Issues and Answers

I'll be appearing once again on Diane Kinderwater's Issues & Answers on KCHF, Channel 11.

I taped the show yesterday. We talked about politics. the Legislature and other fun stuff.

The show will air 10 a.m. Friday, 10 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday.

Check it out.

UPDATE: Friday morning -- I corrected the air time on Saturday.

Val's New Blog

Val Kilmer didn't show up at last weekend's Democratic State Central Committee meeting, unlike other Dems running (Diane Denish) or considering running (Michael Sanchez) for governor.

Maybe he was busy working on his new blog, Val Kilmer The Real Deal.

As Joe Monahan observed, there's not really any politics there, just deep thoughts on love, life, New Mexico and the Millennium Summit, which took place in Montreal earlier this month.

Update: (Tuesday 1:30 pm) Monahan tells me that The Real Deal is not the real deal. He passed along a message from a woman named Shelli Carlisle who says she's behind the blog:

"..there has been a misconception that val kilmer the real deal is val's blog. I am so sorry for the confusion, it is not val's blog, it is my blog, val has absolutley nothing to do with it, the quotes are from various past interviews. Please pass that along to your readers and i will clarifiy it on my blog, my apoligies."

Indeed, there's now a disclaimer there: "This blog is my personal blog. It is not affiliated or approved by Mr. Kilmer."

Roundhouse Roundup: Tommy for Sheriff?

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 30, 2009

Tommy Rodella lost an important vote before the state Supreme Court less than a year ago. The high court unanimously ousted Rodella from his position as Rio Arriba County magistrate judge.

But Rodella plans to go before another body next year — Democratic primary voters in Rio Arriba County.

The retired state police officer this time is running for Rio Arriba County sheriff. He told me that Saturday, during the state Democratic Party’s Central Committee meeting in Albuquerque.

Rodella, who attended the meeting with his wife, state Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Española, said he expects a crowded field in the race to replace Sheriff Joe Mascarenas, who can’t seek a third term in 2010.

A crowded field didn’t hurt Tommy Rodella in 2006, when he won the Rio Arriba Democratic primary for the Magistrate Court seat. He beat five other opponents, ending up with 24 percent of the vote, 231 votes more than his nearest rival, Rio Arriba County Probate Judge Marlo Martinez. (Martinez, who also was at the Central Committee meeting Saturday, said he’s backing Rodella to fill the sheriff’s job, which is likely to be determined in the primary.)

The magistrate seat was ill-fated for Rodella from the beginning.

Gov. Bill Richardson had appointed him in March 2005 to replace retired Magistrate Judge Tony Martinez. Just four months later, however, Richardson’s office announced Judge Rodella resigned after meeting with the governor about a case in which Rodella drove from Española to the Tierra Amarilla jail to free an acquaintance suspected of driving while intoxicated.

But things didn’t get easier for Rodella after he became judge again.

The state Judicial Standards Commission investigated him and said he was guilty of misconduct in three cases. The commission recommended his removal from office.

Last May, the state Supreme Court heard the case. Most of the questions from justices were about a case in which Rodella was accused of improperly telling an alleged victim in a domestic violence case she didn’t have to show up in court to testify against her husband.

During the commission’s investigation, Rodella and his lawyers in court documents strongly implied that the charges against Rodella were politically motivated because Richardson wanted him out of office.

At one point during the Supreme Court hearing, Justice Richard Bosson asked Rodella’s lawyer if he was saying the commissioners are “political stooges of the governor” and demanded if he had any evidence of that. Pennington admitted he didn’t.

The court ruled that Rodella should be removed from office and that he not be allowed to run for judicial office again.

But that ruling doesn’t prevent him from running for sheriff.

You say you want a resolution: At the Central Committee meeting, the main concern for many delegates I talked to was a “gay marriage” resolution. The resolution put the state party on record in its official platform as actively supporting and advocating “on behalf of marriage equality and equal rights for all regardless of sexual orientation.”

With very little discussion, the Democrats thwarted an attempt to remove that resolution and voted 309-35 to approve the platform — marriage equality and all.

But that was only one of 38 platform resolutions approved. With even less discussion at the meeting, the Dems also voted in favor of resolutions to:

* Support the passage of HR 676, which would establish a national single-payer health insurance system, which would be publicly financed and privately delivered.

* Support the efforts of U.S. Rep. John Conyers and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy “to investigate possible crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration.”

* Save the College of Santa Fe. The state should consider temporary state ownership of the embattled college then later “re-privatize” it.

* Repeal the 1996 Telecommunications Act and enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to discourage media consolidation.

* Use diplomacy, not force, in Afghanistan.

That’s just a few of them.

Of course, most political platforms, state or national, are promptly forgotten shortly after they are written. Candidates aren’t bound to follow any of the planks.

But just because a lot of the candidates won’t be reading the platform doesn’t mean you can’t. You can find that document online HERE.

Richardson Says Terminate Aldus Equity Contract

This just in from the governor's office:

Gov. Bill Richardson is ordering the State Investment Office to finalize sweeping new investment policies and bring them to the full State Investment Council for its next meeting on May 26. If approved, the State will require its investment managers to disclose any and all placement fees, marketing arrangements and other payments these managers make, relative to their investments for the New Mexico Permanent Funds. Until a new policy is in place, Gov. Richardson has ordered a suspension of alternative investments by the SIC.

“In the past few weeks, several serious questions have been raised regarding the arrangements between the state’s external investment managers and the marketers those investment funds pay to represent them,” said Gov. Richardson. “While this practice has been fairly common in the investment industry, the added potential for conflict of interests concerns me. For this reason, today I am ordering broad policy and procedural changes be implemented by the State Investment Office, pending review and approval by the full Council next month.”

These measures would supplement the legislation signed by Gov. Richardson April 7, which requires disclosure of third party marketing agents who are hired by outside money managers to market their funds to institutional investors like the SIC. The State Investment Office supported that legislation (HB 876) and recommended its passage. The Investment Office neither hires placement agents nor pays their fees.

Gov. Richardson has also instructed State Investment Officer Gary Bland to initiate termination of the SIC’s private equity advisor, Aldus Equity Partners, due to concerns raised by an ongoing investigation in New York, in addition to significant due diligence and follow up by Investment Office staff in recent weeks.

“At this time, we believe it is the most practical step for the Investment Office to take, given the realities of the current environment,” said State Investment Officer Gary Bland. “Private equity is a critical asset class, and under existing circumstances, we feel it appropriate to forge ahead.”

In the interim, the State Investment Office will employ existing financial consultants to guide its private equity allocation, while simultaneously looking for a permanent private equity advisor.

The State Investment Office today manages $11.8 billion in state endowment funds. Under historically challenging market environments, these Permanent Funds have seen positive investment returns of more than $2.7 billion under Gov. Richardson, while also distributing more than $3 billion to state beneficiaries. Performance data through the first quarter of 2009 ranks investment returns for the SIC’s Land Grant Permanent Fund in the top 30% of public funds around the country for one and three-year periods, and in the top 5% of public funds nationwide for the quarter ending March 31st.

State Agrees to Pay Domestic Partner Benefits

This in from the American Civil Liberties Union

ALBUQUERQUE – In response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, New Mexico has agreed to provide retirement health insurance to the domestic partners of state employees.

“We are very pleased that the state has agreed to settle this litigation and provide the insurance. It wasn’t fair that the state forced lesbian and gay employees to pay the high cost of health care for often inferior health insurance for their families when they worked just as hard as their straight colleagues,” said Peter Simonson of the ACLU of New Mexico. “I’m sure this will be welcome news to all lesbian and gay state employees, but especially to those who have retired or are planning to do so soon.”

The ACLU brought the lawsuit on February 5, 2007 on behalf lesbian and gay state employees and their domestic partners. The lawsuit charged that it was a violation of the state constitution’s equal protection guarantees for the state to treat lesbian and gay employees differently from its straight employees. The settlement will reached with the state will cover both gay and straight employees and their domestic partners.

“This is fantastic news. We can finally start planning our retirement,” said Havens Levitt, who has been a teacher for the Albuquerque public school for 25 years. “Until now, our only option was for me to keep working because my partner’s employment doesn’t provide insurance for her and private insurance was just too expensive. It means a lot that the state has acknowledged I should be treated the same as my straight colleagues.” Levitt and her partner, Rebecca Dakota, have been partners for 13 years. Dakota is a self-employed consultant to non-profits and an independent filmmaker.

Pursuant to the settlement, the state has agreed to develop a process for enrolling those interested during the next open enrollment period, which comes this fall.

Spector Leaves GOP

Wait a minute ... That's Arlen Specter?

Never mind ...




(Want more dumb Specter jokes? Try THIS )

Dems Overwhelmingly Pass Platform Advocating "Marriage Equality"

I should have blogged this hours ago. Too busy to blog most of this Saturday.

But here goes:

With little debate or discussion Saturday, New Mexico Democratic Party leaders voted overwhelming to approve a platform that includes a call to legalize same-sex marriage.

Three hundred and nine members of the state Democratic Party Central Committee voted for a package of 38 resolutions — which included the “marriage equality” resolution and a resolution calling for the establishment domestic partnerships. Only 35 members voted against passing the resolutions.

The committee met at the Kiva Auditorium at Albuquerque Convention Center.

Actually the state party platform since 2006 has included language about same-sex marriage. But the new resolution is stronger, calling for Democrats to actively push laws to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Party platforms are not binding on candidates and most of the time they are largely forgotten once they are passed.

Even so, Albuquerque lawyer Lynn Perls, a Central Committee who worked for the marriage equality resolution, said the resolution will send a message to national leaders and legislators. “The real meaning of this resolution is the Democratic Party stands for equality for all citizens,” she said.

Santa Fe City Councilor Patti Bushee said before the vote, “It’s important that the progressive party of New Mexico take a stand. Domestic partnerships is old news. We’ve seen in Vermont and Iowa that marriage equality is where we’re heading.

Recently in Iowa the state Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. In Vermont the state legislature passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage.
The vote was strong enough that the legislature was able to overturn a veto by the governor.

But support for same-sex marriage is much weaker in the New Mexico Legislature.

Earlier this year the state Senate voted 25-17 to defeat a bill that would have established domestic partnerships for same-sex and other unmarried couples. Ten of the Senate’s 27 Democrats joined Republicans to defeat the bill, which would have provided far fewer rights to same-sex couples than would legal marriage.

One of those Senate Democrats, Richard Martinez — who also is Rio Arriba Democratic Party chairman — was at the meeting and voted against the platform.

Martinez told a reporter that he believes the resolution will hurt the party. “Marriage is a religious issue and should not be part of the party platform,” he said.

The only Central Committee member to speak against the resolution was Al Kissling, who was the 2006 Democratic nominee for the Southern New Mexico 2nd Congressional District. Kissling moved to have the resolution removed from the package of platform resolutions. Pointing out that he’s a retired minister, Kissling said, “The state shouldn’t push a religious rite.”

However, his motion quickly was voted down.

The 2008 platform said the party is in favor of “outlawing discrimination based on sexual preference, including restrictions on civil marriage, and repealing the (federal) Defense of Marriage Act.”

But the new language passed Saturday is stronger, saying the party “including its members and officers should actively support and advocate on behalf of marriage equality and equal rights for all regardless of sexual orientation, because equal rights under the laws are guaranteed under the U.S. and New Mexican Constitution.”

In addition to passing the platform, the Central Committee re-elected Albuquerque lawyer Brian Colon to another four years as state party chairman. Colon was unopposed for the unpaid position.

Heath is Suing

Blogger Heath Haussamen is suing the New Mexico Finance Authority for refusing to give him copies of subpoenas related to the CDR investigation.

You can read Heath's post about the suit HERE and see the petition itself HERE .

What's screwy about the situation is that one of the few documents the governor's office has released about the investigation is the subpoena the grand jury sent them.

Why would releasing the NMFA document jeopardize the grand jury investigation, as the agency claims, when releasing the governor's document doesn't? Maybe that'll get answered in court.

Postscript for the Mystery Contribution

In my most recent Roundhouse Roundup column, I reported that art collector/philanthropist Eugne Thaw had given $25,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign last May -- even though his re-election had been sealed about a year and a half before.

On Wednesday, Mr. Thaw told me he couldn't remember why he had given Richardson that contribution, but promised to check into it.

He called me a few minutes ago. He said the contribution was for "debt reduction" for the campaign. "I was solicited to contribute to reduce the debt," he said.

It's true, that at that time Richardson's presidential campaign, which had ended a few months before, was in debt and was soliciting contributions to bring that down.

But last May, according to the campaign finance report, Richardson's re-election campaign had more than $500,000 in the bank.

Also, Thaw already had contributed the maximum amount allowed by law for the presidential campaign.

Perhaps Thaw made a well-meaning mistake and contributed to the wrong campaign. Or perhaps whoever solicited him steered him wrong.

What a Tangled Web We Weave

Here's another link between impeached Illinois Gov. and future reality show star Rod Blagojevich and our Gov. Bill Richardson -- besides that old $20,000 campaign contribution Bill gave Blago and the "French connection" drug deal they were in together.

Bloomberg is reporting that Blagojevich’s top fundraiser represented CDR Financial Products Inc. -- that company at the center of the grand jury investigation that halted Richardson's cabinet appointment early this year.

Reports Bloomberg:

Milan Petrovic, who raised $1.96 million for Blagojevich, introduced CDR to Illinois budget and debt officials, according to e-mails obtained under a public records request. He and his lobbying firm also donated $20,000 to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a one-time Democratic presidential candidate who withdrew from consideration as U.S. Commerce Secretary following disclosure of the CDR probe.

Richardson “is a public official I admire,” Petrovic, 43, said in a telephone interview, declining to comment further.

Read the whole story HERE.