Morning Word
This edition of the Word is going to be a bit shorter than usual.
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The reason is that it is moving day.
Early Friday morning into the afternoon will be spent shuttling boxes to a little place in East Downtown Albuquerque. If you want to help, feel free! Anyway, I write the Word around 1:00 am usually and today's Word is no exception.
So to get to get at something resembling a decent hour, I'm going to be cutting the Word shorter than normal.
- Emailgate? The Santa Fe New Mexican uncovers examples of state government workers using personal emails to conduct state business. Including none other than
- Governor Susana Martinez herself
- .
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The emails mostly deal with Corrections Department business in August 2011. Most of the administration officials, including the governor, sent or received messages on their SusanaPAC.com accounts. Susana PAC is Martinez's political action committee.
Martinez's spokesman, Scott Darnell, said Thursday, "Keep in mind that this information is coming to you from the attorney of a former state employee who has an incentive to try to create issues where there are none." As for why administration officials use personal email, Darnell said "the types of communications in personal email accounts fall into categories that are not required to be maintained -- preliminary in nature, do not reflect final action, etc. Final agency action is conducted through official state email or other correspondence and maintained. - Darnell's response is pretty bad on a number of levels -- he is saying that the only thing the public has a right to know is the final action of the government. And that officials, including the governor, are allowed to conduct the people's business in a way that might not be able to be tracked.
- Two Democratic officials
- want an investigation from the Attorney General
- into the creating of lists of union and non-union teachers for Gov. Susana Martinez's political committee by the Public Education Department.
- A couple of items involving Sen. Jeff Bingaman. Bingaman responded to President Barack Obama's speech on the economy in Ohio. In a statement provided by Organizing for America, Obama's campaign arm.
- "I agree with President Obama that the best way to create the jobs of the future is by investing in education and infrastructure, emphasizing innovation, and powering our economy with cleaner energy," Bingaman said. "The president has outlined a plan that will strengthen our nation's middle class and offers us an opportunity for a brighter economic future.”
- Bloomberg Businessweek writes that Bingaman believes
- "the lack of consistent U.S. support for clean-energy production has put the nation at a disadvantage with China
- ." Bingaman is the chairman of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
- Speaking of Obama's speech Rep. Ben Ray Lujan put out a statement that said, in part, "The President's vision is the right course for a stronger tomorrow that puts people back to work, gives everyone a fair shot, and restores the American Dream for the people of New Mexico."
- Bingaman has sponsored legislation to make it possible for the U.S. Forest Service to
- add more air tankers to help combat forest fires
- .
- The Little Bear Fire's
- growth has slowed
- and is now at about 38,000 acres.
- The latest update on the Whitewater-Baldy fire is from yesterday morning and says
- the blaze is more than half-contained
- .
- The Facebook page of the New Mexico Senate Democrats is amusing to watch. The latest:
- Texas oil and gas money playing major role in NM elections. New Campaign Finance Law powerless to stop the flow of money from out of state power brokers.
- There will likely be
- a multi-state Manhattan Project National Park
- . Sen. Tom Udall and Bingaman are among the bipartisan group of the cosponsors.
- Bill Richardson:
- Hawk
- ?
- In an interview with Fox News Latino’s Juan Williams, Richardson said that despite opposing military intervention in Syria, NATO nations should consider training and arming the rebels [in Syria] if Russia sent military supplies.
- While Phil Griego might be sued for libel for one of his newspaper ads, he is still
- under investigation for his use of campaign funds
- . More shockingly, he actually spoke to a member of the media.
- Michael Swickard wrote an
- ill-timed column
- that was pretty much
- completely discredited by fire officials
- . So Swickard took to the comment section to... well, what looks like another badly written column. For most of the column, he ignores that his main conceit was rebutted by a fire official. His small defense contains hearsay like, "I heard from someone that they were told not to fly." Amazing.
- Meanwhile, firefighters
- snuffed out a small fire in the Manzanos
- because the conditions were favorable enough for aircraft to fly.
- About 75 firefighters, including local and out-of-state crews, had established “good fire lines” around the North Fire and began mopping up hot spots by 2:30 p.m., U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Arlene Perea said.
- I'm sure that those who blame the Forest Service for the Little Bear blaze will still find a way to blame the federal government for this.
