Vacation!

I'll be off work for the next two weeks, so, unless something big happens, I probably won't be blogging much here on Roundhouse Roundup.

See you in August.

Lopsided Campaign Finance Reports in CD3

I did a story in today's New Mexican about the most recent campaign finance reports filed by the 3rd Congressional District candidates.

To nobody's surprise, incumbent Democrat Ben Ray Lujan is mopping up over Republican opponent Tom Mullins of Farmington. It's a nearly 2-1 Democratic district and incumbents everywhere tend to have the fund-raising advantage. (That being said, down in the 2nd District, Republican challenger Steve Pearce is beating incumbent Harry Teague in the money race. Pearce, of course, is a former incumbent.)

My story is HERE.

Lujan's latest report is HERE.

Mullins' latest report is HERE

Big Deal Over Small Business

The state Democratic Party is making a big to-do over Susana Martinez's Small Business Steering Committee.

It seems that some of the people on that committee aren't from business that might not be that small.

" ... its members do not exactly represent the little guy," a press release from the Democrats said. "In fact, it’s quite the who’s who of the state’s Republican elite and powerful interests looking to cash in on a Martinez administration that promises to dismantle consumer and environmental protections."

Among those members pointed out by the Dems:

* Robert Chase, Vice President of Mack Energy. Mack Energy and its affiliates have given Martinez some $155,000 in campaign contributions thus far.

* Mark Murphy: Murphy, a Roswell oilman, has given thousands of dollars in contributions to Martinez and other Republican campaigns.

* Harvey Yates and family: Yates is the state chairman of the Republican Party. His family and their associated companies are major holders of oil and gas leases in the state.

Martinez's Web site lists the entire committee, plus "coalition" members

Small Business Leaders For Martinez Coalition Steering Committee:

Joel Carson
Robert Chase
Dr. JR Damron
Anna Emerick-Biad
Jim Giannelli
Mark Murphy
Monty Newman
Lee Rawson
Kevin Reid
Jack Westman
Harvey E. Yates, Jr.

Small Business Leaders For Martinez Coalition Members:

Bernalillo County – Devon Day
Bernalillo County – Bob Kellogg
Bernalillo County – Roxanna Meyers
Bernalillo County – Stanley Mount
Bernalillo County – Keith Wilson
Catron County – Bucky & Garnelle Allred
Catron County – Danny & Jackie Fryar
Catron County – Kristine Shoberg
Catron County – Green & Denise Cowan
Catron County – Joe & Lori Faust
Chaves County – Phelps Anderson
Cibola County – Don Jaramillo
Cibola County – Dwight Kastendieck
Colfax County – Eloy Gonzales
Colfax County – Boddy & Cindy Valentine
Curry County – Ken Barnett
Curry County – Randy Crowder
Curry County – Randy Petty
De Baca County – Adolfo Lucero
Doña Ana County – Chris Biad
Doña Ana County – Paul Curry
Doña Ana County – Kathleen Foreman
Doña Ana County – Mark Hettinga
Doña Ana County – Wendell Hull
Doña Ana County – Dr. Anthony Levatino
Doña Ana County – Joseph Muench
Doña Ana County – Al Perez
Doña Ana County – Virginia Robertson
Doña Ana County – Mike Tellez
Eddy County – Fred Beard
Eddy County – Frank Yates, Jr.
Eddy County – Mary Yates
Grant County – Bill Mack
Grant County – Rhonda & Bill Van Dran
Grant County – Joe & Vickie McCauley
Grant County – Jim Wetzel
Grant County – Pat Finch
Grant County – Jim & Connie Zawacki
Guadalupe County – Don & Kathy Sultemeier
Harding County – Bob Bachen
Hidalgo County – Cash & Kanzas Massey
Hidalgo County – Randy & Sheila Massey
Hidalgo County – George & Nancy Jackson
Hidalgo County – Owen & Tricia Washburn
Hidalgo County – Bob & Helen Allred
Lea County – Robert Wallach
Lincoln County – Shane Barnett
Lincoln County – Alan Morel
Lincoln County – Dan Bryant
Lincoln County – Angie Schneider-Cook
Lincoln County – Adam Rafkin
Los Alamos County – Joe & Helen Quintana
Luna County – Joe Jackson
Luna County – Philip Skinner
McKinley County – Mary Jean & Ray Christensen
McKinley County – Sig & Yvonne Martinez
McKinley County – Dudley & Brenda Byerley
Mora County – Frank Trambley
Otero County – Carla Gonzales
Quay County – Danford Dan Cross
Rio Arriba County – Lupe Garcia
Roosevelt County – David Stone
Sandoval County – Jerren Bermudez
Sandoval County – Jeannette Denison
Sandoval County – R. Pete Martinez
San Juan County – Cope & Amy Reynolds
San Juan County – Buster Breitenbach
San Juan County – Chris Haiby
San Juan County – Clarence Rowse
San Juan County – Mike Culver
San Juan County – Rich Cross
San Juan County – Pearl Montoya
San Juan County – Robert Espinosa
San Juan County – Vance Mabry
San Juan County – Louis Pipkin
San Juan County – Rob & Jake Wood
San Miguel County – Carlos Lopez
Santa Fe County – John Onstad
Sierra County – Earl Greer
Socorro County – Rowena & Adolph Baca
Taos County – Paul Martinez
Taos County – Ouray Meyers
Torrance County – Phil Archuletta
Union County – Brian Moore
Valencia County – Neil Hise

UPDATE: Here's the Republican response:

“The Democrat Party seems to believe that ‘millionaires’ don’t understand the concerns of the ‘little guy’ and therefore are incapable of developing sound economic policies to create jobs for all New Mexicans. Since Diane Denish is a millionaire as a result of her father’s success, does this mean the Democrat Party thinks the ‘elite’ wealth of their own nominee also disqualifies her from addressing the economic concerns of average New Mexicans?

“Susana Martinez has assembled a team of seasoned leaders in the business community who understand what it takes to create jobs and financial opportunity for the people in this state. Why the Democrat Party wants to criticize her for trying to put people back to work defies common sense. Maybe for the sake of transparency, the Democrat Party should ask Diane Denish to disclose how much income she derives from Daniels Insurance Agency and the income which Daniels receives, directly or indirectly, from state and local government in New Mexico.”

Kokesh Lives!

Adam Kokesh, the Ron Paul-endorsed Congressional candidate who lost to Tom Mullins in the primary will return to the public eye -- or at leat the public ear -- with his own radio show Saturday, July 17 & 24, 2010, 2 to 3 pm, on KIVA 1550 AM in Albuquerque.

“I am very excited to launch this new platform for the message that resonated so well with supporters and young voters of New Mexico’s Third Congressional District during the recent primary election,” Kokesh said in a news release.

The Adam Kokesh Radio Show will initially air on Saturday afternoons and move to a Monday through Friday broadcast starting July 26, 2010.

The release says, "While Kokesh’s airing is local, his radio show will also feature a national perspective as one of the youngest spokespersons of the Republican Libertarian national movement that is sweeping across the country and attracting thousands of traditional and young voters wanting a more accountable and responsible government."

The show will stream live on the KIVA website.

Roundhouse Roundup: Billy the Kid Rides Again

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 15, 2010


Billy the Kid died 129 years ago Wednesday. But his restless spirit had to be stirring.

Author Mark Lee Gardner wrote Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times about Billy. Gardner, whose book To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West wrote about Territorial Gov. Lew Wallace’s infamous broken promise to Billy.

Wallace had said he’d pardon the Kid for his role in shooting Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady if the young outlaw would testify before a grand jury investigating another murder stemming from the Lincoln County War. The Kid testified, but Wallace never granted the pardon.

Subsequent to his testimony, he was tried and convicted of Brady’s murder. As he was awaiting hanging in the Lincoln County jail, he escaped, killing two deputies in the process. Less than three months later, on July 14, 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy in Fort Sumner.

Gardner also talked about nearly forgotten promise by New Mexico’s current governor. “In 2003, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced that he would consider making good on Wallace's promise and issue a pardon for Billy,” Gardner wrote. “Richardson's announcement came in the midst of international media attention over a modern-day forensic investigation looking into the circumstances of the Kid's death. But as the hoopla subsided, so did the talk of a pardon.”

I was at that press conference. There Richardson announced new scientific investigations including testing the DNA of the remains of the Kid’s mother, who is buried in Silver City, as well as those of a Texan who claimed to be Billy.

Richardson the state would hold a series of mock trials around the state related to Billy the Kid’s death and various crime.

But this never came to be. The theory that “Brushy Bill” Roberts of Hico, Texas — who died in 1950 — might actually be Billy had been discredited years before. Residents of Fort Sumner and Silver City pushed back hard against plans to exhume Billy and his mother.

Richardson’s investigations, the mock trials and the possible pardon seemed to dry up and blow away.

But on Wednesday, Gardner wrote, “Now the governor, whose term expires in January, is reportedly again giving serious consideration to Billy's pardon.”

Could this be? Is there a new move on the Fourth Floor for a Billy pardon? Nothing new, said Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia. “The Governor has always said that he may consider making good on Governor Wallace’s promise to Billy the Kid.”

Billy's headstone in Ft. Sumner

I guess we’ll find out sometime before Dec. 31.

The Billy hoopla: Most agree that Richardson’s Kid stuff was a bid for publicity in 2003. It worked. The story ran in media outlets all over the world. I personally received several emails with various theories, including one from a gentleman who suggested Billy’s body was claimed as a medical cadaver in Las Vegas, N.M. and his head placed in a jar of formaldehyde. Nobody ever produced that jar.

There also were several books published. Columnist Jay Miller in 2005 published a scathing book of his columns about the matter called Billy the Kid Rides Again: Digging for the Truth. Last year Gale Cooper, who had written a novel about Billy, published an even more critical Mega Hoax: The Strange Plot to Exhume Billy the Kid and Become President.

But my favorite book title sent to me during the exhuming Billy period has to be a 2005 novel called My Erotic Adventures with Billy the Kid by Pamela Brown.

They don’t write obits like this anymore: While going through old e-mails for this column, I came across Billy the Kid’s obituary published in July 1881 in a paper called The Santa Fe Democrat (an old rival of The New Mexican)

“No sooner had the floor caught the descending form, which had a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other, than there was a strong odor of brimstone in the air, and a dark figure, with the wings of a dragon, claws like a tiger, eyes like balls of fire, and horns like a bison, hovered over the corpse for a moment, and with a fiendish laugh, said, ‘Ha! Ha! This is my meat!’ and then sailed off through the window.”

Extending County Term Limits?

In today's New Mexican I look at the proposed state constitutional amendment that would allow county officials -- commissioners, sheriff, clerk, assessor, treasurer, probate judge -- to be elected to three four-year terms instead of the current two four-year term limit. The story is HERE.

The Santa Fe County Commission voted 4-1 yesterday to back the proposal, which is on November's general election ballot.

Commissioner Liz Stefanics was the no vote. She says she's in favor of encouraging new blood every few years. Also opposed is former Santa Fe County Sheriff Benjie Montano, who served 10 years as the county's top cop. He was elected the last time we had two-year terms (1988) and was allowed to run for two subsequent 8-year terms.

The New Mexico Association of Counties is backing the bill, saying 12-year stints would allow county officials to concentrate on long-term planning.

This is one of five proposed amendments on the ballot. Below is a handy-dandy summary of those, compiled by the Legislative Council, with pro and con arguments for all amendments. As I always say, it's easier to read in full-screen mode. And you can download this and study at your leisure.

Constitutional Amendments 2010

A Twist on the Bob Martinez Controversy

On Friday the state Democrats criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez for using state Fraternal Order of Police president Bob Martinez in a campaign ad attacking Dem candidate Diane Denish.

Bob Martinez is a former executive director of the State Adult Parole Board who was fired in 2004 as by current Gov. Bill Richardson for failing to notify victims of a parole hearing for pedophile priest. (Again, with the child molesters!)

But state Republicans point out that back in 2006, the Bill Richardson campaign accepted the endorsement of the state FOP, and that the president of the state organization of the time was none other than Bob Martinez, this was a couple of years after Richardson had fired him. They didn't use his face in an ad, but as the GOP points out, nobody in the Democratic camp was calling Martinez soft on sex offenders when that endorsement came out.

In his letter to Richardson, Martinez said the FOP took that position because the governor had supported collective bargaining for police officers.

That's not why the FOP is supporting Martinez, however. She's on tbe record as wanting to repeal collective bargaining. She told me a couple of months ago:

I support New Mexico being a right to work state so as to improve our economy and become competitive with surrounding states that are right to work states. This allows employees to decide for themselves if they want to participate in a union.

Here's the letter. It's much easier to read in full-screen mode.

FOP 2006 Richardson Endorsement

Martinez Spokesman Arrested on DWI Charge

Raj Shaw, who just this month had been hired as spokesman for Susana Martinez's gubernatorial campaign, was arrested in Albuquerque yesterday on charges of aggravated drunken driving and careless driving.

Shaw, who reportedly has been fired from the campaign following the arrest, is still in jail, if Bernalillo County's Metropolitan Detention Center records, checked around 9:20 a.m., can be trusted. Shah, 25, just moved here from Connecticut.

According to the jail records, he was arrested at 12:23 a.m. Sunday near the Intersection of San Mateo and Osuna in northeast Albuquerque. The records indicate this is his first offense. His bond is $5,000.

New Governor's Race Ads

Both Susana Martinez, the Republican gubernatorial candidate and her Democratic opponent Diane Denish released new campaign ads today.

If you thought the campaign might be drifting away from the law' 'n' order realm, think again. Martinez's spot features her surrounded by several cops.

The state Democratic party was quick to point out that one of them, Bob Martinez, the guy with the bushy mustache (who I originally thought was former Albuquerque D.A. Bob Schwartz), is a former executive director of the State Adult Parole Board who was fired in 2004 as by current Gov. Bill Richardson for failing to notify victims of a parole hearing for sex-offender priest.

I'll update this with the Martinez campaign's response as soon as I get it.

Meanwhile, here's the ads:




Here's Denish's latest ad. I did have to chuckle when a Denish e-mail sniffed that Martinez's latest ad "continued to focus on the same wedge issues that divide New Mexicans ..." when it was Denish's attack ad that started with the wedge issues the day after the primary. Gosh darn those nasty wedge issues!

This one's light and positive though.

State Adds New Medical Marijuana Growers

The Health Department today announced six more licensed growers for the state medical marijuana program.

The new nonprofits are located in Harding, Doña Ana, Lea, Catron, Cibola and Bernalillo counties.

Catron County, for those not versed in New Mexico political demographics, probably is the most conservative county in the state.

The previously approved growers are in Santa Fe, Cibola and Bernalillo counties.

From the news release:

The Department of Health will provide patients with contact information for the newly licensed nonprofit producers in approximately six weeks. This will give the nonprofits time to set up their production facilities and get ready to respond to patient inquiries.

The Department approved the first nonprofit producer in March 2009 and four more in November 2009. Nonprofit producers are allowed to have 95 mature plants and seedlings and have an inventory of usable medical cannabis for patients. Patients can also apply to produce their own supply of medical cannabis and are allowed to have four mature plants and 12 seedlings.

There are 1,952 active medical cannabis patients, and 865 are licensed to produce their own supply of medical cannabis.

To be approved for the medical cannabis program, patients must have a physician certify that they have one of the 16 qualifying conditions that is debilitating and cannot be helped by standard treatments. Certain conditions require additional medical certifications or medical records detailing the condition.

Republican guberatorial candidate Susana Martinez has said he would get rid of the medical marijuana program. Denish supports the law.