Morning Word
I'm not sure if the U.S. Senate news is going to stop between now and November. Between ads from candidates, ads from outside groups and attacks from all sides, we will be getting more than our fill of the Martin Heinrich-Heather Wilson matchup.
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One thing that I wish would disappear even more are the fires blazing in New Mexico. While the Whitewater-Baldy Fire in the Gila is
more than two-thirds contained
, it is still approaching 300,000 acres. The Little Bear fire near Ruidoso is 38,000 acres and is 30 percent contained.On to the Word:
- The Albuquerque Journal's Deborah Baker
- writes about a "partial accord" on redistricting costs
- -- though attorneys fees are still out there. The massive costs came after the legislature passed maps that the governor threatened to veto. Martinez followed through on her threat and the decision, for the second redistricting cycle in a row, was made by the courts.
- Dan Boyd of the Journal follows up on the New Mexican's scoop about the
- Public Education Department creating a list for Gov. Susana Martinez's political consultant
- . A key staffer to Martinez worked to distance himself from the fray:
- One of the Governor’s Office employees who received the email, Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell, said Tuesday that he does not know why it was sent to him but that it is common for him to be notified of outgoing responses to records requests made of executive branch agencies.
Darnell also said staffers in the Martinez administration have been reminded to use state email for official state business. - Trip Jennings of the New Mexican says the ads in the
- U.S. Senate race are still "cuddly."
- At least the ads from the candidates themselves. As NM Telegram has highlighted,
- the attack ads are coming from outside groups
- .
- Talking Points
- Memo highlighted the start of the environmental coalition's involvement
- in the New Mexico Senate race.
- Speaking of the U.S. Senate race, the Wilson campaign says that claims by ProgressNow New Mexico that
- she served as a lobbyist in Washington D.C. are false
- . Other claims on the
- WilsonWatch
- website, it appears, were not disputed by the Wilson campaign, or at least not newsworthy.
- Another blockbuster news story from the New York Times involving horse racing. This time, men with ties to Mexican drug cartels
- had their stables in Ruidoso raided by federal agents
- .
- The Justice Department moved against Tremor on Tuesday morning, sending several helicopters and hundreds of law enforcement agents to the company’s stables in Ruidoso and its ranch in Oklahoma. José Treviño, his wife and five associates were taken into custody later in the day, and a total of 15 people were charged, the authorities said.
Miguel Ángel Treviño, 38, and another brother, Omar, 36, were among those charged. They remain at large in Mexico. Omar Treviño is also a high-ranking member of the Zetas, and an F.B.I. affidavit filed in United States District Court describes him as participating in the money laundering. - An former prosecutor who handled drug cases said maybe they thought they could hide in plain sight -- because no one could think they would be so brazen.
- The El Paso Times (via the
- Las Cruces Sun-Times
- ) on the raid:
- "Everyone is talking about the situation here at the racetrack and it's tough when you see all these federal agents here," said a trainer. "I didn't really know any of the persons involved. I can say the money they spent on horses was good for the horse business."
A jockey, who also did not want to be identified, said, "I can't say this is a surprise. It was just a matter of time. Nobody really knew who they were and they didn't have much connection to the area back in 2010. People just knew they spent a lot of money in the sport." - Expect a lot of follow-up on this, just like last time the New York Times story on horse racing.
- Busy early summer for news in Ruidoso. The Ruidsos News has
- a timeline of the Little Bear fire
- .
- Thousands in New Mexico have already benefited from "Obamacare," the
- New Mexico Business Weekly reports
- .
- More than 71,000 New Mexicans received at least one free preventive care visit in the first five months of 2012, thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said.
- Meanwhile,
- from the far-right
- ..."A right to health care enslaves one person – a provider – in the service of another individual – a patient. That is simply un-American."
- Congratulations to the Santa Fe Reporter
- !
- SFR won first place (among papers with circulation under 50,000) for freelancer Sharyn Jackson's Oct. 5, 2011 feature story, "Undercover." The story follows a self-described "fly-in abortionista"—a doctor who flies to areas that lack or have a shortage of abortion providers to perform abortions—as she traverses the United States in a crusade to provide abortions to women who want them. Jackson interviewed women about their abortions; visited with Father Stephen Imbarrato, the head of New Mexico-based Project Defending Life; and talked extensively with the doctor herself, who also won Jezebel's Woman of the Year award.SFR won second place for public service reporting, largely by Wren Abbott, on the Santa Fe Public Schools. To access a full chronicle of our SFPS coverage over the past two years, click here.
- Not just saying this because the Word appears every weekday morning on the Reporter's website.
- New Mexico's other alt-weekly, the Weekly Alibi,
- took home its own prize
- !
- Three cheers for the Alibi’s very own patriot / arts editor, Sam Adams! His fascinating profile on the Albuquerque-centric AMC show “Breaking Bad”—including candid insights from actors Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn—garnered a second-place spot in the super-competitive 2012AltWeekly Awards. Take a moment to revisit “Raising Hell in the Land of Enchantment,” then raise a glass of Sam Adams to Sam Adams.
- Yeah, we have some great writers here in New Mexico.
- State Sen. Linda Lovejoy
- doesn't seem to upset about losing her primary
- .
- "I'm one of the fortunate ones not coming back," Lovejoy said as she introduced herself to an audience of 25 in a Capitol meeting room. "I feel fine. No regrets."
Her coment [sic] led Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Espanola, to offer the opposite view. "I'm fortunate I will be coming back," said Martinez, a winner in his primary. - Diane Denish
- says "a lot" of her loss was because of Bill Richardson
- in a very interesting front-page column by Thom Cole in the Journal.
- Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson
- spoke to CBS News
- .
- When asked if he supported the budget proposal put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., which cuts more than $4 trillion over ten years mostly through deep budget cuts to domestic programs and Medicare and Medicaid, or the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles budget plan, which cuts about $4 trillion through a combination of budget cuts and tax increases, Johnson said he support neither."
I'm afraid both are quite pale in comparison to the Johnson plan," he said. Johnson's plan would cut 43 percent from the federal budget, including Defense programs and entitlement programs Medicare and Medicaid. He also calls for implementation of the "fair tax," or a national sales tax to replace the current tax system. - In other words, slash all services for people while slashing the top tax rates.
