NewMexicoMatters.com

Going Negative on Lyons

In an election cycle dominated by negative campaigning, we've endured a bruising 8 month assault on our civic moral and pride. After all, the ads were designed by the parties mobilize their base by in part demoralizing the base of the opposition to the point they become unmotivated voters less likely to cast a ballot.

Jim Baca understands this. That's why he refused to engage in the politics of personal destruction, regardless of the provication by his opponent. However, that hasn't stopped Pat Lyons, who surged 7 points in the most recent Abq Journal poll, due partly to an effective negative / compare/contras ad by Lyons which Baca decided not to hit back on.

However, in the case of Pat Lyons, when the negative is true and accurate, it's also called reality.

Therefore, as a proponent of reality driven decision making, I put together a series of clips one should read before casting their vote Pat Lyons.

The Facts on Lyons:

• Pat Lyons;; On ignoring environmental watchdog groups for the good of the children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpxuH7-_PGI

• Opposed drive up liquor window ban.

• Chaired Bush / Cheney 04 campaign in New Mexico. http://www.lyonswatch.com/Truth Squad Article.htm

• Over 90% of Lyons’ campaign contributions come from people who do business with his office. http://freenewmexican.com/news/50065.html
http://www.lyonswatch.com/Oil and Gas Contributors.htm

• Warned New Mexicans not to vote for Baca because the BLM and the Bush administration wouldn’t work with a Democrat. http://freenewmexican.com/news/49682.html

• Lyons claims says he wants to maximize revenue from state lands to benefit New Mexico school children, but in 2003 Lyons opposed legislation that increased distributions from the permanent fund to public schools and other institutions. http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/495671nm09-24-06.htm

• Lyons’ $1.5 Billion Deal With a Crook http://www.abqjournal.com/north/489350north_news09-02-06.htm
• Lyons proposed a total control lease in the Luera Peak area north of the Gila Wilderness that would have permitted a single individual the right to lock up the area, keeping most hunters out. Scores of average sportsmen would have been denied access to the prime hunting area if the deal had gone through. It was only because of a few watchful New Mexico Sportsmen that this deal was cancelled."

• There’s a simple reason why the incumbent Republican land commissioner has an overwhelming advantage over Baca in campaign contributions, and it’s the same issue that Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth deals with: Big Oil doesn’t want someone like Baca in office because he’s serious about protecting the environment … and they aren’t . --Jerry Ortiz y Pino

• State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons intervened in a lawsuit on behalf of a Valencia County landowner who gave political contributions to Lyons before, during and immediately after the court fight. http://freenewmexican.com/news/48130.html

• Pat Lyons featured children in campaign commercials without first seeking the permission of their parents by allow the principal of the school in which the commercial was shot to believe it was a promotional video for education in New Mexico and not a partisan campaign commercial. http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/oct/27/parents-object-lyons-tv-ad/

• Pat Lyons’ “sweetheart” no-bid land deal for campaign contributors. http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/47629.html

• Time and again, Lyons has put the interests of the developers and profits ahead of communities and resources. See Moon Mountain development. http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/478209nm07-23-06.htm

• White Peaks: Pat Lyons attempted to give a campaign contributor the ability to lock up one of the premiere elk hunting spots in New Mexico.

• Lyons claims to be a proponent of renewable energy but it’s all a sham. http://www.dukecityfix.com/index.php?itemid=2042

• Tax Payer Funded TV ads Raise Questions; Execs: spots look like campaigns. http://www.backchannelmedia.com/articles/3076

• Pat Lyons and Big Oil: Thick as Thieves. http://freenewmexican.com/news/50130.html

• The environmental issues at stake. http://freenewmexican.com/news/49561.html

• Land Commissioner Buys Truck with Campaign Funds http://www.lyonswatch.com/Truck Article - AP - May 10, 2006.htm

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Democrats, education, Elections, Energy, Gas, GOP, Land Commissioner, media, New Mexico, news, oil, Politics, Republicans

Interior Dept. Letting Oil & Gas Companies Slide on Royalties

U.S. Drops Bid Over Royalties From Chevron - New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 — The Interior Department has dropped claims that the Chevron Corporation systematically underpaid the government for natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, a decision that could allow energy companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.

Lyons Using Tax Payer's Money on Campaign

Kate Nash must have had to make a tough decision; what's worse, using a kid in your campaign commercial without first clearing it with the parents, or using tax payer's money and elected office to conduct campaign activities?

Understandably, Nash told the story where she picked it up, with a parent upset about their kid being exploited by a politician without even seeking parental consent.

But as noted by mzannes, the first reader to leave a comment on Nash's online version of her story,

"The Land Office spokeswoman Kristin Haase is on the state payroll, talking about her boss' CAMPAIGN ELECTION SNAFFU in her state office on a state phone paid by my taxes, and no doubt was contacted during state office hours for which she was paid by my tax dollars. Should be a law against that."

I believe there is, the Hatch Act, which explicitly prohibits government employees from the following:

-use official authority or influence to interfere with an election

-solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency

-solicit or receive political contributions

-be candidates for public office in partisan elections

-engage in political activity while:
*on duty
*in a government office
*wearing an official uniform
*using a government vehicle
*wear partisan political buttons on duty

And that's the angle that the New Mexican's Ann Constable and Steve Terrell picked up on in their story, Political ad stuns unwitting participants in this morning's paper, asking the spokeswoman for the Land Commissioner's office, Kristin Haase, if she had made arrangements to have the ad shot while on government time.

Haase told Constable Terrell, she had made arrangements for the partisan add to be shot on her day off, supposedly aware that conducting partisan activity on government time would be illegal.

However, the articles indicate Haase may not have made her "off duty" status clear when contacting the school, allowing school officials to operate under the assumption that she was acting in her capacity as a state employee on behalf of the Land Commissioner's Office, instead of a candidate seeking reelection.

According to the principal, "Lyons gave some surplus state computers to the school last year and made a film about the donation " (presumably non-partisan film promoting education and the role of the land office.) As Constable Terrell writes, "when [Lyon's] office asked to return," the principal thought it was to shoot more video footage "promoting education," not a candidate.

Is this a big deal? Yes. Not because Haase falls under the Hatch act, which she may or may not, and not because the act states:

"An employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual."

This is a big deal because it's only the most recent example of Lyons using his office and tax payer's dollars to conduct partisan electoral activity.

Be sure to pick up the Tribune this afternoon for what I hope is a killer followup story from Nash. This story has legs.

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Coal, corruption, Elections, Energy, Land Commissioner, media, New Mexico, news, oil, Patrick Lyons, Politics, GOP, Republicans

Big Oil Meets Its Match

There's a war raging in California between two heavy weights, the Oil Industry and mega-millionaire and environmentalist, Stephen L. Bing. At issue is Proposition 87, which if passed, would impose $485 million a year tax until $ 4 Billion is collected from oil extracting companies in the Golden State. Those funds would be used to jump start research and use of alternative and renewable energy in California. $85 Million Battle Rages Over Oil Company Tax Initiative - Los Angeles Times:

Technorati Tags: budget, Elections, Energy

Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases - New York Times

Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property say the Interior Department suppressed their efforts to recover millions of dollars from companies they said were cheating the government.

The accusations, many of them in four lawsuits that were unsealed last week by federal judges in Oklahoma, represent a rare rebellion by government investigators against their own agency. The auditors contend that they were blocked by their bosses from pursuing more than $30 million in fraudulent underpayments of royalties for oil produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The agency has lost its sense of mission, which is to protect American taxpayers,” said Bobby L. Maxwell, who was formerly in charge of Gulf of Mexico auditing. “These are assets that belong to the American public, and they are supposed to be used for things like education, public infrastructure and roadways.”

The lawsuits have surfaced as Democrats and Republicans alike are questioning the Bush administration’s willingness to challenge the oil and gas industry.

Technorati Tags: budget, Coal, Congress, corruption, Democrats, Elections, Energy, Gas, George W. Bush, Jeff Bingaman, lobbying, New Mexico, oil, Pete Domenici, Politics, Republicans, Tax credit

New Mexico's Fuzzy Nuclear Future

You've heard of fuzzy math? Welcome to fuzzy planning 101.

KUNM's Jim Williams reports on the public hearings held yesterday in Santa Fe on the nuclear  waste disposal plan that isn't.

Link:
KUNM 89.9 { news | Recent News Stories }.

Ideas for Iraq

If you think your choices are rough in the first CD, just be glad you don't have to vote in Pennsylvania's senate race between Rich Santorum and Bob Cassey. I listened to C-SPAN's re-airing of the two candidates performance on Meet The Press from this morning and was dumb struck. Cassey, the Democrat, seems to hardly disagree with Santorum on anything. I can't figure out if Cassey' for real or if his idea of a campaign strategy is to deny Santorum the opportunity to draw any comparisons between himself and his opponent.

On the issue of Iraq, both candidates are equally committed, the difference being that Santorum supports Bush and believes that we're working it out, while Cassey seemed to suggest that Santorum was incapable of holding the Bush administration accountable for their failures but did not think we should set a firm time table for withdrawal of our troops.

Santorum believes we should spend more on intelligence while Cassey thinks we should spend more on special forces.

Neither candidate seemed to have any suggestion as to what we should do to get our troops out of the country without leaving it in total chaos.

The Republicans seem determined to use the cut and run garbage and the Democrats seemed determined to stick to their pollsters recommendations, leaving the minority party vulnerable to criticism of not even having a plan.

Well, here's an idea that a friend and I kicked around the other week; Invite Iran and Syria into Iraq. Ask them to provide peace keeping troops to help stabilize the nation. American troops can move into the north, transferring out of the region through Turkey rather than Saudi Arabia or Dubai. After all, Turkey said no when we were invading so you'd think they'd say yes when we're leaving, right? Also, a northern departure would keeps the kurds from freaking once the Syrians and Iranians come into the country and keep Turkey from invading to ensure the Kurds don't declare independence.

At the same time, we put the problem of Iraq in the hands of the two countries causing the U.S. the greatest difficulty in the region. Iran is majority Shi'a and Syria Sunni--so let the Syrians patrol the Sunnis and the Iranians the Shi'a.

Syria and Iran are collaborating already in many areas of mutual concern, so why not let them work together on rebuilding Iraq?

We'd be leaving the Iraqi oil to our Syria an Iran, you say? So what? After all, the whole reason Saddam was a problem was because he was erratic in his manipulation of Iraq's oil production, causing the worlds' price to jump one week and dive the next. Whether Syria or Iran get the proceeds would seem less important than that there be stability and predictability in the global market.

From a defense perspective, this seems the only way to make lemonade out of this lemon the bush administration has sold the country since it accomplishes two critical objectives: It gets Iraq off our plate and onto that of our adversaries.

Iraq is draining our resources like nothing else. Syria and Iran are sitting pretty reaping the rewards of our struggle. The best we can hope for is to avoid an outright conflict with either, while drawing both country's into a long term capital intensive project capable of syphoning off their nation's wealth in manner that reduces their weapons development and acquisitions budgets over the next 3-5 years. Meanwhile, America withdraws to stop our own economic hemorrhaging.

We never said the idea is perfect, but at least we had one. Feel free to poke wholes. Who knows, maybe there's an answer out there that simply needs a forum for discussion.

Technorati Tags: Congress, Democrats, DNC, Elections, Politics

Sending the Troops into a Trap

The idea of putting 127,000 troops into Bagdahd to "retake" the city would seem to be a sign of just how bad things are going in Iraq. Without getting into the reasons for the current conditions on the ground, I think we need to seriously question the strategy being employed in Iraq, or lack thereof.

We're putting our troops right in the middle of a civil war in Iraq that being flamed by broader ethnic tensions in the middle east; Israel just finished pounding the Shia in the southern part of Lebanon (which was perceived as having the blessing of the U.S.) in a failed effort to wipe our Hezbollah. Hezbollah is backed by the Sunni majority state of Syria and the Shia majority state of Iran, both of which boarder Iraq and have the ability to affect the flow of weapons, insurgents, rhetoric and cash into Baghdad.

By sending all our troops into Baghdad, aren't we just making for a bigger and easier target for our enemies to strike?

Iranian Shells Land in Kurdish Villages in Northern Iraq, Killing 2 - New York Times:
American officials have accused Iran of supporting Hezbollah in its recent battle against Israel. This month, the American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Iran had been pushing small Shiite militias to step up attacks against the American-led forces in retaliation for Israel’s assault on Lebanon.

An American military spokesman said some Shiite militias had been training in Iran and had received weapons from individuals or groups in that country.

We are going back to Baghdad not because of any failure of our troops, but because of the failures of our politicians. The irony is that politicians only loose their jobs.

Technorati Tags: Baghdad, Blogs, corruption, Democrats, Elections, Energy, Gas, George W. Bush, Iraq, New Mexico, oil, Politics, Iraq, reform, War

Are We Ready for the Next Oil Shock?

Are We Ready for the Next Oil Shock?:
Could a mere 4 percent shortfall in daily oil supply propel the price of a barrel to more than $120 in a matter of days? That's what some oil market experts are saying, and if they're correct, we face the very real possibility of an oil shock wave that could send our economy reeling. Such a rapid rise in fuel costs would have profound effects that could severely threaten the foundation of America's economic prosperity.

The global oil trends now at work -- rising consumption, reduced spare production capacity and high levels of instability in key oil-producing countries -- all increase the likelihood of a supply shock. But unfortunately energy debates in this country often suggest a profound misunderstanding of these international economic dynamics. Calls for "energy independence" notwithstanding, oil is a fungible global commodity, which means that events affecting supply or demand anywhere will affect oil consumers everywhere. A country's exposure to world price shocks is thus a function of the amount of oil it consumes and is not significantly affected by the ratio of domestic to imported petroleum.

Oil Makes for Crude Politics

Terrell has the pedal to the metal in his post pointing out the mind numbing spin that flows from the hired guns in New Mexico politics. Mind numbing because, usually I bang my head on the nearest table until I can't remember what I just read.

Stephen W. Terrell's Web Log:

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New MexicanAugust 10, 2006Early this week, Gov. Bill Richardson’s re-election campaign released a statement blasting Republican opponent John Dendahl for not filing his July campaign-finance report on time.Besides implying that Dendahl was trying to hide something, Richardson campaign chairman Dave Contarino commented on what the GOP candidate had said was his major source of contributions — the oil and gas industry.“At a time when big oil companies are reaping record profits and New Mexican families are struggling to pay $3 per gallon,” Contarino was quoted, “the public deserves to know whether or not he’s received a large percentage of his contributions from these large oil and gas corporations.

”Right on, Dave! It’s about time someone stood up to the oil barons. It’s good to know that our governor would never touch their filthy lucre.

Oh, wait a minute ...According to Followthemoney.org, the Web site of the Institute on Money in State Politics, Richardson’s campaign, as of the end of May, had pumped the oil and gas industry for $234,263. Only three other sectors have contributed more to Richardson: lobbyists and lawyers; real estate; and his own now-defunct political action committee, Moving America Forward.In his 2002 campaign, according to Followthemoney.org, the Richardson campaign took in $201,558 from the oil and gas industry.