The Eldorado Incident: Occupy vs ALEC

The protest of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) dinner at the Eldorado apparently turned violent last night after a small group of Occupy Santa Fe protesters went inside the hotel and disrupted the dinner.

According to several legislators who were there, a female guest of Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, was struck in the eye by a piece of cardboard  -- actually a satirical dinner menu and program created by the protesters. According to legislators, her cornea was scratched.

Rehm declined comment, but a spokeswoman for House Republicans who talked to him said Rehm's guest's eye is being monitoring and is improving today.

The incident was denounced by members of both political parties, including some who have expressed agreement with Occupy's positions on issues. Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe said the incident made the protesters look like their opponents' caricature of the Occupy Movement.

Jeff Haas, a spokesman for the protesters, said in an email to The New Mexican, "While Occupy believes that confrontation and civil disobedience are often effective as demonstrated by Dr. King and Rosa Parks, we regret that anyone was injured last night by either flying paper or rough treatment by hotel security or ALEC members. Fortunately the injuries were minor compared to the devastation to people and the environment caused by ALEC legislation"

But Sen. Eric Griego, an Albuquerque Democrat who has been sympathetic to the Occupy movement, said on the Senate floor, this kind of incident "undermines Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. I stand with my colleagues who say we can't tolerate this behavior."

Haas said photographer Lisa Law, who was with the protesters was "roughed up by hotel security and ALEC members who sought to grab her camera."

Law said in a Youtube posting that she was "attacked from the back" and "ended up with a bloody hand and a very stiff and sore neck, arm and back." She said she made a police report on her injury.

Rep. Paul Bandy, R-Farmington, who is a state co-chair of ALEC, told reporters that he arrived early to the dinner so he could talk with protesters outside of the hotel. He said the discussion was cordial.

After the main protest outside dispersed some protesters came inside to the hotel bar, Bandy said.

About the time the ALEC guests were eating their salads in the Old House restaurant inside the hotel, a small group of protesters entered, Bandy said. Estimates on the number ranged from three to seven. "At least three of them really carrying on," Bandy said.

A female protester began flinging the cardboard menus. Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, said they were about the size of a large Christmas card.

Sen. Clint Harden, R-Clovis said protesters were "hurling the cards like karate stars."

Kintigh, a retired FBI agent, said Rehm stood up to confront the protester when his guest was struck by the envelope. "That's when yours truly stood up." He said he placed his hands on the woman and escorted her out of the door.

In a Santa Fe police report on the incident, no suspects were named.

Several legislators in the House and the Senate blasted the protesters.

Senate Republican Whip Bill Payne, the other ALEC state co-chair, said the incident was the worst thing he's ever seen in Santa Fe. Besides the protesters, Payne also criticized the hotel security, Santa Fe Police and "the tenor of the press" in Santa Fe. He specifically mentioned recent articles of mine about ALEC and lobbyist expenses.

Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, said many groups engage in responsible, peaceful protests, but when any group resorts to violence, "it's our responsibility to call them out."

Egolf, who was quoted in my article criticizing ALEC, agreed with other legislators about the Eldorado incident. "When folks start crossing the line, getting in people's faces and throwing things, it's deplorable," he said.

"And it's extremely counterproductive. Now you can't have a conversation on issues like economic disparity and leveling the playing field." Instead, he said, the issue is personal safety at legislative functions and the behavior of the protesters.

Without naming him, some House Republicans criticized statements about ALEC  made by Egolf  in Monday's story.

"I believe in free speech and individual liberty," Bandy told reporters. But public officials, he said, "need to be awful careful  about inciting people to violence."

Egolf said in the article that ALEC "is the truest embodiment of all the things that people who care about keeping corporate money out of politics, preserving our democracy and keeping our air, land and water clean fear most."

On Thursday Egolf said, "Everything I said about about the organization and issues. ... I didn't make any comment about any members."

Here's a video of the incident by Lisa Law of 40 seconds

Party Time!

As I do periodically during a session, I checked the first batch of lobbyist reports yesterday  to see who is throwing parties, hosting dinners and paying for meals for legislators during the session.

Just a few have come in so far. My story about that is HERE.

There's one thing this year that's more difficult in looking up these reports in the past. The Secretary of State's Office has changed systems. In the old days (up to the 2011 regular session) you could just go over to the office and go through a stack of paper reports.

But now it's all automated. No more paper. The good news is there will be no more errors based on lobbyist penmanship. The bad news is, while all the reports are now online at the Secretary of State's Campaign Finance site , there's no quick way to search for the 48-hour reports (the reports lobbyists have to file during a session within two days of making an expenditure more than $500.)

Thus, unearthing the information requires the help of SOS staff. I was able to find a few of the reports on my own Tuesday (including the golf passes given to legislators), but the SOS staff yesterday located a couple more that I'd missed.

I'm hoping that they update the website -- which is very helpful with finding campaign finance reports and other stuff -- so that you can go directly to the 48-hour reports.

Legislative Committee Process Explained

Thanks to KNME's In Focus, specifically Matt Grubbs for pointing this out.

 

 Speaking of Grubbs, he also called my attention to this video he found when recently Googling "Terrell" and "Roundhouse:


"

FORE!

Sometimes state legislators only get grief.

But sometimes they get cool gifts -- like free golf passes.

Here's my story in today's New Mexican  about this gift from The New Mexico Golf Tourism Alliance.

Howe to Run for PRC -- as a Dem

Public Regulation Commission Doug Howe, who was appointed late last year by Gov. Susana Martinez to fill out the term of Jerome Block, Jr., said Monday he will run this year for a full term on the regulatory body.

Howe, who has worked for several energy companies and as a consultant to regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was an independent when appointed to the body in November.

However, he said Monday that he intends to run as a Democrat. He joins an already crowded field in the Democratic primary.

Block resigned last year after pleading guilty to multiple felony counts in Santa Fe District Court.

ALEC: Free Market Think Tank or Right-Wing Puppet Master?

A couple of years ago The New Mexico Legislature passed and the governor signed  a bill that some now say sprang from model legislation developed by a controversial right-wing organization.

The group: the American Legislative Exchange, aka ALEC.

The bill? The one that established the state Sunshine Portal.

The Sunshine Portal, of course, was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was one of its main champions.

But, as  talk about in an article in today's New Mexican, a handful of other bills that might have originated with ALEC have been introduced in this state in, but none of those has passed. (An anti-ALEC website, ALEC Exposed, has a list of such bills HERE.)

I spoke to the two New Mexico legislators -- Senate Republican Whip Bill Payne of Albuquerque and Rep. Paul Bandy, R-Farmington, who are currently state co-chairs of ALEC in this state.

I also spoke with Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, who is not very fond of ALEC.

The chief criticism of ALEC deals with the fact that corporations pay the lion's share for the group, its conventions and its task forces, which recommend the model legislation.

This is an area in which no side's hands are clean. Corporations pay millions of bucks to subsidize both the Republican and Democratic national conventions every four years, as well as to throw lavish events to wine and dine the delegates. Even non-partisan groups like the Council of State Governments and National Conference of State Legislatures have corporate sponsorships.

The one thing that sets ALEC apart however is that private businesses are allowed to become actual members of the organization in general and the various task forces. As ALEC itself says, "ALEC provides the private sector with an unparalleled opportunity to have its voice heard, and its perspective appreciated, by the legislative members."

So check out my story, check out ALEC and its critics   and decide for yourself.

Roundhouse Roundup: Executive Privilege -- Down But Not Out

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Jan. 22 2012

Only minutes after Gov. Susana Martinez was inaugurated — just after midnight on New Year’s Day last year — she signed an executive order stating that unlike her predecessor Bill Richardson, under her administration “executive privilege” no longer would be used as an excuse to withhold documents that might be embarrassing to public officials.

The order states that “access to public information should be the rule and the denial thereof an exception.” And the order established a policy that any agency under the governor’s control that wants to invoke executive privilege to deny releasing documents must receive written authorization from the Governor’s Office.

Journalists and others concerned about openness in government were happy about the order. But some cynics among us sarcastically scoffed, “I wonder how long this will last.”

Now, one year later, an environmental group that last month made a public-information request to the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department doesn’t think Martinez’s office is living up to that high-minded executive order.

Conservation Voters New Mexico on Dec. 16 requested several of the documents — mostly emails and memos dealing with the controversial pit rule.

This rule governs how oil and gas producers handle waste from drilling operations. Martinez wants the rule, which was implemented by Richardson’s administration, to be repealed. The Conservation Voters want to keep it.

The department denied most of the documents that had been requested. Some of the denials were based on attorney/client privilege. Fair enough. But others were denied solely on the basis of executive privilege.

That response prompted Leanne Leith, Conservation Voters’ political director, to file a follow-up public-information request. She asked the Governor’s Office for copies of the written authorizations for executive privilege denials — not just from Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources but from several other departments as well.

Leith got a reply: “We have reviewed your request and the Office of the Governor does not hold any responsive documents,” the governor’s records custodian, Pamela Cason, wrote in a Jan. 13 email.

I asked Martinez’s spokesman Scott Darnell how all this squared with Martinez’s executive order.

“As you know, throughout the administration, executive privilege is asserted sparingly,” Darnell said Wednesday. “I will look into this situation further, but these documents have not yet been reviewed by the Governor’s Office for executive privilege.”

He said Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources staffers felt they should immediately produce the documents that they knew didn’t fall under executive privilege while the others were still being reviewed.

Said Darnell, “That is not the procedure that is regularly followed, and we have addressed this issue with them. We will work to ensure that all of [the department’s] responsive documents are examined by our office quickly, and any documents not deemed to be executive privilege by the Governor’s Office will be provided to the requestor.”

Sarah Welsh, executive director of New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, agreed with Darnell that Martinez’s office has used “executive privilege” infrequently.

As for complying with the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, Welsh said, “The Martinez administration has been really good, particularly with requests made to their office.”

As for those executive-privilege claims by the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources, we’ll just have to wait and see how those turn out.

Harry Montoya Challenges Ben Ray

Former County Commissioner Harry Montoya, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress the year Ben Ray Lujan got elected, is once again challenging Lujan for the CD3 seat.

In an email statement Montoya said:

I believe that being a Democrat means standing up for working people, for families, for children, and for the environment. I will stand up for these ideals even when standing up is hard, or inconvenient or painful, because doing the right thing is what matters most of all. For too long, the corruption of the machine politics has been getting in the way of solving important problems in New Mexico.

Montoya joins artist and political newcomer Sean Closson in challenging Lujan in the Democratic primary. Republican Rick Newton also is running.

Montoya came in third in a crowded 2008 Congressional primary that Lujan won. Montoya also ran unsuccessfully for state Land Commissioner in 2010, losing to Ray Powell, who went on to win the general election.

He served two terms in the County Commission from 2003 through the end of 2008.

Layoffs? What Layoffs?

Gov. Susana Martinez was quoted today by KOB TV talking about how she's done with the state budget.

 "The savings we accrued allowed us to balance a budget without laying off state employees, or no furloughs, no salary cuts and yet we balanced a budget without raising taxes," she said.

Well, that's true.

Unless you count 33 jobs at the Public Education Department
And 16 jobs at Expo New Mexico
And 11 at the Tourism Department.
And 11 others at the Economic Development Department, Regulation and Licensing Department, Commission on the Status of Women, State Land Office and Organic Commodity Commission.

But who's counting?

(In fairness, the state has hired back many of those laid off last year, albeit at lesser salaries.)

Day 2 Legislature 2012: What now?

Sen. Michael Sanchez drops by the
Capitol newsroom  yesterday

After the regular hoopla of opening day -- which basically was flattened yesterday  by Speaker Ben Lujan's announcement that he's been suffering from lung cancer -- things are expected to slow way down for the next few days as bills are introduced and printed, committees are organized, etc. If it's like every other regular sessions I've covered in the last 11 years, there will be no floor sessions whatsoever on Friday.

That gives me a little time to catch up on a few things. Before the Lujan announcement, I had intended to blog about Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez's chat with reporters in the Capitol newsroom a couple of hours before the session started.

Sanchez said a few interesting things. First of all he predicted the same result for Gov. Susana Martinez's bill to repeal the law allowing undocumented residents to be issued driver's licenses. In other words, he said, it'll pass the House but be thwarted in the Senate.

I asked him what he thought about Sen. Steve Fischmann's Guest Worker Act (Senate Bill 14), which would establish guest-worker permits for immigrants and allow those with such permits to get driver's permits.

Sanchez seemed positive about the bill, saying it's an interesting concept that deserves serious discussion in the session. His one reservation was the fact that implementing such a program, as Fischmann has acknowledged, would require waivers from the federal government. And there's no guarantee the feds would go along.

(I wrote about that bill in an article published a few days ago. It's HERE.)

Sanchez, who never has been a favorite of the governor's (come to think of it, he wasn't a favorite of the previous governor also), was skeptical of Martinez's recent statements that she intended to communicate better with lawmakers. He said there's been no hint of that so far.

"I think she's lost my phone number," he said.

Hey, tell all your pals to join in the lunchtime live blog at the New Mexican at noon today. Any legislators or other officials reading this also are very welcome to join in. It's at www.santafenewmexican.com