Democracy for New Mexico

Desert Rock Power Plant Update: Public Hearings Set for July

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
Public Hearings will be held for citizens to speak out about the planned Desert Rock Power Plant in the Four Corners area. This is your chance to stand up for clean air, land and water in New Mexico! On May 22nd the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released a draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) which strongly supports the Desert Rock Power Plant and 10 public hearings will be held on this, starting July 17th, 2007 (see below).

The BIA is holding these hearings because these communities and the people living in them will be directly affected by the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant. The mercury emitted by Desert Rock will find its way into the watersheds serving these communities, including both rivers and fishing lakes.

For more information, please contact Trisha London: trishal@nmwild.org.

Editor's Note: Here's the listing of all the scheduled hearings from https://www.desert-rock-blog.com, which is an activist site that covers the fight against the proposed filthy, coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant:

• July 17, 5 - 8 PM, Farmington Civic Center.
• July 18, 10 AM - 1 PM, Ute Mountain Casino, Towaoc, Colo.
• July 10, 5 - 8 PM, Iron Horse Inn, Durango, Colo.
• July 19, 1 - 4 PM, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque.
• July 20, 1 - 4 PM, Runnels Building (Larrazolo Auditorium), Santa Fe.
• July 23, 10 AM - 1 PM, Shiprock Chapter House.
• July 23, 5 - 8 PM, Nenahnezad Chapter House.
• July 24, 10 AM - 1 PM, Burnham Chapter House.
• July 24, 5 - 8 PM, Veterans Memorial Center, Sanostee, N.M.
• July 25, 10 AM - 1 PM, Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock.

You can download a copy of the draft EIS here, where you can also submit written comments about the proposed project. The closing date for comments is Aug. 20, 2007.

Also of interest is a recent that describes how the originally scheduled hearings were abruptly postponed without word getting to the Navajo activists who intended to testify, many of whom traveled many miles to attend the hearing orginally set for June 18. The article also reports on the process for plant approval and had this to say about the draft EIS:

The draft environmental impact statement, a document about the size of the Phoenix phonebook, analyzes how the power plant would affect the surrounding environment and people under various development scenarios. A technical consultant funded by Sithe Global and the DinŽ Power Authority prepared the EIS, which is required under federal law.

It concludes that there will be adverse impacts but that these would be outweighed by the benefits of job creation and revenue for the tribal government.

Opponents fault the study for inadequate research and misleading conclusions, and say it dodges the most significant question of this era - how the power plant would contribute to global warming.

You can find most of our previous posts on the Desert Rock Power plant in this archive.

Repub Rep. Foley: Obscenities, Spitting Tobacco Juice and Charging at Cops

Arrest Mug Shot: NM Rep. Dan Foley (R-Chaves County) with tobacco spitting residue evident on his shirt

The Roswell Daily Record provides the photo (above) and the story on what the police report on Foley's Sunday arrest at a youth basketball game reveals. You really should read the whole thing, but here's an especially telling excerpt:

Screaming profanities at an opposing coach, the Roswell Republican rushed the court and spat chewing tobacco at an officer before being arrested, police said.

... "I told Mr. Foley to 'get back,' but Mr. Foley continued to push forward," Carrasco said in the incident report. "I attempted to pull Mr. Foley back, but Mr. Foley pushed forward (charged) in an aggressive stance. ... I pulled Mr. Foley back and placed him on the ground facing up... I held Mr. Foley down ... to stop him from getting up." One witness said Foley had been yelling at players and officials during previous games. The witness told police that when Foley was being escorted to the mall security office for police questioning, the crowd began to cheer.

During questioning at the mall, the aggression continued, the report said. Foley asked for officers' names, saying he was going to "have our jobs," an officer said. "Mr. Foley used too many obscenities to be remembered," the officer said.

If convicted at his August 2nd trial, Foley would face a potential maximum fine of $784 and 20 days in jail. He's entered a not guilty plea to charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest and is reportedly requesting a jury trial.

Click for our previous post on the arrest of Foley.

Rep. Udall Introduces Sabinoso Wilderness Legislation

From the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance:
After working with Congressman Tom Udall for the last year, and an important visit to Washington DC recently by NMWA staff, Congressman Udall introduced legislation to permanently protect the Sabinoso Wilderness Study Area on June 7th.  Sabinoso lies just 40 miles east of Las Vegas, New Mexico. At 25,000 acres, it is one of the finest intact Great-Plains ecosystems left in New Mexico and is home to a variety of wildlife, including American kestrel, savannah sparrow, red-tailed hawk, broad tailed hummingbird, coyote, mountain lions, mule deer and gray foxes.

New Mexico Wilderness Allliance would like to thank Congressman Tom Udall, our members and the Bureau of Land Management for working together to protect this wild landscape.  We look forward to seeing this Bill pass through Congress this year.

According to the New Mexico Department of Tourism, the outdoor tourism industry in 2005 generated over $5 billion dollars to the state economy. Additionally, a 2004 study conducted by the nonprofit Sonoran Institute found that communities adjacent to protected public lands, including wilderness, are those with the fastest economic growth rates.

“Sabinoso is a spectacular landscape that features the deep canyons and rugged beauty of San Miguel County,” said Arturo Sandoval, Board Member of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. “Creating this area as a wilderness will provide wonderful opportunities for sustainable economic development tied directly to open space.”

A series of high, narrow mesas surrounded by steep, rock-walled canyons provides a striking contrast to the nearby rolling prairie. The Canadian River runs through the northeast corner of the Sabinoso Wilderness Study Area, which feeds into many other streams. Ponderosa pine, Cottonwood, and willows can be found along the many stream sides.

There have been resolutions in support of protecting Sabinoso from the San Miguel County Commission, the City of Las Vegas, and other surrounding communities. For more information go to:

https://www.nmwild.org/campaigns/sabinoso/

To help support our efforts to protect Wilderness, please visit:

https://secure.ga3.org/05/nmwild_donate

Wiviott Launches Campaign Website for Senate Run for Domenici Seat

Don Wiviott, who recently announced he intends to pursue the Democratic nomination to challenge New Mexico's incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Domenici in November 2008, has a new campaign website. The website provides a detailed bio, a news section, a link to an Act Blue donation page and this info on the latest polling on Domenici:

A new Survey U.S.A. poll sponsored by KOB-TV and released on June 19 found Domenici’s disapproval rating at an all-time high. The poll found that 51 percent of New Mexicans gave Domenici a positive job rating, while 42 percent of New Mexicans gave Domenici a negative job rating. As recently as February 2007, Domenici had a 64 percent -27 percent approval rating.

Wiviott is a Santa Fe developer who describes himself as "a leader in building environmentally-friendly live/work communities." He has been challenged by Jim Hannan, another Democratic candidate in the race, about a $2100 donation he made during the 2004 election cycle to former Santa Fe City Councilor David Pfeffer, a Dem turned Republican who was running against Dem incumbent Senator Jeff Bingaman. Wiviott explained his donation this way in a recent Santa Fe New Mexican article:

Wiviott said Friday that he shared little in common with Pfeffer’s political beliefs but described him as an “honest guy” and a friend. “David was struggling when he was running for office, and I helped a friend,” Wiviott said.

According to a recent article by Kate Nash in the Albuquerque Tribune, two others still thinking about entering the Senate race on the Dem side include former U.S. Attorney John Kelly and anti-choice Democrat Allen Sanchez, who's currently the executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both Jim Hannan, who worked for former U.S. Rep. Morris “Mo” Udall, D-Ariz., and was finance director of the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust, and Leland Lehrman, peace activist and editor of the alternative newspaper The Sun News, have already declared their candidacies.

As to how the NM Democratic Party views the race against Domenici:

... Chairman Brian Colón said the party is intent on winning a seat it lost to Domenici in 1974.

"I think we're going to focus on this race probably like we haven't in 30 years," he said. "I think it's time to say, `Thanks for your service, but it's time to move on.' "

Click to read our previous post on Wiviott's entry into the Senate race, or to review all of our archived posts about the 2008 U.S. Senate race in New Mexico.

Guest Blog: How to Get Health Security for Everybody

This is a guest blog by Terry Riley of Albuquerque:
New Mexico is working on health care coverage reform. The movie "Sicko" will convince you of the critical need for such reform if you are not already convinced. I urge everybody to take everybody that you know to the movie. I cannot imagine anybody coming out of the movie without understanding that our system of health care reimbursement is broken and that there are plenty of systems that we could adopt that work well.

I have been working on a plan here in New Mexico that will work well and will reduce what New Mexico pays for health care plus it will cover everybody in the state. The Governor and the Legislature put together a committee to study the problem and to make a proposal in time for the 2008 legislative session. As part of the work that they have done they hired a consulting firm to calculate how much each of the three systems that the committee had narrowed to would cost. The Health Security Plan would cost less than we spend as a state now where the other two plans would cost more.

Cost should never be the only reason to rely on when making such an important decision. What and who will be covered should be of equal importance. The Health Security Plan won again. It is the only plan where everybody in the state will be covered. The other two plans have some small gaps, which I fear will become wide gaps after implementation. One example of a group of people who would not be covered in the two more expensive plans, is people who are homeless due to domestic abuse.  Personally, I don't need to look for any more examples of who would not be covered. These people desperately need coverage and they are not. I see that everybody is covered under the Health Security Plan.  I don’t understand why the other two plans are still being considered. They cost more and they don't cover everybody.

The hearings that were held on Thursday and Friday, June 21 and 22 also reported on the impact on gross receipts taxes, job losses vs. job gains, legal ramifications relating to federal government medical assistance programs, etc. The study by Mathematica was extremely detailed. I believe, from having attended the reports from Mathematica, and from having read as much of the 218 page report that I have completed so far, that the Health Security Plan is the least expensive, the least difficult to implement, and everybody is covered. 

Thursday afternoon the committee received a communication from Governor Richardson. Michele Welby who is on the Governor's staff and is a member of the committee relayed the communication. What I feel is the most significant and most disturbing point in his communication is that he will not support any plan that does not include the health insurance corporations. This is the largest and most unnecessary cost in our entire health care delivery system.

The argument that the Health Security Plan is a single payer system - AND - unworkable because it would be run by the "Government", is stupid. The Health Security Plan is a Co-Op, which is a distinct type of single payer system that has a long history of success in the development of our country. The argument that we cannot trust the "Government" to run anything seems very unrealistic to me.  Aren't our fire departments, police and sheriff's departments run by the government?  Aren't Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid run by the government?  Aren't our streets and highways maintained by our government?  What about the obvious failure of the privatization of services to our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan?  The same failure due to the privatization of aid to the victims of Katrina?  A government system that is constructed by people who have a financial interest in that system's failure will likely fail.  A government system that is constructed by people who have a personal interest in the success of that system have a high probability of success.

I want success. I want lower cost. I want everybody covered. We will only achieve these goals if we get organized and convince our elected representatives that we will accept nothing less. Please join me as I develop the necessary organization for New Mexico to bring health security to everybody.

The web site for the Health Security Plan is not working; for information on the Health Security Plan and to join in supporting the Health Security Plan please go to:  www.whatifyouknew-nm.com. The Health Security supporters do not have the funding of our private health coverage corporations and therefore cannot afford the fancy literature, TV ads, radio ads, and expensive retreats and luncheons for our legislators and for our Governor. We are citizens who are trying to put together a plan that will improve life for all of our neighbors.  The plan that we are proposing has now been analyzed by a company with extremely good credentials and has passed the test. It is time for us to come together and to explain to our representatives what we want done in our name.  In New Mexico we want the Health Security Plan.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Albuquerque citizen-activist Terry Riley. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

SICK O' The System Press Conference & Rally Set for Friday Morning in ABQ

From Charlotte Roybal, Health Action New Mexico:
SICK O' The System Press Conference and Rally
JOIN US: Friday, June 29, 2007
10:00 AM - before the SICKO first showing in ABQ at 11 AM
Century 14 Movie Theatre (SW Corner of 1st and Central)
Filmaker Michael Moore's long awaited documentary "SICKO" will be released in ABQ. Sponsored By:

• Native Health Care Council
• Community Coalition for Health Care Access,
• Health Action NM
• NM Conference of Churches
• American Medical Students Association-NM Chapter

See attached flyers to distribute:

• Download sickow.doc (Word doc)
• Download sicko-2.pub (Publisher)
• Download sickopc.pub (Publisher)

Editor's Note: The Progress Report backs up "Sicko's" destruction of four major myths about American health care with the facts. This past Saturday, "Sicko" sold out every single sneak preview held in cities around the nation, including here in Albuquerque. Also check out David Sirota's report on his attendance at a sneak preview of the film in Denver and a rally with Michael Moore at the Colorado state capitol, including this video clip:

Guest Blog: Ben Luce on Why He Launched "Break The Grip!"

This is a guest blog by environmental activist Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:

For the past ten years I have tried as hard as I could to work through our existing political system, as a mostly polite and "professional" environmental advocate, to bring about policies that support renewable energy development and energy efficiency. I collaborated with the Richardson Administration and the utilities, to the extent that this was possible, to "move the ball forward" as people say. Mind you, this was not an easy process, I sometimes sparred publicly with the Administration and the utilities, and often sparred with them behind the scenes, but I mainly pursued the usual channels of lobbying politely, participating in PRC cases, etc.

We did make some progress, to be sure, getting things such as solar tax credits and stronger solar rights through, and the initial renewable energy standard and some other things. I am still very happy and proud about those things.

But I did fight many quiet wars, things were often delayed or compromised to a great extent, and I was always bothered by the pervasive and blatant undue corporate influence that I saw around me at the Legislature in general.

Then, in the recent Legislative Session, I experienced undue corporate influence to the extreme: The Richardson Administration, to my great sadness and dismay, basically teamed up with PNM to exclude citizen advocacy at all costs and try to gut the effectiveness of the new renewable energy standard, of course while making it look good for Richardson. They also tried to strip out crucial renewable energy provisions from the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (already an extremely scary piece of legislation), and force a clean coal incentive down our throats. The Administration even had a PNM lobbyist working inside and officially representing the Administration (Art Hull), who was assigned to work on the Transmission Authority. Similarly, the clean coal incentive was forced us by a coal-industry connected LANL person named Charryl Berger, who was "on loan" to the Legislature.

Moreover, I sadly watched as the Democratic Leadership put a PNM lobbyist forward and bully citizen advocates to pass a PNM originated bill that rolls back protections for low-income people, and also try to force a $60 million tax incentive through for the Desert Rock Power Plant.

All of this obscene abuse of power was finally too much for me. After mulling it all over, and writing down my experiences over the past ten years (and storing this for safe keeping with others), I finally decided to go public about what actually happened. More than that, instead of just issuing an angry "rant" (as the Administration characterized my first press conference), I decided to launch, with other concerned citizens, a new campaign called "Break The Grip!". This will hopefully be a persistent citizens' campaign to systematically expose as much of the corporate political monopoly over New Mexico as possible, and call for a wide range of reforms.

I spent a few weeks developing the web site , which now contains much detail about the past relative to my own experiences, and we launched the campaign on Tuesday, June 19th (Tuesday being associated with the Greek God of War).

Since that time, AP coverage of the event has spread widely, including nationally, so I think we've made some impact.

We've also received tremendous support from the public: It seems that many people feel the way I do.

But we will need lots of help from the public on keeping the buzz going. We already used up a lot of publicity capital in our first press conference, so we need people to write letters-to-the-editor, join our network , etc. Don't let these guys hear the end of it!

The forces that be are already fighting back: A Richardson appointee named Gregory Green already crashed my press conference on behalf of the Administration and attempted to blunt our coverage by playing dumb about what happened during the session (he was a lobbyist for my former organization during the session), and apparently conveniently managed not to mention that he is currently a Richardson Appointee to the powerful Environmental Improvement Board. This is the kind of unethical response that needs to be countered. Who knows what else they will try? I've certainly written my fair share of embarrassing emails in the past, and I expect to start seeing them turning up in public. Do I care? Sure, things will likely be painful for me. But I'm persona non grata now anyway (at least among the corrupt! I've gotten lots of support from people on the inside too).

So, please help us rid our state of the obscene grip of corporations over our political system here in this state. Now is the time. Visit , read through the materials there, join the network, and await news of further opportunities to participate. We intend to take this campaign to the doorsteps of the powerful, and not back down.

Thanks and best wishes,
Ben Luce

Editor's Notes: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

Click to read a previous post on the formation of Break the Grip!

(Updated) Republican NM House Leader Arrested During Altercation in Roswell

UPDATE: KOB News 4 has video of a response from Foley. He states he won't apologize.
*************
State Rep. Dan Foley (R-Roswell), who serves as the Republican House Minority Whip in the NM Legislature, was arrested Sunday night in Roswell. According to a Roswell Daily Record article,

State Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, was arrested Sunday evening by Roswell police officers after an altercation during the Gus Macker basketball tournament which was being staged in the back parking lot of the Roswell Mall.

... Charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing an officer, Foley was booked into CCDC Sunday evening and faces a $900 surety bond, according to Moe Espinoza, a CCDC corrections officer.

Click for a video of a KRQE News 13 story about Foley's arrest that aired last night. The story states that, "During that confrontation, a police officer took Foley down." Foley has since bonded out of the Chaves County Detention Center and faces arraignment on Tuesday, June 26th, in Roswell.

Ironically, Rep. Foley is a member of the NM Legislature's Judiciary Committee as well as an advisory member of its Interim Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee and its Interim Legislative Ethics Committee. He's also known as a "law and order," conservative.

Rep. Foley also got into hot water in February of 2006 for requesting a flyover by F-16s at the opening of a Roswell Toyota car dealership owned by Tom Krumland, a prominent Republican donor and 2004 RNC delegate. As reported in an Albuquerque Journal article:

The leader of the New Mexico National Guard has ordered an investigation into a flyover by four F-16 fighter planes for the opening of a Roswell auto dealership.

Brig. Gen. Kenny Montoya authorized the flyover for the day before Veterans Day after being asked by Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell. Montoya acknowledged this week that he should have looked closer at the request.

Ah the circles are small in New Mexico. According to a item on Talking Points Memo, it turns out that Tom Krumland's wife, Linda Chavez Krumland, chaired a group called New Mexicans for Honest Courts that bought anti-David Iglesias radio ads earlier this year.

Guest Blog: Patrick Lyons Needs to Answer Questions About Campaign Contributions

This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois of Las Cruces:
"Fair and honest" are the words used by Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons. He was the same Patrick Lyons that thought buying a pick-up truck with campaign funds was acceptable.I am sure he believes he was fair and honest. I can't say with any certainty that Mr. Lyons has done anything illegal according to New Mexico law.

We, as New Mexican voters, extend to our elected officials a certain amount of trust and we have the expectation that trust will be honored. Some of the comments attributed to Mr. Lyons might cause one to think there is a credibility gap. On one hand he says "everything we do is fair and honest" and he is doing everything he can to raise money for state trust funds. On the other hand he doesn't feel compelled to answer questions about campaign donations given by the same developer before and after the bid was awarded to him. When called by an Albuquerque Journal reporter about those donations he told the reporter, "don't call me back again." He then hung up. I think the commissioner doth protest too much.

To my knowledge, there is no bid process on state trust lands, yet Mr. Lyons created a Request for Proposal process with a reported deadline of February 1. He awarded the bid to a Las Cruces developer on December 26. Mr. Lyons claimed that this contractor had by far the best proposal. Question: How could Mr. Lyons know it was the best proposal if he didn't see any of the others? And why would he go against his process by awarding the bid almost a month early?

The contractor can donate to any campaign he wishes, as long as he doesn't have some expectation of some kind of return. For me, I think there should be an investigation of all transactions made while Lyons has been in office. Unlike the legislature, which must have a majority vote to pass legislation, Lyons is able to make decisions unilaterally and arbitrarily. We learned in the recent past that behavior isn't always wise. Let's have answers to the right questions.

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Stephanie L. DuBois. Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their personal opinions on relevant political issues. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.

To learn more about the controversy over Patrick Lyons' handling of a development bid in Las Cruces and campaign contributions he received from the chosen developer, try these for starters:

• Lyons Got Donations After Vote, Albuquerque Journal, 6.16.07
• Land Commissioner on Shaky Ground, Albuquerque Journal, 6.19.07
• On trip to Las Cruces, Lyons defends land lease, Heath Haussamen, 5.16.07

PARTICIPATE: Governor's Task Force on Ethics Reform

The next meeting of the Governor's Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform is scheduled for Wednesday, June 27th, at 9 AM in Room 307 at the State Capitol in Santa Fe. Once again, public participation is urged. Even though it sure seemed like it was certain members of the Democratic leadership in the NM Senate who stopped many of the recommended bills that came out of last year's task force, there's still hope these critical reforms have a real chance for passage at the 2008 Legislative Session. This is especially true IF we keep the pressure on by showing there's strong and unwavering public support for genuine change. The public comment period is tentatively set for 3:00 PM, but that can change depending on how much time other agenda items take up. Here's the tentative agenda:

Tentative Agenda: Governor's Task Force on Ethics Reform
Wednesday, June 27
Room 307, Roundhouse, Santa Fe

• 9:00 AM  Call to Order: Governor Garrey Carruthers and Dean Suellyn Scarnecchia, Co-Chairs
• 9:05 AM   Approval of Minutes
• Working Group Reports:
  • 9:15 AM  Ethics Commission
  • 9:45 AM  Campaign Contribution Limits
  • 10:15 AM  Gift Limitations
• 10:30 AM  Break
• Working Group Reports Continued:
  • 10:45 AM  State Treasurer/State Auditor Appointment
  • 11:15 AM  Public Finance
  • 11:45 AM  Legislative Compensation
• 12:00 Noon  Lunch
• Working Group Reports Continued:
  • 1:30 PM  Elections Commission
  • 2:00 PM  Procurement Practices
  • 2:30 PM  Transparency in Government
• 3:00 PM   Public Comment*
• 3:30 PM  Discussion of Task Force Next Steps
• 4:00 PM  Adjourn

*SINCE PRESENTATION TIMES VARY, PUBLIC COMMENT MAY BE HELD AT A DIFFERENT TIME THAN THAT SCHEDULED.