Udall Standing Firm Against Bombing Syria

Sen. Tom Udall isn't likely to change his mind about his stance against taking military action against Syria's Assad regime.

"The president will make his case to the American people in a speech tonight. I will listen carefully," Udall told New Mexico reporters in a short telephone news conference Tuesday morning. "But unless he has new information, I do not believe I will change my mind."

The entire 17-minute press conference can be hear HERE

Udall  predicted that the Senate vote on a resolution authorizing military action will be close.

"I want to be clear: I am appalled and horrified by Assad’s attack against his own people," Udall said. "My heart broke when I saw the footage of women and children being gassed to death. But the administration hasn’t made a credible case that a limited military strike will prevent Assad from attacking again. A few Tomahawk missiles lobbed into Syria are more likely to destabilize the region. I believe President Obama is taking the riskiest option with the least likelihood of success."

Udall said the proposal by Russia, which would have Syria relinquish its chemical weapons in order to avoid a U.S. military strike, is "a positive step" that sprang from "holding Russia's feet to the fire diplomatically."

"I will wait to see the plan before I make a judgement and I will insist we take a strategy of trust but verify with any proposal they make," he said

Asked if he'd spoken with his New Mexico colleague Sen. Martin Heinrich about Syria before Heinrich's announcement yesterday that he would vote for the resolution authorizing military force, Udall said, "I think that I would prefer that any discussion we had back and forth remain private. But I talked to him yesterday after he'd already sent his email out.

"I think every senator must make up his or her own mind up on a vote," Udall said. "I think this really is a vote of conscience."

Heinrich to Vote For Syria Strike

In the article I did for Sunday's New Mexican, Sen. Martin Heinrich was among those who had not made up his mind on how to vote on the resolution for a military strike on Syria.

He's no longer on the fence. He's going to vote for the resolution.

Never thought I'd see the day that Heinrich was the hawk and Steve Pearce was the dove on an issue of military force.

Here's an email he just sent to constituents

Dear Friends,The last week has been the most difficult I have experienced in my more than eight years in public office.  What I share with you now will not win me any popularity awards, and some of you may well never forgive me for my decision today. All I ask is that you read this entire letter and seek to understand how I came to make this decision.  

I have always believed that my decisions in public office should reflect my best judgment and what I believe to be the best course for our nation. Most of the time that leads to votes that are well aligned with most of you as constituents.  Just as importantly, it means that I can look my children in the eye and explain my positions with honesty, never having to explain why a vote was the result of politics or pressure. Today, I am taking a position that I believe is in line with those values.  

From my position on the Intelligence Committee, I have been briefed regularly for eight months now on developments in Syria. Those developments have been very difficult to watch. Most people only hear about these things on a news report, where it is difficult to imagine the scale and intensity of this violence. I have had a much closer view.

Bashar al-Assad is a dictator who has shown a willingness to reduce residential neighborhoods to rubble, to imprison and torture children, and who has watched callously as his actions have killed over a hundred thousand civilians and displaced millions of Syrian refugees.  

Despite that, I remain of the belief that as a nation, we cannot become directly entangled in a civil war that we do not fully understand. It is for this reason that I do not think we should arm the Syrian rebels and I do not support sending American troops into this conflict.  

However, over recent months I also learned of the facts that are now the subject of so much debate here and around the world. What I can tell you from my perspective, having seen the public evidence as well as much that remains classified, I do not have any doubt about the following facts: 

One: a chemical weapons attack occurred on August 21; 

Two: that attack was planned and carried out by Bashar al-Assad's regime; and 

Three: that as a result, hundreds of children and non-combatants were gassed to death in the suburbs of Damascus. 

I have seen how Assad incrementally tests the international community as he employs more and more brutal tactics in order to cling to power. And I can tell you that August 21 was not just some anomaly, but that it is part of a long and predictable pattern of behavior. 

What's more, I believe that when any country chooses to ignore the international norms against chemical weapons, they have made a deeply immoral decision with worldwide implications, implications that the United States and the international community cannot ignore. If you want to understand why chemical weapons were singled out for international actions, you can watch videos that were taken in the aftermath of the Damascus attacks. These videos show the real effects of chemical weapons and are completely consistent with international forensic evidence showing that the agent was Sarin nerve gas.  I would warn you not to view these with children in the room. They are real and they are horrible.  

I know that we are a nation that is not only rightfully weary of war, but also jaded by the dishonest use of cooked intelligence reports that led to terrible mistakes in Iraq. But this is not Iraq and we have a moral obligation to deter Assad and every regime watching him from thinking that they can gas their people with impunity, commit genocide, or employ internationally prohibited weapons.  

It is for this reason, and this reason alone, that I will support President Obama's request for the authorization of use of military force.  

I will seek to make sure that the resolution before the Senate remains narrow in scope and does not put American troops on the ground in another Middle Eastern war. But I believe that President Obama and the international community should be able to send a message to Bashar al-Assad: that he is not above international norms and that he will suffer real, military consequences should he choose to gas civilians. 

I will continue to support additional foreign aid to alleviate the humanitarian and refugee crisis in Syria and neighboring countries, and I will also continue supporting diplomatic options so long as they are credible, verifiable, and enforceable.
While I know that my vote on this matter will be controversial, especially among some of my closest supporters, I want you to know that I have little doubt it is the right decision. 

Maggie's In for SOS

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver announced this weekend that she will run to be the Democratic Party’s nominee to run next year against Republican incumbent Dianna Duran for Secretary of State.

State Democratic Party Chairman Sam Bregman confirmed Sunday that Oliver, who is serving her second elected term as clerk, made her run official Saturday at the party’s State Central Committee meeting in Albuquerque.

“She is a tremendous public servant and will make a great secretary of state,” Bregman said. Oliver couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday.

Bregman said he hasn’t heard of any other Democrats seeking the office. “It would be very difficult to take on Maggie at this point,” he said

Democrats have had their eye on that office ever since Duran, a former state senator from Tularosa beat incumbent Democrat Mary Herrera in 2010. “It’s an extremely important race because there’s no more important right than the right to vote,” Bregman said.

Oliver has served as Bernalillo County clerk since January, 2007. She was initially appointed by the commission to fill Herrera’s unexpired term when she was elected secretary of state. Oliver was elected to the office in 2008 then re-elected last year. A native of Albuquerque, she received a masters degree in political science in 2004.

She is married to Alan Oliver, a former CEO of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce and currently executive director of the Thornburg Foundation. The couple have two young sons.

UPDATE: 9-9-13 2:50 pm SOS Duran is from Tularosa, not Carrizozo as stated in an earlier version of this post. Also, Allan Oliver's current job has been added to the text.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: Let's Keep It Civil

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Sept. 8, 2013

In last Sunday’s Roundhouse Roundup, I noted that while most of the conservative reaction to several counties issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples has been muted, there has been some backlash, some of which is outlandish.

But it should be noted that even though most of the public reaction by marriage-equality proponents has been in the spirit of love and joy because they and/or their friends finally can marry the person they love, there have been some nasty exceptions.

Sen. Sharer

Granted — unlike the Curry County clerk I mentioned last week, who said she was worried she’d have to start issuing licenses to couples engaged in bestiality and incest — the pro-gay marriage nastiness I’m going to quote was not by elected officials.

But it’s still nasty, still hateful.

I’m talking about tweets directed toward state Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, probably the most vocal opponent of marriage equality in the state. Sharer is one of several Republican lawmakers who filed a lawsuit against Doña Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins, who set the gay marriage bandwagon in motion last month when he started issuing licenses to gay couples.

Sharer also caused a stir with his blog post in which he talked about Alexander the Great, who was known to conquer on the gay side, but advised his troops to get married and “stop whoring around.”

I had a little fun with Sharer and Alexander in last week’s column. But not like these tweets:

“@BillSharer GOD YOU ARE A (expletive deleted) MORON” said one.

“@BillSharer worries if gay marriage is legal his boyfriend might pressure him to leave his wife?” another said.

And one that’s more concerning than the obscene and libelous ones said, “@BillSharer No bigot should ever be permitted to hold gov’t office.NM SenBill Sharer needs to be removed from office BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.”

It would be easy for a politician to use garbage like this and say, “See! All gay-marriage supporters are rude and profane!” To Sharer’s credit, he didn’t.

In fact, on his blog last week, he gave examples of people who contacted him to disagree. Apparently they didn’t cuss at him or call him a moron.

“The loving manner expressed by these three people moved me,” Sharer wrote — even though they didn’t change his mind.

There was one he identified as “A Ph.d.” Sharer wrote, “While we continue to disagree on the issue of marriage we found common ground on broad issues. He had a positive effect on me.”

There was a “grandmotherly woman” who Sharer said was “by far the most kind and gentle person I have encountered in this debate. She asked me to think about some very specific things, which I did. This woman still has my head spinning. While I still believe marriage is between one man and one woman, I felt great love from her and I wish to express that love in return.”

Lastly, there was a “businessman” with whom Sharer had a “long and wonderful conversation.” Sharer said, “I could tell when I answered the phone that he was scared. He stayed strong, even facing what I am sure he thought was his mortal enemy, and politely told me his story, which was very compelling.”

In 21st-century melodrama politics, everything is boiled down to cheering our heroes and booing our villains. But when you keep in mind that your opponents are human, it tends to make things more interesting.

(Below: Back in 1968, Country Joe & The Fish foresaw the state of 21st Century political discourse.)



I stand corrected: In an Aug. 11 column about “party-hoppers,” I used material from an old story in which Secretary of State Dianna Duran had mentioned a former state Rep. Larry Sheffield, who had changed from Democrat to Republican while in office.

Former state Rep. LEONARD Sheffield

A few days ago, I was contacted by former Rep. Larry Sheffield — who represented Doña Ana County as a Republican in the 1985-86 term. Sheffield, now living in Arizona, told me that was wrong.

“You have me confused with my father, Leonard Sheffield, a [New Mexico] legislator who served for four terms from Otero County, and changed his last-term registration from Democrat to Republican. (I converted him!),” the younger Sheffield wrote in an email.

Sheffield noted that he and his dad were the only father and son team to serve together in the House at the same time.

NM Catholic Bishops: Say No to Syrian Action

Archbishop James Sheehan

The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent the following letter to the state's congressional delegation urging them to vote against using military action in Syria.


"We believe that more lives and livelihoods will be destroyed by military intervention," the letter says.

 "On this question Pope Francis has been clear: "How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed!"

The complete letter is below:

NM Catholic Bishops Letter to US Reps

Udall on Meet the Press Sunday

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico will appear on NBC's Meet the Press to discuss Syria Sunday morning, his office confirmed.

Udall,  a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted against the resolution for military action  in Syria earlier this week, one of only two Democrats to vote no.

“We should not take it lightly that the American people are not with us. New Mexicans are tired of war,” Udall said in a statement following the vote. “They know what the administration is proposing won’t provide us assurance that Assad will not attack again – that it won’t ensure that his regime will not retaliate in some way.

“The truth is that we cannot guarantee that even a ‘surgical’ strike will prevent the United States from being embroiled in war,” Udall said. “We should not enter into a conflict until we’ve exhausted every diplomatic and international option. We have not done that. The risks of the actions we are contemplating now are too great.”

Other scheduled guests on Meet the Press Sunday include White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough; and U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Peter King, R-N.Y., and Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif.

Meet the Press airs at 9 a.m. Sunday on KOB, Channel 4.

Domingo Won't Run For Auditor

Former State Auditor Domingo Martinez said Thursday  he will not run again for the statewide position next year, despite his announcement of his candidacy in May.

The 60-year-old Democrat, who is finishing his second term as county assessor, told a reporter that health problems related to an old ankle injury are forcing him to the sidelines during this election cycle.

"I'll wait and see if there's some other way I can serve in two years," Martinez said.

The only other announced candidate for the office is state Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque. No Republicans have announced for the  office

Current State Auditor Hector Balderas, who has announced he will run for the Democratic nomination as state attorney general in 2014, couldn't seek re-election as auditor due to term limits.

Martinez served two four-year terms as state auditor beginning in 1999. He has the distinction of being the first public official to find evidence suggesting corruption on the part of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil, who ended up serving time in a federal prison.

During his first term as auditor, Martinez ordered an audit of Vigil’s years as state auditor in the 1990s. That audit uncovered possible violations of state laws, including the filtering of money to a former assistant through an accounting company and money going to a nonprofit group headed by Vigil’s wife.