I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
“Former Senator Shannon Robinson. Shannon was Manny Aragon’s chief lieutenant in the days when kickback was king. It was nonprofits, you recall, that turned a spotlight on Robinson’s voting record after the last legislative session. And the dinos are determined that no good deed shall go unpunished.”
So begins Coco’s post this week tagging off a Roundhouse Roundup by Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Steve Terrell. The subject is what she calls a “poison pill” provision that state Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, told Roundhouse reporters might be included in a comprehensive ethics bill. Why is it a poison pill? Because, Coco says, it’s simply a punishment measure to keep “pesky nonprofits” in line, the very same nonprofits that are the primary government watchdogs in New Mexico.
“What a devilishly simple plan. After years of good ethics bills getting killed one after another by the Senate, this is the year that ethics reform really has a chance. So what Sanchez proposes to do is just wrap ‘em all into one big dog bill, then insert a poison pill amendment to punish pesky nonprofits. Sticking it to those community organizations who’ve been blowing the whistle on the Senate’s own pay-to-play system of campaign contributions in exchange for special interest legislation.”
By the way, if you don’t read Coco regularly, you really ought to.
Eli Il Yong Lee over on his blog at Clearly New Mexico points out that webcasting the Senate floor debates during the legislative session would only cost $7,000, according to the Legislative Council Services. Then he puts that in perspective: “That’s $7,000 to bring the N.M. State Senate into the 21st Century – or .0001% of the total state budget. Some special industry lobbyist banquets put on for our lawmakers can cost as much — but, of course, the public is excluded from those.” Lee ends his blog with a shout-out to C-Span, which, as it turns out, is one of those pesky nonprofits.
Barb Wold at Democracy for New Mexico is clearly in favor of lobbyists’ name tags at the Roundhouse, which is in a bill (HB 535) introduced by state Democratic Rep. Eleanor Chavez. “Go Rep. Chavez! It would be helpful for people to know who’s who in the lobbying department,” Wold says. And Matt over at NMFBIHOP suspects that the bill will be heavily lobbied against.
Finally, tired of politics? Go visit Johnny Mango, who takes us on a walk through that “garden of broken glass” we always hear about “somewhere in the south valley.”
NMI”s Danielle Bauer contributed to this blog roundup.
