Keller's Not a Candidate for Gov, But He Sure is Talking Like One

I couldn't help but notice a tweet today from Justine Freeman, who worked as a flack for the Senate Majority Whip's office -- the whip being Sen. Tim Keller -- during this years legislative session.

It was a link to a Duke City Fix story with the headline "The Six Reasons Tim Keller Will Run for Governor." Freeman altered the headline slightly in her tweet: "The Six Reasons Tim Keller Will (and should!) Run for Governor" (exclamation point hers.)

O.K., you might dismiss that as an over-enthusiastic tweet from a faithful employee. But listen to Keller's speech from the state Democrats' central committee meeting on Saturday.

Keller says he's also considering running for state treasurer or state auditor. But he sure doesn't spend much time talking about the treasurer or auditor's office in this speech.

It's Official: Hector's In for AG

To absolutely nobody's surprise, state Auditor Hector Balderas has made it official. He's running for attorney general.

In a letter to supporters, Balderas wrote:

My number one goal as Attorney General will be keeping our families safe. I’ll protect our children and consumers, fight as hard for our Veterans as they fought for us, and ensure that we stop discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability, so that all can pursue the opportunity to thrive. I will also improve and promote greater accountability in the nonprofit and corporate sectors so that all New Mexicans can enjoy a better quality of life

This is what you call your basic "soft" announcement. Balderas said "This fall we’ll have a big campaign kick-off where I’ll more fully articulate my vision for how New Mexico’s Attorney General’s office can move our state forward."

He urged prospective supporters to sign up for news alerts on his website.

Balderas might be facing former Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks, a lawyer from Albuquerque in the Democratic primary. He's got a campaign website, but he told me Tuesday afternoon that his campaign is still in "exploratory" mode.

"I'm definitely out there talking to Democrats," Marks said. He said he'll make a final decision in about a month.

UPDATED 2:13 pm. After talking with Marks, I changed the original text to make clear that he has not announced yet.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP; New Push for Open Primaries

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
April 28, 2013


Think New Mexico, which in recent years spearheaded efforts to establish full-day kindergarten, get rid of the food tax and reform the Public Regulation Commission, is turning its eye to opening up political party primaries.

Fred Nathan

Last week, Fred Nathan, founder and executive director of the think tank, wrote to the state chairmen of both major parties asking them to consider changing the rules of their respective primaries to allow independent voters to participate.

Full disclosure here. As faithful readers of this column should know, I’m a proud DTS (Declined to State, which is the official designation of independents in New Mexico).

And I have used this column to beat the drum for open primaries (it’s also the editorial position of the newspaper). It’s hardly a radical idea. Democrats and Republicans let unaffiliated voters vote in primaries in a majority of states.

In his letter to the party chiefs, Nathan — also a card-carrying DTS — used familiar arguments for opening the primaries to us Declined-to-Staters. He predicted it would increase participation in primaries, which last year fell to an anemic 24 percent of the total number of registered voters.
Nathan also noted that it’s unfair that all taxpayers, independents included, pay for the primaries in the state, even though independents — who account for 18 percent of all voters statewide, 20 percent in Santa Fe County — are barred from participating.

But he also used an interesting argument I hadn’t thought of before.

“By including and listening to independent voters, you will better position your party to win the general election,” he wrote. “Since independents often comprise the deciding swing votes in close elections, gaining their support early could make the difference in many elections. So there will be an advantage to whichever party moves first to open its primaries.”

How do party leaders feel about this?

Republican state Chairman John Billingsley didn’t sound like he was embracing the idea last week. Through a spokeswoman, he said, “While we will review the request, the idea of open primaries allows for outside groups to organize and disrupt the party’s primary process. As a party, we seek to keep primaries as they are in order to ensure that the best possible Republican candidates are put forth for each race.”

But Javier Gonzales, who was state Democrat chairman until the end of the week, said he likes the idea. “It’s not only healthy for democracy but for the Democratic Party,” he said. “I believe our ideas would resonate for many independents.”

He also said he agrees with Nathan that letting DTS voters into the Democratic primary would help his party in the general elections.

But Gonzales noted Thursday that a new chairman would be elected this weekend. “Hopefully the next chairman will work to adopt this,” he said.

Note that Nathan is going to the party chairmen to try to instigate this change. Not the Legislature. I’m sure he’s well aware of the sad result last year with a proposed constitutional amendment to allow unaffiliated voters to vote in primaries.

Rep. Andy Nunez changing his registration to
Declined to State in 2011

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez of Hatch, who had switched his registration from Democrat to DTS the year before. The lone independent in the Legislature went before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee with his joint resolution to put the proposed amendment on the ballot to let voters decide.

Supporters argued that opening the primaries would lead to more participation in the process.

“I would do anything to get more people to vote,” said Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, who at the time was chairwoman of the committee.

Everything but vote for Nuñez’s proposal, it turned out.

Chasey was joined by every present member of her committee, Democrat and Republican coming together in a display of bipartisan unity, voting to table the joint resolution and keep independents from voting in primaries.

Bregman Elected Dem State Chairman

The state Democratic Party's Central Committee just elected Albuquerque lawyer Sam Bregman as the party's new chairman.

He defeated Roxanne Lara of Carlsbad by about a 2-1 margin.

On his Facebook page, Bregman said:

“The campaign is over. Our party is unified and ready to challenge Gov. Martinez and other Republicans. I congratulate the other candidates for bringing hard work and passion to our state party. The party will be focused like a laser beam on electing Democrats who will support good jobs and improve our economy,”

Heather Wilson New President of a South Dakota College

Former U.S. Rep. and Republican senatorial candidate Heather Wilson has been chosen to be the 19th president of the South Dakota  School of Mines & Technology.

According to a news release from the college sent today, Terry Baloun, chair of the board of regents' search committee, said:

“Heather Wilson is a high-energy leader who brings exceptional communication skills and public-sector experience to her new position. At a time when higher education increasingly must make its case for more external funding and sustained research support from the federal and private sectors, our search committee took particular note of Dr. Wilson’s Capitol Hill experience, as well as her connections to decision makers in Washington and throughout the scientific research community. We are excited to have her join our team."

Wilson represented the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District for 10 years. She lost to Democrat Martin Heinrich in last year's U.S. Senate race.

Garcia: We Had the Votes, But Not the Time

Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, who sponsored the bill to require background checks for people purchasing firearms at gun shows says he is confident House Bill 77 would have passed the Senate -- and thus cleared the Legislature -- if there had been more time.

As it turned out the bill died on the Senate floor in the last hour of the session.

Here's what Garcia said in a postmortem he emailed last night.

Time permitting, could the Senate have passed HB 77 in our 2013 Session?  Simply put, Yes!  Some of you who were present for the Senate floor debate on HB 77 recall that there was one voice vote to table one of the sophomoric amendments (19 still waiting) put on by Democrat George Munoz of Gallup.  The president of the Senate, Lt. Governor John Sanchez, stated that the “I’s” prevailed and the first amendment was tabled.  

Immediately, a Republican—not sure if it was Sen. Neville or Sen. Sharer—“challenged the ruling of the chair” (the Lt Governor).  It went to a roll call vote.  All 42 senators were present and voted.  If a majority of Senators had voted yes “for” challenging the ruling of the chair, the 1st amendment would have been adopted.  If a majority of senators had voted no “for” challenging the ruling of the chair, the vote to table the amendment would have prevailed.  By a roll call vote of 22 to 20, the Senate voted NOT to challenge the ruling of the chair, thus preserving the affirmation to table the 1st amendment. 

It is my candid perspective that had the Senate tabled all of the frivolous 20 amendments by the same margin, 22 to 20, and had HB 77 gone to a final vote, it would not surprise me that the outcome would have been 22 to 20 for its passage

Garcia, in his email,  praised Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez::

We were inspired by the closing statement of Sen. Sánchez who stated, as the clock inched towards 11:59 am, that HB 77 was a crucial legislative initiative that merited real debate by the Senate, and not the political theatrical antics of a few legislators bent on denying the people of New Mexico a sound and sensible gun violence prevention policy. 

Sen. Sánchez further concluded that HB 77 will see the light of day on the Senate Floor in the 2014 Session and also stressed the need that Governor Martínez message the legislation next year complimenting its heroic accomplishment from a good original bill to a bipartisan and bicameral compromise measure that the overwhelming majority of New Mexicans relish.  

R.I.P. Bob Edgar of Common Cause

Bob Edgar

Bob Edgar, a 6-term "Watergate Baby" Congressman from Pennsylvania, a Methodist Minister and most recently president and CEO of Common Cause died this morning in his home.

In a news release from Common Cause, its national board chairman Robert Reich said, “Bob will be remembered for his decency, kindness, compassion and humor. His deep commitment to social justice and strengthening our democracy is his greatest gift to Common Cause and the nation."

I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob twice in recent years when he came to New Mexico. Most recently was last September.

Here's a link to that story. (For some reason it's no longer on The New Mexican's site, but thanks to Sportsmen Vote for re-posting it.)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Gov Makes One List, Left Off Another

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
April 21, 2013

I guess my job just got more important last week. As one of my colleagues in the Capitol newsroom pointed out, I get to cover one of the 100 most important people in the world.

That person, of course, is Gov. Susana Martinez, who was included in Time magazine’s annual list of top 100 “titans,” “icons,” “pioneers,” “artists” and “leaders.” Martinez was included in the latter category.

The governor even got a glowing essay from none other than Karl Rove, who wrote, “If she is re-elected in 2014, her reputation as a reform-minded conservative Republican could grow even more in a second term.”

Is he saluting Susana?

If state Democrats wanted to get all sour-grapesy, they could point out that Martinez shares space on the list with the likes of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Igor Sechin, a former KGB official who now is a top honcho in Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. Think about what a great attack ad that would make.

However, it probably would backfire because Barack and Michelle Obama as well as Vice President Joe Biden and Pope Francis also are on Time’s list — not to mention another influential person who has spent a lot of time in New Mexico, actor Bryan Cranston of the hit TV series Breaking Bad.

But Martinez did not get a place on another list released last week — political pundit Larry Sabato’s rankings of possible 2016 presidential contenders. Sabato, who directs the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, listed nine possible GOP candidates, breaking them down into different tiers.

Sabato’s top tier for Republicans included Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (who was the only governor besides Martinez on on Time’s top 100 most influential list.)

There were six other GOP leaders. But no Susana.

One of Sabato’s Twitter followers asked him about the absence of Martinez and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, another prominent Hispanic in the party. Sabato responded, “possible, but more likely as VPs?”

Hold your fire: I thought after last week’s Roundhouse Roundup that I was done writing about the failed House Bill 77, the bill that would have required background checks for people buying firearms from unlicensed dealers at gun shows.

But I thought about that ill-fated legislation when, on Wednesday, I received an interesting news release from the state Republican Party with the subject line “Senate Attempts to Limit Second Amendment Rights Fail.”

The email was referring to the U.S. Senate and its votes that day on several gun-control measures, including the compromise by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Penn., which, like HB 77, would have required background checks for people buying firearms from unlicensed dealers at gun shows. (Manchin-Toomey would have gone a little further and also would have required background checks for Internet gun sales.)

“We at the Republican Party stand firmly in support of protecting the Second Amendment, and we oppose new laws that will do nothing but limit our freedoms and restrict law abiding gun owners,” GOP Chairman John Billingsly said in the news release.

As I pointed out last week, the final version of HB 77 was a bipartisan compromise that House Republican Whip Nate Gentry was instrumental in crafting. It received several Republican votes on the House floor, and Gov. Susana Martinez said she would have signed the bill unless the Senate made major changes in it.

I asked party spokeswoman Jamie Dickinson about this. She replied, “HB 77, introduced by Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque), was a bad bill with serious implications. We appreciate the work of multiple House and Senate members to make amendments in an attempt to make the bill less harmful; however, the party opposed HB 77, just as we opposed the measures yesterday in the Senate.”

Still, I can’t help but wonder whether the party would have sent a similar news release had HB 77 passed and Martinez signed it into law.

Comeback of the Year: Syphilis

This is nothing to clap about.

The state Health Department just sent this news release saying syphilis cases have gone up to the highest level in 25 years.

Here's the release:

The New Mexico Department of Health announced today a spike in syphilis cases in 2012. According to the Department’s provisional data, New Mexico doctors reported 101 cases of primary and secondary syphilis, or 4.9 per 100,000. This is the highest number and rate since 1988.

 In 2000, syphilis, a once common sexually transmitted disease, dropped to its lowest point since reporting began in 1941, and health officials actually talked about its “elimination.”  It returned starting in 2001, especially among men who have sex with men, and sometimes co-occurring with HIV infection. 

 “Syphilis is only infectious in its early stages, so primary and secondary cases are especially significant because that is when it’s easily spread,” said Department of Health Secretary Retta Ward, MPH. “When diagnosed early, syphilis is easily treated, most effectively with shots of penicillin.”

 Syphilis has been called the “great imitator” because it is often confused with other diseases.  Clinicians may rarely see an active case.  It can cause open sores (“chancres”) in the primary stage, and in secondary syphilis it can cause flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes, and a characteristic rash that may cover the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.  

Symptoms can be mild enough to be missed, even by experienced clinicians, and the diagnosis is usually made by blood tests.  If untreated, the disease can persist for years without noticeable signs or symptoms, but can lead to severe damage to the brain and blood vessels.  Congenital syphilis, when a baby is born to an untreated mother, can result in serious and lifelong complications.

 Men are far more likely to contract syphilis.  In 2012, males accounted for 91 percent of the 101 primary and secondary infections.  There is also disparity by race and ethnicity: while almost half of the early syphilis cases in 2012 were among Hispanics, Native Americans had a rate that was 2.6 times higher than state rate for all races, while the rate for African Americans was 1.9 times higher.

 The counties with the highest case rates were McKinley, Cibola, San Juan and Bernalillo. 

In March, the Department of Health’s STD Program launched an indoor media campaign in Albuquerque. It reminds people to get tested and if needed, to get treatment for STDs.

 Anyone who believes they have been exposed to syphilis or any other STD can get tested, and treated if necessary, at their local Public Health Office.  

 Also, to minimize the spread of this infection it is extremely important that all sexual partners are examined and possibly treated.   Sites can be found at www.nmhivguide.org/.

Lopez is Almost In, Keller Still Contemplating Gov Run

After that tantalizing tweet from Rep. Bill Soules Sunday, I spoke to Sen. Linda Lopez yesterday and she confirmed that she's gearing up to run for governor.

My story in today's New Mexican is HERE.

Lopez will join Attorney General Gary King in the Democratic primary to see who gets to take on incumbent Republican Susana Martinez. King told reporters last summer that he's running.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, who also is contemplating running for state auditor or treasurer told me yesterday that he's also considering running for governor. But an event more important than a campaign announcement is coming up for Keller. He's about to become a dad -- due date in July.

Another Democratic senator reportedly running is Joe Cervantes of Las Cruces. But he never got back to me yesterday. Call me, Joe!

UPDATE 4:30 pm Joe called. He said it's "too early" to comment on whether he'll run.