn here, but those things are important to a city.

All Manner of Crazy

The Albuquerque Journal today editorialized against Mayoral runoff elections saying they cost to much.  Why don't they just say the don't want it because their editor knows they only way to elect right wing crazy nut jobs is to not have run off elections.  This newspaper editorial page is turning into a really bizarre opinion purveyor.

Now, I will certainly upset my left of center friends, but if the legislature passes a constitutional amendment to take more money out of the permanent fund for education, then what it is really doing is foisting a giant tax cut for the rich.  Because, if the public voted for the amendment then the conservatives in the legislature will just lower taxes by the same amount of new money provided by the permanent fund raid.  Certainly, I think this funding for education would be good.  But this is one of the biggest bait and switch cons ever.

Has Ray Powell, our mostly invisible but decent Land Commissioner, succumbed to the idea that stealing federal public lands is a good idea?  He seems to think the Feds should turn over 1,000,000 acres of land to the land office.  The land office is a great department that does little in the way of land management.  It currently has no more that 15 or so land managers out on the ground to watch over 8 million acres of surface land and 13 million acres of mineral rights.  How could they manage more when they don't have the resources to manage what they already have?  Of course the oil and gas industry would love to see more land less protected.

And finally, maybe the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney should look into the dealings between the state and Yates Petroleum.  Is there undue influence being exerted on the Martinez Administration's Energy department to illegally lessen oversight on drilling?  I have to say it looks that way after reading a surprisingly good story on this issue in the Journal this morning.  Sometimes, I think that the newspaper is schizophrenic.  Kind of like the Wall Street Journal where there is all manner of craziness on their editorial page, but the news side is okay.

Hubris

The NM oil and gas industry is actually encouraging the Martinez administration to deny state capital improvement funds for any county that wants to protect themselves from unsafe drilling practices.  Thirty oil and gas mascot legislators have penned a letter to the Governor, who in a rare exhibition of governance, had her spokesman say it probably wasn't a good idea.  But just the fact that fully 25% of state legislators could even suggest this is an indication of the true wickedness and control the oil boys have in this Land of Enchantment.  To them it is a Land of Profit at any cost.

One can only wonder if the Tea Party minions see the meteor over Russia as a giant scientific hoax.  If  you follow their climate change denial then this would fit right in with their paranoia.  Could they think this was a planned event to get more funding for NASA to practice Science?  Ha Ha!  I think.

XGR

When I was in the news business many years ago when ever we put an assignment up on the assignment board in the TV newsroom about coverage of an item at the legislature we would abbreviate it as XGR.  That way it would fit on the low tech marker board.

I remember the days when all of the stations had full time cameramen and reporters assigned to each session. There were guys like Rodger Beimer who knew how politics in the roundhouse worked and who reported on complex issues rather than the 'he said/she said' kind of stuff they do now.  One gets the feeling now that the reporters don't know what the difference between the House and Senate is, nor how a bill gets passed.  For the most part the TV coverage is abysmal.  Have you noticed how the news departments don't even interview folks on video anymore, but merely call them on the phone and then put up inaudible audio for an interview?

One bill in the legislature that should get killed is a law that would get the legislature involved in picking Regents for the state's institutions of higher learning.  The legislature will always try and take power from the Executive but this is a bad idea and will cause the same kind of paralysis we see in Washington.  Senate confirmation is enough.  What is next?  Part time legislators selecting janitors for state buildings?

UPDATE:  Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver yesterday called me and got information to remove our son and daughter from the voting rolls here.  They have been kept on the rolls for years despite our efforts while registered in their homes in New York and Colorado.  But Maggie took it on personally and got it done.  Thanks!  I hope she runs for Secretary of State in Santa Fe.

Albuquerque Mail In Election

We have received our mail in ballots to vote on whether Albuquerque should have run off elections.  We will vote yes.  When I was elected Mayor in 1997 it was the first time run off elections were not used because of a court case.  I received just 1/3 of the vote and it was a hindrance during my entire term because I could never really claim to have won a majority.

The downside to all of this is that it gives one more election for corporate right wing committees to attack democracy with huge amounts of money.   Governor Martinez's hack, Jay McClesky, will work around any law to get his folks elected, even if they don't know about it.  He will be working for the Mayor this year.

We got five ballots in the mail yesterday.  Bobbi and I got one as we should have.  Our son and daughter got one each as well as another person who stayed with us back during the Kerry presidential run.  We have notified the Secretary of State, the County Clerk, and City Clerk on numerous occasions that these people were no longer registered to vote in New Mexico.  My kids wrote letters too.  But they are still on the voter rolls.  How many more times do I need to do this?  Are the voter files unfixable?  I am beginning to think so.

Ominous

The signs are all there.  And anyone who plans on running for Mayor or City Council should beware of their upcoming ordeal.  The next Albuquerque Mayor's race will not be funded legally by public financing or candidate fund raising within legal limits as envisioned by the city charter.  No, it will be overwhelmed by right wing political committees spawned by corporate America and right wing nut cases.  Among them will be Governor Martinez's rabid political advisors.  All of this enabled by the US Supreme Court's decision to let corporations be recognized as persons.

These are the same folks who flexed their muscles in the recent Albuquerque School Board race.  They were not that effective, but they showed a real affinity for not obeying election laws and just practicing a blitzkrieg of political corruption.

I don't know if Mayor Berry will let his City Attorney turn a blind eye towards this practice as we approach election day, but if he doesn't take a proactive stance against this kind of democracy killing campaign he will be a disappointment.  But then, I think he will most likely be the benefactor of such practices.

It is interesting right now to see that Karl Rove has his hands full with the Tea Party.  They aren't playing ball with him.  Even though his tactics, and those of Fox News, has created this modern day schizophrenic and psychopathic political organization.  They even have an army.  The NRA.

APD Response

Yesterday as I drove down Rio Grande Blvd. near Indian School Road I noticed a guy walking along the street stealing mail from every mail box.  It was about 10am in the morning.  I called the non emergency Police Department number to get a police officer after him.  I was told that there were no officers available.  I gave a full description of the guy, a tall african american, 180 lbs., white sweat shirt, blue jeans.  A blue backpack into which he was stuffing the mail.  And a white jacket draped over his shoulder.

An hour later the police called back and wanted to know if I needed to see an officer.  I said no because the guy was long gone along with everyones mail.  I know this was not a violent crime but the fact is that there should have been an officer available.

My brother Tom caught another guy stealing mail out of mailboxes near his home a few weeks ago.  The police told him they couldn't do much about it, even though he had video of the thefts.

Just another factoid to consider during the next city election.

Misc.

It is official.  The Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce is in league with the extreme right wing apparatus of the Republican party, the Rio Grande Foundation.  Today they took out a full page ad saying that the new minimum wage will ruin us all.  Maybe, if the Chamber started to work a little on job creation and recruitment of new business then they would not have time for this nonsense.  And of course the Albuquerque Journal chose to do a story on how much the minimum wage would cost UNM's student job program.  Gee, maybe the could follow it up with a story on how it might help our working students to stay in school.

The Pope is resigning.  Let's all hope we get a new leader of the church that lives wholly in modern times.  I had to chuckle watching Downton Abbey last night because the servant class and its leadership showed more compassion for a gay guy than the catholic church does today.  Of course one is just a TV show and the other is based on faith that illiterate fisherman had figured out the secrets of the universe some 2000 years ago.  But seriously, this is an opportunity for the church to start reinventing itself.

Our first interesting and well written political story has been posted on NewMexicopoliticallore.blogspot.com.  Please make your contribution to it soon.

A New Blog for You Politicos

All of us who are interested in politics have a favorite story about a politician or an event.  It could be historical or recent.  It might be humorous or very traumatic.  But most of these things are very entertaining and educational.

I propose in a new blog to publish from you, the reader, some of  your favorite political stories.  I only ask that you mail them to me at NMPoliticalLore@gmail.com.  I will not edit them nor change them, but this process will allow for some discretion in keeping away some crazy stuff.  You may have a byline or not but the comments page will be open for other views.

This could be fun.  To see the new blog just go to http://newmexicopoliticallore.blogspot.com

We are open for business.

Misc.

I just finished reading Daniel Suarez's new novel "Kill Decision".  It is about the future of autonomous weapon drones.  It is a timely read right now as the morality of  using drone attacks against enemies is being debated.  The writer is an expert in IT and former contractor for the intelligence infrastructure of the U.S. Government.  His knowledge of the technology and the direction it is headed paints a very frightening future.  I suggest  you pick it up to see what a game changer this new technology will be.  The problem is that anyone can build one with off the shelf technology and they can blow you up.  This is not just going to be a U.S. weapon.

I ranted yesterday about the efforts of the extractive industries to use P.R. and lobbyists to get New Mexicans to believe it is possible to take over federal public lands.  Think of the oil companies taking over Chaco Canyon.

At times like these it's worth remembering a few key things:

* Article IV, Section 3 of our Constitution gives Congress the exclusive, "Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States;..."

* Exercising its prerogative under this provision of the Constitution, Congress admitted all of the western states to the Union on condition that they disclaim "... all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries" of each state.  In other words, the western states are creatures of Congress, which under our Constitution and the enabling acts of each state is responsible for the administration of the federal public lands therein.

* In further exercise of its responsibilities under Article IV, Section III of the Constitution, Congress in 1976 passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which among (many) other things states that, "... it is the policy of the United States that the public lands be retained in federal ownership,..." (43 U.S.C. 1701(a)((1))

In other words, theories propounded by various "states' rights" proponents that somehow the federal lands within the various western state boundaries by right belong to the states are completely contrary to our Constitution, the state enabling acts (and often state constitutions) themselves, and the most recent iteration of general Congressional policy with respect to the federal public lands codified in FLPMA. 

Eastbound

This is a view at dawn on I-10 East of Benson, AZ.  It was a pretty morning.  And then I had a call that lobbyist Dan Weaks in Santa Fe has been pushing a bill that would have the state take over ownership of federal public lands.  Of course this is unconstitutional, but that doesn't bother the right wing oil boys and greedy lobbyists.  However the gun enthusiasts who partner with the right wing use the constitution to argue for their rights to carry assault rifles.  They do this because they are paranoid the government will attack them.  Also because they thinks it prove they have big uhhhh, you know.

Tucson

I'm in Tucson playing golf. Last night the city Council in Tucson voted to require registration and background checks of people buying guns at private Gun shows. And then I looked in the Albuquerque Journal website today and find out the gun nuts are carrying assault rifles into the state legislature. I wonder if New Mexico's becoming crazier than Arizona.

Sent from my iPhone

I-10

This is a roadside stop between Deming and Lordsburg. There is no wind and the skies are blue with some clouds. A very pretty scene.

Warned

There are warning signs everywhere. I wonder what kind of accident you could can have in a small restaurant in Hatch New Mexico. Lawyers are with us everywhere.

Sun Shine

I will be gone for a few days to play golf with friends near Tucson, Az.  It is supposed to be in the mid 70's.  Woo Hoo!  

Earth to Cowboys

This is earth calling cowboys.  Your state of New Mexico is in a record drought.  You should not be suing the Forest Service for cutting back your grazing allotments if you want the landscape to survive.  You sound like a bunch of mewling kittens when you complain the Forest Service Ranger in your district doesn't like you because you don't respect her.  And don't forget, the state's water supplies come from these forest watersheds and they are not yours to devastate.  Grow up and be responsible.

Earth to oil and Gas industry.  Why would anyone in their right minds object to revealing what potentially dangerous chemicals are being injected into the ground during fracking?  Yet you are trying to kill Brian Egolf's bill in Santa Fe to require you to fess up!  Here is a compromise.  Any oil man who supports killing this bill should allow the Sierra Club to inject the same chemicals under said oil man's home.  If it is good for everyone else then it is good for you!

3%

C'mon Albuquerque!  We can do it.  Let's show our kids we really do believe in democracy and endeavor to beat the 3% turnout for the last School Board and Bond election.  That will take place on Tuesday and there is early voting available.  I will vote today since I will be off to Amado, Arizona for a few days of golf on Monday.

I got an email from a democratic precinct chair warning me that the Tea party is trying to take over the school board.  Sure enough the Journal endorsed one of them this morning.  I for one do not want any of those folks in charge of curriculums for the school districts kids.  Creationism, gun mania, and right wing lunacy should not be pounded into our kids.  Although it would be hard to imagine most of the teachers allowing that to happen.