A Smoke Filled Room

I've been known to smoke a cigar. I even have my own humidor, so it probably goes without saying that I've got nothing against people lighting up for a smoke. Yet, this is just a perfect illustration of what's wrong with the legislative need to always pass new laws (subscription):

Come the 2007 legislative session, there will still be a smoke-filled room near the state Capitol.

Santa Fe's anti-smoking ordinance that went into effect over the summer hasn't stopped the Rio Chama Steakhouse— hard by the Roundhouse on Old Santa Fe Trail— from opening an upscale cigar bar where a single cigar costs from $9 to $42.

Kelly Torres, assistant manager of the restaurant, provided a tour of "The Humidor" on Tuesday and said the 3-month-old cigar bar has become a popular place for tourists, locals and government officials to hang out.

"It's been more popular since we are the only place where smoking is permitted," Torres said. "The same faces you would see at our bar are the same faces you would see in The Humidor."

Special interest loopholes aren't just for big business. The smoking bans should have never been passed, and this is a perfect example of why we need less laws instead of more. Consider this example when you read how many new state laws are introduced this upcoming legislative session.

Thoughts and Prayers

Our family's thoughts and prayers go out to the Johnson family.

Brainless Politicians

I've been taking it easy on the blogging this week, but this is just too good to pass up. A couple of days ago the Albuquerque Tribune published the following:

Newly elected Secretary of State Mary Herrera, who takes office Jan. 1, says her predecessor is leaving her with a $225,000 operating deficit.

Outgoing Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron says that's nonsense. She's leaving a surplus, she says, and if Herrera "had any brains in her head," she'd know that.

Then in today's Albuquerque Journal, I read this (subscription):

Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron wants an additional $3 million to help pay for last month's election, including a "surprise" bill for more than $700,000 from the Nebraska firm that sold New Mexico its fleet of new voting machines.

Now who doesn't have "any brains in her head?" How the heck does the state receive a "surprise" bill for anything? Don't we have a procurement process in this state? Here, I thought we could finish the year without a scandal, but leave it to the Democrats to go out in style.

Same Old Same Old

The majority of Democratic legislators voted to protect their committee assignments over taking the first step in ethics reform when they decided to keep Representative Ben Lujan as Speaker of the House.

Sad day for New Mexico, but strong opportunity for state Republicans.

The Fear It Inspires

Both the Albuquerque Journal (subscription) and the Santa Fe New Mexican had stories yesterday about House Speaker Ben Lujan. What really struck me is the following from the New Mexican article:

"There's not a lot of room for dissent, deliberation or dialogue," said a Democratic state representative who asked not to be named.

The fact that few House Democrats would agree to talk to a reporter about Luján unless guaranteed anonymity is itself a testament to his power -- and the fear it inspires.

"Not only could I get screwed on committee assignments, but my bills and my capital outlay would suffer too, and in the end, it's my constituents who would pay," said one House Democrat, expressing the same sentiments as several others interviewed in recent weeks.

A deliberative body that won't deliberate because of a FEAR. Fear that they will end up with a bad assignment. Fear that their capital outlay will be vetoed. Fear that their bills won't see the light of day.

Maybe, they should balance those fears with fears of castration. Whatever happened to the Western spirit? In the land of Lobos - sorry Aggies - our Democratic legislature has turned into a bunch of sheep. Someone should remind these folks that they don't get paid for this job. In fact, all they have is there dignity, and it's pretty sad if they're willing to trade that away for a better committee assignment.

Some Favorite Political Posts This Week

In no particular order

A Very Strange Year in Politics

Monahan's Anti-Wilson Spin Continues

Richardson Says He Isn't Involved in Speaker's Race

Mora Commission Recommends a Different Garcia

Rounhouse Roundup: A Boost from North Korea?

My Outgoing Mail

On Killing the Messenger

12-18 State Government Has Become a Deadbeat

County Commissioners Outdo Pelosi and Kennedy

The Democrats that swept into Congress on Election Night have a 100 hour plan. Part of that plan is to get the minimum wage increased nationally to $7.25 an hour:

"This ought to be the first business of the United States Senate starting in January," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) at a rally on Capitol Hill. "Anyone that works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year, in the richest country in the world should not live in poverty."

In the House, soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said the Democrats will move to increase the minimum wage within the first 100 hours of the new session.

That's right the uber-liberal team of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi believe one of the first orders of business should be this minimum wage increase, and the amount they are proposing is $7.25. Yet last night, the Bernalillo County Commission - minus the two Republicans Commissioners - approved a $7.50 minimum wage hike (subscription):

Bernalillo County is moving into rare company.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved plans to boost the local minimum wage to $7.50 an hour by 2009.

The bill makes Bernalillo County the first county in New Mexico to have a wage law and one of the few counties in the country to have one, several local officials said.

It matches an ordinance already adopted in Albuquerque.

What, they couldn't wait a hundred hours?

What's More Disturbing?

The City of Albuquerque had a 42 percent increase in auto theft (subscription) in the first seven months of the year. That's cause for alarm, and it reflects negatively on Mayor Martin Chavez. However, one of the proposed solutions is just beyond creepy:

Having the police department purchase computerized license plate readers. The devices can be placed at different places in town to read plates as cars pass by. A nearby officer is alerted if the device reads a plate from a car that has been reported stolen.

First, there were a few cameras at intersections to stop people from running red lights. Now, they want to put computerized license plate readers all around town to monitor every car as it goes past. At what point do we say enough is enough?

Not Even a 10% Tipper

Look for Governor Bill Richardson to continue to portray himself this year as a tax cutting governor (subscription):

Richardson has asked lawmakers to enact a $69 million package of tax cuts for individuals and businesses in the coming session.

"The consistent strength of our economy gives me confidence that we can cut taxes, invest in our schools and make health care available to more New Mexicans, while maintaining prudent cash reserves," Richardson said in a news release.

The thing is, the Governor is feasting this year on an additional $720 million in taxpayer funds. So, the Governor's meager $69 million isn't even equal to a ten percent tip back to the taxpayers. Anyone else feel the urge to spit in his food?

Turning News into News

So, imagine that you're the Governor of New Mexico. Imagine you are consistently ranked at the bottom of the list of Democratic contenders for the Presidency. What do you do? My guess, you figure out how to get the most earned media possible.

For example, you go on Fox News and announce that you're running in 2008. Then you have your staff announce that the announcement wasn't an announcement. Now, you get twice the mileage out of your announcement.

Hmm, anyone in the mainstream media feeling a little used?

Aesthetic Sensibiliies

Albuquerque City Councilor Debbie O'Malley seems to fancy herself an architect and urban planner (subscription):

O'Malley is proposing rules for the location and design of stores that are more than 60,000 square feet. The rules are meant to ensure that large retail centers are built where the road system can best handle the traffic. O'Malley says she also wants to improve the visual appeal, walkability and impact on neighborhoods.

I took a look at Councilor O'Malley's bio and there doesn't seem to be any indication that she is an architect or urban planning professional. Yet, she wants to have her rules adopted before they are even reviewed by professionals:

It could take months for O'Malley's proposed rules to get through review by the Environmental Planning Commission and City Council, but her interim policy would take effect immediately. In essence, that would put the rules in place while the EPC and council work on the final version.

Yeah, that makes sense. Look folks, we already have a zoning system in place, so you can stop trying to micromanage the situation from the City Council level. There are an awful lot of new rooftops out there on the Westside waiting for convenient retail locations. It seems blatantly unfair for a city councilor, who lives in the North Valley, to keep those good folks from getting the convenient services they want because they are not aligned with that councilor's aesthetic sensibilities.

The Best Thing They Could Do

If the Democrats in the State House vote Representative Ben Lujan back in as Speaker of the House, Republicans across the state can rejoice. Democrats will be sending a clear message that the political corruption turned into an art form by Michael Montoya, Robert Vigil and Smiley Gallegos is alive and well in New Mexico.

Ben Lujan has turned a blind eye one too many times:

[Democratic Party Activist Frances F.] Williams also criticized Luján for his receptionist getting a rent-free house from Gallegos.

Luján said he appointed Gallegos to the Housing Trust Council "because that's his background." He said he didn't see a conflict of interest.

As for the computerized learning system, he said, "I didn't carry that bill for Smiley. I did it at the request of public schools systems, including Pecos and Santa Fe Public Schools."

In regard to Ortiz's free rent from Region III, Luján said, "With God as my witness, I knew nothing at all about that until Lisa told me a couple of weeks before (the newspaper article) was published. I never question my employees about their private lives."

Luján said he advised Ortiz to "make sure she paid her back rent. And my understanding is that she's doing that."

Representative Lujan SHOULD NOT be considering staying on as Speaker of the House. He SHOULD be considering resigning from the House. The nation sent a clear message on Election Day that it is tired of national politicians that look the other way when corruption runs rampant.

Mark my words, if the Democratic Representatives show they are devoid of a backbone by re-electing Ben Lujan as Speaker of the House, in two years New Mexicans will send a clear message that they are tired of local politicians that look the other way while corruption flourishes at the expense of hard-working New Mexicans.

Year of the Water Off to a Leaky Start

Looks like Governor Richardson's Year of the Water is set to flow down the same stream as the Year of the Judiciary and the Year of the Child. This from Heath Haussamen's blog:

Cervantes, according to the Associated Press, said at Thursday’s meeting of the Water and Natural Resources Committee that Richardson’s proposed package for the 2007 session doesn’t deal with agricultural conservation, though that accounts for 75 percent of water use in the state.

“We’re throwing money at the problem, which government always does,” Cervantes said, according to the news service. “That’s one solution, but it’s not a very comprehensive solution and it doesn’t show the leadership we need to show on this issue. I don’t see the conservation component to this.”

Cervantes comes from a farming family and said because farmers who don’t use water lose it, his family opted against expanding a water-saving drip irrigation system.

“Frankly, what’s happening is farmers are trying to hold on to their land long enough to cash in on their water rights,” he said. “That’s the mentality – use every acre-foot. Avoid conservation, because it’s not being recognized as a benefit to them.”

Governor Richardson throwing money at a problem instead of providing a real solution. Hmm, there's a surprise.

Why Is It Either Or?

I can't get this out of my mind, so I'm thinking maybe if I write about it, it will go away. Here it is ....

Why is it that when it comes to voting there seems to be only two camps? Either those wanting paper ballots or those wanting electronic voting? Why can't we have both and make everyone happy?

Think about it?

An electronic ATM style touch screen voting machine that prints out a paper ballot that then can be visually verified by the voter before being fed into a paper scanning machine for a redundant tabulation. This way everyone is happy.

1. Joe/Jane Voter knows that the machine registered his/her vote correctly.
   
2. There is built in redundancy with machines checking machines.
3. There is a paper trail in case of doubt.
4. Neither partisan volunteers nor partisan clerk employees are trying to determine at 2:00 a.m. in the morning what someone "intended" by the strange illegible mark they put on a paper ballot.
   
5. We are still able to use technology, so that we can have a true count on Election Night.

Someone please explain to me why this isn't a reasonable solution and a win/win for all sides?

C'mon one of you Legislators or maybe a Secretary of State employee tell me what's wrong with this solution? How about a voting machine sales representative or maybe a county clerk? Maybe Common Cause would be interested in weighing in with what's wrong with this solution?

Someone... Anyone?

The Fix Is In

There are so many public corruption scandals going on in New Mexico, sometimes it's just too hard to stay on top of them all. For example, it was pointed out to me by a reader tonight that I was asleep at the wheel when the latest scandal hit. Oh sure, they were more diplomatic than that, but the fact remains it was right out there, and I didn't catch it.

Guilty as charged. Sorry folks, I dropped the ball. So, let me bring you up to speed First, there was this story in the New Mexico Business Weekly:

Neither SIC nor Fort Washington would reveal specific reasons for the fallout last week, although state officials said they terminated the firm and Fort Washington said it resigned.

However, in further conversations with the New Mexico Business Weekly, SIC spokesman Charles Wollmann now says the state fired its advisor for refusing to render an opinion on deals that the SIC wanted it to consider.

"It wasn't that Fort Washington was not in a position to advise us, they just didn't want to, so we had to agree to disagree," Wollmann says. "That's not acceptable from our standpoint. Some of the investments we want to make are more sizable than what they were willing to advise us on, but if they're not willing to advise us, then they're not doing their job."

Wollmann says the state and its advisor need to be "on the same page" about investments.

You read that correctly. An advisor to the state was terminated because, well, because they did their job. They advised the state against making an investment that would not yield the good financial returns New Mexicans should expect from an investment. If our advisors are supposed to be "on the same page" as the state, it kind of makes you wonder why we need advisors?

So, what was this unsound investment that "the state" wanted made? Well, you had to wait a few months to get the inside scoop:

Cincinnati-based Fort Washington Capital Partners resigned as the SIC's investment advisor for the program last July, citing disagreements with the state over its role. The state had asked Fort Washington to render opinions on two large investments in space-related companies and Fort Washington refused, arguing that the proposals seemed more like economic development projects than private equity transactions.

Wait a minute... "investments in space-related companies." Didn't Governor Richardson already put a $100 million dollars of state money into the spaceport? Why would we be putting two more large investments into space related companies? This is starting to smell fishy. Well, wait a second. Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions. After all, the article makes it clear that the State Investment Council is putting the fund out to bid.

Oh look, did you see the blurb in the Albuquerque Journal (subscription) a week or so after the election:

A committee has recommended that the state Investment Council hire a Santa Fe investment company to oversee $60 million in venture-capital investments in New Mexico companies.

The Private Equity Investment Advisory Committee on Wednesday recommended Sun Mountain Capital to replace Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, as the fund's manager.

Hmm, who is this Sun Mountain Capital that is more likely to be "on the same page" with the state? Luckily, the answer is in another Journal article:

Sun Mountain Capital was founded in August by Brian Birk, a former Fort Washington regional executive based in New Mexico [emphasis added]. The firm will manage a new direct investment pool, called the New Mexico State Investment Council Co-Investment Fund. The fund will be divided into two chunks— $30 million for early-stage investments of up to $5 million in startup companies, and $30 million for investments of $5 million to $20 million in larger operations.

Sun Mountain Capital was one of four respondents to a state-issued request for proposals to manage the new direct investment fund. The firm was the only respondent to a request for proposals to provide advisory services, officials said after the Council's Private Equity Investment Advisory Committee met Wednesday.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... A company that has been in existence for, let me pull out those counting fingers, THREE MONTHS before submitting a proposal lands responsibility for a contract overseeing TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. And the company founder's last job was with the company that would not put aside it's ethics to get "on the same page" as the state. Does that mean this individual does not have the same reservations?

Birk said Sun Mountain already has a few potential investments in the pipeline.

"Even though we didn't have a fund yet, we've had a lot of interest from other local funds contacting us about potential deals," he said. "We've been stockpiling in anticipation of being successful" at landing the state's business.

Can you say, "The fix is in?" Anyone want to take bets whether or not Sun Mountain Capital advises to invest in the same space-related projects Fort Washington refused to endorse?