ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: MORE ON VAL AT THE ROUNDHOUSE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 5, 2009


It's not that unusual to see Hollywood celebrities at the state Capitol during a Legislative session. Ali MacGraw, Shirley MacLaine and Marsha Mason — all of whom have homes in or around Santa Fe — have been spotted here in recent years.

But none of them are rumored to be running for governor in 2010. And Val Kilmer, who paid a visit to the state House of Representatives on Wednesday, is.

Kilmer, who owns a ranch near Pecos, sat on the rostrum of the House for a few minutes before he was introduced by House Speaker Ben Luján moments before the House adjourned for the day.

A few minutes before that, Kilmer was spotted by a television reporter, then me, outside the House Chambers.

What was the actor doing at the Legislature? "Just saying hi to some friends," he said.

Kilmer — who has portrayed Batman, Jim Morrison, Billy the Kid, Doc Holiday and "Big" John Holmes in the movies — would neither confirm nor deny that he's auditioning to play governor in a couple of years.

"No, I just don't have any plans. I'm looking to be more active in the many concerns I have and that we all do," he said.

"My kids are in high school now," Kilmer said, "and so I'm more available. I'm available to serve."

So how about that report by The Associated Press last year — when the Val for Gov rumors started surfacing — that Kilmer had never voted in New Mexico, at least not before the 2008 election?

He said the AP story wasn't exactly true. But, he admitted, "like a lot of Americans in this year's election, I've realized I need to be more responsible. I've done a lot of substantial work in a lot of areas, but it's true I haven't voted much, which I regret."

Wouldn't that hurt in a gubernatorial campaign?

"No, I think we're a forgiving people," Kilmer said. "But (we're) also very serious about the need to be more active. I think it's an invitation by President Obama in this new administration to be more responsible, and that's going to become a demand."

Then he got even more philosophical. In an almost New Agey way, Kilmer said New Mexico "already has a jump on the whole country, (in) working out race issues 100 years in advance." Kilmer said the state has an appreciation for the arts and "you've got a really strong acceptance of different lifestyles and spiritual outlooks. It's very real to us."

Summoned by the Lt. Gov.: Kilmer later went up to the Fourth Floor and spoke with Eric Witt, Gov. Bill Richardson's point man for the movie industry.

"What do I look like, The Riddler?" Witt joked when first asked about his meeting with Kilmer.

"We just talked about the movie industry and a couple of economic-development project ideas he has," Witt said. He said the projects deal with the arts, but he couldn't discuss details. Kilmer didn't meet with Richardson, Witt said.

At one point Wednesday afternoon, there was a page for Kilmer over the Capitol public address system, saying he was wanted in the lieutenant governor's office.

Some who heard the announcement assumed it was a prank page. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish is running for governor as a Democrat next election.

But, according to a spokeswoman for Denish, the lieutenant governor really did page her possible opponent.

Denish spokeswoman Danielle Montoya said her boss wanted to thank the actor for serving on Denish's short-lived transition team — put into place in December when Obama chose Richardson as his nominee for commerce secretary and dismantled after Richardson withdrew his nomination. Kilmer was on the Economic Stability Team, Montoya said.

But apparently by that time, Batman had left the building. The meeting didn't happen.

How does Denish feel about the possibility of running against Kilmer in the 2010 Democratic primary? Through Montoya, Denish sent in a prepared statement.

"I am committed to running for governor in 2010, and I'm focused on fighting for New Mexicans during tough economic times. I think that voters are smart and that they will elect someone into office who is clearly committed to New Mexico. I'm not going to speculate on opponents right now."

Blog Bonus:

Here's an audio clip from our short talk with Val Kilmer Wednesday.

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EVEN MORE INVESTIGATIONS

Recently retired U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, according to a report Wednesday in TPM Muckraker, is the focus of a federal grand investigation of the U.S. Attorney scandal, along with several Bush White House officials.

However, Domenici’s attorney on Wednesday denied Domenici is at the center of the investigation.

“The investigation exists, but it’s not focused on Sen. Domenici to the exclusion of others,” Washington lawyer Lee Blalack told me.

According to the Muckraker report, the grand jury is investigating whether Domenici and others attempted to improperly press former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to bring a criminal prosecution against “New Mexico Democrats” — namely former state Sen. Manny Aragon — prior to the 2006 elections. This is attributed to unnamed “legal sources close to the investigation and private attorneys representing officials who prosecutors want to question”

“Investigators appear to be scrutinizing Iglesias' firing in the context of whether he was fired in retaliation because Domenici and others believed that he would not manipulate the timing of prosecutions to help Republicans,” the article said.

Iglesias has said he received phone calls about the Aragon investigation from both Domenici and former Congresswoman Heather Wilson shortly before the election in which Wilson was facing a tough challenge. Wilson didn’t seek re-election in 2008. Aragon eventually was indicted in a kickback scandal and eventually pleaded guilty. He’s awaiting sentencing.

Domenici, who did not seek re-election last year because of health problems, was heavily criticized in a Justice Department report for not cooperating with its investigation.

The grand jury investigation is currently being led by Nora Dannehy, the acting U.S. attorney in Connecticut, Blalack said. He declined to discuss details of the case.

VAL VISITS HOUSE

I just ran into actor -- and rumored gubernatorial candidate -- Val Kilmer on the first floor. He said he was in the Capitol just to "visit some friends."

A few minutes after our encounter, Kilmer appeared on the rostrum of the House, where House Speaker Ben Lujan introduced him.

Kilmer, who has portrayed Batman, Jim Morrison, Billy the Kid and "Big" John Holmes in the movies -- would neither confirm nor deny that he's planning on a run for governor. "I don't have anything planned," he said, "I'm just looking to be more active."

Asked about that Associated Press story, which revealed Kilmer had never voted in New Mexico before 2008, Kilmer said, "It's true I haven't voted much, which I regret." Would that hurt him in a political race?

"No, I think we're a forgiving people," he said.

MORE ON CONTARINO/VANDERBILT

Here's Kate Nash's full story regarding Dave Contarino being named as "John Doe #2" in the Vanderbilt civil suit (and the wild press conference where that announcement took place.)

Here's video from KRQE:

MICHAEL SEZ ...

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, just had an impromptu, informal press conference here in the media room of the Capitol.

He spoke a lot about ethics bills. He said he understands the Senate Rules Committee plans to roll several of the proposed ethics bills -- including establishing an ethics commission, campaign contribution limits, and bills dealing with contributions by state contractors -- into one big ethics bill. Sanchez said he doesn't think there's enough support this year for including public campaign financing, mainly because of the budget crisis.

Sanchez also said he's heard rumblings of a possible amendment or separate bill that would require non-profit groups -- such as the Center for Civic Policy -- to disclose its contributors. We could dub that the Shannon's Revenge Act.

Sanchez said he believes there's a very good chance a serious ethics bill will pass the Legislature this year.

He also said he believes the bill to abolish the death penalty has the best chance it ever had. But he quickly added, "I thought the same thing about domestic partnerships." He admitted the death penalty bill could run into trouble -- again -- in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which yesterday failed to pass the domestic partnership bill.

Another bill Sanchez said has a good chance of passing is the bill to open conference committees -- even though Sanchez himself opposes that move. He said opening conference committees would encourage members to get together away from the Capitol to decide on the bills that go to conference.

Like most people this year, Sanchez said he's seen very little of Gov. Bill Richardson. "He hasn't call me up to his office," Sanchez said. "I'm not one of the people he usually calls."

DAVE DOE?

That's what lawyers in the Vanderbilt lawsuit say.

Read Kate Nash's story about that HERE.

And check out her blog about the shouting match that took place at the news conference when lawyers for other defendants showed up.

LT. GUV's ETHICS PACKAGE

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, at a news conference this morning, said she'll fight for three ethics/transparency bills.

They are:

* HB272, sponsored by Rep. Gail Chasey, which would eliminate exemptions from campaign finance reporting and would mandate quarterly reporting of campaign finances in off-election years. Currently candidates only have to report once a year during off years.

* HB507, sponsored by Rep. Ken Martinez. This would expand the Inspection of Public Records Act, which would reduce the response time to public record requests from 14 to 10 days. (As it stands now, 14 days is supposed to be the maximum time allowed. However, in recent years, state government frequently takes the max time for even simple requests.) The bill also would establish a "double-check redaction system "oriented toward openness." Denish's news release says this is intended to reduce the number of redactions. (I've yet to study this bill, so I'll reserve judgement on whether it actually would reduce blacked-out information.)

* A bill, to be dropped today by Rep. Al Park, that would require all contractors doing business with the state to be listed in an online, searchable database tha would include the company's name, the contract and how much it's worth. (This would make it easier for us to compare with campaign contributions. In fact, if I was a legislator, I'd offer an amendment to include all campaign contributions as part of this database.)

Denish said she expects these bills to do well in the House, but said they will have a tougher time in the Senate -- which long-time observers know is the place they send ethics bills to die lonesome deaths.

Read more about this in Wednesday's New Mexican.

UPDATE: Park's bill has been dropped. It's HB546. (It's on on the Legislature Web site yet, but check HERE later.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Denish's office sent out a correction on the number of days to respond to open records requests in HB507. I made the change above.

WHO WILL "JOHN DOE #2" TURN OUT TO BE?

Apparently lawyers in the Foy lawsuit -- that's the one dealing with the alleged Vanderbilt pay-to-play scandal -- will reveal on Tuesday the identity of "John Doe #2," who allegedly pressed ERB members to invest with Chicago-based Vanderbilt Financial.

Here's some possibilities:

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS BILL FAILS IN COMMITTEE

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday didn’t have enough votes to pass a bill to establish domestic partnerships in New Mexico.

Five senators -- sponsor Cisco McSorley, Peter Wirth, Michael Sanchez ,Linda Lopez and Tim Eichenberg, all Democrats -- voted to give Senate Bill 12 a do-pass recommendation. However, the four committee Republicans -- Bill Payne, John Ryan, Clint Harden and Sander Rue, were joined by Democrat Richard Martinez, D-Espanola to vote no.

The bill needed a majority to get the do-pass.

Another Democrat, Sen. Bernadette Sanchez of Albuquerque, who missed the vote, said later that she would have voted no. “Because that’s what my constituents want,” she told reporters. Sanchez entered the committee room only moments after the vote. She denied "taking a walk" on the vote, saying she had to answer two important phone calls.

Eric Witt, a legislative liaison for Gov. Bill Richardson, who supports the bill, said the governor will be meeting with legislators “who don’t currently support the bill” to get them to change their minds. Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, is carrying a similar bill, HB 21, in the House.

The committee room was packed with supporters and opponents of SB 12.

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS ON SENATE JUDICIARY AGENDA

The meeting isn't until 2 pm or 30 minutes after teh Senate floor session, but the meeting room is already starting to fill up. There should be minimal discussion because the Judiciary Committee was part of the joint hearing last week. Of course, these are senators, so don't count on brevity.


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In webcasting news, Beverly Garcia of New Mexico Legislative Reports has set up a new Web site for audio streaming of both the House and Senate. Check it HERE. Right now the audio still is being tested, but I bet it's up before long. Beverly also has posted the agendas for both chambers, which is nice and convenient.