NewMexicoMatters.com

Richardson Heading to N.H. but not as a candidate?

Union Leader - Richardson, Biden visiting state on Saturday - Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a likely Democratic candidate for President, will be the special guest at the New Hampshire Democratic State Committee annual winter meeting on Saturday at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, the party says.

The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m.Richardson will have additional stops on his schedule for Saturday and Sunday, but they are still being formulated, local campaign adviser Richard Bouley said.

Less than a week after the Fox media stunt, Governor Richardson will be heading to the Granite State for what everyone in the world has already determined to be a presidential campaign visit.

However, according to the Gov's office, it's a thank you visit (the Guv is flying to N.H. to be thanked) by candidates he supported during the recent election. I assume all this is taking place under the pretense of thinking about thinking about running for president, since the guv won't officially announce the formation of his exploratory committee until after the first of the year. I also suppose that's why Richard Bouley is a "campaign adviser" and not an employee.

New Committee Chairs For A New Congress

I received the following list of committee assignments for the 110th Congress. I'm not sure it's complete as I saw no assignment for New Mexico's lone Democratic House Member, Tom Udall. I'll double check and post a follow up.

A full list of the new committee Chairs and members follow:

#

Committee Chairs:

Agriculture Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Appropriations David Obey (D-WI)
Armed Services, Ike Skelton (D-MO)
Budget, John Spratt (D-SC)
Education & the Workforce, George Miller (D-CA)
Energy & Commerce, John Dingell (D-MI)
Financial Services, Barney Frank (D-MA)
Government Reform, Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Homeland Security, Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
Intelligence, Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)
International Relations, Tom Lantos (D-CA)
Judiciary, John Conyers (D-MI)
Resources, Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Rules, Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
Science, Bart Gordon (D-TN)
Small Business, Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)
Transportation & Infrastructure, James Oberstar (D-MN)
Veterans' Affairs, Bob Filner (D-CA)
Ways & Means, Charles Rangel (D-NY)

For committee member assignments, follow the link for the rest of this post.

Money for Votes Could Get Legislator 95 Years Jail Time

KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Anderson traded votes for money; could face up to 95 years jail time:

Anchorage, Alaska - State Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Anchorage, is accused of being a politician for hire and going to great lengths to hide it. He was arraigned on seven federal charges today, including bribery, extortion and money laundering.

The FBI arrested Anderson at his home late yesterday afternoon and he was indicted on what are essentially public corruption charges. He's accused of hatching a scheme to hide secret payments and then using his vote and influence as an elected official to return the favor.

One Gov's Conscience

Tallahassee Democrat - www.tallahassee.com - Tallahassee, FL.:

Stung by criticism of fundraising for his inauguration, Gov.-elect Charlie Crist decided Saturday not to celebrate with the traditional ball - and said he will return more than $250,000 already raised for a series of free public inaugural events.

Those parties will still go on, starting with a breakfast Dec. 13 at Miami's Parrot Jungle and a Tampa barbecue four days later. But the Crist campaign said it will abide by the contribution limits his predecessors have observed.

Sooner or later, our gov's prolific fundraising is going to catch up to him.

Democrats Plan Oil Royalties Inquiry...Bingaman cautious

It was reported earlier this week that in response to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to repeal the tax cuts for oil companies within the first 100 hours of Democratic rule in the house, Senator Bingaman has expressed opposition to such a measure in the Senate, where he will be chairing the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Interestingly, the ranking minority member of the committee will be New Mexico's aging Republican Senator, Pete Domenici, who has been a vigorous supporter of the tax cuts for big oil.

Democrats Plan Oil Royalties Inquiry - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — House Democratic leaders vowed Friday to pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January, saying that their first target would be an investigation of how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties on oil and gas produced on federal property.

Big Time Donor to Richardson Raided By Federal Investigators

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

David Rubin, president and chief executive officer of Beverly Hills, California-based CDR Financial Products, one of the brokers raided by federal investigators, contributed a combined $100,000 to political action committees formed by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in 2003 and 2004. CDR made $951,566 advising the New Mexico Finance Authority on $420 million of interest-rate swaps in 2004.

Jon Goldstein, a spokesman for Richardson, a Democrat, has said the governor had no role in CDR's selection, which was through a competitive process. CDR spokesman Allan Ripp said Rubin declined to comment on his political contributions.

NM GOP Press Release: NMGOP Congratulates NM Bush Nominee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                      CONTACT JONAH COHEN DECEMBER 8, 2006                                      505-298-3662 NM Republicans Congratulate President Bush Nominee President Bush Nominates a New Mexican to His Administration

(Albuquerque, NM) – President George W. Bush announced this week his intention to nominate Michael J. Burns to be Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. Currently, Mr. Burns serves as Deputy Associate Director of Threat Reduction at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Previously, he served as Special Assistant to the President for Nuclear Defense Policy of the Homeland Security Council Staff at the White House. He has also served as Acting Principal Deputy Associate Director for Weapons Physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Mr. Burns earned his bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University and his master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. The Republican Party of New Mexico congratulates Mr. Burns on the nomination. His professional experiences, along with his proven dedication to the protection of the United States of America, make him an ideal choice for this position. We know he will do a wonderful job.

Bill's Blunder?

Before election night, if I had to guess when Richardson would announce his candidacy for President, I would have guessed some time after the legislative session--maybe at the State's Democratic Convention in April. But on election night, the Governor said he'd be making his decision sometime in January.

At the time, I thought the Gov had either misspoken or I'd misheard him.

After all, by announcing his candidacy for the Presidential campaign before the 60 day legislative session seems to end whatever honeymoon period he might have had after his big re-election win.

The prevailing wisdom that I agreed with was that the Governor would go through the 60 day session, passing landmark legislation that would solidify his standing in the state and the nation as a leader able to get things done, and then after the session he would announce.

But now, by announcing so early, the Governor has played into the hands of the cynics who have said all along that this is all about the Presidency and not about New Mexico, potentially putting his legislative agenda in jeopardy. Because with his announcement, you can be sure there's pressure on Democrats throughout the state to come out and endorse the Governor before his inauguration.

For Democratic legislators, the request for the early endorsement is the favor that can't be refused for fear of losing capital outlay.

Or, for others who feel particularly ballsy, maybe they hold out their endorsement in order to secure their capital outlay. And what if they're are other legislators who refuse to endorse on principle, jeopardizing their outlay only to incur the wrath of their county commissioners and local officials desperate for funds?

So why would the Governor announce now? ( or before the legislative session).

One word: OBAMA.

Just like Hillary, but more so, Richardson is freaked by the coming Obama  earthquake. However, unlike Hillary, Richardson is directly threatened by Obama, in part because Obama's narrative is similar to that of Richardson's, only more authentic.

In fact, if there's one thing that I believe is the soft underbelly to the Richardson machine, it's the lack of authenticity. And nothing embodies that lack of authenticity and honesty better than the way his staff handled his statement of Fox. Nothing could have been worse than saying what Pahl Shipley said. Just how stupid do you think New Mexicans are Pahl? Damn.

Technorati Tags: 2008, 2008elections, Bill Richardson, billrichardson, Democrats, newmexico, Politics

"THE GOVERNOR IS NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT"

The Drudge Report linked to an article this evening from Fox News quoting Governor Richardson as saying "I'm running."    In the article, Richardson is quoted as saying:

• "I'm running."

• "I've dealt with the issues that are very important today — national security, immigration and energy."

• "I am Hispanic, which I believe is an asset," Richardson said. "But I'm not running as an Hispanic, I am running as an American who is proud to be Hispanic."

The article also noted that the Governor plans to travel to New Hampshire, the first of the nation's states to hold a primary, the weekend after next.  In response, the Governor's spokesman, Pahl Shipley, told NM's KOAT channel 7 "The Governor is not running for President...it's just flat not true. They're (FOX) trying a stunt or something."    In terms of stunts, Shipley's attempt seems way more difficult and daring than the one he's accusing Fox news of committing.

Technorati Tags: 2008elections, billrichardson, Democrats, Elections, Hispanic, newmexico, news, NM, Politics

If You Can't Beat Them, Cheat Them

Last night blogging seemed to make another evolutionary leap when KRQE's Dick Knifing reported that Blogger, Joe Monahan, reported on his website that Democrats are considering redistricting CD 1 to beat Heather Wilson, after Madrid lost by less than 1000 votes in November.

While I am a supporter of independent media and believe that Monahan is almost as much of an institution as Knifing, it's none the less disturbing that Knifing chose to cite Monahan as the source of the information despite the fact that Monahan doesn't cite the source of his information.

Being that Monahan is a blogger, I don't think it's a big deal that he didn't disclose the source of his information. However, when Television news anchors report on the same story, I do expect more thorough reporting, such as a first hand source.

That said, I don't doubt the veracity of Monahan's report that Dems are looking for an alternative route to defeating Heather Wilson in 2008. In this case, Dems in CD 1 would be following the path first blazed by Tom Delay and the Texas legislature, in seeking a mid-decade redistricting.

Interestingly, yesterday was also the deadline for candidates seeking a recount to file with the Secretary of State. Given that no request for a recount was filed with the Secretary of State's office, it would appear that all that huffing and puffing from the DPNM about requesting a recount after Madrid conceded the race seems to have been a lot of hot air. (nytimes even.)

Why the party didn't demand the recount is anybody's guess. I say they didn't because they couldn't. Madrid conceded so they had no candidate to file the recount, hence no recount, hence, thanks a lot Patricia.

My gripe here isn't about Democrats losing to Wilson...again. That's a separate gripe. Instead, I'm bothered by the fact that we somehow passed an election reform law that provided us a paper trail but prohibits us from following it.

We spent $20 plus million dollars so that we could have a system in place where the accuracy of the machine count could be independently verified. But because of the law and because of political careerists, we won't be able to verify the accuracy of the machine count until after the general election in 2008.

It's really kind of mind-numbing that Democratic leaders in the state would walk away from this experience and the first thing that they'd think to do is gerrymander the district.

The inference is that if Patsy couldn't win, then who could?

I don't know about you, but I find that a pretty insulting question. The campaign's over, guys. You can stop bullshitting us. That is unless you're already working on her next campaign.

John J. Miller on Senate 2008 on National Review Online:

NEW MEXICO: Republican senator Pete Domenici is probably safe if he runs, which he has signaled that he will do. If he changes his mind, however, Democrats will see this as a good pickup opportunity. They’ll probably want a better candidate than attorney general Patricia Madrid, who has just come off a losing race against Rep. Heather Wilson but who nevertheless harbors political ambitions. Wilson herself could be a contender if Domenici leaves the scene.