You're Kidding Me, Right?

Now here's an interesting quote from House Speaker Ben Lujan on Heath Haussamen's blog:

Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Nambé, on the other hand, said Foley’s conduct “sets a bad example for children.”

“It’s unfortunate that this thing had to happen, but I feel that we have to take responsibility and we should apologize when we do something not lawful,” he said.

Hmm, Democratic Speaker of the House Ben Lujan has had only one degree of separation from some of the biggest scandals involving unlawful and unethical behavior in New Mexico history and sat silent. But, a Republican Representative rushes to the aid of a son he feels has been assaulted by an adult, and all of a sudden the Speaker is interested in "responsibility" and "apologies."

Sorry Mr. Speaker, that's just not going to fly.

Let's Nominate Him Again

When you think Nobel Prize, you think BIG ideas (subscription):

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that America should use diplomacy and sanctions instead of threats to convince Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Cause that has always worked so well in dealing with fanatics.

The Democratic presidential candidate, speaking at the Center for National Policy in Washington, said the Bush administration has treated Iran with "suspicion and hostile, incendiary rhetoric" that has encouraged Iran to speed up its nuclear weapons quest.

Oh yeah, now we're the cause of Iran seeking nuclear weapons. Has Bill Richardson even paid any attention to the Middle East situation over the last thirty years? Ah, never mind, let's just nominate him for another Nobel Prize and call it a day.

As the Father of Two Boys

The incident involving New Mexico State Legislature Minority Whip Dan Foley (R-Roswell) at his son's basketball game (subscription) continues to gain attention:

The Roswell Daily Record quoted a mall security officer at the Gus Macker basketball tournament as saying that during one of the games played in the mall parking lot an incident flared up between Foley's son and another player.

According to Cpl. James Glenny, the mall security officer, a coach stepped in during the altercation between the players and allegedly pushed Foley's son. That's when Foley rushed the court.

"The coach was straddling players on the ground and pushed (Foley's) son. (Foley) started to get onto the court and between them. He got about three steps onto the court before police stepped in," Glenny said.

I waited to write about it to see if anything new was going to be reported. But, the story has remained the same since it first broke. And, as a father, I've got to tell you I'm sure my reaction would have been the same as Representative Foley's. Both my kids are involved in sports, and I can't imagine seeing an adult push one of my sons without me stepping into the fray - some reactions are just instinctual.

Subjective Law Enforcement

I'm all for very stiff penalties for people who drink and drive. However, I'm troubled by the police state subjective tactics that are gaining popularity:

While some citations are backed by evidence gleaned from DWI arrests or accident-scene investigations, most rely on the observations of SID agents and little or nothing else, according to a Tribune review of case files.

As the state puts increasing pressure on liquor sellers as part of a larger DWI crackdown, critics say that leaves the system open for abuse and places an impossible burden on bartenders.

"The concern that we have is that this is all very arbitrary," said Carol Wight, president of the New Mexico Restaurant Association. "We have concerns about the standards of evidence. We have concerns that certain establishments are being targeted. We have a lot of concerns."

Schwartz, a former Bernalillo County district attorney, said he's comfortable prosecuting the cases filed by SID, including the Sauce-Liquid Lounge-Raw case. He points out that many criminal cases are based solely on the word of police officers or victims.

This is a very slippery slope away from personal responsibility. I can't help but wonder if it's really just about generating money through punitive fines.

If Safety Really Was Priority Number One

A lot of discussion has occurred on the web and elsewhere about Mayor Martin Chavez's money-making machine (AKA the red-light cameras). The Mayor's story is that it's all about safety, and he is sticking to it. But reports like this kind of make you wonder:

Red light cameras and speed cameras have failed to reduce offenses committed by the drivers of school buses in Albuquerque, New Mexico. City officials insisted when the devices were installed in 2005 that their only purpose was to reduce driving violations, but drivers working on behalf of the city continue to be photographed.

Last year, six bus drivers sued the city for automatically finding them guilty of red light camera violations without offering them an opportunity to challenge the evidence.

This year, KOB-TV documented at least fifty examples of red light and speed camera citations that were mailed to the sixteen private companies that operate school buses on behalf of Albuquerque. The highest speeds alleged were between nine and ten MPH over the limit and a number of the claimed red light violations involved turning right on red.

The city makes each school bus company responsible for paying the fine.

If the city's primary concern was safety, don't you think they would terminate contracts with these school bus companies instead of just making them pay the fine? I'm just wondering.

Life Lesson Only Temporarily Avoided

When County Commissioner Teresa Cordova stepped in and pushed to change her son's failing grade (subscription) to a passing a grade, she made a decision that I'm willing to bet is going to come back and bite her, not as a politician, but as a mother:

"There were some other kids that didn't graduate," Anita Forte said. "I didn't fail them; they failed themselves."

Ms. Forte, the Rio Grande High School teacher in question, is dead on with this comment. And, at some some point, Commissioner Cordova's son is going to have to learn that lesson. Chances are the next time he fails his mother won't be able to save him from his bad decisions, and next time, it is quite possible that the stakes will be much larger then gaining the opportunity to celebrate an undeserved graduation.

The Bill Richardson Loophole

The facts as I understand them...

We're in a War in Iraq. We have politicians campaigning to become President. The election will take place in 2008. The Democrats are campaigning to pull out of the war. Governor Bill Richardson wants to separate himself from the Democratic pack (subscription):

The New Mexico Democrat said he is the only candidate committed, at least so far, to extricating every soldier from Iraq upon taking office.

Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, as well as former Sen. John Edwards, have either voted for or voiced support for a plan that contains "loopholes" to keep U.S. troops in Iraq "indefinitely," Richardson argued.

"As president, I'd have the clearest position," Richardson said during a speech here to the Campaign for America's Future, a liberal activist group.

"I would withdraw all of our forces without any residual troops by the end of this calendar year," Richardson said.

The facts continued... If Governor Richardson were to be elected President, he wouldn't officially take office until January 2009. His campaign promise is withdraw all troops by the end of 2007.

Nice. A campaign promise that can't be kept, so it can't be broken. Classic Bill Richardson all the way. Quick, someone nominate this guy for a Nobel Prize.

Honor Among Lawyers

Oh, I'm so confused....

It is accepted as fact in New Mexico that former, fired and disgruntled U.S. Attorney David Iglesias served as the inspiration for the Tom Cruise character in a A Few Good Men. More than one local story has used it to bring a little bit of Hollywood to their coverage of Mr. Iglesias' firing for performance reasons:

After graduating from the University of New Mexico School of Law, Iglesias became a Navy judge advocate general. Early in his career, he was assigned to defend court-martialed sailors at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There, his involvement in a hazing case became the basis for Tom Cruise's character in "A Few Good Men."

But, here is where it gets weird. Former GOP State Party Chairman John Dendahl recently had a letter published (subscription) in the Albuquerque Journal where he points out that Mr. Iglesias is not alone in his claim to fame:

Political campaigns being what they are, we were pleased to tout Iglesias' story that he was the dauntless Navy court-martial prosecutor portrayed by Tom Cruise in the movie "A Few Good Men." Now I find sources, including Wikipedia, revealing the Tom Cruise character to be another Navy lawyer, Don Marcari, currently in private practice in Virginia. But the Cruise-plays-Iglesias myth lives on, adding gloss to the voluminous 2007 press Iglesias has attracted to obscure his justified firing.

Iglesias' résumé needs corroboration. Pending that, I'm reminded of Bill Richardson's claim of having been drafted to play major league baseball, debunked— but only after about 40 years.

It often takes the truth too long to catch up with a well-told lie.

So, I did a little bit of digging, and sure enough, there is another lawyer out there claiming to be the inspiration for A Few Good Men:

Don first gained national attention when his exploits as a young defense attorney with the U.S. Navy JAG Corp became the basis for the motion picture "A Few Good Men." For the last 19 years, Don has been fighting for injured people throughout North Carolina and Virginia. His skill in the courtroom has lead to his selection to the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors and the Ethics & Professionalism Committee.

Now who am I supposed to believe? The trial lawyer or the former U.S. Attorney with a well-documented history of honing his performance.

Wasting Taxpayer Dollars

We were out of town for the weekend doing a family thing, so it wasn't until last night that I picked up the mail from Saturday, which included an eight page newsletter from the New Mexico Family Council entitled Marriage Life Line!

Never mind that I've never asked for it or anything else from these folks. Never mind that in a couple of weeks, Roxanne and I will be happily celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary. Never mind that the content of the publication was nothing more than an advertorial for the organization. What really got me going was this:

Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Grant Number 90FE0115/01 and 90AE0051 and other sources. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author's) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

What is the federal government doing funding efforts to "preserve marriages?" Leave it to the government to think throwing a couple of bucks to some organization is going to improve people's commitment to family. What a total waste of money.

Touchy Feely Stuff

Oops, there he goes again:

Then again, a good resumé is not all it takes to win the nomination, and there are some signs that Richardson may not be the perfect candidate. In fact, as we get up from our seats to visit the play-by-play announcer's booth, Richardson does something I've never seen any politician do. There are two women sitting in front of us. They are both young and attractive, probably in their twenties. The governor rotates his large frame sideways and shimmies out of his row. The two women smile up at him. As he passes, Richardson reaches down and places his fingertips on the head of one of the women, tickling her scalp as he opens and closes his hand. Then, as he reaches for the next scalp, his hand suddenly aborts its mission, as if the governor realizes this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Richardson's touching problem isn't exactly news. In 2005, his lieutenant governor, Diane Denish, told The Albuquerque Journal that she goes out of her way to avoid sitting or standing next to Richardson because he's a little too grabby. "He pinches my neck. He touches my hip, my thigh, sort of the side of my leg," she told the newspaper, which illustrated the story with a photo of Richardson smiling mischievously as his hand reached around toward Denish's backside while the two sat next to each other at a public event. [Hat tip: Steve Terrell]

Governor Bill Richardson is beginning to seem a little too much like his mentor.

Graduating Failures

So, I'm reading this article about New Mexico's graduation rates (subscription) and I come across the following section:

Frustrated by the varying ways states calculated their graduation and dropout rates, the National Governors Association challenged governors to agree to a set standard.

Gov. Bill Richardson and other governors signed a compact with the association in 2005, agreeing to calculate graduation rates in a uniform manner. By 2012, all states are expected to report their rates.

Meanwhile, a national report issued this week by Education Week put New Mexico's graduation rate for the 2003-2004 school year at 60.1 percent. But for that same year, the state of New Mexico— which used a different formula— reported a graduation rate of 89 percent to the federal government.

"The first step is getting the more accurate count," Curran said. "You can't adequately deal with the problem until you know the scope of it."

The rest of the article points out that only an estimated 58% of the class of 2008, because of the number of high school students that are behind in their credits, will actually graduate. No matter how you look at it, that means that New Mexico is losing ground in providing its students with a high school diploma.

Which kind of leaves you wondering how Governor Bill Richardson decided to address this continued failure on the education front while hitting the campaign trail. Well, as luck would have it. I have the answer. First, according to Dan Brown of the Huffington Post, Richardson tried to avoid dealing with the education failures:

Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico, former Congressman and U.S. Secretary of Energy, does not list education among the seven issues on his presidential committee website . Richardson has made strides for education as Governor of New Mexico, so the omission is baffling.

Actually Mr. Brown, the strides haven't been all that great, so the omission is anything but baffling. However, as much as the Governor would like to, you can't ignore education issue, so Richardson did ultimately have to put up an education platform. Hmm, he forgot to mention that he would avoid repeating all of the mistakes he has made in New Mexico.

Didn't Work in New Mexico, So Let's Take it National

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time knows that the Governor Richardson's rail project is over budget and under performing. So, I find it interesting that our Governor Richardson would propose to duplicate this fiasco on a national scale (subscription):

With gas prices rising and roadways jammed, Richardson said it was time to rethink a federal transportation policy that pumps billions of dollars into new roads each year. Mass transit, he said, will be the best, cleanest way to move metropolitan residents in the future.

If elected, he said he would "make it a major effort to refocus transportation construction of roads into light rail and more energy efficient transportation," the New Mexico governor told reporters at a news conference Monday.

"I would make light rail at least an equal partner" with highways, he said. With more rail and clean-running buses, "it's going to improve the quality of life in this country."

Richardson provided few specifics about funding, but said the construction would be financed with bonds backed by the state and federal government.

Nothing like failure to breed a plan for the future. I'm wondering as the Governor is criss-crossing cities in search of hands to shake and babies to kiss, how many times has he done it via light rail and clean running buses? Bill Richardson spends a lot of time in Denver, and I know Denver has light rail. Yet, I just don't remember reading that was how Governor Richardson was choosing to travel around the Mile High City. Good thing for him that billions
of dollars are being pumped into new roads every year.

Some Standards Shouldn't Be Relaxed

Maybe I'm just being old fashioned, but I think some standards should be upheld no matter how tight the job market (subscription):

The Police Executive Research Forum study also noted a drop from 36 percent to 20 percent in recent years of departments that require candidates to have a clean criminal record.

Many departments also subject their recruits to lie-detector tests in which they are asked about their drug use. But cities such as Fort Myers, Fla., are overlooking occasional use of drugs such as Ecstasy and powdered cocaine as long as it was more than five years in the past. Most departments still disallow anyone with a felony conviction.

"It's different now for the kids. There's a lot of drugs out there," said Fort Myers Maj. Glenn Johnson. "I'd hate to rule them out because of that."

He'd hate to rule out police recruits because of drug use? And only 20% of police departments require candidates to have clean record? To quote a retired law enforcement officer, "What's wrong with this picture?"

Cutting Security Funding and Increasing Pork

Somethings are expected. For example, when the Democrats took over from the Republicans in Congress, it was a pretty safe bet that there would be some changes. However, no one could have predicted the type of vindictive changes that have in fact took place.

First, you had a Democratic Committee Chairman playing politics with the memory of a war hero, and now you have the Democrats willing to undermine national security to settle old scores:

“I am surprised by the extent to which the House Appropriations Committee has gone out of its way to single out Los Alamos, and to some extent Sandia. The House bill is stunningly punitive in its treatment of Los Alamos. This bill would be devastating for Los Alamos, surrounding communities and New Mexico overall,” said Domenici, who is the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee that funds DOE and the national laboratories.

And, you can't even argue these cuts are being done in the name of fiscal responsibility. Why not? Well, because the Democrats have already demonstrated a willingness to sidestep their own rules designed to shed light on frivolous earmarks.

Yeah, this all makes sense. Slash national security budgets in a time of war and make it easier to increase unaccountable spending for pork barrel projects. Aren't you glad you voted for change?

Not the Least Bit Political

I'm reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and thoroughly enjoying it. It is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Here is an interesting thought from the novel:

"Making money isn't hard in itself," he complained. "What's hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting one's life to."

Probably not the type of thought you'd expect me to be promoting, but what can I say, I'm a complicated individual.

Governor Richardson's Blatant PR Move

Maybe I'm missing something, but a U.S. Presidential Debate in Spanish (subscription)?

Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson has agreed to participate in a candidate debate in September that's to be conducted in Spanish.

Univision Communications Inc., the nation's largest Spanish-language broadcaster, has invited candidates to a debate planned Sept. 9 at the University of Miami.

"Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of our population and this is a unique chance for all of the candidates to hear and address the concerns and priorities of this important constituency,'' Richardson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Richardson, who is fluent in Spanish, is the nation's only Hispanic governor. He was born in California, but spent his early childhood in Mexico City.

Exactly, who is Richardson supposed to debate in Spanish? Folks this is absurd. Now mind you, Spanish is my father's native language, so I'm not one of these people who think there is something wrong with people speaking more than one language in the U.S.; however, a Spanish language Presidential debate in the U.S. is absurd. It makes as much sense as Rep. Tom Tancredo's posturing last night in the Republican debate that we should close the borders to all immigrants, legal or not.

Hooked on Politics

Even the politically addicted have their limits, and I've found mine. Watching debates between ten candidates from beginning to end is just... well, tedious. You know that when the moderator announces that everyone has 60 seconds to answer questions, you're in for two hours of pointless banter.

Granted, some of the candidates look better than others making their points, but did anyone really say anything of substance? I don't think so.

Sound bites and more sound bites. There has got to be a better way to do this.

A City Council Candidate's First Misstep

I always encourage candidates for office to blog. I think it's a great way to get your story out there and keep your potential constituents engaged. I like to point out that when I ran for the State Legislature in 2004, my campaign website (not a blog at the time) had about 750 visits between January 2004 and June 2004. In order to get those visitors, I knocked on hundreds of doors and spent over $20,000 in campaign materials.

The next year, I turned that website into the blog you're reading today, and between January 2005 and June 2005, I ended up with over 10,000 unique visitors - without spending a single dollar. That's right, I went from 750 to over 10,000 readers in the same six month period. Today, those numbers are larger, much larger.

Now with all that said, one of the rules a candidate should follow, if they're going to blog, is to stick to the truth. See, in the blogosphere it is just too easy to be called to task if what you're trying to do is build a campaign on outright lies.

Here, let me give you an example.

A woman named Paulette de' Pascal is running in District 4 for Albuquerque City Council. From her bio and her picture, she seems like a nice enough lady, and you have to applaud her decision to blog. As I've pointed out, it's a nice low cost way to communicate, and it will make a great complement to all of the out of pocket expenses she is already able to avoid by opting to run her campaign on the taxpayer's dime. Not the way I would go, but hey, those are the new rules, so more power to her.

Ms. de'Pascal started out her campaign blog with a nice first post:

Hello
Allow me to introduce myself, I am Paulette de'Pascal,
Candidate for City Council, Albuquerque, NM, District 4.
Please feel free to share your issues and concerns with me.
It is my intention to communicate your interests, as your Councilor.
Thank you.

Unfortunately, it took less than a week for Ms. de'Pascal to depart from the niceties and begin to go quickly downhill:

Before I close today's blog, I'd like to touch on the desire of our current City Councilor who does not agree with our Mayor on lowering the the sales tax. For some of our constituants, a lower tax would mean the difference in the type of bread, milk or cereal they buy, every penny adds up.

Now, I'm not one to have a problem with pointing out an opponent's record. That's just part of politics. The problem is that City Councilor Brad Winter, the councilor to whom Ms. de'Pascal is referring, did agree with "our Mayor" on lowering the sales tax. And, I know because I took to task the one Republican Councilor who did not support the tax cut.

I'm also pretty sure that Ms. de'Pascal is aware of Councilor Winter's actual voting record. After all, the vote and position of all the candidates was very clearly reported in the Albuquerque Journal (subscription):

Craig Loy, Sally Mayer, Ken Sanchez and Brad Winter voted against delaying the tax reduction. Voting to delay were Isaac Benton, Michael Cadigan, Don Harris, Martin Heinrich and Debbie O'Malley.

She is probably also aware that it was Councilor Brad Winter that sponsored another 1/8 cent tax cut that went into effect on January of this year. And, I'm sure she knows that Councilor Winter was one of three city councilors to oppose a tax extension championed by "our Mayor" to build a streetcar.

So, what could Ms. de'Pascal possibly be thinking? After all, this does not exactly launch her campaign in the most positive light. Maybe she figured she could leverage the negative and slanderous ads that were recently run by some unknown entity billing themselves as the 'Citizens for Responsible Budget:"

Why are City Councilors Brad Winter and Don Harris voting to raise out taxes? Good question. Brad Winter and Don Harris ran as fiscal conservatives, promising to cut city spending and taxes. Now they are going back on their word voting against a tax cut and making those campaign promises look like a lot of hot air. City Councilors Brad Winter and Don Harris opposed the tax cut and voted for more spending at a time when Albuquerque's economy is booming and tax revenues are at record levels. Call Brad Winter and Don Harris at 768-3100. Tell them to keep their word to Albuquerque voters. When candidates Brad Winter and Don Harris said they would cut taxes and spending, was it the truth or just a campaign gimmick? Call Brad Winter and Don Harris at 768-3100. Tell them to hold the line on spending and cut taxes. Remember, Brad and Don, it's our money, not yours.
Paid for by Citizens for Responsible Budget.

Well, I'm glad to see public funding of campaigns is off to such a great start. Now we, the taxpayers, get to pay for the campaigns in order to leave more money for front groups to spend in slander campaigns. It's a beautiful new day.

Democratic Debate in Manchester

Steve Terrell has blogged the Manchester debate between the Democratic candidates for President, and here is the money line as far as I'm concerned:

8:47 PM EDT: Richardson brags that he's balanced five state budgets. This drives New Mexico reporters nuts! He has to balance the budget according to the state constitution. There's no option.

Yup, that about sums it up in a nutshell. Bill Richardson's biggest accomplishments as Governor of the State of New Mexico has been to do the things he is constitutionally mandated to do.

That Didn't Take Long

I remember something about the Democrats making all kinds of promises about the type of changes they would make in the first one hundred hours of controlling Congress:

If all goes according to plan, the House will get through its hundred-hour agenda in 15 days, or 360 hours, by standard definition. Today, the House will take up an ethics package. Tomorrow, new budget controls.

And, speaking of Congressional budget controls:

After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify "earmarks" — lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.

Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

Now, that's got to be a new low: Creating a new rule in January and sidestepping it in June. You Independents, who read this blog, might want to keep that in mind for the next election.

Time is Tight

Sorry folks, I'm running late here. I've been traveling and haven't had much free time. There is a lot I haven't had a chance to talk about. So, let me suggest you go visit another New Mexico blogger who has a few interesting thoughts on Governor Bill Richardson among other things.