Showing posts sorted by relevance for query jerome block. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query jerome block. Sort by date Show all posts

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

BLOCK vs LASS: GETTING NASTY

You can find my story about Jerome Block, Jr.'s refusal to debate Public Regulation Commission challenger Rick Lass HERE.

Below is the cut-and-pasted original debate challenge from Lass, followed by the cut-and-pasted response from Block. As you can see, this race isn't getting any prettier.


To: Jerome Block, Jr.From: Rick Lass
Re: Candidate Debates for District 3 Seat on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission

The Rick Lass for PRC campaign extends an invitation to Jerome Block, Jr., to participate in a series of debates before the general election in November. Lass proposes to hold one debate in each of the counties which make up District 3, to allow each county's residents to meet the candidates and hear them discuss the issues without having to travel long distances to do so.
RICK LASS
Lass believes that voters have a clear choice in this election. They have a right to know where both candidates stand on the issues, what their qualifications are, and which of them would best represent the interests of New Mexicans who are struggling to run their homes and small businesses in the face of rising insurance, transportation and utility costs.

Lass advocated for small businesses as the membership director of the Santa Fe Business Alliance which, among other projects, worked with the City of Santa Fe to ensure that the interests of local, independent businesses were factored into the city's long-range master plan. He has worked tirelessly since 1995 to maintain the integrity of the electoral process, for example, as the current director of the nonprofit organization, Voting Matters, which recently led the efforts to pass seven good government amendments to Santa Fe's city charter. Lass has a long history of activism, volunteerism and effective collaboration on behalf of New Mexicans and their small businesses. He believes that the Public Regulation Commission exists to protect consumers, small business owners, working people, and everyday New Mexicans, and is committed to working day in and day out to ensure that the PRC lives up to that obligation. He was drafted to run as a Green Party candidate by a coalition of progressive Democrats, independents and Greens who were concerned about the apparent lack of qualifications of the Democratic Party's nominee and the lack of a better choice for the Public Regulation Commission in the general election.

Rick Lass looks forward to hearing from the Block campaign, and arranging for dates and formats for these debates, at Mr. Block's earliest opportunity.


Block's response:

July 29, 2008
Rick Lass
Re: Candidate Debates

Mr. Lass: I received your press release inviting me to a
series of debates in PRC District 3.
JEROME BLOCK, JR.
I plan on conducting my campaign at a grass roots level, as I did in the Democratic Primary. My intention is to visit every corner of the district and visit as many constituents on a one-to-one basis as possible. Regardless of your motivation or agenda in conducting debates, I do not intend my campaign schedule to be influenced by a minor party candidate who had to be “drafted to run”.


You and your supporters tout you as the “qualified candidate”. While there is nothing wrong with your real life experiences and employment as a pizza delivery person and a food market clerk, I do not feel it qualifies you to be a PRC commissioner. You mention, repeatedly, your advocacy for voting initiatives. Perhaps you are not aware that the PRC does not deal with voting issues. Perhaps you would consider applying your self-professed talents to running for county clerk in 2012.

I also noted with amusement that your letterhead lists you as “Public Regulation Commissioner”. Are you trying to deceive recipients’ of your correspondence that you are an incumbent commissioner?!

JEROME D. BLOCK, JR



Thursday, July 31, 2008

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: THE PRC FIGHT GOES ON

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 31, 2008


Although state Public Regulation Commission candidates Jerome Block Jr. and Rick Lass apparently won’t have a face-to-face debate, Block, the Democratic nominee, and Lass, the Green Party contender, sure aren’t hesitant to go after each other via e-mail.

Responding to Block’s public refusal to debate — in which Block belittled Lass’ past jobs as a “pizza delivery person” and grocery clerk — Lass on Wednesday released an open letter in which he raises questions about Block’s education and his job in the title-insurance business.

Lass’ “Open Letter to Jerome Block, Jr.” says voters deserve debates between the candidates so “they can better decide which candidate is more likely to protect them from rising utility and insurance costs.”

The two are running for the $90,000-a-year job representing PRC District 3, which includes Santa Fe and much of northeastern New Mexico.

“For more than a decade,” Lass wrote, “I have been working without pay on not just election and democracy issues, but on kitchen table issues like the living wage and repeal of the food tax. What is your record of public service?

“I earned a bachelor of arts degree from St. John’s College here in Santa Fe, and am well prepared to tackle the complexity of the issues before the PRC. What is your educational background?”

Block told The New Mexican earlier this year that he attended New Mexico State University but didn’t graduate. Block said he received “the equivalent of an associate degree” from the Anderson School of Management at The University of New Mexico.

“Your only qualification seems to be your employment by the title insurance industry, which represents an enormous conflict of interest given the PRC sets the price of title insurance in New Mexico,” Lass wrote. “How can the voters trust you to represent them on rate hearings involving an industry for which you were on the payroll and may still be?” (Before the primary Block took a leave of absence from his job as sales manager for the Land America title insurance company.)

Lass then refers to brushes with the law on the part of himself and Block. (Lass was arrested on a simple battery charge in 1999 after a fight with his then-girlfriend. Block was arrested for drunken driving in 1998 and had a later arrest and conviction for riding with a drunken driver.)

“We’ve both made mistakes — that is human. I took responsibility for mine, got help, and have been open about it in communicating with the media. You handled (and continue to handle) your situation much differently. Can voters be assured you have the maturity to hold such an important public office?”

Lass concludes by accusing Block of “ducking the debates because you think your chances for election are better if you keep voters in the dark about your lack of qualifications and record of public service and instead rely on the name of your father and the coattails of others. I guess that worked for you in the Democratic Party primary.”

Block couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

Speaking of debates: Republican Dan East, who is running for Northern New Mexico’s open 3rd District Congressional seat, took a jab at his Democratic opponent for missing a recent candidate forum.
Dan East, Rep
In an e-mail, East said, “The New Mexico Farm Bureau Association met for their annual State Convention at the Inn of the Mountain Gods today. Included on the schedule, was a candidate forum for New Mexico’s federal candidates. Notably missing from the forum was Ben Ray Luján, son of State House speaker Ben Luján. …

“I want to know why his handlers are not allowing him to meet me face to face. What are they hiding him from? The people of this district deserve better, and I challenge the Speaker to allow his son to debate me.”
Ben Ray Lujan, Dem
Luján skipped the Farm Bureau forum because he was campaigning in Mora County, a spokesman said, noting the resort near Ruidoso isn’t in the 3rd Congressional District. Luján will debate East — and presumably independent candidates Carol Miller and Ron Simmons — the spokesman said.

The next scheduled candidate forum is set for Monday at the College of Santa Fe, an event sponsored by The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Association of Commerce & Industry of New Mexico.

Getting prepared: Asked this week about his thoughts on the upcoming special session of the state Legislature, outgoing Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, said he’s ready. Grubesic, who isn’t seeking re-election, joked that he learned just about everything he needs to know about the special session at a recent meeting of the Legislative Council: “I learned the correct pronunciation of sine die.”

For those not well-versed in Latin or legislative jargon, that’s the term used when they end a legislative session.

In recent years in New Mexico, it’s come to mean adjourning before Gov. Bill Richardson is ready for the legislators to adjourn. The Senate did that several times last year when Richardson attempted to call a special session right after the regular session. Rumblings in the Senate indicate it could happen again when the new special session convenes Aug. 15.

So what’s the correct pronunciation? Grubesic said there are several. Indeed, Googling a few online dictionaries you’ll find, SEE-nae DEE-ae, SI-na Die-ee and other variations.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

JEROME'S RESPONSE

The Secretary of State's office this morning released Jerome Block Jr.'s official response to questions about his $2,500 campaign expenditure, of which he has admitted lying.

Here's the Public Regulation Commission candidate's explanation:


In April of 200 I entered into an agree with Mr. Paul Maez of the Wyld Country Band to play at a campaign event scheduled for May in La's Vegas, N.M. Our campaign was to pay $2,500 for this performance. In accordance with the New Mexico campaign reporting Act ... the payment for this performance was reported on Form C of the Report of Expenditures & Contributions as campaign expenditure for “Rally Entertainment.” This form was filed with your office on July 3rd, 2008.

Due to a scheduling conflict Mr. Maez’s band was unable to play on that date. In light of this, we agreed that the band would play at another event before the June primary. Subsequent to making those arrangements, Mr. Maez informed me that his band would be unable to play an event by June 3rd. Based on our agreement, I decided to set aside those funds for the sole purpose of paying him for a later performance. Inasmuch, I reported the $2,500 as an expenditure on Form C as “Rally Entertainment” for the purpose of paying a band for its performance in the future.

At some point I erroneously stated to Mr. David Giuliani of the Las Vegas Optic that the Wyld Country Band had in fact played at an event. I negligently made this statement. My negligence was due to the pressure and details of the campaign. My intent was not to mislead, confuse or disguise any expenditure on the part of my campaign.

On Sept. 24th, 2008 I explained to Mr. Giuliani via e-mail that the band had not played, but was planning to at a later event. Because of the attention given to this discrepancy, and to avoid the appearance of impropriety, I canceled a campaign rally scheduled for September 27th, 2008 in Las Vegas at which the band was scheduled to play. Upon canceling this event, Mr. Maez returned the $2,500 to my campaign. Because this money was unspent and unencumbered by any future debts it was returned to the Public Election Fund on September 26th in accordance with the New Mexico Election Code ...

This response will raise more questions about Block. It's not clear from this exactly when or why Block cancelled his Sept. 27 rally.

In a Sept. 18 interview with The New Mexican's Doug Mattson -- which took place when Block was sticking with his story that Wyld Country had played the May rally which he claimed attracted 75 to 100 people -- Block said he was cancelling the Sept. 27 shindig because of the possible perception of "impropriety" because Maez also serves as San Miguel County clerk. His response to the Secretary of State appears to say he cancelled it because of the attention given to the "discrepancy" of the May rally never actually taking place.

UDATE: My story posted on The New Mexican's site is HERE

A pdf of Block's response is HERE

Block's opponent Rick Lass of The Green Party responded to Block's response. He said:

First, it is clearly illegal to use primary funds for the general election under the campaign financing law. For Jerome to make a payment to the band using primary funds for a gig to be played in September is against the law, and he acknowledges in yesterday's letter that that is what he did.

His campaign finance report of July 3 shows he made the payment June 9, after the primary election was held.

He says that he lied to Giuliani because of the pressure of media calls. If he can't handle the pressure of accounting for his actions to his constituents, how will he stand up to the pressure of industry lobbyists and the media spotlight if he is a PRC Commissioner?

I worked hard along with other activists to enact public campaign financing, and one of the objections we heard was that candidates would use public funds improperly. We said that that would not happen because there would be strong enforcements written into the law. I call on the Secretary of State and Attorney General to act swiftly and decisively in this matter to uphold the integrity of the public financing system.

Jerome's most recent letter merely adds to his history of missteps and misstatements, and proves that he is unfit to hold the critical job of representing New Mexicans on the Public Regulation Commission.

Friday, October 10, 2008

THE LATEST ON JEROME

Public Regulation Commission candidate Jerome Block, Jr. today delivered a response to the Secretary of State as to why he lied on a campaign finance report about public money he spent.
But the Secretary of State’s office refused to let reporters see Block’s response.

The embattled Block delivered his written response shortly before 5 p.m. However spokesmen for Secretary of State Mary Herrera said the document wouldn’t be released until Monday at the earliest because Herrera and a deputy hadn’t had the chance to review the response.

Asked why it was important for the office to review the letter before letting reporters see it, spokesman James Flores said, “We don’t want to get inundated with calls about something we haven’t seen.”

Attempts to get a copy of the response from Block were unsuccessful.

The Secretary of State's Office on Monday of this week sent the letter to Block, asking him to "clarify" why he lied about a $2,500 expenditure in public campaign funds. The office also wanted to know Block’s explanation for a Sept. 24 e-mail exchange with a Las Vegas Optic reporter, in which Block admitted lying.

Block at first said he gave the $2,500 in public funds to San Miguel County Clerk Paul Maez's band, Wyld Country, to perform at a May rally. But he changed his story last month after two band members said there was no such performance.

At stake could be the seat Block hopes to win in November. Under the state Voter Action Act, violation of the statutes mentioned in the secretary of state's letter constitute a fourth-degree felony, and -- should matter go to trial and result in a conviction -- could strip Block of his right to vote.

The law also says a candidate who violates the Voter Action Act could face a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation and could be required to pay back all campaign funds. Between the primary and general-election races, Block has received $101,000 in state money.

Read more in Saturday's New Mexican. (Will update with link)

UPDATE: 7:49 p.m. James Flores called to tell me the document will be released on Saturday.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: THE MARK OF ZORRO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 3, 2008


Here’s a name that many New Mexico politicians, from the governor to the county sheriff, would like to forget: Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein
Epstein, who owns a 26,700-square-foot hilltop mansion in southern Santa Fe County, has begun serving an 18-month jail term after pleading guilty this week to soliciting sex from girls as young as 14. Police said Epstein had sex with five teenagers he hired to give him massages at his Florida home.

According to a report this week in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Epstein, who also has a 13,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach, will spend 18 months in the Palm Beach County Jail followed by a year of house arrest.

Epstein’s arrest in June 2006 caused a huge stir in local politics because of the massive campaign contributions he’d made in the state. Among those were $50,000 for Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2002 election campaign plus another $50,000 in 2006 under the name of one of his companies, The Zorro Trust, to Richardson’s re-election; $15,000 to Gary King’s 2006 attorney general campaign; $10,000 to 2006 state land commissioner candidate Jim Baca; and $2,000 to Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano’s 2006 re-election.

The candidates returned the contributions or donated the money to charity after Epstein’s arrest.

New Mexico politicos weren’t the only ones to be embarrassed by their association with Epstein. The Guardian, a British publication, reported Epstein has “holidayed with Prince Andrew.” The Guardian also dug up some old quotes from President Clinton praising Epstein’s “insights and generosity” a few years before the arrest. Epstein loaned Clinton a jet to travel to Africa on an AIDS-awareness mission in 2002.

It seems I usually write at least a couple of stories every election cycle about politicians giving money to charity after some contributor turns toxic due to some scandal. I’m sure the fine people who run charities aren’t nearly as jaundiced as I am. But you have to wonder whether they figure in tainted campaign cash when they’re doing their budgets every year.
Jerome Jr.
Memories of another Jeffrey: The recent revelations about Democratic Public Regulation Commissioner candidate Jerome Block Jr. bring back not-so-distant memories of another candidate whose personal problems came to light only after he’d won the Democratic primary.

Block won the six-candidate primary for the $90,000 position with less than 23 percent of the vote.

In an interview before the primary, Block admitted to The New Mexican that he’d been arrested “on suspicion” of drunken driving 10 years ago when he was 21 years old — a case that eventually was dismissed due to prosecutors’ not trying him within six months.

However, Block didn’t mention that shortly after that arrest he was cited with disorderly conduct for allegedly urinating in public. In recent interviews, he’s said he doesn’t remember that citation.

OK, I’ll admit I’ve made the “mark of Zorro” in a few alleys during Fiesta back in by reckless youth. And I certainly don’t remember every time. But I’m pretty sure if I ever got a ticket for it, I’d dang well remember that.

These incidents, plus others outlined in a recent Santa Fe Reporter article — a 1999 arrest for riding with a drunken driver to which he pleaded guilty and failing to appear at child-support hearings — have made some Democrats wonder about keeping Block on the ticket.

Which brings us back to 2006.

That summer, Richardson and other state Democratic Party leaders pressured Jeffrey Armijo, the party’s candidate for state auditor, to remove himself from the ballot. This was after newspapers published police reports filed by women who claimed Armijo made aggressive and unwanted sexual advances toward them.
Armijo
Armijo in 2007 was indicted on a felony count of false imprisonment and three misdemeanor counts of battery. But by the end of the year, the district attorney in Albuquerque decided not to prosecute, saying the state had insufficient evidence.

But unlike the Armijo case, Dem honchos aren’t rushing this year to boot Block, who is the son of a former PRC member and former state corporation commissioner.

State Party chairman Brian Colón said Wednesday that he hasn’t spoken to Block about the reports and, unlike the Armijo situation two years ago, he hasn’t heard of any movement to dump Block.

A spokeswoman for Richardson said she didn’t think Richardson would be getting involved with the Block situation.

Block’s only general election opponent in his heavily Democratic PRC district is Green Party candidate Rick Lass.

And Lass apparently won’t be making an issue of Block’s past legal skirmishes. He told The New Mexican this week that he thinks it’s “odd” Block doesn’t remember his disorderly conduct violation. “I actually consider this a bit of a distraction from the main campaign that I plan on running, talking about how important the PRC is and how we need an advocate for the people,” Lass said.

Lass, in a 2004 interview when he was running for a state Senate seat, admitted he’d been arrested in 1999 on a misdemeanor charge of simple battery in a fight with his girlfriend. He said the charge was dropped after he successfully completed the Municipal Court domestic-violence program, which he said involved anger-management classes.

But at least he remembered it.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: A BLOCK THEORY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Octobber 16, 2008


I don’t usually write about conspiracy theories. My masters at the Trilateral Commission discourage such discussion.

But lately I, as well as other reporters, have been hearing a political scenario that doesn’t seem all that implausible.
They know you're reading this blog
As is the case with about 97 percent of all political discussion in Santa Fe in recent weeks, it has to do with the Public Regulation Commission race between Democrat Jerome Block Jr. and Green Party candidate Rick Lass.

First, some background for those who haven’t been keeping up. Block has admitted he wasn’t telling the truth about a $2,500 campaign expense paid to his friend San Miguel County Clerk Paul Maez. Block claimed on the document, and to reporters, the money was for Maez’s country band to play at a rally — an event that later turned out never to have occurred. After this news hit the papers last month, Block returned the money — which came from public election funds — to the state. The secretary of state and attorney general are looking into the matter as a possible fourth-degree felony.
Jerome the Younger
The gist of the scenario is as follows. (Remember, all this is speculation.)

The Attorney General’s Office files criminal charges against Block for filing false campaign finance reports — but not before the Nov. 4 election.

Block, despite a steady stream of bad publicity for months, wins the election.

Sometime after the charges are filed, Block is heavily pressured to step down.

At this point, Gov. Bill Richardson steps in and appoints his own choice, a less-objectionable Democrat, to the 3rd District PRC seat.

You don’t have to believe in chemtrails to wonder if something like this might be in store.

There’s at least a couple of versions of this going around. One friend of mine theorized that Attorney General Gary King is in on the deal, and he would purposely “drag his feet” on filing charges against Block to make the rest of the story all come true.

Another friend of mine — a Democrat who isn’t fond of either Block or Lass — presented this scenario to me not as a conspiracy theory but as his personal fantasy of what he hopes will happen. In this person’s version, “Richardson appoints someone decent” to the PRC.

Of course, Richardson might not be around to appoint anybody. There’s widespread speculation that if Barack Obama is elected president next month, he’ll tap the governor for some post in the new administration.

More Richardson travels: The governor remains active in his out-of-state campaigning for Obama.

On Oct. 3, he traveled to Wisconsin, where he attended events for Obama in Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls. “I am here because Wisconsin will elect the next president of the United States,” he told a crowd of about 100 at a Mexican restaurant in Milwaukee, according to a report on Wispolitics.com by reporter Russell Korinek.

Six days later, he flew to Washington state, where one blogger wrote, “Richardson was a big hit in Spokane Thursday, making a speech to the annual luncheon sponsored by the Gallatin Group and Avista at the Davenport Hotel, and revving up the Democratic troops for Obama and (Washington Gov.) Chris Gregoire later in the afternoon at the Carpenters’ Union Hall in the Logan Neighborhood.”

The next day, Richardson was in Nevada, where he spoke to a Students of Color Leadership Symposium and other events in Las Vegas, then up to Reno, where he predicted “that his state, Colorado and Nevada will prove pivotal in the presidential election,” according to one Reno television Web site.

This week’s New Yorker: I don’t know whether Richardson will be on hand in Las Cruces on Friday to greet Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, who is scheduled to appear at an Obama rally there.
RICHARDSON AFTER A DEBATE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, JUNE 2007
But if he is, I bet he might want to discuss an item from a profile on Biden in this week’s New Yorker.

In the piece on the Delaware senator — who like Richardson ran for the 2008 presidential nomination — reporter Ryan Lizza writes about a conversation between the two.

“According to a senior Biden aide, after a debate in which Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor, argued that he could have all hundred and sixty thousand American troops out of Iraq in a matter of months — something that is logistically beyond reach, according to most observers — Biden approached Richardson backstage and told him that the plan was impossible.

Richardson didn’t seem concerned. ‘I know it is,’ he said. (A spokesman for the Governor said that Richardson does not recall the exchange.)”

Thursday, October 30, 2008

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP:

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 1, 2008


San Miguel County Clerk Paul Maez made the latest issue of Rolling Stone — and it’s not a review of his band Wyld Country.

And no, it has nothing to do with the controversy surrounding Maez’s association with a certain Public Regulation Commission candidate, although the headline of the article is “Block the Vote.”

The article, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, is about voter disenfranchisement and it tells about the disaster that was the Democratic Party Caucus in February.

The article starts out with an anecdote involving Maez and providing a description of Las Vegas, N.M., that I don’t believe came from the Chamber of Commerce:

“These days, the old west rail hub of Las Vegas, New Mexico, is little more than a dusty economic dead zone amid a boneyard of bare mesas. In national elections, the town overwhelmingly votes Democratic: More than 80 percent of all residents are Hispanic, and one in four lives below the poverty line. On February 5th, the day of the Super Tuesday caucus, a school-bus driver named Paul Maez arrived at his local polling station to cast his ballot. To his surprise, Maez found that his name had vanished from the list of registered voters, thanks to a statewide effort to deter fraudulent voting. For Maez, the shock was especially acute: He is the supervisor of elections in Las Vegas.”

Kennedy and Palast go on to say that in the caucus, “one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists.”

It’s worth noting that the caucus was not run by the state or the various counties, but by the Democratic Party itself. The party did get its lists from the state, but nobody ever has explained what caused the problems, which led to thousands of provisional ballots being cast, which led to the final results not being known for two weeks. (Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama by just a hair.) The party in April canceled a scheduled summit to discuss the problems.

In the article, Maez blames “faulty list management by a private contractor hired by the state.”

That company is ES&S, which has denied any role in the caucus problems. “ES&S’ role related to the New Mexico voter registration database is limited to providing centralized voter registration software, working with the state to implement the centralized system and providing technical support in using the system,” a company spokeswoman told the Associated Press in February.
Another New Mexican quoted in the Rolling Stone story is state Auditor Hector Balderas, who also found his name missing from the voter list during the February caucus.

Kennedy and Palast wrote, “ ‘As a strategic consideration,’ (Balderas) notes, ‘there are those that benefit from chaos at the ballot box.’ ”

Maez has been at the center of one of the major flaps in Jerome Block Jr.’s PRC campaign.

Block admitted lying about $2,500 in public campaign funds that he reported was paid to Wyld Country. Block had maintained that the band had performed at a May 3 rally. But he later admitted the rally never took place after two band members told newspapers there never was such a performance. The New Mexico secretary of state has recommended fines totaling $11,000 for Block and has said Block should return another $10,000 of the public campaign funds he accepted.

Pied Piping: Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday practiced what he’s been preaching around the country — he voted early.

Perhaps he felt obligated to vote early after a headline in the South Tampa News and Tribune called him the “Pied Piper Of Early Voting.”

Columnist Joe O’Neill said Richardson gave a “boilerplate pep talk” in Tampa (he gave one of those in Santa Fe on Wednesday, too). But O’Neill said the governor was “Looking and sounding more animated and affable than when he was a presidential candidate … .”

Richardson was in Florida last week campaigning for Obama.

So if Richardson is the Pied Piper, I guess that makes me a rat.

Right after his speech, I went back to the County Courthouse and voted.

I have to bust myself for hypocrisy here. A couple of weeks ago, while covering a political event, I was asked by a nice woman to vote early and I told her something to the effect that early voting was for Communists. Election Day is a nice American tradition and I usually enjoy going to the school near my house, seeing my neighbors, etc.

But on Wednesday morning, early voting looked so quick and easy, I couldn’t resist. (That sounds like the rationalization of a smash-and-grab jewelry store window thief, I realize.)

The wait turned out to be only around five minutes. And while I didn’t see any of my neighbors, I did see several friends and acquaintances, including a certain television reporter whose voting experience took much longer than mine. He “spoiled” his first ballot by accidentally voting both ways on a judicial retention question, so he had to wait for a second ballot.

Latest from Rasmussen: Obama is leading Republican John McCain 54 percent to 44 percent in New Mexico, according to the latest Rasmussen poll released Wednesday.

In the Senate race, Democrat Tom Udall leads Republican Steve Pearce “by a wide margin,” according to the Rasmussen Web site, but the actual numbers won’t be released until today.
The telephone survey of 500 likely voters in New Mexico was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on Tuesday. The margin of error is 4.5 percent.

Got Clout? Richard Greene, host of Air America’s radio show Clout tonight will broadcast his show live from The Santa Fe Film Center, 1616 St. Michael’s Drive. The two-hour show starts at 7 p.m. and admission is free to the first 100. Air America, a liberal talk-show network, broadcasts in Santa Fe on KTRC-1260 AM.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

A COUPLE OF POLITICAL STORIES

JEROME BLOCK Jr.
The saga of Jerome Block, Jr. continues. In addition to not telling The New Mexican and other newspapers the complete truth about his past arrests, he also apparently gave misleading information in pre-primary interviews about his educational background.

Read about that HERE.

Also, the U.S. Senate race is heating up a little.

Republican Steve Pearce is going nuclear. No, not personally. He's still an easy-going guy. But his ad is a plug for nuclear energy. Read about it HERE. You can watch the video below.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: PLAME & WILSON SETTLING IN SANTA FE?

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 26, 2006


Are former CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson moving to Santa Fe?

That’s the buzz in Washington, D.C. and Wilson, who was in Albuquerque Wednesday campaigning for Patricia Madrid for Congress, won’t confirm or deny it.

The possibility of Wilson and Plame moving here first surfaced publicly in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

“Having soaked up just about every last bit of limelight from the CIA leak scandal, former GOP-appointed Ambassador Joe Wilson is burning up the campaign trail on behalf of Democrats while apparently planning a full-time move away from Washington, D.C.,” Mary Ann Akers wrote in the paper’s “Heard on the Hill” column Tuesday.


“Sources tell HOH that Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson — who was famously outed as a CIA operative by columnist Robert Novak — have told friends that they are ready to quit Washington. One source says the Wilsons, the parents of 6-year-old twins, have ‘settled on’ Santa Fe, N.M.”

The irreverent D.C. blog Wonkette commented that Santa Fe is a place “where terrorists and Bob Novak will never find them. …”

I called the one local friend of the couple I know, who, as fate would have it, was at Albuquerque International Sunport picking up Wilson, who’d just arrived for a Madrid fundraiser.

In short, Wilson -- no relation to Rep. Heather Wilson, Madrid’s Republican opponent in the congressional race — gave me the same “no comment” he gave Roll Call.

“I’ll be happy to talk to you about the reason I’m here right now,” he said, talking up Madrid.

This is at least the second time Wilson has been in New Mexico to raise funds for Madrid. He was in Santa Fe and Albuquerque in March for that purpose. When I interviewed him then he said how much he loves this area.

Wilson and his wife were in Albuquerque last month as guests of honor at an event for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Wilson said he might confirm his future plans after the election.

For those who have been visiting another planet for the last couple of years: In early 2002, the CIA sent Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate a claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy enriched “yellowcake” uranium. He concluded the story was false.

The next year he wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times that talked about his trip to Niger and accused the Bush administration of exaggerating the threat of Iraq to justify going to war.

Soon after, White House officials informed some reporters and right-wing columnist Novak — that the ambassador's wife worked for the CIA. That leak led to federal charges against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Unknown Jerome: The Public Regulation Commission is honoring five of its former members today by dedicating an “NMPRC Honor Gallery” with photos and information about the past commissioners.

However it seems that the current administration was having a tough time this week sending out the correct information about one of the former members.

An e-mail news release zapped Tuesday to reporters and others around the state listed Jerome Block’s PRC years as January 1999 to March 2004.

To which Block sardonically replied in an e-mail: “As much as Patricia Madrid, the `Supremes' and others would have liked, my term as PRC commissioner did not expire until December 31, 2004!”

Block, who served a two-year term when the PRC was first created, followed by a four-year term, apparently still smarts a little from the attorney general going to the Supreme Court to win a decision that he couldn’t seek another consecutive four-year term.

The PRC on Wednesday sent out a corrected news release. The dedication is at 9 a.m. today in the foyer of the fourth floor of the PERA Building.

So that’s why he’s always out of town: We know him as our governor. However, the people of Nags Head, N.C., know Bill Richardson as their interim deputy town manager.

According to a story in The Outer Banks Sentinel, a Nags Head paper, “Richardson began work on Monday and will work closely with Nags Head's Interim Town Manager, Charlie Cameron, in managing the Town and its workforce of more than 100 employees.”

The paper quoted Cameron saying, “Bill brings to Nags Head an incredible wealth of experience in northeastern North Carolina local government.”

The article mentions nothing about the new interim deputy town manager’s presidential ambitions.

More fun with voter ID cards: Former Santa Fe photographer Neil Jacobs nearly was tempted to commit voter fraud.

Jacobs, a Los Angeles resident for several years, said Wednesday he recently received a New Mexico voter ID card in the mail.

“’I’ve already voted absentee in the California election,” said Jacobs, who has worked for The New Mexican and The Albuquerque Journal and who now shoots still photos for movie productions.

He said he called the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office and “after being transferred around a few times” was told he is on the inactive voter list, but could still cast a ballot.

“It might be fun to vote twice, but I don’t think I should try to get away with that,” Jacobs said.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: MINNIE WON'T SEEK ANOTHER TERM

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 20, 2008


Minnie Gallegos, who has chaired the Santa Fe County Democratic Party for the past seven years, won’t seek re-election next year.
photo by Barbara Wold
“I’m not quite ready to quit yet,” she told me earlier this week, “but I won’t be seeking re-election.”

She’s been county chairwoman since November 2001, after then-chairman Bill Sisneros stepped down to join Bill Richardson’s gubernatorial exploratory committee. In 2003, Gallegos was elected in her own right, becoming the first woman elected to the county party post. She won re-election in 2005 and again in 2007.

Gallegos has held the position longer than anyone else in recent history. In the seven years before Gallegos became chairwoman, the position was held by four men — Sisneros, Art Bonal, Fernando Rivera and Domingo Martinez.

In the last election there had been some grumbling from the rank-and-file about Gallegos. No major controversy. Most of the gripes seemed to be about the way Gallegos runs meetings. After covering the meeting at which she was re-elected last year, I wrote that the proceedings “reminded some attendees of the old Will Rogers quote — ‘I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.’ ” It took more than an hour that night just for all the county central committee members to get through the door, register and get their credentials.

Gallegos did have a challenger last year: party activist Ricardo Campos. But once he realized he didn’t have the votes, Campos withdrew and moved to elect Gallegos by acclamation. Campos then was elected vice chairman by acclamation. If there’s been any dissatisfaction with Gallegos since then, it has not been made public.

Having a unified party obviously didn’t hurt. As expected, Santa Fe Dems, who have a 3-to-1 registration advantage over Republicans in the county, did more than OK in the general election two weeks ago. According to unofficial returns in Santa Fe County, President-elect Barack Obama took 76.9 percent of the vote in the presidential race, and Senator-elect Tom Udall won 79.3 percent. The only countywide race in which a Democrat lost here was the Public Regulation Commission race, in which controversy-prone Jerome Block Jr. came in second to Green Party candidate Rick Lass, who got a 62.5 percent to Block’s 37.5 percent. (Block won the total vote in PRC District 3, however.)

Election trivia: A couple of incumbent Republican legislators actually beat Democratic challengers in this county by 2-to-1 margins.

State Sen. Sue Beffort Wilson beat Democrat Jason Michael Burnett here while Rep. Kathy McCoy defeated Janice Saxton. Both of these legislative districts are mostly in Bernalillo County but each contains a small pocket of precincts in the more conservative southern part of Santa Fe County.

Richardson watch: Most of the recent national chatter about our governor’s chances of being appointed U.S. secretary of state has been in the context of Richardson being a alternate to Hillary Clinton for that job.
RICHARDSON IN PORTSMOUTH,NH
The New York Times has been profiling potential Obama appointees in a series called “The New Team.”

Among the governor’s strong points, the profile says, “He earned a reputation as a tough and inventive negotiator, especially when dealing with America’s most entrenched adversaries, among them Iraq, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba. In the 1990s, he negotiated the release of a downed American pilot imprisoned in North Korea, some Red Cross workers held in Sudan and two American contractors detained by Saddam Hussein in Iraq. ... By most accounts, he is the country’s most influential Latino politician. Hispanic groups are pushing hard for him to become secretary of state.”

But, as it does for other Obama administration prospects, the Times notes “baggage” for Richardson. “He has no landmark achievement as a diplomat and has said, in hindsight, that he was wrong on several important issues ... and the North American Free Trade Agreement (which he helped pass). In the late 1990s, he also was secretary of the Department of Energy during the disastrous security breaches at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the widely criticized prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee.”

But that’s not nearly as nasty as the comment by former George H.W. Bush Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger who, when asked in an MSNBC interview about the possibility of Richardson as secretary of state, said “I don’t want to beat everybody to death, but I have very little respect for his intelligence and his knowledge of foreign affairs.”

Radio daze: After last week’s column about the elimination of Christmas lights for Human Service Department employees in an effort to save money, one state worker called to say that employees in her office were told they can’t even play radios at their desk.

I didn’t immediately mount an investigation of this. But it is true that a memo from the governor on Oct. 23 about conservation in the state workplace says, “Personal space heaters and individual appliances (refrigerators, microwaves, etc.) are no longer allowed in staff offices or cubicles.” It’s quite possible that some supervisors have interpreted “individual appliances” to include radios.

(By the way, this memo is titled “Good Governance: Tips for Conservation and Efficiency.” But these “tips” aren’t just friendly suggestions. The first paragraph makes clear the “tips” are to be implemented and enforced by all agencies.)

I suppose workers could bring in iPods — as long as they didn’t plug the devices into state computers to recharge them.

Or maybe HSD and other state employees could take a tip from the Cultural Affairs Department’s proposal to have a private foundation augment the pay of state museum curators and directors. Perhaps they could get New Mexico broadcasters to set up a foundation to help pay the state’s electric bill so that workers can play a radio now and then.

The photo of Minnie Gallegos near the top of this post is by Barb Wold, used under Creative Commons license and found on FLICKR.

UPDATE: I just corrected a spelling mistake in the "Richardson Watch" section above. As a reader pointed out, "security breeches" sounds like some sort of new uniform at LANL. That'll teach me to cut-and-paste from a rag like The New York Times.

Monday, October 27, 2008

TERR vs. BLOCK

Jim Terr weighs in on the Jerome Block controversies. "Block Around the Clock" ( the one at the bottom of this post) is the funniest.




Wednesday, October 15, 2008

YOUR PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCE DOLLAR AT WORK

Public Regulation Commission candidate Jerome Block, Jr.'s latest campaign finance report has lots of interesting stuff. Read Doug Mattson's story HERE .
One expense that caught my eye was a minor one -- a $35.91 payment for a lunch at Twin Peaks, an Albuquerque restaurant that has nothing to do with the greatest TV show of the late 80s and early 90s.

There doesn't seem top be a Web site for the Albuquerque location, but here's one for the Twin Peaks in Austin. Be sure to click the "scenic views" tab.

Here's a review of the eatery published a year ago in The Weekly Alibi. The paper says Twin Peaks is "a fairly new twist on the old Hooters formula of meat + beer + boobs = happy guys ..."

My favorite part of the review:

Our server, Gina, was clad in the regulation uniform of a tiny red-and-black checkered flannel tie-top with an open front, the shortest shorts imaginable and cutsie faux-wilderness-whacking boots. As expected, you can really see more meat on these ladies than on the chicken wings they’re hawking, and the wings are pretty meaty.
Block's report doesn't specify what he ordered.

Block, remember is using public campaign financing.

CORRECTION: The Albuquerque Twin Peaks doesn't have a fancy Web site, but they do have a MySpace. Under "About Me" it says "All female wait staff. NO SIDEWORK ..."

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: LEGISLATIVE SESSION SHAPING UP TO BE A DOOZIE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 4, 2008


It’s more than a month away, but this week, the first shots were fired in what is bound to be an interesting session of the state Legislature.


I’m referring of course to the pending leadership struggle in the state Senate. Democrats decided to dump incumbent Senate President Pro-tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, in favor of state Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa. Jennings riled many of his fellow Democrats by recording a campaign call for Republican Whip Leonard Lee Rawson of Las Cruces, who lost in the general election despite Jennings’ help.

But Jennings says he’ll press on and try to keep his seat by soliciting help from Republican senators — apparently unconcerned about the irony of giving the dwindling number of Republicans in the Senate such a big say following the big Democratic wins in the state in last month’s election.

Leadership battles are always fun to cover. But wait, there’s more!

In addition to the pro-tem showdown, there’s the coming changes in the executive branch. With Gov. Bill Richardson going off to the Commerce Department, many wonder whether Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who has presided over the Senate for the past six sessions, will have better luck in getting along with the Senate, which often ran afoul of Richardson.

One of my lobbyist friends this week was pondering the physical difficulty of Denish moving into the governor’s office during the middle of the session.

Nobody knows who Denish will appoint to replace her as lieutenant governor. She wouldn’t say Wednesday who that will be. And nobody knows who among Richardson’s staff will stay or go.

Another element of fun will be all the new faces in the Legislature. Democrats knocked off three Republican incumbents in the Senate and three in the House. Four Democratic lawmakers and one Republican were handed their walking papers by feisty challengers in the primary. Plus there were seven — four House members and three senators — who didn’t seek re-election, which resulted in more new faces.

One House member, Santa Fe Democrat Peter Wirth, gave up his seat so he could move over to the Senate (to replace retiring Sen. John Grubesic), newcomer Brian Egolf, also a Democrat, will replace Wirth in the House.

Some predict that a younger, more liberal, more Democratic Legislature will be more open to passing progressive social legislation such as a domestic-partnership law and abolition of the death penalty. I predicted in this column after the primary because of changes in the Senate that the Legislature might finally open conference committee meetings to the public.

Then again, with all the bad press that public campaign financing got with the Jerome Block Jr.’s state Public Regulation Commission campaign, there might be a serious bid to abolish public financing.

But topping off all the fun factors is the fact there’s no money. Because of the budget shortfalls, there’s not a whole lot of pork. In fact, we’ll be lucky to get SizzleLean.

Maybe that doesn’t really sound like fun. But it’ll lead to some interesting fights.

The age of aquarium: If you think there’s something fishy about Richardson’s appointment as secretary of commerce by president-elect Barack Obama, The Chicago Tribune’s political blog, The Swamp, spelled it out Tuesday.

Noting Richardson really wanted to be secretary of state, Frank James wrote: “Commerce doesn’t have the prestige of State. But it has very nice perks. The Commerce Secretary has one of the better physical offices in the Executive Branch, a huge space with a working fireplace and a large fish tank maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a Commerce agency.”

James also says, “Commerce secretaries still travel the world, helping to drum up business for U.S. companies. So Richardson will still get to travel the world on behalf of U.S. taxpayers.”

Close shave: One of the lighter moments of Obama’s announcement of the Richardson nomination Wednesday was when a Fox News reporter asked what had happened to the governor’s beard.

Although the question was asked of Richardson, Obama responded: “I think it was a mistake for him to get rid of it. I thought that whole Western, rugged look was really working for him. For some reason, maybe because it was scratchy when he kissed his wife, he was forced to get rid of it. But we’re deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard.”

Richardson began sporting a beard after he dropped his presidential campaign in January. It was his way of “decompressing,” he said at the time. Journalists around the country had fun with it. Richardson’s appearance was compared to that of Rod Steiger as Dr. Zhivago, Wolfman Jack, a Klingon from Star Trek and Justin Timberlake. (Richardson told me that the latter was his favorite.)

The governor in late March said he’d probably shave it “in the next two months.” But the beard stayed until the day before the election. Interviewed Nov. 4, Richardson insisted the shave had nothing to do with Washington job hunting. “I just got tired of maintaining it,” he said. “I’d decided to do this a long time ago.”

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