Senate Rules May Ask To Subpoena Fair Manager

The Senate Rules Committee will consider asking the full Senate to issue a subpoena to State Fair Manager Dan Mourning, who earlier this week didn't show up to a hearing about the fair and the controversial 25-lease awarded to the Downs at Albuquerque.

If approved by the full Senate, it would be the first time a subpoena for a standing legislative committee has been issued since the impeachment investigation of Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block, Jr. in 2011. (Block resigned before he could be impeached.)

Rules Chairwoman Linda Lopez has drafted a resolution asking for a subpoena forcing Mourning to appear on Feb.7.

"... despite repeated requests, Expo New Mexico general manager Dan Mourning has refused to appear before the Senate Rules Committee to provide it with information necessary for the committee to make a considered recommendation on the nomination of the executive's appointments to the State Fair Commission."

Earlier today the committee gave positive recommendations to Charles Brown and Bill Lee, two of Gov. Susana  Martinez's fair commission nominees. The full Senate later unanimously confirmed both commissioners.

However, the committee didn't act on Martinez's request to re-confirm Commission Chairman Larry Kennedy. Instead they grilled him about the operation of the fair and whether the commission or Mourning was actually running the fair.

At Monday's hearing one current and two past members of the commission testified about the Downs lease and said the administration had tried to keep fair commissioners out of the loop.

A spokesman for the governor said Monday that the hearing that day was "nothing more than a taxpayer-funded political circus orchestrated by a desperate candidate for governor where not a single new piece of information was revealed. What you saw were people with incredible axes to grind, all of whom have had their wild-eyed accusations repeatedly discredited.”

Marijuana Amendment Stalls in Committee

Sorry, uncle

The proposed constitutional amendment to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana stalled in the Senate Rules Committee this morning.

Five senators, all Democrats, vote to pass Senate Joint (heh he heh heh) Resolution 10, sponsored by state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, on to the Senate Judiciary Committee with no recommendation.

However, Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, joined all four committee Republicans to vote against that. The measure therefore is stuck in Senate Rules, meaning unless someone has a change of mind, it's dead for this session.

Some opponents, like Sen. Sander Rue, R-Albuquerque, said they are not in favor of arresting people for a few joints. However, Rue and others said they don't think it should be done by constitutional amendment.

Had SJR 10 passed the Legislature, state voters would have decided on the issue in November.

More in tomorrow's New Mexican.

Downs Deal Hearing

Tom Tinnin

Although Gov. Susana Martinez, her consultant Jay McCleskey and State Fair Manager Dan Mourning did not appear at Senate Rules Committee to testify about the Downs racino contract this morning (nor did state Auditor Hector Balderas), three Republican critics of the Downs deal did.

These were former Fair Commission chairman and Board of Finance member Tom Tinnin, who resigned from the latter because of the deal; former Commissioner Charlotte Rode and current Commissioner Twister Smith.

All spoke about pressure from the governor's office to approve the 25-year, multi-million contract.

Also, they talk about how the Fair Commission has been "neutered"by the administration.

“If you do take a stand in the face of  corruption, you are going to be retaliated against," Rode told the committee.

"Look at the agenda and the minutes. We  never every talked about business at meetings, ever," Smith said.

"You  need to have  professional management," Tinnin said. "Keep politics out. (Politics) kills it."

Read more about this in tomorrow's New Mexican.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: More Freebies from Lobbyists

New Mexico is the last state with a Legislature whose members don’t get a salary. The modest per diem paid to senators and representatives often doesn’t cover their expenses, especially those who have to travel long distances and stay in Santa Fe’s expensive hotels and eat at our expensive restaurants.

But to cushion that blow, there are lobbyists, who provide food, beverage, entertainment and gifts for those doing the people’s business at the Roundhouse.

According to lobbyist expense reports, the most expensive gift filed in the past week or so are passes given by the New Mexico Golf Tourism Alliance on Thursday. The total value of the passes, which allows legislators to play on five courses around the state, was listed as $28,500. This is an annual gift the golf industry group bestows upon lawmakers.

As is the case with the ski industry, which gives ski passes to legislators every year, there is no legislation this year that directly affects golf courses, except, arguably, the Tourism Department’s budget.

On the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales thanked the alliance for the gift and praised golf as important to tourism in the state.

Read the rest of this column HERE


My previous story on lobbyist reports ran Jan. 31. You can find that HERE

My story about the top 10 political contributors among lobbyists is HERE

Governor to Skip Racetrack Hearing

As I reported earlier this week, The Senate Rules Committee has sent invitations to Gov. Susana Martinez, her political consultant Jay McCleskey and others to speak the panel's meeting Monday morning about the State Fair, including a controversial contract with The Downs Racetrack & Casino in Albuquerque.

But Martinez will be a no-show, her spokesman Enrique Knell told me.

Asked if the governor planned to be there, Knell in an email said, "Of course not."

He then followed that with basically the same statement he gave me a couple of weeks ago for a story on the Downs deal, where he pointed out that Rules chairwoman Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, is running for governor and calling the hearing a "petty political sideshow."

I wouldn't bet money on McCleskey showing up either.

Also are invited to the hearing (8:30 Monday, Feb. 10) are Expo New Mexico General Manager Dan Mourning and State Auditor Hector Balderas.

Opponents of Martinez have said the administration gave unfair advantage to the Downs -- which includes large campaign contributors to the governor -- when awarding the multi-million dollar contract in 2011. Martinez has denied that. Proponents of the deal have said a competitive bid wasn't even required for the contract, which the Downs has held since the 1980s. No charges against anyone involved have been filed.

Susana is on Mitt's List

Although Gov. Susana Martinez repeatedly has disavowed any interest in being on the national Republican ticket, the GOP's last presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney just mentioned her as a possible contender.

Not for vice president. He's talking leader of the free world, commander-in-chief, the top job.

According to The Hill, Romney, in an interview with CNN, Romney first mentioned the usual suspects when asked about REpublican presidential candidates:

“Right now, we've got a very full group of people — Marco Rubio; Jeb Bush; Chris Christie; Rand Paul; Paul Ryan, of course, my running mate, an extraordinary man; John Kasich, governor of Ohio, doing a great job there; Scott Walker in Wisconsin,” Romney said.

Then he added, “We've got a lot of very good people. Susana Martinez in ... New Mexico. ... I didn't mention Mike Huckabee. Of course, Mike Huckabee ran before, did a fine job. He may be coming back and giving it another shot.”

The Hill noted:

Last year, Martinez said the time for a female president is “long past due.” But when asked if she would consider running on the national ticket, she said she was "focused on New Mexico."
In 2012, Martinez said serving as the guardian of her developmentally disabled sister would prevent her from living away from New Mexico.

And this basically is what Team Susana has told me and the rest of the New Mexico political media.

But as I've written before, such speculation is not likely to stop, especially if she wins reelection this year.

Battling Resolutions

I wrote a story yesterday about the state Human Services Department's response to Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez's resolution to give a vote of "no confidence" to Human Services Secretary Sidonie Squier.(This web only story is HERE)

I don't think Senate Resolution 2 will be heard by the Senate today -- Sen. Sanchez just said he expects today's floor session to be short. But when it does get heard, Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington plans to introduce a substitute.

Basically the 7-page substitute, instead of expressing "no confidence" would express "the Senate's confidence in the ability of the secretary of Human Services to fairly and faithfully execute the duties of that office" and commend the secretary "for her efforts to stop fraud. waste and abuse in the state's Medicaid program."

I'm pretty sure that Sanchez won't agree with this substitute.

Some Action in the Senate Today?

Squier

There are a couple of interesting items on the Senate Calendar today.

One is the bill that would outlaw texting and driving. It's actual the first item under "Third Readings." As I've pointed out, the same basic bill, sponsored by Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, languished for weeks last year on the Senate calendar because Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, who decides what gets heard and what doesn't, just doesn't like the bill.

He still doesn't like it, but he said Monday he expects the bill to be heard in the Senate (and to pass the full Legislature.)

The other interesting piece of legislation is Senate Resolution 2, which would give Human Services Secretary Sidonie Squier a vote of no confidence. I suspect if that one is heard, it may spark some debate. 

Squirer herself wouldn't be there to defend herself, but her department provided a lengthy rebuttal in the form of a fiscal impact statement.

UPDATE; 3:08 pm : As it turned out, the Senate didn't discuss either of these items today. Oh well. One of these days ...

Garcia Richard Has an Opponent

Geoff Rodgers

State Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard now has a Republican opponent in this year's general election.

Geoff Rodgers, the chairman of the Los Alamos County Council announced today that he is running for the District 43 seat. His press release doesn't say so, but he's a Republican.

District 43 is one seat state Republicans, who once again will try to wrest control of the House from the Democrats, are especially interested in. Richard in 2012 won a close race against Jim Hall, who had been appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez.

Last year, after Richard voted against a procedural move to blast the controversial immigrant driver's license bill out of a committee, Republicans ran robo-calls in her district blasting her for her vote.

Rodgers served on the County Council from 2001-2004 and was elected again in 2010.  In 2013 he was elected as Council chairman.

He also served as the Director of Transportation for Los Alamos Public Schools for twelve years and was on the board of directors for the North Central Regional Transit District for two years.

Rodgers served for five years in the U.S Army and eight years in the U.S Army Reserves as a helicopter pilot.

House District 43 includes the entire county of Los Alamos and parts of Santa Fe, Rio Ariba, and Sandoval Counties.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: House Leaders Still Wary of Webcasting

The state Legislature has been webcasting floor sessions and some committee meetings for years. You’d think that everyone would be used to it by now and all the awful fears about showing the public what goes on in this House of Round proved to be as insignificant as the open-government, pro-transparency crowd said.

But apparently not. Something happened in the House last week that showed resistance to webcasting still is alive and well.

It happened when Rep. Jeff Steinborn’s House Resolution 2 was introduced formally. This measure would require the Legislative Council Service to save all webcasts of House committee meetings and House floor sessions, so anyone with a computer could watch any of those meetings at their convenience. (So far there has not been a similar move in the Senate.)

Tp read the rest of this go to Santa  Fe New Mexican website HERE