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.
The indictments against Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. and his father on criminal charges are the latest in a parade of high-profile scandals that threaten to knock prominent Democrats off their perches.
Two former state treasurers are behind bars, and a former state Senate president pro tem is about to join them. Last year a federal grand jury convicted a former state deputy insurance superintendent of corruption. Meanwhile, the Attorney General is juggling two probes: One is investigating the operations of a defunct housing authority run by a friend of state House Speaker Ben Lujan; the other is trying to find federal election money that went missing during former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron’s tenure.
Hanging over all this is an ongoing federal inquiry into the business practices of Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration.
The drumbeat of scandal will tarnish the brand of the state’s dominant party, says Harvey Yates, Jr., state Republican Party chairman.
“Jerome Block’s indictment serves as yet another example of how the Democrat grip on the state of New Mexico has eroded trust in public officials,” Yates said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“Citizens of this state deserve elected officials who are honest and promote transparency; not officials who abuse their position for personal gain.”
But Josh Geise, Democratic Party spokesman, said his party’s brand is alive and well, even thriving.
“We are confident in the Democratic brand, and you don’t have to look any farther than last year to see that the Democratic brand is healthy and strong in New Mexico,” said Geise.
Geise was referring to the clean sweep Democrats registered in federal races last year when Barack Obama carried New Mexico in the presidential race and Democrats went four for four in congressional races. Democrats also added to their numbers at the state level, picking up seats in the Legislature, where they control both chambers.
Jerome Block Jr. and his father were indicted Wednesday by a state grand jury on election-related charges. You can read the indictments here.
Both men are set to be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s office on alleged violating the elections code, conspiring to violate the elections code, tampering with evidence and conspiring to tamper with evidence. The charges against the younger Block also include embezzlement of between $500 and $2,500.
Block Jr. was indicted on eight felony counts. Block Sr., a former member of the Public Regulation Commission as well as its predecessor agency, was indicted on four felonies.
State Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon said in a statement Wednesday that the indictments against Block “are very serious.”
“Like anyone else in our society he deserves, and will get, his day in court,” Colon said in the statement. “The Democratic Party believes in open, honest and transparent government. We hold all our elected officials, regardless of party, to the highest ethical standards. There is no greater crime against Democracy than the breaking of the public trust between an elected official and their constituents.”
Despite the scandals in recent years, however, many state lawmakers – including more than a few Democrats – have rebuffed ethics reform legislation. After several attempts, the Legislature passed a law that caps campaign contributions this year. The law allows New Mexico to join 45 other states that already limit how much a person or business can give to a political candidate.
But the perennial effort to create an independent state ethics commission died during this year’s 60-day legislative session.
Supporters say such a commission, equipped with subpoena power, would be charged to root out such misdeeds.
A bill to create such a commission died after the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives altered the legislation to keep any finding by an ethics commission about a lawmaker private while making public any report on executive branch officials.
Steven Robert Allen of Common Cause New Mexico, an organization pushing for ethics reform, had only praise Wednesday for how swiftly the Attorney General’s office had moved in the case of Block and his father.
“They dug in quick, investigated the matter quickly and released the indictments in a timely manner,” he said.
But the drumbeat of scandals is producing momentum for more ethics reform, he said.
“If you look at these things cumulatively the argument is getting stronger by the month for getting an independent state ethics commission in place for New Mexico,” Allen said.
