Crossroads GPS: Obama Will Crush a Little Girl with a Big Crate

Karl Rove isn't coming to New Mexico until next month, but his Super PAC, Crossroads GPS, is already here. They're running another ad on New Mexico television stations. (Last month they ran this ad in New Mexico and elsewhere.)

According to their news release: "In New Mexico, the ad will run on TV stations in the Albuquerque and El Paso markets, with buys totaling $101,305. The total dedicated to the effort nationally, including national cable, local TV, Internet advertising and production is $3.5 million over two weeks. ... The new spot is part of a $20 million advocacy campaign begun by Crossroads GPS in June to frame the national issues debate on the economy and national debt, as Congress negotiates a deal with President Obama."

I've been hearing a lot of Republicans lately criticizing Obama's "fear tactics" in the debt-ceiling debate. But this looks pretty scary too.

Rove Comes Back to NM for Heather

Heather Wilson's senatorial campaign announced this morning announced today that Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff  and political director for President George W. Bush, is coming to Albuquerque for a fundraiser next month.

“I am pleased to have Karl as a special guest for my Senate campaign,” Wilson said in her news release. “Karl has one of best minds in modern politics and he continues to inform and influence American life as an author, columnist and commentator.”

The event is Aug. 11.

Rove and Wilson appeared together at a political event in Colorado last month.

Democrats surely will point out that Rove and Wilson go a long way back.

NM Political Tidbits

Just some catching up on my part.

First of all, I looked a little more into the free trips to Turkey taken by several  New Mexico lawmakers in recent months, which I first reported in my column Thursday. In today's paper I explain that accepting the trips does not  violate the state Gift Act, because the group paying for the trips does not lobby the Legislature and is not seeking state contracts.

The story points out that unlike the free ski passes they get and the various golf junkets from lobbyists in past years,  lawmakers are not required to report such travel under current state law. Also I explain a little more what the Turkish organization called The Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians is all about.

By the way, I'm not disputing the educational value of foreign travel or anything like that. I just believe the public has the right to know when someone or some group is providing free overseas travel. And somehow, despite all the noble intentions, politicians never seem to write press releases when they accept such freebies.

You can read today's story  HERE.

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In other news, The Washington Post has a very complimentary story about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Hector Balderas. You can find that HERE.

However, there is one glaring factual error that probably wouldn't be noticed by many outside of the small circle of New Mexico political junkies.

The Post wrote, "In the 2006 Democratic primary (for state auditor) , Balderas was cast as the underdog until his rival, Jeff Armijo, dropped out over sexual misconduct allegations."

In reality however, Balderas and Armijo were not "rivals." Balderas did not run in the state auditor primary that year. He didn't get on the ballot until Armijo, who did win the primary, was forced off the ticket over those allegations. Until that point, Balderas was seeking re-election to his seat in the Legislature. Here's an old column about the craziness of the Armijo mess.

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Finally, if you were looking forward to seeing former Gov. Gary Johnson in the June 13 Republican presidential candidate debate, here's some bad news.

Johnson in Santa Fe in January

CNN has said no to Gov. No.

Johnson responded: "I respect the right of CNN and the other sponsors of the June 13 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary debate to apply their own criteria and invite who they choose. It is, however, unfortunate that a significant segment of the Republican Party, and more importantly, millions of independent voters who might be Republican voters, will not have a voice on the stage in Manchester."

Apparently Johnson was snubbed because he has fallen short of the magic 2-percent in the polls threshhold required. Looks like he's left out in the cold with Buddy Roemer, Vermin Supreme and other lesser-known candidates

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Finally, Democrats are jumping all over the fact that U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson recently appeared at a campaign event -- in Colorado Springs -- with former George W. Bush political guru Karl Rove. Both were speakers at a GOP Lincoln Dinner.

Bringing back ugly memories of the 2006 U.S. Attorneys scandal, the Huffington Post noted that Rove testified that Wilson pushed him to fire former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. Wilson has disputed that, saying she only mentioned Iglesias once to Rove and that was after the 2006 election. (Here's an old story where I talked about Wilson, Rove and Iglesias and here's a better one from Politico.)

One interesting item about the dinner where Rove and Wilson spoke. It attracted protesters. Not from lefties who detest "Bush's Brain," but from right wingers who hate the fact that Rove is so liberal. The Colorado Independent has that story.

Rove to Speak to GOP in Albuquerque

Some call him "Bush's Brain." Some call him "The Architect." I know of one guy who called him "Turdblossom." (He meant it in the nicest possible way.)

Whatever you call him, Karl Rove will be in Albuquerque Saturday, May 1st at the Albuquerque Hilton Hotel for a Republican fundraiser.

Rove was George W. Bush's political director. He's now a commentator on Fox News.

Everyone knows he has friends in New Mexico.

$100 will get you into a 6:45 pm reception and copy of Rove's book Courage and Consequence.

$250 gets you into a 6 pm VIP Reception and a signed copy of Rove's book.

Roundhouse Roundup: The Rove Effect

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 13, 2009


Poring over transcripts of Karl Rove’s House Judiciary Committee testimony about his role in the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, I came across lots of names familiar in New Mexico political circles.

But I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw who Rove name-dropped on page 120 of his July 7 testimony: Someone who shares my cubicle at The New Mexican’s Capitol bureau.

This week’s release of transcripts, e-mails and other documents show that Rove, President Bush’s political adviser and a former deputy chief of staff, was more involved with the firing of Iglesias and other U.S. attorneys than originally known.

Rove was questioned by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., about an Oct. 2, 2006, article in the late lamented Albuquerque Tribune. The premise of the story was that now that the trial of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil was over, the next big corruption case involving a New Mexico Democrat would be a kickback scandal involving state Sen. Manny Aragon, the Albuquerque Democrat. Apparently former Republican National Committeeman Mickey Barnett -- who had been pushing to get rid of Igelesias -- had sent the story to Rove.

Schiff quoted the article as saying, “Political insiders say that if the main suspects are Democrats, the shoe could drop before the Nov. 7 election. If there are Republicans in the mix, the office might want to avoid an ‘October surprise’ and seek indictments later, political observers say.”

Schiff asked Rove if this was "an accurate analysis.” Rove answered, “I have no idea who the unnamed political observers are who are talking to Kate Nash at the Albuquerque Tribune.”

Don’t feel bad Karl. I asked Kate, who works for this paper now, but she won’t tell me who her sources were, either.

Ripples in the governor’s race: The names of one probable Republican gubernatorial contender — former state Republican Chairman Allen Weh — and one possible governor candidate — former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson — were discussed in the Rove testimony. So you can bet Democratic opposition-research sharks have been burning their eyeballs going through the thousands of pages of documents released by the Judiciary Committee this week.

Iglesias has said he was fired as U.S. attorney for New Mexico partly because he didn’t indict Aragon in time to help with Wilson’s 2006 re-election. Among the documents released was an October 2006 e-mail chain. Wilson, then facing Democrat Patricia Madrid in a close election battle, sent an e-mail to her staff and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici’s chief of staff, Steve Bell.

Attached was a news story about an investigation into a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. Bell forwarded it to Rove aide Scott Jennings, commenting, “seems like other U.S. attorneys can do their work even in election season … ” Jennings sent it to Rove saying Iglesias had been “shy about doing his job on Madrid.”

On her Facebook page Wednesday, Wilson said her e-mail was not referring to Iglesias. She then dropped a bombshell about her opponent that year: “An FBI employee contacted my office in June 2006 and asked for any information we had concerning Attorney General Patricia Madrid and her connection to a Political Action Committee — Justice for America. I directed my staff to provide any information we had to the FBI and to cooperate with law enforcement.”

Wilson said the news story concerned her because of a possible FBI leak. “I believed it was possible we would see a similar leak from law enforcement concerning Mrs. Madrid and that we could be asked by the media to comment on it,” she said.

Apparently nothing ever became of that investigation. Madrid was never charged with any wrongdoing. Justice for America is still a registered PAC, headed by Madrid’s husband, Michael Messina. According to its most recent report in May, it had more than $415,000 in the bank.

A welcome endorsement? I can envision an attack ad springing out the following exchange during Rove’s testimony. Rep. Schiff read from an e-mail from Weh to Rove aide Jennings in which Weh complained about Iglesias.

Schiff then asked Rove about Weh. “Is he a friend of yours?” Schiff asked.

“He is a good friend of mine,” Rove said.

If Weh should win the nomination you can imagine those words surfacing again, followed by, “I’m Diane Denish and I approve this message.”