First up, a first-hand account of a new round of layoffs from The Albuquerque Journal.

So far I’ve somehow kept it together, despite losing my job as of an hour & 1/2 ago. I’ve not turned into a screaming crying 2-year old as in the past 3 layoffs. But it’s just below the surface and is growing with each minute. My hands and body are shaking, my neck hurts. I need that shoulder to cry on now for a day or so and then I’ve got to pick myself up and figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

In happier news, Democracy for New Mexico spoke to Rep. Ben Ray Lujan. No more suffix “-elect” for any of those elected in November; it can now hibernate with the word “presumptive”.
Kate Nash wonders if all the FBI agents in Santa Fe researching Bill Richardson (we couldn’t ignore him completely!) will help with hotels in the area.

Nash concludes, “Let’s hope, because we haven’t seen many tourists lately.”

Talking Points Memo notes that a conservative blogging service has hired Joe the Plumber as a war correspondent in the Gaza conflict. No joke.

Albuquerque Journal science writer John Fleck looks at newspapers online. “This is not about doing a good job of delivering news on the web,” Fleck writes. “It’s about the fact that in so doing, there is not enough money to be made to support the people doing it.”

Finally, Avelino Maestas needs some help in entering a photography contest with the Washington, D.C., blog the DCist. Sure, Maestas abandoned us for Washington, D.C., but we won’t hold that against him, right?

Especially since he’s bribing us with a potential free print of one of his great photos. The deadline is tonight at 9:00 p.m. local time.

Photo by Steve Rhodes/flickr

ALBUQUERQUE — When New Mexico’s state legislature convenes on Jan. 20, one of the first bills to be considered is a domestic partnership legislation. The House bill, HB 21 (PDF), is sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuqurque, and the Senate version, SB 12 (PDF), is carried by Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque.

The legislation would establish that two unmarried people who live together as a committed couple are entitled to receive the same “rights and responsibilities” under state law as a married couple. Both straight and gay couples could become domestic partners by filling out paperwork and paying a minimal fee to the county clerk.

“Passage of the legislation would be hugely significant for a couple who wants their relationship to have legal protections,” said Linda Siegle, lobbyist for Equality New Mexico, an advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) communities.

“People will be able to inherit without having a will,” Siegle said. “They’ll be able to visit in the hospital and make decisions on their partner’s behalf, just like spouses may do now. They’ll also be eligible for state retirement benefits. And these are just a few of the benefits that married couples now have that unmarried couples do not.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico also supports the legislation. ACLU-NM Communications Director Whitney Potter said the bills are simply about equal protection.

“This legislation would provide basic protections — it’s fundamentally about equality and fairness under the law,” Potter said.

Potter emphasized the importance of the legislation for senior citizens and disabled people in unmarried partnerships who face the same lack of legal protections as GLBT couples.

“Senior citizens might not get married for financial reasons, for instance,” she explained, “but they should be able to share a room at a nursing home or make end-of-life decisions for their partner without having to go through the very expensive process of hiring an attorney to draw up a power of attorney contract or to set up a trust. Ultimately, this is about having strong families.”

If the legislation passes, New Mexico will further its status as one of the top states in the nation in protecting the rights of people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The state already has a nondiscrimination law based on sexual orientation, plus what Siegle describes as a “very advanced” hate crimes law.

Advocates are “cautiously optimistic”

Rep. Mimi Stewart is optimistic about her bill’s future, given the changing makeup of the Roundhouse. Not only is a new crop of fresh faces arriving in 2009, many of whom are considered in favor of such legislation, but some of the stalwarts who opposed similar bills in previous sessions — from both political parties — are not returning.

Last year, Stewart introduced a domestic partnership bill that won approval in the House but didn’t make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote. Two of the most vocal opponents of the bill on that committee won’t be back: Sen. Leonard Lee Rawsom, R-Las Cruces, and Sen. Lidio Rainaldi, D-Gallup.

Another senator, John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, told NMI’s Trip Jennings last year — when he was writing for the Albuquerque Journal — that the bill didn’t have the votes it needed because 2008 was an election year, and all 112 members of the legislature were up for election.

Grubesic blamed Gov. Bill Richardson for advocating passage of the bill given the election year dynamics.

“I think there’s a little animosity among people about the governor bringing this up during an election year,” Grubesic said.

This year — 2009 — is not an election year for the Legislature, but committee assignments have yet to be determined, and there are still a number of conservative Democratic legislators who oppose the bill. One of them, Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, broke ranks last year with Sen. Rainaldi to vote with Republicans against it in the Judiciary Committee, for a 6-4 vote that tabled the bill.

Nonetheless, Siegle said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for the bill.

As evidence she pointed to the narrow passage of California’s Proposition 8 in November. That citizen-driven proposition reversed the California Supreme Court ruling last spring that allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Whereas in times past such legislation would have passed by a safe margin, this year it passed by under five percentage points, Siegle pointed out. She sees this as a sign of a generational shift in attitudes that will ultimately work in favor of GLBT rights, including domestic partnership legislation.

“When you survey people under 30, the numbers in support of gay marriage or civil unions is well over 50 percent,” Siegle said. “But when you survey those over 65 it’s just the opposite. We’re seeing a generational change, which I have really noticed since I first began to work on GLBT issues in 1991. Attitudes and beliefs have changed dramatically in those 17 years.”

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and friends told me there was a whiteout in Santa Fe. Normally, I would count myself lucky to live in nice, dry Albuquerque with no compelling reason to go to anywhere on a day like that.

But my two boys live for snowy days…and I’d been meaning to try out the Rail Runner… and all my Christmas stuff was done…so we decided to bundle up, hop the train and check it out.

Ours was strictly a recreational excursion –- we went up at 10:37 a.m., arrived at noon and headed back at 4:10 p.m. — taking the latest morning run to Santa Fe and the earliest afternoon return to Albuquerque. Not exactly commuter hours.

Our train was filled with shoppers and grandmas and looky-loos who ooed and awed at the bright shiny newness of New Mexican’s $400 million toy. Passengers carried overnight bags and brightly-wrapped presents or, like us, traveled empty-handed, with an unmistakable air of leisure and enjoyment at just being there.

Our train was clean and precisely on time. The snow, along with the most beautiful scenery, kicked in a few minutes after we left the U.S. 550 station outside Bernalillo. The lulling ride was marred only by an older grandma-type who insisted on barreling out Christmas carols, long after everyone else stopped singing. But I decided I sure would rather relax on that train listening to her sing than trying to negotiate La Bajada on I-25.

We arrived in a wonderland of snow, met our friends and grabbed lunch at the uncrowded Zia Diner (Tomasita’s, directly across from the depot, was mobbed). Afterward we roamed the Santa Fe Railyard shops, The Sanbusco Center, REI and the holiday Farmer’s Market. After playing in the snow a bit, we grabbed some hot chocolate at Tomasita’s and hopped on the train for a 5:30 arrival back in Albuquerque.

Total time on Santa Fe: 4 hours. Dollars spent? About $100. Not bad for an unplanned, agenda-free trip that most emphatically would NOT have happened if the Rail Runner didn’t exist.

And I am looking forward to taking the Rail Runner again, maybe for work next time. Judging from conversation among friends and colleagues, ridership should be high during the upcoming legislative session in Santa Fe.

So I guess I should thank all of the people who made the Rail Runner happen, in the face of all the criticism and crabbing (which I am not going to recap here). Because I think it’s important to speak up when things go right, not just when they go wrong.

I do have just one little nitpick, though, one that’s common among people I’ve talked to.

There’s a movement afoot in Santa Fe and Albuquerque to get the state Department of Transportation and the Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments to adopt a schedule that’s more adaptive to people who want to take the train to go to dinner or attend a concert or other event. The movement, led by Santa Fe actor and producer Giuseppe Quinn, goes by the catchphrase “Call for Culture Friendly NM Rail Runner Schedule” and was boosted a few weeks ago by this article by Dave Maass in the Santa Fe Reporter.

“Basically, I’m calling for everyone and their sister, who see that the current evening schedule is lacking in support for NM culture, to voice their opinion,” Quinn told me in an e-mail, adding that 930 people (including me) have joined a Facebook group advocating the cause. “People should write their favorite, and not so favorite newspaper, blog, Web site, billboard, chatroom, radio show, television Station, Mayor, Governor, City Council-person, priest, lawyer, and superhero. They should contact friends, family and anyone with an interest for better full-week evening scheduling, i.e. music venues, theaters, restaurants, bars, comedy shoppes, dance clubs, museums, and galleries.”

I know it’s supposed to be a commuter train, but the DOT and MRCOG have said they based the current Rail Runner schedule on many factors, including input they sought from prospective riders before the service started. And they say they are open to tinkering with the schedules and many other train-related issues as time goes on and people weigh in with practical suggestions, whether they are commuters or pleasure-riders. And so, far, that seems to be the case.

Let’s see what happens with this one.

But local media have also been using Twitter to reach out to readers, as shown in the flurry of “tweets” that followed the recent appointment of Gov. Bill Richardson to Barack Obama’s cabinet.

A number of New Mexico print and broadcast outlets have jumped on the Twitter wagon. The Albuquerque Journal has a Twitter feed (ABQJournal), as does KOAT, and KRQE has one, though it’s only been updated once since Election Day.

Local radio reporter and blogger Peter St. Cyr began using Twitter as a tool several weeks ago and says the service’s trademark 140-character limit per tweet is anything but limiting.

“Radio reporters are the best writers in the world,” St. Cyr said. In radio, he says, reporters are used to fitting a lot of information in a small amount of space.

He finds several ways to use Twitter, he added: “You can do a headline of a story, or you can do a little part of one story.”

St. Cyr, who Twitters at radio_news, cited as an example the announcement that University of New Mexico football head coach Rocky Long was resigning. A simple tweet at 5:11 p.m. on Nov. 17 said, “Rocky Long quits after 11 years. AD says ‘it’s a sad day.’”

He also uses it to add “color” to certain stories. After the announcement of Bill Richardson as Barack Obama’s choice for secretary of commerce, St. Cyr tweeted:

DJIA up 40pts since start of Richardson news conf

St. Cyr uses Twitterberry on his Blackberry to send tweets from events. In the past, he said, the fastest way to cover breaking news was to call up the radio station and interrupt live programming. Now his breaking news from Twitter appears immediately on his blog, What’s the Word.

But for St. Cyr, tweeting is also a way to get to know people. For instance, he says, he didn’t know John Fleck, science writer for The Albuquerque Journal, was a birdwatcher until he started following Fleck’s Twitter feed.

When not remarking on roadrunners and ruby-crowned kinglets seen in his yard, Fleck (jfleck) uses Twitter to highlight stories he writes for the Journal as well as his blog, Inkstain.

He learned about Twitter when researching “all kinds of social media,” he says, and his interest has endured because of the “minimalism” of the 140-character updates. And, he adds, “it allows you to have the same conversations that you would have in a room — only around the country and the world.”

During the snowstorm last week, New Mexico Twitter users tagged their posts with #NMSnow (I have to admit, I initiated that particular “hashtag,” as it is called) to report on the effects of the blizzard throughout the state. Fleck joined in as did a few others. After the snowstorm that never materialized later in the week, Fleck began the tag #ABQNotSnow.

Of course, those of us in the so-called new media have also been taking advantage of the service. The local progressive blog Democracy for New Mexico has a Twitter account to broadcast its latest posts as well as comments by users on recent developments.

And the New Mexico Independent has a feed to keep readers keyed into its latest stories and blog posts.

Barbara Wold, who writes Democracy for New Mexico, says the service “is great for keeping up to the minute on news from a variety of traditional and new media sources and spotting breaking news as it happens.”

Wold also uses her RSS feed to post headlines and links to her new blog posts on Twitter. But she notes that the service is not just — or perhaps not even primarily — for work.

“Reading the often snarky and clever personal Twitters are the icing on the cake,” Wold says.

So, how many of you rock? You know, as in … ROCK? Apparently a lot of you do– according to local writer Samara Alpern’s feature article in VenusZine (blogged by Kitson Harvey at Duke City Fix), “Metal is big in New Mexico, especially so on the Rez.” Alpern refers to New Mexico as a “great metal oases in the world” where “New Mexicans have been swearing allegiance to the metal gods for decades.” She goes on to profile the Suspended, an all girl thrash band at the top of the bill at Buckfest, a two-day festival at the Budville rodeo grounds, “where a major share of the nearby Laguna Pueblo Indian Reservation is here to honor their metal heritage.”

Check out Jim Baca’s Only in New Mexico for video of the inaugural run of the Rail Runner from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. He has great scenery and commentary.

Clearly New Mexico points us to a great little feature in The Nation magazine that highlights Juan Reynosa’s work as an organizer with New Mexico Youth Organized. Reynosa talks about what spurred him to be an organizer, describing life growing up in Hobbs in the midst of the oil and gas industry. “When he was a child, an Exxon gas tanker corroded and the contents leached into the water table. Some people got sick. When Reynosa visited his family for the Fourth of July this year and they decided to step outside to look at fireworks, they had to keep moving to different spots to avoid the pungent smell of gas.” There’s more, so be sure to check it out. Juan is also, by the way, a regular contributor of comments here at NMI.

]]> http://newmexicoindependent.com/12980/todays-blog-round-up-trash-thrash-transit-the-nation/feed http://newmexicoindependent.com/12921/top-stories-the-economy-sucks-but-ski-season-is-looking-good http://newmexicoindependent.com/12921/top-stories-the-economy-sucks-but-ski-season-is-looking-good#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:18:03 +0000 Gwyneth Doland http://newmexicoindependent.com/?p=12921

In national news today, the Securities and Exchange Commission says “Whoops! Sorry about that!” and admits it was totally playing Minesweeper the whole time Bernie Madoff was bilking Indiana pension funds of their millions.

Also, $2.7 billion fell out of Morgan Stanley’s pocket on the way to the subway this morning. The head of Housing and Urban Development told Congress it completely effed up its program to help homeowners stay out of foreclosure; only 312 people have applied for aid through HUD’s Hope for Homeowners since October. And a Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that 63 percent of Americans say they’ve already been hurt by the recession, which the paper rather humorously calls a “downturn.”

But wait! Slate says “the recession is the best thing that could have happened to Barack Obama.” You’ll want to read that one. Also, Barack Obama is Time’s Person of the Year. (Sarkozy and Palin were runners up.)

Meanwhile, it’s still snowy in New Mexico. So…we’ve got that going for us. Click here for school closings and delays. Sign up here to receive Ski New Mexico snow reports. Also, we like trains and have to make a run to the post office. In other news, the Alamogordo airport is the first in the state to install solar panels that will save the city $400 to $500 per month in electricity. (Of course the project cost more than $100,000 but whatever. It’s solar.) The chairman and CEO of Los Alamos National Bank, William C. Enloe, has been appointed to the Federal Reserve Board, so he had to reply “Thanks, But I’ll Be In DC” to Diane Denish’s Evite to the advisory team party. Otherwise, not much going on. Check the Journal for the usual rundown of car wrecks and human atrocities.

And if you’re thinking: Hey, what about that other big story? Why don’t I see that? Well, it’s because we’re writing a big story about that big story. So just grab another cup of coffee and refresh in about five minutes. Repeat until you see your big story.

Over on the NWS site the nice meteorologists have already posted their annual White Christmas Probabilities page, and though today’s weather looks promising, the numbers aren’t good, not for Albuquerque at least.

In Albuquerque and other lower elevation locations across central and northern New Mexico, the chances for a White Christmas are not good, as shown in the image below (produced by the National Climatic Data Center). The image depicts the probability of having at least one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day. At the Albuquerque International Airport, for example, a Christmas Day snowfall (measurable) has occurred, on average, once or twice a decade during the 110-year period of record. You can check out the national probabilities from the National Climatic Data Center.

But on to more serious issues. Over at Eye on Albuquerque there’s an interesting discussion of the District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and some alleged skeletons that the race brought out of her closet. Specifically, there’s a post about the prosecution of the Ngyuen brothers, accused of a murder in 2007. It’s a story that’s been in the news lately and the blog has an inside perspective on the investigation.

Former Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca wrote this morning that he’d be on the inaugural Rail Runner Exress ride and planned to post some video later today. It’ll be interesting to see and hear his take on the new line.

Speaking of the Rail Runner, the New Mexican’s Kate Nash has linked to the Railrunner schedule along with maps of Albuquerque and Santa Fe bus systems so you can effectively plan your (slushy) route. She’s also got audio of Domenici’s last press conference, if you’re interested.

And the Grand Pajandrum made me giggle with this observation today: Apparently they’ve run out of candy and flowers in Iraq.

A column by former Richardson press secretary and Knight Ridder national correspondent Richard Parker takes a slightly different look at the first question than many have so far. Instead of just asking if Richardson is taking a lesser job than the more desirable secretary of state, Parker wonders if Richardson would instead transform the position of secretary of commerce into a more prominent position.

Ambitious even for a politician, Richardson will likely seek to transform the job and position himself as the most public Cabinet figure in righting the domestic economic disaster and transforming international trade.In doing so, he will form ties here and abroad that may ultimately write his biography in political history as a senior statesman, if never a president. As a result, more people may be affected by the new secretary than any other Cabinet figure.

Parker wonders if Richardson will attempt to make the Commerce position into one of the more prominent positions, or an “‘A’ position, effectively and even formally alongside State, Defense, Treasury and others.”

So will Richardson use this opportunity to expand the public scope of the secretary of commerce to areas never before seen? Parker thinks that Richardson has the ability to do so.

Still, many media types have focused is on Richardson’s beard — or more specifically his new lack of a beard. The Los Angeles Times’ Adam Tschorn, who admits he is a “seasonal beard-grower,” looks at the facial hair in the Obama administration. The first paragraph calls Richardson’s newly clean-shaven face “another devastating blow to facial hair in the long-running battle of beard versus Beltway.”

For some reason, people are fascinated by politicians with beards. When Al Gore grew his beard after controversially losing the 2000 presidential election, he grew a beard. When Richardson failed at his bid to become president, he followed the former Vice President’s precedent and stopped shaving — much to the reported chagrin of his wife, Barbara Richardson.

Perhaps it is because, as Tschorn notes, no president has sported a beard since William Howard Taft. Beards are more likely to be worn by comedians and musicians than American politicians.

Even President-elect Barack Obama commented on Richardson’s lack of a beard, saying at the press conference announcing Richardon’s nomination for the press secretary position, “We’re deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard.”

Although the attorney general still hasn’t responded to McSorley’s request, King’s office says any charges of stalling are unfounded.

“The McSorley opinion is still being researched and drafted. No completion date has been set,” AG spokesman Phil Sisneros said.

McSorely, D-Albuquerque, first made the request after King refused to explain why he believes two nonprofits’ activities have crossed the line between issue advocacy and political campaigning.

Earlier this year, King advised the secretary of state that the Center for Civic Policy’s New Mexico Youth Organized and another nonprofit, SouthWest Organizing Project, had resorted to political campaigning in mailers like this one sent two to three months before the June primary, targeting several lawmakers.

The secretary of state ordered both groups to register as political committees and comply with the state’s Campaign Reporting Act by publicly reporting contributions and expenditures, just as candidates, campaigns and political action committees do.

The groups say their mailers were related to a coming special session of the Legislature, not the election, and they shouldn’t have to register.

King hasn’t shared the reasoning behind his advice beyond saying the key issue is the meaning of the phrase “political purpose” in the Campaign Reporting Act. Attorneys for NMYO, on the other hand, have laid out their legal arguments publicly.

Both sides agree the dispute has far-reaching implications for nonprofits in New Mexico, and the secretary of state and AG have agreed to withhold taking any action against the nonprofits so the dispute can be resolved in court.

In his request for an opinion from King’s office, which you can read here, McSorley didn’t mention the battle between the state agencies and the nonprofits.

But he did tell King he anticipated an “immediate response” to the request, which the AG’s office says was received on Sept. 23. McSorley asked several questions in the letter, all of them geared toward obtaining King’s interpretation of the state’s definition of “political committee” and the core issue of how King interprets “political purpose.”

Some quick responses, but a high volume of requests

Attorney General Gary King

King has often acted quickly on politically hot requests for legal opinions from lawmakers. He said in February 2007 that he wanted to respond more quickly to such requests than his predecessor to help reduce gridlock in state government.

“I think that the attorney general’s office can have a lot more impact on the policy in the state through our opinions,” King said at the time. “The more quickly we can address those issues, the less disruption there is in government.”

That comment came after King responded within days to a request for legal advice on the governor’s fund raising for his presidential campaign during the legislative session.

McSorley noted that King also acted within days, earlier this year, on a separate request that started the current nonprofit dispute — from a lawmaker who was targeted by the mailers, Sen. Shannon Robinson of Albuquerque. But, McSorley pointed out, King has already stated his desire to have this matter resolved in court.

“It appears that the strategy is to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal action rather pursue this through legislative enactment,” McSorley said.

Sisneros pointed out that the AG received six requests for legal opinions in July, four in August, five in September and eight in October. He said each is thoroughly researched by an attorney, and then an opinion is written “based on mountains of research and legal analysis.”

“This matter is being acted upon, just not on your timeline,” Sisneros said.

Waiting for an answer

Meanwhile, SWOP’s director said the organization still doesn’t understand the position of the secretary of state and attorney general.

“SWOP was instructed by the secretary of state to register as a political action committee four months ago without any explanation for how our work constitutes political activity,” Robby Rodriguez, SWOP executive director, said in a prepared statement.

“We still do not know what this decision is based on so we would like to know, along with Sen. McSorley apparently, and, we suspect, the rest of the nonprofit community, how the state defines political activity when it comes to our legitimate efforts to educate the public about the job their elected officials are doing.”

Matt Brix, policy director for the Center for Civic Policy, said his organization had no comment.

NMI’s Trip Jennings contributed to this report. Editor’s note: The Center for Civic Policy helped locate funding sources for the New Mexico Independent.

First up: Snow!

The Albuquerque Journal’s ABQNews Seeker highlights an area forecast discussion from the National Weather Service that says there may be as much as 30 inches of snow in higher elevations in the central and northern mountains. So wax up your skis and snowboards, kids. It’s ski season!

If you miss the observations and Jerome Block Jr.’s fact-checking of Swing State of Mind, never fear. The Santa Fe Reporter is out with a new blog — SFReeper.com. If you don’t like the blog’s look, don’t worry. From its About section:

Welcome to the very early stage testing of SFReeper.com, the Santa Fe Reporter’s forthcoming culture and news blog. It is currently unfinished, but feel free to test it out as we progress and let us know of if you encounter any bugs. That’s it.

John Fleck, at the Albuquerque Journal NM-Science blog, looked at the history of UFOs in Roswell, through the view of the skeptical inquirer.

Once such an event, fictionalized or not, becomes embedded in popular culture, it doesn’t matter at all if the “evidence” is proven to be exaggerated, distorted, and/or fabricated. The Roswell legend will live on as long as there are claims of UFOs.

The prolific blogger NewMexiKen lamented that no one noticed he didn’t post in eight days. Ken, I noticed, don’t worry! Mainly because of stuff like this.

And Avelino, no longer live from Silver City, shows us his Christmas tree and how to make a pine cone Christmas wreath.