Morning Word
I don't really have anything clever to say here, so let's just get straight to the Word, with talk about a potential scandal with the governor's political team and more of the news from around the state.
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- A
- scandal in the governor's office
- or just an oversight by a member of the government*?
- An email obtained by a Democratic political action committee indicates state employees and computers at the Public Education Department were used to compile lists of nonunion teachers and their email addresses for Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's political director.
According to the email, sent May 2 by department spokesman Larry Behrens to political director Jay McCleskey and several government officials, the department's Information Technology Division compiled a list of all teachers and their emails. Behrens also said the department's budget staff compiled a list of which school districts have union contracts, and created a list of nonunion teachers' emails. - It should be noted that when you file an a request for files with the the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA), governmental entities will not usually compile new information for you; they are only required to give you files or documents that already exist.
- One of the big reasons that governmental entities will reject an IPRA request is because it would involve creating new documents, which includes lists.
- Two razor-thin primaries in state legislative races
- will likely go to a recount
- .
- The Albuquerque Journal says it was
- a good day for firefighters battling two massive blazes in New Mexico
- -- but there is still a lot of work to be done.
- FiveThirtyEight looks at the different
- presidential election prediction models and where they differ
- . All but two say that New Mexico is a "Lean Obama" state. Pollster has the state as "Solid Obama" while CBS News says it is a "Toss Up." Obama faces former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in November.
- The next two most disagreed upon states — Pennsylvania and New Mexico — have ratings ranging from tossup to solid Obama. The FiveThirtyEight model doesn’t see either state as a tossup, judging both close to solidly Obama.
- While Nate Silver notes that the range is extreme, it is really just two outliers with the rest agreeing. But with such a small data sample (just seven models), it is hard to draw any big trends.
- A recall in New Mexico? From the
- Alamogordo Daily News
- :
- The petition states [Alamogordo city councilor Josh] Rardin "knowingly engaged in a conflict of interest and was found guilty on May 11, 2012, of violating the Governmental Conduct Act by an ethics investigation performed by the New Mexico Secretary of State." "Rardin has violated our sacred trust in him to properly perform his duties as Commissioner without personal bias to benefit himself," the petition states. "His actions were unbecoming of a commissioner and he must be removed from office."
- This probably won't have the same attention as the recent recall elections in Wisconsin.
- Meanwhile a Taos Town councilor
- was largely cleared of any wrongdoing
- by an independent investigation.
- There's a new political website in New Mexico with a decidedly Republican bent. The site is
- Who Said You Said
- , and it must be well-funded -- the blogger is
- Tom Intorcio
- , who was Rick Santorum's Field Director for Santorum's presidential campaign. The site appears to be focusing on the New Mexico Senate race.
- State agencies
- are going paperless on contract bids
- , reports the Albuquerque Journal.
- Milan Simonich looks at a fire caption who is
- fighting to serve in the state legislature and keep her job as a firefighter
- . Opponents say it would violate the Hatch Act which forbids anyone involved in handling federal funds from holding office.
- Jim Baca
- says legalize it
- .
- We all read today about the ever present drunk driving problems in this country. But we made the decision that it was easier, less violent, and more effective to legalize, tax and deal with alcoholism than to prohibit sale of booze. That formula should work for drugs.
- Baca also said it was just about the only thing he ever agreed with Gary Johnson on while Johnson was governor.
- Freedom Communications, the libertarian company that used to own three Eastern New Mexico newspapers,
- was sold to 2100 Trust
- . The Orange County Register, probably the most recognizable newspaper involved in the sale,
- has coverage
- . Aaron Kushner, who heads the group buying the company
- has donated to Barack Obama
- and promises to be far away on the political spectrum from the previous owners.
* I worked with Behrens briefly at the New Mexico Independent.
