Why New Mexico sucks — wingnut denialism, in part

First, it does suck, and it's not going in the right direction. Residents admit that.

But, per another Albuquerque Journal piece, many of the same residents refuse to admit that
1. The Great Recession is over;
2. NM has been governed by a Republican gov the last six years;
3. The GOP has had partial control of the NM state legislature during part of that time. (The previous session of the House was Republican, and the first session of the Senate in her first term was controlled by a coalition of Republicans and select Democrats, per Wikipedia.)

In other words, Gov. Susana Martinez, in her first six years, had either one side of the Roundhouse or the other in her corner four of six years. And, during her first term, she got at least some Senate Dems in her corner the first two years. (The coalition was a carryover from the last Senate session under her gubernatorial predecessor, Big Bill Richardson.)

When Martinez is being called a RINO, you know the river Denial is running deeper, especially in red-state areas south of Duke City, than is the Rio Grande. And, per the previous paragraph, no, wingnuts, not all Democratic legiscritters were "librulz" determined to oppose her agenda.

Said RINO-type commenters also refuse to admit:
1. Gary Johnson, for all his controversies, was able to work better with the Lege than Martinez;
2. For whatever reasons, people who elect GOP govs in the Land of dis-Enchantment won't elect GOP legiscritters on a regular basis.
3. Voters appear to have gotten more tired of the GOP again.
4. Martinez is certainly NOT a RINO.

Indeed, if one looks at her record, she's stolen a page or two from the Sam Brownback book. And, on jobs creation, been even worse than him in Kansas.

The problem is that many Dems still have no cojones to stand up to her more, or to take the bit in their mouths on other issues.

You can't totally blame oil and gas. The Permian is cheaper to frack than many other parts of the country, and New Mexico has added four rigs each of the last two weeks, according to Baker Hughes. And, the industry is claiming this will boost "low-tech" jobs and the state should help them out on this.

As for the state being overly reliant on federal dollars, as claimed in the second link? It's true. The state is eighth in percentage of state revenue coming from the feds versus how much it pays out in federal taxes; it's also second in percentage of resident income coming from federal support. It's also a state with a high percentage of federal employees.

Speaking of, from that second link, this is funny, hypocritcal, or a bit of both:

“The fact is our state is way too reliant on federal dollars – has been for over a century,” said Michael Lonergan, the governor’s spokesman. “Because of that, not only did we get hit with the national recession, but we took a second blow with federal budget cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) and a dysfunctional Washington. That put us behind almost every state. To make problems worse, we just saw one of the steepest crashes in the oil and gas industry – another sector we’ve been reliant on for decades. 

Lonergan said the governor has championed tax cuts and job training, adding, “We can no longer rely on Washington congressional leadership. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we continue to grow our private sector and help small businesses grow.”

So, lemme see; the GOP took over the federal House at the same time Martinez became governor. That takeover included a then-freshman Congresscritter from New Mexico called Steve Pearce, who supported the sequestration the House GOP rammed through and Dear Leader surrendered to.

Second, many of those federal dollars are high-tech and well-paying. Do you really want to write off the Los Alamos and Sandia labs? (Let's not forget that Dear Leader's updating of nukes certainly helped those labs.)

Further note to Lonergan: Utah's also pretty reliant on federal dollars, with all those national parks. New Mexico has probably done a less-than-stellar job of marketing, including working on getting tourists to venture very far outside the Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Taos corridor. This has been a long-standing issue under governors of both parties.

Take the greater Ruidoso area. Yes, Texans hit the slopes at Ski Apache if they don't do Angel Fire. Other than that? Smokey Bear gets minimal promotion.

Or, the Glenwood-Silver City area? (I remember the worries about Silver City being "discovered." I'm betting they wish they had that worry now.)

And "New Mexico True" as a marketing slogan? Maybe it works inside the state, but I find its appeal to non-residents is minimal.

As for crime rate? It's actually been in the bottom 10 consistently since the early 1980s, other than improving modestly when Big Bill was in office. It was not great before then, but it was at least like it was in Richardson's time. Maybe we should blame St. Ronald of Reagan, wingnuts.

That said, high school graduation rates have actually improved since Martinez took office.

That said, one can probably fault both parties for not creating a true rainy-day fund. The state's permanent fund isn't THAT sound.

==

This is not coming from a total outsider.

I grew up in Gallup. The first weekly newspaper where I was an editor was in Hobbs.

My one brother still lives in Farmington. My sister and her family lived once at the west end of the Oklahoma Panhandle, far enough out to shop in Clayton. (Why not Dalhart, I don't know.) They later lived in Albuquerque.

Big Bill Richardson troubles mount

Looks like the New Mexico Gov was hiding from Obama vetters even more stuff than first revealed.

Now, Frank Foy, the former chief investment officer at the state’s Education Retirement Board, claims he was pressured by Big Bill staffers to make investments in Vanderbilt Capital, investments which ultimately tanked to the tune of millions of dollars.

Oh, Vanderbilt gave Big Bill $15K in campaign donations.

Foy also alleges he was demoted for resisting and that he eventually had some trumped-up sexual harassment charges preferred; he was convicted on three counts.

That said, while the FBI has not yet talked to Foy, the Securities and Exchange Commission has.

Hmmm, maybe Richardson could replace Tim Geithner as Obama’s Treasury designee?

Big Bill Richardson lawyers up

It's looking more and more like the Land of Disenchantment in Fanta Se (aka Santa Fe) for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, starting with the fact he has lawyered up in an ongoing federal investigation of his ties CDR Financial and its president, David Rubin, a Richardson donor.

Also shock me that the Obama team is saying Richardson's disclosures about the grand jury probe were incomplete. Words like "petard," "self" and "hoisting" come to mind.

In case you're wondering what the FBI is investigating, here's the nut grafs:

In New Mexico, the probe of CDR Financial evolved from a larger, nationwide investigation into allegations that investment firms were giving bribes and gifts to local officials to win lucrative work advising local governments on bonds.

The FBI became interested in the New Mexico finance agency, legal sources said, because CDR and its founder had donated $100,000 to two political action committees headed by the governor. The donations, in 2003 and 2004, were made near the time that the authority awarded two contracts to CDR.

Couldn't happen to a better guy, perhaps.

Richardson has had an inflated sense of self, even for a politician, for better than a decade. I'm surprised that, given his plaintive worry that people wouldn't know he's Hispanic going by his last name, that he hasn't changed that. Other than some luck and some chutzpah in the world of diplomacy, he had a thin Congressional record, was trouble at Energy, even if he inherited part of Los Alamos and Wen Ho Lee issues, and has a decent but no better environmental record as gov.

Big Bill bows out from Commerce

Obama gets his first Cabinet nomination ding, as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name from nomination as Barack Obama's Secretary of Commerce.

Richardson cited an ongoing federal grand jury probe over "pay-to-play" questions. An Albuquerque grand jury is looking into whether CDR Financial Products was given a contract with the New Mexico Finance Authority because of pressure from Richardson.

Given the current situation in Illinois, I'll give you 5-1 odds that Obama staff saw something on internal vetting and/or FBI checks and asked Senor Richardson to exit the nomination process, stage left.

Another reason not to name Western govs to the Cabinet

Three of four Western governors talked about as possible Obama cabinet members have Republican lite govs as their wingpersons.

So, maybe think again about Montana's Brian Schweitzer or Wyoming's Dave Freudenthal at Interior (in addition to Schweitzer definitely not being green and Freudenthal a non-greenish blank slate). Hold off on Arizona's Janet Napolitano at AG.

And, hold off on naming Big Bill Richardson to anything.

AP speculates on Obama Cabinet

And the AP list makes more sense than whoever got HuffPost to believe that Pete Domenici was on the short list for energy secretary.

Within mainstreamism, here's my take, within each Cabinet post, of which of the AP's speculations makes the most sense as far as Obama's centrist political reality, and which is the most or least acceptable in some cases.

1. Tony Knowles makes the most sense at Interior. Obama's not like to "sacrifice" a sitting swing-state senator in Ken Salazar. Kitzhaber would be OK too.

2. Sebelius might make more sense at EPA, given her stance against Sunflower's proposed Kansas coal plants, than at Energy.

3. Howard Dean at HHS? If the DNC ain't broke, why break it? Unless the good doctor wants out or Obama really feels the need to push him out. If that is the case, then, yes, this is a no-brainer position.

4. Rendell at Transportation is about the right level of political payoff. He brings nothing to Energy, which badly needs a non-politico, between global warming and Peak Oil.

5. Daschle at HHS? No, he'd want higher on the pecking order.

6. Richardson at State? I've said before, I doubt Biden wants him there. He can maybe get Interior, or else hope Jeff Bingaman doesn't run for another Senate term.

7. James Lee Witt or Bratton would be good at Homeland. NO to Tom Kean; too weaselly on 9/11. If you must see this as a "bipartisanship" post, Obama, go looking for a libertarian Republican. Hell, Bob Barr would be better than Kean. He'd be better than Jane Harman, for that matter.

8. I expect Susan Rice at NSA, whether that's good or not.

9. Powell has said he's not interested in ANY Cabinet slot; I hugely doubt he'd take something as "low" as Education.

10. Tom Buis, a non-politico, could be a creative choice for Agriculture.

11. Yuccck on both Gene Sperling and Jason Furman at OMB. More Summers-Rubin-Paulson neoliberalism running amok.

12. NO, NO, NO, to corporate suck-up Andy Stern at Labor. Obama would have to have a political tin ear to make that choice, or else really be in the neolib tank on non-fiscal domestic issues. Bonior could be a good choice.

Excellent Obama Cabinet advice from Tim Noah

The Slate columnist has some brilliantly simple cabinet advice.

He says don't appoint Larry Summers or his former boss, Robert Rubin, to anything.

Do not carry over Robert Gates at Defense. (And Noah's right that Gates probably has Iran-Contra dirt he's still hiding, and since Iran will remain a major foreign policy issue ... )

Do NOT appoint RFK Jr. to anything. Totally agreed there.

Here's the rest of the common-sense insight.

Big Bill Richardson’s dirty green pockets?

It looks like New Mexico’s governor and former presidential candidate isn’t quite such an environmentalist. Or, at least, that is the belief of someone in the Four Corners with a few dollars to blow on a billboard.

In the picture (click to enlarge), PNM is Public Service Company of New Mexico. The San Juan Generating Station is a coal-fired electric plant in the Four Corners area of the state which has seriously dirtied the skies of the state in it’s 30-plus years of history. The Four Corners Power Plant, built way back in 1963 and operated by PNM and Arizona Public Service, with Southern California Edison part owner of later units. was part of the 1950s deal that flooded Glen Canyon with Lake Powell in exchange for not flooding Dinosaur National Monument. A third coal-fired plant, Desert Rock Energy Project, is in the middle of Environmental Protection Agency pre-building review.

Also in the picture, BHP is BHP Billiton, the coal-mining giant that feeds the PNM maw.

The billboard is at the intersection of U.S. 64 and the road to the San Juan plant, just west of Farmington, N.M.

Ironically, or not so ironically for some of us who grew up in the Four Corners and near the Big Rez/Dinetah, the Desert Rock plant is being built under the auspices of Navajo tribe, through its Dine Power Authority. So much for claims of hozho and the Beauty Walk, eh?

Sithe Global is the builder of the alleged clean somewhat-less-dirty coal-fired plant. The reason it wants to build on the rez? No state environmental oversight.

At the same time, as that is about as close as you will get to a “Third World” country in the United States, many Navajos want the money from the plant.

As for Desert Rock’s customers, or potential ones, PNM denies it will buy electricity from Desert Rock, but a lot of people are skeptical. And, Big Bill is allegedly firmly opposed to Desert Rock (he has had a good record on oil-and-gas related environmental issues), but people are skeptical about that, too.

Read Desert Rock Blog, written by Navajos from Burnham, N.M., near ground zero, for much more.

How serious is this? After the new plant, in current design, is built, the Four Corners area, the heart of the pristine Colorado Plateau, likely will be an EPA non-attainment area.

Bill, if you are in fact opposing Desert Rock, great. But, crack down on San Uuan, and do what you can on Four Corners.

Slickster anger over Richardson erupts

Bill Clinton, apparently morphing James Carville’s “Judas” comment about Bill Richardson endorsing Barack Obama, had a meltdown in front of California Democratic superdelegates:

“It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended,” one superdelegate said. …

As the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how “sorry” she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a “Judas” for backing Obama.

It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.

”Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that,” a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.

Well, Big Bill Richardson can talk for himself. And he does:

“(Carville’s comment) is the kind of political venom that I anticipated from certain Clinton supporters and I campaigned against in my own run for president. …

“More than anything, to repair the damage done at home and abroad, we must unite as a country. I endorsed Sen. Obama because I believe he has the judgment, temperament and background to bridge our divisions as a nation and make America strong at home and respected in the world again.”

As for allegations he wasn’t returning Bill’s calls, Richardson said he was on vacation, and did call Hillary Clinton before announcing his endorsement decision.

After a week of relative calm, with Quinnipiac joining Rasmussen in showing Obama closing the gap in Pennsylvania, expect more of the Red-faced Slickster in coming days and weeks.

Richardson changes mind and endorses Obama

Before the Texas/Ohio primary dates, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had given some indication he didn’t want to pull the trigger on an endorsement until there was a bit more separation in the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Well, this morning, he changed his mind and endorsed Obama. With Obama struggling to put Rev. Jeremiah Wright behind him, while at the same time, Clinton struggles with being revealed as pro-NAFTA after all, the endorsement is timely. And, given how much Clinton has targeted Hispanics, the endorsement by the country’s highest-ranking Hispanic elected official can’t hurt, either. And, given his Cabinet-level and private experience in foreign affairs, it also helps refute Clinton’s “3 a.m. phone call” idea.

Richardson criticizes Congressional Democrats

And the New Mexico governor and Democratic presidential candidate has a laundry list, items often also noted by folks like progressive bloggers and activists:

Richardson did not go easy on the party, assailing the Democratic-controlled Congress for its failure to accomplish more and calling on the party to win back people’s confidence.

“That begins with proving that we're listening to them,” he said.

“Look at the last twelve months. Not only are we still in Iraq, we still have the failure called No Child Left Behind. We still have 9 million children with no health insurance. We’re still allowing this president to thumb his nose at the Bill of Rights. We’re slipping into a recession," Richardson said. “And we can't even reject an attorney general who refuses to condemn torture.”

You know, it’s pretty hard to argue with any of that.

Richardson also chose the forum with the Democratic National Committee to attack Obama and Clinton for not committing to a full withdrawal from Iraq.

And, he said other candidates aren’t talking about jobs enough. Between that and the recession comments, you can’t argue with him for commenting on economic issues.

Obama repeated his claim to be the Democratic candidate who will rise above partisanship. He either still doesn’t have enough better policy planks, or else Republicans in Congress haven’t beat him about the head enough with 2x4 planks.

Edwards claimed Democrats in Congress have isolated themselves from the people.

Richardson benefiting from Hillary sag in support

Big Bill’s support in New Hampshire has doubled (PDF) from 6 to 12 percent since September. Meanwhile, Biden trickles lower and lower every month.

Hey, Sen. MBNA, your NH support is now lower than Kucinich’s. Smell the coffee and get a clue.

New Mexico puts irresponsible Big Oil drillers in their place

Gov. Bill Richardson has just signed into law the country’s toughest legislation on oil and gas drillers.

The law, effective July 1, requires that companies notify landowners 30 days prior to drilling-related operations, describe in detail what will go on and propose an agreement covering compensation for the use of — and any damages to — the land.

This includes landowners who don’t hold the mineral rights beneath their land and was specifically written with them in mind. And, it has some teeth, too.

At least 11 other states have some sort of surface use agreement or compensation requirement, she said.

But New Mexico's law is notable for the extensive information that must be provided the landowner, the scope of damages that can be recovered — for loss of agricultural income, or loss of land value, for example — and for the reclamation requirement, she said.

The new law also allows landowners to collect triple damages in court under some circumstances if operators enter land to drill wells without giving notice or having agreements or posting bonds.

Now, if we can get places like Texas, or Wyoming with its dirty drilling, to adopt similar measures…