Morning Word
So, was there any big political news this weekend? --- Oh, yeah, Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his running mate. The selection will bring Ryan's budget plan into higher focus -- and Romney hopes the selection will energize his campaign that has been slowly falling behind President Barack Obama's campaign.
On a local level, the Democrats pounced by trying to tie Republicans to the Ryan budget. Expect this to be a theme that runs from now through November.
As for local reaction to the Ryan pick?
Republicans praised it while Democrats criticized it
. Par for the course.
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On to the Word:
- Thom Cole on the
- latest in the NMFA fake audit scandal
- .
- So what exactly is Duff accused of doing?
He allegedly misled investors and potential investors in Finance Authority bonds by agreeing with an accounting change recommended by Campbell. Under the change, $39.6 million transferred by the authority to the state over two years to help ease a budget crunch was accounted for as expenses rather than as decreases in revenues. - State Rep. Gail Chasey is the latest to say that the voter purge postcards sent to 177,000 voters
- are possibly illegal
- and called on Secretary of State Dianna Duran to case sending them.
- Steve Terrell notes that Gov. Susana Martinez has
- largely avoided any blowback from the NMFA fake audit scandal
- .
- One big reason for the silence is the fact that there’s no evidence Martinez herself is involved in the phony document-making that apparently took place at the Finance Authority. Another is that the agency itself isn’t under the governor’s direct control — though her appointees, including four Cabinet secretaries, make up a majority of its governing board. Plus, Martinez’s Securities Division conducted the investigation and made the arrests.
- If sequestration of federal funds comes to pass, it
- would have a big effect on Sandia Labs' funding
- , the New Mexico Business Weekly reports. And, so, Albuquerque and New Mexico's economy.
- Reminder: Tonight the Albuquerque city council will hold its big vote on whether or not to free up bond funding for the Paseo del nOrte-I-25 interchange.
- Leslie Linthicum looks at
- the battle between vendors and the folks who run the Balloon Fiesta
- in a front-age column in the Albuquerque Journal.
- Steve Terrell looks at the
- ad by a Karl-Rove affiliated group
- that attacks Martin Heinrich. If I can find the time, NM Telegram will have a take on this as well.
- State secretary of economic development Jon Barela has been highly visible campaigning for Mitt Romney lately. According to Milan Simonich, his office says that Barela
- target="_blank">campaigns on his lunch breaks.
- Kit Carson Electric Cooperative
- says it can't comply with an order from the Public Regulations Commission to spin off an internet business
- .
- In a June 20 filing, the co-op argues that reorganizing its Internet company would violate contractual obligations associated with a $64 million grant/loan from the federal government, awarded for the construction of a broadband network in the Kit Carson service area.
- Lt. Gov. John Sanchez
- traveled to Rio Rancho to hear concerns from residents
- .
- Sen. Tom Udall, meanwhile,
- traveled throughout eastern New Mexico
- on Friday.
- One reason that fracking could be even less popular in the West than it is in Pennsylvania? It takes
- a massive amount of water
- .
- New Mexico State University researchers want Mexican-Americans to
- eat more fruits and vegetables
- .
- The Navajo Nation says
- if three units of a massive power plant in the Four Corners area shut down
- it will have big reverberations through the Navajo Nation's budget.
- Rio Rancho
- hired a new city clerk
- .
- Michelle Malkin
- is coming to New Mexico
- .
- The Albuquerque Isotopes have settled a landmark case over
- an injury caused by a foul ball
- .
