Longtime Medical Marijuana Advocate Won't Be Returning to Advisory Board

Dr. Steve Jenison
Photo by Jane Phillips

A physician and long-time Health Department administrator who was instrumental in establishing the state’s medical marijuana program and who was chairman of the program’s advisory board learned this week that he had not been reappointed to the board.

Dr. Steve Jenison is a retired medical director for the New Mexico Department of Health’s Infectious Disease Bureau and the first director of the medical marijuana program. Jension said this morning he was informed in a letter by Health Secretary Retta Ward that he would no longer be part of the advisory board.

Jenison said that on Friday, June 7 he’d asked Ward about whether she was going to reappoint him. Instead of telling him the answer, he said, Ward told him that a letter was in the mail. On Monday he got the letter.

“I totally accept that it’s the secretary’s prerogative to appoint and reappoint who she wants,” Jenison said. “I just wish they’d been more respectful in the way they handled it.”

Asked for a response, Kenny Vigil, a spokesman for the Health Department, said , “There’s nothing more we can say about that at this time.”

Emily Kaltenbach, director of the New Mexico Drug Policy Alliance, said Tuesday she’s sorry Jenison wasn’t reappointed. “He’s been a true advocate of the program and has done a very judicious job,” she said. “I hope this isn’t a case of politics trumping science.”

Jenison was appointed to the advisory board in 2010 after he retired from the Health Department.The board is made up of eight board certified practitioners and meets at least twice a year to discussed proposed changes to the medical cannabis program.

During the 2010 campaign Jenison appeared in a TV spot by Drug Policy Action that was critical of Susana Martinez, who in her campaign for governor had said the medical marijuana program should be abolished.

A news release for the organization quoted Jenison saying “Ultimately doctors — not politicians — know what’s best for patients who are suffering and need relief.” He also appeared in the ad, which is posted below.

Asked Tuesday whether he thought that ad might have been a factor in the decision not to reappoint him, Jenison said it’s possible, though he added, “I would have thought if that were the issue that they would have done something much earlier than now.”

Since she became governor Martinez has not moved to get rid of the program.

More in tomorrow's New Mexican.

SF Dems Hold Forum on Open Primaries

The Santa Fe County Democratic Party is hosting a forum next week to debate whether the party should open its primaries to (at least) independent voters.

"New Mexico permits only registered members of a party to vote," County Chairman Richard Ellenberg said in an email this afternoon. "Some argue everyone or at least independents should be allowed to vote in the primary. Others contend that only persons registered to a party should pick the candidates for that party."

The forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday June 19 at the Center for Progress and Justice, 1420 Cerrillos Road. It's free and open to the public.

In April, Fred Nathan, director of the Santa Fe public policy think tank Think New Mexico wrote the state chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties asking for their support to open their respective primaries.

“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.”

On its website, Think New Mexico points out, "The number of New Mexico's `independent' voters, who are not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican party, has tripled from 6% to 18% in the last three decades, yet none of those 230,839 voters are allowed to vote in the state's primary elections."

Tax money pays for the primary elections.

Regarding Nathan's letter, state GOP Chairman John Billingsly said he was worried about outside groups disrupting the primaries. (Some Dems have the same fear.) But then-Democratic Chairman Javier Gonzales said he supports the idea.

“It’s not only healthy for democracy but for the Democratic Party,” Gonzales said. “I believe our ideas would resonate for many independents.”

Both Nathan and Gonzales are scheduled to be at the forum, as is Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe. (I haven't talked to him yet about this issue.)

Nathan and others have pointed out that a majority of states have some sort of open primary. Some states allow independent voters to choose what primary ballot they want. Some allow all voters to choose what primary ballot they want when they go to vote.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Odds 'n' Ends From the Email Scandal

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
June 9, 2013

David Letterman got some cynical laughs out of New Mexico back in early 2009, when he made a brutal quip about then-Gov. Bill Richardson.

Richardson had just withdrawn his name for consideration to be President Barack Obama’s secretary of commerce. This was due to a grand jury investigation of an alleged pay-to-play deal. Letterman, talking about the situation on his Late Show, characterized Richardson’s withdrawal:

“You know what, I’ve been doing some stuff that may be too illegal to be in the Cabinet but just about right to keep me as governor of New Mexico.”

Estrada

That grand jury never produced any charges. But the joke still stung.

I thought about Letterman’s joke last week while working on a story about the recent email scandal in state government.

Jamie Estrada — recently indicted on charges of illegally hijacking Gov. Susana Martinez’s emails and lying to the FBI — had been Martinez’s campaign manager until sometime in late 2009. The governor said he was fired for, among other things, reading her personal emails, which led her to believe he was “of suspect character.”

Estrada, however, has said he didn’t break any laws and flatly denies he was fired from the campaign. Last week, his lawyer released several documents several documents that indicate Estrada remained in contact with the campaign for many months after he left, even receiving kind words from Martinez and others.

Shortly after leaving the Martinez campaign, Estrada announced he would be running in the Republican primary for the southern District 5 Public Regulation Commission seat.

So who ran the Estrada campaign? Campaign finance records from 2010 show that his political consultant in the race was Lincoln Strategies, which at the time was the company of none other than Jay McCleskey, Martinez’s political consultant.

In fact, out of the $15,959 Estrada received in public funding, $15,224 of that went to Lincoln Strategies.

Estrada went on to lose the primary to Ben Hall, who went on to win the general election as well.

So why would McCleskey agree to help Estrada’s campaign if Estrada was such a bad egg? And why would Estrada want to hire McCleskey if there were hard feelings with the Susana camp over being fired?

Surely nobody said, “You know what, Jamie’s been doing some stuff that shows he may be too much of a suspect character to manage this campaign, but just about right to put him on the Public Regulation Commission”?

McCleskey said in an email: “On the Martinez campaign, it was clear for some time that Estrada would never be the permanent campaign manager. He was being replaced by Adam Deguire and was resistant to it. There were several efforts made to help him with a graceful exit, including my firm agreeing to work for him in his PRC campaign, after he was unable to get a job with the [Albuquerque Mayor Richard] Berry administration. Ultimately, Estrada was abruptly fired before he could leave on his own terms.”

Martinez didn’t endorse Estrada’s PRC candidacy, McCleskey said.

The bigger picture: Another name familiar in Republican circles popped up in the email

Photo by Enrique C. Knell

investigation last week. That’s Anissa Galassini Ford, who served as Martinez’s personal assistant during the 2010 campaign.

According to FBI documents unsealed last week, investigators looking at various Internet communications determined that Ford was in frequent contact with Estrada as well as Jason Loera, a Democratic consultant who recently was charged with possessing child porn — which the FBI found while searching Loera’s computers for the governor’s hijacked emails.

I looked at Ford’s Facebook page and came across a nice looking photo of Ford with Mitt Romney posted last August. The photo has a watermark for the professional photographer who took it: Enrique C. Knell — yes, Gov. Martinez’s spokesman, who has worked as a professional photographer.

Knell said last week that he shot the picture during the 2010 campaign. One person was cropped out of the photo on Facebook, however, he said: Susana Martinez.

Free Museum Admission for Fire Evacuees

Thompson Ridge a few days ago

Having to evacuate your home because of a forest fire can't be much fun. But the Department of Cultural Affairs is trying to make it a little less dismal by waiving admission fees to state-run museums and historic sites for residents who have been evacuated due to the Thompson Ridge and Tres Legunas fires.

“We are opening our doors to those who have been affected by the fires in Northern New Mexico in the hopes that this service will support displaced families and provide an educational and fun diversion from the stresses they are facing,” said Cultural Affairs Secretary Veronica Gonzales in a news release.

The participating museums are Museum of International Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on Santa Fe's Museum Hill; the state Museum of Art and Museum of History/Palace of the Governors on the Plaza; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque; and New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces.

The historic sites are Coronado in Bernalillo; El Camino Real Historic Trail Site, south of Socorro; Lincoln and Fort Stanton in Lincoln County; the Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner; Fort Selden in Radium Springs; and Jemez near Jemez Springs — though fire officials are asking travelers to avoid NM Highway 4 between Jemez Springs and Los Alamos because of the Thompson Ridge fire.

R.I.P. Rabbi Helman

I'm not Jewish, but Leonard Helman was my rabbi. I've been saying that saying that for 20 years or so, ever since I heard him give a wonderful. moving and funny eulogy at the funeral of the late writer/singer Jackie McCarty.

Rabbi Helman died today at St. Vincent Hospital at the age of 86. Read his obit HERE

One of the first times I really talked with Helman was back in the late '80s when he called me because he was mad at me for putting his age in some story I'd written. But by the end of the conversation, he wasn't angry anymore. He invited me to lunch at The Shed.

I remember seeing him one night years ago tearing up the dance floor at Vanessie's. After that I jokingly called him "Rabbi (slash) swinger Leonard Helman." He seemed to get a kick out of that.

In his later years, I'd frequently see the rabbi here at the state Capitol. He was one of the chaplains for the Legislature and often gave the invocations before morning floor sessions. I'm sure going to miss seeing him at future sessions.

There's No Opinion Like "No Opinion."

But that's what  Attorney General Gary King determine in the question of whether county clerks can legally issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

I guess it's on to court with the ACLU lawsuit over the issue, filed a couple of months ago.

Here's the AG's press release:

Attorney General Gary King today said, “Based on extensive research, we cannot state definitively that New Mexico law currently permits same-sex marriage.   

Although state statutes may limit marriage to couples of the opposite sex, this does not mean they will pass constitutional muster.  New Mexico statutes that preclude same-sex couples from marrying are vulnerable to challenge under the equal protection guarantees of the federal and state constitutions.”    

AG King also announced that because there is currently an active lawsuit in Bernalillo County over the issue of same-sex marriage licenses, he will not issue a formal AG’s Opinion, which is consistent with the Attorney General’s Office usual practice of not issuing an opinion while a lawsuit is pending. 

New Mexico Representative William J. McCamley, of Doña Ana County, had requested an opinion regarding whether county clerks in New Mexico can legally issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Representative McCamley made his request in light of a March 19, 2013 memorandum written by the Santa Fe City Attorney, which concluded that same-sex marriage was legal under current New Mexico law. Soon after the City of Santa Fe released the March 19 memorandum, two same-sex couples filed a lawsuit challenging the Bernalillo County Clerk’s refusal to issue the couples a marriage license.  The lawsuit raises issues similar to those raised in Representative McCamley’s opinion request.  

AG King adds, “I am keenly aware that some county clerks may have been waiting for direction regarding their authority under current New Mexico law to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  Because of our conclusion, we caution against issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples before the courts have decided the issue or the legislature changes the law.” 

It is important to note that the Attorney General’s Office does not have general superintending control over the county clerks and, as a rule, does not provide them with legal advice. 

Bregman Fires Back

It took a few days, but state Democratic Party Chairman Sam Bregman, just a few minutes ago, posted a response about the email investigation on the party's Facebook page. (And just now, in a press release.)

Bregman, before he was elected party chairman, had a political action committee called Grassroots New Mexico which hired Jason Loera. Loera was arrested last week and charged with several counts of possessing child pornography. The FBI found the offending material when searching his computers for links to the case of the emails stolen from Gov. Susana Martinez's campaign email account.

One of those emails, which Bregman gave me and several other reporters last year was from an email account linked to Loera.

Here's what Bregman said this morning.

STATEMENT OF DPNM CHAIRMAN SAM BREGMAN

“Over the last 48 hours Governor Martinez has attacked my integrity and character in an attempt to make a partisan issue out of a criminal investigation conducted by the US Attorney’s office. The Governor has chosen to do this after knowing full well that the day after I received the email in question I personally hand delivered the email to a judge and to the Governor’s lawyers in a judicial proceeding. For the Governor to suggest or imply that I have done anything improper or violated any law is reprehensible. 

As a lawyer and therefore an officer of the court and the Chairman of the New Mexico Democratic Party, I feel compelled to respond.  

Governor Martinez, need I remind you that as a lawyer you are an officer of the court and you have professional responsibilities as well.  

You should take a refresher course to better understand that you should not attempt to use your position as Governor to influence, inject politics into or bully the US Attorney’s office in their investigation, all while attempting to deflect the investigation of your shadow governor, Jay McCleskey and the Dirty Downs Scandal. Or perhaps your motive is to change the conversation from the miserable, sorry job that you have done as Governor when it comes to creating jobs in this state and educating our children. 

Regardless, I will not make further comments regarding the criminal investigation and you should reconsider your current behavior as the Governor of New Mexico.”