12-4 New Mexicans Can Be Proud of Turnout

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Once again, New Mexicans can be proud of their turnout for Election 2006.
Nationally, mid-term elections usually only draw about 39 percent of registered voters. That was the nationwide figure again this year, despite many more heated congressional elections across the country than usual.
The final official canvass of general election votes in New Mexico reveal we had a turnout of about 52 percent of registered voters. That was down slightly from the 53 percent four years ago and 57 percent eight years ago.
Voter turnout has generally declined in New Mexico and nationally. We tend to beat ourselves up about that declining trend but the truth may be that Americans suffer from voting fatigue. We have more elections than any other country.
Last week, Albuquerque tried to combine a municipal gross-receipts tax election with a school board election and learned that although state law allows it, our state constitution prohibits any election being combined with a school board election.
Another factor may be that we keep trying to expand the number of registered voters. All sorts of groups now conduct registration drives. We pass laws allowing people to register to vote when they renew their drivers license. Even my doctor set up a registration table in his office.
But it seems likely that people who register under such circumstances aren't as apt to vote as those who take positive action to register.
And we expand the number of eligible voters. Back in the '70s, we passed the 18-year-old vote, nationally. I was part of that effort, which had its roots here in New Mexico. But alas, the young folks have the poorest turnout of all.
Some dictatorships in this world have 99 percent turnouts. But we know how that is done and for some reason, they all vote for the incumbent. Some countries have tried fining people whose signatures don't show up on voting rolls.
But I prefer that our country be controlled by those who show up. The rest deal themselves out.
New Mexico's turnout also was noteworthy because we had only one close race and that affected only a third of the state. The other contests at the top of the ballot were landslides for the incumbent.
The highest number of votes in any statewide race is usually at the top of the ballot but this year it was the attorney general contest, which was the next to last statewide race on the ballot.
Our turnout might have been closer to the national average had not the political parties and some candidates had very strong get-out-the-vote efforts. Gov. Bill Richardson also had a well organized absentee ballot application drive.
Volunteers and paid staff knocked on doors of Democrats throughout the state with absentee ballot requests, which they filled out on the spot and delivered to the county clerk's office. All the voter had to do was to add a signature.
But once Democrats received their absentee ballots, they had to take the initiative to fill them out and return them. And that's where the process broke down.
Many ballots weren't returned and when those people went to the polls on election day, they were ineligible to cast a ballot. That is likely why so many provisional ballots were cast and why Democrat officials figured they would pick up a major share of the provisional ballots when they were counted.
All Democrats did gain from the provisional ballot count. Unfortunately for 1st Congressional District candidate Patricia Madrid, she gained fewer votes than other Democrat candidates, most of whom added one or two percent to their winning margins.
Republicans always have outperformed Democrats in early and absentee voting. Despite the major Democrat absentee voting drive, only 40 percent of the total vote was early or absentee, compared with 50 percent two years ago.
Democrats may do better to give up on that effort.
MON, 12-4-06

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

 

12-1 Could State House Speaker Change?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- A few weeks ago I reported that the big news in state legislative leadership changes was among House Republicans.
GOP leader Rep. Ted Hobbs, of Albuquerque, retired and Rep. Terry Marquardt, of Alamogordo, the Republican whip, lost his bid for reelection.
They were replaced by Rep. Tom Taylor, of Farmington, and Rep. Dan Foley, of Roswell, a frequent critic of Gov. Bill Richardson and someone who will likely make life more difficult for the governor.
No senators had to stand for reelection this year so I speculated that those leadership positions would remain stable, which they normally do unless Manny Aragon is involved.
I also predicted that Rep. Ben Lujan, a Democrat from northern Santa Fe County, appeared set to maintain firm control as speaker of the House. But I may have missed on that one.
Blogger Joe Monahan reports that House majority leader, Rep. Ken Martinez, of Grants, has been making phone calls to House Democrats trying to line up the votes to challenge Lujan.
The Martinez factor in the House's leadership has long been an interesting one. Ken Martinez's father, Walter, was speaker of the House back in the heyday of the Mama Lucy Gang, a group of mostly northern New Mexico liberals who ran the House from 1971 to 1978.
The Mama Lucys included a number of young firebrands excited about pushing reform measures that were becoming hot items nationally. But their control of the House was razor-thin.
Back in those days, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the House by more than 3-1. But the Mama Lucys' problem was that approximately half the Democrats were conservatives from eastern and southern New Mexico.
Staying in power was always tenuous for the Mama Lucys because the conservative Democrats, usually referred to as Cowboys, thought much more like Republicans and had run the House for years.
It was Walter Martinez who provided the stabilizing influence to keep the group from over-reaching and endangering their positions. Some of them compared him to "Mama" Lucy Lopez, a Las Vegas restaurant owner beloved for mothering many young men through college.
The name stuck with Martinez as he provided the calm and caring leadership to keep the faction in power for eight years. Eventually the Cowboys and Republicans coalesced and assumed the speaker's post.
When the Martinez faction reemerged, it didn't bear the Mama Lucy name and the speaker became Martinez's chief prot�g� Raymond Sanchez. During Sanchez's 16 years as speaker, he made constant reference to the wise counsel he received when Martinez served as speaker.
Ken Martinez was elected to the House in 1999. Raymond Sanchez was still speaker at the time. Almost immediately, comments were heard that Martinez would succeed his father as soon as he was ready.
Sanchez may have envisioned that he would eventually turn his speaker's post over to Martinez. But Sanchez was defeated in the 2000 general election and Lujan took over as speaker.
Four years later Martinez challenged House majority leader, Rep. Danice Picraux and prevailed. Picraux took the beating in stride, observing that it was well known that Martinez would begin his move up the ladder to become speaker at some point.
Current Speaker Lujan never has indicated how he stands on Martinez eventually becoming speaker or whether that should be on Martinez's timetable or Lujan's.
Lujan is now 70, but does not show it. He appears ready to go full speed for many more years. Should the 49-year-old Martinez be patient and bide his time or should he make a challenge before someone else beats him to it?
And what happens to Martinez and his supporters if he doesn't succeed? There will be consequences. For now, it is all very much under the radar.
If Martinez sees that he doesn't have the votes, he will quietly back off and nothing more will be heard. For now.
FRI, 12-01-06

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

 

11-29 Thinking it Through

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- A New Mexico think tank, appropriately named Think New Mexico, has to be very proud of itself. Two months ago, it issued a stinging report detailing how the New Mexico lottery needs to cut costs.
Its purpose was to free more money for lottery scholarships, which soon will not generate enough money to fully fund all the students eligible for the state's Lottery Success Scholarships program.
Think New Mexico's solution is to dedicate 30 percent of lottery revenues to the scholarships. Currently only about 24 cents of the lottery dollar goes to scholarships. Most states generate 30 percent or higher for recipients.
The additional six percent needed to achieve 30 percent to scholarships can easily come from administrative costs, according to Think New Mexico.
And the primary place to trim that fat is the online vendor services for which New Mexico pays an out-of-state firm 8.52 percent of revenues, while some other states our size pay their vendors more like 2.5 percent.
Somewhat surprisingly, only a few weeks after Think New Mexico's report was issued, the state Lottery's chief executive officer, Tom Romero, announced the contract will be rebid before the end of the year.
That's the good news. The rest of the story is that Romero wants to use the money saved to further increase his already high administrative expenses. He wants to hire more staff and do more promotions.
That staff already is large. Their salaries are high. And the promotions do not come close to passing the smell test. They are not broken out in the lottery's budget or audit.
So, it's Gov. Bill Richardson to the rescue. Just a few weeks after Romero's announcement, the governor revealed his plans to keep the lottery solvent.
And one of the proposals is to provide at least 30 percent of lottery revenue for scholarships. That would be accomplished, Richardson says, by reducing administrative costs, which the governor cited as being the fifth highest in the nation.
Mission accomplished. Gov. Richardson and Think New Mexico, headed arm in arm to the Legislature, will be difficult to stop. Think New Mexico proudly calls itself results-oriented. This think tank doesn't just sit around and think.
Its many accomplishments include leading campaigns to provide full-day kindergarten to all New Mexico children and repeal the state's food tax.
Its bipartisan, non-ideological board of directors include former Gov. Garrey Carruthers, former Secretary of the Interior Stuart Udall, former Attorney General Paul Bardacke, and GOP mover and shaker Ed Lujan.
* * *
Another occurrence during the political campaigns that we didn't have time to mention was the discontinuance of polygraph tests at our national laboratories.
You may remember that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson got them started in 1999 during the uproar over alleged spying at the national labs. Needless to say, the move was not popular in the scientific community.
The American Psychological association, the federation of American scientists and the National Academy of Scientists derided polygraphs as voodoo.
Top students from major universities shunned employment at our national labs, figuring that any institution that uses a polygraph for employee screening isn't exactly a place to build a serious scientific career.
The current move should help our labs in their recruiting. The big losers are Gov. Richardson, who dismissed lab scientists' contention that polygraphs have nothing to do with science, and Rep. Heather Wilson, who introduced the Department of Energy polygraph legislation in 2000 as a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
ThinkNM

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

 

11-27 Area Codes

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- It was inevitable. Southern New Mexico was destined to get the short end of the stick in the battle over area codes. Albuquerque and Santa Fe feel they are just too important to be required to change.
The Public Regulation Commission studied hundreds of documents and held more than a dozen public hearings, but everyone should have known that all five commissioners would remain loyal to their constituents, who wanted to keep their area code.
The only problem was that there are five commissioners and two area codes. It's hard to divide 5 by 2. Three commissioners had to be happy with the solution.
Since it was obvious Albuquerque and Santa Fe had to be on the winning side, the problem was how they could add in another commissioner's district while keeping the number of phone users equal in both areas.
The solution was to not keep the numbers equal. Let the winners have more phones. Then they could argue that the area keeping the 505 area code has more phones, therefore, fewer people and businesses are inconvenienced.
The only problem with that is that the area that keeps 505 will run out of numbers almost twice as fast as the 575 area. Then it will be Albuquerque against the world. And you know who will win that one.
So, the commissioner from Albuquerque and the commissioner from Santa Fe threw in with the commissioner from northwest New Mexico to keep the 505 area code.
That wasn't too difficult to see coming. All three are Democrats. The losers were the Republican from southeast New Mexico and the Democrat from the southwest, who was beaten in the June primary.
And it keeps alive the old battle between the folks north and south of Route 66.
The other alternative was to let everyone keep 505 and new users would get 575. That solves some problems, but it means that your next door neighbor may have a different area code. With a geographical division, a map will give a good indication of area codes.
The folks with the new area code will have over a year to make the change. That should be time to use up most letterhead stationery and business cards.
But it wasn't going to work in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, which estimated their economic impact to be $50 million and $28 million respectively.
A few years ago, Phoenix split into three area codes. The transition period was only a few months. Some municipalities within the Phoenix area were split. It caused some heartburn, but everyone quickly adapted and accepted it as part of living in a growing community.
I have to admit to being pleased to keep the 505 area code. It's the same as the last three digits of my zip code. And 575 is too close to the first three digits of my Social Security number. I'd be sure to get them confused.
The split that was adopted bisects Taos and Rio Arriba counties, which will cause some problems because of the large number of small communities it separates. Had the dividing line run through the wide open spaces of the south, there would have been less inconvenience.
As it is, businesses in Santa Fe are advocating that all of Rio Arriba and Taos counties be included in the 505 area. And, they say, why not add in Colfax County too so that Raton will be included?
Several business owners who will receive the new area code are taking a positive outlook. They say it won't hurt them nearly as much now as it would have a few years ago because so much of their business is now done on the Internet, which makes it easy to change an area code.
My guess is that the rest of the state, outside the Albuquerque-Santa Fe axis, is flexible enough and resourceful enough to adapt to a new area code without it costing businesses in the area the $100 million that the Duke City and our Capital City over-projected.
MON, 11-27-06

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

 

11-24 Hurry, Bill

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Hurry up, Bill, they're not waiting for you. Within a week of the 2006 mid-term elections, candidates already were lining up for president in 2008.
Here we thought Gov. Bill Richardson was getting overanxious about running for president. But three Republicans already have formed presidential exploratory committees.
First Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, announced, then former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani. Both are heavyweight contenders for the presidency but both face the problem of getting through the GOP primaries because of their moderate social views. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney now has joined the race. He may be the conservatives' choice, if they can get past his Mormon religion.
McCain was moderate enough six years ago that Democrats were wooing him to come join them and run for vice president on the ticket with Al Gore. McCain declined, saying he would always be a Republican.
Voters in South Carolina did not treat him kindly in the GOP primary that year. Since then, McCain has been running hard to the right, but he's still straight-spoken enough to pick up many Democrats and most independents in a general election.
Guiliani is another Democrat favorite. He won overwhelmingly for mayor in heavily Democrat New York City. He was wildly popular for cleaning up the city and making it livable. The 9-11 disaster made him "America's mayor" for his masterful handling of that crisis.
But Guiliani will have even more trouble getting past conservative Republicans than McCain will. He's another one who might be better off running as a Democrat.
Gen. Colin Powell also was courted by Democrats in 2000 also, just as Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was courted 50 years earlier to head their presidential ticket.
It's too bad independent candidacies don't work. Or maybe they do, now. Sen. Joe Lieberman surprised everyone by winning big as an independent after losing the Democrat primary in Connecticut. How about Joe Lieberman for president?
It has been interesting to hear Rudy Guiliani referred to as a dictator by some commentators. He is predicted to have trouble with both parties in Congress because of his intimidating tactics. Where have we heard that before? John Dendahl, are you listening?
Gov. Richardson has said he will wait until the first of the year to make a decision. That likely means a decision to form an exploratory committee. There is a protocol for how this is done and one can't appear to anxious or confident.
Besides, the last time I talked to the first lady, she said the governor hadn't talked it over with her yet. A year ago she was saying, "That's another life, another wife."
So, if the governor decides to make the plunge, who will he be running against over on his side of the primary ledger? The two names getting all the publicity these days are Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Virtually no one else is mentioned in current talk.
Five years ago, when Richardson was thinking about running for governor, he was frequently referred to as the 800-pound gorilla. If he got in, everyone else might as well get out.
Hillary Clinton is becoming the 800-pound gorilla in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Like Richardson five years ago, she is demonstrating an overwhelming ability to raise money. And she has a large core following. Republicans don't feel a bit badly about her dominance because they feel they can beat her.
One reason people enjoyed referring to Richardson as an 800-pound gorilla was because of his weight. He's now trying to do something about that, a good indication he's seriously looking at a presidential run.
He has a personal dietician and trainer and appears to have had a little dermatology work also.
Even though Richardson is the best qualified candidate on paper, he may not be able to attract the national attention necessary to vault into the heavyweight ranks of primary candidates. I'm guessing he may end up throwing his support and money to the frontrunner and hope for a vice-presidential or secretary of state appointment.
FRI, 11-24-06

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

 

11-22 CD1 Stays In GOP Column

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- As predicted here, the 1st Congressional District kept it record unblemished. Despite having 39,000 more Democrats than Republicans, it has elected a Republican every two years since its creation in 1968.
That feat is especially noteworthy since, until 1982, the district included northern New Mexico. Popular Republican Manuel Lujan represented the district back in those days.
Rep. Lujan almost was picked off by newcomer Bill Richardson in 1980, so when reapportionment gave New Mexico a third congressional seat in 1981, Lujan was more than happy to cede Northern New Mexico to Richardson.
Lujan then kept the Albuquerque-centered district until his retirement in 1988. Steve Schiff took over from him until his death in 1998, when Rep. Heather Wilson took over.
During this year's bitter battle between Wilson and Attorney General Madrid, I had occasional misgivings about my prognostication that Wilson would keep the seat. Except for GOP political analysts, the rest of the pundits were predicting Wilson's political demise. And so were the polls, giving Madrid anywhere from a 2 percent to a 10 percent lead.
But I remembered all those times Schiff and Madrid overcame election day losses at the polls to swamp opponents once the absentee ballots were counted. Add to that the loyalty of federal government workers and retirees to Republican candidates and I figured they'd pull Wilson through again.
An advantage of over $1.5 million in spending also helped Wilson. But in the final analysis my hunches could have proven wrong except for Madrid helping to beat herself with a very poor debate performance, which Wilson pounced on with a flurry of ads.
Madrid's poor communication skills came as a surprise, considering that she is a seasoned politician and a lawyer. But her background isn't in trial law.
Wilson's communications skills weren't strong either when she first entered politics less than 10 years ago. But she's a quick study on any subject and soon had the art of debate mastered.
We are told now that even Wilson's own polling had Madrid running ahead. The polls that ran closest to reality appear to have been those of Gov. Bill Richardson. Not only did they forecast victory for him in 32 of 33 counties, they showed the Wilson-Madrid race closer than one-half of one percent.
Richardson said Madrid was slightly ahead but no poll can be that accurate. The best evidence seems to indicate that Madrid began slipping after the debate. Had the election been a day or two earlier, Madrid might have won.
In hindsight, Madrid should have rejected all debates. That is very unconventional for a challenger but it is exactly what some Democratic congressional challengers did around the country. And it worked.
The numbers, two days after the election, made victory look certain for Wilson, but I refrained from commenting on it because I remember another piece of election history and I kept waiting for the shoe to drop.
How often do you remember a surprised Democratic county clerk discovering an uncounted box of ballots in a basement, bathroom or broom closet? And those mystery ballots just happened to put the Democrat candidate over the top.
I'm sure it never happened, but the story is legend about the statewide candidate who supposedly called former Rio Arriba County Democratic Chairman Emilio Naranjo to say he was behind in the count and how many votes did Rio Arriba have for him.
Naranjo's answer: How many do you need? This year, that shoe never dropped. Not yet, anyway.
Former Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, of Massachusetts, is credited with saying all politics is local. But that sentiment has been expressed for years by the party that controls Congress when the national tide is running against it.
Republicans said it this year, but New Mexico is one of the few states where they held their ground in Congress and the Legislature.
WED, 11-22-06

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

 

revised Microsoft column

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Microsoft is coming back to its roots. No, Bill Gates isn't moving the company back to Albuquerque, but Paul Allen has just finished an expansive museum exhibit titled "Startup: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution."
The $5 million exhibit will be permanently housed at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Allen contributed the bulk of the money, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation kicking in $1 million and the museum raising some of the amount.
Allen originally wanted to house the exhibit in the vacant Cal Linn building, near the state fairgrounds, where the company had its first offices, but logistical problems turned out to be too difficult.
The location hasn't been forgotten, however. On Nov. 16, a plaque was installed at the site, commemorating its historical significance.
More people are sure to see the Microsoft exhibit at the museum, anyway. Located near Old Town, the museum welcomes 250,000 visitors a year. Its focus is on evolution of life in the universe so a 3,000 square-foot exhibit on evolution of computer technology isn't too much of a stretch.
Why is Paul Allen, who left Microsoft in 1983, the prime mover of this project instead of Bill Gates? Allen actually was the lead founder of Microsoft. It was Allen who saw the fateful article in Popular Electronics magazine and pulled Gates out of a Harvard dormitory poker game to read and discuss the article.
That article told of the development of the world's first personal computer, the Altair 8800, a do-it-yourself kit, that sold for $400. The machine had no monitor, keyboard or software, just switches and blinking lights. They were pretty useless but became a hot item among scientists and hobbyists.
Allen and Gates were about to make it even hotter. Late at night, the two wrote a BASIC software program in Harvard's computer lab. Allen took the paper tape produced by the big computer to the Albuquerque manufacturer, MITS, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems. He loaded it on the Altair and was immediately hired as director of software.
Gates soon dropped out of Harvard to join Allen in Albuquerque. They were given space in the MITS office at the Cal Linn Building to continue developing software. They authorized MITS to sell their BASIC as part of the Altair kit. They also retained the rights to market it themselves.
They programmed until very late every night and then knocked off for a bite to eat at a nearby Denny's, Gates favorite restaurant.
Soon, they created their own company and named it Microsoft. They divided their time between MITS and Microsoft, with Allen heading Microsoft. This was 1975. Allen was 21 and Gates was 19.
The little company grew. By early 1979, Allen and Gates were having difficulty finding venture capital and the employee base they needed to continue operations in Albuquerque, so they moved back to their native Seattle, where Gates' father, an attorney, helped get them started.
Allen developed a strong attachment to the area while he was here. In 2000, he reportedly purchased the 20-acre Sol y Sombra, the late artist Georgia O'Keeffe's former house, in Santa Fe.
The choice of Albuquerque for the museum is being likened to having an aviation museum at Kittyhawk. Allen has more personal reasons. "I always had a fondness for the area," he says.
Gates may still have some fondness for New Mexico. Recently he and PNM Resources, Inc. have become equal partners in an unregulated electric power generation joint venture.
But some of Gates' New Mexico memories likely center around his poor driving record. He was arrested twice, once for speeding and once for running a stop sign. Neither time did he have a driver's license.
That may be why he was arrested both times. A mug shot from one of those arrests made the cover of a national magazine eight years ago. Since then Gates sometimes uses it in speeches to liven up a crowd.

11-20-06

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

Daniel Russell in Hobbs that the dedication of the Microsoft plaque at the Cal Linn Building was yesterday, not next Thurs. (And I'd been saving this column for next week so it would be more topical.)

 

Thanks, Dan. Attached is the revised copy with changes to the 4th paragraph.

11-20 Microsoft Returns

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Microsoft is coming back to its roots. No, Bill Gates isn't moving the company back to Albuquerque, but Paul Allen has just finished an expansive museum exhibit titled "Startup: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution."
The $5 million exhibit will be permanently housed at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Allen contributed the bulk of the money, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation kicking in $1 million and the museum raising some of the amount.
Allen originally wanted to house the exhibit in the vacant Cal Linn building, near the state fairgrounds, where the company had its first offices, but logistical problems turned out to be too difficult.
The location won't be forgotten, however. On Thursday, Nov. 23, a plaque will be installed at the site, commemorating its historical significance.
More people are sure to see the Microsoft exhibit at the museum, anyway. Located near Old Town, the museum welcomes 250,000 visitors a year. Its focus is on evolution of life in the universe so a 3,000 square-foot exhibit on evolution of computer technology isn't too much of a stretch.
Why is Paul Allen, who left Microsoft in 1983, the prime mover of this project instead of Bill Gates? Allen actually was the lead founder of Microsoft. It was Allen who saw the fateful article in Popular Electronics magazine and pulled Gates out of a Harvard dormitory poker game to read and discuss the article.
That article told of the development of the world's first personal computer, the Altair 8800, a do-it-yourself kit, that sold for $400. The machine had no monitor, keyboard or software, just switches and blinking lights. They were pretty useless but became a hot item among scientists and hobbyists.
Allen and Gates were about to make it even hotter. Late at night, the two wrote a BASIC software program in Harvard's computer lab. Allen took the paper tape produced by the big computer to the Albuquerque manufacturer, MITS, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems. He loaded it on the Altair and was immediately hired as director of software.
Gates soon dropped out of Harvard to join Allen in Albuquerque. They were given space in the MITS office at the Cal Linn Building to continue developing software. They authorized MITS to sell their BASIC as part of the Altair kit. They also retained the rights to market it themselves.
They programmed until very late every night and then knocked off for a bite to eat at a nearby Denny's, Gates favorite restaurant.
Soon, they created their own company and named it Microsoft. They divided their time between MITS and Microsoft, with Allen heading Microsoft. This was 1975. Allen was 21 and Gates was 19.
The little company grew. By early 1979, Allen and Gates were having difficulty finding venture capital and the employee base they needed to continue operations in Albuquerque, so they moved back to their native Seattle, where Gates' father, an attorney, helped get them started.
Allen developed a strong attachment to the area while he was here. In 2000, he reportedly purchased the 20-acre Sol y Sombra, the late artist Georgia O'Keeffe's former house, in Santa Fe.
The choice of Albuquerque for the museum is being likened to having an aviation museum at Kittyhawk. Allen has more personal reasons. "I always had a fondness for the area," he says.
Gates may still have some fondness for New Mexico. Recently he and PNM Resources, Inc. have become equal partners in an unregulated electric power generation joint venture.
But some of Gates' New Mexico memories likely center around his poor driving record. He was arrested twice, once for speeding and once for running a stop sign. Neither time did he have a driver's license.
That may be why he was arrested both times. A mug shot from one of those arrests made the cover of a national magazine eight years ago. Since then Gates sometimes uses it in speeches to liven up a crowd.

microsoft

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

 

11-17 Clap Hands and Switch

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- New Mexico may be about to make some sort of history. As a result of the Democratic take-over of both houses of Congress, the leadership of the House and Senate will change. That includes committee and subcommittee chairmen.
Because energy and natural resources are important to New Mexico, our two senators are both on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and two of our three House members are on the House Resources Committee.
Since our state's congressional delegation is as politically balanced as possible, we have a Republican and a Democrat on each of those committees.
Sen. Pete Domenici currently is chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and Rep. Steve Pearce is chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee of the House Resources Committee.
Since Sen. Jeff Bingaman currently is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee, he is in line to take over as chairman of the committee when Democrats take over in January. The last time Senate Democrats were in power, Bingaman and Domenici switched chairs and it appears it will happen again.
Between them, our two senators will have 60 years of Senate service at this time next year. That kind of seniority puts them in the committee chairman category.
Over in the House, Reps. Pearce and Tom Udall have a much shorter tenure, which puts them in the subcommittee chairman category. And it appears that Rep. Udall may be in line for Rep. Pearce's National Parks Subcommittee chairmanship.
Having 80 percent of a state's congressional delegation clap hands and change places must be some sort of record.
Pearce worked his way up to a subcommittee chairmanship very quickly. In only his second two-year term, Pearce received the nod from House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, of California, to step into that post.
Pombo would have lost his committee chairmanship anyway because he was one of the 30 victims of the Democratic takeover. The environmental community got behind the candidate Pombo had defeated by 22 points two years earlier and beat Pombo by six points.
Pearce also had gained the confidence of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay who had to leave the House earlier this year. That means Pearce will have to find some new stars to hitch his wagon onto.
That's not particularly unusual. Back in the late '80s, then-Rep. Bill Richardson was a disciple of Democrat House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas, who had to step down for breaking House ethics rules.
Instead of the committee route, Richardson had chosen to move up through the assistant whip ranks. He had become chief deputy whip by the time former President Bill Clinton named him U.N. ambassador.
Rep. Heather Wilson doesn't have a New Mexican to whom to give her subcommittee chairmanship. How soon will New Mexico have a fourth seat in the U.S. House?
In 1980, when we gained our third seat, New Mexico was projected to pick up a fourth in 2010 as a result of population increases. But recent calculations put that off until at least 2030. It seems Arizona got its share plus ours. With eight U.S. House members currently, Arizona is expected to pick up two more in 2010.
Recent information indicates a possible reversal in that population trend. Evidently Albuquerque is beginning to attract a number of Phoenix transplants, who want more than two seasons -- hot and hotter. Most of New Mexico offers four moderate seasons.
Rep. Wilson, perhaps very relieved that it appears she still has a government job, has been talking excitedly about getting back to Washington and going to work.
There really won't be much work to do in the upcoming lame duck session. As for next year's session, as a member of the minority, there won't be nearly as much to do.
Sens. Bingaman and Domenici have been through many Washington power shifts. But for all three of our House members, next year will be a new experience.
FRI, 11-17-06

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

 

11-15 Will Rummy Return to NM?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Will former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld move back to New Mexico now that his services are no longer needed in Washington?
Before accepting Vice President Dick Cheney's request that he be top man at the Pentagon, Rummy spent most of his time at his ranch in El Prado on the northern outskirts of Taos.
He also owned several other properties in the Taos, Mora, Las Vegas and Santa Fe areas, plus part interest in several art galleries and 50 percent of a corporation developing residential housing in Santa Fe.
Rumsfeld had a daughter, Valerie, living in Santa Fe, who ran one of his art galleries. A year or so after Rumsfeld's stint at the Pentagon began, Valerie reported dogs barking at someone outside her house.
Police quickly found some poor soul two blocks away who felt moved to spray paint a frogman image on sidewalks in downtown Santa Fe as a matter of artistic expression.
The police decided he must be the guy the dogs were barking at so they arrested him, impounded his car, questioned him for hours, searched his home, car and computer, questioned his friends and threw him in jail.
All they found was that he had been born in Afghanistan, so they called in the FBI, which questioned him for two months and gave him a polygraph test. When they could find nothing on him other than being born in Afghanistan, they turned the case back to local authorities who charged him with graffiti, an all-time first in Santa Fe.
Valerie Rumsfeld was subpoenaed to testify at his hearing, but didn't show. When the judge issued an order for her to show cause why she hadn't responded, the judge was told by a federal security agency to back off because it was possibly an overt retaliation against the secretary of Defense.
Three months after the incident, the artist got his first look at the police report and learned for the first time that his arrest was because of Valerie Rumsfeld.
Meanwhile, in Taos, anti-war protesters learned the location of Rumsfeld's ranch and rallied outside the gate. Rumsfeld wasn't there but the protesters were met by 17 federal agents, bolstered by large numbers of state and local police.
Such favored treatment by the law enforcement and judicial systems hasn't endeared the testy Rumsfeld to some of his New Mexico neighbors. But we're generally a forgiving people with a reputation for not bothering celebrities, including Julia Roberts who spends much time at her ranch near the Rumsfelds.
Rummy may not be looking forward to possible harassment but the last we heard, he was still wearing his hiking boots from time to time at the office to remind him of his "New Mexico paradise." So far, he has refused to speak publicly about his plans.
He's sure to be sought after by many companies. He can have his choice among many CEO or board member offers, especially from his home turf of Chicago.
Rumsfeld, 74, doesn't have to work another day in his life. He's sitting on a reported $350 million fortune made through savvy investing. He says his two favorite activities are hiking near his Taos home and hitting the slopes at Taos Ski Valley. But he'll still want to keep busy in the business world.
He also can open many doors for clients as a consultant. He has strong ties to the pharmaceutical and defense industries, which can offer him many opportunities. Conservative think tanks also are sure to be after him.
I'm guessing Rumsfeld will pass himself around. He'll spend time in the Windy City, in Taos and Santa Fe and at his multi-million dollar mansion on Chesapeake Bay near his good buddy, Vice President Dick Cheney.
If it were me, I'd pick Taos and being a neighbor of Julia Roberts, instead, even though that ranch house is estimated at only a million bucks.
WED, 11-15-06

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

 

11-13 Lukewarm on governor

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- How do you explain this? Slightly over half of New Mexico voters think Gov. Bill Richardson would make a good president.
The governor says he's honored that a majority of New Mexicans think he is good presidential material. That's the right answer from a politician.
But Richardson has to be wondering how the same people who just gave him 69 percent of the vote for governor can turn around and give him only 51 percent support for president.
The Associated Press commissioned election-day polls in states with presidential wannabes to gauge what the home folks think about the potential contenders.
Sen. Hillary Clinton scored almost 60 percent support among New York voters. Sen. Barak Obama polled over 60 percent from Illinois voters.
Do New Mexicans think their popular governor just isn't up to the national job? Do they think it's just not worth trying for a governor from a state so obscure that many Americans don't even know it exists?
Richardson probably has the best resume of any candidate for the job. He has a background in both foreign relations and administration, usually considered the two top qualifications needed for the presidency.
The many U.S. senators who always line up for the job often have experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but no administrative experience other than managing a small congressional staff.
Governors, who most often succeed in winning the presidency, almost never have any background in foreign affairs. Our current president doesn't. Bill Clinton didn't. Ronald Regan didn't. Jimmy Carter didn't. You get the picture.
Richardson's Masters Degree was from the prestigious Fletcher School of Diplomacy. His first job was with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was an informal backdoor trouble shooter for President Clinton throughout the world before he became U.N. ambassador.
Following that, Richardson put in a two-year stint as Energy secretary. He had problems, but he was trying to get his arms around the most messed up department in federal government. At least that should give him a clearer picture than any other candidate has of what he would be facing as president.
And now he has served four years as a governor. Richardson is criticized for consolidating far too much power under his control. He was called a dictator by his gubernatorial challenger.
But it is difficult to charge Richardson with not being a strong governor. That leadership won him a large number of votes from Republicans who think he has been good for New Mexico.
But those same Republicans may not necessarily want him to be their president. My hunch is that those are the 18 percent who voted for him to continue as governor but who don't want him to be president.
That guess is strengthened by the news that Mitt Romney, the popular Republican governor of heavily-Democratic Massachusetts, has only a third of that state's voters behind his possible bid for the presidency.
It doesn't strengthen my argument, but in case you are interested, Massachusetts voters scored their senator, John Kerry, quite a bit lower than Romney.
What other variables might we be missing? The poll's sample size was 1,633 voters, much larger than most samples. Included in the sample were 700 absentee voters, which is consistent with the percentage of total voters.
If Richardson were to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, that 51 percent polling result might be a fairly accurate of the New Mexican support he will receive.
One would think that a little state like New Mexico would be proud to see one of its own become president. Texas felt that way about Gov. Bush when he ran for reelection eight years ago and when he ran for president six years ago. But Tennessee did not support Al Gore.
MON, 11-13-06

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

 

11-10 New Mexicans Are Enchanted

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Voter anger was the cause of the big switch in Congress, we are told over and over. But New Mexicans were a much happier group of voters.
We decided not to change much of anything, reelecting incumbents up and down the ballot and approving all the state constitutional amendments and bond issues.
The Land of Enchantment wasn't quite as good a bellwether in this election as in most. We returned our U.S. senator with 70 percent of the vote. We gave our governor a whopping 68 percent. We returned our three U.S. House members, made no changes in party control of statewide offices and dismissed one incumbent from each party in the state House.
The biggest surprise may have been easy approval of all four constitutional amendment proposals. The conventional wisdom is that voters tend to reject any amendment they don't understand. But these amendments were not easy to understand, especially from their explanations on the ballot. And none of them really needed to be on the ballot in the first place.
New Mexicans also were enchanted with the three statewide bond issues, approving them by comfortable margins. It seemed nothing could get us angry.
Our two Republicans in Congress had more trouble than usual. Rep. Steve Pearce polled 60 percent of the vote down south, while Democrat Rep. Tom Udall won with 73 percent of the vote in the north. But it was the 1st Congressional District that saw the real action.
Rep. Heather Wilson, accustomed to winning by 8 to 10 percent margins, appears to have squeaked through by less than one percent. But she managed to escape from being kicked out by voters as more than 30 of her Republican congressional colleagues did.
Gov. Bill Richardson absolutely smashed the old record of a 60.2 percent showing by Gov. Jack Campbell in 1964. Richardson finished with 68 percent of the vote to challenger John Dendahl's 32 percent.
Political watchers normally figure that any statewide Republican or Democratic candidate should be able to attract about 28 percent of the vote just by being on the ballot. That's about the percentage of straight-ticket voters in both parties.
So Dendahl's name, reputation and campaign effort netted him about four percent more of the vote.
Richardson predicted about a week before the election that he would sweep every county but Catron. It sounded like an unattainable boast at the time, but it appears that he has backed it up. That's another record.
State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons, a Republican, retained his post for a second term over Democrat Jim Baca. A former land commissioner, Baca had a reputation for winning tough races in which he was outspent. But voters were very happy with the job Lyons has been doing.
The other statewide offices all changed hands due to term limitations but all stayed in Democratic Party hands. Heavy spending by the GOP in the secretary of state and attorney general contests couldn't put its candidates over the top.
One of the best showings by a Republican statewide candidate was auditor candidate Lorenzo Garcia's 46 percent showing. Had he received the financial assistance that went into the attorney general and secretary of state races, Garcia might have pulled it out.
The state Legislature will look much the same. Republicans took out Rep. Don Whitaker down in Lea County. Democrats countered by beating Rep. Terry Marquardt in Alamogordo. Whitaker was chairman of the powerful House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Marquardt was House Republican whip.
In Dona Ana County Democrat Jeff Steinborn won an open seat formerly held by Republican Ed Boykin.
With the retirement of Republican House floor leader, Rep. Ted Hobbs, of Albuquerque, and Marquardt's loss, the top two spots in the House Republican leadership will be up for grabs. That's about the biggest change in state government that we are looking at, this year.
FRI, 11-10-08

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

 

11-10 Laid-Back New Mexicans

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Voter anger was the cause of the big switch in Congress, we are told over and over. But New Mexicans were a much happier group of voters.
We decided not to change much of anything, reelecting incumbents up and down the ballot and approving all the state constitutional amendments and bond issues.
The Land of Enchantment wasn't quite as good a bellwether in this election as in most. We returned our U.S. senator with 70 percent of the vote. We gave our governor a whopping 68 percent. We returned our three U.S. House members, made no changes in party control of statewide offices and dismissed one incumbent from each party in the state House.
The biggest surprise may have been easy approval of all four constitutional amendment proposals. The conventional wisdom is that voters tend to reject any amendment they don't understand. But these amendments were not easy to understand, especially from their explanations on the ballot. And none of them really needed to be on the ballot in the first place.
New Mexicans also were enchanted with the three statewide bond issues, approving them by comfortable margins. It seemed nothing could get us angry.
Our two Republicans in Congress had more trouble than usual. Rep. Steve Pearce polled 60 percent of the vote down south, while Democrat Rep. Tom Udall won with 73 percent of the vote in the north. But it was the 1st Congressional District that saw the real action.
Rep. Heather Wilson, accustomed to winning by 8 to 10 percent margins, appears to have squeaked through by less than one percent. But she managed to escape from being kicked out by voters as more than 30 of her Republican congressional colleagues did.
Gov. Bill Richardson absolutely smashed the old record of a 60.2 percent showing by Gov. Jack Campbell in 1964. Richardson finished with 68 percent of the vote to challenger John Dendahl's 32 percent.
Political watchers normally figure that any statewide Republican or Democratic candidate should be able to attract about 28 percent of the vote just by being on the ballot. That's about the percentage of straight-ticket voters in both parties.
So Dendahl's name, reputation and campaign effort netted him about four percent more of the vote.
Richardson predicted about a week before the election that he would sweep every county but Catron. It sounded like an unattainable boast at the time, but it appears that he has backed it up. That's another record.
State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons, a Republican, retained his post for a second term over Democrat Jim Baca. A former land commissioner, Baca had a reputation for winning tough races in which he was outspent. But voters were very happy with the job Lyons has been doing.
The other statewide offices all changed hands due to term limitations but all stayed in Democratic Party hands. Heavy spending by the GOP in the secretary of state and attorney general contests couldn't put its candidates over the top.
One of the best showings by a Republican statewide candidate was auditor candidate Lorenzo Garcia's 46 percent showing. Had he received the financial assistance that went into the attorney general and secretary of state races, Garcia might have pulled it out.
The state Legislature will look much the same. Republicans took out Rep. Don Whitaker down in Lea County. Democrats countered by beating Rep. Terry Marquardt in Alamogordo. Whitaker was chairman of the powerful House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Marquardt was House Republican whip.
In Dona Ana County Democrat Jeff Steinborn won an open seat formerly held by Republican Ed Boykin.
With the retirement of Republican House floor leader, Rep. Ted Hobbs, of Albuquerque, and Marquardt's loss, the top two spots in the House Republican leadership will be up for grabs. That's about the biggest change in state government that we are looking at, this year.
FRI, 11-10-08

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

 

11-13 New Mexicans Lukewarm on Guv Running for Pres

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- How do you explain this? Slightly over half of New Mexico voters think Gov. Bill Richardson would make a good president.
The governor says he's honored that a majority of New Mexicans think he is good presidential material. That's the right answer from a politician.
But Richardson has to be wondering how the same people who just gave him 69 percent of the vote for governor can turn around and give him only 51 percent support for president.
The Associated Press commissioned election-day polls in states with presidential wannabes to gauge what the home folks think about the potential contenders.
Sen. Hillary Clinton scored almost 60 percent support among New York voters. Sen. Barak Obama polled over 60 percent from Illinois voters.
Do New Mexicans think their popular governor just isn't up to the national job? Do they think it's just not worth trying for a governor from a state so obscure that many Americans don't even know it exists?
Richardson probably has the best resume of any candidate for the job. He has a background in both foreign relations and administration, usually considered the two top qualifications needed for the presidency.
The many U.S. senators who always line up for the job often have experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but no administrative experience other than managing a small congressional staff.
Governors, who most often succeed in winning the presidency, almost never have any background in foreign affairs. Our current president doesn't. Bill Clinton didn't. Ronald Regan didn't. Jimmy Carter didn't. You get the picture.
Richardson's Masters Degree was from the prestigious Fletcher School of Diplomacy. His first job was with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was an informal backdoor trouble shooter for President Clinton throughout the world before he became U.N. ambassador.
Following that, Richardson put in a two-year stint as Energy secretary. He had problems, but he was trying to get his arms around the most messed up department in federal government. At least that should give him a clearer picture than any other candidate has of what he would be facing as president.
And now he has served four years as a governor. Richardson is criticized for consolidating far too much power under his control. He was called a dictator by his gubernatorial challenger.
But it is difficult to charge Richardson with not being a strong governor. That leadership won him a large number of votes from Republicans who think he has been good for New Mexico.
But those same Republicans may not necessarily want him to be their president. My hunch is that those are the 18 percent who voted for him to continue as governor but who don't want him to be president.
That guess is strengthened by the news that Mitt Romney, the popular Republican governor of heavily-Democratic Massachusetts, has only a third of that state's voters behind his possible bid for the presidency.
It doesn't strengthen my argument, but in case you are interested, Massachusetts voters scored their senator, John Kerry, quite a bit lower than Romney.
What other variables might we be missing? The poll's sample size was 1,633 voters, much larger than most samples. Included in the sample were 700 absentee voters, which is consistent with the percentage of total voters.
If Richardson were to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, that 51 percent polling result might be a fairly accurate of the New Mexican support he will receive.
One would think that a little state like New Mexico would be proud to see one of its own become president. Texas felt that way about Gov. Bush when he ran for reelection eight years ago and when he ran for president six years ago. But Tennessee did not support Al Gore.
MON, 11-13-06

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

 

11-13 New Mexicans Give Guv Lukewarm Support for Pres.

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- How do you explain this? Slightly over half of New Mexico voters think Gov. Bill Richardson would make a good president.
The governor says he's honored that a majority of New Mexicans think he is good presidential material. That's the right answer from a politician.
But Richardson has to be wondering how the same people who just gave him 69 percent of the vote for governor can turn around and give him only 51 percent support for president.
The Associated Press commissioned election-day polls in states with presidential wannabes to gauge what the home folks think about the potential contenders.
Sen. Hillary Clinton scored almost 60 percent support among New York voters. Sen. Barak Obama polled over 60 percent from Illinois voters.
Do New Mexicans think their popular governor just isn't up to the national job? Do they think it's just not worth trying for a governor from a state so obscure that many Americans don't even know it exists?
Richardson probably has the best resume of any candidate for the job. He has a background in both foreign relations and administration, usually considered the two top qualifications needed for the presidency.
The many U.S. senators who always line up for the job often have experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but no administrative experience other than managing a small congressional staff.
Governors, who most often succeed in winning the presidency, almost never have any background in foreign affairs. Our current president doesn't. Bill Clinton didn't. Ronald Regan didn't. Jimmy Carter didn't. You get the picture.
Richardson's Masters Degree was from the prestigious Fletcher School of Diplomacy. His first job was with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was an informal backdoor trouble shooter for President Clinton throughout the world before he became U.N. ambassador.
Following that, Richardson put in a two-year stint as Energy secretary. He had problems, but he was trying to get his arms around the most messed up department in federal government. At least that should give him a clearer picture than any other candidate has of what he would be facing as president.
And now he has served four years as a governor. Richardson is criticized for consolidating far too much power under his control. He was called a dictator by his gubernatorial challenger.
But it is difficult to charge Richardson with not being a strong governor. That leadership won him a large number of votes from Republicans who think he has been good for New Mexico.
But those same Republicans may not necessarily want him to be their president. My hunch is that those are the 18 percent who voted for him to continue as governor but who don't want him to be president.
That guess is strengthened by the news that Mitt Romney, the popular Republican governor of heavily-Democratic Massachusetts, has only a third of that state's voters behind his possible bid for the presidency.
It doesn't strengthen my argument, but in case you are interested, Massachusetts voters scored their senator, John Kerry, quite a bit lower than Romney.
What other variables might we be missing? The poll's sample size was 1,633 voters, much larger than most samples. Included in the sample were 700 absentee voters, which is consistent with the percentage of total voters.
If Richardson were to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, that 51 percent polling result might be a fairly accurate of the New Mexican support he will receive.
One would think that a little state like New Mexico would be proud to see one of its own become president. Texas felt that way about Gov. Bush when he ran for reelection eight years ago and when he ran for president six years ago. But Tennessee did not support Al Gore.
MON, 11-13-06

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

 

11-10 Contented New Mexicans

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Voter anger was the cause of the big switch in Congress, we are told over and over. But New Mexicans were a much happier group of voters.
We decided not to change much of anything, reelecting incumbents up and down the ballot and approving all the state constitutional amendments and bond issues.
The Land of Enchantment wasn't quite as good a bellwether in this election as in most. We returned our U.S. senator with 70 percent of the vote. We gave our governor a whopping 68 percent. We returned our three U.S. House members, made no changes in party control of statewide offices and dismissed one incumbent from each party in the state House.
The biggest surprise may have been easy approval of all four constitutional amendment proposals. The conventional wisdom is that voters tend to reject any amendment they don't understand. But these amendments were not easy to understand, especially from their explanations on the ballot. And none of them really needed to be on the ballot in the first place.
New Mexicans also were enchanted with the three statewide bond issues, approving them by comfortable margins. It seemed nothing could get us angry.
Our two Republicans in Congress had more trouble than usual. Rep. Steve Pearce polled 60 percent of the vote down south, while Democrat Rep. Tom Udall won with 73 percent of the vote in the north. But it was the 1st Congressional District that saw the real action.
Rep. Heather Wilson, accustomed to winning by 8 to 10 percent margins, appears to have squeaked through by less than one percent. But she managed to escape from being kicked out by voters as more than 30 of her Republican congressional colleagues did.
Gov. Bill Richardson absolutely smashed the old record of a 60.2 percent showing by Gov. Jack Campbell in 1964. Richardson finished with 68 percent of the vote to challenger John Dendahl's 32 percent.
Political watchers normally figure that any statewide Republican or Democratic candidate should be able to attract about 28 percent of the vote just by being on the ballot. That's about the percentage of straight-ticket voters in both parties.
So Dendahl's name, reputation and campaign effort netted him about four percent more of the vote.
Richardson predicted about a week before the election that he would sweep every county but Catron. It sounded like an unattainable boast at the time, but it appears that he has backed it up. That's another record.
State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons, a Republican, retained his post for a second term over Democrat Jim Baca. A former land commissioner, Baca had a reputation for winning tough races in which he was outspent. But voters were very happy with the job Lyons has been doing.
The other statewide offices all changed hands due to term limitations but all stayed in Democratic Party hands. Heavy spending by the GOP in the secretary of state and attorney general contests couldn't put its candidates over the top.
One of the best showings by a Republican statewide candidate was auditor candidate Lorenzo Garcia's 46 percent showing. Had he received the financial assistance that went into the attorney general and secretary of state races, Garcia might have pulled it out.
The state Legislature will look much the same. Republicans took out Rep. Don Whitaker down in Lea County. Democrats countered by beating Rep. Terry Marquardt in Alamogordo. Whitaker was chairman of the powerful House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Marquardt was House Republican whip.
In Dona Ana County Democrat Jeff Steinborn won an open seat formerly held by Republican Ed Boykin.
With the retirement of Republican House floor leader, Rep. Ted Hobbs, of Albuquerque, and Marquardt's loss, the top two spots in the House Republican leadership will be up for grabs. That's about the biggest change in state government that we are looking at, this year.
FRI, 11-10-08

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

 

11-10 Happy New Mexicans

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Voter anger was the cause of the big switch in Congress, we are told over and over. But New Mexicans were a much happier group of voters.
We decided not to change much of anything, reelecting incumbents up and down the ballot and approving all the state constitutional amendments and bond issues.
The Land of Enchantment wasn't quite as good a bellwether in this election as in most. We returned our U.S. senator with 70 percent of the vote. We gave our governor a whopping 68 percent. We returned our three U.S. House members, made no changes in party control of statewide offices and dismissed one incumbent from each party in the state House.
The biggest surprise may have been easy approval of all four constitutional amendment proposals. The conventional wisdom is that voters tend to reject any amendment they don't understand. But these amendments were not easy to understand, especially from their explanations on the ballot. And none of them really needed to be on the ballot in the first place.
New Mexicans also were enchanted with the three statewide bond issues, approving them by comfortable margins. It seemed nothing could get us angry.
Our two Republicans in Congress had more trouble than usual. Rep. Steve Pearce polled 60 percent of the vote down south, while Democrat Rep. Tom Udall won with 73 percent of the vote in the north. But it was the 1st Congressional District that saw the real action.
Rep. Heather Wilson, accustomed to winning by 8 to 10 percent margins, appears to have squeaked through by less than one percent. But she managed to escape from being kicked out by voters as more than 30 of her Republican congressional colleagues did.
Gov. Bill Richardson absolutely smashed the old record of a 60.2 percent showing by Gov. Jack Campbell in 1964. Richardson finished with 68 percent of the vote to challenger John Dendahl's 32 percent.
Political watchers normally figure that any statewide Republican or Democratic candidate should be able to attract about 28 percent of the vote just by being on the ballot. That's about the percentage of straight-ticket voters in both parties.
So Dendahl's name, reputation and campaign effort netted him about four percent more of the vote.
Richardson predicted about a week before the election that he would sweep every county but Catron. It sounded like an unattainable boast at the time, but it appears that he has backed it up. That's another record.
State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons, a Republican, retained his post for a second term over Democrat Jim Baca. A former land commissioner, Baca had a reputation for winning tough races in which he was outspent. But voters were very happy with the job Lyons has been doing.
The other statewide offices all changed hands due to term limitations but all stayed in Democratic Party hands. Heavy spending by the GOP in the secretary of state and attorney general contests couldn't put its candidates over the top.
One of the best showings by a Republican statewide candidate was auditor candidate Lorenzo Garcia's 46 percent showing. Had he received the financial assistance that went into the attorney general and secretary of state races, Garcia might have pulled it out.
The state Legislature will look much the same. Republicans took out Rep. Don Whitaker down in Lea County. Democrats countered by beating Rep. Terry Marquardt in Alamogordo. Whitaker was chairman of the powerful House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Marquardt was House Republican whip.
In Dona Ana County Democrat Jeff Steinborn won an open seat formerly held by Republican Ed Boykin.
With the retirement of Republican House floor leader, Rep. Ted Hobbs, of Albuquerque, and Marquardt's loss, the top two spots in the House Republican leadership will be up for grabs. That's about the biggest change in state government that we are looking at, this year.
FRI, 11-10-08

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

 

11-8 Paper Ballots?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- While much of the rest of the nation tried out electronic voting machines for the first time, New Mexico junked its machines and went back to paper ballots.
So, is New Mexico headed back to the dark ages or is the rest of the nation getting ready to learn what we already have? It depends on who you talk to.
New Mexico's return to a paper ballot is intended to boost confidence in the election system and to be sure there is a verifiable paper trail for recounts.
Gov. Bill Richardson, a supporter of the new system, leaned hard on the Legislature to move away from the current patchwork system to a uniform paper ballot system in every county. Eleven counties still used paper ballots. The remaining 22 had gone to various electronic systems.
And, as is typical for our fast-forward governor, he ordered it done immediately. He signed the legislation in March and said he wanted everything in place by November.
He got it, but the quick roll-out just might produce some of the same problems as the state's new computer system that is uniform for all of state government. Getting SHARE online in half the normal time has caused headaches throughout state government.
If this election ends up going fairly smoothly, Richardson and Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron can boast that New Mexico is one of the first states in the nation to meet all the requirements of the 2002 Help America Vote Act passed by Congress following the 2000 election debacle.
But it won't be easy. Many Republicans opposed the change to uniform paper ballots in the last legislative session. Sen. Pete Domenici calls them "an imposition on the people of this state." Pat Rogers, an attorney for Republicans, noted paper ballots can be manipulated through "low-tech fraud."
There is a genuine problem when one political party controls the election system. The other party always will have some mistrust of the process whether the change is to or from paper ballots. Canadians reportedly are pleased with the private contractor they use.
The primary fear about electronic voting machines is that votes are untraceable if they need to be rechecked.
New Mexico's razor thin presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 both had unexplainable undercounts in the presidential race. One would expect that the vote for president would be the highest of any race on the ballot, but for some reason, it was the other way around.
Were electronic machines programmed incorrectly? Was there tampering? Did the machines just not count accurately? Those questions were never answered. So a lawsuit was filed by a liberal third-party group against the use of touch screen voting machines. The switch to a paper ballot system settled that suit.
We were told that paper ballots would mean shorter lines because there is little problem setting up extra voting stations for people to sit at and vote in private. But that hasn't been the case thus far.
One reason is the instruction that voters must completely fill in the oval next to their choice. In order to be sure their vote counts, many voters spent considerable time making sure there is no white space in those ovals.
Another reason for long lines is that the print on paper ballots is smaller than it is on electronic screens, forcing us old timers to labor over the words.
But, we are told, everything will work out for the best in the long run. The equipment and software is less expensive. There is less maintenance and storage space is reduced by 90 percent.
Obviously, technology will improve electronic voting machines to the point that more people eventually will come to trust them more. Will that mean New Mexico will then be in the horse and buggy days? Or will the rest of the nation come join us?





WED, 12-6-00

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

 

It's Almost Over

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Finally, the 2006 election campaign is almost over. Close elections may be good for a democracy but the months of attack ads are agonizing to watch. It makes one wish that all races would be as lopsided as the gubernatorial contest and three of the four federal races.
The other statewide races have stayed fairly civil until near the end but late infusions of money led to some nasty ads. The big chunk of money for Democrat candidates came from Gov. Bill Richardson's leftovers. Republicans got theirs from a Houston home builder with a curious interest in New Mexico.
The attorney general race can be expected to be hard fought. It was a dead-end post for the first 70 years of New Mexico statehood. But after Jeff Bingaman was elected U.S. senator and Toney Anaya was elected governor in 1982, the job became a steppingstone.
U.S. Rep. Tom Udall later served as attorney general and current Attorney General Patricia Madrid intends to move to bigger and better things, be they in Washington or Santa Fe.
The high profile nature of the secretary of state race caught many by surprise. Maybe Republicans targeted it for big money because of a longstanding concern that Democrat secretaries of state have been stealing elections ever since the Great Depression.
Republican Vickie Perea was a popular Albuquerque City Councilor for many years so maybe GOP officials thought she had a fighting chance. Democrats think she is being rewarded for switching parties two years ago.
Perea has gone after Mary Herrera big time the past few weeks with a television ad criticizing Democrat Herrera for going to a conference in Hawaii and charging a cup of Starbucks and maid service to taxpayers. That requires a little more explaining before I can get too upset about it.
Republican Land Commissioner Pat Lyons finds himself in trouble for filming a campaign ad in a Santa Fe classroom. A parent complained that his daughter appeared in a shot without his permission. The offense doesn't seem that serious, except that the father is a Jim Baca supporter. That's not surprising, considering the ad was shot in Santa Fe.
Most state land commissioners have liked tying their office to the schools. By law, revenues collected from state lands are distributed among about 20 beneficiaries. Over 80 percent of the revenues go to schools. This past year, that amounted to over $400 million.
That's a lot of money, but it isn't nearly enough to support the state's $2 billion public school budget. So the remainder of the budgeted revenue for schools is taken from the state's general fund.
Thus there isn't a particularly direct correlation between the Land Office and schools. An increase in Land Office revenues really benefits the state as a whole, but generating money for school children is a more popular cause.
That being said, Lyons has done a good job increasing Land Office income and hopefully this flap won't hurt him much.
The national political scene could have some effect on state and local races here. It is difficult to imagine Democrats picking up 20 to 30 seats in the House and at least six in the Senate.
The House could see a change in control. Either way the numbers will be close and will demand that whichever party is in power, more bipartisanship will be needed to get anything accomplished.
California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who has appeared in Albuquerque for Patricia Madrid, has been demonized as a speaker of the House the country doesn't need. It is difficult for GOP leaders to make that assertion when they are keeping Rep. Dennis Hastert despite his ethics difficulties.
I'll predict the U.S. Senate won't change hands. Everything will have to go right for Democrats to make it happen. Like drawing to an inside straight.
On the state level, Democrats had a surprising edge in absentee voter applications. But Republicans are returning theirs in greater numbers.
MON, 11-6-06

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

 

11-3 Carpetbomber vs. Carpetbagger

By JAY MILLER

Syndicated Columnist

 

      SANTA FE -- The battle of the carpetbomber vs. the carpetbagger didn't work out.

    GOP gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl is left with an entire warehouse full of bombs he can't afford to deliver, leaving Gov. Bill Richardson free to roam the state he chose for its political opportunity.

    The governor has taken full advantage of that opportunity to wage a campaign that he now predicts will win 32 of the state's 33 counties, according to Ashley Meeks of the Roswell Daily Record. That would certainly be a record showing.

    My research indicates the biggest victory ever posted by an incumbent governor was Jack Campbell's 1964 win in which he took 30 of New Mexico's 32 counties. Cibola County didn't exist back then.

    The two counties Campbell lost were Lincoln and Harding.  Richardson plans to take those, but figures he'll lose Catron County. But that won't keep him from trying, says Meeks, who reports that the governor will go there and try to find at least two votes.

    Eastside counties aren't easy for a Democrat to win. Richardson pulled out a squeaker four years ago when he took Lea County by five votes. This time, he plans similar narrow victories in other traditionally Republican counties.

    Catron County is in ranching country on New Mexico's western border. Most of its 3,500 residents don't think much of the state or federal government, whether they're governed by Republicans or not. But that doesn't mean they don't know what is going on.

    After retiring as president of New Mexico Western College in 1962, my father began a second career as a public speaker. Upon returning from a speech in Reserve, he excitedly told everyone who would listen that his Catron County audience was the best informed group of people he ever had addressed.

    So despite their isolation, the good folks in Catron County keep up with the world. And they've also given us state Supreme Court Justice Patricio Serna, a native of Reserve.

    Debates, or the lack of them, have been a major topic in this year's campaign. Gov. Richardson decided even one debate with John Dendahl was too risky. Dendahl countered by giving Richardson a new nickname. As a candidate, four years ago, Richardson often was called an 800-pound gorilla because of his strong resume and powerful campaign.

    When Richardson decided not to debate this time, Dendahl began calling him a 300-pound chicken. The moniker not only called attention to Richardson's trepidation, but also to his weight. The governor now is trying to address the latter by losing some of that girth.

    Rep. Heather Wilson has tried to call attention her challenger Patricia Madrid's hesitancy to debate by sending a person dressed as a duck to Madrid's campaign functions. The duck now seems to be ducking further appearances after getting its feet stepped on and turning up lame following its first outing.

    Madrid's performance in her one debate aptly demonstrates why she didn't want to debate in the first place. Most analysts opined that there was no knockout. If that is true, then Wilson certainly won big on points.

    There was no televised debate in the 2nd Congressional District but blogger Heath Haussaman has secured a video of the face off between Rep. Steve Pearce and Al Kissling. You can see it at http://haussamen.blogspot.com.

    In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Tom Udall and challenger Ron Dolin have been showing up for joint appearances wherever requested. Voters got to see debates between those two and between Sen. Jeff Bingaman and challenger Allen McCulloch on KOB-TV.

    Sunday's Albuquerque Journal will have final polling data on all the statewide and federal races. At this point, it appears the Albuquerque congressional race and the land commissioner contest will be the only close ones.

    Gov. Richardson predicts Madrid will win by a half percentage point. If that happens, we won't know a winner for days.

FRI, 11-3-06

 

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505

(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com