Palin Coming to Roswell

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is scheduled for a stop in Roswell, N.M., giving opening for untold numbers of alien jokes to Democrats.

It's part of her Going Rogue book tour. She'll be signing books at the Roswell Hastings 7 pm Dec. 1.

My story in the paper is HERE.

As recent polls have shown, Palin has a devoted following among socially conservative Republicans, she's controversial even within the GOP.

Republican gubernatorial hopefuls don't seem to be clawing each other for the chance of a photo op with Palin in Roswell.

Spokesmen for two Republican gubernatorial contneders -- Doug Turner and Susana Martinez --told me that their candidate would not be at the book-signing in Roswell. Both spokesmen said their candidate wouldn't be seeking Palin's endorsement in the primary.

Janice Arnold-Jones' spokesman said she was campaigning in Grant County and couldn't be reached. Allen Weh's spokesman said several hours ago he'd get back to me but as of 10:27 p.m., he hasn't.

Maybe that says something too.

Workers to PRC: Can the Flunkies

I spent a good part of the afternoon over at the Public Regulation Commission going through the recent employee surveys on ethics, which were released today though a few of them were redacted.

The PRC got an earful. The most frequent complaint was about hiring practice -- that, in the words of one employee, "political flunkies" are hired for jobs for which they aren't qualified.

Some said fear of retribution kept most employees from reporting ethical violations. “This place is never confidential,” wrote one employee. “Too many management ‘Big Mouths’ in a political cesspool.”

Another worker turned to the bard. “Just what Shakespeare said. ‘Reputation, reputation, reputation. O, I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is degrading.’ ”

Actually in Othello, the final word in that quote was “bestial,” not "degrading." But I think the meaning is clear.

Here's our story in Wednesday's paper. CLICK HERE

UPDATE: Hey, you can see my pretty face, hard at work looking at the PRC ethics surveys, about halfway through through this clip from Channel 4. (Gee, thanks, Gaddi ....)

Iowa Flashback: There Really Was a Richardson/Obama Deal

Back in January 2008 on the eve of the Iowa Caucus, there was widely reported about a deal between the Barack Obama and Bill Richardson campaigns. According to such reports Richardson supporters would go to Obama in precincts in which Richardson didn't reach Iowa's 15 percent threshold for viability. In exchange, Obama supporters would go to Richardson at caucuses in which Obama had more backers than needed to win any additional delegates.

I was in Iowa, so of course I checked it out. Richardson's campaign spokesman Pahl Shipley vehemently denied the reports.

"We have not made any deals with any other campaigns," he told me. "We expect to be viable in most, if not all, precincts, and we are looking for a strong showing. You cannot tell Iowans who to support — they are very independent."

Obama's camp denied it too. But according to Ben Smith in The Politico this morning, Obama strategist David Plouffe in his new book has a different story.

"[State Director Paul] Tewes was also working with the Richardson camp to come up with a tacit agreement that in places where neither of us was viable we would make it clear to our supporters that each candiate preferred the other on the second run-through." (Disclosure. I cleaned up a whole mess of apparent typos in that quote. And thanks to my friend Mona who pointed out a stupid typo of my own in the first draft of this post.)

I'm shocked to learn that a campaign flack would not tell me the truth.

Of course, the participants in the caucus Don't always go along with such deals. In the Des Moines precinct that I observed, Richardson didn't make the 15 percent cut. Most of his delegates went to Obama, but some drifted to the Hillary Clinton and John Edwards fold. In fact, Richardson's precinct captain, who initially told me she'd vote for Obama if Richardson didn't make the cut, ended up voting for Edwards.

Food Fight!

I spent the afternoon Monday at the first meeting of the recently appointed Balanced Budget Task Force at Santa Fe Community College. When I saw how full the parking lot was at the college, I realized that a high percentage of the 42-member board had showed up.

All sorts of tax increases and restructures are on the table. But, as I point out in my story in Tuesday's paper, the one topic that raised a some debate Monday was the possibility of reinstating the gross receipts tax on groceries. My story on that is HERE.

The food tax was repealed in 2004. I re-read some of the coverage of that bill in the Legislature, which reminded me of the fact that the final vote happened around 5 a.m. the last day of the session.

I even stumbled upon an old Roundhouse Roundup column I'd written a couple of days before that final vote, documenting some of the tactics and late-night, back-room arm-twisting at a time when it looked like the food-tax bill was dead. You can read that column HERE.

Bruce Talks With Kate, 2007

Here's an interview with former Gov. Bruce King by Kate Nash in 2007

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Richardson Names Revenue Task Force

As promised, Gov. Bill Richardson named his task force to study possible tax increases before the next legislative session.

And, like most task forces appointed by the administration, it's a monster. More than 40 members. Maybe they can meet in the Senate Chambers.

The group includes representatives of banking, environmentalism, business, labor, ranching, the alcohol and tobacco lobbys, the Catholic Church, government, educators, liberal advocacy groups ...

Let's hope they have better luck than the 2003 Blue Ribbon tax task force.

Here's the list of members.
Chair
* Rick Homans, Secretary, Taxation and Revenue Department

Task Force Members
* Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish or Designee
* Mark Thompson, Lieutenant Governor, Acoma Pueblo
* Jim Berry, Executive Director, Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce
* Terri L. Cole, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce
* Raymond Mondragon, Chair, New Mexico Economic Development Partnership
* Alex Romero, President and Chief Executive Officer, Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce
* Chuck Wellborn, Wellborn Strategies, LLC
* Sharon Lombardi, Executive Director, Dairy Producers of New Mexico
* David S. Smoak, President, RSF Land and Cattle Co.
* Don Chalmers, Principal Dealer, Don Chalmers Auto
* Jerry Walker, President and Chief Executive Officer, Independent Community Bankers Association of New Mexico
* Jim Horton, Director, Public Policy and Government, Associated General Contractors
* Odes Armijo-Caster, President, Renewable Energy Industries Association
* Leland Gould, Chair, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association
* Jim Hinton, President, Presbyterian Health Services
* Michelle Welby, Director, Medical Operations, Molina Healthcare of New Mexico
* Jami Grindatto, Corporate Affairs Director, Intel
* Tony Trujillo, Government Relations Director, Phelps Dodge
* Kathi Bearden, Editor, Hobbs Sun News
* Steve Anaya, Executive Vice President, Realtors Association of New Mexico
* Carol Wight, Chief Executive Officer, New Mexico Restaurant Association
* Bob Barberousse, Cigar Association of America
* Fred O'Cheskey, New Mexico Beverage Wholesalers and Southern Wine & Spirits
* Thom Turbett, President and Chief Executive Officer, Independent Insurance Agents of New Mexico
* Bob Murphy, Executive Director, Economic Forum of Albuquerque
* Rick Clemente, Production Central ABQ
* Leanne Leith, Political and Programs Director, Conservation Voters New Mexico
* Ruth Hoffman, Director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico
* Allen Sanchez, Director, New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops President, St. Joseph Community Health
* Gayla Brumfield, Mayor, City of Clovis
* Bill Fulginiti, Executive Director, New Mexico Municipal League
* Paul Gutierrez, Executive Director, New Mexico Association of Counties
* Charles Bowyer, Executive Director, National Education Association-New Mexico
* Carolyn Abeita, Esq., Member, University of New Mexico Board of Regents
* Carter Bundy, Legislative Director, AFSME
* Pat D'Arco, Chairman, Rio Rancho Planning & Zoning Board
* Jackson Gibson, Member, District 6, Transportation Commission
* Bill Jordan, Policy Director, New Mexico Voices for Children
* Leo Garza, Legislative Committee Chair, AARP New Mexico
* Richard Anklam, President and Executive Director, New Mexico Tax Research Institute
* Fred Nathan, Executive Director, Think New Mexico

R.I.P. Bruce King

He was the Cowboy Governor.

He could work a room better than any politician New Mexico's ever known.

In some ways he was New Mexico's Yogi Berra, famous for malapropisms -- the most famous being his warning about opening "a box of Pandoras." When I was in college I heard him say at a political rally we should all "knock on doorbells" for George McGovern. And we loved him for it.

He was the state's only 3-term governor.

Former Gov. Bruce King died overnight at the age of 85.

Kate Nash has a nice tribute for him HERE.

Rest in peace, Bruce King.

Gov Signs Budget Bill with Several Line-Item Vetos

Some 19,000 classified state employees will have to take five unpaid "furlough" days, as a result of action Gov. Bill Richardson took today.

In addition, Richardson said he's cutting at least 84 exempt positions -- though it's not clear how many of those already are vacant.

“A lot of individuals will lose their jobs," Richardson said when asked about the exempt positions at a news conference. "But again we have not notified anyone. We are working on that. I want to do this in a humane way. And I will say this: a lot of these exempt workers do valuable work. They run state government. And I feel tehy’ve been unfairly targeted. But because of the budget situation we are going to take action on those who perhaps are not in critical areas and we’re going to trim it down. 84 will not be the end of it.”

Richardson signed HB 17, but as expected there were significant sections that he vetoed.

He vetoed the section mandating 7.6 percent cuts in agencies under his control as well as the section calling for 102 exempt positions to be axed. By executive order he's reducing state agency budgets by $79 million, which is about 3.3 percent.

The furloughs apply to both classified and exempt employees -- at least the ones who don't lsoe their jobs. Richardson said he'll voluntarily return five days of his salary to the state, "But I won't take the days off."

Here's a copy of his executive message on HB 17.

HB 17

Heather Appointed to Science Panel

This news came in late last night:

Weeks after she announced she wouldn't be seeking the Republican nomination for governor next year, former Congresswoman Heather Wilson of Albuquerque says she's has been appointed to a National Research Council committee to conduct "a 12 month study of Global Science and Technology Strategies and Their Effect on U.S. National Security."

This study is being sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency and, Wilson says, will "examine science and technology strategies of countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, Japan and Singapore and compare them to U.S. strategies."

Here's the rest of the news release:

Dr. Dan Mote, President of the University of Maryland, will chair the sixteen member committee that will meet several times over the next six months before writing a report with recommendations.

The National Research Council (NRC) functions under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The four organizations are collectively referred to as the National Academies. The National Academies is one of the most respected scientific and technical institutions in the country.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, the National Academies is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science, technology and health policy advice under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln that was originally granted in 1863. Publishing more than 200 reports and related publications each year, the institution is one of the largest providers of free scientific and technical information in the world.

The mission of the NRC is to improve government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health.

Wilson earned a BS from the US Air Force Academy and Masters and Doctoral Degrees from Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar. While in Congress, she chaired the Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence and was awarded Distinguished Service Awards from both the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence when she left the Congress. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Although Wilson decided against the governor run, in the past week she's been vocal in her criticism of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and the controversy over Denish's use of federal funds to pay public relations contracters, etc.

Wilson was in Congress from 1998 until last year. She lost to Steve Pearce in last year's GOP primary for U.S. Senate.

Roundhouse Roundup: Richardson, Barreras & Wen Ho Lee

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 12, 2009

Former Santa Fe County jail warden Lawrence Barreras, more recently a state Transportation Department supervisor, was the subject of a hard-hitting news profile this week. The department put him on paid administrative leave Monday following the publication of the two-part series. (Click HERE for Part 1, HERE for Part 2)

Investigative reporter Colleen Heild of the Albuquerque Journal documented how Barreras got hired at the dawn of the Richardson administration in 2002 at the Department of Children, Youth and Families despite the fact that he had been fired in 1997 from the state Corrections Department for alleged financial wrongdoing; how he later was hired at the Transportation Department — at the same time he was a consultant for an Albuquerque architectural firm that was part of a controversial DOT redevelopment project; and how Barreras got a 15 percent pay raise during a time of a so-called salary freeze.

Barreras always claimed he was fired by Corrections in 1997 because he opposed then Gov. Gary Johnson’s moves to privatize prisons. The department said the firing was over allegations Barreras had padded his time cards and travel expenses.

Barreras sued the state, but the case was thrown out — first by a state District Court and then by the Court of Appeals. Barreras, then working for the private company operating the county jail, had appealed his civil case to the state Supreme Court when Richardson, then governor-elect, tapped him for his transition team.

He served on the committee advising Richardson on prisons. Barreras appealed to the Supreme Court, Heild reported, but three weeks later the case between Barreras and the Corrections Department, now under Richardson’s control, was settled. And soon Barreras was working for CYFD. And, according to Heild, there’s no mention in Barreras’ personnel file of his firing — just a 2004 letter from a Corrections official saying Barreras left under good terms.

Different roles in a common controversy: After reading the new pieces on Barreras, one major question nagged me: Where did Richardson first get to know Barreras? The governor was working in Washington, D.C., in the Clinton administration during most of Barreras’ time with Corrections. What did these two have in common?

One possible answer: Wen Ho Lee.

Richardson was secretary of Energy in late 1999 when Lee, a Taiwan-born scientist who was working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, was arrested and charged with 59 felony counts, including espionage. He spent nine months in solitary confinement until the case began to unravel and he was allowed to plea to one felony of improperly downloading restricted data. The other charges were dropped and Lee was released. Barreras was warden of the jail during Lee’s time there.

Lee’s supporters complained the conditions imposed on Lee were harsh. He wasn’t permitted personal phone calls. He was not allowed contact visits with his family. He could only place (collect) calls to his lawyers. He was allowed one hour a day in the recreation yard.

These conditions were not imposed by Barreras, but by federal authorities. In fact, according to a March 2000 memo from former Santa Fe Sheriff Ray Sisneros, who was jail monitor at the time, Lee praised Barreras.

“Other than being incarcerated, he had no complaints,” Sisneros wrote in the memo to the county manager — which became part of the record of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee report on the Lee case. “The staff was treating him very well. He singled out Warden Barreras and Deputy Warden Romero as treating him great. ... His only request was for additional fruit at the evening meal, which I relayed to Warden Barreras.”

Sisneros wrote that he’d received phone calls alleging abuse of Lee. “Mr. Lee was very surprised about the calls and stated,‘ “I haven’t complained to anyone about the jail because I am being treated very well.’ ”

A few weeks later, Richardson wrote U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, saying he’d checked into Lee’s treatment at the jail. “I am satisfied that his civil rights are being adequately protected,” Richardson wrote.

(For copies of both the Sisneros memo and the Richardson mentioned above -- and lots more documents pertaining to Wen Ho Lee -- CLICK HERE. Search the page for "Sisneros." Richardson's letter is right below that memo.)

Was it during the Wen Ho Lee confinement that Richardson was won over? I asked Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos about that possibility in an e-mail Tuesday, but all I got was a sarcastic response: “Seriously, Steve?”

No reply to my follow-up.