7-5 Dendahl5

WED, 7-5-06

SANTA FE -- John Dendahl wasted no time getting into full swing after being selected as pinch hitter for the New Mexico Republican gubernatorial team.
Within minutes of his Saturday selection, he was making statements to the press. Within hours, he was making fundraising calls and lining up appearances.
Early Monday morning, he was on radio talk shows attacking the rest of the media for its bias against him. He no longer likes being called an attack dog or a pit bull, two common descriptions of him during his days as state GOP chairman.
Dendahl didn't object to those terms then, but now he is trying to appear more gubernatorial. He admitted during an unsuccessful GOP gubernatorial bid 12 years ago that perhaps he wasn't cut out to be a politician because of his outspokenness.
But now he wants another shot at diplomacy. He especially resents being called a bomb thrower by Gov. Bill Richardson's campaign chairman Dave Contarino. But Dendahl is proud of a Wall Street Journal article calling him a lightening bolt thrower.
There is a difference, obviously, between people who throw bombs and gods who throw lightening bolts. Lightening bolts may have a more destructive capacity, which could be a negative, but they also might be thought of as enlightening, which John would obviously like.
Right off the bat, Dendahl also attacked gubernatorial press aide Pahl Shipley, who fired off a quick blast at Dendahl on Saturday as soon as he learned of his appointment. Dendahl noted that Shipley is a state employee and that New Mexicans don't appreciate their tax money being spent on such blatant politics.
Dendahl asked Gov. Richardson what sort of policies he might have to cover this ethical matter. It is a very good question and by the time you read this, Richardson would be wise to answer.
Shipley replied that he sent out the release on his own time on his personal computer. Obviously, it was a Saturday, but anyone who knows Gov. Richardson, knows that his employees, especially in the press office, have no time of their own.
Dendahl also attacked state Democratic Party Chairman John Wertheim, saying he doesn't have to answer any charges from "that boy." Completely disregarding the chairman of a major political party seems a bit odd, coming from a former state party chairman himself.
Wertheim is 38 and holds a law degree. John Sanchez, whom Dendahl championed as the GOP gubernatorial candidate four years ago, was a year older, at the time. Sanchez, by the way, says he intends to get back into politics someday, possibly in another run for governor, or maybe the U.S. Senate.
For now, the Albuquerque roofing contractor is keeping a finger in politics. He oversaw a five-state reelection effort for President Bush two years ago and is helping Sen. Pete Domenici raise money for his 2008 campaign. Sanchez recently hosted a $2,500 a person fundraiser at his spacious new Northeast Heights home.
Wertheim asked Dendahl to come up with one positive idea for this campaign. Although Dendahl would not answer Wertheim, he told the Wall Street Journal he plans to seek a constitutional amendment restraining taxing and spending. New Mexico already has a constitutional provision requiring a balanced budget and prohibiting a deficit, so this would go farther.
National Republicans proposed a balanced budget constitutional amendment back in 1994, when they took over Congress. But that never got very far.
Dendahl also pointed out to this columnist that when he ran for governor in '94, the centerpiece of his campaign was personal income tax reform very similar to what Gov. Richardson has used to get himself portrayed as a "tax-cutting Democrat governor."
And he noted that another of his proposals was to amend the constitution to place the Department of Education under the governor.
Richardson accomplished that one too. Maybe these two guys aren't so far apart after all. But they'll still find plenty to fight about.

 

7-3 A Nuclear National Park?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Should our nation establish a nuclear national park? The answer is in the affirmative, for several of reasons.
The development and use of the first atomic bombs was voted the top news story of the last century. There are Manhattan Project sites still standing in New Mexico and several other locations around the country.
This new source of energy is now supplying power to millions of people and curing others of dread diseases. And to me, at least, the Manhattan Project was considerably more awe inspiring than some of the other 58 national parks around this nation.
Obviously, there are those in this world who feel there should be no recognition accorded the most destructive weapon mankind has created thus far.
But the reality is that it happened and it is relevant. Understanding what happened just might mean a better ability to avoid looking for other ways to destroy the world.
A team from the National Park Service has just completed visits to many sites which could be considered for a far flung nationwide park. The study is being conducted as a result of legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, along with cosponsors from other states with nuclear sites.
New Mexico clearly should be the focal point of the national park. This is where the project came together and where the first nuclear explosion on Earth occurred.
The jewel of all locations is Trinity Site, where the first detonation occurred, and the McDonald ranch house, a few miles south, which was headquarters for the Trinity operation.
The test was conducted in the northeast corner of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, now the White Sands Missile Range. Although the site has nothing to do with the current mission of WSMR, the Army is loath to part with any of its secret haunts. So Trinity Site is not even under consideration as a part of the Manhattan Project National Park.
The people of Los Alamos and the national laboratory have preserved key sites deserving to be part of the park. Los Alamos County owns and maintains Fuller Lodge, which was the hub of the Manhattan Project.
The town Historical Society has purchased the home of Robert Oppenheimer, the laboratory's first director. The lab itself has long maintained the Bradbury Museum in downtown Los Alamos. It also has recently identified for preservation the remaining buildings on lab property that housed wartime research.
In Santa Fe, tour guides point out the two buildings that were used for checking in military and civilians assigned to the project. Those chosen to work at Los Alamos knew nothing of its location and little more of its mission. They merely were told to come to Santa Fe.
Many sat around the lobby of the La Fonda waiting to be claimed or went to the post office and hung around Box 1663, the return address on the orders they received.
Other sites being considered for the national park are in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where uranium for Los Alamos was enriched; Hanford, Washington, which produced plutonium for one of the bombs and Dayton, Ohio, which developed the trigger for one of the bombs.
Missing from the sites studied was the area under the tennis stadium at the University of Chicago, where the first controlled nuclear reaction was conducted. Without that, the Manhattan Project was not ready to proceed.
These communities are excited about the possibility of being part of the Manhattan Project National Park. Each presents its own problems as far as inclusion is concerned, often due to the cost of renovation.
And cost is the big problem. The National Park System has historically been underfunded, despite lip service to the contrary. And the current federal administration has been the worst.
Without the inclusion of Trinity Site and with the prospect that this will stretch the park system even more, my vote goes for leaving preservation in the hands of local communities for now.
MON, 7-03-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-30 What Did Pete Have to do with It?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- After months of rigor mortis in the Republican gubernatorial campaign, it is refreshing to see it suddenly jump back to life.
The past several days of campaign intrigue are making up for many months of silence. As stories change every day about what led to the departure of Santa Fe Dr. J.R. Damron and the sudden emergence of Santa Fe politico John Dendahl as the GOP gubernatorial candidate, we'll try to keep you up with the plot twists.
Some might get tired of hearing about it, but a shift of major party gubernatorial candidates five months before a general election is unprecedented in New Mexico history.
In 1980, U.S. Rep. Harold Runnels, of Lovington, died after the primary election and was replaced by the Democratic state central committee. The selection of David King caused enough voter consternation that write-in-candidate Joe Skeen won the general election.
But this time, no one died, though some would argue that the campaign did. How did it come to pass that Dr. Damron stepped aside so quickly and quietly?
The official version is that old friend John Dendahl dropped by the Damron house one morning and offered to take over. Party leaders were consulted that afternoon and by evening, Dr. and Mrs. Damron had accepted.
But precedent-shattering decisions like that don't happen in an eight-hour time period, except in Dan Brown novels.
Supposedly the campaign was in full swing and everyone was happy the morning of Dendahl's visit. But two weeks earlier, a headline in the Albuquerque Journal revealed that the state GOP and the good doctor weren't seeing eye-to-eye about the pace of the campaign.
Consequently, Damron agreed to take leave from his medical practice and devote full time to the campaign, which, he said, made the party very pleased.
But the party still had concerns. And it had been having them almost since the beginning last October, when Damron picked up his nominating petitions.
Since the Santa Fe radiologist was the only one to pick up petitions, party leaders went easy on him, knowing the difficulty of finding anyone who wanted to go after an energetic, well-financed, incumbent governor. A lieutenant governor running mate for Damron could not be found until three days before the filing deadline in February.
At the March preprimary nominating convention, when candidate names were officially put on the ballot, concerns were expressed among some delegates that not much was happening in Damron's campaign.
In April, Damron's campaign manager quit. We now know that he told the candidate at the time that he needed to decide whether his heart really was in the race. He also shared that information with party leaders.
And that's when a search for solutions began to take shape. The official word is that Sen. Pete Domenici was contacted, along with other party leaders, the day of Dendahl's visit to Damron. And Pete said it sounded OK to him. Domenici told the press he was very, very shocked and surprised.
But blogger Joe Monahan says Pete's fingerprints were all over this one. He wanted Richardson roughed up during his reelection campaign. Domenici and Richardson have worked together on many projects over the years, but since becoming governor, Richardson has dominated the scene.
Pete doesn't like not being top guy for New Mexico and besides Richardson just might have his eye on Domenici's Senate seat in 2008, if the presidential politics don't work out.
So, according to Monahan, Domenici and others began several weeks ago considering replacements for Damron. And Dendahl quickly became the perfect candidate to soften up Richardson.
Domenici and Dendahl aren't particularly close, but in this instance, Pete really likes him. Domenici says Dendahl is like a breath of fresh air�like a new candidate.
That's pretty good for a guy who came in third in the Republican gubernatorial primary 12 years ago.
This is Dendahl's big chance to shine.
FRI, 6-30-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-28 Dendahl a Sacrificial Wolf?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Will John Dendahl be a uniter for the New Mexico Republican Party? That's the way it is being played.
State GOP Chairman Allen Weh proclaimed at the end of the meeting that selected Dendahl to replace Dr. J.R. Damron that the party is now "very, very united."
Obviously the state central committee members who were present at the meeting were relieved that the party had a candidate to replace Damron, who had resigned the day before. Not only that, they had a scrappy candidate willing to take on Gov. Bill Richardson at every opportunity.
But less than a third of 350 or so members of the state committee were present. Most were the strongest of the party faithful who showed up for a meeting called only to select a new candidate for state auditor.
If everyone had shown, would Dendahl have received the unanimous and rousing selection party leaders claimed took place behind closed doors?
There still are wounds among GOP state central committee members from the bruising battles in which Dendahl was defeated for state party chairman three years ago by state Sen. Ramsay Gorham.
Those wounds were deepened a year later when Dendahl's faction of the party ousted Gorham. That faction also recruited primary election opposition for incumbent Republican legislators who didn't vote the party line often enough.
Might Dendahl's choice reopen those wounds? Dendahl is smart. He's also a competitor, having made the U.S. Olympic ski team in 1960. Expect to see him make an effort to unite the party
Essentially Dendahl has continued as the public voice of the state GOP, despite his ouster. He knows how to get on the front page of the paper.
He's also been on the editorial page of some papers the past year or so, with columns primarily attacking the Richardson administration. Those columns now will have to be discontinued, but they made Dendahl a familiar face to many New Mexicans.
Those columns also could get Dendahl into some campaign trouble. Although he worked hard to attract Hispanics into the Republican Party during his terms as state chairman, his recent columns on immigration have had enough of an English-Only message to them that Democrats may use them to convince Hispanics he's out to destroy their culture.
That's not the John Dendahl I know, but he does have a problem with being too blunt for his own good as a politician.
After finishing third in the 1994 Republican gubernatorial primary, won by Gary Johnson, Dendahl mused that he probably wasn't cut out to be a candidate because of his outspoken manner.
But here he is, back again. He couldn't resist. Dendahl says he never enters a race he doesn't intend to win. But this race isn't really about being governor, it's about weakening Richardson's possible bid for national office.
My guess is that Dendahl really is doing this for the Republican National Committee, which would like to continue the Democratic Party's inability to find an attractive candidate for president.
Dendahl has long been close to the national GOP leadership. Although he's never held an office at that level, he can accomplish the sorts of things in this state that top party operatives like to see. He's now embarking on a mission they know he can do better than anyone else.
Four years ago, Richardson won election by a 17-point margin. This time, he'd like to extend it to 20 percent. A 60-40 victory is a rout. Dendahl wants to whittle down Richardson's previous margin -- to as low as 10 percent if possible.
That 10 percent is not going to happen unless Dendahl gets a generous amount of national help, especially money. He must have the resources for major television buys.
Without big money, Dendahl will be a sacrificial wolf. That's blogger Joe Monahan's terminology. He says no way will Dendahl ever be a lamb.
WED, 6-28-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-26 Dendahl In For Damron

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Halleluiah. New Mexico has a race for governor. A few weeks ago, this column suggested invoking the 10-run mercy rule used in amateur baseball and call off the race.
Republican gubernatorial candidate J.R. Damron's campaign was dead in the water. His campaign manager quit in April and was never replaced. The last campaign finance report showed Gov. Bill Richardson with $5.7 million in the bank and Damron with $43,000. That didn't include a reported $120,000 the campaign was in debt.
A few days later, I received a news release saying "Damron Quits." But it was his radiology practice he was quitting, temporarily. The move was to late, however. Nothing could be done to revive the patient.
Mercifully, it ended last Friday. The Republican state central committee already had a meeting scheduled for Saturday to replace the GOP state auditor candidate. Dr. Damron agreed that it was time he be replaced too.
John Dendahl is exactly what the state Republican Party needs at this point to inject some life back into the party. He is energetic, articulate and totally dedicated to the mission at hand. He knows the party inside and out, having ably served as its chairman for eight years.
The party faithful now have a firebrand to rally behind. They know he'll be on the trail every day preaching their message, and most of all, challenging his opponent at every step.
Candidates in down-ballot races will get a boost of energy and morale and the national GOP now has a candidate who can soften up a possible presidential contender.
That's the upside. Dendahl isn't much more likely to be elected governor than he is to become pope. He will turn the campaign highly negative. And he will alienate a number of members of his own party.
But for now, he's saving his party from embarrassment, bringing a spark to the 2006 elections and providing those of us in the political commentary business a better Fathers Day present than we ever could have imagined.
One of the first criticisms of Dendahl by Democrat leaders was that he is far too conservative. They're going to have to come up with something better than that to stick on a guy with Dendahl's libertarian leanings. His biggest problems as state GOP chairman were from the conservative wing of his party.
By far the worst trouble Dendahl got in while state party chairman was for his strong support of then-Gov. Gary Johnson's drug legalization proposals. Dendahl promised party leaders that he will leave that plank out of his campaign platform.
Speaking to the subject, Dendahl said he would not have the luxury of pioneering new policies because he'll be too focused on pointing out flaws in Richardson's policies.
And there we see the strong signal of a coming super-negative campaign. Expect state Republicans to mirror national Democrats in attacking the chief executive without proposing any solutions themselves.
Dendahl may be leaving drugs out of this campaign, but you can bet Richardson won't. The governor's initial statement immediately after learning of the GOP action: "We welcome the opportunity to hear John Dendahl explain his pro-drug legalization plan throughout the campaign."
Don't expect to hear many new ideas about how to improve New Mexico advanced during this campaign. It's going to be dirty and nasty. And before you let that turn you off, remember that experience shows negative campaigning works. Someone must like this stuff.
GOP leaders' first criticism of Gov. Richardson following their meeting was that New Mexicans shouldn't vote for a candidate who wants to run for president in two years.
They're going to have to do better than that. And they will.
Several presidential hopefuls, Republican and Democrat, are running to retain their present positions this year. In fact, our current president did the same thing as governor of Texas eight years ago.
MON, 6-26-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-23 Bush Astounds the Envorinmental World

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- President George Bush's decision to permanently protect the Northwest Hawaiian archipelago by declaring it a national monument came as a surprise to the nation.
This is the president who has been called the biggest anti-environmentalist in our history. "If there's oil under it, let's go get it," has been his administration's battle cry.
So, what in the world happened? For starters, there isn't any oil down there. Undersea volcanoes are not where one goes looking for oil. The archipelago is a 1400-mile series of volcanic peaks, most of which have sunk back into the ocean and covered by coral reefs.
Several presidents, from Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton had temporarily set aside parts of that vast territory for protection over the years. Early in the Bush administration, a review of Clinton's action was initiated at the request of the fishing industry.
Five years of letters and testimony were collected and the expectation on all sides was that this administration would roll back those protections. But to nearly everyone's surprise, Bush did just the opposite by making the protections stronger and permanent.
Television reports indicate he was swayed by a Cousteau TV program about the archipelago. Another report gives former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich credit for influencing Bush. Is it weird enough for you yet?
This is the time in two-term presidents' careers that they start thinking about their legacies. Maybe that was an influence.
After all, this was the largest act of ocean conservation in history. It's the marine equivalent of Yellowstone National Park. It's a landmark conservation event. It is now the largest marine protected area in the world, surpassing Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It doesn't get more revolutionary than that.
Maybe the answer is that Karl Rove is back on the job now, paying attention to making the president look good instead of trying to keep himself out of jail.
But whatever the reason, George Bush did it and deserves the accolades he receives.
Most people aren't even aware of the existence of this magnificent expanse of islands, stretching 1400 miles from the islands on the southeast end of the archipelago, with which we are familiar, to Midway Island , halfway across the Pacific.
The islands aren't included in maps of the United States even though they are part of the state of Hawaii. The territory covered, 1500 miles by 100 miles, isn't counted in the size of the state. If it were, it would be one of our largest states.
Last summer, my wife and I traveled by cruise ship, along those islands, from Honolulu to Midway Island, a trip that took almost three days. Midway is of such strategic importance to the military that it still has jurisdiction over the island. But other than maintaining an emergency runway, it is a wildlife refuge overseen by 40 employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The island is home to a million albatross, who go there to mate. They cover just about every square foot of ground that isn't concrete or tarmac. Otherwise, they live at sea on a diet of fish.
Because albatross are so accustomed to landing on water, when they land on solid ground they often go sprawling. The troops stationed there named them "gooney birds." The name then gravitated to the C-47s, which transported troops and supplies to the island and beyond.
Our newest national monument will be given a Hawaiian name, based on suggestions of residents. It is home to over 7,000 species, at least a fourth of which are found nowhere else.
Almost 70 percent of the tropical shallow water coral reefs in the United States are located on the archipelago. It is a rookery for over 14 million birds. The area also has an abundance of large predatory fish at a time when 90 percent of such species have disappeared from the world's oceans.
This will be an enduring environmental legacy.
FRI, 6-23-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-21 corrected copy

WED, 6-21-06
By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- A recent column proclaiming territorial Gov. Edmund G. Ross "the father of New Mexico public schools" brought a reminder that public schools didn't become a reality until the administration of Gov. Bradford Prince, two years after Ross left office.
That is correct. Gov. Prince also was a strong supporter of public education. He and Ross both were New Mexicans before they were appointed governor by presidents of the United States, which helped them in tip-toeing through the mine fields of New Mexico politics necessary to accomplish their goal.
And Prince had one other advantage going for him. He was a Republican, working with a fiercely Republican Legislature. Ross was a Democrat.
Here's a little background on how it all came to pass.
When New Mexico became a part of the United States in the mid-1800s, the Catholic Church had educated this state's children for 250 years. Much of the schooling was religious but the 3Rs also were taught from textbooks written by highly-educated Jesuits. School years were as short as one month, seldom more than three months.
With the arrival of Easterners to their newly-acquired territory, there soon was a move to establish public schools � and a cultural war began. The Anglos came from a tradition of publicly-financed, nonsectarian schools.
They were steeped in the mores of religious freedom, for which many of their ancestors had fled Europe. The First Amendment right to a separation of church and state conflicted diametrically with the Spanish tradition of church-state union.
New Mexico had been settled by Spain, both for riches and for conversion of natives to the Roman Catholic faith. When presented with numerous charges of mistreated natives and abuse of power by the outpost's first governor, Juan de Onate, the Spanish government came close to abandoning its New Mexico colony. It realized that after 10 years of searching, it wasn't going to find those seven cities of gold the natives kept telling them were over the next hill.
But the church said the conversion rate was running higher than expected, so the colony remained. The capital was relocated. Onate was recalled and a new governor appointed.
With this tradition of church and state being inexorably intertwined, New Mexico's Hispanics saw the move for public schools as an attack on their religion and their culture. Publicly-financed schools were fine, but they should be run by the church.
For many years after New Mexico became a territory, Hispanics controlled the Legislature. Federally appointed governors fought for public schools, but with no success. In 1863 the Legislature let Gov. Henry Connelley know where he stood by putting schools in the hands of Bishop Lamy.
In 1878 President Rutherford Hayes appointed Lew Wallace to straighten out New Mexico. Gov. Wallace, an author, scholar, statesman and a distinguished Civil War general, advocated for public schools, tried to find a jail that would hold Billy the Kid and wrote Ben Hur. His one success didn't do New Mexico much good, prompting Wallace's oft-quoted observation: "Every calculation based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico."
Wallace's first attempt at legislation to establish public schools not only met with utter defeat, lawmakers sent him a message by authorizing the Jesuits to own unlimited school property, without taxation, and then overriding the governor's veto of the legislation. Wallace tried again in 1880 with no better luck. When his term ended in 1881, he couldn't wait to get out of the state.
Finally with the appointment of Gov. Edmund G. Ross in 1885, the public school movement began to experience some success. Ross, the former Kansas senator who cast the deciding vote not to remove President Andrew Johnson from office, had moved to New Mexico in the early 1880s, and so, understood the state better than previous governors.
Along with Gov. Bradford Prince, another New Mexican, who followed him, the two were able to make public schools a reality in 1891.

In the third paragraph, I had Ross being both a Republican and a Democrat. Prince was the Republican.

6-21 Fathers of NM Public Schools

WED, 6-21-06
By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- A recent column proclaiming territorial Gov. Edmund G. Ross "the father of New Mexico public schools" brought a reminder that public schools didn't become a reality until the administration of Gov. Bradford Prince, two years after Ross left office.
That is correct. Gov. Prince also was a strong supporter of public education. He and Ross both were New Mexicans before they were appointed governor by presidents of the United States, which helped them in tip-toeing through the mine fields of New Mexico politics necessary to accomplish their goal.
And Ross had one other advantage going for him. He was a Republican, working with a fiercely Republican Legislature. Ross was a Democrat.
Here's a little background on how it all came to pass.
When New Mexico became a part of the United States in the mid-1800s, the Catholic Church had educated this state's children for 250 years. Much of the schooling was religious but the 3Rs also were taught from textbooks written by highly-educated Jesuits. School years were as short as one month, seldom more than three months.
With the arrival of Easterners to their newly-acquired territory, there soon was a move to establish public schools � and a cultural war began. The Anglos came from a tradition of publicly-financed, nonsectarian schools.
They were steeped in the mores of religious freedom, for which many of their ancestors had fled Europe. The First Amendment right to a separation of church and state conflicted diametrically with the Spanish tradition of church-state union.
New Mexico had been settled by Spain, both for riches and for conversion of natives to the Roman Catholic faith. When presented with numerous charges of mistreated natives and abuse of power by the outpost's first governor, Juan de Onate, the Spanish government came close to abandoning its New Mexico colony. It realized that after 10 years of searching, it wasn't going to find those seven cities of gold the natives kept telling them were over the next hill.
But the church said the conversion rate was running higher than expected, so the colony remained. The capital was relocated. Onate was recalled and a new governor appointed.
With this tradition of church and state being inexorably intertwined, New Mexico's Hispanics saw the move for public schools as an attack on their religion and their culture. Publicly-financed schools were fine, but they should be run by the church.
For many years after New Mexico became a territory, Hispanics controlled the Legislature. Federally appointed governors fought for public schools, but with no success. In 1863 the Legislature let Gov. Henry Connelley know where he stood by putting schools in the hands of Bishop Lamy.
In 1878 President Rutherford Hayes appointed Lew Wallace to straighten out New Mexico. Gov. Wallace, an author, scholar, statesman and a distinguished Civil War general, advocated for public schools, tried to find a jail that would hold Billy the Kid and wrote Ben Hur. His one success didn't do New Mexico much good, prompting Wallace's oft-quoted observation: "Every calculation based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico."
Wallace's first attempt at legislation to establish public schools not only met with utter defeat, lawmakers sent him a message by authorizing the Jesuits to own unlimited school property, without taxation, and then overriding the governor's veto of the legislation. Wallace tried again in 1880 with no better luck. When his term ended in 1881, he couldn't wait to get out of the state.
Finally with the appointment of Gov. Edmund G. Ross in 1885, the public school movement began to experience some success. Ross, the former Kansas senator who cast the deciding vote not to remove President Andrew Johnson from office, had moved to New Mexico in the early 1880s, and so, understood the state better than previous governors.
Along with Gov. Bradford Prince, another New Mexican, who followed him, the two were able to make public schools a reality in 1891.

 

6-19 Is Doomsday Near?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Is Doomsday near? Recently we talked about the WIPP effort to warn future civilizations not to dig in the nuclear waste repository.
This column was amused that most scenarios prepared by experts in various science fields envision events that nearly annihilate our species in the next 10,000 years. But maybe I shouldn't have been so disbelieving.
NBC has produced a special for the Sci Fi Channel, which it owns, detailing scenarios the WIPP panel had imagined. It foresees 10 doomsday situations for our planet.
The two scientific panels may not have been the same and they may not have even known of each other's work. But their conclusions were strikingly similar.
Two hours of explanation by Matt Lauer and his talking heads made conclusions by the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant panel seem much more believable.
The following is some fleshing out of the WIPP doomsday scenarios about which I made light a few weeks ago. Half of them have happened before and almost certainly will take place again. The only question is when.
Supervolcanoes, such as those that formed huge calderas in the Western United States, would blot out the sun with toxic ash, wipe out most of the planet's vegetation and poison its water.
Asteroid impacts, similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, could do it again. Many asteroids as big as that one pass in our vicinity from time to time. Arizona's Meteor Crater is a more recent example.
Global pandemics, such as "bird flu" that currently has us so worried, may kill millions as they have before, or could eradicate the entire human race.
Mass extinctions have occurred five times in the planet's history, When the dinosaurs disappeared, two-thirds of all plant and animal species went also. A majority of scientists think we are in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, with nearly 20 percent of our species expected to be extinct within 30 years. As we pollute air and water and destroy the rainforest, we are signing our death warrant.
Giant solar flares could destroy Earth's entire electric and electronic infrastructure, leaving humanity without communications or power and creating a new Dark Age.
Gamma-ray bursts occur when stars collide or collapse. Such a burst within a few light years of our solar system would bathe the Earth in rays thousands of times hotter and brighter than our sun and blast away our atmosphere.
Alien invasions aren't something most scientists are particularly concerned about. Nearly all acknowledge that conditions are right in the universe for many planets similar to Earth and that contact from an alien civilization is possible. They also feel that if alien intent is to dominate our planet, it will be far easier for them than science fiction writers have envisioned.
The remainder of possibilities are very much manmade. The first is nuclear terrorism. Unaccounted Soviet nukes are sure to show up in terrorist hands eventually. So are biological weapons of mass destruction. The only question is what will happen next.
Global warming is becoming more difficult to deny, whether one believes it is manmade or not. Glaciers are receding rapidly. Polar ice caps are melting. Increases in the severity and frequency of hurricanes and tornadoes is next, followed by permanent flooding of coastal areas and inland droughts.
Revenge of the cyborgs. Not being a fan of the Terminator, this is the prediction I had found most difficult to believe. But the Sci Fi program interviewed Kevin Warwick, who already is experimenting with cybernetic organisms that are part human, part machine. He has no doubt this is the most likely of all possibilities.
So there you have it. The WIPP warning system may have to be more complex than I had envisioned.
And I'm going to start being nicer to my vacuum cleaner.
MON, 6-19-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-16 Election Wrap Up

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Another reason given for low voter turnout in last week's primary election is the massive mix-up in voter identification cards.
In response to pressure from Republican leaders and the general public, the 2005 Legislature passed a watered down voter identification bill that required the secretary of state to issue all registered voters an identification card.
It isn't necessary to present the card in order to vote. It's just handy in case you don't have any other way of proving who you are. The cost of mailing all those cards is said to be $1 million.
The cards were supposed to be mailed in March, but Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron says she didn't get information from county clerks soon enough and that much of it was wrong.
Addresses are the biggest problem. People move and don't notify the county clerk. One of the voter fraud allegations often is that large numbers of people are registered at the same address.
Usually it is an apartment. If that apartment has new renters every few years, it is certainly possible that all of them may be registered at that address.
So when the secretary of state's office mailed out the first batch of voter identification cards shortly before the primary election, 60,000 of them went to wrong addresses. There also were other inaccuracies, such as birth date, gender and political affiliation.
Some county clerks are saying they got their info in on time and correctly and that voters thought they had to have a card in order to vote. Since most registered voters did not have cards by election day, they didn't vote.
This column isn't going to get involved in the battle between county clerks and the secretary of state. But we will venture an opinion on the lack of voter cards depressing turnout.
Most voters didn't even know they were supposed to receive a card.
One loyal reader called to note that the unofficial results posted on the secretary of state's Web site indicated that tens of thousands of Bernalillo County voters signed in to vote, but didn't, while thousands of voters in Chaves and other counties appear to have voted more than once.
As this is being written, the secretary of state's Web site is down. Maybe that is what is being corrected. Let's hope, at least, that it is corrected by the date the returns are finalized.
We had to wait awhile to find out results of the Democratic squeaker between two former state land commissioners. Jim Baca ended up prevailing by a 51-49 margin over Ray Powell.
Either candidate would have had a tough time against the Republican incumbent Patrick Lyons. Lyons is reported to have said he prefers to be challenged by Baca because Baca is to the left of Powell.
Baca is sure to have his hands full with the well-financed Lyons, but Baca has been in such positions before. This time, he may get an extra boost from Gov. Bill Richardson, who has clashed with Lyons on several issues during the past four years.
Richardson may also have performed a huge favor for Baca in the primary election, when he gave a job to another Hispanic hopeful, who dropped out of the race when Baca got in.
Politicians have debated for decades about whether ethnicity is a factor in campaigns. Now, a survey by the leading New Mexico polling firm has found that when New Mexico voters have little information about a race, 78 percent will vote along ethnic lines.
Powell and attorney general candidate Gary King were not favorites of Gov. Richardson in this primary. Both Powell and King tried to run for governor in 2002, but were kept off the ballot by Richardson at the preprimary nominating convention.
It didn't make Powell or King very happy, but Richardson seemed to be the most upset. Apparently he was miffed that any Democrat would challenge him.
FRI, 6-16-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-14 Flag Day

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Flag Day, June 14, is the least celebrated of all national observances. One reason is that it never has been declared an official holiday.
As we headed into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson tried but failed to get Congress to recognize the observance and make it a holiday.
Flag Day was slow in getting started and only picked up steam in the late 1800s when Americans became concerned about the flood of immigrants coming to our shores during a period of generous immigration policies, prompted by the need of burgeoning industries for cheap labor.
Sound familiar? The idea was to Americanize the children in the schools. Since most schools aren't in session in June anymore, observances in the schools have dwindled. Americanizing the younger generation hasn't been much of a problem anyway. They learn much more quickly than adults.
Flag days began in scattered communities around the nation and that is the way they still are observed. A check of the first 200 Flag Day Web sites Google gave me indicates a real hodgepodge of observances, with each Web site having its own agenda.
Flag Day is little enough recognized that many other organizations have their own Flag Day for completely different purposes. The Armed Forces have a Flag Day on a different date to raise money for needy veterans and active duty personnel. Donors are given a flag sticker to wear.
I found Red Cross sites raising money on different dates. And Flag Day means something completely different to bloggers, who want a specific day to identify and flag objectionable blogs.
Since stores don't really observe Flag Day, there are plenty of sites that sell specific Flag Day items. Many sites also have teaching materials for Flag Day.
A major problem with community Flag Day observances is that the day falls halfway between Memorial Day and July 4th, our nation's two biggest patriotic observances.
No wonder Congress hasn't wanted to make it a holiday. Not even the flag wavers have suggested it. They prefer to advocate a constitutional amendment banning flag burning.
Putting together the information from many Web sites, here is the comprehensive story of Flag Day that I had hoped to find all on one convenient Web site.
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution designating the flag's design. Most modern historians think it unlikely Betsy Ross either suggested the design or stitched the first flag.
In 1861, the city of Hartford, Conn. held a Flag Day observance to indicate its hope that the Union could be preserved as the nation entered into a Civil War.
In 1877, Congress asked that all public buildings fly the flag on June 14 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the flag. It wasn't until 20 years later that New York became the first state to require that all public buildings fly the flag.
In 1885, a Wisconsin school teacher began an energetic campaign to get Congress to declare June 14 a national holiday. In 1888, a Pittsburgh schoolboy founded the American Flag Day Association. In 1889, the principal of a kindergarten for the poor in New York City, held ceremonies that attracted the attention of New York authorities.
In 1893, the Philadelphia Society of Colonial Dames convinced the city to display the flag on all city buildings. In 1937, Pennsylvania became the first and only state to declare June 14 a legal holiday.
Finally in 1949, during the early days of the Cold War, Congress approved the national observance and President Harry Truman signed it. Presidents sometimes mention Flag Day and occasionally issue proclamations.
But celebrations remain a local matter. Not surprisingly, all the localities listed above celebrate Flag Day and claim to be its founders.
Maybe adoption of our flag isn't sufficiently momentous. How about celebrating the adoption of our Constitution?
WED, 6-14-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-12 Primary Election

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- It was a big night for Gary King and Allen McCulloch.
In a statewide primary election without much excitement, Democrat attorney general candidate Gary King and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Allen McCulloch pulled off surprisingly strong victories.
Both candidates were in three-man races. Both started strong, but encountered what appeared to be formidable opposition during the campaign. And both ended the night with close to half the vote.
In King's race, young, energetic Geno Zamora, former legal counsel to Gov. Bill Richardson, mounted an aggressive, well-financed campaign that had King working hard to keep his momentum.
In McCulloch's race, Santa Fean David Pfeffer picked up plenty of free publicity walking our border with Mexico. And state Sen. Joe Carraro, of Albuquerque, made a bid to capture the big Duke City's vote.
But on election night, what the challengers had dubbed as close races, turned into easy victories. Unofficial figures give McCulloch slightly over 50 percent. King is at about 45 percent.
King got off to a strong start with high name recognition from previous statewide races for governor and the southern congressional district seat.
McCulloch's strength came from an early start, good campaign advice, a healthy war chest and the apparent support of party leaders. He made up for Carraro's strength in Albuquerque by taking almost everything else.
King did well in the south, as expected, but also won a majority in Bernalillo County and surprisingly held his own in the north. Support for Zamora from Gov. Richardson may have helped Zamora's fundraising and forced King to put in a wad of his own money. But it didn't affect the final outcome.
King's victory likely will strengthen the Democratic ticket in November. There is no way he can be tied to an effort by Richardson to take over an office that would be very valuable to him. In addition, King's reputation for integrity may blunt any Republican effort to portray him as soft on prosecuting ethics scandals.
Jim Bibb, the Republican candidate for attorney general appears poised to give King a very good race. His tie to father-in-law and former governor, Toney Anaya, could pick him up some support in the Hispanic north.
Ironically, the King and Anaya families have a close relationship. Both are from the Moriarty area and have known each other for years. Former Gov. Bruce King and his two brothers have had coffee every morning at Mike Anaya's El Comedor Restaurant for decades.
And then add this to the mix. Bruce and Toney have never been close, politically.
It was a closer race for the Democrat secretary of state candidates. That contest was won by Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera. I will admit, that one came as a surprise to me. County clerks often run for secretary of state. That's no surprise.
But Bernalillo County clerks never have had much luck. First, they're from Albuquerque and that doesn't carry much weight in the rest of the state. And secondly, they're the ones who slow down election returns and sometimes make us wait until the next day to find out which statewide candidates won.
Herrera, however, has done a better job of dealing with the problems of counting about a third of the state's votes. So she took a shot at the top vote-counting job. She not only swept up Bernalillo County, she did remarkably well throughout the state.
Indications are that the 2006 primary will go down as the poorest turnout in any statewide election. About 20 percent of Democrats showed up and 15 percent of Republicans.
It's surprising that many Republicans bothered to exercise their civic duty. They had only one statewide race to decide and the winner of that is very unlikely to be successful in November.
Don't blame voters for not caring. The 2004 general election had the best turnout ever. Give 'em some contests and they'll vote.
MON, 6-12-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

6-9 Gov. Ross Remembered

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Gov. Edmund G. Ross came to New Mexico because of the railroad. He was a founder of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. In fact, the name was his idea.
At the time, Ross was editor of the Topeka newspaper. Subsequently, he was appointed by the governor of Kansas to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate and entered history books as the man who saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.
But the people of Kansas supported impeachment and had fully expected Ross, a Republican, to vote to oust the Democrat president.
Ross, however, felt the grounds for impeachment were so inadequate that it would jeopardize the stability of our nation if impeachment became so easy.
That ended Ross' political career as a Kansas Republican, so he looked elsewhere for opportunities. Railroads were his first love, far above politics, so he moved from one end of the AT&SF Line to the other.
In Albuquerque, he met two other former Kansans. He partnered with one of them in railroad and mining investments and joined the other at the Albuquerque Morning Journal.
After his rejections by Kansas Republicans, Ross became a Democrat. That didn't do him much good in the Republican New Mexico Territory until Grover Cleveland became the only Democrat elected president between 1860 and 1912.
In 1885, Cleveland appointed Ross governor of New Mexico. Ross got off to a rocky start when the Republican state Senate took a full year to confirm him. Although his relations with the Legislature never warmed very much, Ross still managed to rack up an impressive list of accomplishments.
His advocacy of railroads, mining and agriculture laid the foundations for New Mexico's economic growth. He also helped revitalize efforts toward gaining statehood.
Ross had long been a strong supporter of education. While in Congress, he introduced bills advocating a public school system in the territories.
As soon as he became governor, Ross began meeting with the heads of private schools in the state, along with cultural and economic factions, to encourage their support of a public school and higher education system.
By the end of his term, these negotiations resulted in the framework for public schools and the creation of the University of New Mexico, New Mexico A&M and the New Mexico School of Mines.
Unlike New Mexico's best known governor, Lew Wallace, Ross didn't hop a train to head home as soon as his term was over. Ross remained in New Mexico until his death in 1907.
After leaving office, Ross studied law and passed the New Mexico bar. He also edited the Deming Headlight until 1893. He headed the state's Bureau of Immigration from 1894-1896 and then published several books.
Shortly before his death, Kansas sent an emissary to New Mexico to personally issue the state's official apology to Ross. Most people had changed their minds about the effect of Ross' action. Tributes to his courage in the face of intense political pressure were extended along with testimonials of good will.
Being a territorial governor was not as prestigious as being a U.S. senator. Many biographies of Ross do not even mention his 25 years in New Mexico. He will always be known for that one courageous vote that saved a president. Some historians contend that it also likely saved our constitution and nation.
New Mexico hasn't done much to remember Ross either. Many state buildings are named after past governors, including Lew Wallace, but none after Ross.
In the 2006 Legislature, Sen. Shannon Robinson, who represents the Albuquerque legislative district in which Ross is buried, secured $50,000 for a monument. Ross' family expressed its appreciation for the honor but said it thought the money could be used better elsewhere.
Students at E.G. Ross Elementary school in Albuquerque say they want to raise money to improve the upkeep of his burial site.
That's not a bad idea.
FRI, 6-9-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

 

There will be no column for Wed, 6/7

Back on Fri, 6/9.

6-05Primary Campaigns MIA

MON, 6-05-06

SANTA FE -- The 2006 primary election campaign did not produce the excitement it promised. A ballot filled with former state officials and political pros gave indications of some real humdingers, but most races ended up missing in action.
The only exception has been the Democrat attorney general race. Gary King, a former candidate for governor and Congress, entered the race with high name recognition and the nod as frontrunner.
But insiders knew energetic, young Geno Zamora would make a big splash, likely with the quiet backing of Gov. Bill Richardson, for whom Zamora served as chief legal counsel until he jumped into the AG race. And then there was hardworking District Attorney Lemuel Martinez, who hustled around the state from the very beginning.
Zamora led the pack in fundraising and got far enough ahead that King reportedly had to inject $100,000 of his own money. Martinez's chief financial support has come from a sister who is a part owner of the Colorado Rockies baseball team. The three have split political endorsements from newspapers around the state.
The secretary of state race, featuring two former holders of that office and the Bernalillo County clerk has been off the radar screen. Endorsements have been split. Fundraising has been fairly equal. Any of the four candidates could win and without any public polls, no one can be sure which one.
The state land commissioner race, between two former commissioners, hasn't been the barnburner most thought it would be. Both commissioners are big on the environment, so there has been little controversy over policy issues. It appears Jim Baca has the advantages and disadvantages of Gov. Richardson's support.
Ray Powell was an appointee of former Gov. Bruce King. Richardson and the Kings have never been close. That race will heat up in the general election, with the winner facing incumbent Patrick Lyons, the only Republican state office holder.
The only contested statewide Republican race is for the opportunity to challenge Sen. Jeff Bingaman in November. Three candidates lined up for the opportunity, each talking big, but none has made much of a showing yet.
Allen McCulloch, a Farmington urologist, has raised enough money to buy some TV time, but has chosen not to do so. David Pfeffer, a former Santa Fe city councilor, got some good ink walking the border with Mexico, but that's been about it. State Sen. Joe Carraro, of Albuquerque, says the money will start rolling in as soon as he wins the primary, but so far, that hasn't raised much interest.
Anyone getting ready to challenge an incumbent U.S. senator needs to be getting big doses of name recognition by this time, but that isn't happening. The problem is that so few Republicans vote in primary elections that it is much more cost effective to just mail to likely Republican primary voters. That will win the battle for one of the candidates, but doesn't do much toward winning the war in November.
GOP chances don't look any better in the gubernatorial race. There is just one candidate, but Republicans aren't uniting behind him. Few can even remember his name. J.R. Damron, a Santa Fe radiologist, only raised $285,000 in the first reporting period, while Gov. Bill Richardson was raking in nearly $7 million.
To make matters worse, only $95,000 of Damron's money came from people other than the candidate himself. Amateur baseball has a "mercy rule" that ends a ball game when one team is 10 runs ahead at the end of an inning. Politics should have a mercy rule when one candidate has raised 70 times that of his opponent.
It doesn't appear the national GOP will get involved in either the U.S. Senate or gubernatorial race this year. Republicans have had good luck winning with doctors nationally but New Mexico's efforts don't seem to have made the grade.
So we may be looking at the lowest turnout election in the state's history -- a primary in which even TV stations haven't made much money.