'08 Election
Guv drops a bomb on New Mexico politics
Since October 2007, New Mexico politics have been in a state of flux as the transition to the post-Pete Domenici era unfolded at the same time that the progressive takeover of American politics shifted the makeup of the state’s congressional delegation and Legislature. Bill Richardson dropped another bomb on New Mexico politics on Sunday when he withdrew his nomination to be commerce secretary.
Election long over, Franken and Coleman fight on in court
The Minnesota Supreme Court ordered (pdf) Friday afternoon that the campaign of Al Franken respond by 9 a.m. Saturday to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman’s Dec. 31 petition to start over on the current court-ordered effort to count wrongfully rejected absentee ballots.
N.M. ‘08 retrospective: Another year bites the Land of Enchantment dust
KUNM News Director Jim Williams recently sat down with several local reporters to talk over the big stories of 2008. And as you can imagine there was a lot to talk about: Barack Obama’s huge victory in otherwise purple New Mexico; the Democratic sweep in congressional races; the corruption scandal that ensnared a former powerful [...]
N.M. environmentalists saw big gains in ‘08
A sampling of New Mexico environmental leaders cites a wide range of what they consider the biggest issues for the year that was. They include Tax Increment Development Districts, the proposed Desert Rock power plant, river otters, the destruction wrought by all-terrain vehicles in national forests and a new law allowing concealed weapons in national parks. But mostly they wanted to talk politics. Like everyone else, environmentalists were consumed by the 2008 elections and the sea change coming to the Legislature, Congress and the White House.
N.M. congressional delegation support for Bush split on sharp partisan lines in ‘08
During a year in which 60 percent of New Mexico’s delegation to D.C. won’t be back for the swearing in of new members next week, looking back at how much the delegation supported George W. Bush’s stances on issues this year is more or less a novelty. And only one member — Jeff Bingaman — [...]
Guv raises $17,000 in November to retire presidential campaign debt
Help came to Gov. Bill Richardson last month in the form of contributions from a Midwestern law firm, whose attorneys gave $10,000 of the $17,000 the U.S. commerce secretary designate raised in November, The Associated Press is reporting.
Richardson has said he wants to retire the debt to his presidential campaign by this week. And the [...]
CDR Financial on New Mexico contracts and ties to the guv: ‘This isn’t Nigeria’
Just in case you missed it, the New York Times reported last week on Gov. Bill Richardson’s potential problem getting confirmed as commerce secretary, given the federal investigation of CDR Financial Products Inc.’s ability to gain lucrative contracts with the state at the same time it was giving extremely large donations to political action committees [...]
California AG Jerry Brown challenges rather than defends Prop 8
Normally, a state’s attorney general defends state legislation. But in the case of California’s recently-passed Proposition 8, which took away the right to same-sex marriage after the California Supreme Court paved the way for it last spring, that’s not the case. California’s Attorney General, Jerry Brown, has asked the California Supreme Court to overturn [...]
Pearce’s future unclear in blue New Mexico
What’s next for the steadfastly conservative congressman? Head of the state GOP? Governor in 2010? Some say if he’s going to get elected to another office, New Mexico will have to change. Because Steve Pearce won’t.
ACORN uses New Mexico cases to make money plea
The controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) used two cases from New Mexico in a fundraising e-mail sent out Thursday afternoon to supporters.
A field director in ACORN’s voter registration program, Mouath B. Baesho, wrote the e-mail and said ACORN registered 1.3 million citizens around the nation to vote this year. That number [...]