NewMexicoMatters.com

Scofflaw School Board models “law breaking” for 98,000 of our sons and daughters.

New Mexico State Statute 10.16.3 describes the ethical requirements of public service. It reads in significant part: (emphasis added)

10-16-3. Ethical principles of public service; certain official acts prohibited; penalty. http://www.conwaygreene.com/nmsu/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&2.0

A. A legislator, public officer or employee shall treat his government position as a public trust. He shall use the powers and resources of public office only to advance the public interest and not to obtain personal benefits or pursue private interests incompatible with the public interest.

B. A legislator, public officer or employee shall conduct himself in a manner that justifies the confidence placed in him by the people, at all times maintaining the integrity and discharging ethically the high responsibilities of public service.

C. Full disclosure of real or potential conflicts of interest shall be a guiding principle for determining appropriate conduct. At all times reasonable efforts shall be made to avoid undue influence and abuse of office in public service.

A. The Board and senior Administration decided that they will no longer be accountable to the same code of ethics as students. It is difficult to imagine how this decision serves the public interest. In so far as their decision provides exception to accountability for ethical and criminal misconduct, including felony criminal misconduct; the decision serves self interest and violates the statute.

B. The members of the School Board are required to discharge their responsibilities ethically. How does excepting oneself from accountability for ethical and criminal misconduct qualify as the ethical discharge of the high responsibilities of public service?

C. School Board President Paula Maes is married to the President of the Modrall Law Firm; an APS vendor that makes a great deal of money by, among other things, saving senior administrators and board members from accountability by preventing the principled resolution of allegations of ethical and criminal misconduct. Has this conflict of interest been fully disclosed; or is it the third strike?

Paula Maes is the President of the Character Counts Leadership Council. She, other board members, and the Superintendent are the senior role models for the District’s 98,000 students. Students are required to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts. If they are expected to embrace character and courage and honor; someone has to show them what that looks like. Paula Maes, the Board and the Superintendent have each and every one, made it clear that they will not be held accountable as role models for students.

That is against the law.

Unfortunately, they will not be held accountable; powerful people cannot be held accountable against their will. The statute dates from at least 1978. In the Second Judicial District, there has never been a prosecution under the statute. The records clerk suggested, “I guess it has never been needed.”

What? ??

Ched MacQuigg
Diogenes’six

Technorati Tags: Blogs, corruption, Education, Elections, enforcement officer, New Mexico, Politics, reform

Not Your Democratic Party Anymore: Part 2--"Grassroots Outreach"

According to the bio on his firm' website, Butch Maki opened his lobbying firm in 1992, after having served as then Congressman Richardson's District Director for a number of years. In the intervening years, Maki grew his lobbying operation into one of the most dominant firms in the state, a position that was further solidified in 2002 when his former boss was elected Governor.

Maki makes no secret of his close relationship with the governor, who he quotes on his website as saying:

"In the bottom of the ninth with the score tied, Maki would be my best bet for an RBI. That's how he played when he was on my team - the go to guy."

But today, Maki is the owner of his own team, which much like the New York Yankees, has a line-up of heavy hitters that people pay top dollar to see in action.

Maki's lineup includes two former Governor's--Republican David Cargo and Democrat Jerry Apodaca, Adriana Zavala Badala, a former Business and Legislative Liason for former Arizona Republican Governor, Fife Symington, Kathy Sisneros-- a former director of the Water and Waste Management Division of the New Mexico Environment Department, Dan Cordtz; a former TV correspondent ABC News and Wall Street Journal Correspondent, Cynthia Lee West; an expert in utilities and oil & gas development, Ray Armenta, a former investigator for the Dept. of Energy and the Dept. of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, Bryon Paez; former Richardson administration Director of Cabinet Affairs and Chief of Staff to house speaker Ben Lujan and Reese Edwards, the firms Vice-President, who hails from South Carolina where he served as an advisor to former Democratic Governor, Jim Hodges.

In starting the Victory Group, Maki has also acquired political talent with experience and personal contacts in the state, most notably, Mark Fleischer, who formerly served Democratic Party Chair of Arizona and more recently ran Mayor Marty's re-election campaign and was helping Jim Baca raise money for his race. In addition, Maki has also signed Josh Geise, who has been contracted to manage the Democratic Party of New Mexico's Coordinated Campaign.

According to Eric Appleman's Democracy in Action database of Presidential campaigns and campaign staff hosted at George Washington University, In 2003, Geise served as the Oklahoma State Director for the Joe Lieberman for President Campaign and "managed two congressional campaigns during the 2002 cycle: Richard Romero in New Mexico and Jill Long Thompson in Indiana (both unsuccessful). Successfully managed the Albert Pollard for Delegate campaign in Virginia. A graduate of Indiana University, he also served as communications director to Congressman Peter Visclosky (D-IN).''

The Democratic Party of New Mexico's website also identifies Josh Geise as the husband of the party's finance and compliance director, Tara Geise, who actually would be responsible for issuing payments to her husbands firm.

A Grassroots Outreach Campaign

With the addition of Fleischer and Geise to Suite J of Butch Maki enterprises, BM&A is able to offer a full compliment of services to their clients, be they candidates seeking office or corporations seeking an access. However, Victory Group isn't BM&A's first foray into world of campaigning and grassroots organizing, which the firm lists amongst its menu of services.

Examples of the firms past "Grassroots Outreach" efforts include an October 2001 "ANWR Rally of Support" held at the Sheraton Uptown with the New Mexico Coalition for ANWR.

A press release for the event read:

Advocates of Oil and Gas Exploration in ANWR Show Support at Gathering

Representatives from the agriculture, ranching, mining, business and organized labor communities will be calling on Senator Bingaman to support an energy package that includes opening ANWR to responsible oil and gas exploration. Labor and business groups agree that America needs to develop its own energy supplies that will create thousands of jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil supplies.

We encourage your attendance as we discuss:

* America's need to develop energy sources to meet increasing demand and

reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil

* The creation of thousands of jobs for America's working men and women.

* The economic impact of increased energy costs on America's farmers,

ranchers and businesses.

* Public support for ANWR

For further information or to confirm attendance please contact Butch Maki at +1-505-982-6764.

CONTACT: Christy Moran, +1-202-496-1000, for Arctic Power.

COPYRIGHT 2001 PR Newswire Association, Inc.

Technorati Tags: Bill Richardson, Blogs, Coal, Congress, corruption, Democrats, Elections, Energy, Gas, Jeff Bingaman, lobbying, Mike Stratton, New Hampshire, New Mexico, oil, Politics, reform

Manny Aragon Still Lobbying For Highlands

The Manny Mania continues  today with the SF Reporter's Dan Frosch reporting on the past problems of the temp tapped to replace Aragon as Highlands' President, and the AbqJournal's Martin Salazar reporting that Manny's buyout won't be financed by money the former State Senator donated to the University from his campaign account. 

Salazar reports that Highlands' regents approved a resolution to transfer the $41,283 remaining in the account to the University's foundation.

Additionally, Salazar reports that the regents approved a policy which requires contracts between $30,000 and $75,000 to be approved "by either the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee or the regents chairman, or by another regent designated by the chairman and the president."

But with a 60 day legislative session on the horizon, there are all sorts of ways to spend just less than $30,000, and one way could be on lobbying.

Is $30,000 or even $41,283 an unheard of amount to spend on lobbying during a 60 day session? How much would it cost to employ a former state legislator as a lobbyist, somebody with close ties to current legislators and the Governor and who's familiar with the levers of power, somebody like Manny Aragon, perhaps? How much would that cost?

Bill Richardson For Governor...of New Hampshire?

Sources in the Granite State sent me this today.

Technorati Tags: Bill Richardson, Blogs, Democrats

Not Your Democratic Party Anymore. Part 1: Suite J

Ask Larry Noble, the former Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics and one of the chief advocates of campaign finance reform in the country, why donors give big contributions to candidates and he'll tell you the answer is simple, "They give mainly for one reason: They want something in return and what they want is access to the candidate once the candidate takes office."

Traditionally, political parties charge an entry fee of sorts for access to nominees and representatives. For example, of the 152 contributions from individuals to the Democratic Party of New Mexico thus far in 2006, half were made in the month of January when the State party held its annual legislative dinner on the opening night of the session.

And this is typically how it works in other states as well. But all this may be changing, at least in New Mexico, beginning with who holds the keys to the gates of access.

reMAKIng the Mold

Federal campaign finance reports filed by the Democratic Party of New Mexico for the month of July, indicate that the state party, despite having received funding from the DNC for the development of capacity within the organization, has none-the-less outsourced management of i's 2006 Coordinated Campaign to the political consulting firm, "Victory Group."

According to the report, Victory Group received $6,457 for "Consulting/Coordinated Campaign."

Numerous sources involved in the coordinated campaign confirm that at least one employee of Victory Group is involved in the management of the Democrat's coordinated campaign, which is responsible for implementing a coordinated field program for state legislative races as well as statewide candidates, all of whom are assessed a fee, (or buy-iin) that must be paid in order t o participate in the program.

Victory Group is the most recent progeny of power house lobbyist and Big Bill Pal, Butch Maki, who registered the political consulting firm with the PRC in early November of 2005. According to those documents, Victory Group identifies its principal address as 1850 OLD PECOS TRAIL, STE. J SANTA FE , NEW MEXICO 87505, the same physical address as Butch Maki & Associates's corporate lobbying enterprise, according to the firms own website.

Butch Maki & Associates, or BM&A, lists on its website Phillips 66, BNSF--which sold the state the rail on which the Governor's train rides, AIG, Sun MicroSystems, Gardunos, Las Campanas Santa Fe, Business Roundtable, Nationwide, Sempra, Washington Group International and Westinghouse amongst its national clients.

In addition those firms listed on the BM&A website, the Secretary of State's most recent update of registered lobbyists and their clients shows that employees of BM&A also currently represent the interests of the following clients:

AJINOMOTO CORPORATE SERVICES LLC

AJINOMOTO FOOD INGREDIENTS LLC

CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA

FOREST CITY COVINGTON NM LLC

GLUTAMATE ASSOCIATES UNITED STATES,

MAXIMUS, INC.

MCI WORLD COMMUNICATIONS

OLD LOCOMOTIVE SHOPS LLC,

PHILLIP MORRIS USA INC (ALTRIA CORPORATE SERVICES, INC.),

RES CARE

THE NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY

MEDCO HEALTH SOLUTIONS INC

NEW MEXICO PRIVATE HOSPITALS

RENAISSANCE DEVELOPMENT CO.

VERITEC SOLUTIONS LLC

EDMIN.COM

WELLCORP, INC.

NEW MEXICO COALITION FOR HEALTHCARE FAINESS...I'm guessing they mean "FAIRNESS?"

RICK PENDERY

BUTCH MAKI AND ASSOCIATES

STRATTON & ASSOCIATES, another lobbying firm headed by Richardson 08' advance man and voting member of the Democratic National Committee, Mike Stratton. Stratton & Assoc. Lists amongst its current clients, AJINOMOTO FOOD INGREDIENTS LLC, AMERIGROUP CORPORATION and ARDENT HEALTH SERVICES LLC.

( I don 't know what all these company's do, but if readers want to do research, that would be ideal for the comments section.)

Technorati Tags: Bill Richardson, Blogs, budget, Congress, corruption, Democrats, DNC, Elections, lobbying, Mike Stratton, New Mexico, Politics

A Preface to the Party

I don't know how to start this, so I'll just dive right in. I thought about doing an incremental type piece where I'd start with all the little things (some not so little) that have occurred under John Wertheim's Chairmanship of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, building up to what I'm about to tell you, but that would take too long and I don't want to belabor the point. However, I do want to offer a couple of thoughts in preface to the meat of the matter at hand.

First, whether you like it or not, what goes on inside the Democratic Party of New Mexico has greater bearing on the politics and policies affecting all New Mexicans than do those events which occur within the Republican Party of New Mexico. The simple reason for this is that there are more Democrats holding elected office in New Mexico than there are Republicans. Consequently, the integrity with which the DPNM performs its duty to honestly and accurately reflect the will of its membership in the selection of nominees and platform positions is important to all New Mexicans, regardless of their party affiliation.

Second, when an egregious example of corruption is unearthed in the Land of Enchantment, the responses of New Mexicans tend to fall into two camps, one which questions what it is about New Mexico that allows abuse of public trust to flourish to vigorously, and the camp which takes a relativistic approach (all be it based on false assumptions), that there's nothing special about what we see in New Mexico, and that our state is no more corrupt than any other state in the nation-- to these people, I dedicate the post that will follow.

Technorati Tags: Blogs, corruption, Democrats, DNC, Education, Elections, New Mexico, Politics, reform

The Worst Imaginable

First, please check out Project Vote-Smart. The organization is almost entirely operated by volunteers dedicated arming their fellow citizens with the information needed to make informed electoral decisions.  Unlike many organizations out there, Project Vote-Smart actually practice what  preach, taking no money from PACs, corporations, or even donors with a political bent.  If I could, I'd write them as big a check as possible.  As for tomorrow, here's the lead-in; what's the worst imaginable perversion  of a political party that you can imagine? Hint:  they're not  in the picture.

The Good Candidates

Below is a list of candidates who's good names I didn't want to taint by including in the Hall of Shame. Unlike those who names shall not be mentioned, these candidates had the rocks to reveal to voters their positions on the issues. How's that saying go? The devil you know vs. the devil you don't...

US Senate Candidate Allen W. McCulloch- Republican

2^nd Congressional District Candidate Albert D Kissling- Democrat

3^rd Congressional District Candidate Ronald M. Dolin- Republican

 

And the following State Legislative Candidates:

 

Ms. Ann B. George	(D)	HD 1
Raymond Grant Clawson	(R)	HD 6
Rep.  George J. Hanosh	(D)	HD 6
Rep.  Ernest H. Chavez	(D)	HD 12
Rep.  Janice E. Arnold-Jones	(R)	HD 24
Rep. 'Larry' Larranaga	(R)	HD 27
Rep.  Jimmie C. Hall	(R)	HD 28
John H. McWaters	(D)	HD 30
Barbara A. Scharf	(D)	HD 31
Rep.  Mary Helen A. Garcia	(D)	HD 34
Mr. Eliot P. Gould	(D)	HD 44
Rep.  Peter Wirth	(D)	HD 47
Rep.  Gloria C. Vaughn	(R)	HD 51
Rep.  Joseph Cervantes	(D)	HD 52
Rep.  Walter C. Williams	(R)	HD 56
Rep.  Anna M. Crook	(R)	HD 64

 

The Hall of Shame--why they're in it.

Give up? The answer is that none of the candidates listed in Friday's post responded to Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test (NPAT).

Why is this significant? Because Project Vote Smart is based on asking candidates for presidential, congressional, gubernatorial, and state legislative offices one simple question: ''Are you willing to tell citizens your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf?''

In essence, Project Vote Smart is asking candidates to make it easier for voters to make informed decisions on election day by answering the very same questions they're asked (and answer) time and again by interest groups, the media and donors. For instance, here is a link to the answers provided by Democrat Representative George Hanosh of House District 6 who is running against...well the other guy didn't fill out his form so we'll just call him Slacker.

In his form Rep. Hanosh provides information that's easily understood, such as his positions on abortion, education funding and Taxes. The result is that when candidates respond to easy to understand questions, you get easy to understand responses that actually inform you of where the candidates stand on the issues that they will most likely end up voting on when in office.

Here is an example from Rep. Hanosh's survey where he was asked to indicate on a scale of 1-6 the funding levels he would support on the general categories of Higher Ed, K-12, Emergency preparedness, Environment, Health Care, Law Enforcement, Transportation and Highway spending and Welfare.

Now, if you're and advocate for increasing education for K-12 and live in district 6, Hanosh is your man and now you can make an educated vote. On the other hand, however, if you vote for Slacker, all you have to go on is that he's a Republican and you have no idea of where he stands on school funding. Voting for Slacker might not be the best educated vote to cast.

Maybe a better example of an issue that would determine how I might vote in the upcoming election is Representative Hanosh's positions on Campaign Finance and Government Reform matters--because we are dire need of both.

Hmm, well, good information to have. I'm not sure I like where he is on the issues, but at least I know where he stands. After all, wasn't that the big woop about Bush in the closing days of his election? "You might not agree with me, but at least you know where I stand." I found that compelling at the time...sort of.

And that's the point, knowing where our elected officials stand on the issues is reassuring, it shows us where the common ground between us and them is, even if we are of different parties. It lets us prioritize those issues which we care about and which we don't when deciding how we are going to vote. Information like this is our defense against the onslaught of spin we're subjected to in between the weather on the evening news.

Now for the bad news. In 2004, according to Project Vote Smart, only 33 % of New Mexico's candidates provided answers to the NPAT, approximately 20% lower than the national average. In 2006, only 16% of our candidates responded.

Now for the worse news; I have some more candidates whose names need to be entered into the Hall of Shame.

Starting at the Federal Level:

US SENATE:

Senator Jeff Bingaman-- probably better for him that we not know where he stands on the issues. Net Neutrality?

1st Congressional District

Rep. Heather Wilson

Patricia Madrid

Neither candidate responded to the NPAT. I guess both are taking the same approach; less is more.
More of what is my question.

2nd Congressional District

Rep. Steve Pearce -- I'd have found a reason to put you in anyway.

3rd Congressional District

Rep. Tom Udall -- disappointed, disappointed, disappointed, but not surprised.

Non-Federal Races: Project Vote Smart only collects information on candidates for the office of Governor.

Governor Richardson

John Dendahl

Both candidates deserve to be in the Hall of Shame; Richardson for the way he's not campaigning for Governor and Dendahl for the way he is.

Considering Richardson's national ambitions, you'd think he leap at the opportunity to let people know where he stands on the issues that will likely come before him during his next term in office. The absence of any answers just means there's only one thing I know he'll do if re-elected, run for President.

Technorati Tags: Bill Richardson, Blogs, budget, Congress, corruption, Democrats, education, Elections, Energy, George W. Bush, Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico, Patricia Madrid, Politics, reform, Republicans, Tax credit