APS Gives As Good As It Gets

On Wednesday, Mayor Chavez continued his PR battle to take control of APS by proposing that the city should control the capital outlay. His rationale (subscription):

The school district's struggle to build schools on the rapidly developing West Side proves that APS cannot build fast enough to meet demand, Chavez said.

"It's the perfect example of bureaucratic inertia," he said.

Apparently, the Mayor feels that unlike APS, the city is a well oiled machine. Unfortunately, for the Mayor, APS can give as good as it gets:

With only six weeks left before school starts, Albuquerque's public schools have yet to find out which after-school programs the city will fund.

And the delay is creating real problems for administrators, community groups and parents, said Alvin Meadors, after-school program coordinator at Jackson Middle School.

They have no idea what will be available to students at the 99 schools with programs, and they can't hire staff until they know the programs will be approved.

City officials usually tell schools in May which programs qualify for a share of about $2 million, said Superintendent Beth Everitt.

Two school board members contend politics is playing a role in the delay.

But Paul Broome, the mayor's recently appointed educational coordinator, said the process is taking longer this year because the mayor has told his office's Education Council to develop new criteria to evaluate programs at the schools and several community centers.

I love it. Someone forgot to give the Mayor's new appointee, Paul Broome, the page of The Appointees Handbook that instructs him to take one for the big guy. Read this again, "the process is taking longer this year because [of] the mayor..."

It seems that Mayor Marty was caught off guard by the fact that summer break occurs at the same time every year for tens of thousands of APS children and their families. Or maybe this is just "a perfect example of bureaucratic inertia."

Thank you for making the point for us that one large bureaucracy is just as incompetent as another. What we need is school choice, not consolidation of power and resources by more elected officials.

Patricia Madrid's Smart Political Strategy

On the way to work this morning I caught a small part of Wake Up New Mexico with Larry Ahrens and Dianne Anderson (side note: Larry, still waiting for my invite). The part I caught happened to feature Tom McClanahan, the head FBI guy in New Mexico. Larry and Mr. McClanahan discussed the Vigil case, and then Larry asked him to comment on whether there were any other political corruption cases in the Land of Enchantment under investigation by the FBI.

Mr. McClanahan's response... "there are many others."

Larry seemed surprised by the agent's candor, and also by the fact that many others are being investigated. With all of these FBI investigations going on, you kind of have to wonder about the lack of action coming from the Attorney General's office. I don't seem to remember any articles about the numerous investigations Patricia Madrid has launched to stem the tide of public corruption.

Of course to be fair, Madrid did conveniently begin investigation into Serna's corrupt practices. Oh, and she did threaten to bring indictments against the cooperating witnesses in the Vigil trial.

Now, I know some you saw that as just the worst kind of political grandstanding. But, I don't think you're giving Attorney General Madrid the credit she deserves.

Think about it.

Maybe it wasn't foolish grandstanding at all. Maybe, it was a brilliant political move to keep another public corruption case from occurring before this election is over. For example (subscription):

[Manny] Aragon's name has surfaced in an FBI investigation into padded contracts and kickbacks in construction of the new Metropolitan and District courthouses in Albuquerque and of the Metropolitan Detention Center - public projects with a combined cost of more than $210 million.

Now, it wouldn't do for that to be prosecuted prior to the election. A case like that would not reflect well on AG Madrid. It would just serve to confirm the growing belief that Patricia Madrid had a look-the-other-way policy when it came to the politically corrupt practices of her colleagues.

What better way to delay this from coming to court than to make it clear to cooperating witnesses that they could find themselves being prosecuted by the Attorney General's office. I believe in organized crime circles this would be called, "sending a message."

Goliath is Running Scared

Apparently, Bill Richardson has read his bible and the story of David (Dendahl) and Goliath (Governor) has him more than a little concerned. Richardson has discovered, like everyone else, that it just doesn't turn out well for the giant. The bigger man who has everything going for him is supposed to win, but he doesn't. Heavily armed Goliath is defeated by one little well placed stone thrown from the slingshot of the boyish David.

Definitely, a story that has Governor Bill Richardson worried.

In modern political warfare money makes the warrior. Richardson has millions upon millions to spend. At this point, all John Dendahl has are stones. The question is which stone could bring Richardson down? Will it be the scandals stone... the education failure stone... the uncontrolled spending stone... the eminent domain stone?

Four days ago John Dendahl loaded his slingshot and challenged Governor Richardson to a debate on eminent domain. Yesterday, the Governor flailed about with an attack ad against Dendahl. Goliath has millions in the bank and rather than avoid the debate by deflating the issue with ads that tell his side of the story, Richardson decides the best plan is to personally attack John Dendahl.

Look at the Governor's campaign site. He has produced four television commercials so far. The fifth ad produced is a radio spot aired after Dendahl is selected to give New Mexicans a real choice. Rather than an ad about the issues, it is an ad intended to muddy the up the process. A negative attack ad where none was warranted. Five months before anyone is even considering going to the polls, and the giant and his army have begun throwing unprovoked "negative bombs."

Governor Goliath may talk tough:

Richardson, by the way, declined to comment when asked Friday about Dendahl's candidacy.

"I don't talk about Dendahl. I don't worry about Dendahl," he said.

But his actions show him shaking in his boots. This is not a story that is likely to end well for the giant.

Manny Aragon Indictment

UPDATE: Due to the recent Courthouse indictments, this post is getting a lot of hits, so I thought all of the new visitors might appreciate links to a more recent post from the day after the indictments. Make sure to check the main page often, as I'll post more as case moves forward.


People arrive on this site through a variety of key word searches. Sometimes looking at the searches that brings them to this blog is a good indication of news that's about to break. For example, just hours ago someone did a Google search for "Manny Aragon Indictment" and landed here. Now, I'm not listed until the second page of the search, so I can't help but think they were looking for something in particular. A quick check of the Albuquerque Journal website shows this breaking story (subscription):

New Mexico Highlands University President Manny Aragon has been placed on administrative leave, and regents said Wednesday they were negotiating his role at the northern New Mexico school.

The decision to put Aragon on leave was made over the course of recent days, Regents Chairman Javier Gonzales and Regent John Loehr confirmed Wednesday evening. They declined to say what prompted the decision.

"It is a personnel issue and discussions are currently under way,'' Loehr said, adding that he expected a "fairly early resolution.''

Aragon, reached Wednesday evening at his home in Albuquerque, declined comment. He said only that he and the regents were in negotiations about his future at the university.

Can't help but wonder if the two are connected, or if this is just an odd coincidence. I guess we will know more soon.

Put Who in Charge of What?

The guy whose administration is responsible for this wants to be handed control of the APS capital outlay budget? (subscription)

Mayor Martin Chavez says he will consider asking the state Legislature for the power to take over Albuquerque Public Schools' capital budget.

The school district's struggle to build schools on the rapidly developing West Side proves that APS cannot build fast enough to meet demand, Chavez said.

"It's the perfect example of bureaucratic inertia," he said.

Is he nuts? Or maybe he is just thinking about a better way to thank his political contributors. After all, he has been successful in shooting down that pesky ethics bill, so now would be a good time to get a hold of some more capital outlay to reward the faithful.

A Tale of Two New Mexicos

It was the best of times...

Taxes rolled in. Governor Bill Richardson could buy a shiny new jet. Hundreds of millions of dollars could be spent on trains to nowhere. A multi-billionaire could receive state funding for his pet space projects. Campaign contributors could land high paying jobs and even cushier land deals.


It was the worst of times (subscription)...

More New Mexico children live in poverty, more are dying at a young age— but fewer are dropping out of high school.

Those were some of the results of the newest Kids Count report, released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore.

Overall, the state— which has always sat near the bottom in national rankings— slipped two spots.

The state ranked 46th in the nation in last year's report, which is based on 10 measurements of a child's well-being.

In this year's report, the state fell to 48th, with only Mississippi and Louisiana faring worse. The new report is based on 2003-2004 data.

A story that must not continue.

Give Us More

Check out the news in the last few months, and it's hard to miss the increased spending occurring at breakneck speed by state and municipal governments throughout the Land of Enchantment. Government coffers are overflowing with taxpayer funds. In fact, the only city that saw a decline in revenue was the city of Santa Fe.

So someone explain to me what type of elected official in their right mind would consider now a good time to further increase our taxes? Apparently, for the answer you need to look no further than the Bernalillo County Commission (subscription):

Bernalillo County commissioners this week will consider moving forward with three tax increases - one for arts and cultural programs, the others to help fund health care for the poor.

You read that correctly. These folks are considering, not one, not two, but three tax increases.

If the quality-of-life and health-care taxes are approved, the rates will climb to 6.0625 percent and 7.25 percent, respectively.

I guess that's one way to stop the growth. Mind you, Governor Richardson's statewide increase of the gross receipts tax just came into effect on January 1, 2005, and already we're looking at another increase in gross receipts taxes. If passed, this would equate to an increase of our county taxes by more than 12% in just three years and an increase of our city taxes by a whopping 19.58% during the same period of time.

Media Bias Seen in Blogging Source

Once upon time if you wanted to keep abreast of New Mexico's insider politics, there was only one source - Joe Monahan. Without a doubt Mr. Monahan was (and is) to New Mexico politics what Liz Smith is to the New York social scene. They both have juicy tidbits filled with rumor and innnuendo about what's going on behind the scenes - whispers that the mainstream is just not likely to discover on their own.

Now, Mr. Monahan has always been decidely left left-leaning in his gossip mongering. Which is not surprising since his political consulting business is done predominantly, if not exclusively, for Democrats. Read back through Mr. Monahan's archives, and you'll find many references to his sources "deep within La Politica" of the South Valley - not exactly a Republican stronghold.

Well, times are a-changing. Now there are New Mexico blogs with right-leaning views. Of course, this is one, Wednesday Morning Quarterback is another, and Errors of Enchantment is a third and that's just right off the top of my head.

Which raises the question, why does New Mexico's mainstream press continue to just source a left-wing blogger when writing political articles? The reporters and editors are very much aware that the right side is out there - not a day goes by that the Journal server is not listed as a site visitor.

This past week we saw the unanimous appointment of John Dendahl to fill the Republican gubernatorial candidate spot vacated by Dr. J.R. Damron. It received significant coverage in the press. Yet, mainstream media coverage of the events only sourced left-leaning Joe Monahan when it came to including blogger opinions.

Think I'm making hay where there is none? Well read this "analysis" by Mr. Monahan quoted in a Tribune article about the turn of events:

But, said Albuquerque political blogger Joe Monahan, "I think the 60 percent [projected victory margin for Bill Richardson] is still alive in the minds of Democrats, especially with a candidate like Dendahl who could possibly be a big victory for them, if they can paint him as an extremist."

This is analysis? Hello... which Democratic minds are we talking about? Governor Richardson barely got over 60 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. How could anyone in their right mind (or left mind for that matter) feel confident about Richardson's chance to get more than 60 percent in the general election. Had the Tribune called me, I would have been happy to point this out to them.

The Santa Fe New Mexican was just as bad as the Tribune - which is surprising because Steve Terrell wrote the article, and Steve has no problem linking to the Republican bloggers when posting on his own website. Take a gander at this gem:

In fact, some, such as political blogger Joe Monahan, calls Dendahl a "sacrificial wolf," as opposed to a "sacrificial lamb."

"He's not going to win," Monahan said in an interview Monday. "But he's going to go down with a fight and with spirit. ... They'll measure his success by how much he cripples the governor on the national stage."

Any Republican would have pointed out that to know John Dendahl is to know that he is not about to be ANY TYPE of "sacrificial" animal. Heck, John Dendahl's entry into the race had the Governor's press secretary, Pahl Shipley, so worried about keeping his job that Pahl got on his home computer last Saturday and immediately blasted out a press release - on official state letterhead I might add - to take a swipe at John Dendahl. Mr. Shipley did this despite the backlash that was likely to occur considering he works for the taxpayers (D and R alike) and not Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The FEAR was that great.

The bottom line here is that it is no longer okay to source a Democratic blogger and not seek the comments of a Republican blogger. Unless, of course, you really do just want to tilt the scales instead of report the news.

Blogger Wars

I love it when one blogger calls another blogger to the carpet for being full of it. In my humble opinion, there is nothing worse than an individual, who pretends to be unbiased, craftily sabotage one for the benefit of another. Anyone who watched the USA play Italy in the World Cup knows exactly what I'm talking about. To learn more about those who pretend to be unbiased, make sure to read this.

Absolute and Complete Failure

I strongly urge you to download and read the New Mexico Graduation Report available at edweek.org. Despite the spin of the Richardson administration, the fact remains that just under 50% of all students are not graduating high school. In the case of non-white males, the number of students not graduating high school is over 50%.

Which raises the question, if you were Governor of New Mexico, would you focus on planes, trains and spaceports, or would your number one concern be New Mexico's children?

Richardson's Answer to Every Problem

During the last legislative session, Governor Bill Richardson vetoed the legislation unanimously supported to protect individual property rights from the growing tide of eminent domain abuse being perpetrated by the government. In fact, he earned the dubious honor of being the first governor in the country to veto such legislation in the wake of the much despised Kelo decision.

So now, Governor Richardson has a VERY BIG campaign problem. You see:

Americans remain strongly committed to protecting private property from the possibility of unjust seizure, according to the results of a nationwide survey released today by the American Farm Bureau Federation during the organization' s annual convention.

The poll shows, regardless of geographical, partisan and other demographic differences, Americans are unified nearly 2-to-1 against government use of eminent domain to take private property, except in limited circumstances such as when the public at large would clearly benefit from a new road, electric utility or similar project.

Likewise, 83 percent of Americans oppose the use of eminent domain to further private development initiatives.

That's right, just about everyone - regardless of political affiliation - agrees that government seizure of private property under the banner of eminent domain must be stopped - everyone that is except for Governor Bill Richardson.

I'm thinking this is just the type of "negative bomb" that is going to come back and wreak havoc on the Governor come November, and I'll bet Richardson's crack team of out of town, big time consultants are thinking the same thing.

So, what's the best solution they can come up with? You guessed it! It time for yet another task force. Gotta give the man credit... he is consistent.

Bill Richardson's Worst Nightmare

According to an article (subscription) in today's Albuquerque Journal, Bill Richardson's campaign chairman doesn't hold Republican gubernatorial candidate, John Dendahl, in particularly high esteem:

Richardson's campaign chairman Dave Contarino called the switch "an act of desperation" and called Dendahl "a partisan, negative bomb-thrower."

Hmm, sure seems to me like Mr. Contarino just threw the first "negative bomb." John Dendahl is not even a candidate for 24 hours and the Richardson campaign is already on the attack:

Contarino of the Richardson re-election campaign said Dendahl's candidacy might push some Republicans over to the Richardson camp.

"I think that it's an act of desperation for a party to reach back into the past to someone who represents the nasty politics of division and gridlock," Contarino said. "The contrast is incredible - a bi-partisan governor who crosses party lines to get things done versus a partisan, negative bomb-thrower."

Uh, excuse me? A bi-partisan governor who crosses party lines to get things done?

Which Governor are we talking about? Mr. Contarino couldn't possibly be talking about Governor Bill Richardson. Last I checked, Governor Richardson had so clearly drawn partisan lines in the sand that funding for children (subscription) living in Republican districts - no matter how great the need - were guaranteed a veto.

As far as pushing Republicans into the Richardson camp, I think Governor Richardson and his campaign staff would be better to focus on the tens of thousands of disgruntled Democrats out there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you better take a look at the primary election results on the Secretary of State's website. It seems that out of 160,575 Democratic voters 53,799 refused to push the button to elect Bill Richardson.

Read that again... 53,799 - a whopping 33.5% of Democratic voters - REFUSED TO VOTE for Bill Richardson.

No wonder Mr. Contarino is already throwing unprovoked "negative bombs." My readers may or may not know that I have a masters degree in counseling, and it sure does seem that Mr. Contarino is exhibiting a classic case of projection. The NO CONFIDENCE VOTE of the state's Democrats combined with the seemingly daily unveiling by the state's news outlets of the cronyism and political payback policies of the Richardson Adminstration are obviously beginning to take a toll on poor Mr. Contarino.

Hopefully, Mr. Contarino can find a good support group to deal with his issues. Otherwise, I'm concerned that news stories - like the one that shared the front page today (subscription) with the Dendahl article - are going to put him over the edge.

After all, it can't be easy to lie in bed at night knowing that your boss' opponent doesn't have to create any "negative bombs." Instead, all John Dendahl has to do is pick up the newspaper and read about the 118% profit a political contributor was able to make in 28 months because the Governor was first willing to sign a change in law, and then follow that up by allowing the Board of Finance, which Richardson chairs, to ink the deal.

The Governor's friends just made $3.2 million in 28 months for a $50,000 political contribution. That's a deal that would even make Angelo Garcia and Kent Nelson green with envy.

Well, at least on the upside neither Mr. Contarino nor Governor Richardson have to worry about Attorney General Patricia Madrid conducting an investigation. After all, it will probably be awhile until the U.S. Attorney's office can seek indictments, secure witness testimony and conduct a trial. You know, all the things that need to occur before Patricia Madrid realizes that there are crimes to be prosecuted.

Goodbye Damron... Hello Dendahl

J.R. Damron ends his candidacy against Governor Richardson and former Chairman of the Republican Party, John Dendahl, begins his.

Albuquerque, N.M. – Dr. J.R. Damron made the following statement today to the Republican Party of New Mexico’s state central committee meeting:

“For the good of the state of New Mexico and its citizens, I believe there needs to be a change in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate. Therefore, I have submitted the required Secretary of State form announcing my resignation as the Republican gubernatorial candidate for 2006.

The new candidate needs to be competitive, aggressive and articulate to win this race. This candidate needs to engage Richardson in a decisive, bull-doggish manner to bring out all of his many deficient, negative and duplicitous characteristics, and highlight Richardson’s self-serving, abusive treatment of New Mexicans. Full exposure of Richardson’s pay to play, deceitfulness, and cronyism must be brought to all the voters of New Mexico.

To this end, I must do what is best for the Republican Party of New Mexico and for the people of New Mexico to win this election in November. Barbara and I have committed 18 months of time, energy and money toward this goal. However, we believe it is now time to move this campaign in a different direction with a new gubernatorial candidate to secure a decisive victory for all New Mexicans.

Barbara and I remain committed public servants to New Mexico. As painful as this is for us, we put our feelings aside and ask that all Republicans join with us together in unity and focus on the goal of winning back New Mexico for all New Mexicans.”

These remarks were also the text of Damron’s letter to Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Allen Weh.

Check out Wednesday Morning QB for inside dish.

Madrid Learned from Serna, Vigl and Montoya

It looks like Patricia Madrid's learned quite a bit about illegal fundraising during her time serving as co-chair of Con Alma with Eric Serna, as well as during her "investigation" of Serna:

New Mexico's Republican delegation on Wednesday complained to the Federal Elections Commission about a political-action committee started by Congresswoman Heather Wilson's Democratic opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid.

"It appears that Patricia Madrid has violated federal campaign-finance laws that prohibit the use of "soft money" in a federal election campaign," says the letter to the FEC signed by Wilson, Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Steve Pearce.

The PAC, called Justice For America, raised nearly $500,000 between May 2005 and October 2005, when Madrid announced her candidacy for Congress. The PAC spent nearly $125,000 between May 2005 and this May and has about $492,000 in the bank.

Of course, the Madrid campaign maintains there is no connection between the activities of the PAC and Patsy's campaign for Congress despite the fact that Madrid's husband, Michael Messina, is the chairman of the PAC. Right, and Kent Nelson got the contracts from Vigil and Montoya because he was the best man for the job.

Peoples Republic of Albuquerque

On the heels of Councilor Michael Cadigan proposing the seizure - by any means possible - of a water company, we have Councilor Debbie O'Malley advocating subsidized housing (subscription):

City Councilor Debbie O'Malley says Albuquerque must improve its supply of affordable housing and should do so by setting aside 8 percent of its public works program.

"It's going to be a huge challenge, but I think it's very important," said O'Malley, a former leader of the Sawmill Community Land Trust, which developed housing for people with low and moderate incomes.

Generally, programs that promote affordability want families to use no more than 30 percent to 33 percent of their monthly income for housing. In Albuquerque, 17,000 low-income households spend more than half of their money on housing, according to city estimates.

Um, Councilor O'Malley here is an idea. Revoke the impact fees and watch homes prices drop by $10,000.

Buy From Some, Seize From Others

Last week I sat through a presentation made by State Engineer, John D'Antonio about his efforts to secure and spend $1.3 billion to settle water right issues with two pueblos and the Navajos. What I want to know is why is Mr. D'Antonio willing to pay for some rights, and at the same time thinks its okay to just administratively seize the water rights (subscription) of others?

The statutory provisions governing domestic wells have been a contentious issue in the past several legislative sessions. Rather than again attempting to revise the process of issuing domestic well permits through legislation, I [Czar of New Mexico's water] am exercising my authority to issue draft regulations establishing new limits on the amount of water that may be diverted under new domestic well permits.

And as long as I'm asking questions... What's up with the state buying the aforementioned rights? Why not let individuals and businesses buy those rights? That's the way our free enterprise system is supposed to work. Our elected and appointed officials seizing water rights is just another example of eminent domain abuse, and according to recent articles, Mr. D'Antonio's seize the water mentality is contagious (subscription):

City Councilor Michael Cadigan wants to revive plans to acquire a private water company that serves much of the West Side.

New Mexico Utilities Inc., which provides water to almost 17,000 homes and other customers, isn't as committed to water conservation as it should be, Cadigan said.

He would like to see the municipal water agency— owned by the Albuquerque and Bernalillo County governments— buy or take legal action to acquire New Mexico Utilities Inc.

You read that right folks. Comrade Cadigan believes that if the government can't buy something then it should just take it. Someone please remind Mr. Cadigan that we still live in America.

Patricia "Lost at Sea" Madrid is Comical

Attorney General Patricia Madrid allowed a tidal wave of political corruption flood New Mexico while she was at the helm as New Mexico's top law enforcement officer. Why? Because it was in her best political interest not to rock the boat. However, when the tide had changed and there was nothing to lose (and potentially something to gain), we saw her pulling up someone else's traps. First, she did it in the Serna case, and now she is doing the same with the treasurer kickback scandals. The problem is this ship has already sailed.

The Art of Saying Nothing

Politicians are well-known for their ability to speak often without saying anything, and Governor Bill Richardson is a king among kings in this regard:

The conference's keynote speaker was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who says undocumented immigrants in his state give more than they take, especially when it comes to taxes.

He also said there has to be a compromise between our nation's security and the human rights of immigrants.

"Yes, we have to strengthen our border security, but we also have to protect the millions of immigrants who are already in America. Give them a fair chance, bring them out of the shadows. We're not talking about an amnesty," he said.

Well Governor, if you're not talking amnesty, what are you talking about?

Worth a Read

The low turnout in Tuesday's election could be blamed on the frustration people have right now with our elected officials. This article reminds us to carefully review our options.

Judicial Hellholes

New Mexico Courts, especially the Court of Appeals, has consistently held a place of distinction as a Judicial Hellhole. Now everyone knows why:

The ruling Thursday overturned an August 2004 drunken-driving conviction for John Day III, of Ruidoso Downs.

The court said the jury, without expert testimony from both sides, could not rule on whether Day was drunk when he was driving based solely on a blood-alcohol test taken 66 minutes after his arrest.

A defense expert witness told the jury that Day, facing his third DWI charge, reached the 0.08 blood-alcohol content level only after sitting for an hour with a beer in his full stomach.

The important thing here is to note that this was Mr. Day's third DWI charge.

It's Them NOT Us

On the eve before the primary elections, a handful of Albuquerque City Councilors defeat the ethics reform package introduced by City Councilor Brad Winter. What a perfect reminder as to why it is so important to vote in every election. Yes, we're talking about the same city council that felt is was necessary to introduce and pass a revised all encompassing animal ordinance that dictates the size and number of perches in a bird cage, yet in the current climate of widespread governmental corruption did not see fit to pass ethics reform. The money quote of the week goes to Councilor Ken Sanchez:

Sanchez said Albuquerque officials already have high ethical standards. He said the need for improvement is at a state government level.

Of course, the others who voted against reform with Councilor Sanchez also had some gems of wisdom worth noting:

Mayer raised several questions about Winter's proposal, but she was especially critical of provisions that would prevent the mayor and councilors from trying to steer city contracts to their campaign contributors when an independent review committee recommended a different bidder. She said there could be good reasons for favoring a campaign contributor and councilors should not be blocked from voting to do so.

Loy also said he was troubled by the proposed restriction. He said elected officials should make decisions about contracts and should not be required to defer to a review committee.

"We can't tie the hands of elected officials," he said.

These people are unreal.

When the Gov's Away the Crooks Will Play

The Damron campaign sent out a press release on Friday which included this little known fact:

Damron pointed out that not only has Bill Richardson been an absentee governor, but Richardson planned to be an absentee governor from the start. Almost as soon as Richardson was inaugurated as governor, he had the state legislature change the number of days allotted for the governor to be out of state from 30 to 180.

Now you don't think it's just a coincidence that during this time the state has been rocked by one corruption scandal after another, do you?