8-8 Gary Johnson telling it like it is

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- The national media should pay more attention to New Mexico's former Gov. Gary Johnson. He is the only person speaking candidly about other candidates and the issues.
While his competitors walk softly and mince words, Johnson is saying what he thinks. It is the sort of thing that would get good news ratings but the major media don't seem to hear him.
As long as Johnson is out there working his heart out trying to be our next president, I feel a need to report about him occasionally.
When Johnson got in the race, he felt his message of limited government and financial responsibility was going to resonate with a very large number of people who were calling for the same thing. Johnson could say he not only believed in limited government, he actually hadscarried it out as governor of a state.
The tea partiers said their concern was cutting back the size of government. Johnson thought that sounded like a very good fit. But it wasn't to be. His belief in limited government intrusion into people's personal lives didn't fit with the group.
Our former governor has been all over the country preaching his limited government message but it hasn't gone viral, as he had hoped. It hasn't even worked in New Hampshire, the most likely place for a libertarian message to catch on.
Johnson couldn't reach the two percent threshold to be in the CNN New Hampshire debate. He may face the same fate as Richardson, who withdrew from the 2008 presidential race two days after the New Hampshire primary.
Despite gaining no traction, Johnson has continued to make provocative assessments of the candidates and issues that higher ranked candidates have feared to utter. Some examples follow.
A conservative Iowa Christian group prepared a "Marriage Vow" that it asked all Republican presidential candidates to sign. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum signed immediately.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney issued a carefully worded statement that although he strongly supports traditional marriage, he feels this group's pledge is undignified. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty followed suit.
In contrast, Gary Johnson issued a statement saying, "In one concise document+, they manage to condemn gays, single parents, single individuals, divorcees, Muslims, gays in the military, unmarried couples, women who choose to have abortions and everyone else who doesn't fit in a Norman Rockwell painting."
Johnson called the pledge un-American and un-Republican. So tell us how you really feel, Gary.
They agreed on that issue but Johnson tore into Pawlenty on border protection, mocking him for an ad touting a decision to send Minnesota National Guard troops to defend the border.
Says Johnson, "I live in New Mexico. Let me tell you, that was a waste of money."
And then there's Johnson's impression of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Johnson says listen to him talk. "I thought he was doing an impression of George Bush." Besides, Johnson says, America isn't ready to put another Texas governor in the White House.
Johnson says he thinks his biggest problem is name recognition. People know there is a candidate who is telling it like it his but they can't remember his name.
He says it is too bad he doesn't have the same advantage as Herman Cain, a former head of Godfather's Pizza. People hear his name and associate it with John McCain. Johnson thinks that's how Cain got invited to the New Hampshire CNN debate.
Johnson's biggest disappointment may have come when Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas decided to get into his third presidential race. Johnson had been hoping to be Paul's successor in spreading the libertarian message. It appears Paul also may be attracting a good chunk of Tea Party voters.
Rep Paul espouses the same libertarian social beliefs as Johnson but he does it more gently.
MON, 8-08-11

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

 

8-5 Sen. No says yes to governor

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Gov. Susana Martinez has pleased almost everyone with her trimming of political appointees in state government. The only people not happy are a few politicos who hoped for jobs.
The target number for Martinez originally was to cut appointees from over 500, which former Gov. Bill Richardson had during most of his administration, to the 320 former Gov. Gary Johnson had before he left office.
But focus by Republicans on Richardson's appointees, beginning over a year ago, caused Richardson to start cutting his appointees back so it wouldn't be a campaign issue and wouldn't tarnish his legacy.
So was that the end of the issue? Not for Susana. She asked for resignations from all of Richardson's appointees and then set about deciding which of the jobs previously held by appointees really needed to be filled.
Obviously the cabinet secretary posts needed somebody in them.. But as for deputy secretaries, 12 of those positions remain unfilled. Richardson was known by department secretaries for sending cronies in need of a job and sometimes with instructions that they were to be a deputy secretary.
So many departments had deputies without clearly defined job descriptions. And no money was sent with these appointees. Department secretaries had to find room for them in their budgets.
Of 337 governor-appointed positions allocated at the beginning of Martinez's administration, she has filled only about 119 of them. That is such a low number that Legislative Finance Committee chairman John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat, cautioned the new administration that its management is understaffed in some areas.
When "Sen. No" from the eight years of the Richardson administration says you should consider hiring more people, consider it a major compliment.
Martinez is correct that government can operate without heavy layers of political appointees. There are plenty of career state employees who can handle management jobs better than political appointees who don't have a clue.
The governor's office staff, which contains 26 authorized positions understandably also is made up entirely of political appointees. Cabinet members and gubernatorial staff make up nearly one half of Gov. Martinez's political appointees.
And their salaries usually are lower than those of political appointees. Martinez has lowered salaries throughout state government, which has saved additional money. She hasn't yet lowered her own salary.
Another big splash for our new governor, noticed mainly by business people is the easing of many regulations. Those regulations mostly were promulgated by the Richardson administration.
It was a predictable move by a Democratic governor wanting to attract attention as a presidential candidate. Martinez's move to ease regulations is predictable for a Republican governor wanting to attract national attention.
Rules and regulations can be changed by governors because they are part of administering laws that legislatures pass. Many of the regulations going back and forth relate to health, safety and the environment.
Martinez also is pleasing many with her attacks on the movie industry. Nationally, Republicans don't care much for Hollywood because it has far too many Democrats. There are notable exceptions but it is a fertile ground for Democratic fund raising.
Several new Republican governors have tightened regulations on the film industry while other states have increased their incentives. Many are eagerly watching to see how New Mexico's slight reduction of incentives affects the industry and its 8,000 to 12,000 employees in New Mexico.
As with all businesses, the film industry is looking for stability and predictability. If no further changes are made, industry insiders say New Mexico should be fine. But if continued efforts are made to cut incentives, we may go downhill.
The numerous states offering film incentives are scratching their heads trying to figure out where the break even point is on incentives. Our legislature proposed a study, which the governor vetoed, saying she would do it herself. We'll see how that works out.
FRI, 8-5-11

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

 

8-3 The difficult decision to bomb Japan

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

NOTE: Recent talk of the Manhattan Project prompts me to rerun this column, written from Nagasaki shortly before the 60th anniversary of Fat Man being dropped there, Aug. 9, 1945.

NAGASAKI -- Decision time had come. Do we invade the main islands of Japan or do we drop atomic bombs? There were strong feelings on both sides.
But most of our political and military leaders came down on the side of the bomb. America was heavily committed to the Manhattan Project. It had cost $2 billion and had been run on a breakneck, two- year schedule to be ready prior to the Japanese invasion.
We'd done it. The bombs were ready. As Robert Oppenheimer, the project's scientific director, put it "The decision (to use the bombs) was implicit in the project."
Japan also helped make our decision by assuring that an invasion would be overwhelmingly costly in terms of American casualties. Iwo Jima and Okinawa had been nightmares. Based on projections from those two battles, it was estimated that we would suffer a million casualties in the two years it would take to finish the job.
It didn't matter that Japan was already beaten. We had cut off her fuel and food supplies. We had wiped out her Navy. All that was left of her once-proud air power were the kamikaze planes.
The kamikazes, however, couldn't win the war, but they could inflict heavy enemy losses. Estimates put kamikaze planes and pilots at 10,000. In addition, Japan had developed a manned bomb, with a rocket engine and a pilot. And thousands of kamikaze motor boats had been armed with explosives to further harass the enemy.
The Japanese again would fight from tunnels, as they had so successfully at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. And civilians would be used. Japan lived by the samurai code that would not allow surrender. They believed that their bushido fighting spirit could triumph over any odds.
The odds were staggering. U.S. and Allied incendiary bombs flattened cities, killing 100,000 in a night and leaving a million homeless. We'd already obliterated 65 Japanese cities.
Part of our million casualties from an invasion were an estimated 100,000 U.S. prisoners of war we knew the Japanese would kill before we could get to them. They had done it elsewhere and they'd already begun forcing American POW's in Japan to prepare the means for their mass exterminations.
Some 900 surviving members of the New Mexico National Guard would have been among the 100,000 killed.
The invasion was scheduled for October. By August, U.S. troops already were headed for Japan. Among them was a young recruit named Bruce King, who later would become New Mexico's longest-serving governor. King admits to the relief he felt when he learned he would be on our occupational force instead.
Something else was needed to jolt Japan's military leaders to their senses. Even though the atomic bombs would kill fewer than our nightly saturation bombings, the realization that we had perfected a super-weapon might work. One bomb still didn't produce an unconditional surrender, so three days after Hiroshima, a second bomb was dropped.
The United States had a list of possible targets for the two atomic bombs. Those target cities were spared the incendiary bombing that other major Japanese cities received. Hiroshima made its way to the top of the list. Kyoto was removed because it was Japan's major religious and cultural center.
Nagasaki wasn't the primary target for the second bomb, but weather and other factors made it the alternate target. My feeling, upon sailing into Nagasaki harbor was that maybe it should have been removed from the list too.
I've never seen a more beautiful city. San Francisco comes the closest. Nagasaki is even more hilly. For 200 years, it also was the only port that the Japanese would allow visitors to enter, making it Japan's most European city.
But Nagasaki also was Japan's major shipbuilding center and was home to the Mitsubishi munitions complex, which was the epicenter of the bomb. Fat Man, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, was the type bomb that was first tested at Trinity site in New Mexico.
MON, 7-4-05

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

I am getting a little ahead because Jeanette comes home from hospital physical rehab soon and will require much attention for awhile.

Fw: [Inside the Capitol] 8-1 column

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Does New Mexico have the nation's most crooked politicians? For several years, I have made the case that New Mexico has only about an average number of crooks in office.
But that argument is getting more difficult to make. The shift began a few years ago when two state treasurers went to prison for demanding payoffs. One of them was quoted as saying, "That's the way the game is played in New Mexico."
Then the powerful leader of the New Mexico Senate went to prison along with a list of accomplices for demanding kickbacks from an Albuquerque courthouse construction project.
Then came indictments of an affordable housing director, a father-son team of public utility commissioners and a former three-term secretary of state.
More recently, we have had Albuquerque's chief criminal judge arrested on sex charges, a Las Cruces judge charged in a bribery scandal, an appeals court judge resigning after being arrested for drunken driving and local judges in serious trouble.
Law enforcement also has been hit. Albuquerque has had numerous police shootings of unarmed civilians and one officer is charged with killing his wife to cover up his involvement in a car theft ring. And a former Santa Fe Sheriff has pleaded guilty to embezzlement.
We thought it could only happen in New Jersey but in the tiny border town of Columbus, the mayor, police chief and a village trustee were accused of helping smuggle hundreds of guns into Mexico.
If this doesn't sound like the Wild West, I don't know what does. It is the sort of thing that kept New Mexico from being invited into the union for 66 years.
Lawlessness was rampant throughout the state but the spotlight was on Lincoln County in the late 1870s because of all the killings. Billy the Kid's side of the fight was against a corrupt sheriff, district attorney, judges and governor.
Even after the United States finally invited us into the union, corruption didn't diminish much.
In the late 1940s, a Las Cruces grand jury was empanelled to look into the killing of Cricket Coogler, a young waitress. The grand jury quickly decided it didn't trust anyone.
It tossed the district attorney, the sheriff and the state police and asked for new judges. The killer never was found but public officials went to prison and the Mob, which was sniffing around, trying to find a replacement for Las Vegas, slinked back to Vegas to try again.
And then there is former Gov. Bill Richardson, whose name keeps popping up as part of various investigations but who never has been charged with anything. What is he doing now?
That's what columnist Ned Cantwell wants to know. He suggests that Gov. Susana Martinez switch the focus of her Catch Billy tourist promotion from The Kid to Billy the Man and look for clues to whatever happened to our former governor.
Cantwell mentions that Gov. Martinez wants to prosecute Billy the Kid. He doesn't mention Martinez wanting to prosecute Billy the Man but she probably wouldn't mind contestants finding some of those sort of clues.
Our new governor's focus on Billy the Kid may be good for tourism but it does reinforce our state's lawless image. Why is the Martinez administration doing this Billy the Kid promotion on the heels of Gov. Richardson's promotion?
It doesn't fit with her image of wanting to dismantle everything that was done in the Richardson administration. Most likely, her Tourism secretary, Monique Jacobson, chose the topic. Maybe it was a result of the focus groups she conducted around the country to develop a state brand.
It is doubtful Gov. Martinez actually will prosecute the long-dead Billy after he is found and arrested. But it would be ironic. Gov. Richardson dearly wanted to have a showy trial to determine whether to pardon The Kid. But that didn't work out.
MON, 8-01-11

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

 

From: Jay Miller

Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 10:02 AM

To: insidethecapitol@hotmail.com

Subject: [Inside the Capitol] 8-1 column

I received "postmaster" messages that this did not go through to some of you last night. Trying again.

--
Posted By Jay Miller to Inside the Capitol at 7/28/2011 10:00:00 AM

8-1 column

I received "postmaster" messages that this did not go through to some of you last night. Trying again.

8-1 Is NM most corrupt state?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Does New Mexico have the nation's most crooked politicians? For several years, I have made the case that New Mexico has only about an average number of crooks in office.
But that argument is getting more difficult to make. The shift began a few years ago when two state treasurers went to prison for demanding payoffs. One of them was quoted as saying, "That's the way the game is played in New Mexico."
Then the powerful leader of the New Mexico Senate went to prison along with a list of accomplices for demanding kickbacks from an Albuquerque courthouse construction project.
Then came indictments of an affordable housing director, a father-son team of public utility commissioners and a former three-term secretary of state.
More recently, we have had Albuquerque's chief criminal judge arrested on sex charges, a Las Cruces judge charged in a bribery scandal, an appeals court judge resigning after being arrested for drunken driving and local judges in serious trouble.
Law enforcement also has been hit. Albuquerque has had numerous police shootings of unarmed civilians and one officer is charged with killing his wife to cover up his involvement in a car theft ring. And a former Santa Fe Sheriff has pleaded guilty to embezzlement.
We thought it could only happen in New Jersey but in the tiny border town of Columbus, the mayor, police chief and a village trustee were accused of helping smuggle hundreds of guns into Mexico.
If this doesn't sound like the Wild West, I don't know what does. It is the sort of thing that kept New Mexico from being invited into the union for 66 years.
Lawlessness was rampant throughout the state but the spotlight was on Lincoln County in the late 1870s because of all the killings. Billy the Kid's side of the fight was against a corrupt sheriff, district attorney, judges and governor.
Even after the United States finally invited us into the union, corruption didn't diminish much.
In the late 1940s, a Las Cruces grand jury was empanelled to look into the killing of Cricket Coogler, a young waitress. The grand jury quickly decided it didn't trust anyone.
It tossed the district attorney, the sheriff and the state police and asked for new judges. The killer never was found but public officials went to prison and the Mob, which was sniffing around, trying to find a replacement for Las Vegas, slinked back to Vegas to try again.
And then there is former Gov. Bill Richardson, whose name keeps popping up as part of various investigations but who never has been charged with anything. What is he doing now?
That's what columnist Ned Cantwell wants to know. He suggests that Gov. Susana Martinez switch the focus of her Catch Billy tourist promotion from The Kid to Billy the Man and look for clues to whatever happened to our former governor.
Cantwell mentions that Gov. Martinez wants to prosecute Billy the Kid. He doesn't mention Martinez wanting to prosecute Billy the Man but she probably wouldn't mind contestants finding some of those sort of clues.
Our new governor's focus on Billy the Kid may be good for tourism but it does reinforce our state's lawless image. Why is the Martinez administration doing this Billy the Kid promotion on the heels of Gov. Richardson's promotion?
It doesn't fit with her image of wanting to dismantle everything that was done in the Richardson administration. Most likely, her Tourism secretary, Monique Jacobson, chose the topic. Maybe it was a result of the focus groups she conducted around the country to develop a state brand.
It is doubtful Gov. Martinez actually will prosecute the long-dead Billy after he is found and arrested. But it would be ironic. Gov. Richardson dearly wanted to have a showy trial to determine whether to pardon The Kid. But that didn't work out.
MON, 8-01-11

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

 

7-29 Should the Manhattan Project get some recognition?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Should the Manhattan Project that produced the world's first atomic bomb be made part of the U.S. national park system?
The answer in most of the country is disbelief that our proud nation has taken over 60 years to get anywhere close to recognizing its role in the birth of the Atomic Age.
But the answer in much of Santa Fe and its surroundings is how dare they honor an instrument of mass murder and universal destruction.
Opposition of the moralistic handwringers has not been much of an impediment to establishing an historical park, however.
Very soon after explosion of the first atomic bomb at Trinity Site, in 1945, the National Park Service began talking with the Army about making the site, in a corner of what is now White Sands Missile Range, part of the park system.
But the Army was intransigent. It had taken that land from area ranchers and it wasn't going to share it with anyone. Concerns for safety and obsession with secrecy were its major concerns.
Something could fall off a rocket being tested 85 miles to the south -- but then lightening could strike also. The missile range is 3,200 square miles, by far the biggest military installation in the nation.
Without the most popular and logical site to recognize the birth of the atomic age, the Park Service put future plans on hold for 15 years or so. In the 1960s, it asked the history office of the Atomic Energy Commission to suggest sites significant to the birth of the Atomic Age.
The AEC was regarded as having superior understanding of the subject. But it bowed to political pressures to recognize many sites of marginal significance as historic landmarks. That essentially was the AEC's contribution.
The latest effort to establish a park site came in 2003 when Sen. Jeff Bingaman introduced legislation requesting the National Park Service to study the feasibility of including Manhattan Project sites in the park system.
In 2009, the NPS issued a report recommending a site in Los Alamos. Other sites had made their cases but the NPS concluded that size, ownership and management issues made locations in Oak Ridge, Tenn., Hanford, Wash and Dayton, Ohio unfeasible.
Last week, however, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recommended a Manhattan Project National Historical Park with units in Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Hanford.
Salazar's proposal has the support of the White House and will be sent to Congress. Then politicos from every state with even the slightest connection to nuclear energy will attempt to get their locations added.
Advance information indicates that the two buildings where Fat Man and Little Boy were developed will be part of the park, along with Fuller Lodge, the social center for the lab, and the Bathtub Row homes where the top managers lived.
Los Alamos already has two museums recounting the lab's efforts. The Bradbury Museum, 1350 Central Ave., is run by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Los Alamos Historical Society has a museum at 1050 Bathtub Row that depicts the fascinating life employees led during the period from December 1942 to September 1945.
The chances of Los Alamos becoming part of the National Park System may not be good with Congress in a budget cutting mood. And you can bet groups from Santa Fe will be there opposing it.
Leaders of the group claim the National Park Service's reputation would be damaged by honoring the bomb. But this isn't about the bomb and it isn't about honoring the Manhattan Project.
It is about the incredible effort our country put forth to remain free and the scientific advances made by unlocking the secrets of nuclear energy. Scientists and policymakers were well aware that they were unleashing a dreadful power. But if we didn't, an enemy would. The result has been 66 years without any more world wars.
NPS sites already include recognition of slavery, treatment of Indians and Japanese internment camps. History happens. Get over it.
FRI, 7-29-11

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

 

7-27 Billy the Kid manhunt clues sometimes elusive

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- The Billy the Kid manhunt is on, Go to any county in the state to find some of Billy's loot. At many of these locations, clues to Billy's whereabouts also can be obtained.
The state Tourism Department's summer travel promotion is a state-of-the-art project. It helps to be technologically literate. Fortunately our children and grandchildren are.
While Jeanette is busy rehabilitating from hip and femur surgery, the family is headed to Santa Fe to be with Mom. And on the way, they are stopping at all the places to find loot and clues.
The posse coming in from the north encountered some kinks in the system while amassing their loot. The game works best if you have a smart phone on which you have downloaded the Billy the Kid app.
But in north central New Mexico our daughter's posse members discovered their smart phone didn't have reception so they didn't know how to get to the loot.
When they got to Santa Fe, they knew Hyde Park, just above town, would have reception. But the area was closed because of fire danger. So they couldn't collect their loot there either.
Leaving Santa Fe, they had better luck. At the Coronado State Monument, they discovered that when their smart phone and GPS matched the GPS of the contest, a message came on their smart phone display screen saying, "Congratulations. Push button and the loot will be credited to your account.."
It was that easy to earn 25 coins, which can be redeemed at the contest's online general store. But you need to be a little lucky to drive or walk past the contest location because there are no signs.
They were similarly successful at Blue Lake, west of Grants. The loot there was 75 coins. The hitch was that they had to pay a $5 entry fee to get to the GPS location.
There were no special provisions for posses engaged in the manhunt, possibly because people at the entry gate had no idea what Catch the Kid meant.
At Gallup, the last stop before leaving the state, the map indicated more loot and a clue to finding The Kid. But the icon on the map disappeared before they arrived at the location. Does that mean the loot had been exhausted or that only the first person there got the clue? The rules aren't clear.
Another posse of Millers will be headed into New Mexico from the south tomorrow, looking for clues and loot. The question is whether phone reception is as bad in the rest of the state as it is in rural Northern New Mexico.
And how many state parks, monuments and museums will be open? Will staff be aware of the program? And is paying the entry fee part of the deal to get loot and a clue? Since the idea of the contest is to promote tourism, maybe paying the fee is part of the game.
The new Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson is to be commended for a creative idea and an attention grabbing subject. The aforementioned kinks need to be worked out and the contest needs to be explained better.
It's a generational thing. Our kids picked up on the idea immediately. My friends still are scratching their heads even after I explain it to them.
They are interested in New Mexico history and have time to devote to traveling the state the next two months of summertime. But they still need a little more confidence to get them out there.
The younger generation's kids will be starting to school in a few weeks and the parents' vacation time may already have been used. So something needs to be done to induce them to work the contest into their schedules.
It would have been helpful to get this started a few months earlier. Understandably this is a new administration and the logistics of setting this all up took a while.
The $10,000 prize for being first to execute an arrest warrant on Billy is a big inducement. It even seems a little extravagant -- but not when compared to the published $640,000 price tag for the entire promotion.
WED, 7=27-11

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

w/ attachment

 

7-25 Gov's campaign staff playing big role in administration

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Recently I wrote about the departure to Washington, D.C, of Brian Moore, a deputy chief of staff in the office of Gov. Susana Martinez.
Since then, we hear of the resignation of Tourism Department deputy secretary Toni Balzano, after what she termed six months of bullying capped by her exclusion from the news conference announcing the Billy the Kid manhunt.
Both departures were attributed to the influence of Martinez's chief political advisor Jay McCleskey. McCleskey also was Martinez's chief adviser during her gubernatorial campaign last year.
The Albuquerque Journal recently referred to McCleskey as "the fifth floor because of his dominance over the Capitol's fourth floor offices of Gov. Martinez.
In the eight months since Martinez's election last November, she has been accused of taking actions influenced more by politics than by good public policy. Many also say Martinez is running government as though she still is in campaign mode.
That may be due to McCleskey's continued influence over the governor's actions. Martinez often has called him her top adviser. And he apparently still is despite not working for the state.
McCleskey owns McCleskey Media Strategies, a consulting service he formed shortly after Martinez took office. Several other top members of Martinez's campaign staff have been placed in high positions in the governor's office.
McCleskey still seems to be calling the shots for the governor and these state payrollers. Brian Moore was not part of Martinez's campaign staff so he wasn't in this apparent inner circle. Chief of Staff Keith Gardner wasn't either. Both were Republican leaders in the state House of Representatives.
That background seemed ideal to head the governor's office. They were familiar with state government and would provide a logical bridge to the Legislature.
But that bridge was underutilized during this year's legislative session. Relations with the Legislature were rocky. Legislative leaders felt the governor's office was taking a my-way-or-the-highway attitude. Efforts to get through to the governor nearly always stopped with Gardner and it became obvious Gardner wasn't calling the shots.
Martinez's campaign staff had an inordinate amount of control. This staff wasn't a group of young men from the East sent in to take over. They mostly appear to have New Mexico roots.
McCleskey, according to Las Cruces blogger Heath Haussamen, got his political start as a student at New Mexico State University. In 1996, he took a government class with professor Jose Z. Garcia and got the political bug.
Professor Garcia's name might be familiar to you. He was one of Gov. Martinez's first political appointees, as the secretary of the Higher Education Department. Garcia has been active in state Democratic politics.
After college, McCleskey went on to manage campaigns for Republican Sen. Bill Payne and Republican Rep. John Sanchez. He then managed Sanchez's unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2002.
McCleskey then had stints working for the state GOP and the Republican National Committee. Recently McCleskey was chief strategist for Albuquerque Mayor R.J. Berry's successful campaign and then did media for Secretary of State Diana Duran's campaign.
Ryan Cangiolosi, Martinez's other deputy chief of staff, has a B.A. and M.B.A. fro the University of New Mexico. He was Martinez's campaign manager. Matthew Stackpole, the governor's assistant general counsel, is a graduate of UNM Law School. And communications director, Scott Darnell, a Farmington native, has two degrees from UNM.
Toni Balzano was a holdover from the Richardson administration, resigned last week before being fired from her position as deputy secretary of the Tourism Department. She says she endured six months of slander by McCleskey and a hostile work environment.
McCleskey says if you don't make enemies, you're no good at your job. It appears that a Martinez administration that seemed to be getting off to a pretty quiet start suddenly has become wild and wooly.
Who will be next?
MON, 7-25-11

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

 

7-22 Good News. Revenues Up

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Good news. The state's economists say our revenue outlook is improving, mainly due to a larger than expected increase in gross receipts tax and energy royalties.
This may be an indication that our state has weathered the worst of its three-year economic downturn. The way economists figure it, if revenues continue to increase more than expected for the next quarter too, they can say we are in recovery mode.
The gross receipts tax rebound is especially good news. Nearly all businesses file on a monthly basis. That tells us on a regular basis how business in the state is doing. And apparently business is improving.
As of now, however, Gov. Susana Martinez is telling state agencies to submit zero-based budgets for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2012. We're not going to see this administration getting excited about spending money anytime soon.
One of the Martinez administration's biggest headaches is what to do about the Rail Runner commuter train between Belen and Santa Fe. Solving the problem of securing more revenue is complicated by the fact that it is a joint problem.
The Rio Metro Transportation Authority runs the railroad. The four counties served by the railroad each contribute a one-eighth cent gross receipts tax to the project. Passenger fares also provide some revenue.
But the original idea came from former Gov. Bill Richardson, who agreed the state would provide 25 percent of the train's operational costs in addition to borrowing money to buy the track and trains.
Evidently that agreement never was put in writing and his successor, Gov. Susana Martinez isn't sure she wants the train to continue.
Another problem is that Gov. Richardson never identified a revenue stream to fund the state's 25 percent. Richardson used federal stimulus money to pay the state's share. That money no longer is available.
If Martinez continues to fund 25 percent of the train's revenues, she'll have to find the money somewhere. Martinez has little reason to help Richardson with his legacy.
The transportation board's first money-saving idea was to stop the weekend runs. That hit Santa Fe businesses hard because weekend riders are the ones who eat and shop.
Santa Fe officials complained and hinted at helping support the weekend trains financially. Economists also testified that healthy weekend ridership is a long is a long run benefit.
Gov. Martinez may hold the keys to whether the railroad is a success or failure. Unfortunately, some $800 million in bond payments by the state are going to have to be made over the next 16 years whether the trains run or not.
As we have told you previously, Gov. Martinez has been criticized for not showing up at events to which she has committed. But she did come through on a commitment to the New Mexico Children's Foundation to appear at a "Dancing With the Stars" fundraiser in Santa Fe last weekend.
Martinez, who won a major dance contest for a Dona Ana County charity, reportedly wowed the Santa Fe crowd with some very fancy footwork. That may be a skill that will come in handy with lawmakers during the September special session on redistricting.
The decennial session to redraw boundaries of legislative and congressional districts always is tense because there is nothing more important to politicians than their seats.
Gov. Martinez is currently aggravating legislators even more by adding a number of items to the redistricting agenda. Every problem that arises seems to add to the governor's special session agenda.
Interestingly, the news prior to a special redistricting session usually has to do with redistricting concerns. Some areas of the state stand to lose their legislative district or be combined with a neighboring district.
But instead of redistricting concerns, nearly all the coverage so far has been about the extra items Gov. Martinez is adding to the special session agenda.
FRI, 7-22-11

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

 

7-18 correction

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Why has the presidential race already started in New Mexico? We were freed from negative political ads only last November. And they are already starting again? Why?
It's because New Mexico is important. We have only five electoral votes out of 535. That's less than one percent. But sometimes elections are won by that narrow a margin. And New Mexico's votes count.
That's an odd statement to make. Everyone's vote counts. Right? Wrong. The anachronistic Electoral College method of voting for president means that in states dominated by either political party, the minority party voters might as well not bother voting for president.
Electoral votes are winner take all. So if it is a foregone conclusion that one party's candidate is going to win, the other candidate's supporters might as well not vote.
If every vote counted, Al Gore would have beaten George W. Bush in 2000. But Bush had more electoral votes. That's the way this silly game is played. It doesn't benefit either party but it surely can mess up a candidate's day.
In that 2000 election, Gore beat Bush by 366 votes in New Mexico. It was only the second time in our state's almost 100-year history that we didn't vote for the winner. But New Mexico's vote was more representative of the nation's vote than the Electoral College result was.
So New Mexico is called a bellwether state. Despite having many differences from the nation as a whole, the way New Mexicans vote is more reflective of the nation's vote than is the vote of any other state.
Why? We don't really know. That is why Barack Obama had 24 campaign offices spread throughout New Mexico in 2008. It also may be why the movie "Swing Vote," starring Kevin Costner, was set in New Mexico. Costner's vote determined who would be president.
It also is difficult to explain how New Mexico has its second candidate for president in two consecutive elections. Both Gov. Bill Richardson in 2008 and former Gov. Gary Johnson in this election felt they had a legitimate chance to win.
Johnson says he still is confident of winning despite not being able to crack the two percent barrier in any national polls. He told Fox News last week that he is encouraged by recent polls of voters in states with presidential candidates.
The results show that Johnson is the only one of the candidates who have a positive popularity rating in their home state. Johnson's popularity is 12 points higher than his unpopularity among those polled.
In second place was Newt Gingrich of Georgia, whose unpopularity is 8 points higher than his popularity. Bringing up the rear is Michele Bachmann, whose unpopularity is 26 points higher than her popularity in Minnesota. She beat out Sarah Palin by one point for last place.
The poll once again was conducted by Public Opinion Polling, which found a few weeks ago that Johnson is doing better than any other Republican candidate against President Obama in New Mexico.
Public Opinion Polling was listed last year by the Wall Street Journal as being the second best national pollster in swing state races. So evidently they don't have a Johnson bias.
Despite the pollster finding Johnson doing well against Obama among registered voters in New Mexico, the results flip when the vote is strictly among Republicans. Bachmann leads that poll by a fairly wide margin.
The message of these two polls is that Johnson does better among independents and Democrats than he does among Republicans. So why doesn't he switch parties? It is because he was a bigger budget cutter as New Mexico's governor than were any of his gubernatorial counterparts across the nation.
But Johnson's position on social issues is a major problem for Republicans. He believes government has no more business interfering in people's social lives than it does interfering with business and industry.
It is very libertarian but it appears to be no-win for Johnson.
MON, 7-18-11

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

In the penultimate graf, please add at the end of the partial sentence : is a major problem for Republicans. 

 

Thanks,  Jay

7-20 Cashing in on The Kid

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Who says Billy the Kid is dead? Within a week, earlier this month, Billy's photograph sold for $2.3 million, dozens of Billy the Kid artists and historians gathered to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Billy's death and the state of New Mexico announced a $10,000 bounty for the capture of Billy.
Friends sometimes tease me for writing about The Kid so often. I reply that until another New Mexican does something spectacular, Billy remains our most famous New Mexican.
On July 9, Old West collectors gathered in Denver for an auction which featured a very small tintype that historians agree is the one surviving picture of The Kid.
The estimated value of the tintype was $300,000. As it turned out, the auction house made that much from the 15 percent buyer's premium on the item.
Bill Koch, one of the four oil-rich Kansas Koch brothers made the final bid of $2 million. An unnamed mystery bidder, said to be from New Mexico, was the under-bidder at $1.9 million. The crowd cheered him on but the stranger said that was as far as he was authorized to remain in the bidding.
Who was the tall cowboy working for? My source said it was a banking consortium from Southeastern New Mexico that wanted to keep Billy's only photo here in our state.
Historical societies, working to preserve New Mexico's rich cultural history, are working tenaciously to uncover the bidders' identity and make a pitch for funding of their causes.
Five days later, on July 14, Santa Fe's new Due West gallery held a requiem for Billy and invited Western artists from Texas to Arizona, plus historians, collectors, authors and a grand daughter of Pat Garrett to participate in the occasion.
The artists got to speak about their pieces hanging in the gallery. Many tall tales were told -- some possibly true. Buckeye Blake told of wanting to sculpt a crypt lid for Billy's grave, depicting him in the finery that Fort Sumner admirers had gathered for his burial.
Blake said he obtained permission from the local "powers that be" and then went back to Texas to spend a year creating the sculpture. When he returned to Fort Sumner, he was told the permission had been withdrawn. Villagers didn't want a dead person in their cemetery.
Thom Ross, Due West's gallery owner, told of how he had always been a Billy the Kid fanatic. He says as a child he refused braces for his buck teeth because he wanted to look like Billy.
A day later, on July 15, Gov. Susana Martinez held a press conference to announce a manhunt for Billy the Kid throughout the state of New Mexico.
It is a tourism promotion that takes people to all four corners of the state looking for clues to where Billy is hiding out. The idea is to get New Mexicans to confine their travel to New Mexico this summer.
In the process, they will receive many small prizes and be eligible to win the big one to put the clues to find Billy and serve him with an arrest warrant.
The governor is having fun with this promotion, mentioning how a former governor wanted to pardon Billy but how she is approaching The Kid from a law enforcement angle, wanting to capture him.
Regardless of the slant, it is fun to have two governors in a row using New Mexico's most famous gunslinger to promote the state. Richardson's contemplated pardon gained worldwide publicity. Let's hope this promotion will do the same.
While searching for The Kid and a $10,000 prize, individuals, families or groups can search for loot stashed in every county of the state. A carload of people traveling around New Mexico searching for loot, prizes and clues is called a posse, of course.
A lot of thought and several hundred thousand dollars has been invested in this creative idea. Let's hope it works well.
WED, 7-20-11

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

 

7-18 New Mexico is the swingingest state

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist

SANTA FE -- Why has the presidential race already started in New Mexico? We were freed from negative political ads only last November. And they are already starting again? Why?
It's because New Mexico is important. We have only five electoral votes out of 535. That's less than one percent. But sometimes elections are won by that narrow a margin. And New Mexico's votes count.
That's an odd statement to make. Everyone's vote counts. Right? Wrong. The anachronistic Electoral College method of voting for president means that in states dominated by either political party, the minority party voters might as well not bother voting for president.
Electoral votes are winner take all. So if it is a foregone conclusion that one party's candidate is going to win, the other candidate's supporters might as well not vote.
If every vote counted, Al Gore would have beaten George W. Bush in 2000. But Bush had more electoral votes. That's the way this silly game is played. It doesn't benefit either party but it surely can mess up a candidate's day.
In that 2000 election, Gore beat Bush by 366 votes in New Mexico. It was only the second time in our state's almost 100-year history that we didn't vote for the winner. But New Mexico's vote was more representative of the nation's vote than the Electoral College result was.
So New Mexico is called a bellwether state. Despite having many differences from the nation as a whole, the way New Mexicans vote is more reflective of the nation's vote than is the vote of any other state.
Why? We don't really know. That is why Barack Obama had 24 campaign offices spread throughout New Mexico in 2008. It also may be why the movie "Swing Vote," starring Kevin Costner, was set in New Mexico. Costner's vote determined who would be president.
It also is difficult to explain how New Mexico has its second candidate for president in two consecutive elections. Both Gov. Bill Richardson in 2008 and former Gov. Gary Johnson in this election felt they had a legitimate chance to win.
Johnson says he still is confident of winning despite not being able to crack the two percent barrier in any national polls. He told Fox News last week that he is encouraged by recent polls of voters in states with presidential candidates.
The results show that Johnson is the only one of the candidates who have a positive popularity rating in their home state. Johnson's popularity is 12 points higher than his unpopularity among those polled.
In second place was Newt Gingrich of Georgia, whose unpopularity is 8 points higher than his popularity. Bringing up the rear is Michele Bachmann, whose unpopularity is 26 points higher than her popularity in Minnesota. She beat out Sarah Palin by one point for last place.
The poll once again was conducted by Public Opinion Polling, which found a few weeks ago that Johnson is doing better than any other Republican candidate against President Obama in New Mexico.
Public Opinion Polling was listed last year by the Wall Street Journal as being the second best national pollster in swing state races. So evidently they don't have a Johnson bias.
Despite the pollster finding Johnson doing well against Obama among registered voters in New Mexico, the results flip when the vote is strictly among Republicans. Bachmann leads that poll by a fairly wide margin.
The message of these two polls is that Johnson does better among independents and Democrats than he does among Republicans. So why doesn't he switch parties? It is because he was a bigger budget cutter as New Mexico's governor than were any of his gubernatorial counterparts across the nation.
But Johnson's position on social issues. He believes government has no more business interfering in people's social lives than it does interfering with business and industry.
It is very libertarian but it appears to be no-win for Johnson.
MON, 7-18-11

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

 

7-15 Gov's administration full of campaign staff

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Recent developments have put the spotlight on some of Gov. Susana Martinez's executive team.
The most recent development is the quiet move of former state Rep. Brian Moore to New Mexico's one-person Washington office. It is a wonderful opportunity for a guy from Clayton to get to know our nation's capitol.
But it isn't a promotion. Moore is a deputy chief of staff in the governor's office. That has meant second-in-command in previous administrations. During her campaign, Martinez vowed to do away with the state's Washington office.
So what's up? No one seems to know. Blogger Joe Monahan sniffed out the move two weeks ago and surmises that Moore is on the way out. Others have heard it is only a six-month stint.
Moore's primary assignment was to handle relations with the Legislature. He was a respected lawmaker, able to work well with both sides of the aisle. His appointment by the new administration was hailed as a brilliant move.
But the Martinez administration never seemed to get out of campaign mode. Relations remained adversarial and it wasn't because of Moore who was seldom seen or heard.
If Moore is to be in Washington for six months, he would be back just in time for the 2012 Legislature. But anyone who has worked with the Legislature knows that it is a year-round job building relations and selling ideas.
Of course legislative relations and congressional relations are related. Maybe Moore is back there to get a feel for whether there is a need for an office in Washington.. He's taking his wife and dog and a rental truck with him. They should arrive today.
But most capitol observers see a similarity with the governor's treatment of Lt. Gov. John Sanchez. Very soon after her election last November, Martinez sent Sanchez on a listening tour to every county in the state.
Being an independent elected official himself, Sanchez didn't have to obey orders. He likely saw Martinez's assignment as a move to keep him out of the way while she was setting up her administration.
But Sanchez also likely saw it as an opportunity to broaden contacts he had made during the primary and general election. He didn't know at the time that Sen. Jeff Bingaman was on the verge of retiring and he could use those contacts almost immediately.
Sanchez's entry into the U.S. Senate race totally ticked Gov. Martinez. She announced she wasn't going to give him any responsibilities. But judging from her actions during the three months following her election, she wasn't going to delegate anything to her lieutenant governor anyway.
And there is no reason she should -- other than to keep him out of mischief. The 1971 Legislature never should have created a full-time lieutenant governor option in the first place. The 2013 legislature should abolish it.
Lieutenant governors really aren't needed at all. Several states don't have the office. Until 1958, New Mexico's governors and lieutenant governors ran separately in general elections. They sometimes were from opposite parties.
Despite dominant feelings that Brian Moore is permanently out of the loop, he may be quietly trying to advance Martinez's national political aspirations. Republicans charged that was former Gov. Bill Richardson's motive for a Washington office.
But if that were the reason, Martinez's chief political adviser, Jay McCleskey, would send someone from her campaign staff to wheel and deal with the kingmakers. There still are plenty of those left around.
Ryan Cangiolosi, the governor's other deputy chief of staff, was Martinez's campaign manager. Matthew Stackpole, the governor's assistant general counsel, was deputy director of campaign operations for Martinez.
Scott Darnell, the governor's communications director, was communications director for the state Republican Party. Matt Kennicott, communications director for the state Human Services Department, was director of Martinez's campaign operations and has worked with the Republican National Committee.
FRI, 7-15-11

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

 

7-13 Gov, Gary, SOS and Train

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Here, on a hot summer's day, are some clippings from a columnist's notepad.
Former New Mexico Gov. Garry Johnson can't seem to get onto the radar screen of the national GOP hierarchy, but he's still making a good showing among the homefolks.
Public Policy Polling, a national survey firm that that has a good record for accuracy despite using automated phone calls to do its polling, reports Johnson is doing better than any other Republican presidential candidate in New Mexico.
Matched up against President Barack Obama, Johnson was the only Republican candidate to get close. He was three pints behind but the poll's margin of error was 3.6 percent, which puts Johnson in a statistical tie with the president.
Among independent voters and those aged 37-46, Johnson was beating Obama in New Mexico.
Sure, one might say that is just favorite-son stuff but the same polling firm found our immediate past governor, Bill Richardson, withering to a 27 percent approval rating.
Now, if only Johnson's popularity could start spreading out of the Land of Enchantment…
* * *
Public Policy Polling, which identifies itself as Democratic, also found that Gov. Susana Martinez is one of the few newly elected Republican governors who would still win election if were held again now.
In fact, Martinez has gained strength, according to the poll. Last November, Martinez won election by seven points over Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. Martinez now would win election by nine points.
Out of somewhere around 20 new Republican governors, Martinez was one of only three who still would win election if the election were held again, according to the poll. The other two were South Caroline Gov. Nikki Haley and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.
This certainly can't hurt Martinez's chances to be considered as a vice-presidential running mate at this time next year. Much will depend on balancing the ticket in many different ways.
Certainly being a female minority won't hurt. Haley is the daughter of immigrants from India. Political observers feel Martinez has retained her popularity because she hasn't gone overboard trying to punish political enemies.
* * *
Another Republican female minority who has struck political pay dirt recently is newly-elected Secretary of State Diana Duran. She began making headlines soon after her election when she testified to a legislative committee that she had found 37 instances of undocumented immigrants voting in New Mexico state elections.
Since then, there has been no news about prosecution of these lawbreakers. Efforts by open government groups and political reporters to obtain public information about these cases have met with little success.
Those charges have been eclipsed by the 64,000 cases of possible voter fraud turned over by Duran to the state police. Duran's political road has been a little rocky thus far but she likely could win election again today.
An email from Stephanie DuBois in Otero County notes that during 25 years of GOP control of the clerk's office in that county, there never has been a report of voter fraud.
So where is all this fraud coming from, many want to know. There are some usual suspects, but 64,000?
DuBois also says Duran first got a job in the county clerk's office under a Democratic administration because she was a Democrat. Just like Gov. Martinez, she switched parties and became a Republican.
Might it be that female minorities interested in statewide office may want to consider switching to the Republican Party?
* * *
Responses to the column on the Rail Runner's many problems indicate some good entrepreneurial thinking is needed to increase ridership and decrease costs. It's a good idea and one that government isn't accustomed to undertaking.
WED, 7-13-11

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

 

7-11 How is Gov. Martinez doing?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE – So what can we say about Gov. Susana Martinez after her first six months in office? For one, it was much quieter than former Gov. Bill Richardson's first six months.
By this time, Richardson has several of his bold initiatives going full steam. In retrospect, none of them look very bold anymore. The Rail Runner is in big trouble. GRIP, his bonding program, has saddled us with debt.
Dipping into the Permanent Fund to increase money for education hasn't produced results. And the spaceport, which might produce big results, could falter because of Martinez's indifference toward it.
Martinez promised bold action also. But hers has been quieter. Most of her productive action has come in the area of removing regulations affecting businesses. That has been done quietly.
Her major effort to take drivers' licenses from illegal aliens was rebuffed by the state Senate. She won a few battles in the area of law enforcement. Her efforts to increase executive power through questionable vetoes were turned back by the state Supreme Court.
Martinez's effort to improve education has involved bringing in a new cabinet secretary who has had some successes in other states. Hanna Skandera has replaced most of the top management levels in the Public Education Department. Any improvements will not be seen for some time.
Gov. Martinez has made some good hires and apparently some bad ones. From all indications so far, the appointment of Christine Anderson as spaceport director has been a very good one.
It isn't possible to find anyone with proven experience running a commercial spaceport because New Mexico will have the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. So Martinez went with Anderson who knows the military space industry well.
First impressions of Anderson have been favorable. Maybe she also can work on getting Martinez excited about the possibilities of being the leader in space commercialization.
It doesn't appear Martinez is comfortable in any area with which she is not already familiar. She confidently worked on law enforcement issues during the 2011 Legislature. She even testified on at least one measure before the Legislature -- something few governors have done.
But in areas outside law enforcement, she seems to be a reluctant participant -- or a non-participant.
Lawmakers, even legislative leaders, had little success, or none at all, getting to talk with her about their issues. Most governors have had a policy that any time a legislator wants to talk, that overrides anything else on the schedule.
Lobbyists have the same complaint. Some bring top representatives of their companies or associations across the country to personally present their case to the governor but never get beyond her chief of staff.
Martinez also is becoming known for breaking appointments or commitments to appear at events or speak to audiences. It may be that she is unsure about social situations where she fears she may be put on the spot. Or maybe her handlers steer her away from such situations.
One place Martinez has appeared comfortable is her appearances at wild fires around the state. She is seen often on television giving assurances and instructions.
Martinez often begins her remarks at the site of a fire by giving statistics about how many fires we have burning in the state and how many acres have been consumed.
Those remarks drive people in the tourism industry crazy. They already are hard hit by cancellations and don't want the governor scaring people even more.
Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson has been asked by the industry to develop a program to assure potential tourists that New Mexico still is open for business.
That was a favorite phrase used by Gov. Martinez in notifying businesses that New Mexico is reducing regulations. But so far no help has been received from the Tourism Department.
To date, Sen. Tom Udall is the only public official appearing at news conferences to use the "still open for business" phrase.
MON, 7-11-11

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

 

7-8 Who is conservative enough?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Three years ago, four of our five-member congressional delegation gave up their seats to retirement or a run for higher office.
An 80 percent turnover in any state's congressional delegation is most unusual. It is almost a total loss of seniority. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, with his 26 years of experience was the only seniority the delegation had
Four years later, New Mexico will lose Bingaman's seniority and that of House member Martin Heinrich who is running for Bingaman's open Senate seat. .That will put New Mexico even farther down the seniority ladder.
But it will give us two very exciting congressional races in both the primary and general elections.
The U.S. Senate race features a Republican battle between former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and Lt. Gov. John Sanchez. Also in the race are Las Cruces Businessman Greg Sowards and William English of Alamogordo.
The biggest point of contention will be whether Wilson is conservative enough to win the primary and whether Sanchez really is as conservative as he says he is.
Wilson's 10-year record in Congress and Sanchez's two years in the state Legislature indicate they both are somewhat moderate, with Sanchez being the more moderate of the two.
National conservative leaders say they will have a strong conservative in the race. But they haven't named one yet. Meanwhile Sowards is standing on the sideline yelling for attention to his strictly conservative stands.
Also in Sowards' favor is the amount of personal money he already has been willing to put into his campaign. If the national GOP sees a chance to pick up a senate seat in New Mexico from the Democrats, it won't have difficulty finding whatever money it takes to make it happen.
So Sowards' money isn't that big a factor but his unwavering conservatism could weigh heavily in his favor. For my money, however, Republicans would rather see another woman or minority in the U.S. Senate to help change their image as a white man's party.
The Democratic race for the U.S. Senate has two major contenders in U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich and state Auditor Hector Balderas. Both are running hard but they aren't sniping at each other.
Balderas' only difficulty has been a feud with Attorney General Gary King over production of some records. Balderas says the matter is settled. King says it isn't settled until he says so.
King yearns for higher office when his term ends in 2014 but he has been in increasingly hot water lately and hasn't handled it particularly well. He needs better advice.
The race for the Albuquerque U.S. House seat being vacated by Rep. Martin Heinrich still is waiting for its full complement of candidates.
Democrat Eric Griego jumped in early and has been picking up numerous endorsements. He is a state senator and former Albuquerque city councilor.
Former Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez recently declared. Since he lost his bid for a fourth mayoral term, he has been heading an international nonprofit that works with local governments for environmental sustainability.
Chavez and Griego have a history of clashing from their mayor-city councilor days. Griego unsuccessfully challenged Chavez for mayor in 2005. Expect sparks to fly.
But the race will get more contestants. We could see Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham, state Treasurer James Lewis, federal officeholder Terry Brunner or former Sandia Pueblo Gov. Stuart Paisano get in on the Democratic side.
Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis is the only declared candidate on the Republican side. Other possibilities include state Economic Development Director Jon Barela and former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones.
FRI, 7-8-11

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