Keller's Not a Candidate for Gov, But He Sure is Talking Like One

I couldn't help but notice a tweet today from Justine Freeman, who worked as a flack for the Senate Majority Whip's office -- the whip being Sen. Tim Keller -- during this years legislative session.

It was a link to a Duke City Fix story with the headline "The Six Reasons Tim Keller Will Run for Governor." Freeman altered the headline slightly in her tweet: "The Six Reasons Tim Keller Will (and should!) Run for Governor" (exclamation point hers.)

O.K., you might dismiss that as an over-enthusiastic tweet from a faithful employee. But listen to Keller's speech from the state Democrats' central committee meeting on Saturday.

Keller says he's also considering running for state treasurer or state auditor. But he sure doesn't spend much time talking about the treasurer or auditor's office in this speech.

It's Official: Hector's In for AG

To absolutely nobody's surprise, state Auditor Hector Balderas has made it official. He's running for attorney general.

In a letter to supporters, Balderas wrote:

My number one goal as Attorney General will be keeping our families safe. I’ll protect our children and consumers, fight as hard for our Veterans as they fought for us, and ensure that we stop discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability, so that all can pursue the opportunity to thrive. I will also improve and promote greater accountability in the nonprofit and corporate sectors so that all New Mexicans can enjoy a better quality of life

This is what you call your basic "soft" announcement. Balderas said "This fall we’ll have a big campaign kick-off where I’ll more fully articulate my vision for how New Mexico’s Attorney General’s office can move our state forward."

He urged prospective supporters to sign up for news alerts on his website.

Balderas might be facing former Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks, a lawyer from Albuquerque in the Democratic primary. He's got a campaign website, but he told me Tuesday afternoon that his campaign is still in "exploratory" mode.

"I'm definitely out there talking to Democrats," Marks said. He said he'll make a final decision in about a month.

UPDATED 2:13 pm. After talking with Marks, I changed the original text to make clear that he has not announced yet.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP; New Push for Open Primaries

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
April 28, 2013


Think New Mexico, which in recent years spearheaded efforts to establish full-day kindergarten, get rid of the food tax and reform the Public Regulation Commission, is turning its eye to opening up political party primaries.

Fred Nathan

Last week, Fred Nathan, founder and executive director of the think tank, wrote to the state chairmen of both major parties asking them to consider changing the rules of their respective primaries to allow independent voters to participate.

Full disclosure here. As faithful readers of this column should know, I’m a proud DTS (Declined to State, which is the official designation of independents in New Mexico).

And I have used this column to beat the drum for open primaries (it’s also the editorial position of the newspaper). It’s hardly a radical idea. Democrats and Republicans let unaffiliated voters vote in primaries in a majority of states.

In his letter to the party chiefs, Nathan — also a card-carrying DTS — used familiar arguments for opening the primaries to us Declined-to-Staters. He predicted it would increase participation in primaries, which last year fell to an anemic 24 percent of the total number of registered voters.
Nathan also noted that it’s unfair that all taxpayers, independents included, pay for the primaries in the state, even though independents — who account for 18 percent of all voters statewide, 20 percent in Santa Fe County — are barred from participating.

But he also used an interesting argument I hadn’t thought of before.

“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.”

How do party leaders feel about this?

Republican state Chairman John Billingsley didn’t sound like he was embracing the idea last week. Through a spokeswoman, he said, “While we will review the request, the idea of open primaries allows for outside groups to organize and disrupt the party’s primary process. As a party, we seek to keep primaries as they are in order to ensure that the best possible Republican candidates are put forth for each race.”

But Javier Gonzales, who was state Democrat chairman until the end of the week, said he likes the idea. “It’s not only healthy for democracy but for the Democratic Party,” he said. “I believe our ideas would resonate for many independents.”

He also said he agrees with Nathan that letting DTS voters into the Democratic primary would help his party in the general elections.

But Gonzales noted Thursday that a new chairman would be elected this weekend. “Hopefully the next chairman will work to adopt this,” he said.

Note that Nathan is going to the party chairmen to try to instigate this change. Not the Legislature. I’m sure he’s well aware of the sad result last year with a proposed constitutional amendment to allow unaffiliated voters to vote in primaries.

Rep. Andy Nunez changing his registration to
Declined to State in 2011

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez of Hatch, who had switched his registration from Democrat to DTS the year before. The lone independent in the Legislature went before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee with his joint resolution to put the proposed amendment on the ballot to let voters decide.

Supporters argued that opening the primaries would lead to more participation in the process.

“I would do anything to get more people to vote,” said Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, who at the time was chairwoman of the committee.

Everything but vote for Nuñez’s proposal, it turned out.

Chasey was joined by every present member of her committee, Democrat and Republican coming together in a display of bipartisan unity, voting to table the joint resolution and keep independents from voting in primaries.

Bregman Elected Dem State Chairman

The state Democratic Party's Central Committee just elected Albuquerque lawyer Sam Bregman as the party's new chairman.

He defeated Roxanne Lara of Carlsbad by about a 2-1 margin.

On his Facebook page, Bregman said:

“The campaign is over. Our party is unified and ready to challenge Gov. Martinez and other Republicans. I congratulate the other candidates for bringing hard work and passion to our state party. The party will be focused like a laser beam on electing Democrats who will support good jobs and improve our economy,”

Heather Wilson New President of a South Dakota College

Former U.S. Rep. and Republican senatorial candidate Heather Wilson has been chosen to be the 19th president of the South Dakota  School of Mines & Technology.

According to a news release from the college sent today, Terry Baloun, chair of the board of regents' search committee, said:

“Heather Wilson is a high-energy leader who brings exceptional communication skills and public-sector experience to her new position. At a time when higher education increasingly must make its case for more external funding and sustained research support from the federal and private sectors, our search committee took particular note of Dr. Wilson’s Capitol Hill experience, as well as her connections to decision makers in Washington and throughout the scientific research community. We are excited to have her join our team."

Wilson represented the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District for 10 years. She lost to Democrat Martin Heinrich in last year's U.S. Senate race.

Garcia: We Had the Votes, But Not the Time

Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, who sponsored the bill to require background checks for people purchasing firearms at gun shows says he is confident House Bill 77 would have passed the Senate -- and thus cleared the Legislature -- if there had been more time.

As it turned out the bill died on the Senate floor in the last hour of the session.

Here's what Garcia said in a postmortem he emailed last night.

Time permitting, could the Senate have passed HB 77 in our 2013 Session?  Simply put, Yes!  Some of you who were present for the Senate floor debate on HB 77 recall that there was one voice vote to table one of the sophomoric amendments (19 still waiting) put on by Democrat George Munoz of Gallup.  The president of the Senate, Lt. Governor John Sanchez, stated that the “I’s” prevailed and the first amendment was tabled.  

Immediately, a Republican—not sure if it was Sen. Neville or Sen. Sharer—“challenged the ruling of the chair” (the Lt Governor).  It went to a roll call vote.  All 42 senators were present and voted.  If a majority of Senators had voted yes “for” challenging the ruling of the chair, the 1st amendment would have been adopted.  If a majority of senators had voted no “for” challenging the ruling of the chair, the vote to table the amendment would have prevailed.  By a roll call vote of 22 to 20, the Senate voted NOT to challenge the ruling of the chair, thus preserving the affirmation to table the 1st amendment. 

It is my candid perspective that had the Senate tabled all of the frivolous 20 amendments by the same margin, 22 to 20, and had HB 77 gone to a final vote, it would not surprise me that the outcome would have been 22 to 20 for its passage

Garcia, in his email,  praised Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez::

We were inspired by the closing statement of Sen. Sánchez who stated, as the clock inched towards 11:59 am, that HB 77 was a crucial legislative initiative that merited real debate by the Senate, and not the political theatrical antics of a few legislators bent on denying the people of New Mexico a sound and sensible gun violence prevention policy. 

Sen. Sánchez further concluded that HB 77 will see the light of day on the Senate Floor in the 2014 Session and also stressed the need that Governor Martínez message the legislation next year complimenting its heroic accomplishment from a good original bill to a bipartisan and bicameral compromise measure that the overwhelming majority of New Mexicans relish.  

R.I.P. Bob Edgar of Common Cause

Bob Edgar

Bob Edgar, a 6-term "Watergate Baby" Congressman from Pennsylvania, a Methodist Minister and most recently president and CEO of Common Cause died this morning in his home.

In a news release from Common Cause, its national board chairman Robert Reich said, “Bob will be remembered for his decency, kindness, compassion and humor. His deep commitment to social justice and strengthening our democracy is his greatest gift to Common Cause and the nation."

I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob twice in recent years when he came to New Mexico. Most recently was last September.

Here's a link to that story. (For some reason it's no longer on The New Mexican's site, but thanks to Sportsmen Vote for re-posting it.)